A very Bickerstaff Christmas

Though we would have liked to have seen our extended families during the holiday season,  we enjoyed a very blessed Christmas at home this year. Most of us stayed in our jammies all day and relaxed. Which was just what we needed. We were very thankful that Daddy had the day off of work so he could play all day with the kids. Fun was had by all. We hope your Christmas was blessed and wish you the best in the year to come.

The Blessings of Personal Progress

The following is the talk I gave at church this morning:

I was asked to speak by Bishop Ferrin about a month ago, and I have been putting up a good fight because public speaking is my least favorite thing to do. It terrifies me even more than spiders. But the subject that I have been asked to speak about has become near and dear to my heart over the last year.

As most of you probably already know, I am a convert to the church. I joined the church in April of 2000 just a few weeks before my 21st birthday. Since I joined as an adult I never had the opportunity to be in Primary as a child or Young Women as a teenager. I also have never had a calling in Young Women until I moved here. So serving in the Young Women program has been a very new experience for me, and I absolutely love working with the Youth in this ward especially the Young Women.

Over the last year I have been introduced to Personal Progress. This is the program that the leaders of the church have developed for the young women of the church between the ages of 12 and 18.

The Young Women Theme says:
We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us ,and we love Him.
We will “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” as we strive to live the Young Women values, which are:
Faith* Divine Nature* Individual Worth* Knowledge* Choice & Accountability* Good Works* Integrity and Virtue
We believe as we come to accept and act upon these values, we will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.

Through Personal Progress the Young Women are able to strengthen their faith in and testimony of Jesus Christ by learning His teachings and regularly applying them to their lives. It helps to strengthen both their present families and future families. It helps to prepare them to make and keep sacred covenants and receive the ordinances of the temple. And it will prepare them to be faithful, contributing members of the church.

The Personal Progress program uses the eight Young Women values to help these young girls more fully understand who they are, why they are here on Earth and what they should be doing as a daughter of God to prepare for the day they go to the temple to make sacred covenants. It will also help them prepare for their future roles as faithful women, wives, mothers, and leaders in God’s kingdom. It teaches them to make commitments, carry them out and report their progress to a parent or leader. They will establish personal daily habits such as prayer, scripture study, service and journal keeping as they work on Personal Progress. These habits will help them learn and improve throughout theirs lives as they increase their testimonies.

In order for a Young Women to complete her Personal Progress she will need to:
● Regularly attend sacrament meeting.
● Live the standards in For the Strength of Youth.
● Keep a personal journal.
● Attend seminary or participate in independent study.
● Read the Book of Mormon regularly.
● Record her testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ.
● Complete the value experiences and value project for each of the eight values.

Each of the values except virtue has three required value experiences that they must complete. They also have three additional value experiences to complete that can be selected from the options in their book or they can write up to two of their own experiences that must be approved by a parent or leader. The virtue value has four required value experiences. Each of the values also has a value project that must take at least ten hour to complete. Virtue has a required project of reading the Book of Mormon from cover to cover. While reading they must regularly record their thoughts in their journals, and then, after completion, record their testimony.

Now I am going to touch on each of the individual values and the blessings that they will receive from them.

The first value is faith. In Alma 32:21 it says: “Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true” By completing the experiences and project for faith they will know that they are a daughter of a Heavenly Father who loves them. They will have faith in His eternal plan which centers on the Savior Jesus Christ.

The second value is divine nature. 2 Peter 1:4-7 states: “Be partakers of the divine nature...Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity” By completing the experiences and project for divine nature they will know that they inherited divine qualities and strive to develop them.

The third value is individual worth. By completing the experiences and project for individual worth they will know of their infinite worth with their own divine mission to fulfill. In Doctrine and Covenants chapter 18 verse 10 it says: “Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God”

Fourth we have the value of knowledge. It says in Doctrine and Covenants 88:118: “Seek learning, even by study and also by faith” Through completing the value experiences and project for knowledge they will continually seek opportunities for learning and growth.

Choice & accountability is the fifth value. Upon completion of the experiences and project for choice & accountability they will be able to choose good over evil and accept responsibility for their decisions. Joshua 24:15 states: “Choose you this day whom ye will serve;. . . but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”

The next value is good works. “Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven” 3 Nephi 12:16. By completing the experiences and project for knowledge they will help others and build the kingdom through righteous service.

