Maybe I've Become THAT Kind of Mom

When you're on the outside looking in, it's really easy to judge. As a teenager, I remember seeing mothers make last minute, unplanned purchases for their children and I thought "I'm not ever going to be that kind of mom."

I have a confession to make. I have been to six McDonald's within the past four days. The reason? The toys. My sweet little guy took a shining to their current toy. I don't even have any idea what they are or what cartoon they are from. They are some kind of alien toy, but Peter calls them his monsters (though he can't pronounce "monster," so it sounds more like "mahmont").

He got the first toy on Saturday. It was an orange monster. He slept with it on Saturday night and brought it to church on Sunday. I put it in the diaper bag so that he wouldn't lose it in nursery and then promptly forgot about it. Last night, Peter was asking for his monster and I realized I had no idea where it was. He was so sad to go to bed without it. Jeremiah was able to backtrack in his mind and remember where we had put it and I was able to give Peter his monster again this morning.

I had to go to the bank today so I told Peter that we could get him another Happy Meal and he could get another monster. He somehow remembered that there were red and blue ones and he had his heart set on a red and blue monster. When I got to the drive-through, I asked what colors they had available. They said they only had orange and green. I decided to get two happy meals (one hamburger and one chicken nuggets) because I never know what Peter will be in the mood to eat and I figured I could eat the kid's meal that he didn't eat or I could give it to him for lunch the next day (reheated in the microwave). So, they gave me one orange and one green alien aka monster. That brought Pete's tally to three monsters.

I figured we could give it another go later this week and try to get the red and/or blue alien/monster at that time.

After dinner (of which, Peter only ate his salad--sassy, picky-eater boy of mine), I asked Peter if he wanted to go for a walk with me and Jonathan (Jeremiah has started school again and he had class tonight). Peter said "no." This really surprised me because Peter loves to go on walks. I said "Well, what do you want to do?" He said "Burber, ries, blue and red mahmont." I said "You want to go for a drive and get another burger and fries and a monster?" He said "Yeah. Blue and red mahmont." I thought "well, what the heck. It will be a decent way to pass the time. We'll just go for a little drive, get a Happy Meal, and maybe go to the park."

So, we embarked on our journey, unaware of the adventure to follow. I went to another McDonald's than the one I had gone to earlier today (since I knew they only had orange and green aliens). I promptly asked them what colors they had. The McDonald's employee told me they only had yellow. I thought "well, at least that's a color Peter doesn't have. He'll be excited about that and then we can try in a few days for the blue and/or red alien." I paid, got the Happy Meal and drove away...only to discover that he had given me a GREEN alien. Blasted color blind McDonald's employee! When Peter discovered it wasn't yellow, but a green alien that he already had, he was sooooo sad. He was crying "yeyow mahmont" over and over. I had already opened the toy, so I couldn't return it and the employee there already told me that they only had the one color--even though it was actually green and not yellow. So, I didn't think I would have any luck getting another color of alien there.

Let me clarify something. My guy Peter is super passionate. He can throw tantrums with the best (or worst, depending on your point of view) of the two-year-olds. But this wasn't a tantrum. It was sincere sadness and disappointment. I felt so bad about it. I had prepared him and told him that there might not be a new color of monster, but he heard the guy over the intercom say there were yellow monsters and when he didn't get a yellow monster, he was crushed. So, I decided to try another McDonald's. I decided to drive by my Mom's house because there are three McDonald's in the vicinity and if one failed, surely one of the others would come through for me.

Now, to refresh the tally: we currently have two orange and two green "mahmonts," or four total.

The next McDonald's I went to (technically, the fourth McDonald's, or the third for that day), I asked what colors of toys they had. They only had orange and green too. I asked if that would be the case for all of the McDonald's. The employee there very helpfully explained that each box has two different toys in it and then when that box is empty, they get another which has different toys in it. She said that the colors available at each McDonald's would simply depend on if they had emptied out one box and moved on to the next. So, basically a game of chance. I drove away without any new monsters since they didn't have the colors that Pete wanted. Peter was again heartbroken. He literally seemed to have lost hope of ever having a red or blue monster. He was just so sad.

So, I ventured to the next McDonalds (#5 total, #4 for the day). I was really worried that the story would be the same though. I didn't want to continually break Peter's heart by disappointing him over and over. However, they said they had yellow and gray aliens. Woohoo! I said "Could I please have one yellow and one gray alien in the Happy Meals? And I don't want orange or green because my son already has those" and they assured me that I would get one yellow and one gray alien and that I absolutely wouldn't get orange or green. When I got the actual food, I asked the girl what color of toy was in the Happy Meal and she helpfully said "I have no idea." They have such a great attention to detail and attend to the needs of their customers so well! When I checked (before driving away), the first alien was indeed gray. The second one was red! I thought "what is the deal with these guys? Did they never learn their basic colors?" However, I was happy because they were two colors Peter didn't have and I knew he would be excited (which, of course, he was).

