Confessions of a Domestic Goddess in Training: March 2017

Monday, March 20, 2017

Please draw me a picture before I go to bed.

And so he did, and her little heart was so happy.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Trying to "Help Them Aim High"

In 2010, President Eyring, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, gave a talk entitled, "Help Them Aim High". In the address he discusses how to encourage those under your stewardship to live and recognize their maximum potential as children of God and beings in His kingdom. President Eyring shares, "With my own children, I prayed for revelation to know how I could help each of them individually prepare for specific opportunities to serve God. And then I tried to help them visualize, hope, and work for this future. I carved a board for each son with a quotation from scripture that described his special gifts and an image that represented this gift. Beneath the picture and the legend, I carved the dates of each boy’s baptism and ordination into priesthood offices, with his height marked at the date of each milestone."
The Beloved and I soaked in this inspiration and immediately began brainstorming our children's possible spiritual gifts and which images should represent them. We loved the idea of helping them visualize, "how to prepare for specific opportunities to serve God."
Seven years later (we've been busy yo) The Beloved masterfully designed our Patton family crest. Each individual in our family has an image representing the gifts given to them by our loving Heavenly Father.

*The Beloved is the stag, representing leadership, intelligence, and protection.
*I am the Ram which stands for being sure-footed and a warrior in defending the family and gospel truths.
*Little C is the moose. He is adaptable, dependable, wise, and steadfast in the gospel.
*Lou is the Eagle, being courageous, determined, and soaring toward God.
*Ruckus is the coyote, guiding with playfulness, loyalty to the family, and finding joy in Christ.
*Moo is the bull, having a head of steel, strength, and a leader to the disciples of Christ.
*Sweetrotten is the badger. She is vibrant, faithful, a guardian to her family, and a defender of righteousness.
*The Baby is an otter, representing creativity, energy, comfort, and covenant keeping.

You can read President Eyring's full address here:

Help Them Aim High

Can you find us?

P.S. Doesn't The Beloved rock?

We multiplied and replenished, now what the heck do we do with them?

Luckily, I'm related to some outstanding resources that can help us out. Two of my sisters-in-law have blogs I depend on for fun, creative, inexpensive activities for the fam. Both of these women you look at and think, "Man, they were born to be mothers." And it shows on their blogs. Ruth and Amy are the coolest. Please enjoy perusing their sites by clicking on the links below.

All Of Us In Tow

Kidsivity

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Piano Recital, Owies, and Building Relationships

Around here we're building character and growing relationships everyday. Whether it's learning how to play nice, compromising, forgiving, sacrificing, loving, or supporting one another, there's an ongoing circle of life lessons in play. When I was growing up my mom made everyone attend any extra-curricular activity going on in the Fam. "We support each other. We cheer for one another, " she'd say. Decades later my sisters and I are still supporting and cheering each other on. Usually on a daily basis. I wish the same for my children.

Below are a potpourri of pictures showing our work in progress: