Segullah

Mormon women blogging about the peculiar and the treasured

Reap What You Sow

One of my earliest memories is sitting in the garden at twilight, plucking sugar peas off the vine. Each pod was a treasure, splitting open to reveal a row of sweet peas that I ate one after the other. In the bright morning we picked raspberries (one for the bowl, one for me) and I [...]

Release the [Control] Freak!

I’m not in control of my life. Sure, parts of it are neatly, docilely in place, waiting like an obedient dog told “Stay.” The other parts rampage all along the opposite end of the scale. Some areas need to be held carefully between thumb and forefinger as they squirm and resist my attempts to make [...]

My Unforgettable Singing Debut

With American Idol season in full swing, as well as speculating whether Pia should have been eliminated, when Jacob will be voted off, and whether the finale will come down to Scotty vs. James, I also can’t help but think of my own brief moment in the spotlight when I sang my first—and last—solo in [...]

Beachcombing

A lifetime ago, Juliana Wallace majored in English at Utah State University. On the heels of those auspicious beginnings, she pursued a semi-intentional corporate career in technical communication, followed by a wholly accidental career in music. Now, pen in hand, she navigates the chaos of middle age and attempts to reconnect with her soul. You [...]

From the Archives: Children of God

This post was originally shared on Maundy Thursday, the commemoration of Gethsemane. During those evening hours, readers posted their reflections on the atonement of Jesus Christ. On this Good Friday, I invite us all to do the same. It’s a given that childbirth is painful. Even with the pain relief measures I’ve accepted each time, [...]

On Having It All

*A quick reminder before I begin: Segullah’s book club will be discussing Emma Donoghue’s novel Room on May 19th. You have plenty of time to read (right?). Please join us!* My first baby was born on August 27th—the first day of school in the Jordan School District. Since I was a high school English teacher [...]

Dying on hills

My MIL and I were talking about parenting once. She mentioned, as she has before, how grateful she is that her grandchildren have such good mothers. She said it’s not a given, and that she is impressed with how we manage our charges, who range in ages and difficulty. That said, I’m not her daughter, [...]

To rip or not to rip…

While visiting with a friend a few weeks ago, I casually mentioned that I edit my journal. Once she started breathing again and retrieved her jaw from the floor, she spluttered, “But you can’t do that–it’s history!” (Guess what she majored in? Yup, history.) So we talked about it, and in the end, we agreed [...]

Take my life and let it be

Sometimes the Spirit tells me I am doing a good job when I fold the laundry. I’m not sure why that particular chore seems to bring divine approbation. Maybe it’s because when I’m folding laundry I often remember the women in Ecuador, washing and wringing out their clothes by hand, hanging them to dry, then [...]

A LOVE LETTER TO MY WARD

Today’s post comes from Eliana Osborne, who lives in the desert with her husband and two young sons.  She’s a freelance writer specializing in health and adjunct English faculty at Arizona Western College.  She loves to travel instead of doing needed home repairs, and thinks a brownie is the perfect breakfast. Last October marked ten years we’ve [...]

State of Bliss

I’m feeling dizzy these days. My husband and I divide our time into seasons and spend winters and summers in Utah and springs and falls in Illinois. For the past three weeks, however, I’ve been in Boston. I just got back to Illinois last night and spent the morning at the temple for my Friday [...]

Fifth Business

“Those roles which, being neither those of hero nor Heroine, Confidante nor Villain, but which were none the less essential to bring about the Recognition or the denouement were called the Fifth Business in drama and Opera companies organized according to the old style; the player who acted these parts was often referred to as [...]

Spring Cleaning FHE (with pictures!)

I opened the wedding note from my father’s cousins. In memorable extended Mormon family fashion, they bestowed a blue hymnal with our names printed on its cover in silver. With it lay a Family Home Evening manual. I delighted in the prospect of having small children gathered around me and my husband as we read [...]

Jacob Have I Loved

A few weeks ago, I took my son to see a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat put on by a local children’s theater group. A clever casting director chose a small, gamine-like nine-year-old for the starring role; his older siblings were played by older children who were all at least a head [...]

Happy with What You Have

Today’s post comes from Holly Wever. She is the oldest of four kids and will tell anyone but her mom that she basically raised her three siblings. Holly graduated from Brigham Young University in 2003 with a BA in English Teaching and earned a masters degree in Educational Leadership from UNLV in 2007. She taught [...]

Being True

We meet at the street corner in the black of morning and hit the pavement. Women, runners, friends. We talk about our children, our menstrual cycles, world and civic happenings, strained family relationships, the ups and downs of marriage, the anguish of a miscarriage. There are no facades. We huff and puff so much it’s [...]

Living a Patient Life

Today’s post comes from Judy Kay Frome. She is the third of eight children and was raised on a small dairy farm in Wyoming. She has five children and four grandchildren and currently lives in Las Vegas, NV, where she teaches fourth grade. Her writing has been published in the New Era and the Ensign and [...]

Making Kids Go to Church

Today’s post comes from another fantastic guest poster. She has been married for almost two decades and is the mother of four children, two of them teenagers. Beyond her attempts to be a ‘goodly parent’, since being a perfect one has gone up in smoke, she is a published author and freelance editor. When I [...]

The Princess and Appease

“I envy my dad and his faith. I envy all people who have someone to beseech, who know where they’re going, who sleep under the fluffy white comforter of belief.” — Kelly Corrigan (The Middle Place)   The first time I read this quote I was a little bit bothered. The idea that faith was [...]

Sharing the Afternoon

Now that we have uncovered the secret cache of guest posts, we’ll begin sharing them with you. Today’s post is from Lori Nawyn. Her essays, articles, and short stories have appeared in regional and national publications. Her first novel, My Gift to You, was released in 2010. In addition to writing, she works as a free-lance [...]

Kicking Off the Eight-Hour-Church Weekend

Normally, Saturday is a special day because it’s the day we get ready for Sunday. (Does that Primary song still exist, by the way?) But today, Saturday is a special day because it’s part one of a two-day churchathon. Are you ready? I’ll be honest — I don’t do all I should to prepare myself [...]

Have you seen my guest post?

Come to find out the answer to that question (which may be posed in the minds of many of you) is… no. I come bearing humble apologies today. Oh the blessings and curses of technology! Somehow our guest post submission page has been placing all the submitted guest posts in a certain inbox—which unfortunately we haven’t been checking—or were even aware of, for [...]

Raising My Arm to the Square

I loved the lessons from the movie Invictus on how to be a leader and how to be a follower. Nelson Mandela was shown as unflappable and determined in reaching his vision of a united South Africa. Francois Pienaar was the equally focused rugby player who followed President Mandela’s guidance with sincerity and without criticism. [...]

Who’s the fool?

I loved practical jokes in my past lives, the lives in which I didn’t have to clean up the aftermath of the forest of discarded Christmas trees propped up in the snowy front yard, and the lives in which I did not mind waking up at 5am to saran wrap cars or help make synchronous [...]

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