Easter Thoughts

Maybe some of you can understand the feeling, but sometimes it is easy for me to go careening down Worry Road. Have you been on it? It's the one where your husband is 15 minutes late getting home from work and you have him mentally dead and buried by the time he walks in the door. Or when you leave your family to go for a drive 1/2 hour away, and you spend the entire time wondering if that was the last time you'll see your kids in this life. Maybe I'm revealing too much about my own paranoias. I don't know.

But a few years ago, I was on one of those aforementioned 1/2 hour drives and I had an epiphany. I was spending all my time on the Worry Road surrounding death, but Jesus has already given me a toll-free bridge off that road. "Death is conquered. Man is free. Christ has won that victory." I realized that if I was going to spend time and energy worrying about anything, it needed to be in evaluating my relationship with my Savior, and considering my own personal sin and repentance. The only obstacle I need to worry about is my unrepented sin. The rest is a gimmee.

I love how in the Book of Mormon, when the resurrected Savior comes to visit the people, they each go up one by one to "see with their eyes and feel with their hands" that it was the long-awaited Messiah. And after they knew personally, they all cried, "Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Most High God!" and they fell at his feet to worship him. (3 Nephi 11:15-17) It was so meaningful for me to learn that "Hosannah!" means "Save now!" When I think of this passage I think of how the people, once they had seen and known what their Jesus had done for them, they were filled with humility and gratitude, and pleaded as they considered their sins, "Save me. Please. Save me now. Don't wait. I need you now." Sometimes I feel that same way. When I start traveling down my old Worry Road, it reminds me to consider whether I currently feel that love and gratitude for my Savior, and feel the urgency to have him make me right before God, in this moment.

I am thankful for my Savior, who saves me unconditionally from death, and longs to save me from my sin, upon condition of my repentance. Here's also a link to the First Presidency Easter Message , in case you missed it. Happy Easter!

Dedicated To The One I Love (one of them, anyway)

I realize that I've shared a fair bit about my oldest and youngest, but that my middle child deserves some blog space too. There is so much to tell about her that I'm surprised I haven't yet.

[WARNING: More Potty Talk Coming Up.] One day I went into the bathroom after she had finished and she said, “Whoa. That was some serious poopage.” She also told me the other day that she didn’t want to be called by her name anymore. She wanted to be known as “Couscous”. Yes, as in the food. Another week, as K made a successful breakaway during changing time she said, “He doesn’t have on anything but a smile!”

She is the most likely person to be waltzing around with high-heels (or even on tiptoes in pretend high-heels), but she also has an athletic side to her too. As well as being an amazing dancer, she picked up riding the 2-wheel scooter with no problems, is a pretty good shot with kicking the soccer ball, and every time she sees a snowboarder on TV (which is actually quite a few times), she always asks, “Mom, can I do that too?” To which I reply, “You bet!” and think “You’ll be amazing!”

Sometimes You're the Windshield, Sometimes You're the Bug

Well you win some, you lose some. But at least I'm learning alot.

Successes:
1. When Heidi kindly asked a manager at a different Walgreens to remove the display of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue and she promptly did. I later went into that same Walgreens and asked the manager to remove the SI mags in the check-out lane. She did again. It was funny because the cashier said, "I've had so many people complaining about those. I don't know why the magazine rep just threw them all over the store! Where does she think we live anyway? We're not that kind of community!"

2. When I kindly asked the manager at Barnes and Noble to remove the offending SI issue from the checkout lane and he did. (This happened yesterday and I was totally unprepared because I thought we were done with that issue sinces it's a new month.)

3. On a completely different note, I told the dance teacher 2 years ago that A couldn't participate in the dance concert because it was on Sunday and that's our day reserved for worship. So this year, S is in that class and the teacher moved it to a Saturday, just because we had said something before.

Disappointment:
Walgreens district manager wrote back and defended the selling of the mags, without addressing the "displaying appropriately for children" issue.

What I am learning when talking to managers:
Some of this corresponds with the tips I've gotten from People Speaking out for Decency: How to Establish a Community Standard by JoAnn Hibbert Hamilton, available for download here.
1. Speak kindly and politely. I compare how likely I am to respond positively to one child who asks for things with a smile and the other who tends to demand.
2. DON'T use the term porn. Use the term "appropriate for children." Although not everyone agrees with what is porn or even that it is damaging, people still seem to understand that some things are not okay for kids to see. I can see that I should have done that in my letter to Walgreens, because their response focused on the fact that they don't sell hardcore porn, rather than on how they could make their store family-friendly.
3. Have your kids there. I noticed that both Heidi and I had success when the manager could see that the mags were on the eye-level of our children. The tricky part is having the manager see that without the kids seeing the garbage.
4. Make a direct request. "I noticed that this magazine is right on eye-level with my child. It does not seem child-appropriate. Will you please remove it?"
5. Whether or not the manager responds the way you want, politely let them know that you will financially support stores that are "family friendly." Show gratitude for their positive efforts.
6. Partial success is still success. In my perfect world, all the dirty mags would be removed and burned. At least they should be covered up. But for where I live and for the resources I have right now, getting them moved from the high traffic areas and displays to the magazine aisle is still success. I do hope for greater success though in the future.

Thanks Heidi for your support with this and for your example on how to do it right.

Happy 1st Birthday Bud!!

We had a wonderful day celebrating K's first birthday!! I'm putting on a video of his "cake experience". Enjoy!

Victoria's Secret Ready for Change

I just read an Associated Press article that came out on February 29, 2008. (Thanks for telling me about this Carrie!) In this article, Ms. Turney, Victoria's Secret's CEO announced that they want to make some positive changes! The springboard for these changes is the large drop in sales last year. Money talks. We definitely vote for what we like by where we spend our money. Here are a few quotes:

She says that they have gotten "too sexy" and alienated quite a few potential shoppers. "We have so much gotten off our heritage," said Sharen Turney, chief executive of Victoria's Secret, during an analyst call with investors."We use the word 'sexy' a lot and have gotten off 'ultra-feminine'," said Ms. Turney. But that will be a huge task. Victoria's Secret has shifted drastically from its image in the 1990s. The brand has added new merchandise lines that are much less modest than its traditional styles. Malls routinely endure protests from parents who are outraged by the stores' window displays, which often feature suggestively posed mannequins in over-the-top lingerie."

So many people have mentioned their frustration with VS lately! It seems like the timing is right to write a little note to encourage these changes, specifically pertaining to the mall window displays. The address is:
VICTORIA'S SECRET
North American Office
P.O. Box 16589
Columbus, Ohio 43216-6589

The email address is: Service@VictoriasSecret.com.

Here are some links if you want to read more. The 2nd link includes a reference to a successful parent-mall protest in the DC area. Beware though because it does include a typical VS image.
http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2008/02/victorias_secret_is_too_sexy_s.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/28/AR2008022804009.html?sub=new

Happy Writing!

Good Night Einstein

Tonight as I was tucking A. in bed I said, "Do you feel snug?" She responded with, "I feel as tight as molecules.....in a solid." I was hiding my smile and wonder when she continued, "Well, a flexible solid. Like paper. Not like wood."

So on that note, I hope you are all feeling snug tonight too, not too tight, just snug, like molecules in a flexible solid.