Me: "How much honey do you think one bee makes in its lifetime, Ken?" Ken: "One 12th of a teaspoon, Heather." Me: "How did you know that?" Ken: "I'm a biologist." Talia: "and plus, he's a genious." Ken: "Out of the mouths of babes..."
:) What a girl.
I had bees & honey on my mind because I was reviewing a book called One Drop at a Time by M. Russell Ballard, published by Deseret Book.
The book is based on Elder Ballard's talk from the October 2012 General Conference called Be Anxiously Engaged. The book is beautiful- it's full of gorgeous photography and sketches relating to the story about bees and honey that he uses to illustrate the difference that we each make with all of the seemingly small things that we do.
Isn't this topic perfect for women? For mothers? It seems we are all so overwhelmed, so busy, so "engaged". We are also very critical of ourselves- seeing where we fall short, and seeing so many things we wish we had done but have not managed to. In reading this book, we are reminded that just as each bee only produces a very small amount of honey, our seemingly small efforts add up to make a beautiful, sweet difference.
Your small, simple acts of service DO matter!
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for review purposes from Deseret Book. All opinions expressed here are my very own.
I know that many of you who read this blog are mothers. That you are doing so much for your children. Trying to be the best Mom you can, and trying to be everything to your children. You are fabulous! You are wonderful! You are awesome, and you are doing SUCH a great job!
I hope you'll enjoy this non-denominational message for Mother's Day that has been produced by several faith groups to remind people everywhere of the importance of families:
I'm just curious... If you read my blog and you do not share my religion, what do you do when you see a post related to religion? Do you read it? Do you skip it? What DO you know about my religion? Do you have any questions about it? ... I was just wondering.
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Today I want to share a new book called L. Tom Perry ~ An Uncommon Life: Years of Preparation by Lee Tom Perry (written about his Father, Elder L. Tom Perry's life), and published by Deseret Book.
This book is the first volume in a set of two- it covers the first part of L. Tom Perry's life, up until the time that he was called to serve as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
I am looking forward to the second book!
The book is called "An Uncommon Life". When you start to read the book, you find out that Elder Perry often comments that he is, "as common as dirt." It really made me look at the book (and his life) from a different perspective. It is so interesting to read the story of the life of a person like this, who we sometimes think of as "above us". It's such a reminder that even the leaders of the church, though of course called of God, are "normal" people.. they live normal lives, and they go through the same sorts of experiences that the rest of us do!
The book begins with stories of Elder Perry's ancestors and moves through to his parents, and his birth and on through his life, with story after story as well as notes from letters between different family members from various stages of life.
One of my favourite stories shared in the book was one from when Elder Perry was a young boy. It tells of a job that his father gave him involving straightening out used nails (this story is also shared in a talk given by Elder Perry, recorded here.) I found this story interesting, as a parent. I am always paying attention to the different ways that parents teach their children lessons. I am also interested when I hear stories from the past, that teach me how much my children could be doing (that they are not doing) at their current ages. (The story about the nails was from when Elder Perry was Talia's age, so it really had me thinking :)
The book includes a section of pages containing pictures (I always love the chance to sort of get a peek into someone's family photo album)
I also enjoyed reading about the early stages of the Perrys' marriage, and Elder Perry's different jobs. I felt like I was learning right along with them, learning from their experience, and taking note for my own future, of the importance of keeping things (work, family, church, etc.) balanced in life.
You can read an excerpt from the book as well as reviews, or purchase the book at Deseret Book online.
Disclosure: I received An Uncommon Life free of charge from Deseret Book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed here are my very own.
My sister-in-law, Betsy, is pregnant with her second little boy. We are so excited about it!
My other sister-in-law (Rachelle) came up with the idea to throw a diaper shower for her, since it is her second baby. So, we invited a few close family and friends and had a little party to celebrate this little one's arrival!
Rachelle found some inspiration on Pinterest, and recreated an invitation that she saw there. (I would have linked to it, but the pin didn't send you anywhere, so I don't know where it originated) Isn't this adorable?!
So, my mother-in-law and I went with the mustache theme when preparing the games and decor for the party.
As is shown above, I printed some adorable little cupcake toppers (free printable at babalisme) and Hershey Kiss Labels. I also used the Cricut Paper Doll cartridge to cut out some mustaches from black vinyl to put on clear party cups, and some cardstock mustaches for a pin-the-mustache-on-the-baby game. :)
My mother-in-law is the food mastermind. :) She gathered a ton of food- going with our blue & green theme.
I didn't even show you half of it in the photos above!
To make the "Little Man" banner, I used the same mustache (from Cricut's Paper Doll Cartridge) as well as the Alphabet and Essentials cartridges that came pre-loaded on the Cricut that I have. I seriously loved making this banner- it wasn't complicated, I didn't have to do any cutting, and it turned out really cute!
I also made the triangle bunting you can see in the photo that Rachelle took of me hanging it ;) I will be posting a tutorial soon on how to easily make a paper triangle bunting from 12x12 scrapbook paper. My post about the other paper triangle bunting that I made has been popular, and I've recently posted a tutorial on how to make a paper triangle bunting.
That last photo is Rachelle's cute daughter wearing one of the mustaches for our pin-the-mustache game... and below, on the left, is one of the babies who was in attendance- let me recommend that if you are like us and have a bunch of babies at your party, get a group shot with all of the babies in mustaches! :)
And that's my daughter beside him, demonstrating the cool mustache cups :)
The mustache cups were my favourite part of the party. I had seen these on Pinterest as well, and if you don't want to make your own or don't have the materials needed, you can order them (or just the stickers) from flutterfly on etsy! (there are a bunch of mustache items in that shop, so check it out!)
I also printed some cute, free baby shower games from chickabug,
so if you're throwing a shower, be sure to check those out!
