The Value of Mothers

I have noticed an interesting trend in the world. Granted, while I work from home, I live in Utah, and most of my contact with the "outside world" is through the internet, I can't say this is a "random sample" from which I have drawn my observation. However, having studied the people of this world at length and being the sociologist that I am, I will apply my observation and understanding of this trend to the general population. I believe it is accurately representative.

Today is Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mothers! Whether that is biologically true or practically true or socially true according to your situation and desires, you deserve honor and celebration this day and all days. Motherhood is one of the most honorable and desirable professions because being a mother is a godly calling. "Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels" (In James R. Clark, comp., Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol 6: pg 178).

The interesting trend I have noticed is that people still care about mothers.

It is rather sad that I feel I have to draw attention to something that, frankly, should be seen as "duh". But what has happened to the family over the years? What has society been doing to the family? The definition of family has been altered and changed drastically merely in the last ten or fifteen years, though there was plenty of evidence to foreshadow that in the decades beforehand. Marriage is under attack. Divorce is rampant. Divorce rates are technically lower now than they were in the 1980s when they reached their highest peak, but not by much. And with the marriage rate falling as well, this shows even more how little we as a people value the institutions of marriage and family. Abortion rates are frightening. Birth rates are low. Single parenting is commonplace. The prophets have taught us that "Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity." Yet approximately half of all children are born out of wedlock and have no chance to experience family life as God intended.

(Please bear in mind that I am sharing these statistics from my memory of my academic study in sociology over the last several years, which is why I do not quote studies specifically as reference. If you are disinclined to believe any of them, please ask me and I would be more than happy to confirm them with reliable sources of data.)

What has happened to the family? Societal evidence shows that it is literally falling apart. And yet, people continue to celebrate mothers and motherhood.

On this Mother's Day, I have observed an outpouring of Facebook statuses, blog posts, quotes, phone calls, and more, all honoring mothers. What intrigues me about this is that I have observed a greater appreciation for mothers on Mother's Day through these means than I have seen for any other holiday of late. This includes such holidays as Easter and Christmas. Considering to the commitments and attentions of the circle of people in my little corner of the world, I believe this is more than merely a manifestation of religious preference and the holidays one chooses to observe. And with the prevalence of electronic devices and ease of updating a status from wherever you are, I also believe it is more than a matter of having time or access to post something online. From what I have seen today, people are literally putting more focus today on celebrating their mothers than on any other holiday or reason for celebrating it, including even those holidays dedicated the Savior of the world.

Why is that?

I believe that the answer is simple: because there are some eternal truths that cannot be ignored. Mothers are given the task of raising precious souls in this increasingly dreadful and wicked world, to bring light and hope into their lives so that they can go out into that world and strive with all their might to make it a better place for their own children one day. Abraham Lincoln is quoted to have said, "All that I am and hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." Mothers touch our hearts in ways that cannot be ignored or unappreciated. The sacrifices that mothers give for their children cannot even be described. The love they have for their children cannot be measured. Motherhood is so powerful that the impact mothers have on our lives cannot even be put into words. And the world knows this. People can choose to ignore any and all the evidence of a loving Heavenly Father, a God who has given them all things, merely because they can't see Him. But they can see their mothers, and they can't ignore them.

No matter how sick the world gets, no matter how much the devil attacks God and the family, mothers cannot be forgotten. Their influence is too monumental, too widespread, too tangibly visible to ignore. And because of that, I believe there is hope for this world. Often of late, I have felt sickened by the evils proliferating in this world like a deadly pandemic from which there is no protection. I wonder how people can do the things they do, rationalize what they rationalize, ignore what they ignore, and neglect what they neglect. After all that God has done for us, how can we forget Him so quickly? How can we forget the One who created us? But as the Lord's prophet Thomas S. Monson has taught us, "One cannot forget mother and remember God. One cannot remember mother and forget God. Why? Because these two sacred persons, God and mother, partners in creation, in love, in sacrifice, in service, are as one."

