From My Talk in Sacrament Today

I know this is a little strange, but many people asked about my talk today, so I thought I'd post my general notes. I used my own stories or personal experiences along with the notes written here, but it would be way too much to type them all in. I hope you'll enjoy the quotes from the prophets and understand my few notes I have included. They are in italics. Enjoy!

Pathway to Perfection: President Thomas S. Monson
“Happiness,” the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote, “is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God.”
I have a testimony of the prophets and apostles and know that the words they speak are true. Whether it is Joseph Smith or President Monson, I know their words apply to us today.

President George Albert Smith, eighth President of the Church, urged: “Let us plant our feet upon the highway that leads to happiness and the celestial kingdom, not just occasionally, but every day, and every hour, because if we will stay on the Lord’s side of the line, if we will remain under the influence of our Heavenly Father, the adversary cannot even tempt us. But if we go into the devil’s territory … we will be unhappy and that unhappiness will increase as the years go by, unless we repent of our sins and turn to the Lord.”

Pres Monson said: I urge that you exemplify in your lives four tested, specific virtues. They are:
1. An attitude of gratitude,
2. A longing for learning,
3. A devotion to discipline, and
4. A willingness to work.
First, an attitude of gratitude. In the book of Luke, chapter 17, we read the account of the 10 lepers. The Savior, in traveling toward Jerusalem, passed through Galilee and Samaria and entered a certain village where He was met on the outskirts by 10 lepers who were forced, because of their condition, to live apart from others. They stood “afar off” and cried, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
The Savior, full of sympathy and love for them, said, “Go shew yourselves unto the priests,” and as they went they discovered that they were healed. The scriptures tell us, “One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at [the Master’s] feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.”
The Savior responded, “Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.”
Through divine intervention, those who were lepers were spared from a cruel, lingering death and given a new lease on life. The gratitude expressed by one merited the Master’s blessing, the ingratitude by the nine His disappointment.
How often do we dissapoint the Savior or HF by our ingratitude?
I’ve talked to People who are worried to bring children into this terrible world. TO THIS PRES. HINCKLEY DECLARED:
“We live in a world of so much filth. It is everywhere. It is on the streets. It is on television. It is in books and magazines. … It is like a great flood, ugly and dirty and mean, engulfing the world. We have got to stand above it. … The world is slipping in its moral standards. That can only bring misery. The way to happiness lies in a return to strong family life and the observance of moral standards, the value of which has been proven through centuries of time.”
By following President Hinckley’s counsel, we can make this a wonderful time to be living here on earth. Our opportunities are limitless. There are so many things right—such as teachers who teach, friends who help, marriages that make it, and parents who sacrifice. Even material blessings, cars that work, phones to communicate, jobs…
There is so much to be grateful for!!!
Second, a longing for learning.
I love the scripture in D&C 88:118 “Seek ye out the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.” SEEK!
Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke about priorities saying, “For good or for evil, devices like the Internet have put at our fingertips an incredible inventory of information, insights, and images. Along with fast food, we have fast communications and fast facts. The effect of these resources on some of us seems to fulfill the prophet Daniel’s prophecy that in the last days “knowledge shall be increased” and “many shall run to and fro” (Dan. 12:4).

Elder Oaks tells this story: Two men formed a partnership. They built a small shed beside a busy road. They obtained a truck and drove it to a farmer’s field, where they purchased a truckload of melons for a dollar a melon. They drove the loaded truck to their shed by the road, where they sold their melons for a dollar a melon. They drove back to the farmer’s field and bought another truckload of melons for a dollar a melon. Transporting them to the roadside, they again sold them for a dollar a melon. As they drove back toward the farmer’s field to get another load, one partner said to the other, “We’re not making much money on this business, are we?” “No, we’re not,” his partner replied. “Do you think we need a bigger truck?”
We don’t need a bigger truckload of information, either. Like the two partners in my story, our biggest need is a clearer focus on how we should value and use what we already have.
Elder Oaks continues:
Because of modern technology, the contents of huge libraries and other data resources are at the fingertips of many of us. Some choose to spend countless hours in unfocused surfing the Internet, watching trivial television, or scanning other avalanches of information. But to what purpose? Those who engage in such activities are like the two partners in my story, hurrying to and fro, hauling more and more but failing to grasp the essential truth that we cannot make a profit from our efforts until we understand the true value of what is already within our grasp.
Faced with an excess of information in the marvelous resources we have been given, we must begin with focus or we are likely to become like those in the well-known prophecy about people in the last days—“ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7). Elder Oaks also said, “We also need quiet time and prayerful pondering as we seek to develop information into knowledge and mature knowledge into wisdom. “(I love this!)
Nephi taught, “Feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do” (2 Ne. 32:3). That is focus. Nephi also said that as he taught from the scriptures, “I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning” (1 Ne. 19:23). That is personal application.

