An Easter Message

Happy Easter Everyone.

Whatever you believe or whatever your faith, I hope you have a lovely Easter.

Here is a little of what I believe and will be pondering this weekend:

He Is Risen.

Finding Religion Part 2

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Part one: Finding Religion

Continuing my story.

After spending a short amount of time during my teenage years doing some light Bible reading, I put away my Bible not to touch it for about 4 more years. Religion crossed my mind several times during this period as I often stopped to chat to anyone who was promoting a certain faith or church.

As I talked to people from other faiths I enjoyed what they had to say. I agreed on many points of their teachings but in my heart they never felt quite right for me. I continued on my journey of life and my thoughts started turning towards finding a religion that I knew in my heart and mind was for me. Strangely enough during this time I did not remember seeing any young men in suits. 

I moved out of home at 17, enrolled in University, found a job in the city and lived a busy and full life. I found friends, I went out on the weekends, I danced my heart out, I dated, I shopped, I studied and I tried my best to keep up with what a normal young adult would do at that time and stage of life.

After completing several years of University I took a year off to work full time. I wanted to save a little more money and to think more about what direction I wanted to take my life. The more I started to think about where I was heading the more depressed I started to feel. 

I spent about two months feeling deeply depressed. During this time I wanted to end my life. I spent all of my day writing out my thoughts and reasons for not living. I planned it all out. How it would happen, who would find me and even set a time and date for when ending my life would take place. 

It consumed my thoughts constantly and I simply could not see any reason to keep living. 

One night, very late at night I had an experience that changed my mind. The only way I can describe it is that I had a moment where I could see clearly, it was if I had pure knowledge. It was taught a simple truth.

Into my mind and heart came an impression or concept.

It was that there is life after this Earth life. That there really is a place to go to.

It touched me. I had never pondered it very much before. I had heard people talk of heaven but I had never personally applied it to myself. How it would affect me.

I clung to that knowledge. I pondered over would happen if I ended my life. The emotional and mental state that I would be in if I ended my life right then. It scared me. I did not want to go to that next place as messed up as I was feeling, I wanted to go there as a happier, stronger person.

I then made the decision to do whatever it takes to get myself better.

That simple truth and knowledge saved my life.

I quit my job. I enrolled back into University more determined to finish my study and to follow my dreams. I slowly started to make changes that agreed with what I was feeling.

Story to be continued.

Have you ever had an impression or experience that changed your life?

A Christ Centered Christmas

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This time of year we tend to get caught up in the rush and craziness that comes with purchasing presents, attending Christmas get togethers and school concerts or performances. All of these festive activities and pursuits of our time are wonderful and bring happiness to ourselves and others. In doing so we can often forget the reason for the season and the importance of having a Christ centred Christmas, if that is what your faith and tradition involves.

This year I am personally trying to put Christ back into Christmas a little more in our home. I am not one to force religion or my faith on others but I do love to share some of the faith filled activities we participate in as a family on my blog. After chatting to some Seven Cherubs fans on facebook we collected some ideas to help you keep a Christ centred Christmas in your homes. Some of these tips and suggestions could apply regardless of whether you are religious or not. They are about putting others first and of serving and uplifting families during this special time of year. 

Here are the suggestions below:

Jac - When I was younger Dad would read the Christmas story before we were allowed to open presents. I have also heard that some families choose a present to give to the less fortunate out of the presents they get on Christmas Day.

Amanda - Help the kids make Jesus a birthday present. Just decorate a shoe box and every time they do something that would make Jesus happy they write it down and put it in a box. Then on Christmas morning your read out all of Jesus's presents.

Pippi - We make a cake for Jesus and sing Happy Birthday. This year they are doing a 4-layer carrot cake.

Elizabeth - Make sure you always say Christmas not Xmas.

Rachael - We read The White Stocking poem and the idea is to get a white stocking and to fill it with pieces of paper as gifts to the Saviour that you will work on during the next year.

