Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
I’m adopted. It’s just the way life is—most days. I’ve always known that I’m adopted. It’s part of my identity (like being left-handed), but it doesn’t make me who I am.
Heavenly Father, in his concern for me, designated a family for me where I would be taught the gospel from my infancy. I was raised by two well-educated parents who sought to fulfill my birth mother’s wishes while maintaining our own family identity. My older sister, their biological child, and I were treated the same even though I threatened them with cries of inequality throughout my childhood and adolescence. During some childhood spats I may have conversely muttered the words, “Well, Mom and Dad were stuck with you… but they chose me!!”
There have been many times throughout my life that I have wanted to search for my birth mother. And yet I never have. I was angered with her, even hating her for abandoning me, for several years. Then I had my first baby. When I held him for the first time, I finally realized what an angelic birth mother I had. How on earth could you endure a pregnancy, labor and delivery, and then go home without anything to show for it? I can’t even imagine her trials, angst, love, and determination during that time. This was an 18-year-old girl in the mid-1970’s who was placed into foster care during her pregnancy by her stepfather and who also turned down a proposal of marriage by my birth father. She wanted more for me and my life. I hope she wanted more for her, too!
My mother, the woman who actually did all the work raising me, was in poor health all my life. I knew that if I did any more searching than obtaining non-identifying information, it would seriously take its toll on her. She would have felt like she had not been or done enough as my mother. And yet, my desire to search had nothing to do with that! I was looking for peace, medical information, and the roots of who I was and why I looked and acted the way I did. Knowing that my mother would likely die relatively young, I told myself not to search until her passing. And yet after mom passed away I had no desire to search for my birth mother. She was really just a vessel to get me to this mortal existence. My mother is whom I am sealed to. I believe our lives together and the eternal sealing that binds us has changed me. I am hers and she is mine. While I’ll be eternally grateful for the sacrifices my birth mother made to get me here, I don’t wish to interrupt either of our lives and families.
Megan, 33, is Spencer's wife and mother to Thomas (10), Katie (6), and Daniel (3). She enjoys photography, games, singing, organizing, bargain shopping, walking, socializing, and serving as the Laurels Advisor in her ward. With quick wit, Megan uses her blog to clear her head, open her heart, and share her life. She hopes you get a chuckle or tear as you enjoy life with her. You can find her blogging at Hall Pass .
Monday, May 25, 2009
Well here it is. Proof you made it through high school. I know you thought the end would NEVER come, but it actually came much faster than you expected.
Now, a few years later, high school feels like forever ago. Last night you and your hubby (yes, you actually do get married) were going through some of your old stuff. He read parts of your journals. You were embarrassed. Mostly you were shocked at how a few years change your perspective on life.
So remember this, okay?
1. Don't waste your time worrying about guys. They are NOT worth it. Not worth the tears, worry, stress, or the way you beat yourself up. Someday you will meet a wonderful man who is a great provider, loving, and a wonderful daddy. Don't rush it. You will regret wasting your life on these immature boys. In a few years, you won't even remember who half of them are.
2. Don't try to do everything. It's great that you're an athlete, love art, and work hard in school. Don’t join 15 clubs and get a job and be involved in church and try to have a social life and volunteer for the play all at once. Work hard, but have fun. Don’t push your limits.
3. Just because you get a C in one class, it doesn't mean you're not going to college.
4. Mom? Yeah, you fight a lot. You wish you could tell her how you really feel. She isn't going to change. But you will. You'll realize as you grow up that some things aren't worth fighting over.
5. Forgive yourself. Everyone screws up. You're still trying to figure out how to forgive yourself. Move on. Don't dwell on your mistakes.
6. Spend more time with your siblings. BE NICE TO THEM! They love you. They look up to you. Don't push them away. You will regret that you are not close to them every day.
7. Don't kick your dog. He loves you too even if he is a dumb dog and always in the way.
8. Lying to your parents? Not cool. And so not worth it. You end up getting in more trouble than you should because you lie to them. (And they know it. They're not as dumb as you think.)
9. Be nice to everyone. You're okay at this. But those few people that really drive you nuts? You don't know what's going on with them. Everyone deserves respect.
10. Stay close to God. Pray a lot. Realize that He loves you. Remember that He is always there for you. He will not forsake you.
