Autumn · October
The complete archive of Melissa Whitaker's essays and reflections on LDS Family Life, organized around family discipleship, honest motherhood, marriage, faith at home, and the home rhythms that shape a family over time. Showing older posts, page 2.
Practical essays on prayer, scripture study, Sabbath patterns, and building a faithful home culture in ordinary life.
First-person reflections on parenting, emotional honesty, family fatigue, closeness, and raising children without performance.
Home notes on homemaking, hospitality, steadiness, and the spiritual texture of ordinary family routines.
Essays
October 4
The temple doors open to the public April 5, 2027. I think the talking has to start months before anyone stands in line, and here's how I'd go about it.
October 3
Watching conference with a two-year-old means missing pieces. Here's what I caught from this afternoon's session and how I decide what's worth keeping.
October 2
The Church just gave the Red Cross more than $7 million. My eleven-year-old can't donate for six years, so here's what he and Lily can do at a drive now.
October 1
The short rotation of soups and slow-cooker dinners I run for five or six once it turns cold, what I buy in bulk, and how I freeze the rest.
September 30
Caleb is eleven and cooks one dinner a week. Here is why I stay in the room, what I keep my mouth shut about, and who washes the pan.
September 29
A friend asked if I'd phone the other child's mother. After five years of third grade, here's who I'd call first, and what I'd leave alone.
September 28
Snack tins, listening sheets and a plan for a two-year-old, plus the things I've quit trying before General Conference this Saturday.
September 27
This week's Come, Follow Me verse gets read to scared kids as a promise it never makes. What I told Lily after a Saturday night thunderstorm.
September 26
Our family prayer list lives under a fridge magnet. How it works with kids, and what my sister's nursing notebook taught me about noticing.
September 25
A same-day pizza dough with real weights, what I do on the Fridays it's frozen, and why one fixed dinner a week keeps the rest of our schedule steady.