This morning I started reading ahead to next Sunday's Old Testament lesson. In Deuteronomy (chapters 6, 8, 11 and 32) Moses tells the Israelites that they need to remember the Lord and all His blessings. The Lord delivered them out of Egypt (40 years earlier) and provided them with manna every day during those years...that was 12,514 times (not including the Sabbath) and fed them those 14,600 days (including the Sabbath)!
By the time of these chapters, all the older members of the tribes of Israel have died (except Joshua and Caleb) and all of their iniquities and longing to return to Egypt have been removed from their hearts as a people.
Now, when Moses tells them to remember the Lord their God, he impresses upon them how serious it is for their own safety and well-being as well as their posterity. For them personally, Moses tells them that if they leave the ways of the Lord they will be destroyed. He also tells them that if they let their sons and daughters marry with the other nations around them (seven of them, all larger than Israel) that their righteous ways will be turned from the Lord to worldly ways. Not good.
Moses really, really wants the Israelites to remember the Lord so he has them put scriptures (rolled up and put in little chests) on their foreheads, on their left hands and on their door posts. Man, talk about a continual reminder!
What a great reminder to keep the things of the Lord continually before our eyes. The lesson has a great set of related questions:
Why do you think Moses told the people to place passages of scripture between their eyes, on their hands, on the posts of their houses, and on their gates? How would such constant reminders affect our actions? What can we do in our homes to remind us of the Lord, his words, and our covenants with him? Do the pictures on our walls, the books we read, and the movies and television shows we watch remind us of the Lord, or do they suggest a longing for the world? (Lesson 17)
There is another part of the lesson that I really like. Moses taught the Israelites that if they ever got in a battle with any of the (larger) nations around them that the Israelites would prevail and not to worry about being a smaller force because the Lord was with them. In victory, they were to burn everything they came across, which included all the buildings, idols and everything else they encountered. If they took any spoils of war and kept them, they would be destroyed. Don't do it, House of Israel (that includes us in the latter days)!
Showing posts with label lds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lds. Show all posts
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Sunday, April 13, 2014
The Old Testament is Awesome
This year in Sunday School we're learning about the Old Testament. Every four years I get very excited for these lessons again. I keep up with reading the lesson material during the week so I can get more out of Sunday's lesson and I feel like I get a lot out of Sunday School this way. I love it.
Then the lessons start to get longer (as far as the reading material goes for that week's lesson). That's when it starts to get tough to keep up on the reading and then I end up not doing well for the rest of the year. If I can make a good habit then I can keep up my momentum. And that's what I've been doing this year.
A few weeks ago, when we were in the thick of talking about Joseph (the "Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" Joseph) and his brothers getting ready to sell him as a slave, there were comments made in class about stuff that I didn't read in all the lesson material. It was some really cool stuff that I wished I had read and I didn't remember it from previous years of Sunday School or lessons from seminary/institute. What's up with that?
That's when I decided to read the chapters between the lessons (or the chapters that got skipped in the lesson) and I found all sorts of awesome stuff going on. Yes! That was super cool. I loved finding all that stuff...and more!
So for the last few weeks I have been reading all the chapters of the lesson plus the chapters that get skipped (in the lesson and between lessons). I've totally loved it.
This week's lesson is about Moses and Aaron and all the pestilences against Pharaoh and the Egyptions. It took a lot of time to read, more than what I normally read for my personal scripture study, but it's been worth reading all of it and getting tons more out of the history and connecting people to their stories, there wheres, whens and whys. Nice!
I just read this morning about Pharaoh driving the Israelites out of the land (600,000 men plus their children), quickly regretting his decision (after all the plagues the Lord just sent upon him!) and chased after the Israelites with 600 chariots to enslave them again. (It's pretty obvious from these chapters he didn't want to lose his slave labor.)
The Israelites turned to Moses and said they preferred to be slaves than to die in the wilderness. Whatever! I was thinking, "Please, guys, listen to the prophet. He knows the way!"
The Lord put a cloud between the Israelites and the Egyptians for the night and Moses parted the Red Sea with "a strong east wind all that night" (and I wondered about the crickets that could have still been floating in it from that past pestilence...they were driven into the Red Sea by a strong West Wind). They made it through on dry ground and during the next morning's watch they saw the Egyptians chasing after them. The Lord told Moses to stretch forth his hand and let the water come over the Egyptian army. And so it was. And then the Israelites were glad they listened to the prophet.
Oh, and the reason the Israelites went that way was because the Lord didn't want them to go toward the Philistines, see war and want to head back into slavery. That was a nice little gem to pick up too.
Wow! Good stuff in the lesson this week. I loved it. The Old Testament is totally awesome!
Then the lessons start to get longer (as far as the reading material goes for that week's lesson). That's when it starts to get tough to keep up on the reading and then I end up not doing well for the rest of the year. If I can make a good habit then I can keep up my momentum. And that's what I've been doing this year.
A few weeks ago, when we were in the thick of talking about Joseph (the "Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" Joseph) and his brothers getting ready to sell him as a slave, there were comments made in class about stuff that I didn't read in all the lesson material. It was some really cool stuff that I wished I had read and I didn't remember it from previous years of Sunday School or lessons from seminary/institute. What's up with that?
That's when I decided to read the chapters between the lessons (or the chapters that got skipped in the lesson) and I found all sorts of awesome stuff going on. Yes! That was super cool. I loved finding all that stuff...and more!
So for the last few weeks I have been reading all the chapters of the lesson plus the chapters that get skipped (in the lesson and between lessons). I've totally loved it.
This week's lesson is about Moses and Aaron and all the pestilences against Pharaoh and the Egyptions. It took a lot of time to read, more than what I normally read for my personal scripture study, but it's been worth reading all of it and getting tons more out of the history and connecting people to their stories, there wheres, whens and whys. Nice!
I just read this morning about Pharaoh driving the Israelites out of the land (600,000 men plus their children), quickly regretting his decision (after all the plagues the Lord just sent upon him!) and chased after the Israelites with 600 chariots to enslave them again. (It's pretty obvious from these chapters he didn't want to lose his slave labor.)
The Israelites turned to Moses and said they preferred to be slaves than to die in the wilderness. Whatever! I was thinking, "Please, guys, listen to the prophet. He knows the way!"
The Lord put a cloud between the Israelites and the Egyptians for the night and Moses parted the Red Sea with "a strong east wind all that night" (and I wondered about the crickets that could have still been floating in it from that past pestilence...they were driven into the Red Sea by a strong West Wind). They made it through on dry ground and during the next morning's watch they saw the Egyptians chasing after them. The Lord told Moses to stretch forth his hand and let the water come over the Egyptian army. And so it was. And then the Israelites were glad they listened to the prophet.
Oh, and the reason the Israelites went that way was because the Lord didn't want them to go toward the Philistines, see war and want to head back into slavery. That was a nice little gem to pick up too.
Wow! Good stuff in the lesson this week. I loved it. The Old Testament is totally awesome!
Sunday, January 5, 2014
The Moral Force of Women
Sometimes I watch General Conference talks for my scripture study. And when I do, sometimes I read the talk along with the speaker.
Today I watched and read along with Elder D. Todd Christofferson's talk The Moral Force of Women from October 2013 General Conference. In it, he praises women for their contributions in many aspects of our society, including the workplace. He teaches truths such as how women have divine gifts such as "faith, courage, empathy and refinement in relationships in cultures."
He gave examples of women who provide excellent service and are great examples of what women can do for society and especially for their families and others they are close to. One of the women he spoke of is his grandma, Adena Warnick Swenson. She taught him about priesthood service and encouraged him to memorize the sacramental prayers. He mentioned that she never learned how to drive, knew how to help boys become priesthood men.
One of his emphases was on the dual standard of morality where men were exempt from being moral citizens while women were taught to be chaste and virtuous. Instead of overcoming this low standard by having men live up to the ideal of morality, women have adopted the double standard themselves. The result has been a growing number of fatherless families and growing poverty.
Here's one of my favorite parts.
Elder Christofferson tells that there are some who belittle "the mommy track" as a career, but we should praise and appreciate any worthy endeavor or career because we all benefit from the good that comes from these lofty achievements.
And I really like this part.
Today I watched and read along with Elder D. Todd Christofferson's talk The Moral Force of Women from October 2013 General Conference. In it, he praises women for their contributions in many aspects of our society, including the workplace. He teaches truths such as how women have divine gifts such as "faith, courage, empathy and refinement in relationships in cultures."
He gave examples of women who provide excellent service and are great examples of what women can do for society and especially for their families and others they are close to. One of the women he spoke of is his grandma, Adena Warnick Swenson. She taught him about priesthood service and encouraged him to memorize the sacramental prayers. He mentioned that she never learned how to drive, knew how to help boys become priesthood men.
One of his emphases was on the dual standard of morality where men were exempt from being moral citizens while women were taught to be chaste and virtuous. Instead of overcoming this low standard by having men live up to the ideal of morality, women have adopted the double standard themselves. The result has been a growing number of fatherless families and growing poverty.
Here's one of my favorite parts.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell once asked: “When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses?"
Elder Christofferson tells that there are some who belittle "the mommy track" as a career, but we should praise and appreciate any worthy endeavor or career because we all benefit from the good that comes from these lofty achievements.
And I really like this part.
Former Young Women general president Margaret D. Nadauld taught: “The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity.” In blurring feminine and masculine differences, we lose the distinct, complementary gifts of women and men that together produce a greater whole.
In a world that seeks to give every person every opportunity to pursue every whim and desire, may we stand for what is right and be a beacon that leads others to their Savior, and ours. Let us encourage each other in every endeavor that builds and lifts one another and our society as a whole.Sunday, December 22, 2013
Feeling the Spirit of Christ-mas
At this Christmas season, it is extra awesome to me to speak of Christ and rejoice in Christ and hear others doing the same so often. I love the sincere "Merry Christmas"es that have been given to me this week and especially today in church by friends I've made here over the past couple months.
This month in our family, we have had each lesson of Family Night centered around the symbols and events of the Savior's birth. I'm not sure I remember which topics we spoke of each week, but our lessons have been on Luke 2, angels visiting the earth (and we always remember that angels' first words to those they visit are, "fear not"), the shepherds, the wise men, the star, ornaments, green, white, lights, etc. All the good stuff. Today I remembered at lunch that we didn't talk about the color red so I brought it up and one of my kids said it reminds us of Jesus' blood. Excellent answer. It's what I thought of too, but I don't remember really talking about that symbol each Christmas season.
Today our lesson in elders quorum was on receiving patriarchal blessings and living by them as our personal scriptures. The room was filled with a thick sense of the Spirit. I love my patriarchal blessing and I read it often. Sometimes every few months, sometimes more often. Our teacher today told us that he hasn't received his blessing yet and he is going to get it now. He's thought about it for a long time and with this lesson he decided it was time. He also said that (one of) the presenter(s) in our Christmas program in sacrament meeting today is our stake patriarch. "One more thing about me getting my patriarchal blessing," he said. The brethren who participated were excited and felt blessed to have received their patriarchal blessings. One quorum member said his dad got called as a patriarch about ten years ago. I shared my experience of fasting with my patriarch before receiving my blessing. The Spirit was so strong. Feeling the Spirit is the best feeling ever and it tells me I'm doing the right things in life. Here's the General Conference talk our lesson focused on: President Monson, Oct 1986 General Conference.
This Christmas season has passed by very quickly with our moving into a new home and the associated busy-ness. We are buying a few presents for each other (Angie and I) and we are getting a few things for our boys. It's a very non-commercial kind of Christmas, something we have strived for in years past and are getting better at it. My feeling that is we save for the things that we want and Christmas is a time to try to find something that we want someone else to buy. I'm feeling more than a little wasteful about it. But this is our best year so far. I feel really good about that.
PS - it's snowing outside. It's the kind of slow, gentle snow that makes me feel like it's Christmastime. Much better than the driven, sideways snow that takes my mind off Christmas and turns it to survival mode.
This month in our family, we have had each lesson of Family Night centered around the symbols and events of the Savior's birth. I'm not sure I remember which topics we spoke of each week, but our lessons have been on Luke 2, angels visiting the earth (and we always remember that angels' first words to those they visit are, "fear not"), the shepherds, the wise men, the star, ornaments, green, white, lights, etc. All the good stuff. Today I remembered at lunch that we didn't talk about the color red so I brought it up and one of my kids said it reminds us of Jesus' blood. Excellent answer. It's what I thought of too, but I don't remember really talking about that symbol each Christmas season.
Today our lesson in elders quorum was on receiving patriarchal blessings and living by them as our personal scriptures. The room was filled with a thick sense of the Spirit. I love my patriarchal blessing and I read it often. Sometimes every few months, sometimes more often. Our teacher today told us that he hasn't received his blessing yet and he is going to get it now. He's thought about it for a long time and with this lesson he decided it was time. He also said that (one of) the presenter(s) in our Christmas program in sacrament meeting today is our stake patriarch. "One more thing about me getting my patriarchal blessing," he said. The brethren who participated were excited and felt blessed to have received their patriarchal blessings. One quorum member said his dad got called as a patriarch about ten years ago. I shared my experience of fasting with my patriarch before receiving my blessing. The Spirit was so strong. Feeling the Spirit is the best feeling ever and it tells me I'm doing the right things in life. Here's the General Conference talk our lesson focused on: President Monson, Oct 1986 General Conference.
This Christmas season has passed by very quickly with our moving into a new home and the associated busy-ness. We are buying a few presents for each other (Angie and I) and we are getting a few things for our boys. It's a very non-commercial kind of Christmas, something we have strived for in years past and are getting better at it. My feeling that is we save for the things that we want and Christmas is a time to try to find something that we want someone else to buy. I'm feeling more than a little wasteful about it. But this is our best year so far. I feel really good about that.
PS - it's snowing outside. It's the kind of slow, gentle snow that makes me feel like it's Christmastime. Much better than the driven, sideways snow that takes my mind off Christmas and turns it to survival mode.
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Life is better living the truths in the scriptures
Yikes, my last two posts were in September and January. I have not been consistent in writing since last year. This has been partly by choice and partly because of a lot of busy things going on this last year. Let's see where this post takes us (or me).
Ya, that's right. About a year ago I thought I was going to graduate, get a job and move. It turns out that I didn't graduate, got turned down for job interviews because of it and had no reason to move. There were a whole bunch of our friend who moved out of the ward at that time and we wanted to be a part of it. There was a mass exodus of friends that moved into this ward (branch at the time) and we wanted to ride the momentum and head out of here on a wave of excitement.
Heavenly Father has other plans for us. I actually think he has different plans for Angie, but I'll tell you the plans that I think He has for me.
I have learned to slow down a lot. Not all the way. But I am able to consciously slow down about all the things I think about and pack into my schedule. It turns out that the reason I'm so busy is because...drum roll, please...I fill up my schedule with stuff!
Man, how silly is that. I was so close to the problem I couldn't even see it. My stress levels have risen over the past several years and got to the point months ago that I thought I was going to pop. I'll just say that I was very tense, almost like I was in a fight or flight situation with every little thing in my life, every thing I thought about. There was no danger, just the perception that I had to accomplish a lot in a short time. The more I worked through, the more I pressed on to do more. Did I slow down to appreciate the accomplishments?
Nope. Big mistake.
Aren't I supposed to enjoy the journey and enjoy the accomplishments? Yes, yes, yes! But I didn't. I couldn't in that state of mind. I pushed to get done, thinking I'd feel better when my load was lighter.
One of the many scriptures that has brought me to this realization is 2 Ne 2:25, which says
25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.
27 ...it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength.
Ya, that's right. About a year ago I thought I was going to graduate, get a job and move. It turns out that I didn't graduate, got turned down for job interviews because of it and had no reason to move. There were a whole bunch of our friend who moved out of the ward at that time and we wanted to be a part of it. There was a mass exodus of friends that moved into this ward (branch at the time) and we wanted to ride the momentum and head out of here on a wave of excitement.
Heavenly Father has other plans for us. I actually think he has different plans for Angie, but I'll tell you the plans that I think He has for me.
I have learned to slow down a lot. Not all the way. But I am able to consciously slow down about all the things I think about and pack into my schedule. It turns out that the reason I'm so busy is because...drum roll, please...I fill up my schedule with stuff!
Man, how silly is that. I was so close to the problem I couldn't even see it. My stress levels have risen over the past several years and got to the point months ago that I thought I was going to pop. I'll just say that I was very tense, almost like I was in a fight or flight situation with every little thing in my life, every thing I thought about. There was no danger, just the perception that I had to accomplish a lot in a short time. The more I worked through, the more I pressed on to do more. Did I slow down to appreciate the accomplishments?
Nope. Big mistake.
Aren't I supposed to enjoy the journey and enjoy the accomplishments? Yes, yes, yes! But I didn't. I couldn't in that state of mind. I pushed to get done, thinking I'd feel better when my load was lighter.
One of the many scriptures that has brought me to this realization is 2 Ne 2:25, which says
25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.
And, of course, my friend King Benjamin's wisdom in Mosiah 4:27, which teaches me that
The Lord is blessing me through the truths in the scriptures and the whisperings of the Spirit. I have been practicing turning off my Go, Go, Go habit and playing more with my kids or actually sitting around and doing nothing.
This week I read a nice article about productivity on LinkedIn by Ilya Pozin. It's really about unproductivity. Thing #1 hits the nail on the head - put less on the To Do list and get more things done. It's not about the amount of things you check off your "list", but what is actually accomplished. And I'm not even talking about work here. I'm talking about life in general. Life needs to be worth living and that means enjoying the journey as we were meant To Do by our Creator.
I'm becoming better off by living the truths in these scriptures.
Yes!
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Family Search and Indexing
A few weeks ago I was visiting family and went to church in their ward. Our lesson in priesthood meeting wasn't from Teaching of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow, but was a special lesson about indexing on FamilySearch.org.
I've done some indexing before and I thought it was a lot of fun. Angie got into it too and she did even more than I did. I was about to say, "I don't remember why I stopped indexing," but then remembered why. The records that were available to download were so hard to read that I couldn't contribute. I'd download a batch and try to decipher some names, but couldn't do much. There were some Brazilian census records back then so I thought it would be awesome to give those a shot. I served a mission in Brazil so I knew I'd recognize some names. Well, it happened to be the same story. I could read some, couldn't read others. So I stopped.
Lots of time has past - probably a year and a half or two years. I never checked the indexing database in the meantime for legible records. After this lesson a few weeks ago I got really interested again. The demo that day was of some really legible documents so I came home, loaded the software on my laptop and away I went.
The first projects that I saw on there were census records from the 1800s as well as passenger records. The census records were from New York. I think they were only from 1865, but there may have been other years. I thought it was kinda funny that the census was on a non-decadal year and how we got on a different track than that. Just a curiosity, but I like thinking about that kind of stuff.
The census records usually have a whooooooooole bunch of people on them. It feels like it takes forever to index names like that if I base it on how often I finish and upload batches. That's not the real goal here, it's the overall project. But there is a certain satisfaction that comes from finishing something, uploading it and downloading another.
The passenger records were quite different. Lots of them only have a single name on them. Talk about simple! Some of the passengers' gender was recorded with just a check mark! Ha! I loved thinking about who these people were, why they were leaving Europe (some Prussia and Bavaria) to come to America (mostly New York and Baltimore). Were they seeking a land of new opportunity? Catching up with family? I don't know, but I'd love to find out. It's so fascinating!
Ah, I just remembered that I also got some records of servicemen joining the military to fight in the Spanish War. Crazy daisy! Joining the military makes me nervous so I was a little nervous for them.
I don't know how many people around the world are helping with this indexing project, but I know it's a lot. Have you helped?
I've done some indexing before and I thought it was a lot of fun. Angie got into it too and she did even more than I did. I was about to say, "I don't remember why I stopped indexing," but then remembered why. The records that were available to download were so hard to read that I couldn't contribute. I'd download a batch and try to decipher some names, but couldn't do much. There were some Brazilian census records back then so I thought it would be awesome to give those a shot. I served a mission in Brazil so I knew I'd recognize some names. Well, it happened to be the same story. I could read some, couldn't read others. So I stopped.
Lots of time has past - probably a year and a half or two years. I never checked the indexing database in the meantime for legible records. After this lesson a few weeks ago I got really interested again. The demo that day was of some really legible documents so I came home, loaded the software on my laptop and away I went.
The first projects that I saw on there were census records from the 1800s as well as passenger records. The census records were from New York. I think they were only from 1865, but there may have been other years. I thought it was kinda funny that the census was on a non-decadal year and how we got on a different track than that. Just a curiosity, but I like thinking about that kind of stuff.
The census records usually have a whooooooooole bunch of people on them. It feels like it takes forever to index names like that if I base it on how often I finish and upload batches. That's not the real goal here, it's the overall project. But there is a certain satisfaction that comes from finishing something, uploading it and downloading another.
The passenger records were quite different. Lots of them only have a single name on them. Talk about simple! Some of the passengers' gender was recorded with just a check mark! Ha! I loved thinking about who these people were, why they were leaving Europe (some Prussia and Bavaria) to come to America (mostly New York and Baltimore). Were they seeking a land of new opportunity? Catching up with family? I don't know, but I'd love to find out. It's so fascinating!
Ah, I just remembered that I also got some records of servicemen joining the military to fight in the Spanish War. Crazy daisy! Joining the military makes me nervous so I was a little nervous for them.
I don't know how many people around the world are helping with this indexing project, but I know it's a lot. Have you helped?
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Conference is in the air
The first weekend in October is coming! What an awesome time of year this is. I think I subconsciously associate General Conference with the chilly morning air of September. It's an awesome time of year for a few reasons like no more summer heat, trees change colors (well, lots of trees in this area just go to sleep, but stay green), and the dark mornings will soon brighten with the end of Daylight Savings. All cool stuff.
Of course, I've been waiting for 6 months for General Conference. Ever since the last amen by President Monson in the Sunday afternoon session in April I have looked forward to October. And for 6 months I have read conference talks and have lessons on them in sacrament meeting talks and in elders quorum meetings. I also listen to talks in my car on my way to school. There were tons of awesome talks last conference and I'm re-reading some of them now and loving them. You know what's funny? I notice a big difference in how I feel when I read talks for my morning scripture study compared to when I hear them in the car. The Spirit is stronger when I read. It's probably because it's quieter and because I'm not distracted by details of driving.
This last week or so, I read and heard some really cool talks. When I really concentrate on them, I feel the Lord reaching down from heaven and filling my mind with directions for all aspects of my life. He helps me in my research, especially when I'm stuck on something. He helps me be a loving and kind husband. He helps me see how to teach my kids the gospel so they will be happy, both in our home now and for the rest of their lives.
The most important part of listening to conference talks, of course, is to feel and recognize the Spirit and learn how to become like our Savior, Jesus Christ. There is a tasty side to General Conference for our family. You may remember that we make peanut butter popcorn! T&L, if you're watching, thanks again for that recipe. :)
We have started talking with our boys about conference weekend. This helps us to look forward to it and also to settle down and prepare our minds for the weekend. It's like a marathon mixed with a fire hose. It really takes a few months to digest all the talks properly. And I'm thinking now about ways I can adjust my scripture study to make it for efficacious. This time I want to read through all the talks and mark them up. When I've done this in the past, I get more out of them when I hear them in the car. It doesn't go the other way for me.
Last night Angie brought up taking notes as she was heading to the Relief Society session of General Conference. It is something I used to do a lot more than I do now. I was on the extreme end in my younger years, to the point that only be able to summarize the talk and the stories therein and miss the real meaning or the principles that the Lord would have me learn right then. Now I'm on the other extreme and I hardly take any notes. Today at church, my friend JO said (and if it wasn't him, it was someone else in our joined meeting) that he takes notes just so he can pay attention. The debate for Angie and me is whether or not it actually helps because we don't go back and read the notes! I know that taking a few notes will keep my mind on the talks so that's a good reason for doing it. The times I take notes on what impressions come to me are the times I take away a really important theme for me to work on. It's really important to me and I love working on things and improving myself.
Maybe taking notes like that works for you too. If you'd like to share your thoughts on how you take notes, please do. As for me, I'll have out my little notebook and watch and listen for the Lord's direction in my life.
And eat some peanut butter popcorn.
Of course, I've been waiting for 6 months for General Conference. Ever since the last amen by President Monson in the Sunday afternoon session in April I have looked forward to October. And for 6 months I have read conference talks and have lessons on them in sacrament meeting talks and in elders quorum meetings. I also listen to talks in my car on my way to school. There were tons of awesome talks last conference and I'm re-reading some of them now and loving them. You know what's funny? I notice a big difference in how I feel when I read talks for my morning scripture study compared to when I hear them in the car. The Spirit is stronger when I read. It's probably because it's quieter and because I'm not distracted by details of driving.
This last week or so, I read and heard some really cool talks. When I really concentrate on them, I feel the Lord reaching down from heaven and filling my mind with directions for all aspects of my life. He helps me in my research, especially when I'm stuck on something. He helps me be a loving and kind husband. He helps me see how to teach my kids the gospel so they will be happy, both in our home now and for the rest of their lives.
The most important part of listening to conference talks, of course, is to feel and recognize the Spirit and learn how to become like our Savior, Jesus Christ. There is a tasty side to General Conference for our family. You may remember that we make peanut butter popcorn! T&L, if you're watching, thanks again for that recipe. :)
We have started talking with our boys about conference weekend. This helps us to look forward to it and also to settle down and prepare our minds for the weekend. It's like a marathon mixed with a fire hose. It really takes a few months to digest all the talks properly. And I'm thinking now about ways I can adjust my scripture study to make it for efficacious. This time I want to read through all the talks and mark them up. When I've done this in the past, I get more out of them when I hear them in the car. It doesn't go the other way for me.
Last night Angie brought up taking notes as she was heading to the Relief Society session of General Conference. It is something I used to do a lot more than I do now. I was on the extreme end in my younger years, to the point that only be able to summarize the talk and the stories therein and miss the real meaning or the principles that the Lord would have me learn right then. Now I'm on the other extreme and I hardly take any notes. Today at church, my friend JO said (and if it wasn't him, it was someone else in our joined meeting) that he takes notes just so he can pay attention. The debate for Angie and me is whether or not it actually helps because we don't go back and read the notes! I know that taking a few notes will keep my mind on the talks so that's a good reason for doing it. The times I take notes on what impressions come to me are the times I take away a really important theme for me to work on. It's really important to me and I love working on things and improving myself.
Maybe taking notes like that works for you too. If you'd like to share your thoughts on how you take notes, please do. As for me, I'll have out my little notebook and watch and listen for the Lord's direction in my life.
And eat some peanut butter popcorn.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Stop it!
I've had an amazing and shocking experience since Brigham was born. My struggle with sanity and parenting for the past several years has become the norm (unfortunately) and the birth of my third son has been a big wake up call in how I deal with "problems" that I face on a daily basis.
For you parents out there who have more than one child and, for better contrast, with several years in between any two kids, this should make a lot of sense. Our lives turned to bliss when Brigham was born. Even the energetic older kids pushed the pause button on the ludicrous speed. I would look at Briggie and think, "Wow, I love you so much. Why do I love you so much? I don't know, but I do know you haven't done anything to make me mad."
A few days or weeks after the novelty of our newest birth wore off, we got back to normal. And I mean the normal that I've been trying to turn into happy times with less success than I hoped for. The short of it is this. The all-too-common complaining and bickering spurts would raise my temperature and then I'd look at the new baby who has never yelled at me and my feelings would abruptly change. Yes, that was a good feeling. I'm not complaining about that for even a (milli)second. The shock was that I have the difficult times and deal with those circumstances with such negative emotion.
It's really sad to me to think that I don't handle life and challenges better than that. I used to handle challenges like the water running off the untouchable duck's back. Now I long for those days and am trying to get that back. Piece by piece. Little by little is better than nothing. And it's been a hard road so far. There has been progress lately and I guess that's why I'm writing this blog post.
This last General Conference had some talks that talked about the problems that come when we hold onto anger, hurt and other prideful feelings. I've heard these different talks just this last week or two so they stuck out. Elder Scott talked about how anger, hurt and defensiveness gets in the way of receiving revelation. President Uchtdorf, in his now-famous "Stop it" talk taught me the following. I'll quote the paragraphs that mean the most to me. I'd like to paste his whole talk in here. It's that good.
Jesus taught: “Forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not … [stands] condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin”3 and “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”4
For you parents out there who have more than one child and, for better contrast, with several years in between any two kids, this should make a lot of sense. Our lives turned to bliss when Brigham was born. Even the energetic older kids pushed the pause button on the ludicrous speed. I would look at Briggie and think, "Wow, I love you so much. Why do I love you so much? I don't know, but I do know you haven't done anything to make me mad."
A few days or weeks after the novelty of our newest birth wore off, we got back to normal. And I mean the normal that I've been trying to turn into happy times with less success than I hoped for. The short of it is this. The all-too-common complaining and bickering spurts would raise my temperature and then I'd look at the new baby who has never yelled at me and my feelings would abruptly change. Yes, that was a good feeling. I'm not complaining about that for even a (milli)second. The shock was that I have the difficult times and deal with those circumstances with such negative emotion.
It's really sad to me to think that I don't handle life and challenges better than that. I used to handle challenges like the water running off the untouchable duck's back. Now I long for those days and am trying to get that back. Piece by piece. Little by little is better than nothing. And it's been a hard road so far. There has been progress lately and I guess that's why I'm writing this blog post.
This last General Conference had some talks that talked about the problems that come when we hold onto anger, hurt and other prideful feelings. I've heard these different talks just this last week or two so they stuck out. Elder Scott talked about how anger, hurt and defensiveness gets in the way of receiving revelation. President Uchtdorf, in his now-famous "Stop it" talk taught me the following. I'll quote the paragraphs that mean the most to me. I'd like to paste his whole talk in here. It's that good.
Jesus taught: “Forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not … [stands] condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin”3 and “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”4
Of course, these words seem perfectly reasonable—when applied to someone else. We can so clearly and easily see the harmful results that come when others judge and hold grudges. And we certainly don’t like it when people judge us.
But when it comes to our own prejudices and grievances, we too often justify our anger as righteous and our judgment as reliable and only appropriate. Though we cannot look into another’s heart, we assume that we know a bad motive or even a bad person when we see one. We make exceptions when it comes to our own bitterness because we feel that, in our case, we have all the information we need to hold someone else in contempt.
Man. This describes me all too well. I have to admit to myself that when my kids are being kids (not making bad choices, I mean just being their learning selves) that my bad reaction does not have to enter the equation. The situation would be better off if I could just chill. I'd also be better off for the time I'd gain back where I, instead, have to cool off.
He said, “… of you it is required to forgive all men.”7
May I add a footnote here? When the Lord requires that we forgive all men, that includes forgiving ourselves. Sometimes, of all the people in the world, the one who is the hardest to forgive—as well as perhaps the one who is most in need of our forgiveness—is the person looking back at us in the mirror.
This topic of judging others could actually be taught in a two-word sermon. When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm, please apply the following:
Stop it!
So I have some major renovation to do and I've already begun. It's hard. I believe that Jesus the Christ has paid for my sins and felt all the pain that I will ever suffer. He is willing to take that upon Himself because he loves me and He loves you. "Come unto me" comes with a beautiful reward of peace and happiness. Guess what I just realized? It also comes at a price. What price? "I will show unto [you your] weakness" (Ether 12:27). And while I am struggling now, I know from experience that the peace that will come into my life and permeate my heart in the end (and yes, at certain points along the way) will be much higher peaks than the valleys of difficulty.
I take great comfort in at least one point of Christ's doctrine. It is that children under the age of accountability are without sin and are perfect in Him. Skyler isn't even 8 yet so he is, in at least that sense, perfect. As I've watched him make choices I can see that he has the purest intent in everything he does. He is just hard to control.
Control? Yes, apparently that's what I'm after. And it is I who needs to let go.
I am applying the two-word sermon of "Stop it" and I already feel the Lord's tender mercies in my life. Outcomes are not what I would choose them to be. I'm frustrated on a daily basis, but avoiding the buildup of stress and anger is reward enough for the hard work. I hope this weakness will become a strength unto me.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Wherever you are
This morning I was reading in Helaman 7:7-9 as part of this week's Sunday school lesson. This is the chapter when Nephi was praying on his tower and the wicked Nephites (Gadianton's robbers) gathered around to hear him pray. Kind of a funny scene in my mind, but it set some awesome events in motion over the next few chapters and lots of people get converted.
Anyway, these verses have an attitude that will bless any person in whatsoever circumstances they find themselves in life. This might be the place they live, the job they have, hard things to deal with, or anything else that's hard to handle.
Nephi was having a hard time with the wickedness that his people had fallen into. In verse 7, Nephi wishes that he had lived centuries before when the Nephites were "easy to be entreated" and "were quick to hearken to the words of the Lord." What a great time that would have been!
However, Nephi is quick to say next that he knows he has been called to live in his own time. This is the part that caught my attention. It reminds me that the Lord has put me here on earth and given me the life that I have. There are some things that I wish I could change about my circumstances. But this verse teaches me that life isn't meant to be a breeze and that I need to learn from the difficult things. In fact, it is actually those hard things that give me cause to remember the gospel, our Savior, repentance and being the best husband and father I can possibly be. At Judgment Day, it won't really matter that my kids grump before school or stay awake past bedtime. I will be judged for my actions and desires.
I love the gospel and the blessings that come to me and my family for living it. Blessed be the name of the Lord. His plan of salvation is so amazing! :)
Anyway, these verses have an attitude that will bless any person in whatsoever circumstances they find themselves in life. This might be the place they live, the job they have, hard things to deal with, or anything else that's hard to handle.
Nephi was having a hard time with the wickedness that his people had fallen into. In verse 7, Nephi wishes that he had lived centuries before when the Nephites were "easy to be entreated" and "were quick to hearken to the words of the Lord." What a great time that would have been!
However, Nephi is quick to say next that he knows he has been called to live in his own time. This is the part that caught my attention. It reminds me that the Lord has put me here on earth and given me the life that I have. There are some things that I wish I could change about my circumstances. But this verse teaches me that life isn't meant to be a breeze and that I need to learn from the difficult things. In fact, it is actually those hard things that give me cause to remember the gospel, our Savior, repentance and being the best husband and father I can possibly be. At Judgment Day, it won't really matter that my kids grump before school or stay awake past bedtime. I will be judged for my actions and desires.
I love the gospel and the blessings that come to me and my family for living it. Blessed be the name of the Lord. His plan of salvation is so amazing! :)
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Dejunkification
Yesterday was a long, busy day. And I got a sunburn. But it was so worth the effort and effects.
