Taking Time to Talk and Listen

So I have lost my journal and so you are getting this entry on blogger. :O)

Growing up my family was really good and talking and listening. We ALWAYS had family dinner together. Always. My mom is an exceptional cook and she has cooked daily dinners for her family for the past 50+ years. Isn't my mom a wonder?!?! We wanted to be there. Meals were delicious and the company was good.  Sundays dinners were special. We'd eat early in the day and then lounge around the table after dinner and talk. We seemed to always talk about the Gospel. I believe every discussion I had with my parents growing up always came back to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Those talks and how exceptionally my mother listened to me helped shape the way I approach life and how everything to me is seen through Gospel eyes. If you've ever talked to me you've realized that basically everything comes back to my testimony of Jesus Christ. I think that is part of how I came to earth but I know it was largely the family I grew up in. The Gospel was what my mother and father treasured above all else and it was apparent through our interactions and conversations that I saw their example and followed it.

As my children are getting older I have had several promptings lately to create quite time where we can be quiet and thus open to real life conversation. I am really good at filling that quiet time with phone calls, or blogging, or putting on a movie for the kids while I get some chores done, or letting the kids' friends come over a bit too much. And those things aren't always bad but I am sure I have lost some tender teaching moment with my children because of that. I think when my kids are still at an age where they will soak up everything I teach them I realize what a shame that is. I realize while writing this that if I want my kids to turn off their future ipods and phones to take time to talk to me when they are teenagers then I better do that for them now. This world we live in is too vial, distracting, destructive, and secular that you cant just let things go by without the conscious effort to connect with them and combat the negative input that is thrown at them. I want to slow down the moments each day to really look into my children's eyes and listen to the things that they think about and to let them get a glimpse into the thoughts and feelings of my heart. I mean that is the treasure, the gift of being a stay at home mom. The impact a mother has on her children and thus generations of her family are tremendous. I want to have the best impact I can. Helaman said of the stripling warriors, "They rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it" Alma 56:48. I want my children to know that they need not doubt when Santa battled against them because if for nothing else their mother knew it.

Today as I did my morning spiritual study I read the article "Taking Time to Talk and Listen"  by Rosemary M. Wixom the Primary General President in the April 2012 Ensign. It priced my heart and I am so grateful to have the spirit guide me to know what I can focus on to be a better mother. It was a perfect message for me to hear today. I had planned a quiet day at home since we have no school and Stewart is on call all day I thought it'd be nice to just stay home and pack some boxes, and go for a bike ride/walk with the kids and just spend time together. Today I will focus on communication with my kids and taking advantage of this quiet day with them. I bet I will have some great conversations with them.

And since I am obsessed right now.....I picture us in our new house in Tucson, and the reason I know it is the right home is that the family I picture us being there is exactly what I want for us. In this remarkable home where we can have fun and be interacting all day long...how perfect. This is going to be a really fabulous chapter of our lives. I can sense that the blessings of this new house will have a spiritual effect on our family. Its funny to say this but it makes me feel so blessed and humble to think that it  is exactly what I have been asking for the past two years. I wanted a bigger better version of our current house. I like us all together, I just wanted more room in our rooms, more windows, and place where we will feel edified and united as a family. Stewart will be so happy in this house he will LOVE playing with the kids and just adore what the house will bring to our family.  I love the feeling that great things are awaiting us. I love sensing the Lords vision for our family and it is such a beautiful vision. I am loving every moment of this new beginning. It is going to be lovely. Just 3 weeks and we are moving. I am cherishing the time we have left here and am so excited for the future we have there. Life is sweet.