11. Things are hard. You get depressed. You feel alone. But I promise you this--when you are older, when you look back on how miserable you were, you will realize that you weren't alone. You have so many good friends who love you, who would do anything for you. And most of all, you have your family. They love you and support you. (Even when they want to kill you.)
12. Don't bother with putting on your makeup every day. In a few years you'll wonder why in the heck you couldn't take the garbage out without your foundation and mascara on.
13. Work hard in school. (You know that. You work your butt off already.) But remember to work hard in college, too. GO TO CLASS! Turn your homework in. Trust me, it's important.
14. Be thankful for what you are blessed with.
15. Write in your journals. Someday you will be grateful you did; you will remember what it was like to be 13, 14, 15. It's worth it. Besides, you'll smile when you hear your hubby laughing so hard you can hear him all the way downstairs. Because really, you are normal.(ha!)
So, 16-year-old self, don't try to grow up too fast. It will come sooner than you think. But when it does, you'll be happy.
Don't take your husband for granted. He and your baby are the best things ever to happen to you. And being a mom is the greatest.
So relax. Everything will work out.
It always does.
Love,
Your older and maturing self
Cornnut spent a few short years studying psychology and art history. She is obsessed with all things visual and hopes to own enough art to have her own gallery someday. She likes to think of herself as an artist, loves Mark Rothko, and prefers the abstract expressionist movement. She married her very own stud in 2006 and is a stay-at-home mommy to the cutest 14 month old little boy ever. She is expecting another baby in September 2009 and is excited to expand her growing family! She is passionate about spreading awareness of and preventing child abuse. A survivor of abuse herself, she feels it is vital to share her experiences with others. Someday she would like to be an art therapist and work with abused children. She writes about her experiences in overcoming the effects of abuse, depression, and PTSD on her blog, Picture of Experience.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
March featured our favorite Misplaced American
The newest leader of the pack is Beeswax.
Who will be next?
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Once there, you have a lot of options available. You can add or remove a captcha. You can allow anonymous comments, or block them completely. You can turn on comment moderation, or make it so that comments left on posts older than a certain number of days have to be preapproved before they can post.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Cultures Salon is awesome!
Magpie Designz creates custom, personalized jewelry.
Is it time for you to curl up with a good book?
Gift Pack #2 Behind Smiling Faces: An LDS Perspective on Marriage and Divorce And, God Made Us to Laugh
Itty Bitty Bookworm is a literature-based preschool curriculum.
Sassy Girl Shop is sponsoring several items for ONE lucky winner! That ONE lucky winner will receive the following items: one birthday book with 5 cards, 2 mini comp books-perfect for gifts for your VT sisters, teachers or friends. 2 May Visiting Teaching kits!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Congrats to One Cluttered Brain! She entered 3 times, and it was her 3rd entry that won her these sweet tickets!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Recently I was sent the most incredible pedicure package from culturessalon.com to try and review. Can I just say HOLY COW, people?! Divine heaven, if I say so myself!
Friday, May 15, 2009
The truth is, I am way crazier about Clark Kent as portrayed by Tom Welling in Smallville than I am about Tom Welling himself. There are reasons for this. Good, strong, compelling reasons that contain only a teensy-weensy amount of “ick” factor.
In my defense, I have to say that I am not the only one who thinks my big, strapping 19 year old looks like Tom/Clark. His middle school special ed teacher is the one who brought it up nearly six years ago. Ever since, I’ve been dressing him in flag-red and navy-blue including the ubiquitous-jacket-no-matter-
What gets me in the gut are the expressions. They have the Exact. Same. Ones. When Clark beedles his dark brow in righteous indignation or confusion (he’s gets confused a lot for a guy whose been around the block a few times but he looks adorable when confused so I care not), or when he is exposed to kryptonite/realizes he is actually bleeding, he has that adorable pained/confused look on his face, or when he is manfully trying to hold back a flood of tears—it’s my son up there---but with darker hair, bigger eyes and straighter legs (and a smidge less body fat). My handsome, smart, developmentally/learning/ You know what gets me the most? When Clark mourns that because of his differences, he will never have a normal relationship. That he will never fit in or feel like he truly belongs. And when he yearns for a home that he has never seen? That’s my son up there on that screen. My Superman. And I mourn with him.
