Write-Downable of the Week: Who's Medusa?

Write-Downable (n) 

"A statement that is cute, funny, priceless, sensitive, loving, one-of-a-kind, sweet, or spiritual; a word, phrase, sentence, or story that touches the heart of another and is deemed worthy to write down, thus recorded forever and not forgotten."

Word Created By: The Bushman Family

Definition By: Julie Bushman

Write-Downable of the Week:

Our family was watching a movie this week and Medusa was mentioned...you know, the tweako in Greek Mythology that had hair of snakes, and if one were to look upon her, he would be turned to stone?  

My daughter turns to me and says, "Who's Medusa?"

14 year old son says, "It's that guy that lived to be like 924, right?"

WRONG! Sorry, honey. That was Methuselah...and he was 969 years old. We all had a good laugh!

But hey, I'd rather them know about Methuselah than Medusa!

MOSES...Not Methuselah, but close enough? (2010)

More to Come...but until then, Stick-to-it!

Analogy: Crayons, Choices, and Children

"Mom, come quickly. Look what she did!" 

Black crayon scribbled all over the coffee table.

GASP (from me)

Eyes full of  sorrow looked up at mine. 

No, I wasn't mad. But, I wasn't going to let a teaching lesson go by.

Get out the Magic Eraser. Wait, I don't have a Magic Eraser.

Baby Wipes.

Well, it's not the first time I've dealt with a child scribbling crayon all over something, whether it be the wall or the couch or the table, or my Messiah score. At least crayon comes out, not like the "pretend boyfriend" one of my daughters drew in permanent Sharpie on the bedroom wall years ago. 

After seeing the mess she made and being so proud of myself for not raising my voice or getting upset, I quickly told her that it's unacceptable to make a mess of our home and she needed to clean it up. Remembering that the Magic Eraser was used up with some spring cleaning a few weeks ago, I resorted to the baby wipes. I gave her a handful and told her to go to town on scrubbing that table clean. She knew not to complain. She got busy. (Sometimes I think they like cleaning up the mess - to a point - especially if it involves scrubbing.)

No, I don't clean my house or make sure my children look perfect before I take their pictures. This is Bushman Family Reality!

Almost immediately, older brother jumped in to help.That's my scout - doing a good turn!

Many Hands make the Job Light

 
After 20 minutes or so she asked me to come and look at her progress. Pretty good, especially for a 4 year old. There were a few places she missed that I pointed out. She started to complain a bit, "It's too hard, Mommy." There it was...the words that sink into your heart when a child has done her best and is feeling the effects of fatigue and remorse. I took the wipe from her and started scrubbing for her. She placed her hand on mine and we scrubbed the last of it together. She felt happy, with a sense of accomplishment for fixing what she had done.

...take me by the hand...

As we finished up, I suddenly had a spiritual moment...

We all make mistakes in life, like scribbling on the table.  If we leave it alone and don't try to clean it up or make it right, it stays there for all to see, or maybe just for us to see, reminding us of the mistake. Those reminders make us feel guilt or sorrow or sadness. We look at the mess and think, "I don't know how to get rid of it. It's too hard." That's where the Savior comes in. He helps us get rid of the mess, standing by us, strengthening and encouraging as we follow his road map to repentance. (Brother Scout) As we follow it, and do ALL WE CAN, he takes our hand and helps us finish on the path (Mom). He forgives us and remembers our mistakes no more. Best of all, he takes away the guilt and the sorrow and the sadness. He cleanses us and comforts us, which enables us to feel joy. He makes it right.

It's interesting what happens when we follow the Lord's plan of parenting. The pattern is set in the scriptures, and it's up to us to study and learn and practice. We both learned a lesson that day. She learned the consequence of scribbling on the table - being accountable to clean it up, apologize, and do all she can to make it right. I also hope she realized and felt the support from those who love her.  I learned that parenting brings joyful lessons and spiritual moments, thus the Analogy of Crayons, Choices, and Children.
 
More to Come...but until then, Stick-to-it!

