Thoughts from the Prophets (mingled with some of my own)

{Create}

 "The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit, the greater your capacity to create. That is your opportunity in this life and your destiny in the life to come. Trust and rely on the Spirit. As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you but also the world within you."  ~Pres. Uchtdorf

I have been having a great time with {creating} lately.  Just very simple things.  Baking, sewing, easy-peasy crafts, making baby food, creating order in my home, and so on and so forth.
I especially am enjoying making Gracie's baby food.  I had NO idea how easy it is.  It is exhilarating to bring a large variety of fruits and vegetables into my home and create healthy meals for my baby.  I highly recommend it.  If you have any questions about it, let me know.  I'm learning it all from this site.  


{Motherhood}

"You can’t possibly do this alone, but you do have help. The Master of Heaven and Earth is there to bless you.  Yours is the work of salvation, and therefore you will be magnified, compensated, made more than you are and better than you have ever been as you try to make honest effort, however feeble you may sometimes feel that to be."  ~Elder Holland

I have been feeling the weight of this responsibility lately.  It is a responsibility that I am intensely grateful for, to be sure.  I just want/hope/must be able to live up to it.  I have been feeling the truthfulness of the following quote:

"In the past, having family prayer once a day may have been all right. But in the future it will not be enough if we are going to save our families."  ~Pres. Kimball (1990)

And this one:

"No mother would carelessly send her little children forth to school on a wintry morning without warm clothes to protect against the snow and rain and cold. But there are numerous fathers and mothers who send their children to school without the protective covering available to them through prayer—a protection against exposure to unknown hazards, evil people, and base temptations." 

{Trials}

"Trials give us the opportunity to prove ourselves faithful to God. So many things beat upon us in a lifetime that simply enduring may seem almost beyond us...the test a loving God has set before us is not to see if we can endure difficulty. It is to see if we can endure it well. We pass the test by showing that we remembered Him and the commandments He gave us. And to endure well is to keep those commandments whatever the opposition, whatever the temptation, and whatever the tumult around us. We have that clear understanding because the restored gospel makes the plan of happiness so plain."   ~President Eyring

My mother will mortified that I'm saying this, but I must acknowledge her perfect example of this.  Our family has had [cancer cancer cancer cancer] on our mind for the last while.  I guess that makes it appropriate that now my mom has been diagnosed with breast cancer.  (No cause for alarm.  It is Stage 1and "best case scenario.") She remains incredibly strong through all of this and continues to be the GLUE of the family.   Her example of "enduring well" has made an indelible impression on my soul.