Uncommon

The thought for today actually came from an interview of the recently retired Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy. If you know me, you know I love football and can't resist listening to a little NFL radio. Coach Dungy is an amazing man with the highest values and integrity and has a new book titled Uncommon. He spoke of his first day of college football at the University of Minnesota. What the coach said that day has stuck with him throughout his life.

His coach said, "You think it's going to be great. You're excited. We're excited to have you, but not all of you are going to succeed, and the guys that are going to succeed are going to do it with uncommon effort. They're going to do it with uncommon drive, and you can't be average. You can't desire to be average, to go with the crowd. Those people are going to fall by the wayside."

The thing that I emphasized with my kids was the part about not desiring to be average and going with the crowd. My kids are different - because of their beliefs, their strict parents, the expectation that they do (gasp!) chores, etc. I want them to know that sometimes (a lot of the time) it's good to desire to be uncommon. What we need are more people who are willing to move away from the crowd and stand out. It takes uncommon effort and drive, but it reaps uncommon rewards.

Flat Stanley

Cami's grade just finished a really cool project. They read the story of Flat Stanley, created their own, and sent him off for an adventure. Cami's Flat Stanley went to visit Aunt Janeen's family in El Paso, TX. They kept a journal of his adventures and took some pictures. They also sent us some fun things from a trip into Mexico.


Cami put it all together in a display and gave a 5 minute presentation (while wearing her cool sombrero) at school today. She did a great job and was very proud of how her poster turned out. Thanks to the Hammond family for all their help and to Taylor for helping with the poster.

Snow Day

We woke up to snow, ice, freezing rain, and NO SCHOOL!
This is how we spent our day:

Lounging around in our jammies playing cards and Wii

Eating our favorite Farmer's Breakfast


Playing outside in the snow


Getting pelted by our brother and loving every minute of it


Watching a movie with popcorn and a warm fire

It was a very nice day.

Answers

The thought this morning came from Matthew 9:2-8. This is the story of the paralytic who was first forgiven of his sins and then healed by Jesus. He had great faith that he would be healed, but probably wasn't expecting to be healed spiritually first. While spiritual healing is much more valuable than physical healing, we often spend a lot of time asking for help with temporal things. It's no wonder that our prayers are sometimes answered in a different way than we expect or want. Heavenly Father knows that we are in greater need of spiritual blessings and lessons than temporary, earthly comforts and conveniences. Blessings of healing come from faith, and it is apparent that the man with the palsy did not waver when it appeared that he might not be healed physically. We also need to remember that our prayers are answered in the way that is best for us, not necessarily the easiest.

It's What You Become

The thought for this morning is about charity. For a lot of my life, I thought charity was measured by what I did. A more accurate description of charity is that it's something you become. We perform acts of charity because we are charitable. I think that we become charitable by degrees and must continually work on incorporating the "pure love of Christ" into our lives. Not an easy task, but one worth the effort.

Un-American?

Dallin and Taylor are old enough to hear about it when Hollywood celebs decide to bash the church. A large Christian coalition worked together to support Prop 8 in the last election. For some reason, the anger from those that opposed it has been focused primarily on the Mormons. Tom Hanks recently said that the Mormon support for Prop 8 was "Un-American". This bothered Dallin quite a bit.

We talked about it, the same way we talk about so many other crazy things that come from the mouths of celebrities in our country. It seems that others should have the right to believe and live any way they please, but conservative Christians should have to conform to the standards set by liberal Hollywood. I'm not going to rant. I'm also not going to apologize for standing beside so many others in my beliefs that this is a country that will be in real trouble if we allow traditional family values to go away.

So, the message for today comes from Matthew 5:10-12.
"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."

By the way, the official response from church headquarters to his remarks was:
"Expressing an opinion in a free and democratic society is as American as it gets."

Taco Tuesday... (or whatever)

We have a funny tradition about tacos. No matter what day of the week we have them, the kids always pretend that it's our usual night for tacos. I know - weird.

So someone smells tacos and comes in the kitchen and says, "Mom, what are we having for dinner?"

My reply, "Tacos."

Smile.

"Ahhh, that's right.... it's Taco Tuesday. Hey guys, it's Taco Tuesday!"