Despite the other disturbing trends we find in the world today, this rings true. The godly traits of motherhood resonate within our hearts and within our souls. We know of the goodness of mothers, and their constant selflessness, sacrifice, virtue, and love compels us to honor them. And seeing how we honor our mothers on this day, I feel more at peace. There is still much that needs to be done for good in this world, but I am well pleased to observe the dedication of this people to their mothers because it means that despite their claims, they have not forgotten their God. Motherhood is near to divinity. The Lord does not leave us without types in this world -- He has filled it with symbols and signs so that the believers might recognize Him in all things, and mothers are perhaps the greatest symbol of God that we have in this world. While we have fallen far, there is still hope for humanity. I am grateful that we still recognize the value of mothers. 

Party Rockin' in the Summer

It's been a busy, busy summer!

First things first: THESIS = DONE! I finally defended it on June 11th and passed with a few revisions, which I completed and submitted not long afterward. Exciting! I celebrated with friends and family at the local Olive Garden and Coldstone. =) Now I'm done with my Master's Degree. :-o But I'm still trying to figure out what to do next (recall my previous blogpost)...any suggestions?

This last weekend my sister K, her daughter M, and I went down to my friend D's wedding and my cousin W's wedding receptions in southern California. We drove down Thursday and came back on Tuesday. I was a little apprehensive about the drive with my 15-month-old niece, but she was very good! Our sister C lent us her portable DVD player, which helped immensely. The wedding and wedding dinner/reception (delicious salmon!) for D were beautiful. I decided to give her a long-requested gift (D, if you haven't opened it yet you'll find out soon enough anyway) of a CD of myself playing the piano. 9 years ago for her high school graduation, she requested that I record myself playing Jon Schmidt's "Waterfall" on the piano for her, but I never did it...at first it was that I didn't really have a way to record it, then I hadn't played it for a few years and wasn't as good at it anymore, and then it was just left alone. But when her wedding date started to draw nearer I remembered how I had never done that and decided that I wanted to make it happen for her wedding. I recorded a whole CD for her, with "Waterfall" and 9 other tracks of me playing the piano (other pieces I like to play, one I wrote, and a few Disney kicks since she loves Disney so much). It certainly isn't perfect; I used my laptop's built-in microphone and the wonderful program Audacity to edit it, but I believe the final product would suit her original request. For my cousin W, I played their wedding song on the piano (Yurima's "River Flows In You") for their first dance. It was great to see lots of family there that I haven't seen in a while. She had an awesome set of songs for the dance party segment of the reception, including Michael Jackson, a bunch of swing stuff, "Zoot Suit Riot", and of course, it began with LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem". When "Party Rock Anthem" came on, I really wanted to dance to it, so my aunt's 60-something-year-old fiancé whom I'd just met told me to "go dance!" I said I didn't have anyone to dance with, so he immediately jumped up and went and danced with me for that song and a couple more fun ones. It was awesome. The rest of the trip was nice to just spend playing with Mom and Dad, seeing my brother D and his family, and a few friends, going swimming in my parents' pool, enjoying the beautiful California summer, and of course eating at some of our favorite restaurants from home that we miss.

Then, of course, yesterday was the Fourth of July. Happy Independence Day, everyone! My roommate T and I went to hang out with my sisters' families and our friend C, which involved the traditional games, barbecue, and fireworks. The latter may or may not have involved the purchasing of many, many fireworks ("emits showers of sparks!") with your standard sparklers, ground blooms, smoke balls, black cats (ouch, those hurt your ears!), and other more intense fountains and aerials with names such as "Spirit of Missouri" (C is from Missouri), "Magic Cube Fountain", "Blazing Rebel", "Devil's Delight", etc., and ending with "Full Metal Jacket 2". It was quite the display. My poor 4-year-old nephew had a great time but was completely exhausted when he finally went to bed 2 hours later than normal. Then we had to brave the horrendous post Stadium of Fire traffic to get back down to Provo. But it was worth it for a good holiday celebration with great people. God bless America!

In a few weeks we will have our first Burr family reunion with all the descendants of my parents! That means 2 parents, 5 kids, 4 spouses, and 8 grandchildren for a total of 19 people. It will be a lot of fun. Yay, family!

And it's raining today! I love the rain.

