A Great Talk and New Church Websites

I was checking out the some of my churches' new websites. I really like the www.newsroom.lds.org It has a lot of basic info about the church as well as church news that is quite interesting.

I also like www.new.lds.org. The search is really great. I'm looking forward to using it. But I couldn't find the link for the online ward directory so I gave up and went to the old site to find a phone #. I'm sure I'll get used to it and find other great stuff on the new site. I really want to start having my kids watch Mormon Messages and download them to watch on my mp3 player. Then I read a great quote on the site and followed the link to the whole talk here:

https://new.lds.org/new-era/2010/09/line-upon-line-precept-upon-precept-2nephi-2830?lang=eng&signmein#

It was given by Elder Bednar in 2001, actually on 9-11, anyway-- it is a great talk on listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost and how to tell if it is just yourself or if it is really a prompting. Elder Bednar points out that the Lord works line upon line, and often gives us many small answers that lead up over time to a big answer. He gives the example of dating his wife. He never felt like he got a specific one answer that this is the one, but rather over time as they got to know each other he could see that she was a good person and that they would get married. He said they dated for 15 months and knew each other 4 months before that before they got married. I very much enjoyed the talk and feel edified from having read it. Here is a quote I especially liked:

The process of discerning between our will and God’s will becomes less and less of a concern as time goes by and as we strive to rid ourselves of worldliness—and thereby cultivate the spirit of revelation in our lives. That is, as we mature spiritually, we begin to develop sound judgment, a refined and educated conscience, and a heart and mind filled with wisdom. It is not just that we have grown older, nor have we simply become smarter and had more experiences on which to draw, as important as those experiences are. Rather, the Holy Ghost has over time been expanding our intellect, forming our feelings, sharpening and elevating our perspective, such that we increasingly think and feel and act as the Lord would under similar circumstances. In short, we have made steady progress in obtaining “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16).

Thanks for reading!

Schedules

I ordered the book, Managers of their Homes by Steven and Teri Maxwell because a bunch of bloggers posted their so-called MOTH schedules. I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed with the house and school. We do alright, but I would like to do so much more and I thought this might help. It was a good reminder for me about how important it is to have a schedule. The authors brought up some good ideas like having older children play with younger children to free up time for working with other children and how that is good for everyone involved. Also, she talked about scheduling babies, so I think I'll try harder to get my babies on a schedule although I will use it more as a guideline. But the most value I got from the book was motivation to schedule and plan our days better. I spent quite a few hours on my computer today doing just that. I didn't want to use the enclosed kit. I need a different schedule for each day!! Then I needed to make sure we got each subject on the schedule enough times each day so that the kids will be all done with everything by Friday afternoon. I've got our field trip day and the park included, so I'm pretty proud of that and I think it will be a lot of fun.

I also have scheduled cleaning times for everybody. I've been having the kids clean up certain zones and that helps a ton, but we've got to start folding clothes everyday and following up on the dishes better. I do about 3 loads of laundry per day, and leaving it to be folded once a week is just overwhelming!!

The schedule is pretty close to what we've been doing. The biggest difference is that I am going to have to get up much earlier if I want to exercise, which I love. The kids were looking at the printed schedules and I think they are pretty excited. They all went to bed at 8 and I checked on them and turned the lights out at 9.

Now I just have to schedule and plan our meals and food prep better and get our music and Spanish lessons better planned. Right now though I think I'd better get to bed so I can get up at 6!!

Step by step-- one thing at a time!!

Easy Vegan Soaked Wheat Blender Pancakes

I have made these several times-- they are super easy and nutritious:

3 cups of soft white and hard red wheat mixed soaked about 24 hrs. and drained-- if you don't make them in that time, still drain the wheat and let it start to sprout-- too much of a sprout doesn't make good pancakes, but it's perfect for manna bread or soaked crackers which is what I do with the sprouts I don't use for batter

1/2 T each of baking soda and baking powder ( AL free)
1/2 of a ripe banana
1 1/2 cups of water

Pre-heat your pan or griddle at a medium low heat-- between 4 and 5 works great for me. Too hot-- they'll stick and be very frustrating. Then combine all the ingredients in a heavy duty blender like the vita-mix and blend until nice and smooth about a full minute. If you don't have a heavy duty blender then halve the recipe so it doesn't take forever mixing, but most blenders should be able to handle pancake batter. Grease your pan with cococut oil or palm oil as they don't break down under high heat. Pour the batter on the pans in the desired pancake shapes. Once they bubble-- turn 'em over and pile them on a plate.

We eat ours with 100% maple syrup, fruit if we have it and some organic margarine from the health food store. It takes about 3-4 batches to feed my growing family of 9 (including 2 babies who don't eat them yet). The hardest part is remembering to soak the wheat!

YUMMY!