For most people they have gone through two thirds of their summer with children home.  Were you one that when the kids first came home you were wondering if you would survive the summer and now you are thinking that the summer is going too fast and are not ready for the summer to end?  It might be that you are not ready for the homework again or maybe it is the early morning hours or you have found that you have really enjoyed having your children home.  For other parent's they might be feeling guilty and wishing that they would have done more with their children over the summer.  

Have you ever been so sick that you were willing to go through whatever the doctor told you to do?  Maybe it is bad knees so you have to have knee replacement surgery.  Maybe it is stomach problems so you have to go on a strong medication to fight off whatever the problem is.  For me I have fought endometriosis since I was a teenager and have had surgery a couple of times.  It had gotten to the point where I was in pain over twenty days of the month that caused me to have to take pain medication on some of the days.  I was to the point that I was willing to do whatever the doctor said I needed to do.  
So, I go to the doctor and when he gives me the options I decide to go with the "simplest" way to start with the pain.  I take medication to curve the pain.  It has worked.  I haven't had severe pains since a couple of weeks on the medication, but what I didn't think about is the other side effects that could come.  The headaches, extremely tired, lack of motivation, some depression and pulling away from things.  As I read about the medication and side effects I find several people who have posted the same things and are swearing off the medication.  I start thinking that I am going to do the same.  Then I start to think about which is worse.  What am I willing to go through to get rid of the severity of the pain that I had gone through for years?  Am I willing to put up with some of the side effects?  
As I have thought about my situation I have thought about a friend of mine that would commonly talk about the pain she suffered in her knees.  She had decided that she was going to have a knee replacement done because everyone she talked to said it was worth it.  It has been a couple of weeks and as I have read her Facebook posts she has had to do therapy, can't walk up and down stairs, can't get around, is in a lot of pain and is now missing the freedom that she did have before this.  Was it really freedom?  She was suffering a lot of pain to the point it held her back from doing things.  Now she is in a different kind of pain and it might feel like it is out of reach to feel better, but she is actually on a better road to recovery.
So, where are you at in life?  It might not be a physical pain, but an emotional pain.  Maybe it is a struggle with what to do and you might be thinking the grass is greener on the other side.  It can be, but it is important to recognize that there are growing pains on both sides of the fence.  Just because you decide to take the leap and hope for better there might be pains to get to the better life.  It will come, but patience is what is necessary. It is important to not blame people or your decision, but go into it with high hopes of things getting better.  
Just think about this quote, "Every thought is a seed.  If you plant crab apples, don't count on harvesting Golden Delicious."  Bill Meyer
What seeds are you planting as you go through your challenges whether it is health, emotional, financial, relationships, etc?  The mind can win. 
   

I have known of this song for sometime, but I just come across it again and thought you might like this. It is great and very true!

Internet privacy is an issue of our time. More than ever our privacy is under attack. I saw this infographic on the internet privacy issues and thought that I would share. I will let each of you determine what you choose to keep private and what you do not, but education about what is happening is what we all need to have the level of privacy that we would like. 


The controls are in place for us in many cases to control our privacy, but we must take that control and not leave it up to someone else to decide for us. Click to see a larger version of the internet privacy infographic.

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Today in Sacrament Meeting there was a very wise 13 year old that spoke.  She said, "Sometimes I want to be unhappy, but that doesn't make any sense.  Why wouldn't I want to be happy?"  That might seem pretty basic, but have you ever had a time that you have felt frustrated, depressed, hurt, guilty or mad?  You might feel justified and you probably are for a time, but then as you start to calm down and see things differently you are determined to hold onto the unhappy feelings.  You figure you are going to punish those around you or the person that did you wrong.  This is your way of getting even.  Why?  Does that make sense?  

I have 2 brothers and 6 sisters.  Then 8 of us are married so that makes for 7 in laws and my great husband.  Then you throw into the mix 25 grandchildren all under the age of thirteen.  When you think about this large group of people you might wonder how often they can handle being together.  In fact, I will often talk to others about family and they will comment that their children don't know their cousins or they only see their family once a year.  The amazing thing about my family is that we love being together.  We are together on different Sunday's and then several days of the week.  The cousins are some of my children's best friends.  They know all of their aunts and uncles.  They see their grandparents several times a week.  When you ask my children about some of their favorite memories or traditions most of them are tied to family.  When my children are upset with dad and mom we will ask who they would turn to and it is their grandparents or aunts and uncles.  

