I had to write this down before I forgot -

This morning I was laying on the couch with Tabitha while supervising the other kids getting ready for school. Out of the blue she says:

"If we covered ourselves with peanut butter, would we stick to the wall?"

Although I don't understand it, I love the way her mind works . . .

I originally started this blog with the intention of recording sharing the joys of motherhood and the events that make up the fabric of my life with my family. Lately I have been disappointed in myself in just recording events and not so much how I feel about them. My motherhood, from deciding how many kids to have, how to raise them, where to go for guidance, and how to pick myself up and move forward when I mess up stems from the beliefs I hold dear to my heart.

I recently read a couple of posts from Jen at Amazing trips where she boldly spoke on some issues that face our society. Although I don't agree with a lot of what she said, I admire her courage in saying what she believes in. I also read in the comments on her posts many different views of God, religion, and how our own beliefs affect others. Our country wouldn't exist if not for people wanting freedom of religion - and free speech is so important to us! This post in not meant to be a rebuttal to Jen's comments. I just simply want to share a few of my core beliefs with anyone who is interested. Not interested? That's okay. Disagree? That's you're right.

I believe I am a daughter of God.

I believe my spirit existed before I was born and that I will exist after.

I believe in Christ and His atonement and Resurrection.

I believe in ongoing revelation from God - both personal revelation and revelation through living prophets.

I believe in scripture. *

I believe all mankind will have the opportunity to learn about Christ and accept Him, if not in this life, then in the hereafter - before they are sent on to their eternal reward.

I don't believe in traditional Hell.

I do not believe in traditional Heaven either.* *

I believe that we will be judged for our works in this life, the true desires of our hearts, and the extent that we accept Christ. This will determine our ongoing progress in the next life.

I believe that I came into this world with a personality and qualities that are mine, that genetics do play a role in who I am, but so does my spirit.

I believe that traditional values and traditional families are essential to God's plan and our society.

I believe the power of God on the Earth, the priesthood, is held by worthy men.

I believe in miracles.

I believe in baptism and ordinances, or covenants with God.

I believe that families are meant to be eternal, that marriages are meant to last beyond this life, as well as ties to children and parents. I believe this is possible through the power of Christ through ordinances and covenants.

I believe in Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate beings.

I believe that Christ will come again to reign on Earth. I don't, however, believe that people of my own religion are the only ones who will remain alive on the Earth at that time.

I believe that God knows my name and cares about what happens to me.


If you are familiar with my religion you may have guessed that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormon). I do not intend to speak for others of my faith, only to convey a few of the things that I have found for myself to be true. Thank you for letting me share these with you. If you care to find out more about my religion you can go here.

*I believe in the Bible, but that it has been mistranslated throughout the years. I believe precious teachings that were lost have been restored by a prophet. These are recorded in the back of the LDS printings of the King James Version of the Bible. I also believe in the Book of Mormon, a record of God's dealings with the ancient people of the Americas.

**I believe in what Mormons call "The Plan of Salvation" or "The Great Plan of Happiness" which teaches that very few people will end up in a place in the eternities where there is pain and suffering. After judgement we will be placed in the "Heaven" (degree of glory) that we will be most comfortable in. This may be a little hard to understand at first, but I don't believe God wants his children to suffer forever.

Tim and Tab have learned a lot about the creation and where they came from. They ask a lot of questions about Jesus and what he created and so forth. Tonight Jeremy was telling us about a book he is reading that compares sci-fi weaponry with the real stuff (read on, this does have something to do with the previous two sentences). Eventually the conversation turned to the ultimate sci-fi weapon, the Death Star (Dun dun dun Duh duh dun Duh duh dun). After Jeremy reminded us how it could blow up the whole planet, Tim commented, "Then Jesus would sure have a lot of work to do!"

There is something about boys and dirt that are inseparable. Now that the weather has cooled off enough for the kids to be outdoors for more than a few minutes without incurring heat stroke, Tim has taken up residence in his favorite place. The sand box.
He is usually joined by one or more of his siblings, which is no problem as George built it big enough for all six kids to dig around in if they so choose.
Tim loves the tractors. Here he and Tabs have a whole parade of them going to the work site.
Often when the bigger kids are out there they will carve out lakes and rivers and fill them with water. They like to watch the water erode their castles and bridges, and have even been known to bury the hose inside a "volcano" and then turn it on and watch it erupt!