Wednesday's Wisdom

When Noble was about ten or eleven I asked her to pick up all the books that the two youngest boys had dragged off the shelf. She resisted saying that she hadn't made the mess. I explained that I hadn't either and I needed her help to quickly pick it up and straighten the room while I was making dinner. She put her hands on her hips and said, "When I'm the mother I'm not going to make my children work." I looked at her and asked, "So, as the mother, you're going to do all the work?" You should have seen the look on her face as she realized what she had said. As an adult she has thanked me over and over for teaching her how to clean a house.

I love this story from Anita Canfield's book A Woman for All Seasons:

When I was first married, I met a woman with several daughters. One day while I was visiting in their home one daughter appeared at the door with a shirt for her mother to iron. A few minutes later another daughter came in and asked her mom to pick up her room. She was bringing friends over later and wanted it clean. Then a third daughter later came to make a similar request.

 I mentioned to this good lady that she certainly had her work all lined up for her and she replied to me, "I don't believe in making my children do any work at all. The day will come when all they'll do is work and take care of others. These years are theirs. This is their time for fun."

I thought at the time, What a great idea! This mother really has it together! We moved away shortly after that and I forgot all about the incident. Years later we lived in the same ward (church congregation) as one of those daughters. It wasn't long before I realized she had terrible housekeeping problems. One day she confided in me with a great many tears that she hated living in a pigsty--and was embarrassed--but she didn't know how to clean a house.

In this mother's enthusiasm to give her children immediate pleasure, she failed to prepare them for a fuller joy.

Children are young for such a short time, and adults for such a long time. Shouldn't we use those precious years to teach and train them to be competent, successful adults? They will thank us forever for doing so.

 

 

Sometimes you just have to relax . . .

Mother's Day with my boys, the flowers were from Lt. Lehi
l-r  Mr. Movie, JET, PFCMom, Dandylion

What we really look like!

Wordy Wednesday - Parenting

I was the last of my parent's children to marry and have children, by a long time. When we all got together my parents thought my children were brats compared to the older grandchildren, so they sent me a book to help. It hurt my feelings at the time, but I got over it and am grateful for them pointing me in the right direction. The book is John Rosemond's Six-Point Plan for Raising Happy, Healthy Children (also available here and here) Our children were normal, immature children; their grandparents were old, tired and accustomed to quieter, older, mature grandchildren. Also comparing our children to their own was unfair because there are long spaces between my brothers and I and our youngest sister, while my children came at fairly regular intervals and were all young together. That makes for more noise and excitement.

So what's the six point plan? Here's my brief synopsis:

Point One - The Parent Centered Family
When you think about it, the purpose of family life is to raise independent children who will leave home to form their own families and leave the parents on their own again. If we neglect our spouse we will end up strangers when our children are grown and then what's left? Children orbit around the parents, not the other way around. When children are the center, they can grow up selfish and unable to meet the needs of others.
For single parents he says ". . .you can't successfully supply someone else's 'warehouse' unless your own is fully stocked."

Point Two - The Voice of Authority
Expect your children to obey. My parents told me "Make them mind," and it took me a long time to figure out how. Parenting is tiring, but when done right, in spite of exhaustion, produces wonderful adults. We are not meant to be friends with our children until they become adults. We are meant to teach and train them to become successful in life and lead them, literally by the hand when necessary, to that end.

Point Three - The Roots of Responsibility
Expecting children to work is so vital to their maturity. Responsibility comes before rights, a lesson that too many aren't learning, as evidenced in the infantile obsession with rights in our country today. "Give them opportunities to learn the hard way, which is often the only way possible."

Point Four - The Fruits of Frustration
Part of maturity is being able to deal with whatever life throws at you without having a meltdown. Consistent doses of Vitamin N (the NO word) produces children with strengths such as self-discipline and self-control.

Point Five - Toys and Play: The Right Stuff
"So, how are parents to know whether the toys they are buying their children are good investments? In addition to being safe, a good toy embodies four qualities:
-First, it presents a wide range of creative possibilities.
-Second, it encourages manipulation.
-Third, it's age appropriate
-Fourth, it's durable."
He gives a "10" to Legos, with building sets like Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, and Erector Sets coming in a close second. He advocates art materials, dolls (cuddly ones that don't do everything), stuffed animals and such. He also gives his advice on involving children in organized sports (or not involving as he advises).

