President Uchtdorf and Brian Adams

I am so greateful to Elder Ballard for the talk he gave last Sunday. I got to hear about it before I listened to it. Last Sunday when it was given was our final day in Idaho. We spent a wonderful morning listening to conference (with family) and eating stuffed french toast (with strawberries). At noon we took off for California. As we drove through Nevada, the big sky above us and the desert stretched out around us, we tried to listen by radio to the afternoon session of conference. What we got was a signal that crossed the messages of Church leaders with classic soft rock. You know it's true, everything I do, I do it for you. We turned it off partway into the session. But soon after I got a call from my Dad and from Andrea. Both of these people know me well, and told me Elder Ballard gave a great talk, and that I needed to hear it. His talk, "Daughters of God," was, indeed, great. His words of understanding meant a lot to me: "I know something of a mother’s emotions that accompany her commitment to be at home with young children. There are moments of great joy and incredible fulfillment, but there are also moments of a sense of inadequacy, monotony, and frustration."

And for me, his talk fit in perfectly with an overall personal message I got from the conference, that the Lord's Church is constant, it does not change. Perhaps one of the reasons this message stood out to me was because we sustained a new Prophet, President Monson. And despite a new prophet, the Church's message remains constant. But I think the main reason the constancy of the church so impressed me was personal. As we grow older and our children grow up, the demands on our lives change. As we get new callings or meet new friends or neighbors, the demands on our lives change. And sometimes I manage to adjust right in time for my adjustment to be obsolete. Time to move on to the next challenge. So going into conference I noticed feeling nervous, nervous that it was time to make more adjustments. But instead I came away noticing that the Church has been giving the same counsel my entire life, and though the part of life I am in keeps changing, the counsel does not. And I've also noticed that the counsel always works.

I've always liked Helaman's words to his sons in Helaman 5:12, but I suppose am still learning the meaning of them myself.

I'm also curious now to read the author that Elder Ballard quoted, Anna Quinlen. I've added One True Thing and How Reading Changed My Life to my to-read list on GoodReads.