When we moved here we had two kids and considerably less stuff. Skyler was 22 months old and Wes was 3 months old. We brought what I'd say was too much stuff. I say that now, but back then it seemed about right. It all fit in our small apartment back then so it couldn't have been all that much.
The amount of stuff we own has changed.
A lot.
In our years here we have purchased a lot of stuff. Some of it is for the boys, some for Angie and me, some just because we ... well, actually, I have no idea why we have some of this stuff.
When we moved from our apartment into a 3-bedroom mansion, we felt like we had all the space in the world to hold stuff. I have to tell you that the spaciousness of this house is due partly because there is less storage space than typical homes. Each room has a little closet, but that's it. No game closet or linen closet. I even busted out my inner handyman one year and put up some shelves above the washer, dryer and deep freeze. That was about a 15% boost in our storage capacity. And it felt Grrrreeeat! (Think Tony the Tiger.)
Time went on. So did our purchases. We filled every nook and cranny in our domain. I still remember the day at the store when we were deciding on buying something for Wes. I think it was the activity center we got when he was ready for it. Anyway, there we were in the store and since I was the one who kept reorganizing our stuff so it could fit in all our closets and under beds, I knew we were out of room. And this type of toy thing is pretty big. I remember turning to Angie and saying, "where are we going to put this thing when it's time to put it away?" Her answer and my acceptance has haunted me for years.
Yes, years.
She said, "We'll find somewhere." I guess I thought she knew something I didn't know. Well, that began our life of not putting everything away. It has been a stressful topic for me. The more time goes by and the more stuff we have accrued for our growing family, the deeper it hurts.
So let me tell you what we did yesterday. We dejunkified our shed! I better rewind a bit and tell you that we bought a shed kit and got some help putting it together in our back grassy area (it's no yard). This was a life saver at the time. I guess I thought that would act as some sort of magical bag of holding and solve all my storage problems. It didn't. It couldn't have. Not when we just kept buying things.
With a potential move on the horizon (after graduation and finding a job...no news yet), the question on our minds is, "How much room will we have for our stuff?" It is so stressful. Partly because we have looked into the cost of living in expensive places where tiny homes will be all we can afford. And it basically comes down to how much stuff do we want to keep. Sure, there are things we can get rid of. But if we move into a house that can hold it all, why get rid of the stuff in that gray area? You know?
We've debated having a Yard Sale or a Yard Free. We've talked about donating stuff or giving it away to friends. Or listing things on craigslist. We ended up deciding that the best thing to do for our emotional state and the speediest solution would be to go through the shed and quickly decide if an item was for keeping, donating or garbage.
We spent about an hour pulling everything out of the shed and putting it into piles. The result was thrilling! The pile of "get rid of" was huge! I felt that dormant organizer wake up inside me. I could see where things might actually be moved from our living space out to the shed! The end result wasn't so quick to come though. It took a few hours to go through boxes, throw away certain portions and get the rest ready for recycling. That included breaking down boxes so they fit in my car. It was a tight fit, but so worth it in the end. The van was chuck full, too, with everything going to donation. I spent the next hour driving both vehicles to their respective destinations, finalizing the freedom of space.
I do love space.
Empty space.
Living space.
Outer space.
(That's been a joke lately about where we could move to get away from our 10 days of power outage, another partial day of power outage, 5 days of losing our Internet connection, etc.)
We would benefit from taking the counsel of modern-day prophets to "live within your means" and apply it to the volume of our home. I'd like to enjoy the stress-free lifestyle of fitting in our house just as I enjoy living within our income.
Any stories you'd like to share about dejunkifiying your life?
When we moved here we had two kids and considerably less stuff. Skyler was 22 months old and Wes was 3 months old. We brought what I'd say was too much stuff. I say that now, but back then it seemed about right. It all fit in our small apartment back then so it couldn't have been all that much.
The amount of stuff we own has changed.
A lot.
In our years here we have purchased a lot of stuff. Some of it is for the boys, some for Angie and me, some just because we ... well, actually, I have no idea why we have some of this stuff.
When we moved from our apartment into a 3-bedroom mansion, we felt like we had all the space in the world to hold stuff. I have to tell you that the spaciousness of this house is due partly because there is less storage space than typical homes. Each room has a little closet, but that's it. No game closet or linen closet. I even busted out my inner handyman one year and put up some shelves above the washer, dryer and deep freeze. That was about a 15% boost in our storage capacity. And it felt Grrrreeeat! (Think Tony the Tiger.)
Time went on. So did our purchases. We filled every nook and cranny in our domain. I still remember the day at the store when we were deciding on buying something for Wes. I think it was the activity center we got when he was ready for it. Anyway, there we were in the store and since I was the one who kept reorganizing our stuff so it could fit in all our closets and under beds, I knew we were out of room. And this type of toy thing is pretty big. I remember turning to Angie and saying, "where are we going to put this thing when it's time to put it away?" Her answer and my acceptance has haunted me for years.
Yes, years.
She said, "We'll find somewhere." I guess I thought she knew something I didn't know. Well, that began our life of not putting everything away. It has been a stressful topic for me. The more time goes by and the more stuff we have accrued for our growing family, the deeper it hurts.
So let me tell you what we did yesterday. We dejunkified our shed! I better rewind a bit and tell you that we bought a shed kit and got some help putting it together in our back grassy area (it's no yard). This was a life saver at the time. I guess I thought that would act as some sort of magical bag of holding and solve all my storage problems. It didn't. It couldn't have. Not when we just kept buying things.
With a potential move on the horizon (after graduation and finding a job...no news yet), the question on our minds is, "How much room will we have for our stuff?" It is so stressful. Partly because we have looked into the cost of living in expensive places where tiny homes will be all we can afford. And it basically comes down to how much stuff do we want to keep. Sure, there are things we can get rid of. But if we move into a house that can hold it all, why get rid of the stuff in that gray area? You know?
We've debated having a Yard Sale or a Yard Free. We've talked about donating stuff or giving it away to friends. Or listing things on craigslist. We ended up deciding that the best thing to do for our emotional state and the speediest solution would be to go through the shed and quickly decide if an item was for keeping, donating or garbage.
We spent about an hour pulling everything out of the shed and putting it into piles. The result was thrilling! The pile of "get rid of" was huge! I felt that dormant organizer wake up inside me. I could see where things might actually be moved from our living space out to the shed! The end result wasn't so quick to come though. It took a few hours to go through boxes, throw away certain portions and get the rest ready for recycling. That included breaking down boxes so they fit in my car. It was a tight fit, but so worth it in the end. The van was chuck full, too, with everything going to donation. I spent the next hour driving both vehicles to their respective destinations, finalizing the freedom of space.
I do love space.
Empty space.
Living space.
Outer space.
(That's been a joke lately about where we could move to get away from our 10 days of power outage, another partial day of power outage, 5 days of losing our Internet connection, etc.)
We would benefit from taking the counsel of modern-day prophets to "live within your means" and apply it to the volume of our home. I'd like to enjoy the stress-free lifestyle of fitting in our house just as I enjoy living within our income.
Any stories you'd like to share about dejunkifiying your life?
Sunday, July 15, 2012
It's been 3 weeks since I wrote last. It's been a very crazy time and we have been very blessed to pass through it so well.
Oftentimes I pray for protection from harm, danger and accident. I also pray sometimes for my family's protection with the presence of holy angels. I've had experiences in the past where I believe those prayers were answered. This month, again, we've felt that blessing.
It all started on Friday, June 29, 2012 around 5:30pm when I was on my way home for a hot date with Angie. I had already picked up our babysitter and Angie called my cell to tell me about the humongous storm coming within the hour. There were dark storm clouds ahead, those dark blue kind. It was pretty to look at.
But not the aftermath. It was pretty something else. Lame.
The storm was called a derecho. It only lasted 10-15 minutes in our area and I'm guessing it was similar in other areas. It was very powerful, however, and it leveled trees and many power lines in several states. We did not know this at the time. Even if we did, it wouldn't have made much difference.
It was date night.
Hot Date Night.
And we had a babysitter. We got out flashlights and candles for everyone and some glow sticks for the boys in case the power stayed off during the night. Glow sticks are part of our 72-hour kits for just this reason. Our boys go nuts in pitch darkness. We avoid the screaming with a fun glow stick. Thanks, Dollar Store!
Our plans were to go to dinner that night. The storm was heading southeast and we didn't want to catch up to it by driving after it. So we went north and it's a good thing we did. We tried to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant in that direction. We got to the general area and found out that Wal-Mart's power was off. That wasn't a good sign. We kept going to the restaurant, thinking they'd be out of power too, but it was date night! Hot Date Night! We made it to the turnoff for the Mexican restaurant only to see the road blocked with orange cones and guarded by a police car. Then we saw a fire engine and smoke rising nearby. There was a little fire in the trees between us and our favorite California Burrito (with chicken!) so we couldn't go any farther. I guess lightning struck a tree and caused the fire.
We saw so many businesses without power that we headed north again to the next city. There was a little diner in a small area that happened to have power. They got flooded with customers at this time since so many people were without power. I heard there were 3.2 million people who lost power from the storm. I can't confirm that, but I can confirm that 600,000+ lost power that are customers of our electric company in our state alone so I believe the number. Anyway, many of these people were looking for food and this diner stayed open past hours to serve them all. We were very grateful. (BTW, Angie's black bean burger was even better than my super duper awesome BBQ-smothered pulled pork sandwich. I want to go back just for another taste of that burger!)
This power outage occurred during one of the hottest weeks I can remember. Temperatures were 90+ degrees Fahrenheit every day and some days were over 100 degrees. Add on humidity for a rough time. The first day we just drove around all day in our van so we could stay cool. We drove an hour to get to some stores that were open and we spent the day shopping in comfort.
The following days were nuts. We couldn't cool off the house at night because it didn't get below 70 degrees. And the uncomfortable and uncanny lack of wind was a huge deal. In essence, the house didn't cool off in the evenings below about 80 degrees and each morning we had to leave by 9 or 10am because we started getting cooked alive in our house.
Each night got worse and worse. We set up a tent on the porch one night, but I decided last second not to sleep in it, even though it was cooler outside. Good thing, too! It rained really hard that night. That would have been really lame because our boys are scared of thunder and terrified if it's close.
After a week of spending the afternoons and evenings with friends or at the church building, we happened to be with another family from church when they got a phone call saying their power was on. We were so blessed to be with them because they invited us over to spend the night. We'd been on the verge of finding somewhere to go for a night or two. This was a miracle for us. These people truly are angels who reached out and blessed us and, especially, our kids.
We were worried about our kids for days, especially our baby. Nights were so hot that we didn't know if the boys would get sick or if anything bad would happen to them from heat overload. We didn't want our baby to get too hot or too cold and didn't know how to dress him before bed. We were blessed with good health during those hot nights at home. We were more blessed to have cool nights with air conditioning at our friends' home. All the thanks we gave them didn't equal the blessing it was to be there. We hope to return the favor to somebody who needs our help as badly as we needed theirs.
Thank you JJJMG&C(&A)!!!
Oftentimes I pray for protection from harm, danger and accident. I also pray sometimes for my family's protection with the presence of holy angels. I've had experiences in the past where I believe those prayers were answered. This month, again, we've felt that blessing.
It all started on Friday, June 29, 2012 around 5:30pm when I was on my way home for a hot date with Angie. I had already picked up our babysitter and Angie called my cell to tell me about the humongous storm coming within the hour. There were dark storm clouds ahead, those dark blue kind. It was pretty to look at.
But not the aftermath. It was pretty something else. Lame.
The storm was called a derecho. It only lasted 10-15 minutes in our area and I'm guessing it was similar in other areas. It was very powerful, however, and it leveled trees and many power lines in several states. We did not know this at the time. Even if we did, it wouldn't have made much difference.
