Hi, I'm Mel

I am a stay at home mom. I play the flute, the piano and I sing. I live on a farm. I'm a Mormon.

About Me

My husband and I have been married for 13 years and have been blessed with 4 children: 3 girls and 1 boy. I have been active in the Church my entire life. My husband manages a farm and I am able to stay at home with the kids full time.
I play the flute and piano and sing. My favorite is the flute! I have an Associate of Arts in music education, but haven't had a chance to use that knowledge much. I also enjoy photography, making cards and baking.

Why I am a Mormon

My parents were both raised in the Church, and raised our family the same way. I have been blessed with a strong faith in His gospel and great parents who have always been wonderful examples to us. My family is the most important thing to me in this world, and as long as I have them, everything else doesn't matter so much.
I am so grateful that our family has been sealed for eternity in the Holy Temple. I know that there is life after death, because as I played my flute at my Dad's funeral I could feel him there with me. There have been a few experiences since then that I know my Dad has been with us, even though he could not be seen or heard. I look foward to the day that I can be wrapped not only in my Dad's arms again, but in my Savior's arms again.

Personal Stories

How does making right choices help us make more right choices?

I have found that the sooner in life you make a decision about something that will affect you down the road, the easier it is to follow through with that choice when it comes time. The more right choices you make, the stronger your resolve to do right becomes. Making right choices brings a peace to your mind and heart that you want to keep with you for as long as you can.
Our Church leaders have asked us not to date until the age of 16. About four months before I turned sixteen I went on my first date. I was so sick! Sick to my stomache because I knew that I had not made the right choice. Apparently I didn't learn my lesson the first time around, and I went on another date before I turned sixteen. Same thing happened! I did not, and could not enjoy either date because I knew I had not made the right choice. I went home early the second time and learned my lesson. It didn't seem like a big deal to me at the time, but now that I have kids I more fully understand the consequences of those wrong choices, and hope that they don't make the same mistake I did!

What has helped develop greater harmony in your home?

Me! The most influential thing in our home that can add to or take away from the harmony in our home, is me! The way I respond to whining children, the way I take care of our home and my general attitude make a huge difference in our home. Kind of like the old saying...'If Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!'
By keeping my feelings and words in check I can have a more calming effect on everyone in our home. When everyone's tired at the end of the day and we need to read the scriptures and say our family prayers, I can't afford to be hollering at the kids or it drives the spirit out of our home. If the spirit is not with us we will not learn anything from this valuable time together reading and praying.
I am continually working on this, and some days it's harder then others. But it's worth it, and I will keep trying each day to keep my own harmony in tune.

What is hope and what do you hope for?

I believe hope is the desire and belief that better days will come. That feeling deep inside that tells you that you can make it through whatever trials you may be dealing with.
I hope that my depression will not get any worse and the medication will continue to work so that I can continue to care for my family the way I want and need to.
I hope that I can live my life worthily, in order to be in the presence of my Savior eternally.
There are many small things to hope for as well, but these are my two most important hopes.

How I live my faith

Currently, I serve as a leader to the teachers of the 18 month to 3 year olds. I supervise them and make sure that they are taking care of the kids needs, physically and spiritually, during two hours of our Sunday meetings.
It is a very rewarding calling and I love being able to visit the individual groups and see how they do things differently. It is especially fun because I get to sit down and play with the kids, and sing songs with them. But most of all, I get to feel of their sweet spirits.

What is the Mormon lifestyle like? How do Mormons live?

Mel answered...

Mormons live regular lives. We have many values that much of the world do not understand, such as: no sexual relations before marriage, no smoking, drinking alcohol or coffee. These are commandments from the Lord that we choose to follow. We believe that as we follow these and other commandments we will be richly blessed. Not necessarily with money and cars and such, but with peace and happiness.
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Serge answered...

Family is everything to us. Our family spends lots of our free time together because we like each other. Life gets crazy with teenagers, dance practice, after school academic decathlon, usually with a toddler in tow, but no matter what, every Monday night is Family Night.

The kids know that every Monday we spend time together and nothing gets in the way of it. It's our commitment to each other. We bake cookies, have lessons about the Savior, work on personal goals, go to the park, go geocaching, play board games or just go out for ice cream.

We do lots of things together. The point is that at least once a week we spend an hour or two together, just for the sake of being together, just because we love being together as a family. It's not as perfect as it may sound, with all the poking and "she's in my spot," and all the other crazy things family members do to each other when scrambling for a spot in the living room, but we try real hard. It takes effort to make sure we don't miss, but it's worth it.

I'm not sure the kids will remember all the games we played, the places we went or what we did, but I hope they always remember that we loved each other enough to dedicate one night a week to be with each other. And that we spent every Monday night together for as many Mondays as they can remember because family is everything to us, and every member of our family is important.

What is faith?

Kempe answered...

It's another word for commitment. When assessing one's own faithfulness, it may be easier to ask, "How committed are you?"

Commitment
Elder F. Burton Howard of the Seventy

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=a4237cf34f40c010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD