Kyra

This is exactly why I couldn't live without my DVR!!! I usually record what I want to watch while hubby is watching his shows. Then I can watch it later and it's even better anyway because I get to FF through commercials! We've also just learned to be bored through each others shows a lot of the time so that we can have that time together. I learned to like Heroes just to spend some time with him, he's learned to like a couple shows for me, like House. Still can't get him into Desperate Housewives though! (Yes, I know, I'm going to hell! My mom tells me all the time! LOL)

I must be a slave-driving dictator then, because I use this concept in the way I raise my children! When I give my 5 year old a chore to do and she complains about doing it, I tell her that she doesn't have to do it, but if she doesn't then she will have a punishment. Or at least there will be consequences for her actions. But if she does do it, then she'll be rewarded. I'm letting her choose which outcome she would prefer, just like Heavenly Father has done for us. There's no force involved. There will be consequences for our decisions and actions no matter what, we are free to choose whether we want them to be good or bad consequences.

I have found this article by Pres. Hinckley to be a great source for a lot of things. LDS.org - Liahona Article - A Season for Gratitude

I never got a chance to thank everybody for all your great advice. I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure I'm getting food storage for Christmas again. I told my mom a couple years ago that food storage is the only gift I ever want for Christmas or birthdays. Some people think I'm boring, but it sure helps me feel better. I wouldn't go out and spend all that money on food storage just to let it sit there. I would keep rotating it and adding to it, of course. But just knowing I have what I need would make me feel much better. And yes, there may be things in there that I wouldn't use if I had the choice. But if I'm starving to death, I'm going to be grateful for whatever I have. And it will help me feel much better knowing that my daughters will also be okay. Plus, if I know that I have enough food to get us by, then when I add to it I know I can add some fun things in there. Things like Kool-Aid or something that will be a real treat my kids might not get otherwise. :)

"While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but once they lose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader." Samuel Adams

You're right, a lot of it is my attitude, and I'm 100% willing to admit that. I'm always the first to admit that I have pride issues and control issues. I work on them as I can and try to take it one step at a time. That's why I asked for help though. I don't want to feel this way about my sister. Like I said, she really and truly is my very best friend. I'm just so angry right now with her self-destructive behavior. That's why I decided that it would be best right now to pray for my bil and nephew until I calm down a little bit. I also have a bad temper, and it's obviously getting the best of me right now. But I've come huge strides in the last few years and learned a lot of patience and tolerance. This is just one more thing that will teach me. Although I cannot tolerate her behavior right now, I'm at least trying to get over my anger.

Fun ideas everyone! When I was growing up we always did an advent candle. There were certain bible stories we would read by candlelight from Dec. 1-Dec. 24, and on the 24th was the story of his birth. My mom now has a couple different advents that she uses for my brother and sisters. We have an angel tree put up at church every year and for the last couple years I've tried to set the example by buying Christmas for someone on the tree. I'm a little upset though, because I don't know if I'll be able to afford it this year. But I haven't been able to in years past either, and somehow it's always worked out. Plus it sets a great example for my girls. I tell them that there is someone who isn't getting Christmas presents this year, so we're going to each give up one present that we would have gotten and spend that money on someone who needs it. I really love doing that! We have a very wealthy ward, so I'm sure our presents aren't the best they could get, but we still do our best.

I've always been taught that we'll be physically perfect in matters of our health. I don't know of any scriptures or anything to back it up though, I'll be interested to read more about it.

Well, I definitely can't go into details because only my mom, another sister and I know exactly what's going on right now. Other than my bil, at least. So I'll just ask if you've ever heard of the phrase 'cyber affair'? If you haven't, google it and you'll understand more. My bil has made mistakes and may not be perfect, but he certainly doesn't deserve this. Thank you for all of the advice. I'm going to sit down sometime today and read through Enos, because I need all the help I can get right now. And then I've decided that when it comes down to it, if I still can't bring myself to pray for her, then I can at the very least pray for my bil and my nephew. My nephew more than anything. He's an adorable little boy (he's in my avatar with my girls) who deserves much better than this. He needs a mommy who's willing to put him first in her life.

I totally have to agree with this one! Good thinking!

You're right, I don't hate her. I was so mad (still am) and typing so fast that I just put down whatever came into my head at the moment. I don't hate her, but I absolutely hate her attitude and her actions right now. With some of the things she's doing right now I can't even let her around me and my girls. My 5 year old watches and mimics everything she does. She absolutely adores her auntie and worships the ground she walks on. Is that wrong of me to keep her away from my kids? I'm really not doing it just because I'm mad at her, I don't even want to do it. But she's doing things that I don't feel comfortable with my girls being around.