It was date night.
Hot Date Night.
And we had a babysitter. We got out flashlights and candles for everyone and some glow sticks for the boys in case the power stayed off during the night. Glow sticks are part of our 72-hour kits for just this reason. Our boys go nuts in pitch darkness. We avoid the screaming with a fun glow stick. Thanks, Dollar Store!
Our plans were to go to dinner that night. The storm was heading southeast and we didn't want to catch up to it by driving after it. So we went north and it's a good thing we did. We tried to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant in that direction. We got to the general area and found out that Wal-Mart's power was off. That wasn't a good sign. We kept going to the restaurant, thinking they'd be out of power too, but it was date night! Hot Date Night! We made it to the turnoff for the Mexican restaurant only to see the road blocked with orange cones and guarded by a police car. Then we saw a fire engine and smoke rising nearby. There was a little fire in the trees between us and our favorite California Burrito (with chicken!) so we couldn't go any farther. I guess lightning struck a tree and caused the fire.
We saw so many businesses without power that we headed north again to the next city. There was a little diner in a small area that happened to have power. They got flooded with customers at this time since so many people were without power. I heard there were 3.2 million people who lost power from the storm. I can't confirm that, but I can confirm that 600,000+ lost power that are customers of our electric company in our state alone so I believe the number. Anyway, many of these people were looking for food and this diner stayed open past hours to serve them all. We were very grateful. (BTW, Angie's black bean burger was even better than my super duper awesome BBQ-smothered pulled pork sandwich. I want to go back just for another taste of that burger!)
This power outage occurred during one of the hottest weeks I can remember. Temperatures were 90+ degrees Fahrenheit every day and some days were over 100 degrees. Add on humidity for a rough time. The first day we just drove around all day in our van so we could stay cool. We drove an hour to get to some stores that were open and we spent the day shopping in comfort.
The following days were nuts. We couldn't cool off the house at night because it didn't get below 70 degrees. And the uncomfortable and uncanny lack of wind was a huge deal. In essence, the house didn't cool off in the evenings below about 80 degrees and each morning we had to leave by 9 or 10am because we started getting cooked alive in our house.
Each night got worse and worse. We set up a tent on the porch one night, but I decided last second not to sleep in it, even though it was cooler outside. Good thing, too! It rained really hard that night. That would have been really lame because our boys are scared of thunder and terrified if it's close.
After a week of spending the afternoons and evenings with friends or at the church building, we happened to be with another family from church when they got a phone call saying their power was on. We were so blessed to be with them because they invited us over to spend the night. We'd been on the verge of finding somewhere to go for a night or two. This was a miracle for us. These people truly are angels who reached out and blessed us and, especially, our kids.
We were worried about our kids for days, especially our baby. Nights were so hot that we didn't know if the boys would get sick or if anything bad would happen to them from heat overload. We didn't want our baby to get too hot or too cold and didn't know how to dress him before bed. We were blessed with good health during those hot nights at home. We were more blessed to have cool nights with air conditioning at our friends' home. All the thanks we gave them didn't equal the blessing it was to be there. We hope to return the favor to somebody who needs our help as badly as we needed theirs.
Thank you JJJMG&C(&A)!!!
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Friends
I am so grateful for good friends. I've had some really good friends throughout my life and this past month or two has been a time of constant reflection on the good friends that I've made over the past several years.
Angie and I met some of our very bestest friends six years ago. T&L were moving for graduate school just as we were. Another person who would become a great friend gave me their phone number so we could move out to graduate school together. We rented a truck together and drove out in a two-party caravan. One memorable part of the trip was that a tire needed to be replaced on the moving trailer at the truck rental store, even before we pulled off the lot. The other three tires on that thing were replaced in Wyoming (in the middle of nowhere, let me tell you), I think in Nebraska, and the last one in Indiana. Anyway, T&L are our very best friends. It's hard to imagine life without them right now. We have been through the last several years of life together and shared many happy moments with them. If you know them you'll know exactly what I'm talking about when I say they are amazing in every way. If you don't know them, it would take a dissertation (besides the one I'm writing) to explain it all to you. I wish you could know them.
Anyway, we got to our destination safely and were very happy and grateful to arrive. T&L were the first to unload their stuff from the truck. We hadn't closed on our home yet and our stuff was loaded in the truck first. When we got here, there were tons of branch members literally waiting around for us to pull up so they could greet us and help unload. I'd been calling ahead to give our ETA. The last tire repair was so delayed that, from what I remember, our 7pm estimate turned into 10pm or so. And you wouldn't believe me if I told you how many people were there waiting for us. It was awesome.
Well, that was on a Saturday night. We went to church the next day and we were all invited over to a family's home for lunch. They knew we weren't prepared to fix a meal for ourselves. It was the biggest spaghetti meal I can ever remember. It was so nice of them.
The next day we closed on our house and I, somehow, maneuvered the monstrous truck (the wrong way, oops!) up our winding, narrow road and positioned it to be unloaded right at our porch. So many people showed up to help us move. It was awesome.
And then we began our adventure here with a 22-month old and a 3-month old (who was on oxygen at the time). The first week went by in a quick blur with all the orientation meetings I had at school and in my department.
Then, on the next Saturday, we went to help a new family unload their pod. All the same people, it seems, showed up to yet another move. All to help a family they'd never met. And it didn't matter. This was the gospel in action.
Little did I know that the man who stood before me would become my best friend who I'd nickname JP a few years later. We hefted their things up two flights of stairs for a while under that hot sun. I remember the pizza toward the end of the move with a watering mouth. Yum.
If you've been keeping a running total of how many best friends there are in this story, you may be asking, "How can someone have more than one best friend?" When I was a kid, I thought you could only have one best friend. I used to keep track of who that person was. It changed often in my early years. I also kept track of my favorite song, car, color, sword, karate style, scripture, sport, sibling, etc.
I came to realize for myself that my "best" whatever was really a class, a level. It was not a pedestal with just enough space for one person, idea or sound. I have many favorite things now and the list keeps growing with time. Just for music (and you can ask my wife to verify this), I have said, "This is my favorite song" so many times that I now have to say, "It's in my top 100."
I'm just saying there's room in my heart for more than one best friend.
A year went by and then another. We helped people move in and move out. A new family moved in at that point that we became pretty good friends with too. Even though this guy was the newcomer, we became friends over time for lots of different reasons. We talked about all sorts of different stuff from football and business to "alogarithms."
"What?"
"You know, patterns for doing things."
"You mean, 'algorithms'."
"That's what I said."
"No. You said a mix of 'algorithm' and 'logarithm'. They're not the same thing. Please, never say that word again."
We also talked about astronomy and other cool things. I got to know him over four years and am really, really glad I did. He's great. But this reminds me, he never told me about Big Foot. I only heard reference of it from other people. Please, tell me!
Our family has just watched JP and his family move about as far away as one can move and still live in the United States, Mr BF Alogarithm has gone (but not too far) and this week we just said goodbye to T&L. And this is where the tears start to flow.
Goodbye, my friends. Better yet, "See you later."
I love you. We love you.
Angie and I met some of our very bestest friends six years ago. T&L were moving for graduate school just as we were. Another person who would become a great friend gave me their phone number so we could move out to graduate school together. We rented a truck together and drove out in a two-party caravan. One memorable part of the trip was that a tire needed to be replaced on the moving trailer at the truck rental store, even before we pulled off the lot. The other three tires on that thing were replaced in Wyoming (in the middle of nowhere, let me tell you), I think in Nebraska, and the last one in Indiana. Anyway, T&L are our very best friends. It's hard to imagine life without them right now. We have been through the last several years of life together and shared many happy moments with them. If you know them you'll know exactly what I'm talking about when I say they are amazing in every way. If you don't know them, it would take a dissertation (besides the one I'm writing) to explain it all to you. I wish you could know them.
Anyway, we got to our destination safely and were very happy and grateful to arrive. T&L were the first to unload their stuff from the truck. We hadn't closed on our home yet and our stuff was loaded in the truck first. When we got here, there were tons of branch members literally waiting around for us to pull up so they could greet us and help unload. I'd been calling ahead to give our ETA. The last tire repair was so delayed that, from what I remember, our 7pm estimate turned into 10pm or so. And you wouldn't believe me if I told you how many people were there waiting for us. It was awesome.
Well, that was on a Saturday night. We went to church the next day and we were all invited over to a family's home for lunch. They knew we weren't prepared to fix a meal for ourselves. It was the biggest spaghetti meal I can ever remember. It was so nice of them.
The next day we closed on our house and I, somehow, maneuvered the monstrous truck (the wrong way, oops!) up our winding, narrow road and positioned it to be unloaded right at our porch. So many people showed up to help us move. It was awesome.
And then we began our adventure here with a 22-month old and a 3-month old (who was on oxygen at the time). The first week went by in a quick blur with all the orientation meetings I had at school and in my department.
Then, on the next Saturday, we went to help a new family unload their pod. All the same people, it seems, showed up to yet another move. All to help a family they'd never met. And it didn't matter. This was the gospel in action.
Little did I know that the man who stood before me would become my best friend who I'd nickname JP a few years later. We hefted their things up two flights of stairs for a while under that hot sun. I remember the pizza toward the end of the move with a watering mouth. Yum.
If you've been keeping a running total of how many best friends there are in this story, you may be asking, "How can someone have more than one best friend?" When I was a kid, I thought you could only have one best friend. I used to keep track of who that person was. It changed often in my early years. I also kept track of my favorite song, car, color, sword, karate style, scripture, sport, sibling, etc.
I came to realize for myself that my "best" whatever was really a class, a level. It was not a pedestal with just enough space for one person, idea or sound. I have many favorite things now and the list keeps growing with time. Just for music (and you can ask my wife to verify this), I have said, "This is my favorite song" so many times that I now have to say, "It's in my top 100."
I'm just saying there's room in my heart for more than one best friend.
A year went by and then another. We helped people move in and move out. A new family moved in at that point that we became pretty good friends with too. Even though this guy was the newcomer, we became friends over time for lots of different reasons. We talked about all sorts of different stuff from football and business to "alogarithms."
"What?"
"You know, patterns for doing things."
"You mean, 'algorithms'."
"That's what I said."
"No. You said a mix of 'algorithm' and 'logarithm'. They're not the same thing. Please, never say that word again."
We also talked about astronomy and other cool things. I got to know him over four years and am really, really glad I did. He's great. But this reminds me, he never told me about Big Foot. I only heard reference of it from other people. Please, tell me!
Our family has just watched JP and his family move about as far away as one can move and still live in the United States, Mr BF Alogarithm has gone (but not too far) and this week we just said goodbye to T&L. And this is where the tears start to flow.
Goodbye, my friends. Better yet, "See you later."
I love you. We love you.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
So, it's Father's Day
After we came home from church and had lunch, we settled down into quiet time at our house. It's a marvelous thing, that quiet time. I mentioned to my wife that I was thinking about my blog and didn't know what I'd write about yet today. "How about Father's Day?"
Oh, ya. It's Father's Day.
Sweet.
That means awesome dinner, presents and extra family love. Ya, baby! Our family tradition is to choose dinner on our special day. Normally I'd go with lasagna, but I slaved over buying and heating one up for Mother's Day so I went with something Mexican. I said I wanted burritos with chicken. Then Angie went to town on the supporting feast. She's so awesome! We'll eat it soon so ask me later how it was.
My wife is so rockin' awesome for many reasons. I'm glad I married her and I'm glad we have an awesome family together. I'm looking around the house at my little kiddies right now and I am so happy to have them in my family. She and I make a great team. We work hard and are on the same page with just about everything. She makes my life worth living. When I get a quiet moment around the house I like to look at her for a minute or two. Sometimes she catches me, sometimes not. I'm so lucky to have her.