Point Six - Television and Children: More than Meets the Eye
He advocates severely limiting screen time (of any kind) for children during the most important developmental time of their lives, up to six years of age. "They are called "formative" because they comprise that period during which the young child is discovering, developing, and strengthening the skills he/she will need to become a creative, competent person.

 His final point is to love them enough to do the other six.

These points work! I've seen it in our children and many others who were raised in a similar way. And when adult children express gratitude for being raised in this way, well, that's what we call Parental Paydays. Hope you have many!

Motherhood

Day Fourteen of Count Your Blessings 2013

Today I'm thankful to be a mother. For lots of reasons, but today for the reason that my children have introduced me to things I would never have explored otherwise.

I'm currently reading a book that Noble recommended in a genre that she loves. I can't put the dang thing down even though I have so many things to do! She's also the reason there is a jar of Kimchi in the fridge. I just had a craving for it! I'm also learning Korean, one word at a time.

Of course, my Korean gets mixed up with the Spanish I learned in my childhood and youth and try to keep up. But I'm nowhere near as fluent as PW. He gives me an incentive to get better. And then there's the guns and airplanes to learn about! And he was my first Lego Man, but not the last.

I know a lot more about the inner workings of automobiles because of JET. He loves cars! So I hear about them when he comes to visit. I love his enthusiasm. I always thought a vehicle was just a way to get from point A to point B. But he knows how to drift!!! And other cool things.

Dr. Hair has taught me to look at movies in a whole new way. As a film-maker himself he notices effects, camera angles, bloopers and such. And he can remember dialog from movies seemingly without effort. He's also the younger Lego Man. A master builder with visions and skills that rival professionals.

I sat through a year of violin lessons with Dandylion before getting up the courage to take lessons for myself. Seeing him do it gave me hope that I could learn too. It gave me great joy for four months before finances fell apart and I had to stop. We had fun playing a few duets too. He has music in his soul! I've learned to listen closer to hear the different instruments being played. He plays percussion and those instruments are not always easy to distinguish. But I'm getting better.

My cooking skills are legendary (within my family) having been honed over twenty-four years of feeding hungry children. My patience has increased exponentially over the years. I'm grateful to have learned selflessness through motherhood. And I'm so grateful for all the joy! Especially as my children become my best friends as they reach adulthood.

My only regret is that I couldn't have had five more!

Parental Paydays!

Motherhood is an unpaid, many times unappreciated, more than full-time career. I chose it and have given my very best efforts. My husband and I count parental paydays as anytime we are praised, shown love or appreciation for our jobs as father and mother. This can be as simple as a slobbery kiss and an "I love you" from a toddler to a comment like the one we received at a symphony concert to which we had taken our five children ages 16 to 7. At the intermission, a woman sitting behind us said "You have most well behaved children I have ever seen. You really have done a good job with them." Cha-ching! Parental Payday!

Today I got one from our missionary:

Mom, I want to once again thank you for putting up with me for 19 years and diligently teaching me. I know I put you through a lot of hardship, bad days, tough times, and I may not have always been as respectful or loving as I should have been; However, therein lies the beauty of the Atonement and the gift of forgiveness. I have changed. I have learned. I am trying hard to be better each day, and frequently Elder F lets me know of improvement. He also has a few nicknames for me, as in Elder Einstein, Elder Nigh (Reference to Bill Nigh the Science Guy TV program), and Elder Emerson (I hop I spilld that rite!).

He makes a comment and I back it up with science. thus the nicknames. They are all good-natured and he never does it without humor, so I take it nicely. And he is the one that attended BYU before the Mission. I am the Utah Red-Neck/ Midnight-Shift worker. But I did read encyclopedias as a child, so there is not much to be said. Except maybe "Thank you Mom, for putting them on the bottom shelf of the bookcase, within easy reach of hands driven by a hungry mind."

Also, "Thank you Mom, for teaching me a little cooking before the Mission. I am SO teaching you how to make Argentine Empanadas while conversing in about 2 months!"

So, today is a good day!

P.S. I don't know why the spacing is so weird and don't know how to correct it. Sorry.

Random Thoughts

Yesterday I went for a walk to buy eggs at the grocery store. The boys had requested cookies and I was out of eggs. The weather is WONDERFUL! The walk felt good and the persistent pain in my right knee is almost all gone. That means I've been sitting down too much!

