I took Advanced Placement (A.P.) Physics when I was in High School. The first semester there were about 15 girls in the class,but by the second semester there were only four of us left. It was a hard class. To this day I’m not quite sure what compelled me to stick it out, but I…
I have always loved birthdays. The parties, the balloons, the cake, the presents, the attention. Birthday’s have always been a big deal in my family and celebrating them is a lot of fun. Yet it wasn’t until my oldest son celebrated his first birthday that it dawned on me that a birthday celebrates a BIRTH.…
I loved the First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional last night. Listening to it always puts me in the right frame of mind and heart for Christmas. If you missed it you can watch the broadcast here. I was especially touched by Elder Eyring’s talk and his recollections of a Christmas that he worked hard to create…
I love the story of Adam and Eve because within it there are SO many eternal truths about the role and purpose of women and interactions between the men and women. Yet, it saddens me that this beautiful story has also been the justification for so much of history’s oppression and discrimination against women. One…
In “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” it states, “By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers…
When my husband and I were first married the best advice we got from our parents was, “Always say a prayer together before discussing money.” We have always tried to follow that counsel and not only has it helped us manage our household better, but it was also the first way we learned to counsel…
Eleven years ago my aunt died. She was an incredible person– beautiful, vivacious, kind. Her death was completely unexpected and it was a tragic shock for her three daughters and for our entire extended family. When my Dad called to tell me she had died I was at work, and since I was living near…
The Offer of Manoah by Rembrandt Judges 13 The mother of Sampson, the wife of the Danite Manoah, was another woman who struggled with the trial of infertility. We don’t know how long she was barren but in Judges 13:3 we read that an angel of the Lord appeared to her and told her that…
“Samuel Dedicated by Hannah” by Frank Topham I have been reading the Old Testament again, this time to mark the women in it and because Cedar Fort asked me to do a book on the women of the Old Testament. It won’t be out for several years still, but I figured I’d better start studying.…
About two months ago I received an email from one of my readers asking me this question and I thought that since Father’s Day is coming up now would be a good time to answer it. She said, “What makes a great feminist husband? What I mean by this, is that I see so…
I know that this is a blog on the women in the scriptures, but there is one man from the scriptures I have been thinking a lot about this Christmas. Joseph, the husband of Mary. It sometimes seems like Joseph gets swept aside in the story of the Nativity. Mary and Jesus are the main…
In our family scripture study we just stated re-reading the Book of Mormon again. A few days ago we read the story of when Lehi commands his son’s to go back to Jerusalem and get the brass plates (1 Nephi 3). Laman and Lemuel, the older brothers, murmur about going and the whole trip wanted…
One night when Jon and I were engaged we were sitting on the couch in my apartment. He was studying out of his human anatomy book and I was working on a paper for my Women’s Literature class. In my class we had been discussing archetypes and had just read the book “She” by Robert…
Three years ago, when I was pregnant with our first baby, my husband and I decided to memorize “The Family: A Proclamation to the World”. We decided to have a race and whoever memorized the whole thing first—word perfect– would be treated to the restaurant of their choice. It wasn’t such an easy task, the…
Speaking in this last General Conference, President Russell M. Nelson expressed the following, “…we need women who. . . are courageous defenders of morality and families in a sin-sick world. We need women who are devoted to shepherding God’s children along the covenant path toward exaltation; . . .women who know how to call upon…
In church on Sunday we talked about the story Ruth and Boaz and about half way through the discussion I found myself laughing softly to my friend who was sitting next to me. We had just read the part in the story when, after washing and dressing herself as her mother-in-law instructed her to, Ruth…
We finally put away our Christmas decorations today, and with how crazy life has been around here lately I am just impressed that they got taken down before July! As I was packing things up in boxes I remembered that all month I’ve been thinking about these two little penguins, which have been standing on…
This is part 7 of my series “Cultivating a Heart Open to Life” “When has marriage ever been about having children?” These words, spoken over the radio, stopped me mid-stir. I was making dinner for my family and listening to the news on NPR. The news coverage was about the legal battles that had…
One of the most frequently misunderstood terms in the bible is the term “help meet” in the book of Genesis. In Genesis 2:18 it says, “And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” The common way in which the…
My wonderful, amazing, beautiful little sister got married just before Thanksgiving. It was incredible to watch her– my little sister– get married to a wonderful man, in the right place, and in the right way. Her wedding was beautiful, magical, and holy. Really, it was perfect in every way. Even the torrential rain was perfect,…
Several months ago in Sunday School we had a lesson on marriage taught by an instructor who had been a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War. He gave an example that helped me better understand what it means that men “preside” over the church and in the family. The teacher explained that whenever he would…