This week, our family has the most amazing opportunity: I have met a new friend, reconnected with a neighbor, and lost myself in the service of others during a most difficult and trying time. Let me tell you about it…

Our twins wanted to go to Disney. We thought about going to celebrate their birthday. I had heard about giving a day of service and getting a day to go to Disney. What a wonderful program! (They are definitely getting a thank you note.) I felt that giving service was a great idea and I wanted our family to be a part of this experience. We can give something to help someone, and, in the process, we get to celebrate as a family.

So, my son did some research, and we went through the list of possible service opportunities. My daughter is recovering from surgery, so we needed an opportunity to serve while being at home. Conkerr Cancer had the opportunity to serve by making pillowcases for smiles. We purchased bright colored fabric, followed the directions for making the pillowcases and set out to make pillowcases for children who need to have good things in their lives.

This opportunity for service also appealed to me because our family has been through a difficult experience with a sick child last summer. Daily trips to the hospital over an hour away from home, caring for the older siblings of the sick child, just not knowing what was going on, and wanting more than anything to be able to do something to help (yet feeling the hopelessness of not being able to help), and remembering this experience all made us want to help other families with children struggling with serious diseases.

I approached my family. Everyone was in agreement. A Saturday would not work for us, so we have spent this week making pillowcases. We have learned a system, and each person in our family contributes what they can. Even the children too young to participate and get the Disney prize have been involved in our family service project. The members of our family serve as they can–before or after work, after school; they come and they go, and we work together. We have made several trips to the fabric stores and have perfected a process of cutting and sewing. Our smaller children turn and fold the pillowcases; our older children pin and cut the fabric. We had a little resistance which had to be overcome, but we have been so blessed by this project.

One of the highlights of the week was when one of my grandsons asked if we can keep making pillowcases even after we are finished with our Disney pillowcases. I had already decided that this was a cause we could keep serving. My daughter shared that we could ask the women at church to set aside a night to sew pillowcases and make a project of helping each other.

I have met Carol, the local coordinator for this project. We had a lovely phone call where we became acquainted, and now I have a new friend. I am so excited to meet her in person as I drop off the pillowcases. I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience. I will not tell you that it has been easy. It has not. We have had many problems arise, not from sewing pillowcases, but from life. Carol has been encouraging and accommodating to help us reach our goal. I discovered that a group of ladies will be meeting this Saturday to make pillowcases at a local fabric store. How blessed we are to live in a community where service is important!

All of these blessings have come to us because we said “yes” to the opportunity to serve. It started out as a way to “earn” a day at Disney, but it became a bigger, more important cause to us. I think we will even discuss it as we take our children to Disney. How grateful I am that our children and grandchildren have seen the higher purpose and want to help others. I recommend this cause to everyone. The website is www.conkerrcancer.org. Explore the site. Watch the powerpoint and see if you can help.

I encourage you to find a way to serve. It is the most rewarding experience we can have, to give back. I have wondered how the children who receive the pillowcases will feel. I hope that they understand the loving care that we have given and that they feel that someone somewhere out there is praying for them and hoping that their day is a little brighter because of a pillowcase.

How have you served someone today?

We have recently had many blogs whose titles start with the letter “c.” I thought about writing about chili. I made a pot to simmer all day because we have a cold front here. And it is delicious! Oh, I need to get back on topic…

We live in a world that constantly changes. The weather changes. What we eat for dinner changes. In our lives, our routine has been changing. Some changes are good: friends calling to check on a loved one, seeing old friends, trying a new recipe a friend recommended, making up new recipes to accommodate newly discovered food allergies. Some changes are hard: sickness, surgery, job loss, loved ones who pass away, weather changes that make you weary.

Yet, changes are all around us. It’s what we do and how we react to the changes that make the difference. I think we can learn lessons from the changes in our lives. This week, I have been working on organizing while I am homebound. It feels good to go through papers, put books back on their shelves, give away and share. I have relived memories as I sort through papers, pictures, talks given, lesson outlines for teaching and craft supplies.

The changes in our home help us feel loved and connected. We have spent more time together reading, talking and just enjoying being together. Not all of our family members have had this reprieve, but I have enjoyed the changes in my schedule. In fact, I have decided that change is good.

What change will you make to improve your life next week?

Pauline is our guest blogger today. She is the mother of 4, grandmother of 15, great-grandmother of 9. She is known for generosity—and her biscuits—and she is a true southern girl who cooks for those she loves. Pauline shares an experience with her great-grandson from a few years ago.

I have had problems with my eyes for years. I needed cataract surgery and we had to postpone it until the inflammation in my eyes calmed down. When I finally was able to have the surgery on my eye, I had to wear a patch for seven weeks. It was a long time. I worried that my grandchildren would be afraid of me. I didn’t want the patch to scare them. Our favorite activity is for me to read stories to my grandchildren. I love for them to sit on my lap or by my side as we read. I didn’t want to miss that because they were afraid of me with a patch on my eye.