Life is good, if you couldn't tell from what I post here. I just need to figure out where to go next. I still feel like I should leave this general area, though I will definitely miss my sisters and their families. Utah Valley has been pretty good to me, but I don't feel that it holds anything for me as far as my future goes. So I am looking elsewhere. If you have any suggestions, again, I welcome them. Thanks for reading!

Update, shmupdate...life as I know it

After not writing for weeks and weeks..."It is time." (read in the way Rafiki says it as he realizes that Simba is still alive and is the rightful king)

These past weeks/months I've spent mostly working on my thesis, which is now just about done! My defense is scheduled and is in about 2 weeks, so I've just got to figure all that out, prepare my defense presentation, format the paper correctly...I meant to work on the format today, but of course the BYU website isn't working, so I can't look at the form requirements. Ah, well. Then I make any last minute changes, and then I will be finished with my Master's degree. Crazy! Well, not crazy, because I've put in the work necessary for it. Just a little "whoa!" because it's finally happening. Here's to hoping all goes well at the defense.

Last week I got to go visit my brother K and his family, which was really fun. K and S took their youngest daughter on a trip for four days while I took care of their other two children, D and A. D is old enough that he was in school, but A was still at home. She and I played lots of Pretty Pretty Princess and Candyland, watched movies, colored pictures, and more. D showed off his great piano-playing skills (he's going to be really good at it!), and we played more games and what not together. When K and S got back with their daughter K, I got to see how great K is at walking and how sweet she is when she talks (she says "peeeease???" or "please" in the cutest voice when she wants something). I'm very proud of all three of them. It was a good trip.

My other niece, S, turned 6 on Saturday...I missed it because she lives in another state, but I think it's so great that she chose to go to an art museum on her birthday. (What 5- turning 6-year-old wants to do that? She's awesome.) I have so many nieces and nephews (eight with one more on the way!) and I love them all very much. I wish I could see them all regularly, but with my four siblings living in three different states, it is difficult. As it is, I still get to spend a good amount of time with my sisters and their children, since they live close by. We do dinner together every Sunday and it is great to spend time with them. I'm going to miss them when I move away.

That brings me to my next "update"...which isn't really an update at all but more a report of my current state of being. This current state of being is that I have no idea what to do in a couple months. I will be done with school and for the first time in my life, I have no plans. When I graduated high school I applied to a few different schools but knew that if I got into BYU, I wanted to go there to study music. I got in and I came to BYU, but then I auditioned three times for the music program and couldn't seem to get in. I considered going to a different university for music, but felt that the Lord wanted me to stay at BYU, so I pursued a different field of study. Then when I was finishing my Bachelor's in sociology, I decided that an MS in sociology would help me get a better job than having just the BS, so I went for that degree. Now I'm finishing that and am wide open. I could always go for a PhD, but I think I'm really ready for a break from school. I never wanted a PhD, but I wouldn't say no to it; it's just not something I want to do right now. So now I'm trying to figure out, where do I go from here? There are so many career paths a person with an MS in sociology could pursue and I'm really not sure which one I want to do. As I've said before, I enjoy sociology well enough but am not passionate about it, so I do not necessarily want to fill my life with 40+ hours a week of pure sociology unless it is temporary. Ultimately, in the future I hope to be a full-time mom with a part time job in music or something sociology if necessary for financial reasons. Ideally for now I would like to get a good job with the skills I've developed through my sociology education, one with benefits that will pay well and help me pay off my student loans and save up for bigger life purchases like a car and a home. Unfortunately, I really can't picture myself very easily as a full-time data analyst, researcher, working at human resources, or in other jobs like those. I've always wanted to teach music and can easily see myself doing virtually any music career, but while I can jump right into music as long as I have a place to live and a piano with which to teach (another expensive purchase I'm not quite ready to make), starting out with music wouldn't pay me well for at least a few years. Furthermore, unless I were to work through a music company, I wouldn't have benefits. So it seems best that I procure a steady position with my skills as a sociologist so that I can pay off student loans and save up some money.