On to the rest of what makes today a special day.
One of my kids doesn't have any teeth. I really like that about him. No, seriously. He's sooo cute! I kinda forget that he doesn't have teeth until I see in his mouth. Otherwise I don't think of it. When his first tooth comes in it's going to change him a lot. Or so I think. I'm trying to love him up every day just in case his look changes too much. I think I'll still love him. He's rolling around next to me and I think that's so cute too! His cackle is my favorite sound. His smile is about the best thing there is to look at. I should post a picture so you can see it. Stay tuned.
The next closest child in the room happens to be the next oldest boy, Mr Wes. I love Mr Wes. He's silly in the morning, energetic in the afternoon and unpredictable in the evening. He brought a lot of love with him from the celestial world when he came to join our family. He's great. He's frustrating sometimes, but that's not his problem. From his point of view the only problem is when he can't open his fruit snacks. "Dad, I willy, willy need your help!" He is growing up so fast right now. His speech is improving a ton and so is his vocabulary. He has impressed me with him mobility lately too and climbs the stairs pretty well. He's awesome. And silly. Silly, silly Mr Wes!
My oldest boy (who is now the closest one in the room; no, wait, now he's in the other room) also brings a lot of happiness into my life. According to one of the great sacrament meeting talks today (quoting from a recent General Conference talk), parents learn more from their kids than kids learn from their parents. This has been the case with Skyler. Putting it another way, the Lord has scrubbed my soul and rounded off some of my rough edges with this child. There have been lots of ups and downs with this little fella. The downs drown out all else in life and the ups make me realize how good it is to be a dad and father in a gospel-centered home. He's also naturally talented! I love seeing him pick up new things so quickly.
Now for a surprise Father's Day treat. My younger (and taller, he would have you know) brother sent me some of our childhood family videos on DVD and they arrived yesterday. It had footage of all my family members from my younger brother to my four grandparents. This so cool for Father's Day because I got to see my dad and both grandpas. It had more of one of my grandpas, the one that I knew as quiet. He was pretty jovial in these videos. That was so cool to see. He died when I was about 15 and I don't remember him being very verbal before that. He had a stroke, I think, when I was little so I didn't see the side of him that I watched yesterday on DVD. It was awesome. I love that man.
I got to see my dad in the videos too and it was so cool to see how sweet he was to my siblings and me. I was about 5 in these videos and don't remember much of it from back then. My older siblings are 4 and 6 years older than I am and I'm excited to see what they think after they watch it. Anyway, I called my dad today and talked to him. He is happy to hear how close I am to graduating and finding a job. He's getting on in years. Hopefully we'll be able to visit him soon. The transition from here to my next job could be a good time, but we don't know which direction we're going yet. He really wants to see us. It will be good for my boys too because they don't remember seeing him before. Sounds like we need to head over to One Man Band again. That's where we'd always go eat together. Navajo tacos. Mmm, boy!
Oh, ya. It's Father's Day.
Sweet.
That means awesome dinner, presents and extra family love. Ya, baby! Our family tradition is to choose dinner on our special day. Normally I'd go with lasagna, but I slaved over buying and heating one up for Mother's Day so I went with something Mexican. I said I wanted burritos with chicken. Then Angie went to town on the supporting feast. She's so awesome! We'll eat it soon so ask me later how it was.
My wife is so rockin' awesome for many reasons. I'm glad I married her and I'm glad we have an awesome family together. I'm looking around the house at my little kiddies right now and I am so happy to have them in my family. She and I make a great team. We work hard and are on the same page with just about everything. She makes my life worth living. When I get a quiet moment around the house I like to look at her for a minute or two. Sometimes she catches me, sometimes not. I'm so lucky to have her.
On to the rest of what makes today a special day.
One of my kids doesn't have any teeth. I really like that about him. No, seriously. He's sooo cute! I kinda forget that he doesn't have teeth until I see in his mouth. Otherwise I don't think of it. When his first tooth comes in it's going to change him a lot. Or so I think. I'm trying to love him up every day just in case his look changes too much. I think I'll still love him. He's rolling around next to me and I think that's so cute too! His cackle is my favorite sound. His smile is about the best thing there is to look at. I should post a picture so you can see it. Stay tuned.
The next closest child in the room happens to be the next oldest boy, Mr Wes. I love Mr Wes. He's silly in the morning, energetic in the afternoon and unpredictable in the evening. He brought a lot of love with him from the celestial world when he came to join our family. He's great. He's frustrating sometimes, but that's not his problem. From his point of view the only problem is when he can't open his fruit snacks. "Dad, I willy, willy need your help!" He is growing up so fast right now. His speech is improving a ton and so is his vocabulary. He has impressed me with him mobility lately too and climbs the stairs pretty well. He's awesome. And silly. Silly, silly Mr Wes!
My oldest boy (who is now the closest one in the room; no, wait, now he's in the other room) also brings a lot of happiness into my life. According to one of the great sacrament meeting talks today (quoting from a recent General Conference talk), parents learn more from their kids than kids learn from their parents. This has been the case with Skyler. Putting it another way, the Lord has scrubbed my soul and rounded off some of my rough edges with this child. There have been lots of ups and downs with this little fella. The downs drown out all else in life and the ups make me realize how good it is to be a dad and father in a gospel-centered home. He's also naturally talented! I love seeing him pick up new things so quickly.
Now for a surprise Father's Day treat. My younger (and taller, he would have you know) brother sent me some of our childhood family videos on DVD and they arrived yesterday. It had footage of all my family members from my younger brother to my four grandparents. This so cool for Father's Day because I got to see my dad and both grandpas. It had more of one of my grandpas, the one that I knew as quiet. He was pretty jovial in these videos. That was so cool to see. He died when I was about 15 and I don't remember him being very verbal before that. He had a stroke, I think, when I was little so I didn't see the side of him that I watched yesterday on DVD. It was awesome. I love that man.
I got to see my dad in the videos too and it was so cool to see how sweet he was to my siblings and me. I was about 5 in these videos and don't remember much of it from back then. My older siblings are 4 and 6 years older than I am and I'm excited to see what they think after they watch it. Anyway, I called my dad today and talked to him. He is happy to hear how close I am to graduating and finding a job. He's getting on in years. Hopefully we'll be able to visit him soon. The transition from here to my next job could be a good time, but we don't know which direction we're going yet. He really wants to see us. It will be good for my boys too because they don't remember seeing him before. Sounds like we need to head over to One Man Band again. That's where we'd always go eat together. Navajo tacos. Mmm, boy!
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Humble pie
Today's Sunday school lesson was awesome. It was Alma 5-7, some of the most awesome chapters for self-reflection and self-analysis in light of gospel living in all scripture. They are powerful. Mega. Giga. Tera. Peta. (I'll stop there with the metric stuff.) It was a big lesson with very inspiring material.
I'll get right to the stuff that hit me the most. And I say this with the realization that I haven't been blogging so much about how stressed out I've been. Yes, I've missed some posts lately (I wrote one out of four weeks this past month). That was part of me realizing how much I am trying to do at once and figuring out what I need to let go of. There are so many cool things I want to do and work on. It's easy to come up with new ideas to work on, especially games to design. But I have to say no to new things plus I need to let go of some old and current things.
I'm still not around to Alma's point in today's lesson. Hold on a second. It's really good.
One friend of mine has taught me that I, on an energetic level, need more space. He describes the stress I hold in my neck as feeling pressured and I know I need to make more room for what really matters. At first that meant I could shuffle around how much time I spent on scripture study and give myself more to family time, but that didn't do it. I started saying no to things on my plate, like game development. It's too much right now with my work load and thinking about jobs.
I started telling myself that I'll not work on some things until after I move and settle in. It has helped. It really has. I'm past the stage of relying on the arm of flesh. There's no way I can keep up the load I put on myself so I thought I had given up my desires and was putting the Lord's will before my own. Until today's lesson.
The root of what's getting me is a twist on some of my favorite scriptures. I counsel with the Lord in all I do. Or I think I do. Maybe I've been asking to not be stressed without giving up the lifestyle that brings it on. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart? Lean not unto thine own understanding? Check, check. Really?
No. I'm fooling myself. I can see through Alma's teachings today that envy and a lack of humility have clouded my judgment (there are many more lessons that can be learned from these chapters). It kinda makes me sorrowful that I have let this happen to me. Where did I go wrong? Little by little it happened. Time for change. Again.
Long story short: I gave up radio and TV in high school because I heard in seminary it would make life better. Cut out the junk and fill the holes with uplifting things. Result? Amazing things happened in every aspect of my life. I was the happiest person I knew.
Not today.
I'm working at getting it back though. Counseling with the Lord must be accompanied by the quiet time to reflect and ponder on what He is trying to tell me. A "Go, go, go" attitude crowds out the Spirit. Perhaps I have turned that into "Go, go, slow down slightly," but really need to be "Go, slow, chill!"
Any unexpected thing to do or think about really puts me over the edge. How can I be operating at safe levels when a child's mess or crying puts me into panic mode? Answer: I actually thought I was doing ok. How? I don't watch TV or listen to the radio, but "Go, go, go" has been just as (or more) detrimental. Still, I've been deceived.
This sorta seems like I'm being really critical of myself. That's not how I mean it to come across. But I want to be honest and acknowledge my position before God. It's humbling, but that's the point. My will plus my arm of flesh will fizzle out. God's power and guidance will take me places I would never be able to see or experience. I know that's true. If bearing my soul helps out someone else then it's all worth it.
Thank you, John, for teaching the lesson today. Thank you, Alma, wherever you are. Maybe you are reading this via some Angel app. Thank you to all the ancient American prophets who wrote their testimonies and speak to me as if from the dust. Thank you good friends who have listened patiently as I spout off my problems. Your advice, wisdom and counsel has been worth more than gold. I hope you get an extra snack time in heaven when ambrosia is served in the afternoon.
My eyes have been opened. My heart has felt a change. It is now up to me to cut out a quarter of what I try to do. It's really slowing me down in the long run. I want to have the constant companionship of the Spirit. I believe that can happen if I slow down. "Go, slow, chill!" And keep praying. Prayer is a friend that I can't give up.
Thanks for following me in this journey. If you've felt similar to how I feel and want to tell me or other readers about it, please feel free. :)
I'll get right to the stuff that hit me the most. And I say this with the realization that I haven't been blogging so much about how stressed out I've been. Yes, I've missed some posts lately (I wrote one out of four weeks this past month). That was part of me realizing how much I am trying to do at once and figuring out what I need to let go of. There are so many cool things I want to do and work on. It's easy to come up with new ideas to work on, especially games to design. But I have to say no to new things plus I need to let go of some old and current things.
I'm still not around to Alma's point in today's lesson. Hold on a second. It's really good.
One friend of mine has taught me that I, on an energetic level, need more space. He describes the stress I hold in my neck as feeling pressured and I know I need to make more room for what really matters. At first that meant I could shuffle around how much time I spent on scripture study and give myself more to family time, but that didn't do it. I started saying no to things on my plate, like game development. It's too much right now with my work load and thinking about jobs.
I started telling myself that I'll not work on some things until after I move and settle in. It has helped. It really has. I'm past the stage of relying on the arm of flesh. There's no way I can keep up the load I put on myself so I thought I had given up my desires and was putting the Lord's will before my own. Until today's lesson.
The root of what's getting me is a twist on some of my favorite scriptures. I counsel with the Lord in all I do. Or I think I do. Maybe I've been asking to not be stressed without giving up the lifestyle that brings it on. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart? Lean not unto thine own understanding? Check, check. Really?
