Proclamation Series: Nurturing our Family Through Food

In The Family a Proclamation to the World it teaches:

"Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children"

That one simple declaration has made me reflect over and over again on my role in our home as a "nurturer"

I will admit, many years ago, I felt a little gypped that our only declared role was to nurture. It is such a short one-liner. Wasn't there more to be had as a mother? Did we get the short end of the stick?

To nurture means: to promote and sustain the growth and development of something, to feed or support, educate or train, nourish, raise, inspire with confidence, give hope or courage to, care for, rear,bring up from infancy,help develop, help grow...etc

Basically it encompasses all we do as mothers, and what we do best. We have the natural innate tendencies to nurture. Through nurturing we come to find ourselves and fulfill God's purposes.

I have a picture on my wall that is a great reminder to me everyday

We can't underestimate our value and worth in the nurturing of our children.

One of the greatest ways we nurture our family is through food

Children are born associating mom with food. Sometimes we try to separate ourselves as mothers from being the constant need to be the food person.

Through nature and because of nurturing: we are it.

I have noticed that there is little else that can bring a feeling of home, comfort, warmth, and family bond more than mom baking, cooking, being there in the kitchen doing her thing.

I have also noticed, that there is really no homey feeling of comfort, warmth, or family bonding when we as mothers, are not there providing meals and food for our families in a nurturing way.

When we are standing up around the counter, everyone "fending for themselves", and eating on their own. Besides feeling chaos, you will definitely notice that

something is missing!

...and it will effect the spirit of your home and the cohesiveness of our family.

There is something to sitting down together, with every one's feet under the table, eating a meal, and talking about the day. It is worth sacrificing to make happen.

Dallin H. Oaks in his talk Good, Better, Best said this:

"The number of those who report that their “whole family usually eats dinner together” has declined 33 percent. This is most concerning because the time a family spends together “eating meals at home [is] the strongest predictor of children’s academic achievement and psychological adjustment.”

What your children really want for dinner is you."

Nurturing our family through food, in one of those small and simple things...
for which great things are brought to pass.

See: Julie B. Beck's, {Powerful Nurturing}

A Powerful People

"God wants a powerful people"

Sheri Dew, God Wants a Powerful People

 He needs "mothers who know" and he needs exemplary fathers, and sons and daughters who are being raised up "to know".

 He needs husbands and wives who have not just "been to the temple"...but who "go to the temple".

 He needs pure, righteous, obedient people, who both qualify for and have access to the gift and power of the Holy Ghost and the priesthood. 

He needs a people who don't just own scriptures, and carry them to church in designer scripture totes, but a people who READ them, study them and live by them. 
In other words, He needs a people who know, that they know, that they know
{ see this talk:Knowing that We Know}

We can be that people. And the temple has a lot to do with it. Here is a great scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 109: 22 which is part of the Kirtland Temple Dedication, but applies so much to us today.

 22 And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them;

Those who go to the temple, come away surrounded, armed, and protected!  Who wouldn't want an angel to have charge over them?! 

Through the temple we can become the powerful people God wants us to be.

Mothers Who Know

Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to have been one of the mothers of the 2,000 Stripling Warriors described in the Book of Mormon, Alma Chapter 56.

Like Queen Esther, they were the right mothers, at the right time in history, with the right preparation to do what the Lord needed them to do.

Young Women Who Know

Teaching our young women to be Young Women Who Know

Using Julie B. Beck's landmark talk, Mothers Who Know, the same principles that were taught to us as mothers, can be used and applied in teaching our young women to be strong in who they are right now, and prepare them for their future roles as righteous wives and mothers.

Throughout the talk, where ever you see the word "mother", you can insert the words "young women"

Nurturing Our Family Through Food

In The Family a Proclamation to the World   it teaches:

"Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children"

That one simple declaration has made me reflect over and over again on my role in our home as a "nurturer"

I will admit, many years ago, I felt a little gypped that our only declared role was to nurture.  It is such a short one-liner.  Wasn't there more to be had as a mother?  Did we get the short end of the stick?

To nurture means: to promote and sustain the growth and development of something, to feed or support, educate or train, nourish, raise, inspire with confidence, give hope or courage to, care for,  rear,bring up from infancy,help develop, help grow...etc

Basically it encompasses all we do as mothers, and what we do best.  We have the natural innate tendencies to nurture.  Through nurturing we come to find ourselves and fulfill God's purposes.

I have a picture on my wall that is a great reminder to me everyday

We can't underestimate our value and worth in the nurturing of our children.