Does just the thought of that bring you a happy feeling or one of frustration and a deep thought of how you can motivate them to clean?  I sent my children to go clean their room and the game room and here is what I hear after 30 minutes.  My two youngest are playing around and laughter and eventually crying due to someone getting hurt.  Then my two oldest are silent.  I hear absolutely nothing from them.  They have learned that mom will get focused on something else and have high hopes they are doing what they are supposed to and proceed to go in my room and watch television quietly.  

As a parent it is always nice to hold out hope that your children are learning cleaning skills and you can focus on another part of the house and things can get done quicker.  We might be holding out hope for a very long time.  As I have looked for tips on how to motivate my children to clean in a positive way instead of the garbage bag, loss of rights, grounding, tears, screaming, frustration, fighting and then just giving up I once read that it is best to work with your children.  To put a focused effort into making things look good as a family.  It is teaching them to work together instead of a punishment and sending them away from you.  Most children want to spend time with their parents and family when they are young.  This can instill family together time as they become teenagers.  The bottom line might be that they don't know where to put things or what to really do to make things clean and they might have just as many frustrations.  

I remember reading that and thinking that was just a frustrating tip.  In fact, I closed down the article and felt that didn't apply to me and they were living in an idealistic world.  Then as I think back on my memories as a child of cleaning and working in the yard some of my fondest memories are working together.  The laughter, stories and learning to work as a team are things that have stuck with me.  Then I think on the better times of getting my own home clean and it seems to me that when we have worked together it has seemed to be the most positive experience.  

So, as I am sitting here typing this blog with most frustration of getting the house clean I am realizing it is time to take my own advice and go work as a team and see what happens.  More than likely it will turn out to be a positive experience.  Maybe I can make positive working memories for my children like my parent's did for me.

12 Years ago today I had a son that was 10 months old, only been married a couple of years and I get a phone call from my dad, who is in New York with my mom that the house was on fire.  He tells me that the phone line was burnt so he didn't have a lot of information.  Basically, things he told me was that I was guardian, he didn't know if everyone made it out and he had no idea the extent of the damage in the home.  We raced over there to find tons of fire trucks trying to put the fire out and chaos.  The house was a total loss and all of the belongings from all of the years growing up there were mostly gone.  My siblings that lived there had lost almost everything they cherished. 

Have you ever heard the saying that you should "Make lemonade from Lemons?"

The best time to hear that is when you are in the midst of a challenge.  Maybe you have just lost your job, had a tire blow, a child get really sick, woke up on the wrong side of the bed, had a fight with your spouse, a teenager that stayed out too late, been turned down for something you were really excited about and the list goes on and on.  Basically those challenges are the "LEMONS" that are dished out our way.  Of course, we use lemons as a comparison because they can be sour and might feel like they don't have too many uses all by themselves.  They might look pretty, but then you take a bite and realize that they are just sour.  


When we are feeling the weight of the challenges we might feel like we want to stomp on the lemons instead of nicely squeezing them.  I am sure that most people are telling us that we should nicely cut the lemons, squeeze them and maybe even add a little sugar and we will get great tasting lemonade.  Instead of that process, we might think about STOMPING on the lemons.  Would you feel better if you could take a bunch of lemons and put them on the ground and stomp on them?  If you had them in a large container there is one thing that is for sure.  You would still come out with LEMONADE.  


The process is different, but the end result could potentially be the same.  Which way will make you feel better?  Maybe you start with STOMPING on them, then you choose to pick up the lemons that haven't completely been stomped on and gently squeeze them to get the most out of every lemon.  Then you add a little sugar and you have come up with LEMONADE. 


Life's challenges usually come out with great tasting lemonade, but it is a different process for everyone and some things take longer to taste good.  Which process are you using?  It's alright to use some of both.