The seventh value is integrity. In Job chapter 27 verse 5 is says: “Till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me” They will have the moral courage to make their actions consistent with their knowledge of right and wrong when they complete the value experiences and project for integrity.

The final and newest value is virtue. Upon completion of the experiences and project for virtue the Young Women will prepare to enter the temple and remain pure and worthy. Their thoughts and actions will be based on high moral standards. In Proverbs 31:10 it says: “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies”

My Young Womanhood Medallion earned December 19, 2010

After completing all the value experiences and projects for the eight Young Women values she will have an interview with the bishop and be able to receive her Young Womanhood Recognition certificate and medallion. But even more important, she will have received the habits, knowledge and skills to help her throughout her mortal and eternal life.

President Ezra Taft Benson in “To the Young Women of the Church” said, “Give me a young woman who loves home and family, who reads and ponders the scriptures daily, who has a burning testimony of the Book of Mormon. Give me a young woman who faithfully attends her church meetings, who is a seminary graduate, who has earned her Young Womanhood Recognition Award and wears it with pride! Give me a young woman who is virtuous and who has maintained her personal purity, who will not settle for less than a temple marriage, and I will give you a young woman who will perform miracles for the Lord now and throughout eternity.”

I know that Personal Progress is a divine program that was developed to prepare Young Women for their eternal roles. That by completing this program they “will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation”. I leave this with you in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Have a "Rockin" Christmas!!

More confessions of a crazy mommy person!!

1~ I LOVE steaming hot showers. So hot that the water scalds a bit when it touches your skin,  the whole bathroom fills with steam, and everyone in the house gripes that you stole all the hot water. Hehehe
2~I don't hate Christmas, but I could live without Christmas music except at church on Sundays in December and on Christmas day. I think I used up all my Christmas music tolerance in 2001 when they started playing it after 9/11.
3~ Christmas is one of my least favorite holidays. It has gotten WAY too commercial. The stores seem to bring out the Christmas garb earlier and earlier every year. I want my kids to know the REAL meaning of Christmas and not worry about what a fat man in a red suit is going to leave under the tree for them on Christmas morning.
4~ I cannot stand calling people on the phone! It scares me to death. Don't get me wrong, I like talking on the phone just not the act of calling someone. I LOVE it when people call me though. As long as it isn't someone asking me to talk at church.
5~ I like Facebook a little too much. Okay, WAY too much! Having recently (within the last year) moved away from all my friends it is one of the only ways of keeping in contact with them, because I don't have long distance and probably wouldn't call them anyways. (See number 4)
6~ I am incredibly impatient!! I want what I want and I want it NOW!! It probably could be connected to the fact that I NEVER get what I want. Sometimes it causes me to throw a grown up temper tantrum. And, I actually wonder where my kids get it from. Hmmmm
7~ I get nervous really easily. All I have to do is think about something and I get butterflies in my tummy and my heart starts beating faster. Its probably a good thing I have never done anything that would cause me to have to be given a lie detector test, because I would SO fail just because I get so nervous. I especially get nervous if I have to call someone that I am not used to talking to on the phone (See number 4) or if I have to go somewhere and see people I have never met before.
8~ I am a reader!! I will totally neglect everything I have to do if I am reading an awesome book that I cannot put down. I don't happen to find these books very often, but when it does happen, you better just count me out of doing anything productive.
9~ I almost always have a song in my head. I go to sleep with one and wake up with one. Sometimes there are many different ones or the same one for days on end. What I can't figure out is how you can get a song in your head that you haven't heard in years. Makes ya think!
10~ I only like even numbers or things in groups of five. I can't eat three of something. I have to either eat two or four, and if its cookies it will definitely be four or maybe even five. And, even worse than odd numbers are prime numbers, and it really drives me nuts that we have seven people in our family.

Confessions of a crazy mommy person!!

First of all, I want to thank Suzy for giving me this idea because I totally stole it from her. Second, I am titling this confessions of a crazy mommy person, because I am more than just unbalanced and my identity has become that of the mommy. So, in this post and maybe some more posts in the future, I will confess some of the things that I always want to tell people but never have the guts to share.