That takes our tally to: 2 orange, 2 green, 1 gray, and 1 red alien/monster. Or 6 total.

Peter was blissfully happy in the back seat and I was about to head home when I thought "what the hey. I might as well check that last McDonald's (#6 total, #5 for the day). It's on my way home anyway and if they don't have blue, then we can check again in a few days." I again went through the drill and asked what color of toys they had. Unbelievably, the employee there told me they had blue and yellow. As you can imagine, I didn't quite believe this after all of the wrong colors I had been told, so I said "are you sure?" He said "Yes. I just checked myself." So, I got two more Happy Meals and hesitantly checked them to discover that this employee was NOT color blind and Peter did indeed receive one yellow and one blue alien.

That takes our final tally to: 2 orange, 2 green, 1 gray, 1 red, 1 yellow, and 1 blue alien/monster. Or 8 total. Whew!

Peter was over the moon once we acquired the blue alien and he was pleased that we got a yellow one too. When we got inside, he proudly displayed all of his monsters on the coffee table and began to count them. He's really great at counting. We counted together. When we finished counting and he discovered he had eight monsters, he said "nine?" Ha ha! You will remember from a few posts ago that nine is Peter's favorite number. In this case, he wasn't trying to greedily finagle more monsters, nine is just his lucky number. His number "happy place," if you will. I think he really would have liked to have nine monsters over eight, but he didn't press the matter. He was satisfied and content with his monsters--a boy at peace.

Peter ate one Happy Meal for lunch and one for dinner (I ate one of them for my lunch too). So, of the seven Happy Meals I bought today, three were eaten and four are in the fridge! I chose milk and juice boxes for the drinks because I knew I could use them later. I also chose apples for most of the Happy Meals because I knew I could refrigerate those too. As for the hamburgers, they actually heat up pretty well in the microwave--at least Peter doesn't seem to notice much of a difference (or if he does, he doesn't care).

Peter is currently asleep in his bed with all of his mahmont's asleep at the foot of his bed. Yup, all eight of them.

My reflections regarding today's adventure:

1. Do I think what I did was ridiculous? Yes! It was absolutely ridiculous! I can't believe I did it! I'll have to be careful in the future about telling Peter about the toy selection.
   
2. Did I purchase a ridiculous amount of fast food? Yes! Jeremiah told me he would eat some of it for lunch tomorrow so that it wouldn't go to waste. Besides that, one of his favorite things to do is to pile fries on top of the kids hamburgers and eat them all together. He reheated some fries and a burger that Peter didn't eat awhile back and he said that it actually did heat up pretty well.
   
3. Am I embarrassed? You betcha! This was a super by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of thing to do and I just spent $24 for 8 toys and some food that Peter may or may not eat. That is just crazy.
4. Am I glad I did it? You know what? I am. I would do it again. Peter was so heartbroken. He wasn't being spoiled or bratty. He was sincerely disappointed. I just couldn't say no to that. And once he got all of his monsters, he was overjoyed. But you can also bet, that I repeated a NUMBER of times on the drive home that he now had ALL of the monsters that there were and that there weren't any more colors to be had!
5. Will I buy another Happy Meal so that Peter can have 9 monsters? I don't know. But I just might! But not for awhile, at least! And you can bet that they won't be orange or green monsters!
6. What do I think about the service at McDonald's? It totally depends on the employee. Some of them were helpful and accurate and others were NOT!
   
7. Do I feel silly because I shared this experience with all of you? Yes siree! But I also thought it was too funny not to share and I have been chuckling about it all night.
8. Am I always this indulgent and do I spoil my kids? No! I promise! I actually do set limits! Cross my heart!
9. Has anyone else out there done something crazy like this for their kids? I sure hope so! I hope I'm not the only one pulling these kinds of crazy shenanigans! (Did you notice that I have nine questions here? Peter's magic number!).
   

So, yes, perhaps I have become that kind of mom. When you haven't been in a certain situation, it's so easy to say "I would never do this..." or "I would never do that..." But never say never. If you haven't been in that situation, you don't know what you would do!