It's a Feeling

"Christmas is a feeling, filling the air.
It's love and joy and laughter of people everywhere.
Christmas is a feeling bringing good cheer;
It reaches out to touch you when the holidays draw near.
It's mistletoe and falling snow
And candles burning bright.
It's a baby in a manger on a cold winter night;
It's glad noels and chiming bells,
And presents by the tree;
It's the spirit of giving in you and in me.
For Christmas is a feeling filling the air,
It's love and joy and laughter of people everywhere.
But if Christmas is a feeling
Bringing such good cheer,
Then why, O why don't you and I
Try to make it last all year?
Why can't it last all year?"
Christmas is a Feeling

When I was an elementary student, we learned and performed the song, Christmas is a Feeling, for a school concert. Since then, I have loved the beautiful tune and the meaning of the words. Christmas is a glorious feeling! I remember the Christmas feeling from my childhood. Allow me to reminisce...

 

I recall coming home from school each weekday in December , opening the door and smelling the fresh scent of pine, coming from the LIVE Christmas tree we acquired from the boy scout tree lot up the street. Mom always had the Christmas lights on when we came home. I remember sitting on the couch at night with all the lights off except for the Christmas lights. We always put the same strand of large colored bulbs around the big windows in the front living and dining room. The Christmas tree always had colored lights. The decorative tree in the corner had white lights. Mom compromised. We always wanted white lights on the tree; mom wanted colored. I sat on that couch night after night, staring at the lights, reading stacks of Christmas books found in the basket by the couch, and listening to the Christmas music that always seemed to be playing on Mom's under the cupboard radio in the kitchen, tuned to KOIT. 

 

The excitement when the presents were wrapped and placed under the tree was almost tangible, and I can still remember it now. Shaking and feeling the presents was common. Searching the house for gifts was an annual event until I found them one year and was entirely disappointed on Christmas morning because I was not surprised. I never searched for my gifts again. Christmas Eve was the highlight of the season! Grandma and Grandpa and Don and Sally's family gathered at our house for a Christmas Eve dinner. Grandma always brought the turkey. Grandpa always did the dishes. Funny jokes and stories were told. Lots of laughter was common. We dressed up each year in the same nativity costumes as the year before. Dad's bottles of cologne were the three gifts from the wisemen. We acted out the nativity story and sang Christmas songs at the proper breaks in the narration. Dad was always the narrator; his long "ALLLLL the world would be taxed" was classic and everyone knew he would do it yet again. Grandma and Grandpa always dressed up, too, usually as wisemen. I remember being Mary as a little girl and holding that baby doll so carefully before I placed him in the manger, the cradle Grandpa made. We still use it to this day. Treats followed - egg nog, sparkling cider, fudge, the most delicious homemade sugar cookies, divinity, peanut blossoms (peanut butter cookies with the hershey kiss). These were my favorites

 

Christmas morning found us gathered in Mom and Dad's room. We waited for Dad to put on his grey sweat pants and hoodie. We lined up youngest to oldest and walked down the hallway together to the living room. The living room light switch was connected to the outlet for the Christmas tree lights. Switching it on brought colorful light to our excitement as we discovered what Santa most generously delivered. Dad and Mom sat and watched with pure pleasure. We spent all morning with our new-found goodies. The rest of the day was spent with the extended family at Grandma and Grandpa's house. They always had a special gift for us. Many times Grandma wrote a little poem that went with their gift. We played with cousins, ate turkey sandwiches, played cribbage and Uno, ate See's candies from Grandma, looked at the Christmas decorations, and enjoyed the FEELING.

 

One year I received a necklace that I had wanted for months; they were the big rage. The necklace was that of stuffed fabric. The charm was a porcelain rabbit. I LOVED it! Later in the day Mom and Dad gave us the bad news...our friends home was robbed and all their Christmas gifts were taken. My parents asked us to donate one of our gifts to the children of the family. One of the girls was my age. Alyssa. I looked over my gifts and knew I needed to give her the necklace. I couldn't give her socks or a sweater. It made me happy to give her something that would bring her great joy, something that meant so much to me. I will NEVER forget that experience. I think it was the first time I really FELT and understood what Christmas was all about. Yes, Christmas is a feeling, a beautiful feeling, especially when it involves the true meaning of Christmas - that of giving of yourself, serving others, and thinking of another before yourself... giving a gift to Jesus Christ. 

 

 Some of my favorite 2012 Christmas moments:

 

My cutie!

Just some of the participants

Playing the Part: Shepherds, Mary & Joseph, Wisemen, Angels

Singing together...

