Monthly Archives: October 2009

General Conference Book Club Week 2: Elder Bednar

Posted in General Conference Book Club by

A warm welcome to many of the new friends that joined in the Book Club conversation last week.  I hope you stick around for the whole ride.

I wanted to start this round with one of my favorite talks from General Conference.  It offered many answers to my own prayers about how to best prioritize my time and efforts, especially in regards to my family.  Elder David A. Bednar gave this talk, “More Diligent and Concerned at Home,” during the Saturday morning session of conference.  He emphasized three important keys to achieving eternal goals in our families:

o2009pulpit_1_6_bedna

  1. Express love— and show it.
  2. Bear testimony— and live it.
  3. Be consistent.

Those suggestions in and of themselves were enough to remind me of some important things I needed to hear, but the rest of the talk is excellent.  I look forward to reading your comments and insights.  You can find the talk here:

To read “More Diligent and Concerned at Home”

To watch or listen to “More Diligent and Concerned at Home”

If this is your first visit to GCBC, and you’d like to know how it works, click here.

(and a little p.s.:  Thank you for your sweet comments and suggestions the other day as I was suffering from my temporary post-conference funk.  My parents came to visit, I successfully carried out several long-overdue home organization projects, and I had opportunities through my calling to teach and bear testimony, and all those things helped me get my “groove” back.  That old adage “Forget yourself and get to work” does wonders.)

Oh, and tonight’s the last night to submit a lullaby for the poetry contest, so get composing. 🙂

I’m ashamed to admit it…

Posted in Divinity by

… but I think I’m in a post-Conference funk.  I felt so uplifted and even fired up as I watched General Conference this past weekend, and my mind was swirling with goals and self-improvement– in an honestly hopeful way that was buoyed up by the Spirit of it all.

But today I’m not feeling it.  Maybe I’m just discouraged because I’m no different than I was last week.  That’s, admittedly, a little ridiculous.  I guess I just have not figured out any specific ways to implement all the good ideas I felt, so I’m kind of limboish— stuck between the same-old-me and the me-I-felt-inspired-to-be.  Hmmm.

I just sat here and stared at my last paragraph for the last few minutes and these are the two thoughts that came to my mind:

1.  In April General Conference, President Uctdorf shared a story about a man who was struggling with his faith.  President Uctdorf mailed him a letter with suggestions of things to do, and then received a letter from him in return only a week or so later.  The letter said, in essence, “I tried what you said.  It didn’t work.  What else have you got?”  President Uctdorf went on to explain that you can’t rush matters of testimony, and I suspect you cant rush matters of change or improvement or repentance either.  It’s a process, like much of the gospel is, and perhaps requires more patience than I’ve been willing to grant myself in this short period of time.  And right now my thoughts hopped to Elder Bednar’s counsel to “Be Consistent.”  Don’t give up, keep trying, and wait patiently for the “change” to come.

2.  Michael McLean has a song called “Gentle.” (Unnecessary tangent:  When I was in junior high and high school, I was a squeaky clean kid who would come home from school, plop down on my bed with my pink and green backpack, pop in a Janice Kapp Perry or Michael McLean cassette tape, and do my homework until I fell into a peaceful nap.  I still like several genres of Christian music, but now I can hardly stomach that stuff from my youth.  The whole cheesy, emotional, psued0-spiritual sap kind of makes me nauseous.  But I do still like this one song.  Anyway . . .)  These words just did a little tap dance across the stage in my brain:

We’ve been hurt by others often.  We’ve forgiven and forgotten.  We should be more gentle with ourselves.

Oh, apparently there’s one more thought:

3.  Pray about it.  Duh, Stephanie, pray.  Some day I will learn to think of this first.  (It would probably prevent pathetic blog posts.)

I do feel a little better just for having purged out the frustration and getting some clarifying thoughts back in return.  Has anyone else had this same struggle this week?  What helps you to get through it without backing off your 4- or 5-day-old conviction to rise up and refine yourself?

Notable Post-its and Paying it forward.