I'm suffering from pile-itis at home. There are piles of paper all over. Little notes to myself (LOTS), handouts from church, newspaper articles to share, letters, bills, misc. stuff, all waiting for some action. I'm pondering how to deal with the ongoing inflow of paper to get it under control and help me take action, find things when needed and decide what to throw out. Please, inspiration, strike soon!

I have always loved being a mother; being a mother to adult children is the best! I feel successful to have three adults making good choices, doing what they're supposed to, and they're such fun friends! We have great conversations and good laughs together. Those years of training that seemed endless have paid off. Three raised, two more to go.

Tender Mercy! I rearranged some things in the freezer and uncovered three packages of ground beef that I didn't know I had. Hallelujah, I don't have to buy more until it goes on sale again.

I found, on-line, some fast growing willow trees to plant in the space between us and our noisy, nasty neighbors. Reportedly, these willows grow eight to fifteen feet per year. Fantastic!

For Family Home Evening on Monday we de-cluttered our movies, judging them by two criteria:
1) Is it virtuous, lovely, of good report, or praiseworthy?
2) Do we want to watch it again?
We cleared out about sixty movies, which was enough that the rest fit nicely on the shelves, all alphabetized for easy access. We have lots of movies, mostly because we don't watch TV, and haven't for the past twenty years.

The boys (and TopDad) are going on a scout campout this Friday. It's girl's night! Anyone want to come over and enjoy a good chick flick with me? I miss my Noble!

Burst of Tears

Friday we received an email from Church Travel detailing our missionary son's homecoming arrival date and time. As I read it I burst into tears, joy and relief. It's been a long two years! He'll be leaving Argentina on April 3 and arriving here on April 4. Ten weeks from Wednesday!

Elder Thoelke with President and Sister Peterson

What Do You Want for Christmas, Mom?

Day Twenty-one of Count Your Blessings

My children used to get very frustrated with me when they'd ask that question.  My answer was always the same, "A clean house and obedient children." 

Today as I was cleaning up the mess from our busy, but relaxed Sabbath I got all teary eyed as I realized that my wish had come true.  Well, not the clean house part, but the obedient children part. No rebels in the bunch; our adult children are all productive, contributing members of society, as well as in the church; our two younger sons are busy with school, work and improving their talents.  We have good relationships and enjoy being together.  We look forward to reunions with those who are away from home presently.

With a grateful heart I say thank you to my Heavenly Father for sending me such great children.

There's No Place Like Home

Day Fourteen of Count Your Blessings

When I was a little girl I told everyone who asked or would listen that I wanted to grow up to live on a farm and have twelve children.  I would play house alternating with teacher, my two loves.  As I matured I couldn't figure out how I could do both, be a homemaker and a school teacher.  But I shouldn't have worried because being a teacher is another name for mother, and God had a plan for me.

I don't live on a farm, in fact, my hardworking husband has NO desire to do anything remotely connected to farming (and I LOVE cows!).  We don't have twelve children either, but that is because we were 31 and 30 when we married and when I had Danny at age 40 I knew I was done.  Having babies is a young people's sport! I really admire my Nana who had fifteen children beginning when she was 23 and ending when she was 46, no twins there either!

During our engagement TopDad and I talked about our future family and home life.  I was adamant that I was going to be a stay-at-home mom; he worried because he felt it took two incomes to make it.  I told him that I knew how to live on one income, having learned from my parents.  He eventually agreed that when we became parents I would be able to stay home.

When I had Noble I couldn't imagine leaving her with someone else and trudging off to work everyday.  Horrors!  When she was three we did put her in a Montessori preschool where she did really well, EXCEPT! Except she began to change into a little monster, picking up bad language and behaviors from the other students.  We lasted one semester and didn't return her to the school after Christmas break.  About that time we asked questions of a family at church who we knew homeschooled their children.  They answered our questions, gave us books to read and invited us to meetings.  It didn't take long for us to be convinced that this was the way to go for us.  What really converted us was attending an end of year exhibition of the whole group in our county.  We were so impressed with the teens!  They were well groomed, articulate, friendly, well-mannered and just wonderful "poster children" for the whole thing.  We said to each other "That's what we want our children to be like."

And that's what they've turned out like.  I'm so thankful TopDad trusted me enough to let me stay home and be a wife, mother, homemaker, and school teacher. It has been my dream career.

Introducing the Family

I was reading some older posts and realized that I had named my boys one thing earlier and am calling them something else now.  That all comes from not having a well thought out plan to begin with and a fading memory as we go along.

