September 16
I Don't Buy That a Stomach Bug Shows You What Matters
Everyone says a sick week shows you what counts. I think it only shrinks the list. What I keep on hand, and what I remember of my mother's week.
By Melissa Whitakerwith love, Melissa
Autumn · October
Every essay, every home note.
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 4.
Family discipleship
Practical essays on prayer, scripture study, Sabbath patterns, and building a faithful home culture in ordinary life.
Motherhood & marriage
First-person reflections on parenting, emotional honesty, family fatigue, closeness, and raising children without performance.
Home rhythms
Home notes on homemaking, hospitality, steadiness, and the spiritual texture of ordinary family routines.
Essays
September 15
She Asked If Her Baptism Still Counted After a Small Lie
My eight-year-old confessed a fudged reading log, then asked the question underneath it. What Isaiah 1:18 says about shame, and what I'd say again.
By Melissa Whitakerwith love, Melissa
September 14
Count Your Dinners Before You Sign Anyone Up for Fall
Every fall sign-up sheet is for a good thing. Here's how I count the week's dinners on paper, and what that count tells me to turn down.
By Melissa Whitakerwith love, Melissa
September 13
Lily Has Two Lines and Says She Can't
Lily has two lines in the Primary program and says she can't say them. Here is how I plan to help her learn them without making her dread them.
By Melissa Whitakerwith love, Melissa
September 12
I Counted My Food Storage and It Was Mostly Wheat
I took stock of our basement shelves this week. Here's what I found, what I'm buying instead, and why a bucket of wheat doesn't feed a two-year-old.
By Melissa Whitakerwith love, Melissa
September 11
I Praised a Sandwich and He Stopped Sharing
Cole gave a classmate half his sandwich in my third-grade class, and I thanked him out loud. He didn't pass food again that spring.
By Melissa Whitakerwith love, Melissa
September 10
How Many Peaches Does a Family Actually Need to Put Up?
Quantities for peaches, tomatoes and freezer jam in September, who in the family can do what, and what a shelf of labeled bags tells you in February.
By Melissa Whitakerwith love, Melissa
September 9
"He Shall Direct Thy Paths" Is Not a Map
A sister in Relief Society said the next step lights up if you trust enough. Proverbs and Ecclesiastes say something else, and children can hear it.
By Melissa Whitakerwith love, Melissa
September 8
My Sister Said Just Put a Mattress on Your Floor
Lily walks into our room at 2 a.m. and Ben calls for me over the monitor. Here's what I've tried, what did nothing, and what I whisper in the dark.
By Melissa Whitakerwith love, Melissa
September 7
Real Jobs for a Two-Year-Old, an Eight and an Eleven
On Labor Day I handed out real jobs to a two-year-old, an eight-year-old and an eleven-year-old, and took the old laminated chart off the fridge.
By Melissa Whitakerwith love, Melissa