Posted in About Blogs by

This past week, my blog had the good fortune of some other much more notable bloggers smiling down upon it.  Some fresh new readers, both of the public and lurking variety, dropped by to visit.  Welcome to all of you because nothing helps a mother to survive the ups and downs of motherhood better than the knowledge that she’s on a team of like-minded others fighting the same battle.  There are some readers here whom I have never met, but who have managed to read many of my long-winded posts and survive, and I consider them dear friends.  In trying to decide if that makes me some kind of weird Internet delusional, I concluded that I really do believe that some of you would show up at my funeral if I croaked, so I’m probably not living in a fantasy world.  Given the overwhelming mess that is in my home right now, my chances of death are quite elevated so I would recommend that you start saving for plane tickets now.  In the words of Monte G. Brough,

“I believe true friends not only make life more enjoyable, but they help each other become worthy of the greatest friendship of all [with the Savior]… —to bring out the best in each other and help each other live righteous lives.”

So thank you to many of you who help me do just that.  The whole purpose of this blog is to recognize and remember the divinity in motherhood, and it’s so much easier to do when a whole army of good people join in the conversation together, acknowledging our collective goodness, and encouraging our continued improvement.  Yep, thank you.

So, I created this lovely little award– kind of like a prize ribbon, if you will.  I hope it travels its way around BlogWorld and makes people feel good about what they’re writing.

Post-it Award

I know what you’re thinking:  How did you ever come up with such a clever name for a prize? I know. I know.  Some of us just have a gift for all things imaginative and witty.  (I’m also thinking about making a little book for Natalie about her first year and calling it “Natalie’s First Year.”  See?)  Anyway, there are no weird prize rules for this award.  You don’t have to do a viral tag  of 8 people or make a monumental display on your homepage about it (unless you want to).  Here’s all you do:

1.  Accept it.  You can do this in the tearful silence of your own computer desk or by writing an emotional acceptance speech in my comments.

2.  Pay attention in the next week or so to the posts that you read elsewhere and if you find a favorite (or two or three), then pass the award along to honor the blogger who wrote it.  You can either do a post like this where you announce it (and which I will probably continue to do on occasion), or you can email them and let them know or whatever.  You’re smarter than me; do what you want.

So without further ado, I want to honor these posts I’ve read in the past week or so:

Lara at Overstuffed recently moved to Michigan and wrote a lovely post about how one can feel at home even when they’re not where they expected to be.

That Girl (formerly from Brazil) wrote a very cool post over at Pensievity that encompasses the immeasurable value of us moms.

And Helen, at Dal, Hel, and Bel, put up these darling pictures of her daughter at family prayer and I just can’t help feeling all warm and fuzzy inside when I look at them.  They’re that cute.

Ladies, take your glamorous post-it note of fame and treasure it always.

And either I created the lamest poetry contest ever, or the one or two of you who entered so far have superpowers that are keeping others from writing a lullaby, thereby guaranteeing your world domination.  Step up, readers.



What bedtime, poetry, and major awards have in common.

Posted in Divinity by

Here at Diapers and Divinity, we have a longstanding tradition (meaning we did it twice, and by “we” I mean “me’) of promoting the fine art of poetry.

In the Spring, there was a limerick challenge intended to capture the joy of attending church with children in tow.  The readers/voters chose the following two winners:  Becca and The Queen!  Here are their respective limericks about the joy of going to church with small children:

We’re coming in five minutes too late,
in clothes that my children all hate.
They’re squirming and squawking,
the first speaker’s talking,
why must the front bench be my fate?

———-

My twin girls climb all over the place;
Now my dress is undone to my waist.
I guess that’s why Bishop
Looks like he might throw up.
Wish this closing song had a quicker pace!

In the summer, there was a haiku contest about vacationing with children, and sweet Melanie J won our hearts with this tender morsel:

A soft, fuzzy head
Whiffs of coconut sunblock

Gold skin and freckles

Cute little white bums

Peeking out of swimming trunks

I smile. It’s summer.