Heidi Ashworth blogs about her life as a wife, mother of three children aged 19, 14, and 7 (and how thoughtful were they to spread themselves out like that?) and the joys, thrills and mere contentments of (finally) being a full time writer at Dunhaven Place. Her first novel, Miss Delacourt Speaks Her Mind, a Jane Austen-era romantic comedy, came out in Dec. 2008 with a sequel to follow sometime in the not too terribly distant future.
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Beatles got their big break on The Ed Sullivan Show. Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres and Jay Leno, all broke through with appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
Internationally acclaimed pianist, composer and entertainer, Marvin Goldstein, whose recital and professional career hits the 50 year mark this year, considered his breakthrough moment, not a performance he gave, but a performance he attended.
"My first big break was hearing Leonard Bernstein in concert with The New York Philharmonic on The Mount of Olives in Israel," Goldstein said. "The break was the feeling I felt that carries through this very moment and on."
That inspiration, felt in 1968, while Goldstein was a student attending Tel Aviv University on a full music scholarship from The State of Israel, is what he still draws on as he connects with audiences across the world.
HALF A CENTURY OF PERFORMANCE
To honor five decades of performance, Goldstein is hosting an extraordinary gathering of friends and artists for a Gala Concert, Saturday, June 6, 2009, at The Covey Center for the Arts in Provo, UT, at 7:30 p.m.
Performing with many artists who have performed and/or recorded with him through the decades, Goldstein will host Kenneth Cope, Kirby Heyborne, Dan Beck, Jessie Clark Funk, Gabriela Quezada, Michael Dowdle, Sam Payne, Meredith Campbell, John Canaan, Daron Bradford, Joy Gardner, Allyse Smith Taylor, Chenille Saunders, Karen Larsen, Sarah Morgann, Steven Kapp Perry, Todd McCabe, April Moriarty, Joe Paur, Jonelle Goddard, Anna Manja Larcher, Jason Hewlett, Heartbound, One Clear Voice, Thomas Cook and others.
"At this concert, I want a spirit of thankfulness to reign, as well as a total fun experience of joy," Goldstein said. The Covey Center is a wonderful venue as Goldstein said his "favorite medium of performing is a small theater for groups under 700." In such a setting, Goldstein said, he best experiences a "relationship with the audience of oneness, in calling for a collective amazing experience."
"Sitting down to a concert grand in a venue filled with people is a feeling of gentle stirring intimidation that is healthy for the heart and mind and most positive," Goldstein said. "In the past ten years my additional favorite musical evening includes young aspiring artists joining me on stage in hopes that their career might get a boost."
FIFTY YEARS AGO
When Goldstein was 9, he went into a bank with his mother and met his destiny. There, sitting on the counter with an offer to win 12 free accordion lessons, was a beautiful, shiny accordion.
"I asked Mom if I could enter and low and behold, we won!" Goldstein said. Not the 12 free lessons, but 6 free lessons as a consolation prize. Of course they had to rent an accordion from the teacher.
"I was so excited and once I got my hands around that squeeze box, there was no turning back," Goldstein said. "I practiced and practiced, so much so, my Dad asked if I might consider giving it a rest so he could hear the television."
From the accordion, Goldstein progressed to the piano, but met an obstacle when he wanted to be a member of the Junior High School marching band. Neither the piano nor the accordion would fit well on the field.
"The band director asked how my grades were in school and after I told him all A's he immediately told me to get ready for the French horn," Goldstein recalled. Needless to say, with three instruments to practice, Goldstein's Dad sacrificed a lot of TV.
FIRST GIG
"My first professional gig was in a German Bar on Fort Lauderdale beach New Years Eve 1966. I was 16 years old," Goldstein remembered. "I received $10 for three hours. I guess that was enough money to desire a career in music."
Goldstein said friends loved to come over and hear him play new songs, especially girls. "Now the desire for practicing soared to new levels!" Goldstein said.
MUSICAL EDUCATION
Straight out of high school Goldstein received a full scholarship to attend Tel Aviv University in Israel. "At 18 I was headed to the Middle East," Goldstein, who is Jewish, said. "I lived there for one and one-half years and experienced The New York Philharmonic perform with Leonard Bernstein conducting on The Mount of Olives. That experience solidified a more fervent desire to stay in music."
Following Tel Aviv University School of Music, his studies continued at the famed "Mozarteum" of Salzburg, Austria. He completed a Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. Goldstein, who is known as a maestro pianist, surprisingly earned his performance degrees on the French Horn.
