Living Life ON PURPOSE

I would like to thank Erika at LargeFamiliesOnPurpose.com for helping to inspire me to be more conscious of  what I do with my time.  (I've really enjoyed "getting to know" her family through her blog.)  She has helped me to realize that I want to live my life on purpose.  Instead of just reacting to what happens every day, I want to make things happen.  I want my life to be deliberate.  There are so many things I want to do and they just aren't going to happen on their own!

Now, I've read Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People before and loved it!  It's been a few years and I've forgotten to "keep my saw sharpened."  I'm too busy cutting down the forest to stop and sharpen my saw, let alone, step back far enough to make sure I'm still in the right forest.  :o) I'm too busy in the thick of it to notice the big picture.  I'm taking some time at the close of 2011 to reevaluate where I am and where I want to go.  It's time for some new goals and a plan for achieving them.

A New Year's Challenge: Journey through the Holy Scriptures

I have never read the entire Standard Works of The Church from cover to cover within a year.  In fact, certain books of scripture (ahem, the Old Testament - it's just so difficult to understand sometimes) have been more neglected than others in the course of my life.  I strive to read something from the scriptures every day.  I have done really well with this in the past at times - and have failed abominably at other times!  :)  I am trying to create a life-long habit of not retiring to bed at night until I've read from God's word.  So one of my goals for this next year is to read the entire Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price - the Standard Works - within the year.  Since the Old Testament is the largest chunk of scripture and the winter is when we tend to hibernate, at least, I do anyway.  I love to curl up with a good book and nice warm snuggly blankie, maybe even a cup of hot chocolate!  :)  Ah, Heaven.  :)

Why "Raising The Bahr?"

I chose the name "Raising The Bahr" for my blog (and homeschool) based on a message from Elder M. Russell Ballard given during the priesthood session of the October 2002 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, "in which he challenged the young men of the Church to become the greatest generation of missionaries. He announced that the bar for the minimum standard of missionary service had been raised. He instructed the young men of the Aaronic Priesthood to prepare themselves more vigorously to reach this new and higher minimum standard. He also gave instructions to fathers, bishops, and stake presidents about helping young men prepare to serve full-time missions.  (See “The Greatest Generation of Missionaries,” Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2002, 46–49.)