So today I'll formally introduce everybody.  Of course you know me, PFCMom, or Rozylass.  I was born and raised in San Diego, California.  I served a mission in Florida Tallahassee, back in the olden days (as my children call them) when it included all of the panhandle, south to Gainesville, and included southern Georgia and Alabama.  I served in all three states and love the South and southern folks.  After my mission I worked, traveled, attended college and kept hoping to get married.  I eventually met a US Marine named Steve, known as TopDad now, and we married in June 1988.  He was thirty-one and I was thirty.  Our first child, Noble, was born July 1989.  She was followed by four brothers, Elder PW in January 1991, JET in August 1993, Doc Brown or Dr. Hair in September 1996, and Dandylion or Mr. Music in June 1998.

We have lived in San Diego, Oak Harbor and Mount Vernon, Washington, Dale City and Stafford Virginia, Provo and Midvale, Utah.  Currently we are in Audubon, IA, Heartland, USA.  It is a tiny town of about 2,100 (my HS was larger) and we are surrounded by gorgeous farmland, corn and soybeans, as well as pastures with cows of all colors.  The rolling hills, woods, wildflowers, streams and farm buildings make for a beautiful picture anyway you look.

When I ask Noble where she says she is from, she says "I tell them I'm from all over, a military brat."  I told her to mystify people by saying she is "bi-coastal."

TopDad is an Industrial Technology teacher here; he teaches beginning and advanced woods, beginning and advanced drafting, keyboarding, Eighth grade exploratory (Careers), and next semester will be adding a new class to his repertoire: Small Engines.  All this keeps him busy enough, and in the spring he adds coaching the Boy's Tennis team to the mix.  At church he's the Young Men's President which gives him reason to spend time with our own boys helping them through the ranks of Scouting.

Noble is in the Air Force now and attending language school in California.  She just got a computer and skyped me for the first time last night.  It was really fun.  She is studying Korean and expects to be stationed there when she finishes school.  She's also an aspiring writer with an imagination to be envied. She creates whole worlds and cultures complete with magic systems and all sorts of interesting creatures in them.  She's tall, slim and beautiful.

Elder PW is in Argentina, way, way down south in Caleta Olivia.  He will return at the end of March 2012 and has a scholarship waiting for him at Westminster College in Salt Lake City.  He dream was to be Marine Corps pilot, but I think his mission has changed that a little.  We'll see what he decides when he returns.  We know it will involve flying.

JET is attending a local community college and loving life.  His major is media productions which shows off his skills and talents.  He is the most social of all our children and loves to be around people.  He is totally artistic, even to the point of making his food look pretty!

Doc Brown/Dr. Hair is a freshman, birthday next week turning 15.  He plays the trumpet in the marching band, loves school and is a serious student.  He is a Lego Master Builder and would love to work for Lego later.  He is also a budding architect who has long promised to build me my dream home.

Dandylion/Mr. Music is thirteen, in eighth grade and still my sweetheart who hugs and kisses me.  He'll always be my "baby" no matter how old and big he gets.  He plays percussion (bass drum) in the Jr. High marching band and his teacher tells us that the band falls apart when he isn't there to keep the beat going.  He is Mr. Music because from the time he was a baby I knew he had music in his soul.  He taught himself to lead music from looking at the diagrams in the back of the hymnbook during Sacrament Meetings at age three.  At age four he wanted to learn to play the fiddle.  At age five he began lessons and took to it like a duck to water.  (It was a VERY sad day in my life to have to end lessons for financial reasons, but that's a whole 'nother story.)  At about age six or seven he announced that he wanted to be an orchestra leader and learn all the instruments.  Well, we'll see.  He is also a good artist and cook and mathematician.  He has so many talents!


Here's my brood, two years ago, in the spring before TopDad and JET moved to Audubon.

And here am I with TopDad, both pictures taken on Mother's Day, in front of the giant Lilac Bush in our backyard in Midvale, Utah.  I wish I could have transplanted that beauty out here to Iowa.  They take so long to grow.

Many years ago when I was struggling with all little children and the boys especially were hard to handle being rude and totally boyish, I had a brief glimpse of all of the boys grown up.  They were all in white shirts and ties and they all loomed over me.  They were handsome and I could feel their protecting power surrounding me.  It gave me the strength to press forward and continue teaching them, training them and leading them to adulthood.  My husband and I often remark that our children are on a 19 year training program to help us be patient with their unfinished selves.  Now that two are out of the nest and another is almost ready to leave I'm beginning to see the fulfillment of that vision.  