Kylie: Read the Christmas Story from the Bible and picture book variations up until Christmas. We never use or say Xmas instead of Christmas. We have an advent calendar where each day we have to do something eg. sing a Christmas carol, help someone etc. Acts of service and also read scriptures of Christ's life. Go see the Temple Christmas lights and program they have in Sydney. Display a nativity scene prominently in our home. I have one client who puts up the nativity first and then a week later the rest of the decorations. The nativity is the first one you see when you enter the house.

Gayelene - We do a grocery hamper for an anonymous family. I make the kids come with me to the grocery store to select things for the family that also includes a small gift for each person in that family. I love how considerate and thoughtful my kids have become over the years we have been doing this. We all then deliver it to the local charity that distributes it.

Gabby - We have a fisher price nativity scene, it's the little people's range & very cute. It reminds us & our 4 year old what its all about in a lovely way :)

Veronica - First time I'm making the effort since bub's are big enough - putting out a nativity set and reading kid's version of the Christmas story, talking about St Nicholas and giving as the connection to Santa Claus, getting a gift or two for charity. I'm still making it up as I go along but these are some thoughts.

Mandy -  We're really lucky, our local church role play the first christmas every night the week before Christmas. It is a tradition for us to go down and watch it. They spend the week before building the set, a lot of effort goes into it. Lovely local people putting in a lot of effort to get their message across. I just love that my kids get to know that Christmas is not just about presents.

Diana - I have 24 Christmas stories that I absolutely love. I read one per night to my children in the lead-up to Christmas. You can find them here. Tissues may be needed.

Marie - My girls when they were younger loved doing the Christmas tree gift tags at K Mart and Target. I still do that. We also love attending the Christmas carols by candlelight locally.

Emma - My son's class had a Posada where we each welcomed little Mary & Joseph figures (and their donkey) into our homes for a night on their journey. We lit a candle and read a Christmas story. Each night a different student takes them home. I know it made my children think more about the real meaning of Christmas.

In our family we love to watch these Life of Christ Bible video's together as a family.

I love all of these suggestions and we do many of them in our family as well. 

What do you do as a family to keep a Christ centred Christmas??

pinterest + mormon messages

I love Pinterest. I also love finding pins/quotes with a Mormon message or religious message. Some of my favourite pins are quotes from leaders of my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I even have a whole board dedicated to faithful, religious messages.

We have wonderful inspired leaders who are aware of what we need to hear and often speak directly to the women of our church. They inspire me to be a better woman, mother and wife. They also inspire me to just be me. Today I thought I would share some of them with you and you may even be familiar with them already. You can follow me as sevencherubs on pinterest. Enjoy x

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finding religion

I have not always been a religious person, in fact I think I was raised to NOT be religious. As a young child I remember attending church a couple of times with my grandparents but that was as far as it went. In our family we did not say prayers, we did not read scriptures and we definately did not attend church on a regular basis. Being a religious person was the last thing on my mind as I was growing up.

Then something happened, something changed. I started working as a teenager in a supermarket as a checkout chick. I remember on a regular basis 2 young men, always dressed in suits, coming through my register. They never spoke to me about religion, they never invited me to learn more but they were always happy and friendly. I don't know what it was but I wanted to be like them. Positive and happy. I decided that the way for me to start being a little like them was to read the Bible.

As a teenager I remember clearly hunting down a religious book shop in my home town and purchasing a Bible. It took me a couple of times to work up the courage to enter the shop and I remember afterwards being shocked that I now owned my very own Bible! I spent a lot of my time pouring over it's pages, just reading the words but not understanding what it was really about.

This lasted for about six months, I then put my Bible away and did not see any young men in suits for a very long time. Years even. However, it was a start, my heart had been pricked and softened to allow God to enter and little did I know at the time that it was a great preparation for the choices I would make in the future.

What about you: Did you grow up in a religious home???

Is religion a part of your life???

I am a Mormon and Australian Mormon Blogs

Most of you who read my blog will know that I am a Mormon.

I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

My faith is very important to me and has given me a great foundation for raising our family.

I love to read blogs by women of my faith. They inspire me and I feel a connection with them because I know we have the same beliefs and values. I love to see how they are raising their families and living the gospel in their homes. I also love and respect women from other faiths and so admire the good they are doing to uplift and edify so many others.