I came to my daughter’s house for dinner one Sunday after my surgery. I was sitting on the couch in her living room and John, then 3, said to me, “Eye hurt?” pointing to the patch. I said it did. None of my great-grandchildren were afraid of me. During the next seven weeks, our relationship was the same.

After the seven weeks were over and my patch was removed, I was again at my daughter’s home for Sunday dinner. I was sitting on the couch and John came up to me and said, “Eye all better now?” None of the other children ever asked about it. None of them were afraid. John was so compassionate and so feeling with his great grandma and her eye surgery.

How can we show compassion today?

Shanna is a loving mother, caring wife and works at one of our favorite doctor’s offices.  She brings color to the lives of others and uplifts and builds wherever she goes.  We’re so glad to have a guest blog from her today and hope you enjoy it!

Monday, January 4th was my son’s first day of preschool. I had a lot of mixed emotions, as I have always been a firm believer in staying home with your kids and raising them the way you want (with my beliefs and not someone else’s). Yet, there comes a time in their life when you have to start letting go and teaching them how to survive in this world and not hold them back from growing and learning, and playing with kids their own age. This last year, due to the economy, I had to go back to work. Even though I am very excited by my new journey, I still am a wife and mother trying to balance all that. My son wants to go to school, so I found a program that he will go three days a week. We prepared him for about 2 weeks before, but I think we were preparing ourselves more than him.

When we took him the first day, he was so excited–he even got out of bed on the first call–which is huge for him. We got up, ate breakfast, dressed him, read a Bible story, said our prayers and off we went. We took a few first day pictures. We were so proud of how big he was being. He said bye to us with no problem. It made us both kind of sad, but when you look at the big picture, we must have done something right for him to be so strong and confident in himself.

Parenting is not always easy, but if you just try your best and always put your family first, you can’t go wrong.

Maybe it’s an incorrect assumption that our fashion often determines, at least in some degree, our personalities…or maybe, more correctly, our personalities are drawn to particular designs, trends, or colors to determine our fashion. Whatever the case, the way we look, whether we like it or not, sends messages to others around us (& quite possibly sometimes to our own psyche) about who we are or who we want to be.
When I was a teen, I used to quote a poem back & forth with my mom about growing older & breaking fashion rules. We used to laugh together about not matching as we age, and we still share a snicker about it from time to time.
While I do try to dress more conservatively, I have a few “fun” fashion statements…like red, peep-toe pumps I got from my sister-in-law, and my strappy black spike heels that I bought with my sister that I often wear with a sleek black satin skirt (that has a bit of a train). Last week, I attended an event in an Indian-flavored rust top with gold outlines & sequins. I borrowed it from my sister…& had fun wearing it!!!! I totally enjoy having a little fun with “different” fashions I have gathered from the amazing women in my life and the support my friends give me when I am a little daring!
So…if you’re wondering if you can “pull it off” to wear something a little out of your ordinary fashion sense…go for it!!! Who knows, you might just feel empowered!!!

There is a song that says “that’s what friends are for” and I have been thinking a lot lately about the importance of friends in our lives. We have social networks like Facebook (by the way the mpowergen.com has 200-fans Hurray!) to help keep us connected and to open the door to re-connecting with friends from long ago. We had a blog from Wyddeth talking about the power of the written word to keep us connected through generations. We have cell phones and home phones with unlimited calling times available. All these things and others, keep us connected to the people we love.
Dictionary.com states that a friend is a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard; a person who gives assistance; patron; supporter; a person who is on good terms with another; a person who is not hostile; a member of the same nation, party, etc.
Friends are the golden threads in the tapestry of life. They bring the color, light and sometimes even life to our lives. Friends tell us what we need to know about ourselves. They encourage us when we are struggling, they lift us when we are low; they tell us how we truly look, in a nice way; and they are always there to listen to our thoughts, concerns and triumphs.

Yesterday was a particularly hard day for me.  Yet, I was surrounded by my friends, my family and people who care about me.  Even those who were far away were praying for us.  I felt the strength that comes from prayers others offered in my behalf.  The day was hard, but the support of my friends made it possible for me to have the strength and the courage I needed.  I will be forever grateful to those beautiful people in my life.

Best of all, friends become a part of our family.  Some, like sisters, are kin by blood and also by friendship. We love them and want to share in their lives too. How blessed we are to have wonderful friends. My mom always told me to be careful who I chose to be my friends. I am glad I followed her counsel. I have the best friends in the world!

How can you share your love with a friend today?

Oh well… (I borrowed this phrase from a very dear friend of mine), I am posting my blog contribution a day late again. Our family has been under siege, as of late, and I promise, promise, promise that after we get through this, things will get better (this phrase is for my sister) and I will be able to post my blog on time. Ha! Ha!

I have been thinking a lot about what I would say today. The words which come into my mind are “thank you.” I cannot think of anything more profound or important to say than “thank you.”
My heart is full to overflowing with gratitude for the love, comfort and help we have been given recently.