"I thought I could make more money playing the French Horn, rather than the piano," . . . .
YEARS OF PREPARATION
Although always performing, Goldstein did not sit down in a studio to begin his recording career until he was 38 years old. "I felt I had to record something for my Mother and family," Goldstein said. "Prior to that I felt quite 'not ready' to record because of accuracy and lack of facility on the keyboard," Goldstein said.
Those who have enjoyed concerts or firesides which often open with a theme and then progress to audience requests from Goldstein's repertoire of upward of 4000 songs, will agree when Goldstein acknowledged, "Obviously I was my worst critic, yet I feel the preparation time of nearly 29 years was necessary. After that 29 years I had so much music in me that recording came quite easy and fast and I recorded a lot in the following 20 years and continue without reservation."
With over 40 CDs, most recently, "Friends and Brothers", a CD recorded with former NBA great, turned singer, Thurl Bailey, and country artist, Billy Dean; as well as "Count Your Blessings" and "Popcorn Popping", 15 piano arrangement books, plus traveling to three continents and performing thousands of concerts, Goldstein said he has made up for his late start.
A CALLING
On June 2, 1985, Goldstein joined the LDS church, after he described keeping "maybe 40 sets of missionaries' hands full!"
"Joining the Church totally explained why I had been practicing music for 25 years before I truly understood the power and glory of it," Goldstein said.
Four years later, in 1989, Goldstein described an impromptu blessing from Elder Marvin J. Ashton, as a pivotal moment, "I was profoundly moved and the blessing described my musical life and the purpose of it clearly for all time and eternity," Goldstein said. "Now 50 years into the music career, there is no doubt, no hesitation and no ambiguity about what was given me to bring to this life and what to do with it."
PEACE WITH MUSIC
Through his Peace With Music Foundation, Goldstein set out "to bridge the cultural, religious and political differences of people everywhere through the medium of music."
"I longed to perform in The Middle East even from 1968, when I was a student there," Goldstein said. "It wasn't until approximately 1995 that I organized a performance with famed Israeli singer, Gali Atari in Israel. Persistence was the name of that game in contacting, convincing and way more to get the performance with Gali Atari to happen."
After the initial concert in Israel, more were scheduled there and in the United States. With Arabic singer Najwa Gibran joining them, Goldstein said they were poised to show the world "music can bring peace between cultures, no problem."
When Goldstein performs, he hopes music reaches into the audience and moves people forward. "I want my music to say to an audience, 'Let's together bring about a great social change for the positive through music, in our homes, at work and for our communities,'" Goldstein said.
"I have experienced miracles at concerts," Goldstein said. From feeling the presence of angels and hearing them sing during a performance, to listening to the testimonies of hundreds of individuals following musical firesides and feeling the spirit of a collective faithful crowd at many hundreds of concerts, Goldstein feels he is fulfilling his God-given mission.
"I continue to perform because I have been asked to by THE source of truth and light," Goldstein said, adding wryly, "and because I can't do anything else."
REFLECTIONS
"Music is my release and happiness, shy of my wife and son," Goldstein said. He and his wife Lenae, reside in Tallahassee, Florida. They have one son, Nicholas.
Even with many honors to his credit including listing in Who's Who in Music in Europe, the Listeners Choice Award from the LDS Booksellers Association as favorite instrumentalist four different years, designation as a National Keyboard Artist with the Kawai America Corporation, and a career taking him around the world to perform, Goldstein considered his proudest moment when his son wrote he was "his hero in life."
While the business side of a career in music has been "quite the challenge, but well worth the struggle," Goldstein said the artistic side has surprised him, as he has accomplished what seemed only dreams as a young man.
Music has also touched him spiritually, which is "so welcome, yet always unexpected, while filled with joy and wonder," said Goldstein.
"Music means breath and peace to me," Goldstein said. "I have been able to see the good that music does right before my eyes. People don't fully grasp the power of music to seriously change lives and bring people together. Music is a necessity."
Looking back, and now looking forward, Goldstein concluded, "I feel I have accomplished yet a small portion of my profound mission with music. I am glad that I have more time to get on it."
For more information, go to www.coveycenter.org.
Tickets for Goldstein's 50th Anniversary Concert are available through The Covey Center for the Arts, 425 W. Center Street, Provo, Utah 84601, Ticket Office 801-852-7007.
