It's like this...

Hi, I'm Pamela and I'm a Mormon. That's how my profile on www.mormon.org starts out. It's how everyone's profile on Mormon.org starts out---well, except for the Pamela part. There's a link on my blog to my profile there. I don't know how many of you that visit here have ever clicked on it. I'm not sure that I've talked about my faith a lot on here--except most do know that I am a woman of faith. I think perhaps some of my friends and family don't really understand my beliefs beyond a certain point. No, I don't drink coffee. No, I don't drink alcohol. NO, I am NOT the fifth wife in a polygamous relationship and no, I never watched Big Love. I am not a sister wife---whatever that is. And though I've read Dooce , the blog about an x-LDS woman who got fired because of her writings online, I am not her either. She's very witty---I'll give her that---but she has too much of a potty mouth for my tastes. Yes, I am ...

Today I picked blackberries in our back lot. There are a great many blackberry bushes there that have been left to flourish. Not from laziness mind you, but because we love blackberries. Or a mixture of both. As I was tugging the juicy black fruit from their vines I noticed something. (Pontification Alert!) Notice the picture I took up above? The ripened juicy and quite tasty berries are surrounded by hard, green blackberries that have not completed their journey. Clinging stubbornly to their runners, they're nearly impossible to detach. And why would you want to pick these berries anyway? Bright green, extraordinarily sour, they're not good for much. I wondered why some berries took in all the water and the sunshine given them and became what they were meant to become when right along next to them, receiving water and sunlight in equal measure, others did not flourish. They did not grow. They did not progress. Their skins hardened and refused entry to the...

You know what I love? I love that my husband is the greatest daddy on the planet earth. And probably the greatest daddy in the known universe. Each day I'm thankful that I married this guy. Each day I am inspired by his selfless actions and his desire to do the right thing. See that picture up there? That's Ashley in a canoe on Greenlake. After work he dropped Alli off at the pool for swim team practice and then took Ashley to the lake. (I was at work) They went canoeing. Just the two of them. I love the memories he's building with our children and the love he holds for them. I love the knowledge that they will always remember the things he does for them and have that pattern of parental love to guide them in their lives. I am blessed.