Today my Dad came and picked me up so I could visit my good ol' hometown of Ferron, Ut. On the way home my Dad asked me to drive so he could rest. While driving, I was struggling to keep my eyes open as well, and I decided to sing the song, "Called to Serve" to myself.
Even though I have probably sang the song hundreds of times, this time a line of the song stuck out to me, "called to know the richness of His blessings". It made me think of my little brother who is currently serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and how sometimes he struggles to answer questions from people found from anti-mormon literature and I realized he was not called because he has all the answers, he was called because he was sent down to this earth to "know the richness of His blessings" that come from being raised as a Latter Day Saint in the restored Church of Jesus Christ, and the Lord wants this knowledge of these blessings spread to the world.
I do not know all the answers but I do know that the Book of Mormon has changed my life. I don't believe in the church because of something someone told me, I believe in the church because of the happiness I get when I do the things that are taught are in the Book of Mormon and the peace I feel when I read the words. It has been a huge blessing in my life to have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion who not only brings me answers but has brought peace to my soul. I have seen miracles because the priesthood was in my home. Covenants I have made are saving my marriage and therefore saving my family from being destroyed.
I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the same church that existed when Christ first established His church on the earth. I may not know all the answers that come with being a part of His church, but I do know the blessings.
Love,
Becky joy
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Monday, June 23, 2014
A book club for PIGS
A year or so ago the PIGS (AKA Cook children) decided to start a book club. It started out with a tea party inspired after the Wardrobe books (sorry I can't quite remember the real title at the moment) and our last meeting had a new twist: this time we wrote the stories. It was a lot of fun to hear everyone's short stories. Something I love about the family I married into is that they don't have have a cable/satellite so we have to be creative when we get together and we make lots of fun memories.
We even had dessert fit for PIGS! Since Weston can't eat sugar, flour, dairy, or basically anything that was in the cookies, Tina was really creative and made him a nice appetizer that he could indulge in as well.
Lots of talent and lots of fun!
Love,
Becky joy
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
God loves all people but not all ideas.
God loves all people but not all ideas... and to tell you the truth, I stand by God on this one. My topic today is homosexual behavior. You can find a scripture reference here to see where God declares His law.
I know this is a heated topic lately and a lot of people will disagree with me when I declare my opinion, quoting Neil L. Anderson, an apostle of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints when he said, "While many governments and well-meaning individuals have redefined marriage, the Lord has not. In the very beginning, God initiated marriage between a man and a woman—Adam and Eve. He designated the purposes of marriage to go far beyond the personal satisfaction and fulfillment of adults to, more importantly, advancing the ideal setting for children to be born, reared, and nurtured. Families are the treasure of heaven."
A big part of me hasn't wanted to blog on this topic because of how many disagreeing opinions are out there and I really didn't want to start a debate (and I will not debate on this topic, sorry, like I said I stand by God on this one not people) but I have decided to share because I feel so so so strongly on this topic. I am not pointing fingers or trying to judge any person, all I am trying to say is that I know it is wrong when it is acted upon and unfortunately it will affect our society in a negative way if people continue to choose to act out homo-sexually.
I mostly wanted to talk about though how a person can overcome the whirlwinds and temptations of this trial. I know God would not ask that marriage was between a man and woman if this was impossible for every person (whether in this life or the next depending on our own situation). Why would He do that?? Well he wouldn't. In fact we are each born with weaknesses that go against His laws, but He has also given us knowledge through scriptures, Prophets, Apostles, etc...of how He can help us overcome our weakness and fulfill all His laws which are really just keys to happiness.
In the Book of Mormon (you can request a free copy here) something has always stuck out to me in the scripture found in Ether 12:27 where it says, " 27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." Notice that I highlighted the word weakness. It is interesting to me that He says weakness instead of weaknesses. Meaning there is really only one weakness. What is that weakness though? If you continue reading God declares He gave us this weakness because He knew we would need His grace and to continue to get to know Him even though we can't remember Him. The weakness we all share is that we all need the saving atonement of Jesus Christ. We all need God.
What does God do for us through our trials and temptations? I love how it's put in Helaman 5:12 (also found in the Book of Mormon), " 12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."
When we come unto Christ and build our lives around Him, trying our very hardest to obey him even though it will be hard, His grace will kick in and save us from the whirlwinds of Satan. I know this is true, I have seen it work in my life over coming temptation and it can be for you whether your struggles be addiction, homo-sexuality, patience or whatever it is, He can help you get out of it and save you.
I invite you, to set aside the natural man inside of you and come unto Christ. He only loves us and wants us to be free from those things that chain us to Satan and cause unhappiness. I know this is true.
Love,
Becky joy
I know this is a heated topic lately and a lot of people will disagree with me when I declare my opinion, quoting Neil L. Anderson, an apostle of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints when he said, "While many governments and well-meaning individuals have redefined marriage, the Lord has not. In the very beginning, God initiated marriage between a man and a woman—Adam and Eve. He designated the purposes of marriage to go far beyond the personal satisfaction and fulfillment of adults to, more importantly, advancing the ideal setting for children to be born, reared, and nurtured. Families are the treasure of heaven."