Third, may we discuss a devotion to discipline.
Our Heavenly Father has given to each of us the power to think and reason and decide. With such power, self-discipline becomes a necessity.
Pres Monson continues: “Each of us has the responsibility to choose. You may ask, “Are decisions really that important?” I say to you, decisions determine destiny. You can’t make eternal decisions without eternal consequences.
May I provide a simple formula by which you can measure the choices which confront you. It’s easy to remember: “You can’t be right by doing wrong; you can’t be wrong by doing right.” Your personal conscience always warns you as a friend before it punishes you as a judge.
Courage is required to think right, choose right, and do right, for such a course will rarely, if ever, be the easiest to follow.”
I believe a true disciple of Christ is one who had learned to discipline, or BRIDLE, his own thoughts and passions. It’s not easy, but we have the power with in us. We have to ability to turn to HF and ask for his help. That is the best part…
“Eternal life in the kingdom of our Father is your goal, and self-discipline will surely be required if you are to achieve it.”
Fourth: cultivate a willingness to work
President J. Reuben Clark, many years ago a counselor in the First Presidency, said: “I believe that we are here to work, and I believe there is no escape from it. I think that we cannot get that thought into our souls and into our beings too soon. Work we must, if we shall succeed or if we shall advance. There is no other way.” 13
“Put your shoulder to the wheel, push along” 14 is more than a line from a favorite hymn; it is a summons to work.
“Procrastination is truly a thief of time—especially when it comes to downright hard work.”
I know this applies to physical and spiritual work. Sometimes it is “work” to read our scriptures and kneel down to pray every day. It’s hard with young children in our little family to get them to sit still during scripture study and family prayer, but it is my job to teach them. It can be work to be still, ponder and hear the guiding still small voice, and it takes work to live as the Savior did. It’s not easy, but we can follow Pres. Monson’s formula:
An attitude of gratitude,
A longing for learning,
A devotion to discipline, and
A willingness to work.

Heidi!!! I can not leave her alone!

Last Wednesday afternoon I decided to do a thanksgiving craft with my girls. We were sitting @ the island in our kitchen making little turkey name tags to put on the table for our Thanksgiving feast @ Nanna and Pappy's house the next day. Naomi was cutting out the turkey bodies and Heidi was cutting the different colored feathers. I drew the stencils, then glued the turkey pieces together. Heidi got bored and ended up sitting on the island, behind me from the direction I was facing. Since I didn't have a clear view of her, she decided to get into the crayons and scribble on the island. Now, many times I've talked to her about coloring only on paper. Not walls, chairs, counters, etc. And even this time, when I saw her sit next to the crayon box, I politely told her not to draw on the counter, knowing her mischievous mind. However, the minute my back was turned on her, toward Naomi, this is what she did...


I was quickly losing patience and became very tired and irritable, which for me go hand in hand. So I made the comment that I wasn't doing so well at that moment. Ryan heard me and told me to go lay down. I hesitated doing it cause every time in the past when I've tried to lay down, my girls have either run around screaming, come into my room asking a million questions, or start fighting in which I have to be the ref. So when Ryan told me a second time to lay down, I went into my room, shut and locked the door, and had a good 1/2 hr nap with Audrey. I was awakened by Heidi knocking on the door. When I got up to open the door, she was half dressed and informed me that she needed to put powder on her peepee cause it was itchy, meaning she had already done this. Two things went through my head; "oh brother, why is her peepee itching?" (too much candy I'm sure) and "where did she find baby powder?" I started to follow her toward the babies room when she stopped at the bathroom door with a funny look on her face. Not only was there baby powder on the carpet in the room, I turned to look in the bathroom to find...

