Hi! :) The past few months have been very challenging for me. I have been very much dashed through the refiners fire! During these time it seems easy to focus on the hardships in life and forget about the good things. But I have been blessed with perspective, and now I am choosing to not waste this good trial!
Life is once again calming down. Not because the trials are over, but because I am getting back to being positive in the way I view trials. I considered not continuing blogging because I just can't tell of all my frustrations here and that frustrates me further. But I feel good about continuing blogging. I feel good about counting my blessings and "finding joy in the journey!" :D
So, on this very happy day, I wish to write to you some happy thoughts. And I plan to continue blogging about many more moments of joy!
Yesterday morning my youngest son, Levi, (he will be 14 in a couple months) came to me and asked,
This faithful young man turned on old conference addresses and listened to them for hours. Just as he was starting though, I asked him what he was studying (assuming he was about to research a particular topic). His answer was short and sweet...
Levi's request greatly blessed my life... I heard a talk which I didn't recall hearing. It must have been one of the very few which I missed; perhaps the computer acted up while live, or I was late to conference... This may have been a talk I intended to go back and view or read once published, but did not.
If you have followed this blog for some time you know of my frantic parenting phase in which I struggled to establish a family government of laws in which neither tyranny or chaos prevailed in our home. (I wrote much of these things in February of 2011. One of which was titled The Concept of Self Government). The Lord taught me much, but could have taught me more had I been where I was meant to be and heard this talk at that time!
For any who are raising youth who may occasionally take freedom to an unhealthy level, or who may struggle with obedience to parents from time to time... :o, here is a talk for you. I have listened to it a couple times now, and am again reminded of principles in which I have need to improve to help me with parenting a couple of my wonderful youth who, nonetheless, sometimes kindly "enroll me in Parenting 505." (They just want to put me through the refiners fire; aren't they great! ;P ~ I'm sure I put them through the refiners fire, too. :o)
Though there are many things which my children do which greatly please me and ignite great joy, I have also been very much stressed about some rebellious conduct off and on... some of which may stem from parenting styles needing to be adjusted... Hearing this talk reminds me of the principles that my Father in Heaven uses as He parents us; I can think of no wiser parent to pattern my parenting after.
Here is a link to the talk for any of you who may feel the same way I do (if you do, you may be as excited about this talk as I am - great reminders!)... :)
I am so thankful for this talk (among so many others)! ~ I have great hopes to improve my parenting skills!!! :)
PS. One thing I wish I had done A LOT MORE while raising my kids is giving them rewards for doing right... I am so sorry to say I have NOT done that. I was so into wanting them to do the right thing for the right reason that I didn't reward them. I can tell you this - after hearing this talk, I will now! But I did allow certain privileges regardless of obedience or disobedience (how mixed up is that?). At least I am learning now. Thank you for loving me anyhow, Heavenly Father!!! :o :D
Have a great day!
Corine :D
Life is once again calming down. Not because the trials are over, but because I am getting back to being positive in the way I view trials. I considered not continuing blogging because I just can't tell of all my frustrations here and that frustrates me further. But I feel good about continuing blogging. I feel good about counting my blessings and "finding joy in the journey!" :D
So, on this very happy day, I wish to write to you some happy thoughts. And I plan to continue blogging about many more moments of joy!
Yesterday morning my youngest son, Levi, (he will be 14 in a couple months) came to me and asked,
"Mom, can my studies be mostly gospel study today?"I was pleased... I did require that he also do math. :)
This faithful young man turned on old conference addresses and listened to them for hours. Just as he was starting though, I asked him what he was studying (assuming he was about to research a particular topic). His answer was short and sweet...
"I want to hear the conference talks from when I was little and didn't really pay attention."My mouth dropped (though he never ceases to amaze me! My mouth drops frequently with him... :). He started watching the earliest talks in which the videos were online for him to view, and just watched them in chronological order with the plan to eventually hear them all up to the current date. After he watched a few himself, he asked me if I wanted to listen to the next one with him.
