Breakfast Matters

Monday Memo 5.31.11



Dear Friends,



One morning last week my grandchildren arrived early. I take them to school with me every day, but on that morning I was still getting ready. My twelve-year-old granddaughter came to my bedroom door and asked if she could have some breakfast. I replied that she would have to find herself something since I was running a little late. Her uncharacteristic cheerful answer should have alerted me, “Caution! You should pay attention to this situation!” Entering the kitchen, I saw Cassie eating a bowl of CHOCOLATE CHIPS! Breakfast of champions? It just reminded me that kids need constant guidance and direction! ...Even when they are twelve!



Here we are at the end of our school year, still trying to prompt and teach our students. We want them to go on well-prepared to face the learning challenges of their next school year. And even though you and I might choose chocolate (have you tried chocolate Cheerios? Yum!) for breakfast, let’s keep teaching them that choices have consequences. I hope you touched on nutrition this year! Whatever it takes, our kids are worth it. We do hard things! Hurray for you! Have a great week.

Faith Matters

The speakers and lessons in church today inspired me! The first speaker talked about prayer. It was a great reminder how prayers are answered. A few months ago I was praying for one of my children. In my prayer I was fervently praying "whatever it takes..." when I sort of caught my breath and paused. Maybe NOT whatever it takes! Yes, of course, whatever it takes...Where was my faith? I am always saying I believe the Lord's hand is in everything. The next day I found out that my son had lost his job, and I could see that the Lord's hand is in everything. I put my faith and trust in him. It has taken nearly five months for my son to find a new job. He has become a better, more faithful person through the hardships of being out of work. I truly believe that putting it in the hands of our Heavenly Father and trusting in Him is the only answer. Donovan starts a great new job in a week.

The second speaker talked about life after death. Both speakers are older widowers who have lost their wives in the last year or so. I reflected on the death of my father, nearly ten years ago. It was a very warm night in the first of July, and I was in bed asleep when the phone woke us. My sister was calling to report that Daddy was gone. He was only 75--a very young and healthy 75, and we had hoped to have him for many years yet. After calling my brother and other sister, I returned to bed. I was shaking and shivering as if it were the icy dead of winter. I couldn't stop. Finally, I slid from my bed and onto my knees, pleading for help and solace and strength of testimony. It came into my mind to turn on the television. I flipped to BYU-TV, and there, in the middle of that July night was a replaying of Elder Bruce R. McConkie's last Conference talk before his death. It was like fire to me, warming me to the bone and calming my shivering, shaking body. His testimony pierced my soul. His last words from that final talk:

"And now as pertaining to this perfect Atonement, I testify that it took place at Gethsemane and at Golgotha. And as pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God who was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person. I am one of His witnesses. And in the coming day I will feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet His feet with my tears. But I shall not know any better then than I do now that He is God's almighty Son, and He is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through His atoning blood and in no other way. God grant that all of us will walk in the light, as God our Father is in the light so that according to His promises the blood of Jesus Christ his Son will cleanse us from all sin...(Bruce R. McConkie, April Conference, 1985, died thirteen days after giving this testimony.)"

Matters of Experience 5.23.11

Monday Memo: Coyotes and Cockatiels

I am here in Broomfield, Colorado, enjoying the beautiful morning. Yesterday, on the way to church, we had to stop in the middle of a four-lane street in the middle of town to yield to a coyote crossing the street. He turned his head toward us and seemed to smile at the power he had to stop a car. His home covers acres in the middle of this north Denver suburb. It is called Broomfield Open Space and is home to coyotes, foxes, hawks, eagles, raccoons, and other assorted animals.

Every morning I awaken to a very noisy cockatiel singing (whistling actually, but I know he has no lips to put together!) "Pop Goes the Weasel!" and other assorted musical renderings. I think that this is the same bird that the then little girls pulled the tail feathers out of fifteen years ago! They have been listening to his jabber and screeching for a long time!

No matter where we are and what we are doing, there are always bumps, stops, and irritations along the way. We have no choice but to wait, back up,and wake up before we continue on. All the interruptions make our lives more interesting and full. As you wind down this year, it is guaranteed that there will be some interruptions in your plans--we deal with little human beings, after all. Have a great week. Keep doing hard things. It may not be easy, but it will be worth it!

Matters of My Heart

janjimks: Matters of Heart: Matters of My Heart
I attended my second granddaughter's high-school graduatiion yesterday in Broomfield, Colorado. It was such a reminder that "time flies on wings of lightening; you cannot call it back!" It slips past without conscience.

Twenty-three years ago we welcomed our seventh child into this world. Cameron was a beautiful, eight-and-a-half-pound baby with a round face and fuzzy strawberry-blonde hair. When the midwife handed him to me, something in his face caused me to have a passing feeling that there was something...

