My Life's Mission in Someone Else's Words

While reading BYU Magazine today I came across an article about a woman who has written many books and given many talks on being a homemaker.  When asked what she would say to the women of the church if given a chance she summed everything up in a less than a minute talk.  This is it.

Managing a home involves much more than keeping a house clean, organized, and attractive.  These skills are important, and I've spent much of my life teaching women how to attain them, but these skills are only a means to an end.  The paramount objective is to create a setting where family and friends are comfortable and happy, where there are good dinners and good times, where there is fun and laughter, where children acquire good habits and are taught life skills and how to be self-reliant and responsible, where challenges are faced by coupling temporal endeavors with eternal perspectives, where joy through gospel teaching and living prevails, where kindness and respect reign supreme, where love is strong enough to bind the family forever, and where children are nurtured toward eternal life.

If I didn't already have a family mission statement, this would be it.  If all households in America lived by these words we would probably be translated as a country.  Thank you, Daryl Hoole, for writing the words of my heart.

Heart Ache

Heart ache is such a literal term.  My grandchildren are leaving me and my heart literally hurts.  It's a very real physical pain.  I cry day and night and can't imagine them not being in my home and in my arms almost every day.  I know it can be done because I have gotten used to my other granddaughters being gone and I don't pine for them on a daily basis but I am so not looking forward to it.  On Wednesday Logan and Michelle and Landon and Chloe are moving to Arizona and will then be five hours away instead of five minutes.  I can't wait until enough time passes that it doesn't hurt to think about them.  I'm actually going to buy a new car that gets really good gas mileage so I can make frequent trips to Oakland and Arizona and Utah.  If Kyle and Aubrie take Rylie to Louisiana I'm really out of luck because that kind of trip will be really hard.  Not only do I love my kids to death but I love THEIR kids to death as well.  This is really hard:(

#3 Daughter-In-Law

Today is Tracy's birthday.  She brings up the tail end of the May birthdays.  She and Jensen fell for each other about as fast as Tanner and Alana.  The funny part is that they knew each other growing up and never really saw each other in that way until Jensen got off his mission.  On his first Sunday back from his mission he bore his testimony in church and so did Tracy.  We are in the same ward so they saw each other and sparks flew immediately.  They started dating that night as he and Kyle took her to a fireside and they were married 4 months later.  They are at BYU now finishing up his education there.  Tracy had both Brandon and Pat as her seminary teachers and they both liked her a lot.  I have known her family and sisters for years but since she's the baby I didn't know her as well.  When she came into our family I was a little worried about her because she doesn't have any brothers and we have quite a few boys.  She didn't even blink.  She fit right in to our noisy, boy-filled family.  She is a quiet but smart and creative girl who loves my son with all of her heart.  She is beautiful in so many ways and loves and lives the gospel.  I'm so glad she is in our family and I can't wait until they move closer to us so we can see them all the time.  Happy Birthday, Tracy.  I love you tons:)

My #1 Job

Mother's Day is my favorite day of the year.  I hear so many women say that they don't like Mother's Day because it reminds them of all the things they didn't do and all the things they should have done in raising their children.  I don't know why but I never think of those things.  All I think about is how much pure joy I've had for the last 31 years raising my wonderful children.  They are absolutely the light of my life.  I love them like no others and can't even begin to explain that love to someone who doesn't have children.  It's the deepest, most intense feeling in the world.  I have loved all of the things I have taught them and all of the things they have taught me.  I have loved all of the highs and lows because they have brought us closer to each other.  I really love the people my children have become.  I love spending time with them and watching them with their children.  I am beyond proud of all of them.  They are everything I hoped they would be when they grew up.  Mother's Day is my favorite day because motherhood is my life.  I don't expect presents from my kids  (and being boys I rarely get them:)).  It's just a day for me to reflect on the happiness that being a mother has brought into my life. 

Happy Mother's Day to me:)

An Eternal Family

It's Official!

