Well I sit here again typing about religion and possibly leaving another faith behind, process of elimination I suppose :0)
The big question I guess for most my age is Who am I? What do I stand for? What do I beleive?
I felt the need to hurry and get these questions answered as I have 5 kids who are looking up to me and need me to know who I am and are needing something to base their own beleifs off of.
Why LDS- I will be forever grateful to the church and how much it opened my eyes to so many things. I learned SOOO much. This journey definately wasnt in vain. You can never have a better education about something than fully immersing yourself in it. They are awsome people, so faithful and really living examples of the gospel and charity and humility and giving......alll the things I want for my kids.
Why not LDS- Well to put it simply, I beleive a person who has faith can beleive anything they want to if they choose to so I had no doctinal problems with LDS. My problems are small but large enough to send me astray. The time commitment of these awsome folks is the major reason we are leaving the church. Nate works 5-6 days a week and many many hours so it feels like an impossible feat to try to do church alone with 5 kids week in and week out for 3 hours(1 of which kids are with me the whole 1h20 min), having callings(everyone has a job in the ward), meetings for your callings, visiting teaching(each sister visits two sisters a month and 1 visits you, home teaching 1X per month(each brother visits one family per month and one visits you), ward activities, conferences etc. It would fill every second of Nates time off which isnt something we are willing to do.
What we will carry on regardless of being in the church-
Family home evenings on Monday nights. Its an evening with a lesson to talk about many of the great things the gospel has to offer. Ex of some lessons, Charity, humility, baptism, commandaments, tithing, respect, love, hope, faith, and sooo many more. I have a great book with around 100 lessons in it for monday nights! We also do a dessert or activity together and a prayer.
Following the Words of Wisdom. We no longer drink alcohol or caffeine and do not ever smoke anymore.
We beleive in God's Word and Wisom and plan to teach our kids of his plan of Salvation.
I beleive in callings for people given to us by God. We each have special talents and mine is to raise babies and follow the commandment to Be Fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth with beautiful babies OF course only as many as seems right or responsible and leaves my sanity in tact!
We still loosely use our Christian homeschool curriculum, but my beliefs with homeschooling are very rooted in child led learning and allowing my children to develop their areas of interest or areas of God-given abilities/callings by enabling them to do lots of things on their own that interest them.
What else do I stand for and who else am I- I am a woman of God first, then a mother, a wife next and ME last. All my other doings and pursuits in this life will follow AFTER those things.
I am eco-chic and this will remain forever. We eat organic mostly, I am getting my own wheat berry grinder to make my own fresh flour and I already make my own fresh wheat pancakes using the blender YUM. We use all organic cleaning products as well as hygeine products. Being domesticated is the most rewarding thing a mother can do. I knit, sew and have learned many arts of domestication I never thought possible. I cook and bake like no other.
I am a cloth diapering addict. I love cloth diapering. My stash of diapers is getting bigger by the day. I am getting ready to make another huge purchase of swaddlebees, Sandys and many other organic/hemp/bamboo diapers. Hemp and Bamboo are awsome and contain natural germ killers in them!
I am in love with babywearing. I full beleive in it and the benefits of it. I have oodles of websites if you want to read about it!
I dont beleive in (ABC)artificial birth control OR abortion. They both make me wanna yack. ABC causes mini abortions each month. Abortion is no different than killing a child because well, it is a child. Our bodies are so easy to figure out and avoid pregnancy that it confuses me how lost people can be when it comes to their own bodies.
I think breastfeeding for extended periods is one of the greatest gifts motherhood can offer and I wish I would have made the 2 year mark with my other kids, but am determined to with Kenna.
I beleive in growing our own food to the extent possible in our own yards, gardening is so awsome for kids and a great outlet for mommies as well. Its peaceful and gets us out and 1 with nature.
I beleive in the insitution of marriage lasting forever, we made a vow to God and unless someone is being beaten, there is always a way to make it work.