A few hours later the pediatrician stood by my bed and kindly went over the signs that my sweet baby may have Down Syndrome. The eyes...the simian crease...the short fingers and small ears. He said we would not know for sure until we had a genetic screening, but I knew. The Asian doctor smiled. He himself surely had slanted eyes. He showed me his own simian crease. Like anyone, my first thoughts were, "Why me?" "Why me, who had never tasted alcohol, tobacco, or drugs?" "Why me who had never even known anyone with special needs?" "Why me, who has six brilliant, creative children?" Then, "Why NOT me?" "Why not our loving and faithful family?" "Why not?" I called my husband, who had just left the hospital and returned to our children. In his shock, he also searched for an answer. Our children worried and wondered how our lives would change...

We broke the news to family and friends over the next few days, and went on with our busy lives as if nothing had changed. Indeed, it had not. We were determined to have this baby be as "normal" as possible. I had no idea what the next few years would bring for our Cameron. What would it be like when he entered nursery at church, kindergarten? What would his elementary years be like? Junior high? High school? Life after that for this little boy who won the hearts of everyone who held him and looked into his blue eyes?

Here we are twenty three years later with a wagonload of memories that we would not trade for all the "normal" boys born those years ago. We always say Cam makes our lives "interesting," but it's really much more than that. Loving a child with special needs makes me a better person. I am more compassionate, patient, humble, self-aware, courageous, faithful, generous, and happy because twenty-three years ago God sent an angel. He wasn't the baby we ordered--he was so much more.

Education Matters: Monday Memo 5.16.2011

Every Monday I write a "motivational" message to the
staff at my school . Here is this week's message:

Dear Friends,

I think spring is finally here! Spring brings hope and happiness if we let it. Remember my globe willow tree that was caught up in a twister and wretched from the ground, snapped at the roots and flung into the corner of my back yard? My son cut the tree back and sawed the wood into logs, leaving a stump that he would later pull out. The stump never quite got hauled away, and now, nearly three years later, the tree is strong and growing again. It seems like a miracle that the tree could flourish after nature’s destruction! Nature often takes care of itself in that way. Have you been to Yellowstone Park following the massive forest fires wiped it out several years ago? It is fresh, beautiful, and new.

Every time a disaster enters our lives we need to remember that it may be a chance to start anew. We sometimes need a fresh start to learn and grow to be the best that we can be. A new grade assignment, a new school, a retirement, new students in the new year, new team members, a new idea: all make us better at what we do. Experience—new experience—is for our good. We can do hard things!

Whatever it takes, our kids are worth it! Have a great week. Do hard things. You are the best! Celebrate all the good things about spring!

Faith Matters

I have a wonderful friend who is recovering from a double cancer surgery. On the same day that she found out she had renal cancer and would have her kidney removed, the doctors told her that a suspicious lump on her mammogram was most assuredly cancer. Marge looks at this double diagnosis as a blessing. She is sure that finding two kinds of cancer at the same time was what got her the best care in the world at the Huntsman Cancer Center. I thought she was probably in denial when she was actually facing her trial with faith and confidence that she was in the Lord's hands, and He knew what she needed. There she was, wrapped in a pink scarf honoring breast-cancer awareness, and ready to teach Sharing Time! Faith matters.

Today was the last of almost three years as Primary president. The last Sharing Time. The last of all those funny little things I learned from Sunbeams and all the profound concepts I learned while teaching the children of our ward. This year's theme is "I Know the Scriptures Are True." Today's lesson in sharing time was "Joseph Smith is the prophet of the Restoration." I am so grateful for the true and restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! I love the children and will miss teaching them, but the inspired Primary program will go on teaching children 18 months to 12 years old (and the adults who are called to teach and lead).

Matters of Heart 5.15.2011

Inspired by my sister's blog, the many other women who have shared by creating blogs, and my own love for sharing and writing, I jump into this venue with excitement and trepidation. I have been thinking of writing for weeks and sharing the matters of my heart--those things that matter to me. I will be writing about:

• Education Matters


• Faith Matters


• Music Matters


• Reading Matters


• Parenting Matters


• Teaching Matters


• Family Matters


• Marriage Matters


• Service Matters


• Taste Matters


• Health Matters


• Mondays Matter


• Miscellaneous Matters

I am a devoted mother of seven children and grandmother of almost 20. My husband and I are both educators. Jim teaches history and government at a public high school, and after teaching for 20 years, I am an elementary-school principal. After raising six boys and one daughter and spending most of my life in education (learning and teaching), I have a few things to say! I am a woman of faith, a life-long Mormon. Over the years I have learned from my many friends and family members. I love to create, decorate, read, sew, write, and learn. I love movies and television. I belong to two book clubs. And now--I am a blogger!