"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who CAN'T read." Mark Twain

Today I am going to convert you to my favorite past time. Maybe I am preaching to the choir, but preach I will. If I had a day to myself (Yeah, right!) , I would most likely spend it READING----on a beach preferably.  It really is the most superior past time. No matter how old I get, how broken down my body becomes, how poor I am, how little companionship I have,  I can always engage in this, the king of all recreation.

I hear people say often, "I don't read." or "I don't like to read." To me this is like saying I don't breathe, I don't enjoy sleeping, I don't enjoy eating. You may think it extreme, but to be a well rounded, well grounded person, I really think you need to read something---quite often. To deny reading is to deny living a full and rich life. None of us will have the means or time to travel to every country, experience every culture, to be the fly on the wall in someone's unique experience. However, you can do all this and more with books.

The reasons to read are endless. Escape, Knowledge, Wisdom, Epiphany, Experience-----there are so very many reasons to lose yourself in between the pages of a book. There is a reason for every season of life. When I was in university I read to gain my degree. When I was newly married I read for enjoyment and because I had the time. When I was a young mother I read so I felt like I conversed with an adult or to escape the repetitiveness of my routine. Now, when I am lonely I can read to not feel alone. I can't wait for the next season when I will get back to more time to read.

I am so fortunate to have a couple of friends that feel the way I do about books. I have one particular friend who finishes an amazing book and then immediately comes running to give it to me. I do the same for her. I love that books are a principal part of our friendship.

To those parents out there, there is yet another reason to read---YOUR KIDS. For the last few years I have been tracking some information about reading with my junior high students. One of the most interesting pieces of information I've gathered is the impact of parents' reading habits on their children. The biggest influence was the father figure in the home. If the father read frequently, almost always the children would be readers. When it came to boys, this was true pretty much 99% of the time. Mothers have a big impact as well. Mothers seemed to have the largest impact on their daughters' reading habits. Students who reported that they NEVER saw their parents reading in almost every case were not readers themselves. Interesting stuff.

So what does all this mean? In short, I guess it means shut your computer off and go read a good book RIGHT NOW!

Invisible Mothers Building Cathedrals

Ran across this little story today that I love. I needed to hear this stuff today. Maybe you do too.

Invisible Mother…

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I’m on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I’m thinking, ‘Can’t you see I’m on the phone?’ Obviously not; no one can see if I’m on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I’m invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this ? Can you tie this? Can you open this?

Some days I’m not a pair of hands; I’m not even a human being. I’m a clock to ask, ‘What time is it?’ I’m a satellite guide to answer, What number is the Disney Channel?’ I’m a car to order, ‘Right around 5:30, please.’

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude – but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She’s going, she’s going, she’s gone!?

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was
feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, ‘I brought you this.’ It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn’t exactly sure why she’d given it to me until I read her inscription:
‘To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are
building when no one sees.’

In the days ahead I would read – no, devour – the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals – we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.The passion of their building
was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, ‘Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof, No one will ever see it. And
the workman replied, ‘Because God sees.’

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, ‘I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you’ve done, no sequin you’ve sewn on, no cupcake you’ve baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can’t see right now what it will become.

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to
sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don’t want my son to tell the friend he’s bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, ‘My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.’ That would mean I’d built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his
friend, to add, ‘You’re gonna love it there.’

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we’re doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Brandon Flowers !?!

Just discovered yesterday that the lead singer of one of my favorite bands, The Killers, is Mormon! Had no idea. So cool. For all my non-mormon friends out there this means he is a member of my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)

I then got obsessive about the whole thing and started purchasing a whole bunch of their new songs from itunes. Now I've got to add their concert to the bucket list.

A Beautiful Life

Three years ago I watched as my best friend left this life for a better one. Although I'm sure it was an exhilarating experience for him, my perspective is much different. I would not wish what I witnessed that day, or the previous two and a half years on anyone. The excruciating loneliness and the void in my life left by his absence are crosses that I have be called to bear. On days like today they are ever so heavy.

C.S. Lewis became my best friend in the weeks and months that followed. Even though we have never met, his inspired writings and voice within them reached out to my wounded heart. In the pages of his books I found understanding and solace.

"There are moments, most unexpected, when something inside me tries to assure me that I don't really mind so much, not so very much, after all, love is not the whole of a man's life. I was happy before I ever met H. I've plenty of what are called 'resources'. People get over these things. Come, I shan't do so badly. One is ashamed to listen to this voice but it seems for a little to be making out a good case. Then comes a sudden jab of red-hot memory and all this 'commonsense' vanishes like an ant in the mouth of a furnace..."  (From A Grief Oberved)

Such beautiful and wrenching writing!

Fifteen years is what I had with a very remarkable person. I count myself so blessed. I learned many lessons at his side. I am still learning from the lessons he taught me. He was the ultimate example of how to live, how to treat people, and how to prioritize what really matters. It is a miracle that he chose ME. I was promised that my home would be a bit of heaven on earth, and there were many times that it was, and he was the reason for it.

I can't wait to get back to that bit of heaven again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.  ~Melody Beattie


In my online travels this week I ran across this quote. I am kind of a quote junkie.  As I have been pondering the Thanksgiving season this week, that first line really gnawed at me---"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life." Being the carnal species we are, we fall into the trap of taking the common things for granted. The more we are around them, the less we actually see them. They become the backdrop of our lives, exempt from our list of blessings. Just because they are common doesn't mean that they are not incredible gifts. They are just shrouded with the film of everyday life.


I remember driving home after a two and a half month stay at the Calgary hospital. When that familiar, yet picturesque mountain range came into view I was overcome. I couldn't help but weep at that stunning sight that had been mine to enjoy every day of my life previous to hospital time. It was a moment of pure, unrestrained gratitude. How could I have taken this for granted every single day! I vowed to never again look at those mountains without offering a silent prayer of thanks and summoning a genuine feeling of awe. 


This is just one example. Think of those things that are around you, a part of you, each and every day. Your healthy, happy kids, the absence of war and oppression, the good job, the caring friends, the family that lives close by, the library that is only 1 block away, the chocolate bar in your cupboard begging to be eaten, your ability to see, touch, walk, think, and express. How blessed we are! 


During this Thanksgiving week I am pledging to look for the magic and miracles in the common and every day of my life, because they are not so common to some..................


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

6 Hard Things- 6 Good Things

Well, do you want the good news or the bad news first? Everyone takes the bad news first right?

Hard Things

1. Had to spend almost four days away from my kids. (They cried)

2. I can't hardly keep up to all my commitments and responsibilities of school and home and feel like I'm a
    failure at both most of the time.

3. It's raining. Cloudy weather and I don't really like each other.

4. I want to help and be there for my friends more, but I don't have the time I need to do that.

5. My daughter still cries most nights for her dad  : (

6. Realized again that cancer is no respecter of persons. It doesn't matter how famous or rich you are.


Good Things

1. One of my best friends adopted a baby in the last two weeks and he is the sweetest thing ever.

2. Got to spend a bit of time with a nephew who I don't see very much, but love. He is feels more like a little brother.

3. It is the long weekend.

4. I don't have to prep and teach gospel doctrine class this week.

5. Reggie did awesome in his zone cross country meet.

6. I have something in the works that I thought would never be able to happen in my situation. Can't
    reveal too much about that now, but I'm pretty excited about it. Maybe I'll tell after Christmas.  
    Maybe.


P.S. I am getting some hits from really interesting places around the world. Who are you people? I really want to know. If you read my blog regularly, get some guts and be one of my followers so I can find out who you are. I'll follow you if you follow me...................