All things Saturday...

{Sleeping in my curse}
Today was awesome but talk about crazy. Our stake asked all the sisters to try and attend a noon temple session, followed by lunch at 3pm, and concluded with the Women's Broadcast at 5pm. Then we planned a family adult only get together at our home following the broadcast. So how did it go?

I woke up about 5 minutes after 7am a bit panicky because I was suppose to be on a conference call that started at 7am. Shoot! I ran downstairs as quick as I could (luckily no children were awake yet, and Scott was gone mountain bike riding) and jumped on the call. I was happy that they hadn't started yet and I hadn't missed anything. Phew!

I am responsible for teaching our 5 Pillars group all about the Scholar Ladders this coming Thursday and I am still trying to understand them better myself. Its a process learning how we naturally evolve through the educational process if exposed to the right environment and experiences. Its truly fascinating, but sometimes I struggle to understand since I never really went through these phases of development and education myself. Now that I am starting to understand the phases of development I realize that educationally I am still a 14 year old. Oh yes I went to college and got the degree, but as far as owning my education and discovering what my life mission is I never totally progressed past 14. Man I missed out and have a lot of make up to do. How sad is that! That is why I am in the 5P class.

{Stuck, but ready to get past 14}
You may be thinking what a total loser, and you'd probably be right. But just so I don't feel quite so lame a lot of children who are the product of Public Education are stuck where I am too. Not all of them, of course there are exceptions to the rule. I'll try to explain here...never mind I can't really explain it, but if you want to try to figure out what I am talking about call or email me and I'll try to explain it. I am sure most of you think I am crazy. Oh well! I can live with that. :)

{Making connections}
The conference call was AMAZING!!! Its funny because the more time I spend learning about education, life, the natural process of development, how children and adults learn, why we act the way we do, the cycles of man kind, reading classic books, ect... the more connections I am making, the happier I am becoming, and the more life itself is making sense.

The call was all about the natural developmental/educational process we go through as human beings. WOW!! What was really crazy is that when we were in the temple session later I saw, heard, and felt things in the session that reaffirmed that what I am learning about people, learning, and development are a universal TRUTH and it is how the Lord has worked all along.

{On the Go}
Back to my day...I had about 30 minutes left of the call when kids started waking up. It all worked out and my wonderful Jarom took care of Brea until I was done with the call and was finally ready to take care of her. Scott got home right after that and I gave him a quick hair cut before showering and getting ready to head to out the door at 10:45.

When we got to the temple it was packed, and our session was full with three or four times as many women as men. It was a bit crazy! We headed home and went right over to the stake center in time to eat lunch (the food was awesome), listen to a pre-program, and then the broadcast.

{The Broadcast}

The broadcast was excellent. A couple of my favorite quotes and take aways where...
1. "If we heed to personal revelation we can not fail." RS President Julie Beck
2. IDEA: I need to make temple attendance more of a priority in my life. I think I may schedule out temple days a month or two ahead of time and view them as non-negotiable events. (from Silvia Allred's talk)
3. "If you live up to your privileges the angels can not be restrained." Barbra Thompson
4. "God is a God of creation and compassion." Elder Ucdorf
5. Thoughts from Elder Ucdorf's talk:
-We all have a deep human desire to create.
-We were created to experience joy and happiness.
-We need to start creating and being more compassionate.
-We need to learn knowledge.
-The more you rely on the Spirit the more you will be able to create.
-He challenged us to start creating and it would bring us great joy. Some ideas he gave were to create a garden, happy organized homes, sewing, smiling, writing, learn a new skill, beautify your space.
-"Those who follow the Savior are compassionate."
-"The more we serve our fellow beings the more substance there will be in ourselves."
-"Work will cure your grief."
-"Those who bring sunshine to the life of others can not keep it from themselves." James Berry author of Peter Pan (Elder Ucdorf quoted him)
-"Happiness is your Heritage."
-"The words of encouragement only require a tender heart but may render a life changing event for another."
-"He that is greatest among you will be your servant."
-"The number of prayers you say is important, but more important is the number of prayers you answer."

{My Do's}
So what am I going to do now? In How to Read a Book it teaches that when you are taking notes to have a 'DO' column on the page. I've been trying to do that lately, and its really helping. So here are the 'DOs' I wrote down during the broadcast.

My DO's:
1. Make more of an effort to receive revelation!
2. Schedule time to go to the temple! Once a month to start with.
3. I need to work on developing an attitude of contemplating with the desire to understand the Lord and His ways and what He wants me to do.
4. Do something extraordinary every day!
5. Start creating! I need to make a creating list of things I want to create!
6. Be more compassionate to others.
7. Remember that happiness is my heritage.
8. Pray to be the answer to other people's prayers!!!!!

{Hanging with the Martineaus}
The rest of the evening went well. It was SO FUN to have everyone over to our home, and I really enjoyed chatting with everyone about the different Martineau Family Cabin options. Hopefully we can figure something out and get one built for our families to enjoy together. I married into such an awesome family.

Tomorrow is the Primary program, Megan is suppose to give a talk, and I have to read three books this week! I better go to bed so I can start my week off rested.

PS I forgot to mention that Scott watched all six kiddos for the entire day so I could participate in all these activities. He is totally the best husband alive! I am grateful to have him in my life, and thankful that he is always willing to help me out when I need him. I love him tons!!!!