Now the giveaway:
For a second entry, blog about the concert and the MMB giveaway (with a link-back) then come back and comment again on this post.
For a third entry, tweet about the MMB giveaway and concert (with a link-back) or Facebook them (with link-backs) and then come back and comment again.
Giveaway closes Thursday, May 14th at 11:59pm. Good Luck!
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Mother, I love you.
Mother I do.
Father in Heaven has sent me to you.
(Primary songbook, #207)
“Shall we excuse the Sunbeams early today?”
The whole Primary looked relieved. With Singing Time on pause, teachers (whose hard-day-on-the-ranch had just begun) rounded-up thirteen three-year-olds and headed out. The culprit behind the banditos starred me down as he brought up the rear. He’d really outdone himself that day, exciting the herd into a frenzy. I’d caught on and dismissed them before they would have stampeded anyway. As soon as the dust settled, we went back to practicing our Mother’s Day program.
Twenty-four hours later I had a run-in with Bandito at the town saloon (Applebees at lunchtime.) Instead of shooting me, he lit up like the stars of Wyoming. His mommy said that he had come home from Primary on fire the day before.
“Mommy!” he had bubbled, “The Curly Lady said Heavenly Father sent me to YOU!”
His delightful interpretation of lyrical doctrine gave my curly head lots to muse about this week. Does Heavenly Father send specific spirits to specific women for specific reasons? What about my own four children?
In youth, I felt impervious to adversity; that is, until my first baby grew physically -- but not mentally. I had sensed an impending challenge for months, even when everything seemed perfectly normal. Slightly-more-experienced friends had laughed when I confessed my fears. But mommies are realists, not mythmakers (contrary to popular thought) and I knew before the doctors knew. Twenty-nine years later, I bathe, dress, transport and feed her, aaannnd don’t-u-know: that’ll mold or melt a person.
A second baby arrived, and though thrilled with a healthy boy, my intuition kicked into high gear. I sensed a call to brace myself. His super-charged intellect has taken me through so many hills and valleys and twists and turns, I have felt upside-down for most of his twenty-seven years. It took me almost that long to get my heart on straight; its capacity for charity has grown at least “three sizes.” I love him in a way that I can love no one else.
During a third pregnancy, I discerned a different sort of personality. Even prenatally, this child soothed and comforted me. Like a warm blanket, his humility, consistency, and sweet creativity have calmed my heart. Following close behind came his compatriot - and mine: a daughter who shouldered the responsibilities of a firstborn in cheerfully caring for her sister and leading an exemplary life. I felt our team spirit by the time she turned two.
Musing on these things, I couldn’t help humming “Mother I love you…” over and over this week. With each repetition of “Father in Heaven has sent me to you…” I felt the Spirit bear testimony to its truthfulness. THERE IS A REASON.
Our omnipotent Father planted me in my circumstances. He also planted them. I am THEIR mama because of what I, in particular, can do for them; that is the more obvious truth. My every breath is for their sake. What has not always been so obvious is that they are my children because of what they can do for me. My character burst out of the ground when those particular personalities sprang into my life. I grew as they grew; our individual strengths and weaknesses intertwining in a garden that is our own. I am the fruits of my children.
Leading the banditos in their Mothers Day presentation will have more meaning, now that I have mused over their song… I’ll be thinking how little cowpokes, under all those wild-west wiggles, are very much at home on their particular range…
BECAUSE that IS exactly where they are supposed to be.
Mona went through 65 hours of labor. She is a professional wife, mother and grandmother who has snuck in writing, speaking, and directing live theatre on the side for 3 decades. Her production of “With Mine Own Hand: The Musical Account of Nephi” (which took 20 years to develop between babies) took BYU Campus Education Week by storm in last summer . Her callings have included teaching every Sunday School, Primary and Seminary class in the ward, four stake leadership positions, and three regional chair positions. (Classes and meetings always had a kid or two under the table, at her breast, or on her lap.) She has also served on the faculty for BYU’s Especially for Youth program and instructs professional care providers at Clark College in SW Washington. Mona writes about her experience living gospel principles as a wife and mother every Sunday in “Mona’s Musings”, to which follower friends add valuable musings of their own. (Visit there for photos and video accompanying this post!)
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Jackie Burrell
Guide to Parenting Young AdultsAbout.com | Guidance. Not Guesswork.
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