Sister Barbara Thompson

We had the wonderful opportunity last night @ our closing fireside for our women's conference to be in the presence of such a great woman.  Sister Barbara Thompson is the second counselor in the General Relief Society presidency.  She's AMAZING & I was surprised at how very humorous she is as well.  She was cracking jokes the whole night.  One minute we're cracking up laughing with her & the next, we're all in tears.  It was a great emotional roller coaster.  LOL!!  

She focused her talk on what our theme was which was D&C 88:119.  "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; & establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order."  She talked about the different ways that we can keep ourselves worthy enough to have the spirit of the Lord be with us always to guide us in our lives.  One thing that she said that stuck out to me a lot was how God puts desires in our hearts & so he would not be so cruel as to not provide a way for us to fulfill them.  That definitely hit home for me.  She stressed the importance of prayer & how it's our communication line with God.  How we don't have to go thru anyone or anything else when we get down on our knees, but how important it is that we do humble ourselves enough when turning to prayer so that the spirit of the Lord may reveal what we need in our lives.  

It was a great talk & great way to end our conference.  I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who loves us so much that he provides such wonderful & inspirational leaders/people in our lives that we can turn to when we are in need.  I'm especially grateful for the restoration of the Gospel & the Book Of Mormon because it has all the answers & instructions for how our families need to be taught in order to return to Him someday.  We ran into a lot families & friends as well which made for a great end of a fireside.  We're very blessed & very grateful for all that we have, which isn't much, but is all we need.  :D   

To Be Continued. . . . .

So I'm continuing on from my previous post.  The second workshop was on Family Finances.  We received two different pamphlets.  One of them is called All Is Safely Gathered In.  It has 5 main points to the basics of family finances.  

1. Pay Tithes & Offerings - Successful family finances begin w/the pymt of an honest tithe & the giving of a generous fast offering.  The Lord has promised to open the windows of heaven & pour out great blessings upon those who pay tithes & offerings faithfully.

2. Avoid Debt - Spending less money than you make is essential to your financial security.  Avoid debt, with the exception of buying a modest home or paying for education or other vital needs.  Save money to purchase what you need.  If you are in debt, pay it off as quickly as possible.

3. Use A Budget - Keep a record of your expenditures.  Record & review monthly income & expenses.  Determine how to reduce what you spend for nonessentials.  

4. Build A Reserve - Gradually build a financial reserve, and use it for emergencies only.  If you save a little money regularly, you will be surprised how much accumulates over time.

5. Teach Family Members - Teach family members the principles of financial management.  Involve them in creating a budget & setting family financial goals.  Teach the principles of hard work, frugality, & saving.  Stress the importance of obtaining as much education as possible. 

I think one of the main things I learned from this workshop is how important it is to get your WHOLE family involved on the budgeting of your family finances.  That includes the kids.  They need to know how much money comes into the family & how much goes out so that they have a clear understanding of how money works & the essentials  of knowing how much $$ there is in the family budget for things such as McDonalds (LOL) or movies or skate nights & so forth.  It totally made sense to me.  Elder Marvin J. Ashton said, "We would not think of going one day without a budget in this Church or our businesses."  What I took from just this one quote is how very IMPORTANT it is to keep a budget.  It is very true that we would not go one day without a budget in our businesses so why not treat our family finances the same??  I've learned my lesson in this & am ready to create my family's budget & stick to it religiously.  My husband & I have agreed that we will not be spending money that we do not have in the first place.  Today was a great day filled w/life lessons & principles to live by that will help my family live a more honest life as well as a more fulfilling one.  I've very excited for the present as well as the FUTURE!!  Good things come to good people, right??  Hopefully we're part of the GOOD category.  LOL!!  We'll see.  Only time can tell, I guess.  

And the last workshop, but definitely not least was on HEALTH.  My parents, mainly my dad headed this workshop.  It was great!!  My dad knew how to target this workshop specifically to us polynesians.  LOL!!  There was a lot of talk of changing our diets to a more healthier one.  As well as a strong emphasis on a SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE or in lamen's term: being a couch potato!! Hahahahaha. . . . .that was directly from the mouth of my father who was a doctor back in the islands as well as in Australia so our health & well being is a very important factor to him.  He will be turning 56 yrs old & I can honestly say that he still works out every day of the week except Sunday.  He's a great example to me & is always reminding us when we're overdoing our eating!!  LOL!!  The main thing I learned from his workshop is that Cardiovascular Disease is the #1 cause of death here in the U.S.  How it can be prevented with a healthy lifestyle of eating right & exercising regularly.  

So all in all. . . . .today was a GREAT day.  Nothing short of awe inspiring. . . .

 

Nothing Short Of An Awe Inspiring Day!!

So I've totally been slacking on keeping my blog updated & there are definitely no excuses for that, but TRUE, HONEST TO GOD, LAZINESS.  LOL!! I hate to admit it, but I truly got a reality check today.  What am I blabbing on about. . . . .it was our annual Women's Stake Conference today & I'm happy to report that I was in attendance.  :D  

I had the opportunity to attend this FANTASTIC & VERY MUCH NEEDED event with my parents.  They had 3 different workshops each touching base on HEALTH, FINANCES, & COMPUTER SAFETY!!  I loved all 3 workshops TREMENDOUSLY w/my parents heading the health one.  But I must say that my FAVORITE one had to be the computer safety.  Sound boring??  It did to me, at first, but that's only cause I had no idea what it was really about.  Here are some really important & serious matters that I learned about in each workshop.

First off, Computer Safety:

The dangers of the internet, mainly pornography.  A quote I loved that was shared w/us is this, "Fear not, for pornography & other designs of conspiring men are signs of the times.  Technology is power.  Opposition is not only expected, but central to our agency."  Here are some of the statistics that was founded by professors @ BYU.  The study is astounding & definitely a REALITY CHECK.  Here are some of the statistics:

- The $40-60 billion industry worldwide now includes billions of pages on the internet.  The United States is the leading producer & consumer of this debasing product.

- One in five children ages 10-12 [has] received a sexual solicitation over the internet.

- Three million of the visitors to adult websites in Sept 2000 were age 17 or younger

- Sex is the number 1 topic searched on the internet

- Research indicates that by their senior yr in high school, 100% of males have viewed pornography.  In addition, the average first exposure to pornography is age 11.

- One survey of children ages 7-17 indicated that 90% of them had seen online pornography.  In another survey of 16-17 year olds, 48% said their parents knew little of nothing about what they looked at online.  The average age for an addicts first exposure is 11 yrs old. Studies also say that all male high school students have viewed it @ one time or another.

- In 95% of the cases, it is in their homes-after midnight-while the parents are asleep.

- We know younger kids, teens, use the internet for social interaction, she said, "61% of youth from 13-17 have personal profiles, & have posted pictures of themselves online."  When teens receive a call on their cell phones,"40% reply to unknown callers & share personal information.

- At a time when an estimated 8-10% of Americans are dealing w/compulsive sexual behaviors or addictions, hundreds of Church leaders & Latter-day Saint mental health professionals list pornography as the No. 1 concern for Latter-day Saint families.

- An estimated 40 million Americans regularly visit pornographic websites.  Latter-day Saint experts in the field recognize the devastating & growing impacts of the large, plague-like, epidemic.

How scary is that??  The two that caught my eye especially was how the 'average first exposures is 11 yrs old.'  Why??  Because when young men reach the age of 12, they receive the Aaronic Priesthood.  Second, how 100%, not 60% or even 80%, which are really high figures, but 100% of male seniors in high school, have viewed pornography.  Because when young men are in their senior year(s) of high school, they usually only have one more year to go before leaving on a mission.  How eye opening it was for me today to be reminded how REAL the adversary is & how hard he's working to ruin the FAMILY.  And especially how knowledgeable he is in knowing our Plan of Salvation. 

We were reminded to teach our children of the dangers of pornography.  Utilize family home evening as a time to teach our children & to keep the lines of communication open.  Be aware of what's going on in their lives.  Filter out the different contents on your computer, ex. violence, nudity, language & so forth. . . . .

I have to run w/my husband & fold our Sunday papers so I will continue my post when we get back. . . . .Until then, I hope we can all ponder  & research the dangers of this very TOUCHY & SENSITIVE subject.  This will definitely be: TO BE CONTINUED. . . .   

HAPPY NEW YEARS!! YAY FOR 2009!!

I'm so happy that another new year has come!!  It's always refreshing for me to be able to look back on the previous year & see what things need more continuous work, what things need to be let go of & what things need to be started anew on.  Hoko & I have started working on our New Years resolutions & we're continually adding to our list daily.  We've come to cherish our time together as a family as well as just HUSBAND & WIFE.  We started our paper route, AGAIN (lol), that forces us to get up every morning @ 2:30 am & return home by 6.  I love being with this MAN that I love so much!!  I'm grateful for all he does.  He continually strengthens me to strive to be better!!  He's the best SUPPORTER everr & I'm so happy that I've been blessed to have him in my life.  

Another thing Hoko & I are very excited about is being able to study the D&C this year in church.  We've never read thru the whole thing TOGETHER so this is pretty much a MILESTONE in our lives!  LOL!! So much to work towards & it brings us a TON of excitement to get started!!  Here are some pics of how we rang in the New Years!!  Enjoy!!