One of the greatest ways we nurture our family is through food

 Children are born associating mom with food.  Sometimes we try to separate ourselves as mothers from the constant need to be the food person. 

But we are it. 

I have noticed that there is little else that can bring a feeling of home, comfort, warmth, and family bond more than mom baking, cooking, being there in the kitchen doing her thing.

I have also noticed, because I am not a perfect mother and am crazy- busy like the rest of you, that there is really no homey feeling of comfort, warmth, or family bond when we as mothers, are not there providing meals and food for our families in a nurturing way.

When we are standing up around the counter, everyone "fending for themselves", and eating on their own. Besides feeling chaos, you will definitely notice that 

something is missing!

...and it will effect the spirit of your home and the cohesiveness of our family. 

There is something to sitting down together, with every one's feet under the table, eating a meal, and talking about the day.  It is worth sacrificing to make happen.

Dallin H. Oaks in his landmark talk Good, Better, Best  said this:

 "The number of those who report that their “whole family usually eats dinner together” has declined 33 percent. This is most concerning because the time a family spends together “eating meals at home [is] the strongest predictor of children’s academic achievement and psychological adjustment.”³ Family mealtimes have also been shown to be a strong bulwark against children’s smoking, drinking, or using drugs.⁴ There is inspired wisdom in this advice to parents:

 What your children really want for dinner is you."

Nurturing our family through food, in one of those small and simple things...
for which great things are brought to pass.

See: Powerful Nurturing

Showing Up for the Little Things

photo source

I am not a big fan of Halloween.  For the most part, I tolerate it.  It is cute, it is fun (I guess), but my happiest moment is November 1st-because it is O V E R! 

This year it is especially bad.  My husband usually out-trumps me in hating Halloween.  I think I have out-trumped him this year. 

The kids, of coarse, LOVE it...so I try to get in the mood to do all the [fun] traditions.


Today was the pumpkin carving contest at school.  This is the day parents and excited elementary age children can be seen carrying their prized creations in the school cafeteria to all be judged as the best in a variety of categories. They had been sending notices home for about 3 weeks, gearing us all up and trying to entice us to participate.   For the most part, I enjoy decorating pumpkins for the contest. Sometimes, I feel artsy-craftsy, and have fun trying to think of fun things to create out of the pumpkins. 

We have only won once, and that was the year we turned the pumpkin in to Cinderella's stagecoach.  We had Prince Charming driving the horse drawn carriage, as well as Barbie/Cinderella sitting inside, waving out the window. We  spray painted the pumpkin with gold shimmery glitter-the whole works. It was fun.

Today,  I feel I gave birth to 2 pumpkins.  I refer to it that way because of how hard it was and how much I wanted to be somewhere else doing anything different. Yesterday I got hit hard and fast with strep throat and  carving pumpkins was the LAST thing I wanted to do this morning.  There was  no artsy-craftsy creative juices flowing at all. My first and only thought was how can I pull this off with the smallest amount of effort?

 Our first pumpkin was in the shape of an apple, so  I let daughter # 7 paint it RED.  She loved every second of it.  We cut a hole, made The Hungry Little Caterpillar out of pipe-cleaners and pom-pom balls and called it done.  It sounds plain, and it was, but it did turn out rather cute.

Of coarse daughter #8, wanted me to C-A-R-V-E her pumpkin.  She didn't want [me] to take the easy way out. We have a book with pumpkin carving patterns, and I asked her to pick one...hoping she would pick the EASY one.  No, she picks the black-widow spider. Besides the fact that  I HATE spiders, this was the most difficult pattern in the book. 

I gave it my best effort, trying to carve the silly spider without cutting all the legs off in the wrong places.    The final product was good, and we were all proud when it was done. 

WHY do we do these crazy things we would rather not do, for these silly traditions? 

What motivates me or anyone else out there to decorate 2 pumpkins at 6:30 in the morning?

I guess for me, I knew my girls had their hearts set on it, and were counting on me.  The fact that I was not feeling well, was tired, didn't want to be there, didn't cross their radar screen.

In all reality, it wasn't that big of a deal.  We all lived through it, and I felt good that I did something that mattered to my children, and my girls were proud to carry their pumpkins into school and to be apart of something bigger than themselves, and ultra-important in their eyes.

  I was impressed with how organized the PTA was when we arrived.  They even gave each participant a prize.  So now, no matter what,  each child feels important and that they have won.

It is so crucial that we as parents "step- up" and try our hardest to "show-up" to those little things that matter in the lives of our children. 

They are counting on us.