Papa's Song -- The Story Behind the Story

The Hunsaker Family, Christmas 1993

It was December of 1993 when Papa's Song happened.  I was a junior at the university and life was coming to a bend in the road.  During the Christmas break, I had several touching moments at home with my family.  The most memorable was on Christmas Eve, when Papa rocked me by the tree for the last time, singing a song he had sung to me every Christmas for as long as I could remember.

The Real Pilgrims

It’s November, and I’ve been reading a lot of Pilgrim stories lately. When the kindergarteners come home at lunchtime, we sit by the fire and thumb through a few books before they tuck in for their naps. Squanto, Massasoit, William Bradford and others are coming to life from the pages of beautifully illustrated stories about the First Thanksgiving. Images of golden-orange pumpkins, fat turkeys and a thatch-roofed colony by the sea have sparked our imaginations and our family conversations. The stories have made me reflect again on the Pilgrims. Which Pilgrims? The real ones.

Abundance and Apathy: Remembering the Berlin Wall

Life is easy right now. Most of the people I know have a car (more than one), a phone (more than one), a T.V. (more than one), they often take vacations (more than one) and even own a home (some have more than one). 

I don’t personally know anyone going hungry, and even friends of mine who’ve experienced a “downsizing” in their job status are still able to make ends meet and live comfortably. Some would call our current standard of living “the abundant life.” And it is very abundant. However, we must be very careful that the “abundant” life doesn’t become the “apathetic” life. This week is a good time for a wake-up call.

My wake-up call came when my teenage son excitedly told me one day that he had seen a piece of the Berlin Wall. 

Happy? Halloween

I love holidays. But I must admit that Halloween is a bit scary. Take it from a mother’s point of view: nine children = nine costumes. Crazy! How creative and artistic can one parent be? Not to mention the dreams of my over-zealous 4th grader. “Let’s all be Harry Potter figures this year!” she plans. “Daddy can be Dumbledore, you can be Professor MacGonagal …” I can’t even fathom adding two more people to the dress-up list. However, there are a lot of possibilities with a big family.

CHITTY CHITTY CHILDREN

A friend gave us two tickets to the Hale Center Theatre in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Scanning through the online list of 2013 shows, I quickly chose "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" as the play I wanted to attend and made reservations.  A few weeks later, my husband and I drove to the theatre and took our seats in the top row.  The stage looked small and round below us.  A simple curtain covered it and as I watched the theatre fill up, I couldn’t help but feel skeptical that one of my favorite movies could be effectively produced in such a small arena.  

Twice Blessed

Note: I originally wrote this article the week after we blessed our twins, in 2009. I'm reposting now in celebration of the twins' 5th birthday, and dedicate this experience to all the great twin moms I know. I've survived the first five years! And you can, too.

I am the mother of twins. Hooray! Hooray! Friends warned me that there would be twice as many diapers, twice as many feedings, and twice as much crying. 


“Never mind,” I thought. “By now I’m twice as good at being a mother.” Besides, one mother told me that the first six children are the hardest, after that it “just gets easier.”  Unfortunately, all I’ve experienced so far has been total chaos.


WELCOME!

Welcome! to my new blog, Nettie's Notes.

I've been blogging for several years at From the Francis Farm, however, I felt that it was time to update my blogging skills and site, so, here it is!  I still have a link on Nettie's Notes to my old blog, as well as to my publishing website, Meadowlark Media, LLC, where readers can find all of my publications.

Welcome to my tabs!

MOMents includes fun Motherhood Moments that I want to share.

Happy Homemaking includes tips from my 17+ years of homemaking (as well as the many years I watched my mother as a homemaker).

Purposeful Parenting includes principles and practices of parenting.

Francis Favorites includes posts and sites which we as a family of 11 people have found especially useful.

Be sure to sign up for email updates whenever I post something new (check the sidebar).

I hope you enjoy this blog!

Nettie

Styles of Scenery

When I was 14 years old I went to Germany.  It was beautiful.  I savored the crumbly castles, the stately manors, the beautiful Rhine River. 

When I was 21 years old I went to Japan.  It was intriguing.  I fell in love with the delicious food, the kindly people, the striking shrines.

Last year I went to Hawaii.  It was gorgeous.  I drank in the blue lagoons, I cherished the silky sand under my feet, I marveled at the exotic sunsets.

Lovely Love

I love love. Not in some sissy way or anything like that. I love love because it’s real and sustaining. I first met my husband when he and I were both 18. I know. We were terribly young. “Love, like youth, is wasted on the young.” It was love at first sight. Really. Neither one of us admitted it during the following years of our courtship, but I would have married him that first day if he would’ve asked. He was that good. And that real. And that solid. And that true. That’s how love should be.

We dated for four more years. Without kissing, without saying “I love you” too directly. Just by quietly understanding each other. We were both off to college at different universities. We both spent nearly two years living overseas in foreign countries, writing just enough letters to stay in touch, and gazing at the same stars in the Eastern Hemisphere at night. But between the lines we were living for each other, fulfilling our commitments, making ourselves better, learning about life — so that we could become a team when the time was right.

Trip Trauma

Why any family would try to go on a summer vacation is beyond me. Summer is a time for relaxing and doing nothing, right? Then the word "vacation" does not fit into a mother's vocabulary. Let me illustrate...

