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My son Bryce’s room was a disaster. He was eleven, and his dirty clothes were strewn all over his room. I thought I was clever for putting a hamper that looked like a basketball hoop in his room. Either he was a terrible shot, or he had forgotten about the existence of the hamper. I was sick of the mess and the smell. During family council, I let all the kids know I would only wash the clothes in their hampers. Clothes on the floor wouldn’t be washed. 

 Two weeks later, Bryce came to breakfast in his pajamas on a school day. The rule at our house was that they could eat breakfast after they were dressed. I asked him if it was a pajama day. He said it wasn’t, and that he didn’t have any clean clothes. I told him I was sorry to hear that. I reminded him…

We can learn to be more like Jesus even (or especially) in our families. Joy can be found when we work towards this type of love. C. Max Caldwell said the following about the love of Jesus Christ, “Jesus’ love was inseparably connected to and resulted from his life of serving, sacrificing, and giving on behalf of others. We cannot develop Christlike love except by practicing the process prescribed by the Master” (“Love of Christ,” Ensign, Nov. 1992).

We don’t have a finite amount of love to share. Love isn’t wasted. Love increases the more we learn to share it. We don’t have to save our love for the strangers we meet on the road to Jericho. This road goes straight through our own living rooms. Love begins at home. 

But sometimes, we don’t see that the things we do at home are important to the Lord. We think we…

I was serving in the nursery, and it was snack time. I loved watching the children’s personalities come out as they ate. Some kids dipped their crackers in their drinks and had to hurry to get it to their mouths before it fell apart. Others lined their fish up before they ate them or they made the fish swim to their mouths. Snack time with little kids always makes me smile.

My heart changed when I watched a sweet girl named Brooklyn Ragsdale share her snack with the boy next to her. She was taking teeny bites of her small cookie and enjoying each tiny bite. The boy next to her ate his cookie rather quickly. Brooklyn saw that he wanted more. She broke her cookie in half and gave it to him with a smile on her face. It was an automatic response for her. She even patted him…

I have a lot of love and respect for my husband. Throughout our marriage, he has been consistently courageous. Kerry is always the first one up and never complains. He has always put our needs before his own and did it with a smile on his face. He strives to serve God and do all that is asked of him. He looks for ways to give our children new experiences that will help them grow. 

One of our children said that they hated winter and Kerry took it as a personal challenge to give them experiences during winter to help them enjoy this time of year. We did many winter activities, including snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, sleighing, ice skating, igloo building, and downhill skiing. He wanted them to learn how to do these things so that they could enjoy this time of year. As an adult, he learned to ski so…

John 21:15-17

15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

I love this teaching moment the Savior had with Peter. He knew Peter and knew how to reach him. Repeating the same question three…

My son was old enough to tie his own shoes, but I tied them for him. I watched one of his buddies tie his own shoes and realized it was time to teach him how to do this. After his friend left, I said, “So Zach can tie his own shoes. Do you want to learn how to tie your shoes?” We spent under an hour working on this and I never had to tie his shoes again. I think sometimes we convince ourselves that it would just be easier to do things ourselves. I have learned to ask myself the question, “Am I doing things for my kids that they can do for themselves?” This question has helped me to not do for my kids the things that they can do for themselves. My hope is that this will help them be capable and confident children, teens, and adults.…

One of my favorite things about living in Italy was the church bells that sounded throughout the day. I loved hearing them! I also found that the bells made it easy for me to get my kids out the door in the morning for school. The kids knew when they heard the bells that we needed to head out of our house. I never had to say anything. The bells did it for me. They also knew that they needed to be in bed when the bells rang at night, as well. They tried to be in bed before they started ringing and loved the big deal I made when they were in bed before they rang. I wish we had bells where I live now. If you feel like you are nagging your kids to do things or get out the door to go somewhere, set a timer, and…

When I was a young mom, I spent a lot of time berating myself for things that weren’t going well during my day. I was frustrated with how messy my house was, my lack of energy, and my inability to stay calm. I wasted a lot of time feeling bad about myself. I was hesitant to burden Heavenly Father with my woes about the mess in my home, but when I did, it made all the difference. With God’s help, I made some changes that helped me feel better about my role as a mother. My prayers helped me not to be so hard on myself about everything that didn’t go well. And I felt like I could be the mom I had always wanted to be.

I set aside some time in the early morning to pray and think about the coming day. In one of my prayers, I…