But thinking back on it, I remember my Mom taking us around to different places just so we could get specific kid's meal toys. Did she go to the same crazy lengths that I did tonight? I don't think so (at least, not that I can recall). Did she always do it? No, of course not. But she did it when it really mattered to us. It made us feel special. It made us feel like she understood us and valued our wants and needs. She was able to step into our shoes and remember what it felt like to be a child. She was that kind of mom.

Well, I'm not exactly that kind of mom quite yet. I have a long way to go. But I think I'm getting there. At least I'm on my way. I just have to keep trying. I can only hope that someday I really can become the kind of mom that my Mom was. Because she was (and still is) the best.

Above: Peter with his "mahmonts." Notice Jonathan happily sucking on his fist in the background. By the way, Jonathan was a sweetheart the entire time. He cooed happily in his carseat all the while. He likes to go for drives. He only got fussy towards the end when the sun was in his eyes and he was getting tired and hungry. But once we got home, I cuddled and fed him and he was right as rain again in no time! Oh, and he's so nice to cuddle! Soft and squishy and happy! He just laughs and smiles. What a sweetheart.

My Testimony of The Book of Mormon

Well, I was released from the primary presidency this week. Our ward reorganized the Relief Society and Primary presidencies. I can't believe how quickly the past three years have gone by. Our release as a presidency came as a little bit of a surprise because we didn't think they were going to release us until at least after the primary program (which was scheduled for September 25th). But, I guess the time had come. I'm not going to lie, I was very sad to be released. I have really come to love our primary and the children in our ward. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve in the primary organization. It is truly inspired.

In May, our primary presidency was asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting. The Primary theme for the month of May was "The Church of Jesus Christ Has Been Restored." There were four sharing time subjects within that theme (#1 The Church of Jesus Christ Has Been Restored; #2 Joseph Smith is the prophet of the Restoration; #3 The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ; and The Priesthood has been restored). I chose to speak on The Book of Mormon.

Since I am planning on using this blog as a family journal and getting it printed up at some point, I wanted to share my testimony of The Book of Mormon. Especially for the sake of my children. I am sure they will hear my testimony many times throughout their life, but I would like them to have it in writing too. So, below is my talk about The Book of Mormon from May.

• “I opened it with eagerness, and read its title page. I then read the testimony of several witnesses in relation to the manner of its being found and translated. After this I commenced its contents by course. I read all day; eating was a burden, I had no desire for food; sleep was a burden when the night came, for I preferred reading to sleep. As I read, the spirit of the Lord was upon me, and I knew and comprehended that the book was true.” Parley P. Pratt, Pg. 20 of Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt.
• “No member of this Church can stand approved in the presence of God who has not seriously and carefully read the Book of Mormon.” Joseph Fielding Smith, October 1961 Conference Report.
• “Members of the Church everywhere should know the Book of Mormon better than any other book. Not only should we know what history and faith-promoting stories it contains, but we should understand its teachings…I have noted within the Church the difference in discernment, in insight, conviction, and spirit between those who know and love the Book of Mormon and those who do not. That book is a great sifter.” Ezra Taft Benson, May 1975 New Era article.

I have always loved the scriptures. This love was instilled in me by my mother and my father. I got my own leather bound scriptures when I turned 12 and graduated from primary. Before that, I had a paperback copy of The Book of Mormon. When I got my leather bound copy of the scriptures, I thought they were so beautiful that I didn’t want to mark them. I remember being in a Sunday school class and my teacher asked everyone to mark their scriptures. I told him I didn’t want to because I liked them to look perfect. He very tactfully told me that if I didn’t mark them, I wouldn’t get as much out of them. Well, I mark my scriptures now! Plenty!

I read the Joseph Smith history while I was in Primary and read The Book of Mormon during family scripture study, but I didn’t read The Book of Mormon from beginning to end by myself until I was 14 years old. My parents were going through their divorce and my father advised me to read The Book of Mormon. I started to read that evening. I decided to test Moroni’s promise found in Moroni 10:3-5 which says “Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost, ye may know the truth of all things.”

Well, I read the Book of Mormon and prayed to know if it was true for months. I was getting really frustrated because I had expected to have a spiritual witness and confirmation that it was true. But I was getting no answer. Then, one day, I was reading in Alma 32:16-18 which says “Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe. Yea, there are many who do say: If thou wilt show unto us a sign from heaven, then we shall know of a surety; then we shall believe. Now, I ask, is this faith? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe, for he knoweth it.”

I immediately felt the spirit. It was a gentle, quiet, reassuring, teaching, and admonishing epiphany. I realized that the reason I hadn’t had an overwhelming spiritual experience (which is what I was expecting) was because I didn’t need one. It was because I already knew The Book of Mormon was true. I realized that I had always known The Book of Mormon was true. “For if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe, for he knoweth it.” At that moment, I knew it was true and I knew I had always known it.

I read The Book of Mormon probably about five times by the time I had graduated from high school. I had Book of Mormon classes at BYU and studied it there too. During my senior year at BYU, I decided that I wanted to get more out of the scriptures, so I decided to read along with the Gospel Doctrine lessons in church. We were studying the Old Testament my senior year of college. I had read the Bible from beginning to end while I was in high school, but honestly, I didn’t get a whole lot out of it. At the time, there was a lot that I didn’t understand. So, I was looking forward to studying it along with the Gospel Doctrine classes. I grew to LOVE the Old Testament that year. The people came alive to me and I can testify to you that they were real people and that the stories told in the Old Testament are true. I continued to read along with the Gospel Doctrine lessons the following year when we were studying the New Testament. I grew so much spiritually those two years and I was filled with an even greater love for the scriptures and the things I was learning from them.

When it was time to study The Book of Mormon along with the Gospel Doctrine lessons, I was honestly disappointed. During the past two years, I had discovered the beauty of the Old and New Testaments and The Book of Mormon seemed to me to be “old news.” I was mourning the loss of being able to study the Bible. I honestly thought to myself “After reading The Book of Mormon so many times, what else can I learn from it?”

As soon as I thought that in my mind, I felt a prick of the Spirit. I immediately fell to my knees in repentance. I apologized to the Lord for feeling disappointment at the thought of studying The Book of Mormon again. I then sincerely asked Heavenly Father to bless me to see things in the book and learn things that I had never seen, learned, or noticed before.

That year, as I studied The Book of Mormon again, I was humbled by how much I didn’t know and how much the Lord had still to teach me. Perhaps it’s a lesson that all of us have to learn at some time or another. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people give similar complaints such as “Another lesson on tithing? I don’t need to hear about that AGAIN.” Or, “Why should I go to the temple again? I have already been so many times.” I think the lesson is that there is ALWAYS something more that we can learn. We see different things at different times in our lives with the different experiences that we are going through. Besides, the Lord uses a lot of repetition in His teaching and He always has a good reason for doing the things He does!

As I read The Book of Mormon that year, I saw scriptures that I swear I had never noticed before. I gained a greater love for the people that I read about. I gained greater insights and the Spirit poured itself out upon me.

For instance, one of the things that I learned was from Jacob 1:19 which talks about magnifying our callings.

It reads, “And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their blood might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day.”

I came to a new realization of what it can mean to magnify your callings. I started to ponder on the word “magnify” and then I started to think about a magnifying glass. I started to think about what a magnifying glass does. A magnifying glass makes things look larger and clearer and easier to see. It clarifies and enlarges things. To “magnify” means to make something appear larger or to increase it in size. I realized that by magnifying my own callings, I could help to make a certain aspect of the gospel clearer to others. By magnifying my calling, I can help others understand the significance and importance of what certain things mean to the Lord. In my current calling, I can help others see how Heavenly Father and Jesus feel about Primary and our wonderful Primary children.

If we were to reverse the view of the magnifying glass and look at the holder of the magnifying glass through it, that person would look larger. I realized that when I magnify my callings, I can become personally enlarged. As we magnify our callings and serve faithfully, we gain talents, knowledge, experience, and a greater capacity for love.

Through my service in Primary, I have been able to see The Book of Mormon with fresh eyes—through the eyes of our Primary children learning the scriptures and the stories of faith within them and gaining a testimony for themselves. It has been amazing to me to see the Spirit inspire and teach these children.

Since that year when I studied The Book of Mormon along with the Gospel Doctrine lessons, I have realized that with all aspects of the gospel, there is ALWAYS something more we can learn. I have continued to study the scriptures and The Book of Mormon. In this time that we live in, there are so many opportunities placed before us to allow us to continue in our learning. Everyone should take advantage of these opportunities. Shortly before I got married, I took an institute class from Michael Wilcox on The Book of Mormon and my love of that book increased again and I was once more reminded that I had then and still have much to learn from that wonderful book of scripture.

I would like to bear my testimony to you of The Book of Mormon. It IS true. And if you take Moroni up on the promise he gave in Moroni 10:3-5, you too will have a witness of the truth of it. And your witness will come in a deeply personal way to you. The Lord knows the perfect way to answer each individual’s prayers. For Joseph Smith, he received a vision in response to his prayer. For me, I received a gentle reminder that I already knew the Church, the gospel, the scriptures, and more specifically, The Book of Mormon was all true. I would like to say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.