1~ I am not afraid of becoming my mother as I grow older, but I am terrified of becoming my mother-in-law. My mother is an awesome, strong person and I would love to be that person too. My mother-in-law is....(Katy, if you are reading this, you know what I mean).
2~ I have had 5 kids naturally and because of this I have a very weak bladder. Especially when jumping on the trampoline and doing certain things in TaeKwonDo. So, I have to completely empty my bladder before doing these things and usually wear a pantyliner for just in case I spring a leak.
3~ I wish I was 17/18 again, but with the knowledge that I have now. I think about the "what ifs" way too much lately, and want to go back and make different choices. I also think that juniors clothing is way better than grown up clothing.
4~ I worry way too much about what other people think of me. It doesn't really matter what they think and I know that, but I have the natural need to please people and be liked.
5~ I say "seriously" and "crap" all the time. I am working on cutting this down to a bare minimum, but the outlook doesn't look good.
6~ I am a daddy's girl through and through. I am more like him than my mom, and we have always had a very special bond.
7~ I am selfish. I don't like to share and I think about myself and what I want more than I should.
8~ I don't want Angela to be a daddy's girl. I want her to prefer me over anyone else. (See number 7.)
9~ Everyone thinks I am skinny, but I look in the mirror and see that I could lose a fews pounds. I want my jeans to be a little bit loose and have to buy a smaller size.
10~ I HATE talking about politics! I have very strong political views, but cannot stand when people talk about politics all the time. Michael is included in this. He could talk about politics all day long and he loves to listen to political radios shows. BORING!! I don't want to hear about it.

Halloween 2010

Sorry there aren't more pictures from Halloween. Most were not very good pictures since it was hard to keep anyone still enough to get a good shot.

I can't believe it is November already! Where has the last year gone? I still have so much I want to do before the year is over. But, I am not looking forward to the Thanksgiving/Christmas season. I am totally one of those people that doesn't like Christmas. I groaned this morning when I walked in to Wal-Mart and they already had Christmas trees up in the entryway of the store. Is it just me or do they do that earlier and earlier every year? I would be happy if it just all stopped after Thanksgiving. I really don't even have a good reason why I don't care for Christmas. I just do. I loved it as a kid, and I love watching my kids love it too. Oh well! I will post Halloween pictures as soon as I organize them into something blogable (thats not a real word but I am going to use it anyways).

Levi-isms

Levi is my little comedian. He is always saying and doing things without even knowing he is amusing. There are way too many times that Michael and I have to stifle our laughter because he doesn't like being laughed at. Here are a few of the humorous "Levi-isms" that I have recorded for your enjoyment.

"Mommy, I can count to one. One."

"Can we sing 'The Eye of the Tiger' for opening song in FHE tonight?"

Singing "Jesus came to John the bathtub" to the tune of "Baptism"

"I am allergic to brothers. My brothers."

As he is coughing, I say, "Levi, go cough on someone else." He replies, "I can't. There's no one else here."

While walking behind Michael at the store, he says very loudly, "Move it full moon!"

Pulls his finger out of his ear and says, "I found something in my ear!"

As I'm putting socks on his cold little feet he says, "Hurry! The kids are getting cranky!"

After Adam takes his book he yells, "Gimme that fillet o' fish!"

Levi was doing some silly dancing the morning after our camp out.

Fall Break Camping Trip

 The first night of fall break (Tuesday) we decided that we were FINALLY going to go camping since Michael had Tuesday and Wednesday off of work. We have been wanting to go camping at Waurika Lake for a while now, and everything just seemed to fall into place. The weather was perfect. Not too hot and not too cold. 

This was, sadly, Levi and Angela's first time camping. I don't even know how many times I had been camping by the time I was two years old let alone three almost four. They both did AWESOME! Actually all the kids were great. Angela was a little wary at first, but once she got used to her surroundings she was fine. Levi didn't have any problems until he had a coughing fit in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep.

We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over a nice campfire that Michael worked hard to get and keep going for us since it was windy. Thats to be expected though in Oklahoma and since our campsite was right on the lake.

There is nothing like falling asleep to the sound of water lapping on the shore and crickets chirping. It was so peaceful and relaxing to just sit and listen to the natural rhythm of Heavenly Father's creations.

We woke rested, refreshed and ready for a new day. We unzipped the tent to a very foggy morning, but, also, to be expected right on the lake. We ate cereal and donuts and the kids played while Michael and I started packing up things inside the tent. We decided to take our nature hike/walk before we broke camp completely to let the dew dry up on the tent.