Little Lamb

The angels singing Silent Night

Santa Baby

Cute Cousins!

Shepherd and Lambie

Our wisemen

Shepherds

Love this Shepherd!

Wise Buddies!

A Singing Moment

O, Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve

Ready for Santa

Her own straightener!

Cute Couple loving their finger lights

Ready to fly...

Usain Bolt Dog Tags...

Sweet Sisters

Sue Thomas Complete Series!!

He wanted a Christmas Moose sweater. A shirt will have to do...

Scooter Buddies!

A new tradition - Follow the Star

She is my daughter

I have tried to create a Christmas Feeling in our home. I pray that through traditions, service, stories, laughter, giving, and memories, my children will forever have the Christmas Feeling in their hearts.

 More to Come...but until then, Stick-to-it!

 

A Gift for Jesus

This Christmas...

Mend a quarrel. 

Seek out a forgotten friend.

 Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. 

Write a letter. 

Give a soft answer. 

 Encourage youth. 

Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. 

Keep a promise. 

Forgo a grudge. 

Forgive an enemy. 

Apologize. 

Try to understand. 

Examine your demands on others. 

Think first of someone else. 

Be kind. 

Be gentle. 

Laugh a little more. 

Express your gratitude.

Welcome a stranger. 

Gladden the heart of a child. 

Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. 

Speak your love and then speak it again.

Howard W. Hunter - The Gifts of Christmas - December, 2002

It has indeed been a beautiful Christmas season. I'm so looking forward to the Annual Baer Family Christmas Eve Dinner and Nativity tonight. What a blessing to enjoy celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ with those you love! 

One of our family's Christmas traditions is to give a gift to the Savior. Everyone chooses something they can do to serve another, a habit to get rid of, a quality to develop, something to improve on, or a kindness to perform. We write it down and wrap up everyone's "gifts". 

On Christmas morning, before we open our gifts, we gather in our bedroom. Mom retrieves the Gift for Jesus from under the tree. We sing a Christmas song, say a prayer and open our gifts to the Savior. We reflect on the gift...some share, some do not. Each reflects on how he can accomplish the written gift in the upcoming year. It is a tender way to start our Christmas celebration...to reflect on why we are giving gifts, listening to music, making cookies, caroling to neighbors, reading stories, stringing popcorn, and decorating trees. 

The above list by Howard W. Hunter has beautiful ideas that can be used as a gift for Jesus. Pick one that applies to you, write it down, strive to accomplish it, and let the true spirit of Christmas permeate your heart.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

More to Come...but until then, Stick-to-it!

Why am I doing this?

Why? 

The age-old question. 

Why can't I have my own phone?

Why can't I drink a Dr. Pepper?

Why do I have to go to bed?

Why do I have to answer why all the time?

Why am I writing this blog???

I've been a little anti lately. The desire to write has not been there, and it feels as if there's not much to share or record. In fact, it's as if I've just been holding on, going through the motions...going from this activity to that chaos to that meltdown to that moment of joy. Most mornings I do try to sit down to write something, but doubtful thoughts creep in...Is this really important? Haven't I written about this before? Is this appropriate to discuss? I don't have any pictures to go along. This is interesting to me but will it be to someone else? I can't think of a way to begin. Why am I doing this? And so on...

As I was tidying the living room this evening, the basket of books I keep by the couch was a giant blob of unorganized reading material mixed with crumpled paper, broken crayons, dirty socks, random toys, and puzzle pieces. I decided to tackle it right then. It only took a few minutes to sort through it and create a nice basket of books with good stories to read to the children and beautiful picture books to look through. I decided to put my blog books in the basket. 

Background: A few months ago, I printed this blog to hard-backed books using the print service www.blog2print.com. The first book is for 2009-2010 because I didn't write that often. The second volume is for the year 2011. 2012 is going to be big! I may need to split it into two volumes. 

Why create these blog books if they are not in a place to be read? Before placing them in the basket, I opened one of them, perusing some of the past entries. A few of my children saw me sitting; they gathered 'round to see what I was doing. They were hooked! They spent the next 30+ minutes looking through the books - laughing, reading, remembering. Seeing this sight was an eye-opener for me. This blog - my words to them - really is important, and meaningful, and enjoyable to THEM. After all, I'm writing this for my children. I witnessed in this beautiful moment the impact that my time and efforts are having...NOW. Hopefully as they have their own children in the future, it will be even greater.