At this point the other kids join in with a chorus of how they love Taco Tuesday. The next time we have tacos it may be a Wednesday and repeated in the same way.

I don't exactly know how this started. The kids love tacos and wish we would have them more often. I think there was a request at some point for tacos every Monday, but it's actually funnier this way.

So the next time your kids ask "what's for dinner?" just smile and say, "Why, it's Taco Tuesday of course!"

Prayer

Building on yesterday's message, I reviewed Elder Bednar's talk from October conference entitled Pray Always. Prayer is a way that we can emulate Christ. We can seek daily guidance to do Heavenly Father's will and strength to resist temptation.

Elder Bednar speaks about how our prayers are linked together over time. He says, "Morning and evening prayers—and all of the prayers in between—are not unrelated, discrete events; rather, they are linked together each day and across days, weeks, months, and even years. This is in part how we fulfill the scriptural admonition to “pray always” (Luke 21:36; 3 Nephi 18:15, 18; D&C 31:12).
Pray always is kind of a hard concept for kids to understand. For me, I just thought about keeping a prayer in my heart, which is also correct. But, I really like the idea that as we establish a pattern of prayer over days, months, and years that they are connected in purpose and fulfill the admonition to pray always.

Example

I taught a lesson in Young Women Class on Sunday about following Christ's example in all things. He was meek, humble, loving and forgiving. He served others, resisted temptation, and healed the sick. It sometimes feels overwhelming to think of trying to be like Him in every way. This quote by Marion G. Romney caught my attention.

“...I learned that he (The Savior) communed constantly with his Father through prayer. This he did not only to learn the will of his Father but also to obtain the strength to do his Father’s will. He fasted and prayed. … It would seem that during his earthly ministry he never made a major decision or met a crisis without praying [see Matthew 4:2; Luke 4:2; 6:12–13; Matthew 26:39; Luke 22:42, 44]. … "

This is a simple thing we can do each day to emulate the Savior's life. Stay close to Heavenly Father through prayer and try to follow the promptings of the spirit in the way we live our lives. It sounds much easier than making a list of things to do perfectly.

Snowman

We finally got enough snow to make a SNOWMAN!

Cami and her friend Elle

Day of Service

Today was Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Day of Service. Churches and schools throughout the community host service projects simultaneously and the kids are off from school. Our ward always hosts a service project called Blizzard Boxes. We decorate and fill boxes with non-perishable food, water, and instructions on how to stay safe in bad weather. The boxes are delivered by meals-on-wheels as an emergency food supply in case weather prohibits normal delivery of meals. They are also taken to an apartment complex for the elderly. It has grown over the past few years and we have many families who are not members of our congregation making this a tradition for their children. Our youth always come and do a great job keeping things running smoothly. We put together over 100 boxes in about 1 1/2 hours.

Windows

My husband was ultra talented this holiday season and made some wooden window boxes for me to cover. We used pink polka-dots for Taylor's room...


...and a textured sage green fabric for the music room by the front door. I think they turned out great!


Next on the list is actual curtains for Cami's Hawaii room (which has been a work-in-progress since her birthday in August). She's very patient and hopefully we'll get them done this weekend.

Hope

The message this morning came from our weekly Sunday School assignment. This week we are to read the JSH account of the First Vision. I focused on verse 16-17:

"But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction... just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound..."


The definition of despair is "without hope". We must have a hope in Christ if we are to be saved spiritually. When we despair, we abandon ourselves, because Christ never abandons us. He is always there, we just have to continue to believe, have faith, and hope. We cannot be held captive by darkness if we have hope. When we allow light in our lives, darkness must flee. Not to say that trials and sadness do not occur, they do. But hope in Christ can keep us from despair and carry us through it all.

Be Believing

This morning the message was taken from Jeffry R. Holland's talk The Ministry of Angels. He speaks about how angels are still sent to help us today, just as they were in times of old. Not only are heavenly angels aware of us in times of need, but many earthly angels come into our lives by way of neighbors, friends, and loved ones. I love this quote:

"I ask everyone within the sound of my voice to take heart, be filled with faith, and remember the Lord has said He “would fight [our] battles, [our] children’s battles, and [the battles of our] children’s children.” And what do we do to merit such a defense? We are to “search diligently, pray always, and be believing[. Then] all things shall work together for [our] good, if [we] walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith [we] have covenanted.” The latter days are not a time to fear and tremble. They are a time to be believing and remember our covenants."