THIS! AAAAHHHHH! We are fish sitting for a neighbor who brought her fish in a round bowl, and fish food to be fed 3 little pellets, 3 times a day. Poor little fishy was given a feast, compliments of Heidi. So while I was laying down, she decided to climb on the bathroom counter, get the fish food out of the medicine cabinet, and not only pour it into the fish bowl, but spill it all over the counter, in both sinks, and in the empty fish tank we have from our two fish who have both passed away. Being the groggy mom, I freaked! I tried to hurry and fill up our vase with clean water, but there were fish pellets that kept rising to the top that I had to get out by hand. Then I couldn't get the water temperature warm enough, then cool enough to be able to transfer the fish with out shocking it. So I did my best to scoop out the fish food that was floating in the round fish bowl. Cause if the fish ate too much, it would die. I'll be honest, I was panicking. This fish could not die at our house. Finally the water in our vase was about right and I used the net to scoop the fish out of the bowl, and what did it do? It flopped out onto the bathroom counter. I started screaming cause I didn't want to touch the slimy thing. Oh yeah, I didn't mention that after Heidi put herself in time out, knowing she was in huge trouble, I made her stand on a stool and put the fish pellets by hand back into the food container. So she is standing there watching me freak out over the fish flopping around, not able to pick it up fast enough to get it back into water. She starts crying, and Ryan is yelling at me from the other room telling me to calm down. CALM DOWN?! This is just what I want to be doing after being woken up from a nap I knew would be in vain. Just so you know, I ended up using one hand to scoop the fish back into the net and put it safely back into the water. I cleaned up the rest of the fish food off the counter and the sinks, then did my best to distract Heidi from getting into things she shouldn't be getting into.

So, the moral of the story is: A mom really doesn't get rest. Even if she lays down to ease exhaustion and irritability, she most often wakes up to the above, or other mishaps caused by children left unattended. Then ends up cleaning the mess by herself, even after trying to make the child responsible and do it herself. (Did I mention Ryan was home and was the one who told me to lay down? Just checking.)

The face of a very guilty child!

Halloween 2010!

The girls, with the help of Dad and John Hanke, put together and decorated this haunted ginger bread house. It was quite funny watching the "MEN" get frustrated at the girls getting in the way or not putting things on the right way. I reminded them that this was a project meant for the girls. They just looked at me like my chastisement was not appreciated. Ha!

10-25-10 Our ward has a tradition of having the ward Trunk or Treat Halloween party on Monday before Halloween. It can be a little tedious cause most of the time there is school the next day and the kids have been so wound up with candy and excitement of getting all dressed up. But they have fun either way. Naomi and Heidi are obsessed with getting their faces painted. When ever there is an event with face painting, they will wait in line, no matter how long, to get a butterfly, some sort of animal or design painted on them.

10-28-10 Heidi is a little quirky when it comes to public activities. She is so silly, crazy, annoying sometimes and very naughty at home. But when she is in public, like this costume parade at her school, she clams up. Ryan and I could barely get her to smile at us each time she made it around to where we stood.

10-30-10 Thank you to the City of Monrovia for having their Halloween celebration on Saturday, the day before Halloween. Since we had debated whether to let our girls go trick-or-treat on the Sabbath, it made it easy for us to take them around to the stores on Myrtle on Saturday. The streets are blocked off and the store owners sit out front of the stores and pass out candy. This way they didn't have a need to complain when Sunday rolled around and trick-or-treaters came to our home. They had plenty of candy by then and had more fun seeing all the kids who came to our house.

After walking up and down Myrtle trick-or-treating, we went to Naomi's school for the fall festival. This is where they played games and of course used their tickets to get their faces painted. Heidi is a butterfly and Naomi has a bat across her eyes with a sun and flying bats on her forehead.

I tried to be really creative Saturday evening before Halloween. So for dinner we had ghost shaped Quesidillas, Guacamole, and Enchiladas. If I was really on the ball, I would have had orange Milk and black enchiladas. But this year, cookie cutters were as far as I went.

Oh, and if you scroll back up you'll notice that Heidi wore three different costumes for each event we went to. She couldn't decide; first she wanted to be Snow White, then a witch, then Tinkerbell. So she was able to be all on different days. Naomi just stuck with being a gypsy. Audrey was a ladybug, even though you can't see the back of her costume. She only dressed up for the ward party.