I love being a mother; I would choose the same path over again, and I would exercise even more faith and have more children.  True joy in life comes from family and as it has been said "No other success can compensate for failure in the home."  And "The greatest work we will ever do will be within the walls of our homes."  

I Know This Feeling, and I Don't Like It

It's been ten years since I was involved in "potty-training."  Now I'm faced with it again as Cutie Bug goes through it.  Today, I lost my patience and when JET got up I drove his car to the store to buy diapers.  I'm not going to deal with wet couches and chairs, puddles on the floor as well as wet and poopy panties.  I'm a firm believer in not even beginning "training" until a child is at least three.  Before then it is mother training, to remember to take the child to the toilet every thirty minutes.  I'm too busy for that.  When a child is about three, there is sufficient mental maturity to make the connection between bodily clues (feelings) and what to do about them.  Even at three and for a long time after, boys just are too busy playing to pay attention to their body's announcements and they suppress them until OOPS; then it's too late. But before three, it's always an OOPS.  So until Cutie Bug is three, I'm opting for diapers.

Actually when a child is ready, it takes about one day to "train" them.  I had Doc Brown and Dandylion in diapers at the same time.  Doc hadn't been very successful answering the call of nature.  But when offered the chance to go on the Father and Son Campout if he could stay dry, there was no looking back.  He stayed dry from that time on.  He was about three and a half.  Ready!

School Started Today - And other life changes

I still can't get used to school beginning before Labor Day.  But here in Iowa, ready or not, school begins the third week of August.  TopDad teaches woodshop, drafting, keyboarding, small engines, and an eighth grade exploratory class at the local Middle/High School.  (Our town is smaller than the high school I attended in San Diego)  Our two youngest boys are in ninth and eighth grades.  We had breakfast together today, read a chapter in the New Testament, had family prayer and they were out the door.

HOWEVER!  I am not alone as I had been looking forward to.  No, I am the caretaker of two very little boys, ages 4 and 2.  Sons of the neighbors across the street.  This came to be because I had prayed for a way to earn a little money to fill in the gaps of our budget; the neighbor prayed to find someone close and dependable to tend her two boys.  So here we are.  I get a chance to use all the patience I've developed over the years!

Jet, the recent HS graduate, is working in Council Bluffs and preparing to begin college on Monday.  He's getting his wisdom teeth out tomorrow and hoping to be hired for a different job at a extended-stay hotel which includes a room, so he can move to CB and live close to school, work and play.

Noble is at Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California studying Korean.  She's doing well and very happy.

Elder PW has been sick with a cold this week, but otherwise in good spirits, and pressing forward.

Yesterday was my first day tending Little Boy and Cutie Bug, and it brought back all the suppressed memories of how time consuming and exhausting having little ones around is.  Wow!  The best thing about children is that they grow up!  They learn to dress themselves, feed themselves, wash themselves, entertain themselves (boys are always better at this than girls, in my opinion), converse intelligently, etc.  So any mothers of young children reading this, press forward with steadfast faith--whatever stage you are in--it is not forever.

Along with all the usual household chores, and the new responsibilities for little people, I am an early morning Seminary teacher!  Am I crazy?  This will be a challenging year, but my mantra is "I need the money."

Sometimes it is impossible to cut expenses anymore, so the alternative is to raise income.  I'm thankful I can do something at home, allowing me a modicum of freedom to get things done.

Parental Paydays

Motherhood is my chosen career, and has been for the past twenty-two years.  I quit the corporate world five weeks before our first child was born and except for a few, very part-time endeavors, and two years working while my husband was underemployed, I have been a full-time wife, mother and homemaker.  It has been the best choice for me.

I suppose one reason women like to work is for the regular paydays and the feelings of worth that come from daily seeing the fruits of your labors.  Motherhood and homemaking are not like that.  Paydays are infrequent for the first eighteen to twenty years of a child's life; the work is endless and unappreciated.

BUT! When the paydays do come they make it all worthwhile.  I had a huge payday this year on Mother's Day when our daughter, Noble, spoke in church on the subject of "What I've Learned From My Mother."  She described things I'd forgotten about, or things I hadn't known were important to her; and I sat there listening to her with tears of gratitude running down my face, knowing that I (with my husband and God) had created, reared, taught and trained this competent, intelligent, talented, beautiful woman.  What a payday!