Levi's request greatly blessed my life... I heard a talk which I didn't recall hearing. It must have been one of the very few which I missed; perhaps the computer acted up while live, or I was late to conference... This may have been a talk I intended to go back and view or read once published, but did not.
If you have followed this blog for some time you know of my frantic parenting phase in which I struggled to establish a family government of laws in which neither tyranny or chaos prevailed in our home. (I wrote much of these things in February of 2011. One of which was titled The Concept of Self Government). The Lord taught me much, but could have taught me more had I been where I was meant to be and heard this talk at that time!
For any who are raising youth who may occasionally take freedom to an unhealthy level, or who may struggle with obedience to parents from time to time... :o, here is a talk for you. I have listened to it a couple times now, and am again reminded of principles in which I have need to improve to help me with parenting a couple of my wonderful youth who, nonetheless, sometimes kindly "enroll me in Parenting 505." (They just want to put me through the refiners fire; aren't they great! ;P ~ I'm sure I put them through the refiners fire, too. :o)
Though there are many things which my children do which greatly please me and ignite great joy, I have also been very much stressed about some rebellious conduct off and on... some of which may stem from parenting styles needing to be adjusted... Hearing this talk reminds me of the principles that my Father in Heaven uses as He parents us; I can think of no wiser parent to pattern my parenting after.
Here is a link to the talk for any of you who may feel the same way I do (if you do, you may be as excited about this talk as I am - great reminders!)... :)
I am so thankful for this talk (among so many others)! ~ I have great hopes to improve my parenting skills!!! :)
PS. One thing I wish I had done A LOT MORE while raising my kids is giving them rewards for doing right... I am so sorry to say I have NOT done that. I was so into wanting them to do the right thing for the right reason that I didn't reward them. I can tell you this - after hearing this talk, I will now! But I did allow certain privileges regardless of obedience or disobedience (how mixed up is that?). At least I am learning now. Thank you for loving me anyhow, Heavenly Father!!! :o :D
Have a great day!
Corine :D
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Wow, what a boy you have. I hope my kids grow up to be like yours. Sure we all mess up a bit, but they seem to be great kids to me :) I am going to go listen to this talk in the morning for my study. And I like your PS...I need to do that more for my kids. What a great post...please keep bloggin :)
ReplyDeleteI have been meaning to ask you, I would love to know about homeschooling teens, curriculum, social stuff, sports? I didn't intend on doing that, but have thought alot about it lately.
Thanks, Kendra. :) I am so incredibly blessed!
ReplyDeleteI will get back with you on the homeschooling via email, probably tomorrow since I'm about to get to bed now and will want to spend more than 3 minutes to answer your question...
Thank you so much for the encouragement to keep blogging! :)
Corine :D
What a great kid! We have such strong youth all around us and they have so much to teach us! What a blessing they are to us.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you were blessed with this conference talk when you needed it. I do remember this one. It is one of my favorites, but I haven't read or listened to it in a long time... so thanks for sharing it! Don't beat yourself up for the things you didn't do right as a parent... just strive to be a better parent from today forward! (I think you are a pretty good parent... just for the record!) Hang in there. Life will get easier. Thanks for your positive example. You always look for the good in the hardest of times and I love that about you! I hope today is a good day. Love ya!
My 15 year old son will sometimes do something like that and I love it too. Now to get my 13 year old to. :)
ReplyDeleteI remember this talk and it's a wonderful time for me to re-watch it since I have an interview scheduled with my son soon. We need to work on a few things.
Ginger - Levi is an amazing kid; I feel so ultra blessed to have him in my life! And I feel ultra blessed right now for other reasons as well. I feel at peace. :) You are right; life is already getting easier! :D
ReplyDeleteValerie - They are all different, regardless of age. Miles and I are implementing lessons from this today (we just removed the TV from the twins bedroom :o). I am SO THANKFUL for this talk and the peace I feel over implementing these principles!