God is aware of each of us individually. He wants to bless and help us if we just ask and believe. I have many angels in my life and I bet you do too.

I've Been Thinking...

I'm not generally one to have a bunch of New Year's Resolutions. I usually set goals starting with the new school year - it just seems more natural to me for some reason. At the start of school I decided to send the kids out the door each day with a spiritual message. We have scripture time each night as a family, but I thought that they could use something uplifting before they enter what can sometimes be a difficult environment.

It has been a motivating, rewarding, and sometimes difficult exercise. I try to share something that came to mind while I was doing my personal study the day before. The challenge is to take my thoughts or feelings and present them in a concise, meaningful way.

As I give these 1-2 minute thoughts each morning I have often been tempted to record them on my blog. It reminded me of Henry B. Eyring (First Counselor in the First Presidency of our church) and his book of gratitude that he kept over the years when his children were little. However, I'm no apostle and I hesitated because they are simple and don't show any sort of scholarly achievement.


I read something the other day that changed my mind and convinced me that someday my children might be glad to have insight in to my spiritual studies. It was by none other than Henry B. Eyring. He offers encouragement to people like me:

"Perhaps some of us may find it hard to believe that we love enough or that our lives are good enough or that our power to testify is sufficient... But the Lord knew we might feel that way. Listen to His encouraging words...
"The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones."
"That the fullness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world"
"And inasmuch as they [are] humble they might be made strong, and blessed from on high."

So, I have decided to record many of my morning messages. I figure that at least a person won't be worse off for having read them, and I just bet that someday I'll be glad I wrote them down.

Hot Cocoa

Cheryl (my sister-in-law) gave me a great recipe for hot cocoa mix. We LOVE it. How much? This container was full only two weeks ago.


If you love hot cocoa, this is what you need to make the mix:


Here's the recipe:
8 cups dry pwd. milk
3 cups dry chocolate/cocoa
21/2 cups dry creamora
2 cups pwd sugar
Add water to 1/4 to 1/3 cup of mix

Just put it all in a BIG container and mix and shake. If you like it a little sweeter, add more sugar. If you like it a little stronger, add more chocolate (you get the picture). Don't you feel warm and cozy already?

The Pencil Sharpener

Our pencil sharpener died. This is a big deal because we have had it since our wedding. A lovely friend of the family (who was a teacher) gave it to us because everyone needs one and she knew that it would be pretty low on our priority list (somewhere behind eating and paying rent).


I picture each of my kids sprawled out on the floor with coloring books, paper, colored pencils, and crayons with the trusty pencil sharpener plugged in right next to them. This poor device has taken a beating. We've obviously sharpened a few pencils over the years, but it has also survived numerous crayons, markers, straws, and whatever else they could think to shove in it.

Farewell pencil sharpener. You have served us well.

Family Values

Our kids are growing up in a very difficult environment (see previous post). When Dallin went to Kindergarten, we had a family meeting to discuss what we expected from our children at school. Dallin and Taylor were very young and we came up with three simple things.

Work Hard.
Do Your Best.
Respect Others.

Over the years we have added other expectations, but these three are often recited by everyone in our family. You can pretty much fit any discussion into one of those categories. This year my sister sent us a tile with our family values on it for Christmas. I hung it by the door. I love it. Once again I will renew my efforts to live by these Seguine Family Values.

"Direct Conflict"

You thought the parents at your elementary school were difficult?

The actions of the parents in our school were in direct conflict with the mission of educating our children.

Even after an intervention with the Assistant Superintendent, the parents wouldn't behave.

They had to shut down our Home and School Association.

Pathetic.

However, if you and I have ever spent time discussing some of the crazies parenting kids in our school, it wouldn't surprise you.

I actually wasn't surprised when this letter came home right before Christmas. The only thing to do now is wait until some of the kids of these parents grow up and leave elementary school and try again.

Those poor kids.

Happy New Year!

We spent New Year's Eve at home (except Dallin who went to a friend's house).

Taylor and Ed played DDR.


Cami and I did a puzzle, played games, and made treats.


Cami and Taylor were determined to stay up to see the ball drop.



They made it! Happy New Year!