Time Out For Woman 2010, Las Vegas!

The woman in my family had the fortune to attend Time Out For Woman in Las Vegas, NV at the Cashman Center on Las Vegas Blvd on October 22nd and 23rd. It was a few days to get away from life to hear speakers, singers, and be uplifted. All in attendance: my mom Cheryl, Sisters Jana, Michelle, Jennifer, Wendy, Me and Audrey, Jenn's friend from Lancaster Wendy Talbot ( my friend too now,) and our cousin Kristine Christensen. The Christensens graciously opened thier home to us to stay there when not at the Cashman Center. As you can tell from the picture above, we were a happening crowd. We were just happy to veg and not have kids to put to bed.
TOFW is a great way to spend a day and half learning that our role as woman, mothers, wives and sisters in the gospel is a big responsibility, but has great rewards in the eternities. We learn to identify with others who may feel and know what we are going through. We learn to better our understanding of children and spouses. We learn the importance of service, missionary work, teaching the gospel in our homes, and living the gospel to the fullest. This is a time to be reminded why we do all that we do everyday, and that what we do has an eternal outcome, possitive and negative. So we need to know that we are responsible for the safety of our home and family, but not stress and take on too much. As Sister Hinckley put it, "Don't hobble faster than you have strength."

I'm sad our sister Elizabeth wasn't able to come this year, but I feel fortunate to have gone and hopefully learned to better my life and the life of those around me.

Disneyland with the Smiths October 2010

Lance, Wendy, Avery, Thomas and Kate Smith drove down from Utah to be here during UEA, when their kids didn't have school, and it happened to fall on "baby Kate's" 2nd birthday. So naturally we all went to Disneyland. This was the first day there, Wednesday October 7th, 2010.

Thomas, Heidi, Avery and Naomi

Naomi sat and posed herself and asked me to take this of her sitting in front of the Castle!

Kate pooped out after a long Birthday day, as we headed back to our cars on the tram.

Day Two, Friday! Wendy and Lance took thier kids earlier than us since I wanted Naomi to go to School for part of the morning. We met them @ California Adventure and then walked over to Disneyland. One of the first rides we went on was Cacey Jr's Train. The kids always want to go in the "wild animals" cage. Avery, Heidi, Naomi and Thomas

Audrey May Rossiter, 2 months old!

What and amazing face. Kate Smith! I wish I could say she belonged to me, but she is the adorable, yet naughty, daughter of Lance and Wendy. She and Heidi could be twins at some moments, in looks and mischieviousness, but I can't claim her. :(

Avery, Thomas and Kate Smith

P.S. If you know how to flip pictures after you've uploaded them to the blog, or delete them and re-upload, call me and let me know. Most of you know my number. Thanks!

Dr Velkuru with Audrey May

Dr Hyma Velkuru with Audrey @ her two week check-up. Dr Velkuru was my pediatrician when good old Dr Brown (most of you will know who that is) retired. I love her to death. I have this same picture with both Naomi and Heidi. She really hasn't aged.

School Begins for 2010

Naomi's First Day of First Grade @ Mayflower Elementary School. August 30, 2010

Heidi's first Day of Preschool @ First Presbyterian Preschool. September 2nd, 2010

Blessing of Audrey May Rossiter: 10-17-10

A beautiful morning, slightly raining, but a wonderful morning to bless Audrey. This Sunday morning wasn't a traditional fast Sunday on which a baby is blessed. We changed it to the 3rd Sunday of the month (the first was General Conference.) My parents couldn't be here the second Sunday due to my niece being baptized in Utah. So we asked if it would be o.k. to have it on the 17th of October. Our bishop agreed, so we invited a few family members and friends to be a part of our daughters special day.

Ryan invited a few men to be in the blessing circle: Ron Rossiter, his dad, Steve Worsley, my dad, Lance Smith, brother in law, Mike Miller, family friend, Ricky Ingram, cousin, Jason Stringfellow, cousin, and Joel Henriod, friend. We felt privilidged for having the friends and family come support our family and little Audrey. It's not easy to be to a 9 am Sunday Sacrament Meeting, but we appreciate our family and friends who came. A special thanks to my parents, Steve and Cheryl Worsley, who made the drive from Utah. It was a stressful time, but they came anyway. Thank you Dad and Mom.