No. I'm fooling myself. I can see through Alma's teachings today that envy and a lack of humility have clouded my judgment (there are many more lessons that can be learned from these chapters). It kinda makes me sorrowful that I have let this happen to me. Where did I go wrong? Little by little it happened. Time for change. Again.
Long story short: I gave up radio and TV in high school because I heard in seminary it would make life better. Cut out the junk and fill the holes with uplifting things. Result? Amazing things happened in every aspect of my life. I was the happiest person I knew.
Not today.
I'm working at getting it back though. Counseling with the Lord must be accompanied by the quiet time to reflect and ponder on what He is trying to tell me. A "Go, go, go" attitude crowds out the Spirit. Perhaps I have turned that into "Go, go, slow down slightly," but really need to be "Go, slow, chill!"
Any unexpected thing to do or think about really puts me over the edge. How can I be operating at safe levels when a child's mess or crying puts me into panic mode? Answer: I actually thought I was doing ok. How? I don't watch TV or listen to the radio, but "Go, go, go" has been just as (or more) detrimental. Still, I've been deceived.
This sorta seems like I'm being really critical of myself. That's not how I mean it to come across. But I want to be honest and acknowledge my position before God. It's humbling, but that's the point. My will plus my arm of flesh will fizzle out. God's power and guidance will take me places I would never be able to see or experience. I know that's true. If bearing my soul helps out someone else then it's all worth it.
Thank you, John, for teaching the lesson today. Thank you, Alma, wherever you are. Maybe you are reading this via some Angel app. Thank you to all the ancient American prophets who wrote their testimonies and speak to me as if from the dust. Thank you good friends who have listened patiently as I spout off my problems. Your advice, wisdom and counsel has been worth more than gold. I hope you get an extra snack time in heaven when ambrosia is served in the afternoon.
My eyes have been opened. My heart has felt a change. It is now up to me to cut out a quarter of what I try to do. It's really slowing me down in the long run. I want to have the constant companionship of the Spirit. I believe that can happen if I slow down. "Go, slow, chill!" And keep praying. Prayer is a friend that I can't give up.
Thanks for following me in this journey. If you've felt similar to how I feel and want to tell me or other readers about it, please feel free. :)
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Journals
Do you ever miss writing in your journal? I do. I used to write in it like crazy. When I was young(er) I was in the habit of writing in it every day. There were times where I went without it being daily, but I liked it so much that I always went back to writing in it every night.
I've been in grad school for 6 years now. For the first few years I was pretty good at writing in my journal. I probably wrote a bunch of days every month. But for the last few years I have written just a time or two per month. It's easy to keep track of because I open a new document for each month and I label them by month and year. Lately, more often than not, I have skipped a month, written once in the document, then skipped a month before writing again.
Bummer.
There are lots of things about this stage of my life that I will want to remember so I feel bad for not writing about more of it. There is one redeeming claim on these memories. Besides writing for the intent of posterity reading about my life, I have a habit of writing down a list or snapshot of what's going on in my life. You know me: I try to do too many thing at once. It has been my practice to offload my thoughts onto paper or a list that I title, "What's going on." I do an emotional/brain dump and get it all out. So there is a separate record of what I've been up to.
I've been thinking about getting back into my journal more again. Honestly, it probably would have started already except there really are a lot of things going on right now with graduation and hunting for a job. ("Hunting," ha! Sounds like I'm tracking down an animal. Actually, there are similarities...) I also think of this blog as a sort of journal. I tend to write about what's going on in my life and tie it into gospel principles so it's not a comprehensive look at my life.
Let me tell you about my favorite memories of writing in my journal. In 6th grade, my teacher Mr. Abegg forced us to write in our journals during class. Yes, forced. That's what I thought back then. I still have that journal. The cover is a picture that I drew in pencil about a castle LEGO set that I had back then and I drew a moat around it with a drawbridge. The castle guards are standing around talking about how boring their job is. The lead guard overhears them and he says, "I heard that." I get a kick out of that every time I read it. There are also my favorite entries that I look for every time I open that journal. I remember a day at recess playing football with a new student named Joey. We had organized recess football teams and we were on the same team. He was also on my competition soccer team. 6th grade was the only year I play competition and we won 1st place in the league! Woo!
Another fun journal memory is of my grandma. She would pay me for writing in my journal. It sounds too good to be true for a kid, but I am grateful that she did it. Her method of payment was gummy worms. She gave me 1 worm for every 5 lines I wrote. Totally awesome. My dad also got me to write in my journal in much the same way. I felt like he got it from her. Maybe I told him about it and he kept up the good habit.
I love writing in my journal. When I read about my ancestors I feel connected to them through their words. I think the same will happen with my descendants. Who knows! There are some embarrassing things I've written in my journal, but I hope it shows that I'm a normal person with weaknesses. Maybe it will help someone out.
I've been in grad school for 6 years now. For the first few years I was pretty good at writing in my journal. I probably wrote a bunch of days every month. But for the last few years I have written just a time or two per month. It's easy to keep track of because I open a new document for each month and I label them by month and year. Lately, more often than not, I have skipped a month, written once in the document, then skipped a month before writing again.
Bummer.
There are lots of things about this stage of my life that I will want to remember so I feel bad for not writing about more of it. There is one redeeming claim on these memories. Besides writing for the intent of posterity reading about my life, I have a habit of writing down a list or snapshot of what's going on in my life. You know me: I try to do too many thing at once. It has been my practice to offload my thoughts onto paper or a list that I title, "What's going on." I do an emotional/brain dump and get it all out. So there is a separate record of what I've been up to.
I've been thinking about getting back into my journal more again. Honestly, it probably would have started already except there really are a lot of things going on right now with graduation and hunting for a job. ("Hunting," ha! Sounds like I'm tracking down an animal. Actually, there are similarities...) I also think of this blog as a sort of journal. I tend to write about what's going on in my life and tie it into gospel principles so it's not a comprehensive look at my life.
Let me tell you about my favorite memories of writing in my journal. In 6th grade, my teacher Mr. Abegg forced us to write in our journals during class. Yes, forced. That's what I thought back then. I still have that journal. The cover is a picture that I drew in pencil about a castle LEGO set that I had back then and I drew a moat around it with a drawbridge. The castle guards are standing around talking about how boring their job is. The lead guard overhears them and he says, "I heard that." I get a kick out of that every time I read it. There are also my favorite entries that I look for every time I open that journal. I remember a day at recess playing football with a new student named Joey. We had organized recess football teams and we were on the same team. He was also on my competition soccer team. 6th grade was the only year I play competition and we won 1st place in the league! Woo!
Another fun journal memory is of my grandma. She would pay me for writing in my journal. It sounds too good to be true for a kid, but I am grateful that she did it. Her method of payment was gummy worms. She gave me 1 worm for every 5 lines I wrote. Totally awesome. My dad also got me to write in my journal in much the same way. I felt like he got it from her. Maybe I told him about it and he kept up the good habit.
I love writing in my journal. When I read about my ancestors I feel connected to them through their words. I think the same will happen with my descendants. Who knows! There are some embarrassing things I've written in my journal, but I hope it shows that I'm a normal person with weaknesses. Maybe it will help someone out.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
A boy's service
Last week my whole family got sick, including me, and it was bad. We laid around, each on our worst days, looking very pathetic. It was not our normal routine for getting sick. Usually the boys get sick first, Angie might get a little of it or maybe a medium dose of it. I often get a little something in my stomach for a couple hours and then it goes away. Just as often I don't get anything at all. Then we get better and get back to life as normal.
Last week was horrible.
The boys got sick, but it wasn't obvious that they were hit any harder than normal. They get fevers and runny noses pretty easily. They asked for blessings and we talked about faith, priesthood blessings and service. Then Angie got sick. It came fast and hard. In hindsight, I should have taken something to boost my immune system. I take vitamins every day and that often keeps me out of trouble so I don't have to do any last-minute defense. Coulda, shoulda, woulda. But I digress.
Angie was bed-ridden and didn't walk around much for a couple days. One of those days was Saturday and I was feeling pretty poorly too. Skyler wanted to do something sooo nice for Angie. It's something he's been planning to do for weeks, but it hasn't worked out. Angie and I are so impressed with his initiative. And his love.
He asked if he could make Angie lunch in bed (or on the couch) since she wasn't going to join us at the table. He wanted to make scrambled eggs on a cookie sheet (and wanted to grease it first) and then hand deliver it. It was the sweetest thing. Now, I had to help him and he wanted to go way faster than I could handle. He got the eggs out of the fridge and was about to start cracking them into the cookie sheet by the time I got myself off the couch to stop him from cracking the first egg. This at least shows that Skyler has lots of guts and is willing to do hard things. Most days it's hard enough to keep up with all he wants to do. That's just how he is and we love him for it.
I helped him crack eggs into a bowl so he could fish out bits of shell. Then he had a hand in cooking the eggs, but before they got done he tried to spray the cookie sheet (again), thinking that we'd pour the eggs onto it like a plate. It was awesome. So I encouraged him to get out a plate to put on the tray. He didn't understand why. It was so funny!
Well, it was a great thing and we praised him highly.
On Friday morning I heard him in the kitchen and went out to see what was going on. Sounds in the kitchen usually mean trouble. Today it meant I caught Skyler doing another good deed. He was disheartened that I found him making my lunch. Surprise! He made me a peanut butter and honey sandwich, carrots, trail mix and chocolate-covered blueberries. What a little stud! It was awesome!
Last week was horrible.
The boys got sick, but it wasn't obvious that they were hit any harder than normal. They get fevers and runny noses pretty easily. They asked for blessings and we talked about faith, priesthood blessings and service. Then Angie got sick. It came fast and hard. In hindsight, I should have taken something to boost my immune system. I take vitamins every day and that often keeps me out of trouble so I don't have to do any last-minute defense. Coulda, shoulda, woulda. But I digress.
Angie was bed-ridden and didn't walk around much for a couple days. One of those days was Saturday and I was feeling pretty poorly too. Skyler wanted to do something sooo nice for Angie. It's something he's been planning to do for weeks, but it hasn't worked out. Angie and I are so impressed with his initiative. And his love.
He asked if he could make Angie lunch in bed (or on the couch) since she wasn't going to join us at the table. He wanted to make scrambled eggs on a cookie sheet (and wanted to grease it first) and then hand deliver it. It was the sweetest thing. Now, I had to help him and he wanted to go way faster than I could handle. He got the eggs out of the fridge and was about to start cracking them into the cookie sheet by the time I got myself off the couch to stop him from cracking the first egg. This at least shows that Skyler has lots of guts and is willing to do hard things. Most days it's hard enough to keep up with all he wants to do. That's just how he is and we love him for it.
I helped him crack eggs into a bowl so he could fish out bits of shell. Then he had a hand in cooking the eggs, but before they got done he tried to spray the cookie sheet (again), thinking that we'd pour the eggs onto it like a plate. It was awesome. So I encouraged him to get out a plate to put on the tray. He didn't understand why. It was so funny!
Well, it was a great thing and we praised him highly.
On Friday morning I heard him in the kitchen and went out to see what was going on. Sounds in the kitchen usually mean trouble. Today it meant I caught Skyler doing another good deed. He was disheartened that I found him making my lunch. Surprise! He made me a peanut butter and honey sandwich, carrots, trail mix and chocolate-covered blueberries. What a little stud! It was awesome!
Sunday, April 22, 2012
500 Dates
Angie and I have been on about 500 dates. Sounds crazy, right? It does to me, but it's true. We aren't keeping track, exactly, but we make it a point to go on a date each week and have done so ever since we were first married. I think we've missed some weeks and I remember going twice some weeks (when we went out for lunch spontaneously and didn't need a babysitter).
We've been married for 10 years now (in March). Multiply that by 52 weeks/year puts us over 500 dates just since we got married. We saw each other almost daily while we dated, but I don't know if those count as dates. If they do, add over 100 more (that's rounding down). We dated for over 4 months, including our engagement, before getting married.
