Things to read in all your "spare" time -- yeah right

I'd really rather write a post about all these things separately, but don't have the time. I don't want to lose the info, though, so I'll just jot it all down here anyway.

1.  Heather over at Women in the Scriptures referenced One Thing Needful:  Becoming Women of Greater Faith in Christ by Patricia Holland.  I read it last night and realized it's pretty much my favorite chapter in her book A Quiet Heart if you want to read it without buying the book!

2.  I finished the Newsweek issue from March 14 that contained a lot about women.  In it there was an article about Hillary Clinton.  Now, honestly, the Clinton's aren't my most favorite people, but this comment about Hillary is worth mentioning: 

Speculation continues that Clinton would stay on in a second Obama term, and a few pundits go as far as to suggest she might even make another White House run in 2016, though Bill Clinton joked recently that his wife now covets the title of grandmother far more than that of commander in chief.

The article also mentioned:

• In the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, where women cannot travel without male permission or drive a car, a grandson of the Kingdom’s founding monarch (Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud) last month denounced the way women are “economically and socially marginalized” in Arab countries.

• “If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights once and for all,” Clinton declared. 

• Women still earn 33 cents less per dollar than men.

• ...the State Department estimates there are now 12.3 million adults and children worldwide in “forced labor, bonded labor, and forced prostitution.”

 Also, there was an article entitled, "The Feminists in the Middle of Tahrir Square."

• "Veiling and nakedness are two faces of the same coin,” she told one reporter. “Women are sex objects in the free market. I am against makeup. Plastic surgery is a postmodern veil,” she said, looking at me, smiling, laughing silently.

Just so you know, the only reason I was able to do all this Newsweek reading was that we went on a trip to Sacramento for a night without kids!

3.  Ruth at Empowering LDS Women linked to a Deseret News article entitled "From the Homefront: Why every mom needs a purpose beyond motherhood."  I very much agreed with the article, but I just wanted to add, that when we do make time for ourselves to do things we want, we still have to be careful not to over do it.  The author said she got burned out by not doing things she personally enjoyed, but I think, too, on the other hand, when we're getting up before kids and staying up late after they go to bed, it's just as easy to get burned out!  I keep trying to remind myself that someday in the future I can devote more time to personal interests.


4.  Last one: Erin at Mamas Who Know linked to another Deseret News article entitled "Studies say children subtract from happiness, so what do we really feel?"  Let me tell you, the stats and studies quoted in this article are so much of the reason why it was so hard for us to want to have a family!  After quite a change of heart, now, I was so ready to be so irritated with this article, but the point was actually good in the end -- although studies seem to say we have less freedom and happiness when we have children, we wouldn't give those children up for anything.

Wish I could say more, but I gotta go!

April 2010 Conference

One day I was listening to some old general conference talks from last April's session and the two talks I heard buoyed up my resolved to be the best mother that I can. I had forgotten that this session in particular seemed to call parents to a higher plane of teaching and raising righteous children. Maybe this felt like the theme to me because I have small ones at home that I know I can still greatly influence. The two talks that I reviewed were by Elder Wirthlin and Elder Foster.

In Elder Wirthlin's message the most memorable part for me was the admonition, "The saddest words of tongue and pen are those that say, "It might have been!"" He recounted a mother's wish that she would have more fully helped her older daughters with their personal progress goals after realizing the bond it forged between her and her youngest when they worked on it together.

In a memorable talk by Elder Foster, entitled Mother Told Me he tells sweet stories of the obedience of children and animals he has observed to their mothers' guidance. This was a great excerpt:

"As President James E. Faust said: “There is no greater good in all the world than motherhood. The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation” (“Fathers, Mothers, Marriage,” Liahona and Ensign, Aug. 2004, 3). By divine design, nurturing seems to be part of the spiritual heritage given to women. I’ve seen it in my daughters, and now I see it in my granddaughters—even before they could walk, they wanted to carry and care for their little baby dolls."

The church has a great summary of this conference entitled teachings for mothers. It is just short excerpts that really help strengthen those who are raising children. I cannot wait for General Conference this weekend and the opportunity that we have to hear from our living prophet and other general authorities. I hope that you can all enjoy it too on Saturday and Sunday by tuning into the live broadcasts on http://www.lds.org/.