Wacky Wednesday

Why Wacky, you ask? Wednesdays are our crazy, busy days. The children have multiple activities going in different directions and mostly at the same time. :) Can be challenging and frustrating – especially since Curtis is on 2nd shift and I am doing all the transporting and picking up. Never wanted to be a chauffer.However, it is all for a good and wise purpose. Hopefully. :D

This past Sunday was GrandParents Day. The children were able to make cards for both sets of Grandparents. :) That was nice. However, I forgot to take the card with me when we met Curtis’ parents on Saturday. :( BOOOOO!! So, I will save it for them. The children called and talked to them instead. We went over to my parents house and stayed for awhile and did remember to bring the giant-sized card that they made. YAY!!

Clayton, Taryn and Quade are doing school with Mercury Online School. It is a College Prep school. I like it for the Elementary School. I didn’t like the organization of the Middle School program and have since pulled Kierstyn and Kaity out of it. Yesterday, in fact. Kaity was a bit overwhelmed with 6 online teachers and the pacing and no clear cut directions on things. (Kierstyn had the SAME problems when we started the school last quarter.) The way it is set up is easy to forget about things and not see that things are due. Although we have ALL learned sooooo very much regarding computers and uploading documents, scanning, emailing, etc. It has been great and I have been impressed with how quickly the children (at least the three bigger ones) had caught on to all of that. Clayton is even doing better at it.

Kierstyn and Kaity are doing Lighthouse Academy. :) They are studying Church History and reading The Work and the Glory series. They will have lots of essays to write and oral presentations on it. There are lots of spelling/definitions going a long with it. They will also have Science Projects and Art Projects weekly. They will have Math minutes daily – testing them on their basic math skills. LOVE IT! I think it will be good. There is also time for Scripture reading and Gospel Study as well as journal writing and testimony building. I LOVE THAT! So, I have high hopes that it will work and be good for them. We prayed and fasted on Sunday and Kaity and I (she was the one with the ‘issues’) both felt like this was the direction we needed to go. Kierstyn volunteered herself to participate in it. Awesome!

Cori has been on her mission now for over a month (by a week) and has been in Indiana for 2 weeks. (I think) We are so proud of her and have lots of prayers and thoughts on her behalf. I need to be better at sending the letters though. :( Just thinking of her ISN”T enough! GOAL: Send Cori weekly letters!!!

Make it a great one!!

About Tammy: Daughter, Sister, Wife, Mother of 7 (ages: G12, G11, B8, G6, B5, B2, G6mos). Stepmom of 2: ages B 25, G 22. Mother in law to two, Grandma to Peyton and Andrew (With another on the way - due in December!!) and blogger at BellaOnline!! Happy & Satisfied!!

September Visiting Teaching Message

---

Prayerfully study this material and, as appropriate, discuss it with the sisters you visit. Use the questions to help you strengthen your sisters and to make Relief Society an active part of your own life.

Special Needs and Service Rendered

“The needs of others are ever present,” said President Thomas S. Monson, “and each of us can do something to help someone. … Unless we lose ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives.”¹

As visiting teachers we can sincerely come to know and love each sister we visit. Service to those we visit will flow naturally out of our love for them (see John 13:34–35).

How can we know the spiritual and temporal needs of our sisters so we can render service when it is needed? As visiting teachers, we are entitled to receive inspiration when we pray about those we visit.

Maintaining regular contact with our sisters is also important. Personal visits, telephone calls, a note of encouragement, e-mails, sitting with her, a sincere compliment, reaching out to her at church, helping her in time of illness or need, and other acts of service all help us watch over and strengthen each other.²

Visiting teachers are asked to report the well-being of sisters, any special needs they have, and the service rendered to them. These kinds of reports and our service to our sisters help us demonstrate our discipleship.³

 

From the Scriptures

John 10:14–16; 3 Nephi 17:7, 9; Moroni 6:3–4

 

From Our History

Serving one another has always been at the heart of visiting teaching. Through ongoing service we bring kindness and friendship that go beyond monthly visits. It is our caring that counts.

“My desire is to plead with our sisters to stop worrying about a phone call or a quarterly or monthly visit,” said Mary Ellen Smoot, the 13th Relief Society general president. She asked us to “concentrate instead on nurturing tender souls.”⁴

President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) taught, “It is vital that we serve each other in the kingdom.” Yet he recognized that not all service need be heroic. “So often, our acts of service consist of simple encouragement or of giving … help with mundane tasks,” he said, “but what glorious consequences can flow … from small but deliberate deeds!”⁵

For more information, go to reliefsociety.lds.org.

 

What Can I Do?

1. Am I seeking personal inspiration to know how to respond to the spiritual and temporal needs of each sister I’m assigned to watch over?

2. How do the sisters I watch over know that I care about them and their families?

 

Make your appointments today!! And . . . as always . . .

Make it a great one!!

About Tammy: Daughter, Sister, Wife, Mother of 7 (ages: G12, G11, B8, G6, B5, B2, G6mos). Stepmom of 2: ages B 25, G 22. Mother in law to two, Grandma to Peyton and Andrew (With another on the way - due in December!!) and blogger at BellaOnline!! Happy & Satisfied!!