In addition to not knowing what I should do after the next few months, I don't know where I should do it. All I know is that I'm ready to leave Utah. One of the reasons I stayed here for my Master's was in hopes that I might find someone to marry. That might sound silly to some but is very normal for an LDS woman like me, now in my mid-20s with many LDS friends who are married with one or two children by the time they're my age. But of course, while many people have met their spouses in Provo, I have not. And while my dating life in Provo was certainly busy until I was 20, it has been pretty much nonexistent ever since then. My hopes of that improving over my 2-year Master's program went tragically unfulfilled. Therefore, I have determined that I should leave Utah, or at least Utah Valley, if I want to find my match. That said, I don't know where to go to find him. What's more is that I don't even know if I will find him. It's possible I won't be married for ten or fifteen years yet, or that I will never marry in this life. I certainly don't know, but of course I'm hoping that wherever I go from here will be the place where I meet him. Unfortunately, as I've been praying about it, I haven't felt any strong, clear promptings about going to a certain place, so apparently the Lord is telling me it isn't time yet or He is leaving it up to me to choose where to go. And with choosing for myself, I don't really have in mind a specific place where I would like to settle down to guide me in my search for where to live. I think I could be happy any number of places around the country. So it looks like I'm just going to have to choose something...any suggestions on where to go or what job to look for?

Well, there you have it: I am finally finishing my Master's degree, enjoying family, and trying to figure out where to go and what to do next. If you have any suggestions or advice for me, please share! Thanks for reading, and Happy Memorial Day. Remember those who have given their lives while serving our country.

Uh...hi.

I'm still alive, just fyi. I was going to write about what's happened since I last wrote, but then I realized...nothing has really happened. That's how interesting my life is right now =P So let me pull things out of nowhere here...

- Over spring term at BYU, I worked on the child health paper I've been doing for a year now. The department can't pay me for summer term, though, which means I have no job right now and have to be smart with my money. We all love when that happens.

- A group of friends and I started up a dinner group, which I've never done before but which is a great idea. We hold it M-Th and rotate who cooks, so since there are 6 of us, we only have to cook dinner once every week and a half or so (excluding weekends). It's nice to have dinner group with a small group of women: you don't have to cook bucket loads of food for 10 or 12, you don't have to cook for voraciously hungry men, and you always have meals that taste good. Plus we all (except one) live within a few blocks of each other, so we can almost always walk.
- My brother K's family came to visit from out of state for a few days. I had fun with my nieces and nephew that I don't get to see very often. We went to Temple Square, played at the park, played with nerf guns...it was great.
- My friend D came to visit, also from out of state. That was super fun; my sister K and I got to show her all the great things about Provo life. This meant mostly eating lots of food and going shopping, but we also went to Temple Square and walked around. And we played with my niece M, of course.
- 4th of July happened, in case you didn't notice. Fireworks, celebrations, etc. Good times.
- I was sick for about two weeks, most of that with a bad cold/sore throat and the last part with a stomach bug that kept me fevered and achey and sleepless for a day/night/day. I'm in recovery stage now, and quarantining myself so that my ridiculously weak immune system has time to fully recharge its batteries. I'd really rather not catch a third illness right now.
- I get to go home to CA again next week with my sister C and her family, for about 5 days. Looking forward to some time with other family and friends, and finally hitting up the beach.
- Having no job right now means I have nothing to do besides work on that pesky thesis, which I'm avoiding...why? I don't really know. I have zero motivation to do it. I need to find some, otherwise I'll be stuck in this Master's degree forever...

So I guess some things have happened...anyway. Hope you're all alive; I suspect you are if you're reading this, though I can't be certain.

P.S. Here's a pdf of my poster that won me a prize at a research conference, in case any of you want to see it (click if you want to read it). Enjoy!

Okay I love you, buh bye!

Happy Mother's Day!