Quickly grabbing the camera, I recorded some precious moments...

 

So buckle up and enjoy the ride. Why, it's not going to end any time soon. 

More to Come...but until then, Stick-to-it!

October Theme - Be Grateful

"Look for the Sunlight in the Clouds"

Gordon B. Hinckley

This week kicks off the first month of our Family Theme, Way to Be, based on the book, Way to Be - 9 ways to be happy and make something of your life by Gordon B. Hinckley. The month of October is geared toward the principle, Be Grateful, perfect for leading up to Thanksgiving. We spent Monday night reading the chapter from the book, Be Grateful, and discussing things we can do all month to be more grateful. Here are a few things we came up with:

1. Gratitude Quotes - We chose three quotes from the chapter to be the monthly memorization. We are encouraging everyone in the family to memorize them. Prizes are awarded for participation.

"There are two little words in the English language that perhaps mean more than all others. They are 'thank you'."

"Let a spirit of thanksgiving guide and bless your days and nights. Work at it. You will find that it will yield wonderful results."

"Look for the sunlight in the clouds."

2. Gratitude for Eachother - We created a sign for each person in the family that says, "I am grateful for _____ because:. The goal is to fill up each person's page by the end of the month, stating specific things we're grateful for. When one is grateful for another, service ensues and love follows. I'm hoping for more love in our home! Each family member wrote on every page before refreshments were served. Love those no bake cookies!

3. Gratitude for others - I've always been a big thank you note person, thanks to my Mama. I've shared my thoughts before (read all about it) so I won't go into detail. However, I will stress the importance of expressing thanks often, and thank you notes are the perfect way to do so. This month we have a goal to write 100 thank you notes as a family to show gratitude for the many, many people whom have blessed our lives. When a note is written, it is recorded on a square in the below chart.

4. Examples of Gratitude in the Scriptures - For our family devotional each night, our scripture readings are geared around gratitude and thankfulness. I've enjoyed researching these and recording my thoughts. It's very rewarding when the children come up with their own as well.

5. Words of Thanks - We'd like to learn to say thank you in many different languages. We're reinforcing the children's song, Children All Over the World

Other ideas are in the works which we may or may not implement. I don't want to be too overboard, because I have a great desire for our family to be successful with those things that we introduce this month.

I'm grateful for the inspiration I received for our family theme for 2012/2013. I'm grateful for a supportive husband and children who are taking it seriously. 

I'm grateful to you for reading my blog. Now, go out and Be Grateful!

More to Come...but until then, Stick-to-it!

Write-Downable of Last Week

Write-Downable (n) 

"A statement that is cute, funny, priceless, sensitive, loving, one-of-a-kind, sweet, or spiritual; a word, phrase, sentence, or story that touches the heart of another and is deemed worthy to write down, thus recorded forever and not forgotten."

Word Created By: The Bushman Family

Definition By: Julie Bushman

Write-Downable of Last Week:

Our older daughter complained to her little sister, "I have a headache. What should I do?"

4 Year Old: "Ummmm....put a bandaid on it."

She has all the answers!

Simple answers! Even though a bandaid is not the simple answer to a headache, many parenting issues can be resolved with simple answers...a hug, listening, validation, gentleness, love, discussion, communication, prayer, desire. What's the common thread? TIME. Kids don't need money or the latest toy or a new outfit to feel important or loved. They need Time. It's as simple as that.

More to Come...but until then, Stick-to-it!

Good Intent Becomes Success

"Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God"  D&C 109:8

I really like to be organized, but it doesn't always "stick". Why? Oh, reasons like it takes too much time, laziness, other things come up that take time away, bad habits, priorities, or the system just doesn't work. I've gone through times of excitement when I come up with a new system to organize the closet, or the desk, or the socks, or the plastic containers in the kitchen. Good intentions should be my mantra. I really do have them, but the a fore mentioned reasons seem to turn good intentions into non-existence. 

We have ten people in our family. Thus, laundry is a mammoth undertaking. I won't get started on the philosophy that a washing machine and dryer caused us to have more clothes as a society which now makes the laundry task completely time-consuming. If I did it all at once (which I do not), it would take a complete 14 hour day, just like it did the Bostonian women of the 1700s when they dedicated every Monday to laundry day. It's no different for us. We just have more dirty clothes to deal with. And compared to the days of old, our clothes aren't even that dirty. OK - I'll stop now.