And so now, in lovely Autumn, we enter the realm of an oft-forgotten genre (perhaps because it’s not really poetry at all, but this is my blog and I can do what I want):  the lullaby.  What does a mother love more than sleeping children, tucked into cozy little beds, comatose, quiet, and still?  I realized the other day that my children have started to become big enough that I don’t really sing to them at night anymore.  Perhaps they consider this a great blessing, but I kind of miss it.  When Grant was born, my first little infant, I wanted to somehow instill in him the concept of worship before bedtime even though he was too young to read scriptures and pray, so my solution was singing lullabys.  I wrote lyrics to accompany the music of There is a Green Hill Far Away, and the song was a little testimony about how special he was.  I sang it every night, and then to represent prayer, I would sing A Child’s Prayer. With Clark, I added My Heavenly Father Loves Me (which he called “Song of a bird”), and Natalie’s signature lullaby became You Are My Sunshine (admittedly not spiritual, but nevertheless heartfelt).  Anyway, it dawned on me the other night that it had been so long since I sang Grant’s lullaby, that I think I forgot the words!  I lay awake one night trying to remember, and I came up with these three verses.  This may have been the whole thing, but I have a haunting feeling I forgot a verse.  Handel is cringing in his grave with jealousy that he didn’t write anything as glorious as this.  (To the tune of There Is a Green Hill Far Away):

lullaby

Now it’s your turn.  Pick a tune, and write a lullaby to your child/children.  Even just one verse is fine.  It can be beautiful or hilarious or somewhere in between.  Submit your lyrics (and identify the tune) in the comments below by Sunday night, and next Monday I’ll announce the finalists.  The winner will get a season-long highlight on my sidebar plus the great honor of this poetry crown to display on your own blog with pride.  (Melanie, Becca, and The Queen, feel free to snag this button as a reminder of your past glory.)

Poetry crown

Last night, I hugged Natalie and sang her some songs before bedtime for old time’s sake.  I need some new material now, so show me your best stuff, all you fake poets out there.

(And even if you don’t have an entry, tell us about your own lullaby traditions.)

General Conference Book Club Week 1: Your favorites

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“We have been richly taught and spiritually edified. . . . As we read and study [these talks], we will be additionally taught and inspired.”  — President Thomas S. Monson, today.

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Well, it was a feast, wasn’t it?  Isn’t it great how the meat of the gospel can both fill us and fuel us?

And so, in an effort to remember, study, and apply the principles taught this weekend, a new round of the General Conference Book Club begins.  Here’s how it works:

The goal is to read one General Conference talk a week and discuss it together as an on-line “book club.”

(If you’re not familiar with General Conference or the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, go here and here and here for more information.)

A new talk will be posted each Sunday.

You don’t have to do anything to “join” the club– You can just visit the Sunday post at any time during the week and share thoughts, findings, favorite quotes, applications, even questions from the talk of the week. Personally, I think it would be a good idea to subscribe to comments from the post so that we can read each other’s insights and have a “real book club” conversation.  (There are two ways to do this:  1. Below the actual talk post, click on Comments RSS below the “Actions” list to subscribe to an RSS feed for comments, or 2. click the little box under the “Submit Comment” button so that comments are emailed to you.)   Or of course, you can just check back often to see what folks are saying.

My own plan is to try and use the talk as a guide for my personal scripture study throughout the week.  First I’ll read the talk all the way through, then look up and read all the scripture references he quoted, and then break the talk down into segments to study them carefully and try to find other related scriptures that help me understand it better.  Feel free to share any ideas of how you plan to study or apply the talks we read.  (You’re allowed to do this however you want.  You can simply have a goal to read the talk before the week is over, and that’s good, too.)

Here’s a little button you can put on your own blog if you’d like to.  Feel free to invite friends (the real kind and bloggy kind as well) to participate.  The more the merrier.  You can link it directly to this page or to the host page at https://diapersanddivinity.com/gcbc since it has all the instructions for the Book Club challenge.

genconfbutton1

And try to comment when you’ve read each article, even something as simple as “I did it.”  Then we have a certain motivation/accountability to each other to meet our goal of reading all the talks from the previous General Conference. The objective is to read the words of the living prophets and learn from them.  Our book club community is for sharing and encouraging, but please don’t feel pressure that you have to come around and make profound insights or write eloquent summaries.  Just show up and be counted!

Next Sunday, we will begin with our very first talk.  (They will be available online by Thursday.)  It will post sometime Sunday, usually in the evening, and then you can read it and comment at any point during the week and be part of a discussion group about the principles learned.

For Week 1, starting now, I would love to hear some of your favorite snippets from General Conference this weekend:  favorite quotes, thoughts about overall themes, most poignant talks, your experience and testimony of General Conference overall, etc.  You can bet I’ll have plenty to say in the comments; good luck getting a word in edgewise. 🙂  Welcome back to those of you who have been here all along, and a genuine welcome to newcomers as well.