Politically-Correct Parenting

I am NOT a politically-correct mother. I discriminate based on age and gender and whether or not you’ve finished your homework. (For example, those who have, may go out and play.) I insist that girls wear dresses and boys wear ties to special occasions. I teach my girls to cook and sew, and my boys to dig ditches and mow lawns. If you are older, you may have privileges younger siblings don’t enjoy, like staying up late or watching particular movies. We also pray before every meal, even if our non-church-going friends are visiting. And, we celebrate Christmas. So, as you can see, I’m not politically correct. In fact, you could say I’m a bit old-fashioned in values and in parenting.

I Pledge Allegiance

I am grateful for the many inspired men and women, both past and present, whose dedication to God has made this nation great. Please enjoy this video which pays tribute to them.

Family Reunion 2014

I believe in family reunions!  Our children can be strengthened and uplifted by extended family aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents.  Plus, reunions are so much fun!!!

A Time to Savor

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"To everything there is a season and a time..." (Ecclesiastes 3:1) Right now is my time to savor.

For 17 years we've had babies – little bundles of joy that determine our every moment – waking, eating and sleeping (or not!). Our babies have grown to toddlers. All too soon they've walked and talked and gone to school. They've ridden tricycles and scooters and roller skates. They’ve grown out of bikes and into cars. They’ve matured and grown taller. However, more babies have always come to replace the growing children; and our arms, hearts and home have stretched longer and wider to accommodate this happy abundance.

During these busy, bustling times I’ve sometimes been exhausted and even discouraged, feeling that this hectic lifestyle would last forever – that my husband and I would never again have a moment of aloneness, with nothing to do. But now, the pendulum has swung to the very edge of our growing, and we are hanging, suspended in a window of time, before it begins to swing back – back to solitude without children.

Happy Mother's Day!

I'm a mother. However, I’m quite convinced that Mother’s Day wasn’t created by a mom. I’m equally as sure that the day can only truly be appreciated by mothers.

As the mother of nine children, my Mother’s Day begins early. “Clink, clank, crash ...” I hear sounds from the kitchen. Pretending I’m asleep, I listen to my children (and husband) whispering and scurrying around making breakfast. The slight aroma of burned toast reaches my nose, and I hear the kitchen window opened quickly for some fresh air.

Training the Tot

Training the Tot - Without traumatizing the parent  

Successful potty-training tips

Published on FamilyShare.com March 22, 2014

• Much of motherhood is glorious, uplifting and fun. However, there is one chore which looms over even the most cheerful and talented mothers: Potty training. When my first son was 1-year-old, I delved with excitement into the mission at hand. Unfortunately, the process (which spanned a year and a half) left me older and wiser, and vowing that I would never again train another breathing thing.
  
  
  

Church Mice In The Chapel

My first article for FamilyShare.com was published Sunday, March 16th.  Within the first day it had over 6,000 hits, and is now approaching 9,000.  Hooray!  

Taking small children to church can be a daunting task for any parent. Here are a few tips for teaching your children to sit quietly during the service.

Church. For a parent with young children, the word may bring to my mind visions of temper tantrums, Cheerios thrown into the adjacent pew, and, “I have to go potty,” screamed at the wrong moment. Yet, those of us who want our children to be honest, upright citizens often make a weekly pilgrimage to a religious service.

Train Trouble

I had some trouble on the train. Yep, real trouble. With a capital “T” and that rhymes with “me” and I had trouble. The day started well enough. I invited my sister to go to the children’s museum with me. Since she has three toddlers and I have three toddlers, I knew we’d make a grand group. She lives over an hour away, and it’s never fun to drive alone with kids, so I suggested she take the train. After all, I’ve taken the train with my toddlers often, and it’s wonderful! No driving, no stopping for potty breaks (there’s one on the train), no stopping for snacks. We sit in the top of the car and enjoy our treats and books while we look out over the countryside through the big windows. Yep, the train is the way to travel with tots.

Lotsa Lunches

Here's a quick homemaking tip:

Pack ALL of the lunches in the morning when you make breakfast.  It doesn't take long to fix sandwiches, bag carrots, and put apples and cookies into nine bags.  I pack for all of my children, including those who are at home during the day.  Then, when lunchtime rolls around, I don't have to stop to make another meal.  Just have the toddlers and preschoolers grab their boxes, sit down, and eat!  Hooray!  

Brite Families, Bright Future

One of the greatest parenting tools I've ever discovered is Brite Music.  Created by composer Janeen Brady for her nine children, the songs and stories found on the Brite albums are childlike, uplifting, and fun!

I was raised on Brite Music, starting when my parents purchased their first record in the early 1980s.  Thankfully, the music is now available in downloadable form.

Why use music to teach and train children?  Music is a powerful tool.  We retain 10% of what we hear, 40% of what we see, 60% of what we hear linked to a story, and 90% of the messages we hear through music.  If children can sing a song back to you, they are retaining 99% of the message!

Also, music stirs powerful emotions within us.  That which we sing we believe more deeply.  Music can inspire feelings of patriotism, love, memories, and positive experiences.

Brite Music is a tool to teach children self-esteem, honesty, obedience, patriotism, and even safety skills.

Check out all of the Brite Music on their website:  www.britemusic.com

Watch for more stories about how I've used Brite Music in my everyday motherhood.