We have one daughter and four sons.  When they all were young, that is under ten, my husband and I would say "They are on a nineteen year training program, we have to be patient because they're not done yet."  It helped us through many rough times raising them, and to be honest we still aren't done, as we have an almost eighteen year old boy, an almost fifteen year old boy, and the youngest boy who will be thirteen on Sunday.  We are, justly we feel, very proud of our two oldest.  Noble, who recently left for Air Force Recruit training, and Elder PW who is serving a two year mission in Argentina.

When I took Elder PW to the Missionary Training Center I felt a great sense of accomplishment, of a job well done.  I had successfully taught, trained and prepared a son to serve the Lord as a missionary.  I admit I cried when we dropped him off, but they were tears of joy at being able to give my son to God.  People asked "Are you sad to have him go?"  To which I'd reply "No way, this is what we have wanted his whole life."  Likewise, when we took Noble to the hotel for her to leave to go to Basic Training I thought "How can I be sad?  She is not leaving in anger or rebellion; she is not leaving to go shack up with some jerk; she has made a well-thought out, prayerful decision to serve her country."  I miss her terribly because we got to be such good friends this past year, but I can let her go knowing I gave my best effort to teach her the gospel and to train her so she can successfully navigate through adulthood.

Parenting, or raising childing as it used to be called, is hard work, with no weekends, sick time or holidays.  It is 24/7, 365 days each year.  It takes creativity, perseverance, patience, forgiveness, and a whole lot of other character traits.  Fortunately you can develop those necessary traits on the job, rather than coming to the job fully equipped.

For me the paydays, which are hugs and kisses, notes and cards, verbal thank-yous, infrequent though they are, make all the sacrifice worthwhile.  Seeing the fruits of our labors when our children become competent adults is the best payday of all so far.  I have heard that being grandparents is even better.  Looking forward to that!

The Immutable Law of Gravity

Today is the one month mark so it's time for weigh in and measurements:
Weight - 175 (-3)
Neck - 14" (-1)
Bust - 40" (-1)
Waist - 34" (-1) (I stood up straight!)
Abdomen - 44" (no change)
Hips - 44 1/4" (+3/4)
Thigh - 25" (+1/4)
Calf - 15 3/4" (+1/4)
Ankle - 9" (no change)
Bicep - 13" (-1/4)
Wrist - 6 1/2" (-1/4)

As you can see the changes are mostly due to gravity.  Everything is moving down!!!  And the weight loss is simply water.  I was out and about yesterday and forgot a bottle of water so I am slightly dehydrated.  But truthful, always truthful. 

I didn't get any chocolates (or flowers or cards) for Valentines Day, unless you count the half of a Milky Way bar I shared with Noble while we were out shopping.  I fixed a Chicken Pot Pie for dinner, the top crust covered in little hearts cut from the leftover crust.  It looked really nice and tasted yummy. I used a red damask tablecloth and white linen napkins edged in red; made cranberry juice (from frozen concentrate) and served it is stemware, then we had ice cream with fresh strawberries for dessert.  Also at everyone's place I put a small box of conversation hearts.  And that was our Valentines Day. (My husband has never been big on holidays so I just do my thing and enjoy it with the children.)

So, back to gravity.  To counteract its effect I must strengthen my core muscles and remember what I learned a long time ago from a book called "Set For Life."  The author said "Remember, muscle curves, fat hangs."  And that just about describes me.  All hang.  As soon as the snow is gone I can begin to work in the yard again, which builds muscles; and I can walk, which tightens my tummy and butt better than anything I've tried.  Well, better in a natural and painless way.  I am not into pain, or sweat for that matter.  I've always felt that if I'm sweating I'm either working too hard, or it's too hot, or both.

I set a goal to change my breakfasts--Well, I took smaller portions, does that count?  Still trying to get organized.  Actually I'm very organized, after the sun comes up, it's this getting up in the middle of the night (anytime before the sun is up) that is difficult for me.  But hope, and spring, is on the way.  The days are lengthening and it won't be long before I can be awakened by the sun rather than my alarm.  I'll keep plugging away.  And I'm truly grateful I don't have cows to milk at 4:30 AM.

One last thing; I got a lovely letter from my missionary son in Argentina.  PAYDAY!  He said he'd trade his new hat for a mother's hug!  All the long hours of teaching and training and patience are paying big dividends.  I love being a mother