Here in Australia having a blog is becoming more and more popular. They are popping up everywhere. I have enjoyed finding so many wonderful blogs in my blogging journey and have been on the look out for some more Australian Mormon Blogs. So to help me find some more I thought I would just write a blog post about it and put out a call to see if anyone else knows some great blogs I should be reading.

I know a few popular Mormon blogs:

Toni Coward from Make it Perfect
Kate Conklin from Kate Conklin Designs
Amelia Sliedrich Stitch 'n' Bits
Kylie Ofiu from Kylie Ofiu
Felicity Ashton from Bits and Pieces

So my lovely readers...

What Australian Mormon Blogs do you know about?

P.S ~ You can check out  my profile...here

**I am also guest posting over at Ah! The Possibilities today on Mothers as Leaders if you want to check that out.

Be still my soul

Being still gives me perspective and insight.

Being still brings me answers and revelation.

With a full busy life, taking time to stop has been a challenge I have been working on. Finding the time to fit a quiet moment into my day has been the hardest part. Often when I can get a quiet moment either early in the morning or late at night, I find I am very tired and my mind is slow to function.

Even though it has been difficult to fit in, I have found that it has become a necessary part of my day. You see, I love to ponder, to toss ideas and thoughts around in my mind and to come to a conclusion about what is the right choice or course of action I need to take.

I am a very ponderous person.

I find when I take the time to be still, to find a quiet spot and to really think and listen, I see my family and life in a whole new perspective. Being still allows me to calm down, to assess my emotions and to be prayerful with my thoughts.

It centres me.
It heals my soul.

This perspective allows me to see clearly, answers to problems that have been worrying me and to see that I am really blessed when I am often feeling low and discouraged.

At first I found it difficult to be still, my thoughts would turn to housework or other uses of my time and it took a while to control my thoughts and to be in the moment of just sitting and being still.

Now, I look forward to still moments, to take in my surroundings, to appreciate ways I am blessed and look for the sunlight in my life.

On Sunday, a good friend of mine, Sharon, taught a lesson at church on being cheerful. At the end of the lesson she handed every woman a piece of paper and asked them to sit down and record their blessings in life.

A wonderful way to start off having a be still moment.

If you are struggling with finding time to be still or feel guilty about stopping to ponder, I highly recommend you try this activity to look for the good in your life.

It might not come easy at first, but if you persist, you will recognise the blessings more and more in your life and come to treasure this time.

Just as the sun is bursting through the trees in the image above, so will your happiness when you take some time to be still and listen to your soul.

sacred places...sacred spaces

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Do you have places or times in your life that are sacred to you???

I am talking about those moments that you treasure, hold dear and make your heart sing. 

Places or spaces where you want to drop everything, that make you want to rush to them, knowing that you will find happiness, peace and comfort there. It does not have to be associated with religious acts or buildings, it can be associated with everyday places or spaces that you regard with great respect and reverence.

Before joining a church the word sacred held no meaning to me. I certainly did not know how to treat something as sacred or how to show respect towards experiences or places.

Generally the word sacred means:

Connected with God (or the gods) or dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving veneration

If you are not religious finding sacred moments in life can still apply. As I have pondered over what is sacred to me I have been surprised by how many sacred moments and places I do have in my life. I have become aware that I now love to seek out sacred experiences, to help create them and to believe in them.

Some sacred places or spaces to me are:
Dinner time at our dinner table
Late night pillow talk with my husband
Family prayers in our lounge room
Family group hugs
Where I kneel to pray each day
At my computer desk where I feel inspired to write
My blog where I share feelings of my heart
My home where precious moments happen
My car {bus} where we talk about things that matter most
In the bathroom where I chat to my kids whilst washing their hair
My lap where my cherubs snuggle and cuddle with me
In the arms of my husband where I feel comforted and secure
In my mind where I let my thoughts run free

The older I get the more I desire sacred places and spaces. I seek for moments to treasure and to make my heart sing. My days feel like they are getting shorter, my kids are getting older and I want to hold sacred all the years we have together.

p.s ~ if you love Disney, enter my Bambi DVD Value Pack giveaway here.

