2012 Schedule

We will be reviewing one chapter each month of Daughters in My Kingdom. This book's purpose fits so well with what we try to do in our class, namely, it expands our perspective and inspires by examples of diligence in life/motherhood.

Chapter 1 was covered in January, and was excellent (thanks, Linda). Chapter 2 will be covered this Thursday at Tami's house.

It's going to be a great year!

Class #10: A Financially Supportive Wife and/or Mother

Of course this applies whether you are a a mother that works at a paid professional job or unpaid parenting job :) This will be a discussion on living within our means as a way to be supportive of our husbands/families. We will also be discussing how to create a work-life balance for husbands.


Here are some of the articles we will be discussing:

Managing Family Finances  on lds.org Marriage and Family Relations Manual

A Road Map for your Financial Journey on simplemom.net (A summarized Dave Ramsey plan)

Where does the money go? Motherhood Matters on deseretnews.com (from Power of Moms)

3 Marriage Tips on datingdivas.com 

The Dating Wheel on datingdivas.com

Brother Corless will be joining us for the first part of the meeting to discuss his experience and knowledge on these topics. (Bethany will be out of town with a new grandchild, but she will be joining us at one of the meetings next year. Woot!)

If there is any one thing that will bring peace and contentment into the human heart, and into the family, it is to live within our means. And if there is any one thing that is grinding and discouraging and disheartening, it is to have debts and obligations that one cannot meet. -President Heber J. Grant (emphasis added)

Location change for Class #9!

We are going to meet at Tami's house this Thursday at 8:30pm. Thank you, Tami! Email me if you need address/directions.

Alecia

Class #9: "The Compare Snare"

Our next class (Sept 29 at 8:30pm) is going to be about being our best selves and not comparing yourself to other mothers/women. We will be discussing the first two chapters of the book Toss the Guild and Catch the Joy: A Woman's Guide to a Better Life. You can buy it on amazon for less than $5.

If you can't get the book, you can read a summary article by her on LDS Living which will give you the gist of the book concisely.

We'll spend a little bit of time on this article as well

Learning to be content Ensign Feb 2011

Here are some optional reading for you from www.powerofmoms.com

Be your own best kind of mom Jennifer Knight at power of moms.com

The Haves and the Have-nots April Perry at powerofmoms.com

What was said- Class #8: Ringmaster Mothers

Tonight was such a great class together. I love how everyone is a teacher and everyone is a student at our meetings. There was so much shared and felt and learned, so I'll just cover why the class was called Ringmaster Mothers.

In the movie, The Butterfly Circus, the ringmaster sees how amazing the main character is despite others rudeness. He believes in him, he allows him to grow, and he allows him an atmosphere to be loved. He even forgives him when he spits in his face. This is so much of what the job of a mother entails. As we talked about how to look for the good in our children, the theme kept coming up that Ringmaster Mothers spend "unrushed" time with their children one-on-one. And in those moments, the beauty of the child is reborn to the mother, giving fuel to her desire to be a good mother.

So, I'm going to spend more unrushed time with my daughter tomorrow. I hope you will, too.

Class #8: Ringmaster Mothers

Do you ever find yourself focusing on the faults of your family (and maybe yourself, too)? Ahem...*raises hand*

At this class we'll be discussing ways to get out of that cycle as well as the power of mothers who focus on the good. It can be hard to do this while simultaneously disciplining and strengthening our children.

To help illustrate the power of focusing on the good, we'll watch this 20 minute short film about a carnival sideshow vs the Butterfly Circus. It is short, entertaining, and inspiring.

Butterfly Circus part one (watch) 10:00 minutes
Butterfly Circus part two (watch) 10:00 minutes

We'll also discuss Richard J Mayne's recent conference address called
Establishing a Christ Centered Home (watch / read / listen)

And we'll also be discussing two papers from Sister Johnson's Motherhood Packet.
1) TO LOVE A CHILD

2) MOTHERHOOD By Orva Johnson
(I can email you a copy if you didn't get the folder)

Class #7: Dealing with Stress in Our Families

We're actually going to talk about baboons for a bit at this class (an excerpt from a National Geographic documentary on stress with Robert Sapolsky). It will lead us into a discussion of the stress that our children and husbands go through as well as ourselves. And, for the record, I am not calling anyone a baboon. We'll compare and contrast the findings and solutions that scientists have come up with to the teachings of prophets. This leads me to our reading/watching/listening assignment:

President Uchtdorf's October 2010 address: Of Things That Matter Most (watch / read / listen)
If you have netflix streaming, you can watch the entire documentary before coming: Portrait of a Killer: Stress

PS If you want to think about your answer to our traditional opening question, here it is: What is the single greatest stressor for each individual in your family?