As we have gone through this experience, I have been awed and amazed at how many friends we have; amazed at how we can be connected with people from far away, not having kept in daily contact, but still have the same love and attachment that we felt years ago. We are family. We are one, big, gigantic family. We are the family of God.

I hope I remember always that we are brothers and sisters. I actually don’t think I ever forgot it; I just didn’t always pay enough attention to the connection which occurs at each of our births. But now, my eyes are wide open, and I am fully awake. So, I won’t write a long blog. After a while, you will understand our experience because I believe we have to share our experiences with each other so that others can benefit from our mistakes and benefit from the growth we experience as a result of learning from those mistakes.

I also want to express my gratitude for a loving Father in Heaven who takes good care of us. Without Him in my life, I don’t know how I would be able to look forward and keep moving in that direction.

Our family has been strengthened. We have reopened doors wide to reconnect with the people we love. Thank you to each of our family members and friends who have supported and sustained us. You have empowered us to continue and to fight, even when we were too tired to go on. Your encouragement and your love nourish us daily. Thank you.

How can we help to sustain and support you?

We had a perfect Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we had our family and friends, who really are family, at our home. It was wonderful to be surrounded by peace, love, and the comfort of knowing each other well. Christmas day we had some of our children and grandchildren over and spent a lovely day making gingerbread houses and eating a light meal from the grill (thanks to my sister-in-law Donna who has given me great ideas on many things). While the others watched a movie, my oldest daughter and I played Scrabble. We used up most of the tiles and were spread over most of the board and together we used the remaining tiles so all the letters were used. Her 20 month old son did help us by putting the word “joy” (actually he just put the three letter tiles on the board, he liked the triple word score spaces best and we spelled the word for him). We even took a photograph to save for posterity.

I am not an expert Scrabble player, but together we were a great team. Working together, building our loyalty, our safety and love–these are the qualities we cherish in a family. We plan and work to build these qualities into our lives. We empower our families when we work together.

Hyrum pulled the letters spelling “joy” out of the letter pouch in the scrabble game. Sometimes, joy comes to us when we are spending time with our family and friends. Sometimes, we must work toward a goal to receive joy. Sometimes, our hearts just burst with joy as we celebrate the beauty of our lives.

It is the birth of Him we celebrate at Christmastime who said: “Peace, I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (King James Version of the Bible). This is our wish for you on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. May your heart be filled with peace and with joy. May the next year be more peaceful and more joyful than the last. And may your heart be filled with love for others. This is our Christmas wish for you.

How will you prepare for the New Year?

Yesterday, my parents celebrated their 53rd anniversary. We tried to call and sing the Anniversary Song, but left it as a message instead since they were gone to a Christmas party. I have been reminiscent lately, so I was thinking about the things I learned in my family. The list is long, but there are some common themes running through.

I think that the most important thing I learned, after knowing that my Heavenly Father loved me and I should obey the commandments, was that, as a family, we take care of each other. Whenever one of us was in a jam or needed help, we all pitched in until whatever was completed. My mom would stay up late typing my papers. I remember one time, especially. We were up working on a plantation for a history project. We glued felt to milk cartons for the buildings. We put green on the ground for grass and set it all up on a board so that I can turn it in the next morning. Mom stuck right with me.

I learned to take care of other people. We always had a houseful of people. My mom and sometimes my dad would cook fabulous breakfasts and huge dinners to feed all of the people they invited to join us. Our friends were always welcome. During High School, we attended a class at church before school. Then, we would bring a group of friends home and my mother would have grits (I am from the South), eggs (made the way you liked them), bacon or ham, fried sweet potatoes or French fries and her specialty, biscuits. We would have juice and milk and chocolate milk to drink. I didn’t appreciate the work she went to then (breakfast was not a meal I ate) but my siblings and our friends enjoyed it.

I learned to be kind, helpful and to keep confidences. My father had his own construction company and was a leader in the church. There were meetings at our house and we learned to never say anything about who came or went from our home. I learned early in life that it is important to keep to myself the things people said to me. I was an adult before I figured out what an important lesson this was.

I learned that love was the key to open the heart of a person. I learned to really care about the people I knew. Sometimes, it was hard to open my heart, because to open your heart, you might get hurt. But, I learned that a heart full of love mends when it is broken and beats to help another person again.

I learned to stay in love with my husband. My mother took care of my father, every little need. Now, my father takes care of my mother, every little need. Over the years, I have learned more from my own marriage about caring and nurturing that most important relationship.

I learned that parents make mistakes. As a parent, I have made mistakes and I recognize them and try to correct them.

I learned to laugh. My mother would get “tickled” at the littlest thing. I remember many times that family prayer was delayed until my mother could quit giggling. And as you know, giggling is contagious, so she was not the only one who had to settle down. But, it was that giggling that helped me learn to laugh at myself and at the negative or ridiculous situations of life.

I learned that at the end of the day, family matters. We love each other, we enjoy being together and we take care of each other. We arrange our schedule to attend the activities of our siblings. At this holiday season, may we love each other, nurture each other and empower one another to reach for the stars.

What about you? How will you empower your family today?