I know that we're told we need to pray for our enemies or people we're angry with, but how in the world am I supposed to do that? My sister is ruining her marriage. She's a selfish brat (and I told her so the other day, only my language wasn't so nice) and she's only thinking of herself. They have a child!!! They should be putting him first, but she is SO full of anger and selfishness right now that she can't even tell the difference between right and wrong anymore. She and my bil need so many prayers right now, and I just can't do it. She's not only my sister, she is literally my best friend and I hate her right now. I know that's horrible, but I do. She's ruining her life, she's being very self-destructive right now. I tried to pray for her tonight, but I'm so mad at her I don't even want to think about her, let alone pray sincerely for her. I shouldn't be feeling this way about my sister and best friend. I'm so mad at myself for not being able to pray for her, and I'm even more mad at her than I originally was for making me feel this way. How am I supposed to pray for her when I don't even want to talk to her or think about her? I feel like a horrible person.

What do you do in your families to keep Christ in Christmas? My daughter is almost 6, and I realized that she's old enough to really start understanding. We still do Santa and all the fun stuff, but she needs to learn that there's more to Christmas than fun and presents. Do you have any fun traditions that you do at Christmas to help you and your children keep the proper perspective?

Thank you! That's exactly what I thought when I was writing it! Sounds just like something a kid would say. And if you have the kind of child that wouldn't say that, then please tell me how you're doing it!

I teach a children's choir for our homeschooling group. I adapted my favorite Christmas book, Santa and the Christ Child, into a little program with music and a small line for all the kids. It starts out with "Grandpa" coming in telling the kids it's time for a story. They ask which one and he says that he's going to tell them a story about the time Jesus...then gets interrupted by one of the kids saying "We don't want to hear the same old story again. Read us something more exciting." In my head he would have finished with "The time Jesus helped Santa with Christmas" and later in the program you understand that more. The whole program really is centered around Christ, and it's basically teaching kids how even Santa knows that He is the real reason for Christmas, etc. But I had the mom of one of my kids call me the other day and tell me that she was offended by that part of "Same old story" and "read us something more exciting." I explained to her that I didn't hand out the whole script to everyone (too expensive to pay for that many copies) and told her the whole story. She said now that she understands more about it she's okay with it, but she didn't sound convinced. Our concert is in less than a week, I absolutely do NOT have time to change the script and make those kids learn anything new. I haven't had any complaints from other parents, and I've even asked a few specifically if they found it offensive and they said absolutely not, they thought it was a really cute program. I really don't want to offend anyone, but I also don't want to cater to 3 kids when I have 35 others who aren't bothered by it. But if enough people feel offended by it I'll make a couple changes. So do you think it's offensive? Should I make some last minute changes or do you think it's okay?

I also have a hard time accepting help from others, or even letting others know when I need it. But when we tell people we don't need the help they're offering, we are also denying that person the blessings they will receive by serving us. Another good point that was brought up in my parents ward the other day is that when we don't pay our tithing because we can't afford it, we're basically saying that we don't trust our Heavenly Father to take care of us. With all the He gives us and as much as He loves us, why wouldn't he take care of us? As long as we're doing our part anyway.

I wish my husband would agree to pull out his 401K. We haven't got much in there anyway. We also have some stocks in Alltel that I asked him this summer to pull out so we could pay some bills, he never did that either. I'm sure they're pretty much gone now. We have 1,000 shares of stock in my families company, but I don't know how well they're doing right now. Those are probably still our best because it's oil field work, but they probably won't last much longer with the way things are going. My husband has some trusts in his name, but he can't get them until his grandma dies. His grandpa set them up so that she could use them if she had to, but if not they would go to the grandkids when she passes on. They're probably not worth much now anyway.

My mom called me just last night to tell me her testimony of tithing. My parents are not well off (far from it actually) and have bills piling up, but still they have kept paying their tithing and have somehow made ends meet. A couple months ago they came home to find $500 cash in an envelope on their front porch, no idea who it was from. A few weeks ago someone brought them $1,000 and they were told that was specifically to be used for their food storage, which my mom has been extremely worried about and trying very hard. In church one day a member of the bishopric shook my dad's hand and left behind $100. Sunday when my mom was writing out their tithing check, something told her to pay an extra $50. She really struggled with this because my brother and sisters are already getting very little for Christmas, but she did it anyway. A little while later that same bishopric member gave them another $100. They also had a lesson in church that day about the law of consecration and how literally everything we have belongs to the Lord. Last night a couple in their ward brought them a very, very large amount of money. Enough to pay off a bunch of their bills and give my siblings a decent Christmas. Tithing is something that I really struggle with, but after seeing the blessings my parents have received throughout their lives, but especially recently, I will have an easier time with it. Tithing is for the poor! I'm so grateful that my parents have set that example for me, even if I haven't learned from it like I should. And I'm soooo grateful to the people who are listening to what the spirit tells them and handing over such large amounts of money! I know though, that if my parents hadn't been paying their tithing like they should have, they would not have received such blessings. No one will ever be able to convince me that the poor and impoverished should not have to pay tithing.

Thanks, I didn't know that. I got pregnant with my second daughter on clomid, but after reading that I don't understand how. I know, I only meant it as an example. I just have to wonder how many people know that most kids who are diagnosed with ADHD are diagnosed incorrectly. A lot of these kids actually have some sort of food allergy, or even food dyes. Some kids with ADHD actually have sleep apnea. Some are just kids being kids! LOL

Right now I'm teaching a children's choir and I was looking for a good quote to add in to our program the other day and I found this: This is just a portion of the article by President Hinckley. You can the whole thing here: LDS.org - Liahona Article - A Season for Gratitude You might have read it before, but even if you have it's great to read again. And it would make a really good family home evening lesson. I really enjoyed it, so I wanted to share. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I do!

I hate prescription drugs, thought I do agree that they have their place in our lives and can be good. I had very bad post partum depression after having my second daughter and went on Zoloft for 5 months. I've realized recently that my depression is getting really bad again, so I'm planning on seeing the dr. this week to help get it under control. But as soon as it's under control I'm going to try to manage it with diet and herbs instead. My sister has severe asthma. In July of 2007 she was life-flighted to Primary Children's hospital because her heart was beating over 200 bpm and it wouldn't slow down. After all this my mom started doing research on the effects of her asthma medications and realized that the so-called wonder drug Singulair is what has caused her permanent heart damage. She's 16 year old and in two weeks will have her second heart surgery this year. In the last year and a half they have started doing more with herbs and natural healing, and a couple months ago started using foot zoning and reflexology. My sister has gone from having to use her inhaler 3 or 4 times a day (at least) to once or twice a week. In March I started the fertility drug clomid. The lowest dose is 50 mg, but it wasn't working so my dr. had me taking 150 mg. I finally quit taking it in August when I ended up in the ER because it was giving me chest pains. I believe that when it comes to prescription drugs, too many people are using them because it's the easy way out. God has given us more than one way to keep our bodies healthy-herbs, reflexology, accupuncture, diet and nutrition are a few, and they really do work. I know that my daughter (probably both of them) has ADHD, but I will not drug her for it. I've seen kids turn into little zombies on Ritalin, it's almost like it changes who they are and I don't want to do that to Aryka. They have their rightful place in our lives, but I believe that we are severely over-medicating ourselves and our children. They are doing as much or more harm to our bodies than they are doing good.

LOL Same here! I have 4 bookshelves that get filled up before I buy them. I'm running out of room, but I'm addicted to books! I should look into getting a Kindle, it would probably be worth it for me. I just don't like that some books aren't available for it.

My husband spends way too much time playing stupid World of Warcraft. I don't mind so much when he only spends an hour or so playing, but he gets too involved and loses track of time. I try to pull him away, but he doesn't realize he spends so much time on there. It's better than it used to be though. It finally got to the point a little over a year ago that I left him for a short amount of time. I told him he needed to decide between his games and his family. Lucky for him he knows what's important, because it's getting to that point again. If he doesn't cut back a LOT, he's going to have to decide again. And I'm not overreacting, even though he thinks I am. It gets bad enough that I can't trust him to take care of my girls when I'm not home. He was home with the baby today while I was at church. I came home to find her covered in my mascara completely naked, and he had no idea. We've already almost lost her once, and she wasn't even being neglected at the time. I'm not going to allow him to take chances like that. Just the last few days I've actually considered shutting off our internet. I probably would have already, but I need it to homeschool my daughter.

Yep, that's celiac disease. It runs in my family, so it's pretty likely my daughter has it. Thank you all. I'll probably have to start bringing her something, I just have to think of what I can bring. I'm probably going to have to make rice bread and take for her.

Yep, they last forever! I absolutely love them! Get a few of those hanging on your tree and your whole house will smell great for the entire month! :) I just remembered some things I did with my daughter last year. We sprayed styrofoam balls with glue and rolled them in glitter. Then I glued little gems on them to make them look like snowmen with a ribbon on the top. I also spray painted pinecones green and glued sequins or gems on them to look like ornaments. We used to snowmen on one of our trees for charity and everyone loved them. The pinecones would probably be easier for you though since you have so many around. A can of spray paint and a bag of colored sequins are less than $5 at walmart. You can cover an orange with whole cloves and let it dry for a few days, they also smell really good. Paint styrofoam balls, cover them with glitter, decorate them with ribbon. I know there are other fun ideas, but I can't think of them right now. My grandma makes a bunch of homemade ornaments for all of the seven trees in her house, so I'm sure I can think of more!