Linda and Richard Eyre: Spiritual Solutions

I hope you have heard of Linda and Richard Eyre. They are wonderful advocates for happy, healthy families and appreciating and enjoying motherhood. I have been a big fan for a long time. I am talking BIG fan! I am so delighted, excited and blown away that they have written a guest post for my blog.

The perfect combination between the Tiger Mother and Barney

Perhaps you have heard the controversy recently about a writer (and Yale Law School professor) named Amy Chua who is essentially saying that American kids are soft, indulged, entitled, and amounting to nothing, while Chinese and Asian moms are raising disciplined, highly accomplished kids who will bury their lazy American competitors at every level.

She is right!

But she is wrong!

She is right that American kids this generation are the most indulged and entitled kids ever raised on the face of the earth in the history of this planet.  They are given everything, without effort, and left from the time they are little to watch Barney or Dora and then to graduate to video games, texting and endless social networking.  And the result of all the molly coddling is that they lack motivation and initiative and, let’s be honest, toughness.

It’s not true of all kids, and perhaps yours are an exception, but it is a worry, none-the-less, a BIG worry!

But Amy Chua is wrong too.  She is wrong on many levels.  She is wrong in her methodology which suggests severe punishment and deprivation for kids who don’t do their homework, get their A’s and finish first in everything.  She is wrong in her assumption that academic and music competition is the measure of life and of success.  And she is essentially morally wrong by thinking (and writing) that making kids excel is the mission and goal of parents.

What about the question of character?

We would rather see a child who cares and shares than one who always competes and wins.  And we would rather see parents emphasize moral values than win at all cost perfection.

We have traveled in Asia a great deal over the last five years, and while we love the people, we hate the pushy parenting by so many of the upper middle class parents that causes kids to work on academics and music (piano and violin seem to be the only acceptable instruments) for 15 hours a day at the expense of all else.

Now, the question is, what do we as American parents and as Mormon parents do about the problem of entitled, lazy kids, and how do we keep our balance between raising kids who are well rounded and highly sharpened.

We feel so strongly about the importance of that question that we have essentially written a book about it.  It is our new Deseret Book, called 5 Spiritual Solutions to Everyday Parenting Challenges, and it basically suggests that if we follow the examples of how God parents us, and if we remember our children’s true spiritual identity, we will find the right balance between tough love and loving parental approbation.

The book has five sections, each one suggesting a way that we can be exceptional as Mormon parents:

Solution 1:  Remember Your Children’s True Identity 

(thus giving them the respect and individuality they deserve as children of God)

Solution 2: Remember God’s Parenting Patterns 

(and try to emulate His divine example in how we discipline and how we motivate and how we love.)

Solution 3: Remember Your Direct Channel to the Father

(What prayer is more direct and effectual than a steward asking the true Father how to parent His children?)

Solution 4: Remember the Church’s “Scaffolding”

(The Church is our back-up for teaching everything from values to speaking ability.)

Solution 5: Remember the Saviour’s Power

(We have the very Priesthood and power of God to bless and guide our children.)

These solutions are not parenting techniques or methods for manipulating our children.  Rather, they are principles that will guide us toward the right balance between accepting love and demanding love.

Good luck to us all in finding this balance.  For further help, and further information on the book, visit HERE to read the excerpts.

Is there a compromise or a combination?

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New York Times No. 1 bestselling authors Richard and Linda Eyre are the parents of nine children and, by coincidence, the authors of nine internationally distributed parenting and life-balance books. 

They lecture throughout the world on family-related topics. Their new book, "5 Spiritual Solutions for Everyday Parenting Challenges," is available at Deseret Book stores now. 

(Link to product page: HERE)

Next week I will be doing a review on this book (so far I am loving it!) and I have one to giveaway so be sure to come back to enter and WIN. Thank so much Linda and Richard.

100 ways to be happy - Number 7. Find serenity

Being calm and relaxed does not come naturally to me.

Once upon a time it might have but now it is a talent that I have to work on and I get the opportunity to develop this talent every day in a house full of many children. Our home is noisy, active and busy.

