mothering retreat

Hi again all. Ok so I went to my mothering retreat and was so filled spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and of course physically. : ) I didn't take any pictures but I do have a lot to say. That being said it may take me a few days to finish all of this post but I feel it will be well worth the wait. So for those of you who don't know. I home school and this retreat was a homeschooling retreat but it was actually so much more than that. So here we go. I will start from before I went.
I found out about this retreat a while ago and I just felt like this was something that I had to do. I talked to Steve about it and he said that it sounded like it would be a great thing to go to. So I paid my fees and tried to get an extra ticket but I got the last one because after I paid it said that the retreat was full. I was a little disappointed because I am not one who likes to do things like this alone. As the time came closer I started reading some of the required reading and was preparing to go to this retreat. About a week before I was to go I really didn't want to go. There was no real reason not to go I just didn't feel like going. I actually almost gave my seat to Kellie. I know that she would have had no problem being Emily Bryar for a day and a half. LOL. So anyways, time was drawing nigh and I was really not feeling like going but also felt like this was something that I needed to do. So the night before I was to leave I still hadn't made up my mind if I was going to go. I woke up the day of and was determined that I needed to go no matter what. So I called Steve and told him and Kellie took the kids for a few hours. (Thanks again Kellie you are a life saver.) Dropped them off and still tried to procrastinate leaving but she shewed me off and I left Tooele. As I was driving I felt like it was the adversary that was trying to influence me not to go. I can see now how it has really changed my life for the better. And no wonder why he didn't want me to go. I am a changed mother. Not that I feel like I was ever a bad mother but I am really trying to change the way that I parent and the things that I find are really important.
Anyways, so I got there and took in my stuff and reparked my car and started meeting a few people there. WOW!!!! There are really no words to tell you about the wonderful women we have in this world. No wonder why Satan was trying so hard to get me to stay home. The women that were there and of course there were way to many to get to know all of them but the ones that I did meet were truly inspiring. Real women of God and women who really further the Lords work here by the things that they do, believe, and implement into their children and families. I felt like I was in the presents of angels. And actually I really was. All of these ladies so divine, All of them doing what they truly believe and know what it is that they have to do to make a true difference in this world. The spirit of the Lord was so strong and there was a sense of acceptance, of encouragement, and of complete love. Just being there in their presents was all I felt I needed to be able to get through the hard challenge that I was going through. I felt like I was in heaven like I could just leave all of my struggles at the door and not take them up again when I left and actually I feel like that is exactly what I did.
Ok so I wont go on about that even though I could probably write a novel about the feeling that was there. So I got settled in and again met a few ladies then we ate dinner. After dinner we did our opening exercises. Prayer, pledge, there was a musical number.
Then we split for our classes. I wish that I were more than one person because the lectures that I did go to were so inspiring that I know I really missed out on the ones that I had to miss.
Anyways, the first one that I went to was given by a lady named Daniella Larsen This was what she put about what she was going to talk about."From the loving example of one family a whole State may become loving, and from its courtesies, courteous; while from the ambition and perverseness of one man the whole State may be thrown into rebellious disorder. Such is the nature of influence." Confucius

How do we organize our daily lives so as to have influence on our community and nation?
Come get ideas on how to:
* let go of the guilt and feel the joy of every day.
* forms and systems you can apply tomorrow.
* influencing husbands to engage in your children's education.
* helping your children become servant leaders at a very young age.
She had us make a list of the skills and the values that we wanted each of our children to have and know by the time they left our homes.
Skills being things like math, how to clean, how to read, how to change the oil in a car, how to garden, how to play an instrument, etc.
Values being things like honesty, virtue, love, self worth,motivation,obedience, etc.
Then she talked about the talk given last conference about the painting. I can't remember who gave it. It was how we cant see what the big picture looks like until we add enough brush strokes to the picture and then when we back up and look we can see the masterpiece. She then want on to say that our children are our canvases and how we can tell what they will be as we go through day by day but when we look at the future picture and we add brush stroke by brushstroke (prayer, scripture reading, devotional by devotional, hug by hug, little things like that.) Our children will turn out to be the beautiful people we want them to be.
She also talked about organizing our time, educating our children, and our chores so that we can get through all of the things in our daily life without going crazy.
She talked about who our allegiances are. She said that there were four options and we needed to find out which one was the most important.
1 ourselves (Do we do things to make us look important and self fulfilled)
2 God (Do we do things to try and please Him and do what He would have us do)
3 others (Do we do things to try and make others pleased)
4 Evil (Do we do things that are dark and do things that will please the dark side)
Then she talked a little bit about
She talked about the satisfaction cycle
1. The first thing that we do when we find somethings new want to apply in our lives.
This is where we need to make our lists because, we have high energy,we are excited, and we thing that this is the best thing in the world and we enjoy the felling of excitement and applying it into our lives.
2. The second stage is dissatisfaction. At this stage this is where we just have to persevere and just push along get through it until the next stage.
3.production, this is where we start to see the affect of our labor and we see that it was worth the second stage.
4 transition, this is where it becomes the norm. Part of the routine.
Well, I need to go but I will add more in a little while. I hope that you enjoy this section of this blog.

This poem is part of another speaker but I had to find it on the net so dont want to loose it to enjoy the suspense of the rest of the talk. : )
I Am Only One

I am only one, but I am one
I can't do everything, but I can do something;
And that I can do, I ought to do
And what I ought to do by the grace of God I shall do.