Logan and Kyle passed both their national and state tests for physical therapy so they are both officially DOCTORS!!!!!  I couldn't be more proud:)

My Silent Soldier

Today is my 5th son's birthday and I just wanted to tell the world (or both of you who read this blog) how much I adore this child.  He was born with pneumonia so I didn't get to bring him home for 10 days.  I was worried about not being able to bond with him.  The four monkeys I had before him were finally old enough to take care of themselves, somewhat, so I was really craving a baby to snuggle.  I wanted him to be a baby forever.  He, of course, had other ideas.  He was my earliest child to do everything.  Roll over, crawl, walk, ride a bike, you name it.  He was a baby for about a minute and a half. Sigh.  Luckily, he turned out to be my baby in other ways.  He has always been so amazingly sweet to me and so respectful to me.  He asks my advice for everything and actually listens to it once in awhile.  He is a devoted, responsible and caring husband.  He is a steady, way above average student.  He is a quiet, strong, righteous, obedient, humble and loving son and I am so glad that he will always be my silent soldier.  Happy Birthday, Fronies.  I love you forever Moore.

Amazing

Many of you know my son, Kyle, and the rough and windy path he has been handed in this life.  He wanted to get married the day after he got home from his mission and start having children the day after that.  He didn't meet his wife-to-be until he was 26 and didn't get to marry her until he was 28.  Once his wife got pregnant it was a nightmare of the ugliest degree.  His wife was sick in bed 24/7 for the entire pregnancy except for about 4 days when they thought it was all over and they would finally get to start living again.  At the end of 4 days she went into labor and she was only 20 weeks along.  After a miracle and an operation they were able to keep the baby in for another 4 weeks and then she was born at 1 lb. 6 oz. with a 50 percent chance to live.  All of this happened to the most faithful, obedient, kind and loving boy you could ever meet.  During this whole trial of trying to live his dreams he has continued rock solid in his faith and confidence in the Lord and His plan.  His testimony has never waivered and he has never complained, maybe wondered a little, but never really complained.  He and his beautiful wife are completely calm in the face of this extremely stressful time.  They both know that there is a plan for their lives and that it is going to unfold exactly as it is supposed to.  They have faith that they will be able to handle whatever comes and they are calm and serene.  It makes it so much easier for those around them to feel hopeful and calm also.  They are an amazing couple and I love them more than I can ever say.

Rylie Ann Moore

Just when I thought I couldn't fit another May birthday tribute in, our little angel, Rylie Ann was born at 12:37 a.m. this morning.  Which puts her right on Aleigh's birthday, which puts her in May.  Oh well, what's one more?  The weird part about this is that Rylie wasn't due to be born until August 19th.  She's a tad early.  She weighed 1 lb. 6 oz.  She has a 50 percent chance of surviving at this age but she is now about 16 hours old and hanging in there very nicely.  We already love her to pieces.  She is our little miracle baby and I would like her to retain that title by living a very long and healthy life.  Happy Birthday, Rylie.  You will never comprehend how much we love you.

#5 Daughter-In-Law (almost)

Today is Aleigh Joy Mellinger's birthday.  In about a year or maybe a little less she will be my daughter-in-law.  Even though we have traveled a rather rocky road to get to where we are today, I can honestly say that I love this girl like she was my own daughter.  She and Hunter fell in love waayyy too young and she was not a member of our faith so we faced many challenges in the early years.  Luckily, we were all singing from the same page in our goal to get Hunter on a mission so they were very obedient to our guidelines for their relationship.  Also, very luckily, she developed a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and had a strong desire to join our church.  During the early years I kept my distance from her because we were trying not to treat her any different from Hunter's other female friends.  The day he left for his mission it was like the floodgates opened and my feelings for her could finally come out into the open.  We had achieved our goal of getting our boy, worthily, out on his mission and I was finally free to love Aleigh.  That turned out to be exceptionally easy to do.  A few months after Hunter left she was able to be baptized into our faith and I discovered that she is the most like me of all my daughters-in-law.  I get along with her so well and she is like a sister to Savannah.  Everyone in our family loves her to pieces and can't wait until she becomes "Forever Moore".  She is very talented in baking and crafting and shopping.  She is very friendly and kind and sweet.  Her testimony is stronger than many life-long members and she is eager to learn what makes a marriage celestial.  She can't wait to give me grandbabies (yayyy!) and I know she will love my son with all of her heart forever.  Since my family has shrunk down to nearly nothing I really treasure our Sunday nights when she comes over for dinner and Family Night and she

loves making the treat every time:)  She is a wonderful girl and I'm so glad she is going to be in our family.  Happy Birthday, Aleigh Joy.  I love you!!!