I’ve seen several other bloggers do a review of their “greatest hits” of 2011 and I thought it would be fun to do that for my Five Things for Friday today. I am adding a little snippet of each to jog your memory or to entice to you to go back and read it if you missed it.
My most viewed posts of 2011 were:
#1 Getting Adam to Partake
“I do understand that not all men and women in the Middle East 
understand the veil like this and that in many places it is used as a symbol of oppression and disregard for women’s rights and voices. Even in Jordan there were various degrees of veiling and some of them were obviously done out of force and oppression. Yet, I’d say that many of the young Muslim women I associated with who wore the hijab wore it for reasons similar to my two friends. It was a really life changing experience for me to be surrounded day in and day out by women who were so outwardly committed to their religion and their promises to God. I realized that my Muslim friends understood something that, at that time in my life, I was only beginning to comprehend. They knew that because they were women they had real POWER housed within their souls. . They knew that they had the power to love men and to attract them to them– hopefully for life. They knew that within their bodies lay the ability to bestow life and that how they chose to use that power would affect future generations. They fully comprehended the importance and divinity of that power and as a result they protected it and refused to misuse it. “
#2 LDS Church’s Stance on Tubal Ligations, Vasectomies, and Hysterectomies
“A few weeks ago I finished writing the family planning section for the book I am working on. In preparation for it I did a lot of research on the LDS church’s teachings on birth control and family planning. I rounded up dozens and dozens of quotes from church leaders throughout the years. It was an eye opening experience for me and has really changed the way I view my family. One of the things I learned that I wasn’t aware of before is the church’s stance on sterilization as a form of birth control (this includes tubal ligation, vasectomies, and hysterectomies performed for non-medical reasons).
In the 2010 Church Handbook of Instructions (which has recently been put online) it says this about surgical sterilization as a form of birth control:
“The Church strongly discourages surgical sterilization as an elective form of birth control. It should be considered only if 1) medical conditions seriously jeopardize life or health or 2) birth defects or serious trauma have rendered a person mentally incompetent and not responsible for his or her actions. Such conditions must be determined by competent medical judgement and in accordance with law. Even then, the persons responsible for this decision should consult with each other and with their bishop and should receive divine confirmation of their decision through prayer. ” Source
I also found that many leaders have made strong statements and warnings about sterilization and birth control. Here are just a few of the ones I found…”
# 3 The Barbie Dilemma
“I’d never really thought about the message that Barbie dolls send young girls about what it means to be a teenager and what it means to be an adult woman. Yet as I really began to think about it I realized that Barbie sends the exact opposite message about womanhood and femininity than the one I want my daughter learning. Barbie teaches that how you dress determines your worth, that sexual appeal is what is valuable in a woman, that a relationship with “Ken” is the most important thing and that babies and family are afterthoughts, that breast are for appearances and not for function (her breasts have no nipples, so obviously there is no breastfeeding going on there!), and that shopping is the answer to all of life’s woes.
She really isn’t a very good role model.
And yet… I still really love her.”
#4 Due Date
“As I’ve read women’s stories for our book, The Gift of Giving Life, I’ve seen that lots 
of women have different perspectives on miscarriages and what happens to the baby. Some women feel certain that the baby they miscarried, even if it was as early as 5 or 6 weeks, is still their baby and that those few weeks were all the mortal experience it needed. Other women wrote that they felt like the baby they had miscarried had chosen not to accept the body that was forming (perhaps because of birth defects) but would come back to them later as one of their other children or even a grandchild. And hands down, all the women who had had stillborn babies or babies born after 20 weeks wrote that they knew for certain that their baby was waiting for them in the next life.
As I’ve been reading these women stories my own heart started to ache a little bit. Where does my 12 week miscarried baby fit in?”
#5 This is the Type of “Feminist” I Am
“We live in a world where women are starving for meaning, freedom and purpose in their lives but are looking for it in all the wrong places. They see the symptoms of the disease and assume they must be the cause. They spend all their time focusing on curing the symptoms, wondering why they never seem to be making a difference, when the real culprit– the disintegration of the family as a societal goal– sinks further and further into the abyss and the world gets sicker and sicker. What we need in this world is not more governments or private programs what we need is a huge re-evaluation of our goals as a society. We need to re-focus on the family and once again make it the fundamental unit of society. We need men and women to come back home. We need them to rediscover the value of children and their responsibility to perpetuate life. We need them to realize that as the world moves further and further away from the family that true gender equality and true “empowerment” for women is impossible.”
Thanks for all your love and supports (and comments) this year! I very much appreciate them and hope that 2012 is as good as 2011 was!
What was your favorite post on my blog this year?
If you want to link to your own “Five Things for Friday” post you can use the tool below to add your link. 1) Please link to the URL of your blog post and not your main blog and 2) Please include a link back here.
Author: Heather Farrell
I am a scripture loving, book writing, baby snuggling, garden growing, faith-centered disciple, wife, mother, daughter, and sister.
I believe words have the power to change the future and heal the past.
I loved allofthese especially "getting adam to partake"!
The first post I read here was
"Getting Adam to Partake." It's still my favorite. 🙂
I loved your recap, Heather!! Can't wait to go back and read some of those I missed!
I really enjoyed the post on the hijab and how modesty is a powerful tool. That post helped me to choose my clothing even more carefully. Thanks for your great work!