He's a Champion!

Girls- you better watch out-we are raising this boy right!  Kaden's the official 2014 "Pie Eating Champion" for the Nephi South Stake.  We have tried for years to teach our boys how to have manners and eat like gentlemen, but it obviously hasn't sunk in--thank goodness....  Kaden was able to wolf his pie down the quickest out of 20 young men and women at a stake activity.  He was one of the youngest to boot.  He used to boast in elementary school how he was the quickest Milk Chugger, now he's advanced to the quickest Pie Wolfer.  It takes so little to make him happy.  Something to be proud of:) 

Have Courage

Courage NOT Compromise brings the smile of God's Approval
-President Thomas Monson

Mordecai- an ordinary man, trying to live a normal, righteous life.  I bet he was a lot like many of us. He probably made good choices every day, but little did he know that just one of his choices would endanger his people with a near death experience.

This week we are studying the story of Esther in the Old Testament with our children.  She is an amazing example of great faith, prayer, and fasting.  I don't want to sell Esther short because I think the story is what it is because of her, but the part that Mordecai played in the story has stuck out to me.  I think his is also a story worth looking into and learning from his experience. 

 Mordecai is the uncle of Queen Esther.  He raised her because her parents were killed.  When she married the King, she did not tell him that she was a Jew- because they were frowned upon.  The King had a right hand man named, Haman, who was worshipped and the people bowed before him.  Mordecai refused to bow because he wanted to keep the commandment not to worship anyone except for God.  When this happened Haman went to the king, and told him that Mordecai and all the Jews should be killed because of this. The pain that this caused Mordecai really tugged at my heart strings.  In Esther 4:1 it reads, "When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, ... and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry;". 

I wondered what sort of thoughts were going through his head. Perhaps he thought, "Oh, wow- maybe I shouldn't have followed just that one little commandment. Look what I've done. Because of my choice, not only am I going to be killed - but my family, and friends, and ALL of my fellow believers are too."  Do you think Mordecai might have second guessed himself?  Do you think just a few of the believers might have ridiculed him for "Choosing the Right," because now they were going to be killed because of him?  I bet Mordecai felt awful- I'm sure very few of us can begin to understand the sorrow he felt!!  Maybe it wasn't quite like that, maybe he didn't second guess his choice, maybe his people were so righteous they gave him a high five and told him, "Way to choose the right". BUT if this happened in today's world, I think many would rather choose not to follow just one little commandment than to be ridiculed by others or cause a negative consequence on themselves and those around them. 

Are we ever in situations that if we stood up for what we believed or chose the right  it might cause embarrassment, awkwardness, or harsh realities we don't want to deal with? I think experiences like this happen all the time in the work place, around friends, in school, and probably even inside the home.

Mordecai may or may not have second guessed his decision for following the commandment. But his soul was tormented with sorrow because of a choice he had made.  Not always does choosing the right bring immediate, wonderful blessings. Sometimes the blessings of a choice, may not appear for days, months, or years later. Mordecai could not see that the Lord had greater blessings just around the corner because of that one little commandment he DID choose to follow.  Because of his choice, not without hardship- the fasting of his people, and the  faith and courage of Queen Esther to go before the King- Haman was killed, Mordecai received the house of Haman, and the Jews were blessed. They went from being a persecuted people to one of favor.  Had Mordecai chose not to follow that one little commandment- look at the blessing they would have missed out on.

 Sometimes we might think that one little choice, one little commandment- won't make a difference, but it does.  Sometimes it may seem that choosing the right may hurt us more than help us.  But God gave us commandments to follow because he knows things we do not.  He knows that by those little choices we can change the outcomes of our future, our family or friend's future, or even the future of a nation. 

When the choice is at hand- don't worry, don't fret that you might later second guess it because of the repercussions for following the commandments.  Just do it- for great blessings await those who have the courage to choose the right.

 

Our world, more than ever, needs courageous people to choose the right!

http://www.mormonchannel.org/youth-videos?v=2886657808001   this is a short video clip about a true story of someone faced with making a courageous decision. 

FHE-Scripture Story Memory

A simple, and fantastic family home evening idea is to get index cards and write the name of a person from the scriptures on one card and on another card write a short phrase that describes what they did.  You could do different sets of stories from  Book of Mormon, Old Testament, New Testament, etc.  This could be a quick and easy FHE game to pull out on more than one occasion.  I feel like this is a great way to teach and review the stories. You could even write the scripture reference on the card and use this time to study some of the stories. One of the most important things we can teach our children are the scripture stories. Take some time to teach how we can learn from these powerful stories. Smart people learn from their own experiences and smarter people learn from other's experiences! The Lord speaks to us through the scriptures.

 

Examples from Old Testament

Person	Action
Adam	Left the Garden of Eden
Enoch	His righteous city was translated
Noah	Built an ark
Abraham	Willing to sacrifice his son
Rebekah	Left her family to marry Isaac
Joseph	Forgave his brothers
Moses	Saved his people from bondage
Ruth	Accepted the gospel from her mother-in-law
David	With the strength of the Lord, killed a giant
Elijah	Fed by ravens during a drought

The WILDE Family

Wilde= WILD right? 