With seven children under eleven years old things can sure get crazy. Often I find that I am talking to four or five different children at once trying to keep the conversation going and using eye contact to get each child to understand that the word I just said was meant for them and not the other four who are also talking to me! No wonder I feel exhausted at the end of each day!!!

Serenity is the state of being calm, peaceful and untroubled. On a daily basis finding serenity is difficult. There is so much that needs to be done, so much to worry about and I find to have serenity I have to create it for myself. It does not work every day that I can steal away and find a moment..but..when I do - it makes a real difference to my countenance, to my voice and to my attitude.

When the children were younger {I am talking about in the one's and two's age} and we did not have much money to decorate, create or provide opportunities for escaping - I would simply sit by a window and stare outside. I would take in all the surroundings and use that moment to relax me, to connect with nature and to be still.

Everyone should have a place they can go to when the going gets tough. An escape, a place of solitude and peace. A special place of serenity. Some mothers are blessed to have a holiday home, a family member near by or a good friends place to retreat to. If you have been like me at certain times of my life when I had none of those places I would simply go to my bedroom. I would try to keep in clean and neat so I had somewhere in the house to run to when I need to take a few deep breaths and to calm down. With nappies, tantrums and many tears {often from me!} I would run to my room several times a day to refresh. I went to gather thoughts, renew faith and restore happiness.

For me now having serenity is a must. Especially now that my children are getting a little older and conversations are becoming more emotionally draining and complex {I know....listen to me...I don't even have teenagers yet!} and I don't have family near by to run off to, so I have had to create and look for my own place to relax and restore my mind and heart.

For me as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I am blessed to attend a temple. We have one in just about every state in Australia. They are quiet reverent buildings of peace, joy and contemplation. When things get too hectic around our home I know I can attend the temple and leave feeling uplifted, renewed and full of serenity.

I also know that you can find serenity at home. With chaos surrounding you it is possible to grab a moment and change your thoughts. To clear your mind and to be cheerful.

Cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, 

filling it with a steady and perpetual serenity 

~Joseph Addison~

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setting spiritual goals

Recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to speak to a group of women about setting goals.
Spriritual goals.

I picked this topic because I had been pondering about what I want to achieve in life, what my priorities are and what my dreams are.

I find that when I set goals, I achieve more.
I think about them, I pray about them and the Lord blesses me with help and revelation so that I can achieve them.

I talked to them about goals or dreams they had when they were younger.
Some women grow up attending church and I asked them to look back and think about what their dream or goal was during that time.

For those like myself, who did not have that opportunity and later started attending church I asked them to think about when they first became members of a church. What was their dream or goal?

I then asked them to reflect back on those dreams and goals and to make a little assessment - to take some time to look at how they had done and to ask themselves the following questions:

Have you achieved those goals?
Did you loose your way for a time?
Have your goals changed?
Has the busyness of life gotten in your way and have you lost focus on the things that matter most?

Part of life is that it changes.
We have different times and seasons and sometimes we forget to set new goals.

I then challenged them to set a new spiritual goal or dream.
To do this I handed out to a card.
I made up cards with the following picture on it.

I picked this picture because I love this picture Saviour.
Our focus needs to be on Him.
He is the example we should follow.


On the back of the card, I asked them to want write 3 things.

1. What is your current spiritual goal or dream?
(I reminded them not to feel pressured to write this down right away, sometimes we need some real pondering time to write our goals).

Set clear, specific goals.
So that you can pray about them and the Lord can know how to bless you to achieve them.

2. What will stop you from achieving this goal?

It is important to look at what will prevent you from getting to where you want to be.

3. What can you do to overcome this challenge?

Setting spiritual goals, just like any goal setting, requires planning and preparation.
With the challenge that is facing you ask yourself:
Is this something that I need help to overcome?
Do I need to involve my family to support me with my challenge?
Is it a matter of prayer?

Do not let let anything stand in the way of you achieving you goals or dreams.
If you need some assistance...ask for it!
Most people would be happy to help.

When we stop ourselves from setting spiritual goals we stop ourselves from coming to Christ.
I love setting spiritual goals and the joy that comes when I have achieved them.
I know that I have not achieved them alone and I am so thankful for the support of my family, friends and a loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.