I strongly beleive in staying at home if a mother is able to. When I say able, I mean, if you have to give up cable TV and fancy clothes, then so be it, you should. As a mother, no amount of money can ever take the sacred place in which we belong, at home! Now, if your family would literally starve without you working, by all means, work. I have strong ideas about latch key kids or kids being raised by people other than their mommies.
Lastly I have drastically made over my wardrobe to cover my hiney and boobies up! I needed to get more modest having lil girls looking up to me as a woman and having boys who need to look beyond those things in women. I think its super important to be an example of the way I would want my girls to dress. Now I am not walking around wearing prairie dresses, but I am wearing a lil looser jeans, longer dresses and skirts and mainly, covering up the twins!
My music has changed these days as well. Why listen to smut? Listening to it endorses it and makes those things in life seem normal or good when indeed, they really arent.......my kids dont need to hear about shawtys booty going bouncing up and down......lol
I guess what I want for my kids is for them to grow up with decent, modest, happy parents who were around and sober and loving and raising them in Gods way to do what their calling in life is and to be happy doing it!
So if you read this far, my Gosh you are awsome! I am sorry for any I offended anyone as that is certainly not my intention, but my beliefs are strong and going and I hope to raise moral, righteous kids and I want to be a walking example of that myself. I am also working on humility and giving more, feeding the homeless or visiting the elderly, things that are important. We all know I have not always been that example and living that way brought me nothing but insecurity and unhappiness. Now just because we do these things doesnt mean my friends should. These are things we beleive together as a family unit, but I would never pass the judgement on to someone else as I am not so close minded to think others do it my way or no way. I beleive every family finds what works for them and these things work for us! I love my family, my children, my husband and myself. Wow thats not something that has always come easy. I guess I am sorta coming into my own these days.
The big question I guess for most my age is Who am I? What do I stand for? What do I beleive?
I felt the need to hurry and get these questions answered as I have 5 kids who are looking up to me and need me to know who I am and are needing something to base their own beleifs off of.
Why LDS- I will be forever grateful to the church and how much it opened my eyes to so many things. I learned SOOO much. This journey definately wasnt in vain. You can never have a better education about something than fully immersing yourself in it. They are awsome people, so faithful and really living examples of the gospel and charity and humility and giving......alll the things I want for my kids.
Why not LDS- Well to put it simply, I beleive a person who has faith can beleive anything they want to if they choose to so I had no doctinal problems with LDS. My problems are small but large enough to send me astray. The time commitment of these awsome folks is the major reason we are leaving the church. Nate works 5-6 days a week and many many hours so it feels like an impossible feat to try to do church alone with 5 kids week in and week out for 3 hours(1 of which kids are with me the whole 1h20 min), having callings(everyone has a job in the ward), meetings for your callings, visiting teaching(each sister visits two sisters a month and 1 visits you, home teaching 1X per month(each brother visits one family per month and one visits you), ward activities, conferences etc. It would fill every second of Nates time off which isnt something we are willing to do.
What we will carry on regardless of being in the church-
Family home evenings on Monday nights. Its an evening with a lesson to talk about many of the great things the gospel has to offer. Ex of some lessons, Charity, humility, baptism, commandaments, tithing, respect, love, hope, faith, and sooo many more. I have a great book with around 100 lessons in it for monday nights! We also do a dessert or activity together and a prayer.
Following the Words of Wisdom. We no longer drink alcohol or caffeine and do not ever smoke anymore.
We beleive in God's Word and Wisom and plan to teach our kids of his plan of Salvation.
I beleive in callings for people given to us by God. We each have special talents and mine is to raise babies and follow the commandment to Be Fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth with beautiful babies OF course only as many as seems right or responsible and leaves my sanity in tact!
We still loosely use our Christian homeschool curriculum, but my beliefs with homeschooling are very rooted in child led learning and allowing my children to develop their areas of interest or areas of God-given abilities/callings by enabling them to do lots of things on their own that interest them.
