Life for Reals

My mind is constantly analyzing, processing and thinking. This attribute can makes me very aware of connections to cause and affect situations. My poor kids probably roll their eyes and think- mom it's just something that happened at school, I don't need to have it always connected and applied to life. But that's what I do and I find multiple opportunities for short teachings. And I am grateful to see how to apply life experiences for my kiddos before they have them. This year before school started, as he does every year, my husband gave each member of our family a blessing with the power of the priesthood. When my daughter who was starting 2nd grade received hers, my mind was stuck alert when he blessed her with protection and safety. It was strongly and clearly brought to my attention that young girls are sexually abused and my daughter could easily be in a dangerous situation. I needed to teach her how to protect herself. Talking about sex in a family can be very uncomf...

Sometimes I question was that a spiritual prompting or just me? Very few times do I feel confidant in stating that certain thoughts or impressions are from the Holy Ghost. One time I do remember was an answer to my prayer in regards to the potential needs of my children. My oldest was 2 years old and my second was just a few months old. During this summer I learned that a friend of mine was separating from her husband and would be getting a divorce. He had been tangled in a sticky mangled mess of pornography and the dark road it pulls you on. He wasn't interested at the time in changing his choices or fighting the uphill battle. I watched her go through heartache and saw a small glimpse of the ripple effect of his choices. I looked at my boys, 2 and a few months old, blonde wispy hair and dark brown fuzzy hair, making small and simple words or noises, little feet and hands and realized they were going to grow up and they were going to come against this battle. I wondered would the...

A few weeks ago, I woke up with a jerking alertness and daggers to my heart. I had been dreaming of following my kids up a winding staircase, arms full of grocery bags. The staircase was thin and metal and seemed to become narrower and narrower where we stepped. It was in the sky and I started to feel anxiety and unsettled about this staircase. Missia turned back to me and quietly with fear in her voice said, "Mom, I don't think I can make it." I realized that this was probably not a good idea and decided to take my kids back down. I looked back down to see how to accomplish this and realized that we were too high in the air and panicked trying to devise a plan. At that moment Missia slipped into the blank sky falling and screaming.  This jerked me awake and alert. I had too much adrenaline from this dream to go back to sleep immediately and so I lay awake. And pondered. Not intentionally about anything but my mind definitely took a direction and pursued the following m...