 I love my last name!  We get so many comments about being a Wilde family.  Church is the most common place for people to try and make a funny with our last name (probably because we rarely go anywhere else in public with all eight of us, that's just a disaster waiting to happen).   Usually the comments are something as simple as "How's that Wilde family?" and then they chuckle.  We give a courtesy laugh back and mention how we are glad we have a name we can live up to.  What else would you expect from a family of six kids?  Although, we fit the name even when we only had three kids (three energized little boys I must add).  I'm just glad my last name isn't Tranquil or Serene- we'd be in trouble with either of those!  When someone is talking in front of a group and they say something in reference to the Wilde family, they always have to stop and make sure everyone knows that they don't really mean the "wild" family.  I have to laugh because it usually catches me off guard. I rarely think about how people would take it that way.  I'm not easily offended so most comments just go in one ear and out the other- and to be truthful I'm the kind of person that doesn't really get the Pun intended.  But once in awhile there will be a comment that sticks with me.  A long time ago when we were the family of just Wilde boys I had a friend once tell me she didn't know how I made it through sacrament meetings with them.  She was trying to be nice and tell me how I had Sooo much patience because I was able to handle my boys that were all over the place and disruptive (ok, she didn't say it just like that, but that's how I took it... )   I told her if she only knew--- if she could see my face straight on instead of watching me from the side or from behind me.  If she could only see my face, she would see my jaw clenching, my blood vessels popping on my forehead from my blood boiling, and my mean mommy "Stop It Face."  It's probably a good thing only the bishopric was sitting straight on and could see my face- and to our advantage we sat far enough in the back that hopefully they couldn't see these distinctions.  Sacrament (with kids) never has been and continues to prove not to be a place of serenity, or tranquility for my family.  BUT I value it enough that it is worth it to me to take my kids every Sunday and hope we survive.  When we find our seats in the chapel I tell all those around us I'm sorry ahead of time for the Wilde circus they might see.    In the past, for the most part we have been back row sitters.  1-because we are usually late and 2- because the fewer people behind us the fewer witnesses to our chaos.  We have recently decided that we feel it's important to move our kids closer to the podium in hopes that some of the spiritual words of wisdom spoke from it will enter into our little people's ears. Our boys are getting old enough that we want them to listen, feel of the spirit, and learn from the speakers. It's kind of like the speaker is spewing out darts of spiritual knowledge and the closer we sit, the better the chance is of having them hit us.  Hopefully, some of those darts will make some dents-or impressions upon my kids throughout the next few years. I figure the payoff of sitting closer to the podium is greater than the worry of what others' opinions might be of us when they see how truly Wilde we really are. 
Two weeks ago, a sweet lady in my ward that I look up to wrote me a message on Facebook.  It obviously made my day when she wrote, "I just wanted to tell you what you already know and that others of us see and hear. You have a really well behaved and awesome family. I love to watch how you and Josh react with them and show them your love. Good job!!"  This last week as we sat four pews from the front of the chapel, I thought we were doomed.  She would most certainly see that she had a misconception of us.  Josh was out in the hall for the most part with Kennadi, while I wrestled the other five kids.  Kaden is usually the only one I don't have to worry about.  Kam and Kale were for a time being pretty good while playing a dot game. I just had to work on keeping Kate from sharing her Pterodactyl scream with the whole congregation and keep Kinnli content.  Before I knew it Kale and Kam started arguing and elbowing each other about cheating and so I took the notebook away from them.  Kale just couldn't control his anger anymore and stabbed Kam right in the heart with his purple crayon... leaving a little purple dot on his shirt.  I was lucky to stop any more violence from erupting, but I quickly looked around to see if my dear sister friend was sitting near and happened to see my naughty children.  Close call- I didn't see her, but I'm sure the people in back of us saw.  I guess all in all- I have come to the terms that I can handle my kids living up to their names right now. But in the next four years when all of  my boys become teenagers, I'm going to change the pronunciation of my last name to have a short I and a long E.  Then the WILDE  children won't feel compelled to live up to their last name. 

A Mom of 6 Kids

 

Last week was a bit rough!  I wish I had a reason to explain why it was rough, but I don't.  Truthfully, the biggest problem was that I was just being myself.  It started out that I had just received a used smart phone from my dad (yep, I finally retired my dinosaur cell phone).  He had used it for several years and it worked and looked great.  Well, only after having it for a little over 2 weeks- I had my hands full of stuff (like a mom of 6 kids always does) and I dropped it face down on the cement and the screen broke.  Oooooh, I was so mad at myself!!

 ALL DAY!! 