What else do I stand for and who else am I- I am a woman of God first, then a mother, a wife next and ME last. All my other doings and pursuits in this life will follow AFTER those things.
I am eco-chic and this will remain forever. We eat organic mostly, I am getting my own wheat berry grinder to make my own fresh flour and I already make my own fresh wheat pancakes using the blender YUM. We use all organic cleaning products as well as hygeine products. Being domesticated is the most rewarding thing a mother can do. I knit, sew and have learned many arts of domestication I never thought possible. I cook and bake like no other.
I am a cloth diapering addict. I love cloth diapering. My stash of diapers is getting bigger by the day. I am getting ready to make another huge purchase of swaddlebees, Sandys and many other organic/hemp/bamboo diapers. Hemp and Bamboo are awsome and contain natural germ killers in them!
I am in love with babywearing. I full beleive in it and the benefits of it. I have oodles of websites if you want to read about it!
I dont beleive in (ABC)artificial birth control OR abortion. They both make me wanna yack. ABC causes mini abortions each month. Abortion is no different than killing a child because well, it is a child. Our bodies are so easy to figure out and avoid pregnancy that it confuses me how lost people can be when it comes to their own bodies.
I think breastfeeding for extended periods is one of the greatest gifts motherhood can offer and I wish I would have made the 2 year mark with my other kids, but am determined to with Kenna.
I beleive in growing our own food to the extent possible in our own yards, gardening is so awsome for kids and a great outlet for mommies as well. Its peaceful and gets us out and 1 with nature.
I beleive in the insitution of marriage lasting forever, we made a vow to God and unless someone is being beaten, there is always a way to make it work.
I strongly beleive in staying at home if a mother is able to. When I say able, I mean, if you have to give up cable TV and fancy clothes, then so be it, you should. As a mother, no amount of money can ever take the sacred place in which we belong, at home! Now, if your family would literally starve without you working, by all means, work. I have strong ideas about latch key kids or kids being raised by people other than their mommies.
Lastly I have drastically made over my wardrobe to cover my hiney and boobies up! I needed to get more modest having lil girls looking up to me as a woman and having boys who need to look beyond those things in women. I think its super important to be an example of the way I would want my girls to dress. Now I am not walking around wearing prairie dresses, but I am wearing a lil looser jeans, longer dresses and skirts and mainly, covering up the twins!
My music has changed these days as well. Why listen to smut? Listening to it endorses it and makes those things in life seem normal or good when indeed, they really arent.......my kids dont need to hear about shawtys booty going bouncing up and down......lol
I guess what I want for my kids is for them to grow up with decent, modest, happy parents who were around and sober and loving and raising them in Gods way to do what their calling in life is and to be happy doing it!
So if you read this far, my Gosh you are awsome! I am sorry for any I offended anyone as that is certainly not my intention, but my beliefs are strong and going and I hope to raise moral, righteous kids and I want to be a walking example of that myself. I am also working on humility and giving more, feeding the homeless or visiting the elderly, things that are important. We all know I have not always been that example and living that way brought me nothing but insecurity and unhappiness. Now just because we do these things doesnt mean my friends should. These are things we beleive together as a family unit, but I would never pass the judgement on to someone else as I am not so close minded to think others do it my way or no way. I beleive every family finds what works for them and these things work for us! I love my family, my children, my husband and myself. Wow thats not something that has always come easy. I guess I am sorta coming into my own these days.
4 comments:
(Sorry, I had to delete my first comment due to typos! Teach me to preview first, lol...)
Janis, I love your blog! Will you take it as a compliment (that's how it's intended!) when I say that you remind me so much of myself at 24? I had fewer kids back then, but many of the same priorities, goals, and interests. I'm looking forward to more of your blog entries :-).
Joni
February 3, 2008 4:09 PM
Thank you Joni!
Wow. What an inspiration you are! I am tempted to print this post out and stick it on my mirror where I can see it every morning! You are an amazing, AMAZING mother, wife, and woman and I can't wait to see what you blog about next!
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