Laughter smooths the life of a mother
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Joy Pettijohn is pretty busy. Between raising three children, a Church calling, volunteering at her children's school and quilting, there isn't a lot of downtime. Still, even with too little time in the day, the Young Mother of the Year from Alaska agrees with the advice Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve gave in his final conference address: Learn to laugh.
Laughter has helped smooth out potentially rough situations, she said. She related an anecdote about coming home from vacation once. As the family was unpacking she saw a huge spider on the counter. She immediately killed it, realizing too late that it was not actually a spider but a crab that had escaped from the family's aquarium. She said when she told her children what she had accidentally done she expected them to cry over the loss of their pet. Instead, they laughed. They knew she was just trying to protect them from a spider, she said.
From that experience and others like it, she has learned having a good attitude can make all the difference.
"I think it's good to have things happen to give us perspective," Sister Pettijohn said.
Joy Richins was born in Logan, Utah, and raised in Eastern Idaho. She eventually made her way up to Portland, Ore., where she met her future husband, Mark Pettijohn. They soon moved to Alaska and live in Anchorage. They have three children: Tylona, 14; John, 12; and Amber, 10. She has been serving for a little more than a year and a half as Primary president in the Jewel Lake Ward, Anchorage Alaska Stake.
Raising her children hasn't been an easy task, she said, but perseverance is the key.
"You can read a hundred books but you just have to keep trying things. Each kid is different," she said, "And they change, too."
This makes motherhood a constantly changing process, a continually shifting discipline. She said a mother must keep trying with each new challenge, and keep learning with her children.
"I don't know that I'm a pro or anything," she said, "but I keep trying."