Back to organizing.... there is one organizational system that has NOT gone by the wayside. I have successfully used it for years, and it has kept my laundry room running efficiently. (If the darn washing machine and dryer could just go faster, this part of my family responsibilities would really be in control. Maybe some day I'll have a second dryer! Now that would be a blessing!!) It's my laundry-sorting system that keeps clothes organized into colors, avoiding piles of clothes on the floor or sorting through multiple dirty clothes baskets to find enough whites to make a full load.

Six separate baskets keep clothes sorted and organized.

Labeled signs let all ages know which clothes go where.

It consists of six tall laundry hampers, labeled with names and pictures to distinguish what type of clothing belongs where. I separate the clothes into Darks, Lights, Whites, Jeans, Towels, and Bedding.

Our family laundry process goes like this:

One person is the designated "gatherer and sorter". He or she gathers all of the dirty laundry from each room, takes it down to the laundry room, and sorts it into the above laundry hampers. This is supposed to be a daily occurrence. Note the word "supposed". Even my four year old knows which clothes go where. No, she can't read yet, but she looks at the pictures and deposits the clothes into the correct bin. I've even seen her match up the clothing color to the color square on the sign to make sure she gets it right.

Since I'm the only one home during the day that is old enough to start laundry, I'm the designated one to wash and dry. Once the clothes are dry, I recruit all available troops to fold. Each person puts away their own piles of clean laundry.

Looking at my signs, I think it's time to upgrade; we need some new clip art and an upgraded font! Who says the laundry room has to be boring and drab?

That's my successful, organizational system for handling the immense volume of dirty laundry in the Bushman home. I'll give myself a pat on the back for actually "sticking" to it. It feels good to be organized in one area of my life, even if it's just dealing with dirty clothes. Now I just need to come up with a scheme for those sneaky and scrupulous socks. Any ideas?

More to Come...but until then, Stick-to-it!

Service: A Preparation Ground

"Have I done any good in the world today? Have I helped anyone in need?"

#223 Have I Done Any Good?

Last night I attended a Young Women activity where we discussed preparing for temple marriage. See more about temples, here! 

Family Trip to attend the Brigham City, UT temple open house. Our family is shrinking!

Celebrating a Temple and Celestial Marriage

One of the preparation ideas we discussed was looking outside oneself and practice serving others. Doing this will help prepare for a future family which is the epitome of service. As we spend time in our families serving others, we deepen this desire. When the time comes for our children to marry, they will have a more successful marriage because service is part of them.

We had a marvelous opportunity to serve as a family a few months ago. It is rare when we can get everyone together, especially those busy working and college kids. We came together to serve a friend in need of a kidney transplant. Our family was in charge of a game and the prize booth at a benefit carnival. What a blessing to think of another and have a good time, too!

Setting up the Prizes

Getting his Guess in

The Muscle Power

Ready for the kids to roll in

Five people needed to keep order at the prize booth

They had time to have some fun, too!

My Favorite - The Fish Pond!

Why do kids love this stuff so much?

She won three cakes at the cake walk!

These two boys spent most of their free time at the cake walk, resulting in 1 cake total.

Not a fan of colored hair..but it was for the cause.

Lovin' the blue hair...

...and the cotton candy!

The Ninja Sword - the most exciting find of the night!

I love this story, told by Thomas S. Monson:

"A few years ago I read an article written by Jack McConnell, MD. He grew up in the hills of southwest Virginia in the United States as one of seven children of a Methodist minister and a stay-at-home mother. Their circumstances were very humble. He recounted that during his childhood, every day as the family sat around the dinner table, his father would ask each one in turn, “And what did you do for someone today?” The children were determined to do a good turn every day so they could report to their father that they had helped someone. Dr. McConnell calls this exercise his father’s most valuable legacy, for that expectation and those words inspired him and his siblings to help others throughout their lives. As they grew and matured, their motivation for providing service changed to an inner desire to help others." October, 2009  - What Have I Done for Someone Today?

Today's Stick-to-it Tip: Ask your children, "What did you do for someone today?" Create opportunities for service...it's a preparation ground for the future.

More to Come, but until then, Stick-to-it!