 On our walk the kids were able to see some things that were new to them. There were beautiful spider webs in a lot of the trees. Some trees were completely covered in them. It looked like the great outdoors was decorating for Halloween, as well. The kids were excited to see a few trees that had been cut down by beavers, and a lot of buzzards circling around up in the clear sky. Our little nature walk ended up being about a 3 mile walk. Even though the little ones had tired legs, they really enjoyed being out in nature.

We were happy to go back to our tent and find it nice and dry. Which, unfortunately, meant we had to finish packing up and head home. Hopefully, we will be able to camp for more than one night next time.

All in all a good time was had by all!!

Sorry, I had to do another using Michael's and my face. Enjoy!!

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Happy Halloween!!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Every year for most of the holidays we do one of these cool videos. The kids really enjoy seeing familiar faces dancing around to funny songs. You can do them too for free on JibJab. Try it out if you haven't already.
Enjoy our "spooktacular" video, and we hope to see yours too!!

Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles...my bubbles!

You all remember that part from the movie "Finding Nemo", right? 

Well, we have our very own little bubble fiend in our "tank". Granted, they are virtual bubbles on my screensaver, but still very cute and quite amusing as you will see.

Enjoy!!

Michael's Blog

Memoirs of a Male Nurse: An Introduction...to Get Things Started: "First of all let me clear something up. Although I have named my blog 'Memoirs of a Male Nurse', I am not currently a nurse. I am, however, ..."

Daddy's Princess

It has become a regular occurrence to see/hear this in our home.

Michael will ask, "Who's Daddy's princess?" 

Angela quickly responds, "Me!"

Everyday, Angela blesses the lives of every member of our family. Her brothers adore her. She is Michael's "princess". And, she is my "sweet angel". It took her a while to get here, but I cannot even imagine our lives without her. I only hope that she feels as blessed to have us as her "Forever Family".

Sewing Patches

The Law of the Pack

The Cub Scout follows Akela.

The Cub Scout helps the pack go.

The pack helps the Cub Scout grow.

The Cub Scout gives goodwill.

The mom sews on the Cub Scout patches without complaint.

(That last part I added myself. )

But, as I hand stitched every patch onto Ben's uniform, I couldn't help but think of all the hard work and fun he has had being a Cub Scout. I also think about the look on his face when he sees all the hard work Mommy has put into sewing all his new patches on his uniform. Even though it has been 5 months since they were awarded to him. 

My name is Erin, and I am a proud Cub Scout mommy!!

I was having some fun playing on Picnik. This picture was taken over the summer of Levi looking out our front window for Michael to come home from work. It made me think of the Primary song, Daddy's Homecoming.

I want...

...my kids to grow up and have a forever family of their own.

...a more comfortable mattress, but I don't want to have to downsize.

...to be liked. I know that is kinda cheesy, but I really feel like I don't fit in most places, and that people would would rather me not even be there.

...Angela to stop pulling out her hair. She has been doing it on and off since January, and I want to be able to put pretties in her hair again.

...to own a home of our very own.

...to live closer to my extended family, but not have to live somewhere hot in the summer.

...to move somewhere that has a lot milder summer weather.

...Michael to be done with his nursing degree already, so we can move somewhere with milder summers.

...thinner calves and ankles and thighs and butt and...

...to be more spiritual.

...to be able to go to the temple more often.

...to travel. I love going places, and would love to be able to go everywhere I want to.

...a more reliable family vehicle so we could travel more often.

...my kids to be more reverent at church on Sundays.

...a cleaner house. And, with that laundry and dishes that magically do themselves.

...to not want so many things.

...to be like Jesus.

We have been ordering from Schwan's for a few months now, and we are hooked! They can be a little more expensive for some of their food items, but their quality and customer service are the best. And, for the most part, their price are reasonable. Not to mention you order online and it is delivered right to your door by a smiling face. We LOVE our Schwan's delivery man, Terry. He is always so polite and interested in how our family is doing. Over the summer, he would actually joke around with the boys when he carried our bags into the house.