 On different day that week I checked Kaden out from school to go to Walmart to buy some black church pants that he had to have for his choir concert.   I checked him out early because we had a time crunch to get him back to football practice.  We drove to Payson Walmart (about 20 min. away), parked, and started getting out the babies when IT (that terrible feeling) hit me again- I had forgotten my purse!  Who does that???  (A mom of 6 Kids) Kaden couldn't believe I would do something like that- I had to do the unthinkable and tell Kaden it was time he knew that I wasn't perfect:)  Luckily, I have a fabulous husband that was on his lunch break and he met me half way with my purse.  So we made it to Walmart, found the pants, and many other things I never knew we always needed.  As we were checking out, Kate was crying, tired, and hungry.  I had bought some milk for home, but knew she wouldn't drink it because it was cold.  She still likes her milk heated up.  So I quickly grabbed a warm drink in the check out isle that looked like what I thought was a vitamin water or something similar to it.  We loaded the car, and the crying babies and started homeward bound.  I had Kaden pour some of the drink in her bottle and feed it to her.  Kennadi was thirsty and had a few drinks.  I drank the other half of it.  It tasted just like a sweetened water- I never took the time to read what it was.....  From that time on Kate, and Kennadi were zonked.  They slept most of the evening away.  I told Josh I must've really wore them out shopping.  By the time eight o'clock hit I was not going to make it any longer- I was so tired, Josh told me to go to bed.  The next day I showed Josh the drink and he read it.  NOT GOOD- the NEURO drink "SWEET DREAMS" is a sleep aid.  It said on the back "Do not Drive", "Do not give to Children", and other important warnings.  Who puts that type of a drink right next to the candy?? Shouldn't that be against the law! AND-Who doesn't read the labels? (A Mom of 6 Kids) I felt horrible, I had given my children- my BABY- a drink that I didn't even realize was not good for them. I was just trying to survive the moment and didn't pay attention to details.... I'm glad nothing more came of it.  Except, that my mom decided she needed to try the drink out for herself.  She was a bit disappointed it didn't have the same effect on her.  (I will have to remember to buy that little drink for my kids the next time we drive to Lake Powell or Yellowstone though:)

 



Fill Your Lamp

Fill your Lamp

 

  I was inspired by Linda K. Burton's talk  "Prepared in a Manner That Never Had Been Known" during the General Relief Society Meeting two weeks ago.  I decided to do a Family Home Evening on the things we should be doing daily to prepare for the temple and for eternal life. I borrowed a decorative oil lamp from my sister for a display. We are going to listen to the last seven minutes of the talk.  Then our kids will write on little slips of paper representing drops of oil what things we should do to fill our oil lamps.  I'm going to tape their drops to the oil lamp.  I'd like to focus on each of the acts we talk about for the oil drops in subsequent weeks.  This week we are going to follow up with very short mini lessons (2-5 min.) on prayer each night during our scripture study time. 

Kate is 1 year! Not an Ounce of Preemie left on her:)

A good friend of mine- Amanda Livingston-took Kate's one year pictures.  She always does such a great job!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't believe it's been a year since this little miracle joined our family!   She's been so much fun and brings so much happiness to us.  She's come a long way in the last 6 months.  Although she's a year, her adjusted age is only 9 months.  She bypassed scooting and went straight to crawling in September and recently figured out how to pull herself up to a standing position by holding on to things.  She likes to mimic other's actions like clicking her tongue, nodding her head, or waving her arms around.  She loves her daddy!  She says "DADADADA" a lot.  Josh has been Mr. Mom for the last two months at night, because often times he is the one who takes care of her in the evening and puts her to bed at night since I do my preschool prep during that time.  Just the other night she was crying and I couldn't console her.  Finally I gave her to Josh and she immediately stopped crying and went to sleep....    I felt a little bit shunned.  She's become very stranger danger and won't go to hardly anyone. She still loves to be held almost 90% of the time, but will spend a little bit of time on the floor when she's in a good mood. I could really benefit from a kangaroo pouch and a few extra octo-arms!  We should be able to grow some of these parts when we have babies-just for a short time. She hasn't taken on the roll of holding her own bottle-I think this is more by choice than by development though.  She probably knows once she starts doing that then she won't get as much mommy time. 

  Lately- Kate hasn't been in much of a good mood.  Just this week she had double ear infections so we treated her with a prescription and she had an allergic reaction  (a rash all over her body)  to penicillin.  She got her first two teeth around the time of her birthday and was not a happy teether either! 

She loves her siblings, but Kinnli can make her laugh harder than anyone else.  Kennadi claims Kate to be her baby and calls her "Kate the Great".  She wants to hold Kate at least once a day, but Kate has almost passed Kennadi up in size-at least in weight. Kaden is such a cute big brother with her.  He watches her a lot for me and he has the baby whisperer touch to put her to sleep.  He cuddles her and sings her songs. He likes watching her for this reason because he has prematurely started the teenager sleep mode-if he can get Kate to nap then he gets to nap too.   

Kate refuses to eat baby food anymore and we switched her to milk when she turned one, even though we should've waited until her adjusted age 1 yr. mark. 

 It's crazy to think back to a year ago and how far my little pop can baby has come.  I'm grateful everyday for the many miracles that has made her as strong as she is today!  I'm so glad we are on "The Other Side of Hard" now and we are enjoying all the blessings she brings to our family.