Ryan gave Audrey a wonderful, sweat blessing of strength, spirit and guidance. I took notes in my journal and my mom jotted a few down on the back of the program. Not sure if we'll be able to make sense of our short hand, but we did our best to get as much of what Ryan said so Audrey can read it some day.

Audrey one month old: September 2010

Even @ 1 month old, Audrey was very alert and very serious. We kept trying to get her to focus on our faces and smile back. However, she really couldn't see full images, or she's looking @ us thinking, "these people are crazy."

As of August 19th, 2010 our baby # 3 has a name:

Audrey May Rossiter.

So Grateful for Angels Watching Over My Family! 8-16-10

Thursday, the day I gave birth to baby #3, my sister Michelle flew in to be with me at the hospital. She had been up early cause she sent her first son, Austin, 19, on a mission. He had to be at the airport in Salt Lake City @ 6 am. Once she returned home, she was so emotional that her husband told her to go pack cause he was sending her to California. He didn't want her to sit at home and be sad. So they went right back to the airport to hop on a 1 pm flight. She got to the hospital in Glendora around 5:30 pm. She stayed with me till Ryan came back to pick her up after picking up Naomi and Heidi from Nanna and Pappi Rossiters. Around 8:15 pm they walked in, and left with Michelle around 9. As they walked out I had the thought, " what if something happened to them and this was the last good bye?" But through this pregnancy I've learned to put frightening thoughts like this away cause it only causes anxiety to set in and I over analyze them. So I said a little prayer that we'd all be safe and went to sleep with my sweet newborn baby girl.

Around 7 a.m. I received a call from home. Naomi was on the other end and went right into telling me that there was an accident on the freeway last night. Of course my first thought was, "oh great they had to sit in traffic forever before getting home last night!" But then she proceeded to tell me that someone hit them and that they all had rashes on their necks and that someone was going to have to buy us a new car. I wasn't convinced that Ryan wasn't playing a joke on me, so I asked Naomi to let me speak to him. He confirmed her story. Right at the 210 and 605 interchange, a huge pack of "bullet bikes" were getting onto the 210 from the 605. Ryan looked over and said, "hey, look at all those bikes." Then before anyone could react, the car to their right came rushing at them. It ran into the right rear end of the car, causing our van to spin backward toward the fast lane, hit the center divider and stop facing the on coming traffic. The other car went the opposite direction and hit the wall on the right side of the freeway.

A man in a large SUV stopped just behind them in the fast lane and got out to rush up and ask if everyone was o.k. Everyone in our car was in shock. The girls were crying, holding their necks. Michelle couldn't talk. Ryan turned calmly to the girls to see if they were o.k. and did his best to calm them and assure them they were alright.

Of course, the ambulance and police came quickly and the freeway had to be shut down for 45 minutes cause the man who hit our car and went off the right, didn't turn off his car and it started on fire. Once that was under control, our van was backed off the freeway to the Old Spaghetti Factory where Ron and Barbara met them to clean out my car and drive everyone home. At this point it was about 11:30 pm.

The pictures above show the damage done to our new 2010 van. One of the police men explained to Michelle that the Toyota Sienna's have the highest crash ratings. Now I know why.

Ryan took me Friday afternoon, after picking me and our new baby up from the hospital, to see the van at the junk yard. I wasn't sure if I wanted to see it, but needed to get a better feel for what they had been through. After assessing and taking pictures, I was so amazed that everyone in our car was able to walk away with minor injuries. You would think that the engine would have been shoved up into Michelle's legs, but the whole inside of the car is still in tact, not considering the deployed air bags. None of the windows shattered, and all four wheels were still in place. I thought for sure they would be lopsided due to the spinning and hitting the wall. I'm so happy I just had the wheels rotated so there would be a better grip on the road.

On Friday night, when I was up by myself feeding our little new spirit, I sat thinking how different that night could have been. I could be sitting alone in my bed with my family absent! Someone or all of my family could have been seriously injured and in the hospital, or not on this earth at all. I was so grateful for the angels that watched over my family this night and kept them safe from harm and devastation on a late evening, after a long day for everyone involved.