Image credit: Photo by MoRpH Snim•° on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons

Last year I participated in Neil Kramer's Great Interview Experiment.  In the process, I got to know two interesting new bloggers and was lucky enough to make a lasting friend in the absolutely fabulous Headless Mom.  Who could ask for more than that?  Well, apparently, me.  Because I'm doing it again this year.

Allow me to introduce you to Tifani who used to blog at Spoke-N-Sants, but recently moved her virtual residence to Hurricane Bait when she and her family moved their physical residence to Louisiana. I had a lot of fun looking through Tifani's blogs and want to thank her so much for taking the time to play along and let me (and now all of you) get to know her.  So, without further ado, the interview...

1. Tifani, you said you started blogging as a form of online scrapbooking. Has it replaced paper scrapbooking the way you expected it to or has it become something different you do in addition to scrapbooking? Have you ended up printing and binding hard copies of the blog?

I have slurped my blog over to Blurb, done some editing and printed it out. It was FABULOUS!! I can't say it has totally replaced scrapbooking, as there are still certificates and pictures and cards we keep from others that have to be put somewhere. But mostly, yes, this has replaced my scrapbooking and I LOVE it!

2. You have six children. What do you enjoy most about a larger family?

I enjoy ... that there is always someone to talk to and hang out with. I love the noise and chaos associated with all the different personalities. I don't love the laundry at all.

3. I take it from your blog that you are a member of the LDS church. I love to talk about both faith and family. How do you feel your faith has shaped the type of parent you are?

I am a member of the LDS church . This is a really great question - and probably the reason it has taken me so long to get this back to you. How does my faith/religion shape my parenting? How does it not? My faith is so much of who I am that it is hard to distinguish. I think MOST parents want their children to grow up happy and to be good, as do I. Because I believe in God and that He has a plan for me and each of my children and I believe that families literally can be forever (promise or threat you decide!) -that we will be reunited with our families after death - I feel that I am accountable to God for how and what I teach my children. I believe that they are my spirit brothers and sisters and that when the veil of forgetfulness that we live under while on earth is removed, we will remember the relationships we had before coming here. I am accountable to God for how (love, no coercion) and what (gospel of Jesus Christ) I teach them (but not their actions - they get to deal with that one!). I hope they will grow up to be honest, hard working people who have a lot of faith and bring goodness to this world, but additionally, I look forward to spending eternity with them and their children and so on and so on.

4. How do you incorporate your faith in day-to-day life with your family?

We incorporate religion with daily family scripture study, daily family prayers, weekly church attendance, and weekly Family Home Evening. I hope that I also incorporate it in my example of how I live - and my examples of what NOT to do, too!

5. You recently moved to Baton Rouge from Spokane. What prompted the move?

I'd like to say it was because my husband's company needed him to, and while that is true, the main reason we did it is because it felt like the right thing to do. It has been one of the hardest experiences of my life, though. Doesn't mean it was the wrong thing, I've sure learned a lot but it has been hard.

6. What's been the biggest source of culture shock in your move so far?

Absolutely the schools. There are SO MANY RULES and instead of creating better behaved children they are mostly not! I have been volunteering in schools for 15 years and 6 different schools before coming here and I have never seen such angry and mean teachers and careless administers who do not respond to parents. I have never seen teachers belittle and criticize in public like they do here. There have been a few exceptions to this rule (love you Ms. Davis, Ms. Samson, and the others!), but for the most part - not! OH, and if your elementary school child's lunch balance drops below zero they give them BREAD AND MILK for lunch. Talk about humiliating! AND (you've got me on a rant here) they nickle and dime you to death! Twenty dollars for this field trip, ten dollars for this dance (kids who don't pay get to sit in the detention room), three dollars for smoothies (once a month), five dollars for a free dress day (instead of uniforms), five dollars for this class party, twenty dollars for the teacher's birthday, etc. Really, it is just CRAZY! Times it by six kids and it equals always broke.

Another shock is that there is NO COSTCO IN LOUISIANA! It's a terrible fact. Yes, we have Sam's Club. It is not the same thing.

7. What do you miss most about Spokane?

Everything. Spokane is the perfect place to live. (Except for the economy.)

8. What do you like most about Louisiana?

Swimming in the winter. The people in our church have been very nice. They made us feel welcome as soon as we moved here. My plumerias are still blooming and that is awesome! There are so many pretty flowers and trees.

9. How are your kids adjusting to the move?

Teen 1 - fine, Teen 2 - NOT fine, Teen 3 - GREAT! Preteen 4 - fine, Child 5 - Great!, Child 6 - fine. Child 6 is going to get some speech therapy here, which I find HILARIOUS! In any case, we have good days and not such good days. The good days are getting more frequent.

10. Is there anything else you'd like to share that I didn't think to ask?

I can't think of anything. Thanks for the questions!