Their ice cream is what they are known for, and it is to DIE for. But, did you know that they have a huge assortment of other frozen food? We have stopped buying canned vegetables (corn, peas, green beans, etc.) all together. All we get now are the MicroSteam vegetables and other vegetable blends. I have also been ordering our "date night at home" dinners from them, and it is like eating restaurant quality food for at least half the price.

If you haven't already, you should try them out. I promise, you wont be sorry you did. And, when you do, let me know what things you liked.

Angela's 2nd Birthday

Twelve little ladybugs made for birthday food.

Along came the Bickerstaffs...

and mmmmmm were they good!

An angel for my angel

After many hours of tedious stitching, I have finally completed my Divine Nature project. She is gift for my sweet girl to hang in her bedroom. My grandmother made my sister, my cousin and me each an angel, and now I have passed on the new tradition to my daughter. Who knows, maybe she will have a daughter to make an angel for someday too.

She is called the Starlight Angel. She sweeps in through the window to watch over the little child that is sweetly sleeping in her bed. Her cloak sparkles with stars as though it is part of the night sky. She wears a shining star in her hair and her gown shimmers.

I would hope that we all have an angel to watch over and protect us. Maybe not with with wings and made of stars, but someone who loves us more than we could ever know. 

Busy, busy, busy...

Wow! Everything has just been so busy lately. I have been rushing to finish my Divine Nature project by Angela's birthday deadline on Sunday. I will post a picture when I am finally finished. I have Tae Kwon Do two nights a week and Mutual on Wednesday nights. And, now that school has started I am helping with homework, signing planners, and rushing to get everything done that needs to be done before 8 o'clock bedtime. Michael has decided on a career change that will involve him going back to school, but will insure a more secure future,as well. On top of everything else, a new calling @ church that will be taking even more of my time, prayers and effort. But, at least being busy keeps me out of trouble.

I scream, you scream...

Those that truly know Angela, know that she has a serious sweet tooth. She can smell sugar from anywhere in the house. There is no sneaking a sweet treat without her finding you and insisting that she "want that". One of her all time favorites is, of course, ice cream. 

Usually, we still feed her when it comes to this special treat, or she will feed herself a mini ice cream sandwich. But, when we went to Braum's after picking fruit on Saturday, Michael insisted that she was able to eat her ice cream by herself. And, so, here is her adventure with eating ice cream all by her self.

Summertime

I don't know. I feel like I am in a slump. I know I should be happy that it is summertime and my kids are home from school. I should be grateful that I get to sleep a little bit later in the mornings. I should be excited that there are no pressures to get dressed in a timely manner or dress others either. That we get to lounge around in our jammies a bit longer. But, I'm just not.

My kids get bored easily and there isn't anything to do around here. Not to mention, it is WAY too hot to do anything anyways. I can't do laundry later than around lunch time because the dryer will heat up the house. I don't want to cook anything because it is too hot, and there is only so much you can do with a microwave. When the afternoon heat begins, I just get grumpier and don't feel like doing anything.

Maybe there is something wrong with me. Summer is just not as fun as it was when I was a kid. There isn't any excitement in it anymore. I grew up in Colorado. I could actually go outside and play at any hour of the day and not get heat exhaustion. I would ride my bike all over the city I lived in with my best friend. We would go to the store or visit other friends. There was always something to do, and it was very rarely too hot to go outside. And, if there ever happened to be a day that was just too hot, we would take a drive up into the mountains and it would be at least ten degrees cooler there.

I am probably just homesick for my friends in Texas. Our kids would play together inside on hot afternoons, and we would talk and hang out. I don't have any friends like that in Oklahoma. The people here are just not as friendly. Don't get me wrong, they are nice and all, but they just aren't as social. The problem is definitely mine, because I am just not an outgoing person. It is hard for me to make friends, and when I get lonely, I just close up. I need to put myself more out there for people to befriend me, but I really cannot see that happening, because stepping out of my comfort zone terrifies me.

Well, enough of my ranting and anti-summer talk. There is less than a month to go, and we have a bunch of movies in out Netflix queue.

Happy Fourth!!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Independence Day!!

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Finally!!!

We are signing the lease on our new house this afternoon!! Michael is going to Arlington with a member of our ward and a 30 foot trailer to retrieve our belongs that have been in storage since last September. Things are finally starting to fall into place and I am so grateful. More to come as we get settled. Thanks for everyone's prayers through this great trial of ours. We love you all!!