"Return to Virtue" (Elaine S. Dalton, Young Women General President) Ensign May 2009

For my post this morning I choose to add a recent e-mail I wrote to Reebok. Should any of you decide you want to make a comment to Reebok, I have included the link. Hopefully none of you have viewed the commercial referred to below, but be forewarned, if you see Reebok pop up for an infomercial (sp?) you may want to quickly get rid of the sound as well as the picture!

http://www.reebok.com/US/customer-service/contact-us

To whom it may concern,

I am a runner, I have five children, all are married and all twelve of us (including my husband) are athletes. My daughter and her husband are triathlon participants. My son and daughter-in- law have been half-marathon runners, another son is a baseball coach at a university in Virginia, I could go on but hopefully you get the message that we buy a lot of athletic products in our family. The purpose of this e-mail is to tell you that I was highly offended by a commercial you ran on the internet during the video "Chuck" (Warner Brothers) It is nothing short of pornographic and I found myself terribly disappointed in Reebok. If this commercial continues to air, as well as any like it in the future, I will no longer be making Reebok purchases of any kind. I can assure you I will send this message on to any who will listen, especially my children, who have a high sense of regard for virtue as well. I urge you to find a more educated and respectful way to sell your product.

Sincerely,

Sherrie Mann

The Once Young Boy, is Now a Man

While spending a most wonderful Thanksgiving with Logan, Becca (puppy Roxie), Cory, Melissa, girls; Katelund, Cloey and Hailey (via Melissa's tummy), I learned something about our son, Logan that touched me and spoke of a noble and righteous love. Melissa was asking Becca what Logan had said when he found out she had Multiple Sclerosis. Becca said the minute she heard she went on campus and found him. Understandably anxious, she pulled him out of the class he was in and after telling him, stated, "You know, I could end up in a wheel chair or end up handicapped, are you sure you want to still marry me? You don't have to you know." Logan answered without hesitation, He said: "I am not marrying you for this lifetime. I am marrying you for the eternities and you'll be perfect in the eternities". The quick "Oh," from Melissa was followed by "Isn't that the most tender and romantic thing you have ever heard?" A slight gasp escaped my lips and tears filled my eyes as I felt an overwhelming love and respect for the boy that I knew as my son and now the man I know as Becca's husband.

My little sister Julie, "she's so pretty!"

{Julie and I this last October in NYC. She wanted to pretend like we were homeless.}

Members of our family know exactly what the word "bowtanny" means. But in order to enlighten those that may not understand this bit of verbology (words not found in the dictionary but should be, including verbology), I will explain. This is the very class my sister thought she was taking in college while striving to get her masters degree in social work. She was in the book store hunting down the assigned book for the class. After spending more time than necessary she finally gave up and asked the clerk if they, in fact, even carried the book. Yes, it is as you might have guessed, Julie was looking for the curriculum for her Botany class. But wait, my adorable little sister only gets better with age. Not to be out done by herself, Julie has added one more to what I call her "very strawberry blonde moments". While I was having a conversation with her, she told me with disgust dripping from her tone, "Do you know that I need to go home and take care of a hundred frozen cookie dough buckets? I went to pick up the orders only to find that they come in buckets as frozen cookie dough! ". I bit back my initial response to say, "Well yes honey, what part of the word dough did you not understand but instead asked, "Well Honey just how do think the frozen cookie dough should come?" "Oh, I don't know", she stated, still a little irritated, "I thought they were coming as cookies, not DOUGH!" Julie is proof that you may be able to take the girl out of Oklahoma, but you can't take the blonde out of the girl! Life with Julie is just plain fun!

The Appropriate Companionship of Wisdom and Power

In research for a talk I was giving I came across this quote. I loved it so much that I wanted to share it with others:

In 1866, when the Relief Society was reorganized, Eliza [R. Snow] was set apart as president over the entire sisterhood of the Church [of Jesus Christ of Latter-dat Saints]. She received many letters from officers in ward Relief Societies, asking about their duties and responsibilities. In 1869, in answer to such a letter, she wrote these words to Mary Lightener:

“Tell the sisters to go forth and discharge their duties in humility and faithfulness and the Spirit of God will rest upon them, and they will be blest in their labors... (My Favorite part of the quote): ....Let them seek for wisdom instead of power and they will have all the power they have wisdom to exercise!!!” 1

Should you want to learn more about how incredible and inspiring Eliza R. Snow was/is, click on the 1 at the end of her quote.

Taught by my Little Ones

Though not so little any more they will always be my little ones and today I have been taught by them. As I spoke with my daughter Amber this afternoon she said "Mom I need to go, I think the children's mother is here". Though she is pregnant with two daughters of her own, (the youngest just turned one) Amber tended a set of 19 month old twins for the day in order that their pregnant Mommy could visit the doctor. Then, not but a few moments afterwards I was speaking with Melissa, (who also is expecting) and she said "Mom I need to go, the family we are having dinner with is here". In an effort to help a struggling family they had them over for dinner. It is one thing to serve others when you have an empty house but everyday I see young mothers, whose plates are already full yet find the inner strength to serve someone else. I am constantly humbled by their goodness. While being taught by others is vastly rewarding, there is something richly fulfilling for a mother to be taught by her children!

Alas, my tutorial was yet to be finished, as my daughter Stefani called, excited because she had aced a test! That in and of itself is wonderful but her continued explanation touched my heart. Stefani was concerned about her grade in this class as she had not done so well on the last test. When receiving her paper back for the test she took today she noticed that the aide who had graded it had given her credit for an answer she didn't deserve, as it was only half right. In the attitude and principle of integrity Stefani took the test back to point it out to her Professor. To give the professor credit (which was why Stefani told me this story in the first place), he gave her the point because of her honesty. Whether he had or not, is not my lesson learned here today. Her honesty will be measured far beyond her term grade and I am reminded that one act, one little point is not worth the honors of men. Our acts of righteousness honors God and in turn bespeaks of our desires towards our Eternal home.

I am so grateful for the lessons taught to me this day while glancing through the windows of my children's lives.

I love my son-in-law!

Still in mourning from the last BYU game (if we can even call it that), my son-in-law found a way to help bring a smile back to my face when considering this season's BYU football experience. He took me back to the moment when euphoria was high and expectations were the same. Thanks to Vaughn, I am reminded that in the midst of bad times we tend to forget the good times. If you are a BYU fan and need a lift from this past week's depressing loss, click on the link below and you will understand what I am talking about AND if you wait until the end of the video you will see one or two familiar faces...wait for us...wait for us...wait for us... honest you will see us, just wait for us. However, don't blink you may may miss us:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmLn6R9nJgY

My New Favorite Bumper Sticker...

It was on the back of a not- so-new passenger van;

"Don't let the car fool you, my treasure's in heaven".

Kind of puts everything in perspective, doesn't it?