A big part of me hasn't wanted to blog on this topic because of how many disagreeing opinions are out there and I really didn't want to start a debate (and I will not debate on this topic, sorry, like I said I stand by God on this one not people) but I have decided to share because I feel so so so strongly on this topic. I am not pointing fingers or trying to judge any person, all I am trying to say is that I know it is wrong when it is acted upon and unfortunately it will affect our society in a negative way if people continue to choose to act out homo-sexually.
I mostly wanted to talk about though how a person can overcome the whirlwinds and temptations of this trial. I know God would not ask that marriage was between a man and woman if this was impossible for every person (whether in this life or the next depending on our own situation). Why would He do that?? Well he wouldn't. In fact we are each born with weaknesses that go against His laws, but He has also given us knowledge through scriptures, Prophets, Apostles, etc...of how He can help us overcome our weakness and fulfill all His laws which are really just keys to happiness.
In the Book of Mormon (you can request a free copy here) something has always stuck out to me in the scripture found in Ether 12:27 where it says, " 27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." Notice that I highlighted the word weakness. It is interesting to me that He says weakness instead of weaknesses. Meaning there is really only one weakness. What is that weakness though? If you continue reading God declares He gave us this weakness because He knew we would need His grace and to continue to get to know Him even though we can't remember Him. The weakness we all share is that we all need the saving atonement of Jesus Christ. We all need God.
What does God do for us through our trials and temptations? I love how it's put in Helaman 5:12 (also found in the Book of Mormon), " 12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."
When we come unto Christ and build our lives around Him, trying our very hardest to obey him even though it will be hard, His grace will kick in and save us from the whirlwinds of Satan. I know this is true, I have seen it work in my life over coming temptation and it can be for you whether your struggles be addiction, homo-sexuality, patience or whatever it is, He can help you get out of it and save you.
I invite you, to set aside the natural man inside of you and come unto Christ. He only loves us and wants us to be free from those things that chain us to Satan and cause unhappiness. I know this is true.
Love,
Becky joy
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Potty Training
Potty Training: trying to teach a child the way they have been doing things, and in fact the way you encouraged them to do things the moment you placed a diaper on a very specific area of the body since they were born, is actually wrong.
Although it has been a long process, I am happy to announce Sage is potty trained!!! This last time (since I have attempted at least 3 times before) was super easy! She was actually ready. So how did I do it?? I want to share because when I started the process I wanted to know what other people did and everyone seemed vague and gave me one liners such as: "don't leave the house for 3 days and have your child run naked," or "wait until they potty train themselves" or "buy a potty training doll and lots of juice".... I was super confused because I felt like that was only part of the story.
So this is what I did. This might sound a little weird but Sage was usually in the bathroom with me anyway so when I was going to the bathroom I just started explaining to her what I was doing so that she would start to understand what going potty actually was and she could define it I guess. I started doing this around 20 months old.
Then when she turned 2 my sister got her a potty, some underwear, and I got Sage a doll that went on the potty. We made a potty chart for Sage and for the doll and every time the doll went on the potty she got a sticker on her chart. Sage didn't seem too interested in going herself, even though I asked quite often, but I never forced anything.
Then a few months ago I decided to spend the day with her on the potty so that she could understand it even better. I didn't make it stressful at all and we read books, watched a movie, colored, painted nails, and just spent the day in the bathroom. I would have her sit on the potty for 15 minutes then give her a ten minute break (and of course this is when she would go and pee somewhere on the floor) and then back on for 15 minutes. After a long day of doing it she has understood going on the potty since and randomly would just go on the potty after that. I think we had one success that day and it was really exciting and I called everyone, but of course 2 seconds after I hung up the phone she had an accident again. Oh p.s. I handled accidents by having her help me clean up the accident. I found that if I got mad at her then we were both stressed and she would just have more accidents than successes, but if I treated accidents like it wasn't a big deal then she would have more successes than accidents.
After that day I decided to go along with the whole "potty train yourself method" and just let her use the potty whenever she wanted but if she desired her diaper back then I would just let her have it back. Well since no one has explained to me what "potty training themselves" in detail meant, Sage would often use the potty by herself with no one telling her to do so and then I would stick underwear on her hoping that she would just keep going on the potty but then get stressed out when I was scrubbing p$#% out of the floor. So since I was stressed I was a little inconsistent and kept changing her from a diaper to underwear and vice versa. I am not sure if I did the right thing or not there but if she had an accident and I was feeling impatient then I felt it was better to switch her back to a diaper than to get mad and make us both hate the process.