Last year I wrote a blogpost on Mother's Day acknowledging mothers and the work they do. It's only fitting that I do so once again. I realize that Mother's Day is almost over, but that's okay. Mothers need to be celebrated more than just one day a year, because they are awesome. Thank you, mothers, for your selfless and often unrecognized and unappreciated service every day. Yours is a godly task; President Joseph F. Smith once said that "The love of a true mother comes nearer [to] being like the love of God than any other kind of love" ("The Love of Mother," Improvement Era, Jan 1910, pg 278). Yours is a difficult task but a profound blessing, and you will be rewarded eternally for fulfilling this high calling. My heart goes out to those of you who are not able to have children. You are still mothers; the Lord provides us all with opportunities to mother. In His time, He will not withhold this wonderful blessing from the righteous woman who seeks it. Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there, especially my own mother who raised me, and my sisters and sisters-in-law who are raising my nieces and nephews. Happy Mother's Day to all the women who have been mothers to me, including Young Women leaders, Relief Society leaders, Priesthood leaders' wives, mothers of my friends, and my friends themselves. I love you all.

Price check on prune juice, Bob...

So this one time I decided I was going to write a blogpost nearly every day, or at least 3-4 times a week...then I didn't for three weeks. Oops. Sorry! I just didn't have anything interesting to say...

Here's what you've missed:

- I won $300 for my poster at a research conference. That was pretty cool.

- I officially finished my first year of grad school, which means I am officially half done with my Master's degree (provided I finish my thesis on time). I even got out with decent grades--not as good the last semester as the first, but still pretty good. Now I have to spend some time figuring out what to do for my thesis...

- I got all moved into my new apartment. The only real negative so far is that I am slightly allergic to the place (the girl who lived here before us had a cat). I had better look into buying a bed frame instead of sleeping on my mattress on the floor, close to the carpet that probably still has cat hair/dander in it. Anyone know of a good place in the Provo/Orem area to get a twin bed frame/box spring for relatively cheap? Price check on prune juice, Bob...

- Baby blessing for niece M. Family came into town and it was fun. M is very cute, she's 7 weeks old today and growing so much already.

- My sister C's birthday. We partied by playing games and eating pizza. What better way to party, right? And since we don't drink, we even remembered the whole thing. Awesome.

- California and family. I got to go home for almost two weeks, and I got to enjoy lots of palm trees and sunshine. I miss those things (especially sunshine and warmth...I flew back on Saturday and it was snowing.). Saw my brother D and wife M, and his kids L and S. They are so fun and so smart...S is almost 5, yet she reads 2nd grade level books. She loves to read and loves to learn. L is 7, and his new thing is that he has memorized the list of 100 most populated cities in the US and can tell you without stopping to think which city is which number or vice versa. He loves maps, geography, populations, etc. My brother K also came into town with his daughter K for one day; he had to do something for work in a nearby city, so they stayed at our house. K is doing great and growing strong. I look forward to seeing her progress continue. We celebrated (very late) my mom's birthday with a surprise dinner at Marie Callendar's, and that was fun. I also got to see a bunch of friends, like K and N (Disneyland!), J, E, and M and A who moved to Indiana but were visiting, and more. I also got to eat at a bunch of my favorite places, including two times at Miguel's Jr. It was a good trip. Didn't make it to the beach, but c'est la vie. It was a much needed break. I find that lately, every time I leave California and come back to Utah, I miss CA more and am more depressed about coming back to UT =P Not that Utah is that terrible; it has been pretty good to me, but I'm ready to move on to somewhere else after I graduate. Whether that's back to CA or off somewhere completely different, I don't know yet, but I'm open to wherever the Lord guides me.

- Easter! For the first time since high school, I was home in CA for Easter. We went to the annual Easter egg hunt/pinata fiesta at my cousins who I haven't seen in a long time, and I spent some time with my Grandpa, his wife, and my dad's sister J who I haven't seen in years. My mom made her traditional delicious cinnamon rolls. But of course, most importantly, we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Without Him, we would have no hope for the future. Without Him, we would be eternally damned, but with Him, we have the hope of eternal life.

Now you're all caught up =) I suppose I shall have to figure out things to write about now, if I want to write more regularly...and I don't have the excuse of summer classes to keep me from writing! I'll be working but not taking classes all summer, though I plan to spend a lot of time on my thesis. So if I don't write, I will blame my thesis and work. Happy May, everyone!

Just an update. Routine procedure.

Wow, longest break between blogposts for me this year! Sorry, I have been really busy...so how about an update?

