Do the Sticky Stuff

by Whiney Permann

For me, one of the most frustrating parts of being a wife, mother, and woman is that most of what I do does not stick. Let me explain.

I do the dishes. Every dish in my house in clean. Then what happens? Someone gets a drink. Then someone eats off a plate. And then? Time for dinner. My clean dishes have gone bye bye.

Does this sound familiar? You do the laundry, someone spills. You make a bed, it gets undone. you sweep, crumbs get dropped. And here's my favorite--you change a poopy diaper, and 2 minutes later...the "follow-up" arrives.

SO much of what we do as women never stays done. It doesn't stick. And if you are like me, you may feel like you are often running around in circles.

On one particularly challenging day, I was reading in Luke chapter 10. You remember Mary and Martha? This is the part where the Lord comes to visit the sisters at their home. While Mary sits at the feet of the Savior and listens to Him teach, Martha is running around "cumbered about much serving."

She asks, "Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

Never before had I noticed those last 8 words, "which shall not be taken away from her." Learning from the Master was something that Mary got to keep forever! It stuck. Laundry, dishes, full bellies, clean diapers, made beds--although they are important and HAVE to be done--they all get taken away from me. There are, however, a few things that STICK.

Scripture study sticks. Prayer sticks. Playing with my kids sticks.

Can you think of other sticky things? A date with your husband, writing in your journal, having family home evening...in my opinion these are all things that cannot be taken away from us. They stay forever. They stick. The effects of these simple acts--little by little and line upon line--change our very natures, and shape our eternal destinies.

Spend time each day doing the "stinky things." No matter how chaotic my day has been, no matter how may times I re-sweep the floor, re-wash the dishes, or re-gather toys, I feel satisfied if I have spent time doing the things that matter most--those few precious things that cannot "be taken away" from me.

So go ahead--do the sticky things today!

Whitney Permann is part of the LDS group Mercy River. http://mercyrivermusic.com

Painting is "The Better Part" by Simon Dewey.

Williams Family Fun Weekend

Thursday

A Day in McCall

Kate making sand castles with Auntie Caitlin

Sammy canoeing with Uncle Jared

Eating lunch just before the rains came tumblin' down

Kate's turn on the canoe in the pouring rain

Friday

Horsetheif Reservoir

Sam fishing with Uncle Nathan

Family Photos on our little hike





Joe couldn't help but to jump in

One good-lookin' guy!




just relaxing

Friday night snacks and movie while getting ready for bed

Saturday

Searching for buried pirates' treasure

Uncle Matthew "found" and old pirate treasure map. We discovered the treasure was located not to far from the cabin. So we walked down the railroad tracks and climbed down to the river. Then we were all shuttled by canoe over to an island in the middle of the river. We followed the map and started digging...

...and struck it rich!

playing in the river

We couldn't keep Alice out of the water. She'd wiggle as much as she could just to touch it.

Baby Steps

Alice can walk

as of about 2 weeks ago

and here's proof!

Jitterbugs

Our sweet Kate has been in dance classes this Summer. It has been so good for her. The first couple classes she wouldn't leave my side. But little by little she did better. She loved doing the dance and knew all the moves perfectly. When it came time for the recital we told her that if she did great and smiled, we'd go out for ice cream. That turned out to be the perfect motivation for her. She did an amazing job. She danced and sang great and, like us, her teachers were so proud of her progress.

Afterward, we told her how amazing she did and asked her what her favorite part was.

Her reply..."Ice cream!"

Okay. So we tried a different approach.

"What was your favorite part of the dancing?"

She thought.

Then said, "Thinking about ice cream?!?"

The moral of our story:

BRIBING WITH ICE CREAM = THE PERFECT LITTLE DANCER!

All lined up and getting ready to dance.

Kate in her hula girl costume.

Kate's class and teachers.


(Their main dance was Tiki Tiki Room/Surfin' Safari but that video won't load. Maybe later.)

Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dance

Dancing to Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Da

"Mr. Bluebird On My Shoulder"

Each girl was given a little part to sing as a solo. During practice Kate would never sing out loud. But she did great when it was her turn at the recital. Of course it brought tears to my eyes and we were all so proud of her!

Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah

In Kate's Summer dance class they also have solo singing. So we have been practicing "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" with her for a few weeks and Sammy has really picked up on it. He'll actually sing the whole song with the recording but this was straight from his sweet little memory. I couldn't be more proud!