So this last time (starting a week ago Monday) I decided to just put her in underwear for good and I prayed a lot that I would be patient with accidents. The thing is I felt like she was going on the potty enough without me ever saying anything that she was potty training herself she just needed to get used to the idea of having underwear on all the time. I am not sure what was different about this time but I was super patient and she hardly had any accidents. I have not stuck a diaper back on her since the Monday I began and now I am happy to officially announce she is potty trained!!! We haven't had any accidents for the past couple days. Although I am aware that doesn't mean the end of accidents, I am just happy she understands the process so well that now diapers are not needed.
It took a lot of time, like I said I started explaining the process when she was around 20 months, but I feel like there are a few key points that worked for us:
*If I got mad then she would have more accidents. If I was patient with accidents and remained calm then she would have more success.
*You can start teaching them about going on the potty whenever you want but don't force them to use the potty until they are ready.
*It's okay to go back and forth if you feel like it is too stressful. It needs to be fun so even if they are showing signs of being ready, as a parent you need to feel ready as well. Prayer helps a ton!
*I didn't mention this above but watch lots of shows or read lots of books about going potty. I am seriously convinced the show "Daniel Tiger" did a lot better job at making Sage excited about going on the potty than I did with a doll and some stickers.
* Have fun and enjoy the experience!
Please feel free to ask questions!
Love,
Becky joy
Although it has been a long process, I am happy to announce Sage is potty trained!!! This last time (since I have attempted at least 3 times before) was super easy! She was actually ready. So how did I do it?? I want to share because when I started the process I wanted to know what other people did and everyone seemed vague and gave me one liners such as: "don't leave the house for 3 days and have your child run naked," or "wait until they potty train themselves" or "buy a potty training doll and lots of juice".... I was super confused because I felt like that was only part of the story.
So this is what I did. This might sound a little weird but Sage was usually in the bathroom with me anyway so when I was going to the bathroom I just started explaining to her what I was doing so that she would start to understand what going potty actually was and she could define it I guess. I started doing this around 20 months old.
Then when she turned 2 my sister got her a potty, some underwear, and I got Sage a doll that went on the potty. We made a potty chart for Sage and for the doll and every time the doll went on the potty she got a sticker on her chart. Sage didn't seem too interested in going herself, even though I asked quite often, but I never forced anything.
Then a few months ago I decided to spend the day with her on the potty so that she could understand it even better. I didn't make it stressful at all and we read books, watched a movie, colored, painted nails, and just spent the day in the bathroom. I would have her sit on the potty for 15 minutes then give her a ten minute break (and of course this is when she would go and pee somewhere on the floor) and then back on for 15 minutes. After a long day of doing it she has understood going on the potty since and randomly would just go on the potty after that. I think we had one success that day and it was really exciting and I called everyone, but of course 2 seconds after I hung up the phone she had an accident again. Oh p.s. I handled accidents by having her help me clean up the accident. I found that if I got mad at her then we were both stressed and she would just have more accidents than successes, but if I treated accidents like it wasn't a big deal then she would have more successes than accidents.
After that day I decided to go along with the whole "potty train yourself method" and just let her use the potty whenever she wanted but if she desired her diaper back then I would just let her have it back. Well since no one has explained to me what "potty training themselves" in detail meant, Sage would often use the potty by herself with no one telling her to do so and then I would stick underwear on her hoping that she would just keep going on the potty but then get stressed out when I was scrubbing p$#% out of the floor. So since I was stressed I was a little inconsistent and kept changing her from a diaper to underwear and vice versa. I am not sure if I did the right thing or not there but if she had an accident and I was feeling impatient then I felt it was better to switch her back to a diaper than to get mad and make us both hate the process.
So this last time (starting a week ago Monday) I decided to just put her in underwear for good and I prayed a lot that I would be patient with accidents. The thing is I felt like she was going on the potty enough without me ever saying anything that she was potty training herself she just needed to get used to the idea of having underwear on all the time. I am not sure what was different about this time but I was super patient and she hardly had any accidents. I have not stuck a diaper back on her since the Monday I began and now I am happy to officially announce she is potty trained!!! We haven't had any accidents for the past couple days. Although I am aware that doesn't mean the end of accidents, I am just happy she understands the process so well that now diapers are not needed.
It took a lot of time, like I said I started explaining the process when she was around 20 months, but I feel like there are a few key points that worked for us:
*If I got mad then she would have more accidents. If I was patient with accidents and remained calm then she would have more success.
*You can start teaching them about going on the potty whenever you want but don't force them to use the potty until they are ready.
*It's okay to go back and forth if you feel like it is too stressful. It needs to be fun so even if they are showing signs of being ready, as a parent you need to feel ready as well. Prayer helps a ton!
*I didn't mention this above but watch lots of shows or read lots of books about going potty. I am seriously convinced the show "Daniel Tiger" did a lot better job at making Sage excited about going on the potty than I did with a doll and some stickers.
* Have fun and enjoy the experience!
Please feel free to ask questions!
Love,
Becky joy
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