PSA went really well, and Seattle was just great. I'm so glad PSA is over but I'm also glad I went. It was good for me. Not to mention all the really good food I ate there...a sourdough smoked salmon bacon clubhouse sandwich, Manhattan clam chowder bread bowl, amazing pennoni pasta with chicken and vodka cream sauce, French food including an excellent spinach pastry, Starbucks hot chocolate (there really is a Starbucks on every corner, for those of you who have never been to Seattle), Cheesecake factory, and more...oh man. Good stuff. I especially love seafood. But the conference was great.

Then on Monday, Pie Day, my sister K had her baby! My new niece is super cute and I love holding her. My mom drove up to help out K and her husband R adjust to this whole new parenting thing. It has been great to spend time with them as well as with my other sister and her family. It was a very busy weekend with them all--busy but good! K's birthday and my mom's birthday were also last week, so it was great timing. Ceeeeellleebrate good times, come onn!

Also, I finally found a place to move to. The city where I live has two universities in it, and most of the housing contracts in the area are organized around semesters. That means most places where students live have contracts from the beginning of September through the third week of April, and they also have contracts for May through August. It's kind of weird. So since I still live in BYU-approved off campus housing, I have to move out in a month. Luckily, this past week I found a new place to live! Since I'm a grad student and I don't have to live in BYU-approved housing, it's a quaint little condo where I can just rent for a year and renew the lease as desired. I can move in any time, too, which means I don't have to worry about that one week of no-man's land that most students have to face when moving in and out of BYU-approved apartment complexes. (That's the week when they all do carpet cleaning and the like.) It'll be nice to be in my own place, with just one other person in the condo, our own private rooms (I can't believe I'm 23 and still in a shared room), and we can do whatever want with the place. Hallelujah.

Work and school keep me super busy, and I'm behind in both (yay). I'm really ready for a break; this summer can't come soon enough. Other than that, life is moving right along! More blogposts to come soon.

P.S. March Madness!! Loving basketball, and loving how well BYU is doing. Let's see how far we can go!

...Aaaaaand we're back!

My Trip to California:

I had a great time with family! I got to celebrate my dad for Father's Day (yay Dad! He's awesome!), which was definitely worth the trip. We also went to visit his dad and wife, and we played games sporadically throughout the week. I had a facebook date with my dad in which I taught him all the ins and outs of using facebook (be jealous). My mom and I played games/watched the tube together, and we gymmed it up a bunch. Her trainer worked me to the GROUND, but showed me some great workouts and how hard I really need to be pushing myself if I want to see results. I also got to spend pretty much a whole day with my brother and his family. I love my nieces and nephews, and I love any chance I get to spend time with them. We watched Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and played/sang some Beatles songs! It was awesome.

I also got to spend some time with friends--beach, Ruby's Diner at Huntington Pier, making pizookies, watching Labyrinth (man, it had been years since I saw that one! LOVE David Bowie), playing games, watching Toy Story 3 in 3D (super funny), just chatting, chilling, etc. J decided to dress up as David Bowie next Halloween, and I think she'll be absolutely awesome as him. Really. She could totally pull it off. M and A are moving to Indiana, so it was the last time I got to see them in probably a long while. They said we should do a road trip out there but I'm not sure if it'll work out. We'll see. Last Saturday was E's wedding, which was a lot of fun. B gave me a ride, which was fun because I hadn't seen her since high school, and then I saw a million other people at the reception that I hadn't seen in forever. It was great. Lots of dancing, lots of slightly toasted people (only E, the groom, seemed to actually get drunk from the amount of alcohol he was drinking). Lots of fun, and I'm glad I got to come down for it.

All in all, a very good and much-needed trip to California. No Disneyland this time, but at least I got to go to the beach! I really didn't need Disney, though...I got to see family, I got to see friends, and it was definitely worth the $65 to pay for gas (thank you, BYU Ride Board, for saving me!). Now it's back to Utah, with no roomies and no life. Time for research, reading, and practicing!

Oh, P.S. - I got an A in my class. Woo hoo!

You know what I will do? I will go to the animal shelter and get you a kitty cat. I will let you fall in love with that kitty cat. And on a dark cold night, I will steal away into your home and punch you in the FACE. -- Thank you, Sue Sylvester, for bringing us today's quote. You are hilarious.