Our first date was on Nov 3, 2001. We went bowling with some of Angie's friends. I knew Kristi from the singles ward we attended. All the other people were their friends. The guys were Dave and Davey, which is easy enough to remember. My other memories of that night were mostly about Angie and how I really, really loved being with her. I still love being with her. There was some leaning going on at the bowling alley. She sat on a table between turns and I only had the guts to lean my arm up against her leg as I sat on the seat next to her. She wanted to reciprocate some contact (she told me later), but we were both pretty shy about it.
After bowling, we went to her house and watched Shrek. Angie's dad was there with us. He must have been coming and going and I'll tell you why I think that. During the movie, Angie and I started leaning. Ya, leaning. It was pretty awesome. I really wanted to hold her hand and was getting up the, well, I can't call it "courage," to do so. It's more like I was building up a whole bunch of "anti-regret" and I didn't want to look back on the night wishing I'd have held her hand.
Let me tell you, this was very forward for me!
We leaned more and more until our hands were touching back-to-back. I faked a pretend hold in the hopes that she'd think I was going for her hand and then she'd hold mine. She didn't bite. Then it was just a flop attempt and I decided to just grab her hand. So forward for a first date! But I really, really liked her and there was crackling energy in the air. It was magical (for both of us). It was the awesome-est feeling.
I still get that feeling around her. Ya, she's that awesome.
So anyway, we were holding hands and this must have been when her dad left to make poopcorn (ew, that would be gross). How about popcorn? Let's just say he made popcorn. Because when he came back I could see his surprised reaction in my peripheral vision.
After Shrek, we watched Iron Chef. It was one of their family's favorites, but was new to me. What a fun show! We have lots of inside jokes from watching that show over a year or two before it was taken off the air. Anyway, let me jump to the end of the date.
Angie asked me out on this date so she came to pick me up. When she dropped me off, I didn't want to shake hands in the car or hug across the arm rest. I didn't want it to look like I was going for a kiss or anything! That's way beyond what I could have gone for. So I asked her if I could give her a big hug. I went around to her side of the car and gave her a hug. The hug she gave me back was 10 times more magical than holding hands during Shrek. It was bliss. Pure love. And I still feel that way when we have some peace and quiet and give each other a sweet hug.
In everyday life we still have a lot of good feelings for each other. We work hard at our marriage and parenting. We have good days most of the time. There used to be more hard days than we have now. We've come a long way and still have a long way to go. This weekend's stake conference was uplifting and I love how the Spirit teaches us what we need to do to be more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is only through Him and our Father's plan of salvation that we can find true happiness in life.
And it's so good going through life with my wife and best-est friend, Angie. I love you, Babe!
We've been married for 10 years now (in March). Multiply that by 52 weeks/year puts us over 500 dates just since we got married. We saw each other almost daily while we dated, but I don't know if those count as dates. If they do, add over 100 more (that's rounding down). We dated for over 4 months, including our engagement, before getting married.
Our first date was on Nov 3, 2001. We went bowling with some of Angie's friends. I knew Kristi from the singles ward we attended. All the other people were their friends. The guys were Dave and Davey, which is easy enough to remember. My other memories of that night were mostly about Angie and how I really, really loved being with her. I still love being with her. There was some leaning going on at the bowling alley. She sat on a table between turns and I only had the guts to lean my arm up against her leg as I sat on the seat next to her. She wanted to reciprocate some contact (she told me later), but we were both pretty shy about it.
After bowling, we went to her house and watched Shrek. Angie's dad was there with us. He must have been coming and going and I'll tell you why I think that. During the movie, Angie and I started leaning. Ya, leaning. It was pretty awesome. I really wanted to hold her hand and was getting up the, well, I can't call it "courage," to do so. It's more like I was building up a whole bunch of "anti-regret" and I didn't want to look back on the night wishing I'd have held her hand.
Let me tell you, this was very forward for me!
We leaned more and more until our hands were touching back-to-back. I faked a pretend hold in the hopes that she'd think I was going for her hand and then she'd hold mine. She didn't bite. Then it was just a flop attempt and I decided to just grab her hand. So forward for a first date! But I really, really liked her and there was crackling energy in the air. It was magical (for both of us). It was the awesome-est feeling.
I still get that feeling around her. Ya, she's that awesome.
So anyway, we were holding hands and this must have been when her dad left to make poopcorn (ew, that would be gross). How about popcorn? Let's just say he made popcorn. Because when he came back I could see his surprised reaction in my peripheral vision.
After Shrek, we watched Iron Chef. It was one of their family's favorites, but was new to me. What a fun show! We have lots of inside jokes from watching that show over a year or two before it was taken off the air. Anyway, let me jump to the end of the date.
Angie asked me out on this date so she came to pick me up. When she dropped me off, I didn't want to shake hands in the car or hug across the arm rest. I didn't want it to look like I was going for a kiss or anything! That's way beyond what I could have gone for. So I asked her if I could give her a big hug. I went around to her side of the car and gave her a hug. The hug she gave me back was 10 times more magical than holding hands during Shrek. It was bliss. Pure love. And I still feel that way when we have some peace and quiet and give each other a sweet hug.
In everyday life we still have a lot of good feelings for each other. We work hard at our marriage and parenting. We have good days most of the time. There used to be more hard days than we have now. We've come a long way and still have a long way to go. This weekend's stake conference was uplifting and I love how the Spirit teaches us what we need to do to be more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is only through Him and our Father's plan of salvation that we can find true happiness in life.
And it's so good going through life with my wife and best-est friend, Angie. I love you, Babe!
Sunday, April 15, 2012
See your ancestors on createfan.com
Our ward has been talking about family history and sharing our own conversion story or that of our ancestors. Our bishop has been telling fun stories of one of his ancestors. And he's been talking about our ward members printing off our fan chart (createfan.com) and finding out how many people in our ward have common ancestry. It sounds so awesome.
Angie and I printed out our fans and have been having fun reading names. Here's a cool line in Angie's family. Jens Ottosen, son of Otte Nielsen, son of Niels Jensen, son of Jens Vogensen. Cool, huh!
She's also related to Parley P. Pratt. There's an asterisk there so we're not sure about what that means yet. I really love the fan and how it shows nine generations. The efficiency strikes a chord in my inner mathematician.
Here's another sweet line Angie has. Christian C Christensen, son of Anthony Christensen, son of Christen Christensen, son of Christen Christensen, son of yet another Christen Christensen. Awesome, baby!
I didn't think I knew any conversion stories of my ancestors so I didn't think I could contribute to the "ancestory show and tell" minute in priesthood meeting today. But I thought of one! It's my grandpa Ragozzine. Let me tell you about it. My aunt submitted this story in the Ensign (several years ago). If I find it, I'll definitely post a link to it. I'll paraphrase the story because it's been a while since I read the details.
My grandpa Ragozzine married my grandma (she was a member of the church, he was not) and they raised a family together. I think he went to church, but not sure for how long. Anyway, the part that I remember most is that my aunt would ask him when he would get baptized and he kept putting it off for his own reasons. My aunt went on a mission and was elated to receive a letter from him (during her mission) saying he was finally ready to get baptized. So cool. What a letter to get on your mission!
I remember my grandpa Ragozzine. He was a quiet, loving man. I remember playing checkers with him when I'd go to their home in the summer. He beat me every time. He might have shown some mercy, meaning the game would be prolonged, but he always won. I think he'd play canasta with my grandma and me too, but I don't remember that happening too many times. Just the memories of losing at checkers. A lot. He always tried to find a football game on TV when I was over at their house too. He'd call me to the living room and try to find a game when it wasn't even football season. I was so naive that I thought he'd find a game on some channel anyway. Grandpas are awesome like that.
I love my grandpa and I know that I will see him again. I wonder if he gets to see glimpses of his descendants or if he has a wireless connection to the Internet and can read this blog post. Care to comment, Grandpa?
Sorry for shooting out those windows with your BB gun. I thought you said I could.
Angie and I printed out our fans and have been having fun reading names. Here's a cool line in Angie's family. Jens Ottosen, son of Otte Nielsen, son of Niels Jensen, son of Jens Vogensen. Cool, huh!
She's also related to Parley P. Pratt. There's an asterisk there so we're not sure about what that means yet. I really love the fan and how it shows nine generations. The efficiency strikes a chord in my inner mathematician.
Here's another sweet line Angie has. Christian C Christensen, son of Anthony Christensen, son of Christen Christensen, son of Christen Christensen, son of yet another Christen Christensen. Awesome, baby!
I didn't think I knew any conversion stories of my ancestors so I didn't think I could contribute to the "ancestory show and tell" minute in priesthood meeting today. But I thought of one! It's my grandpa Ragozzine. Let me tell you about it. My aunt submitted this story in the Ensign (several years ago). If I find it, I'll definitely post a link to it. I'll paraphrase the story because it's been a while since I read the details.
My grandpa Ragozzine married my grandma (she was a member of the church, he was not) and they raised a family together. I think he went to church, but not sure for how long. Anyway, the part that I remember most is that my aunt would ask him when he would get baptized and he kept putting it off for his own reasons. My aunt went on a mission and was elated to receive a letter from him (during her mission) saying he was finally ready to get baptized. So cool. What a letter to get on your mission!
I remember my grandpa Ragozzine. He was a quiet, loving man. I remember playing checkers with him when I'd go to their home in the summer. He beat me every time. He might have shown some mercy, meaning the game would be prolonged, but he always won. I think he'd play canasta with my grandma and me too, but I don't remember that happening too many times. Just the memories of losing at checkers. A lot. He always tried to find a football game on TV when I was over at their house too. He'd call me to the living room and try to find a game when it wasn't even football season. I was so naive that I thought he'd find a game on some channel anyway. Grandpas are awesome like that.
I love my grandpa and I know that I will see him again. I wonder if he gets to see glimpses of his descendants or if he has a wireless connection to the Internet and can read this blog post. Care to comment, Grandpa?
Sorry for shooting out those windows with your BB gun. I thought you said I could.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Mosiah 4:9 is one of my favorite scriptures. I don't think about it very often, but when it's quoted, I instantly remember the reference. The message is powerful and I just came across it in my Book of Mormon reading. I love its message. This scripture reads:
9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.
This scripture is true. I know that God, our Heavenly Father created all things through Jesus Christ. I know that when I pray, I am speaking to my Father in Heaven and that He knows all. It is a gift and a blessing to be able to approach Him in prayer and to ask for divine wisdom. He knows and sees all. It is humbling to feel that I can communicate with my Creator and get direction for my life here on the earth.
And I'm learning the latter part of the scripture about how man cannot comprehend all the things that the Lord does. It seems like I have to keep reminding myself of that as I pursue many interests and take the next step along the path of my career. I'm following what I feel He has in store for me. Some choices are not the choices that I would make. Sometimes my opinion of what to pursue (such as where to live and the cost of living of such places) is not what the Lord has in store for my family. It has caused a lot of groanings in us to understand that He is in charge and knows all. He can see the whole path that we will trod and the blessings and pitfalls we will face if we trust Him or not.
I love the Lord and trust Him. I am grateful for the gift and promptings of the Holy Ghost. My life is rich. Not because I have attained blessings by my own wisdom or strength. Quite the opposite. It is when I give up my own opinions and ideas, and align myself with God's ways, that I am blessed with abundance.
What scripture(s) strengthen you?
9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.
This scripture is true. I know that God, our Heavenly Father created all things through Jesus Christ. I know that when I pray, I am speaking to my Father in Heaven and that He knows all. It is a gift and a blessing to be able to approach Him in prayer and to ask for divine wisdom. He knows and sees all. It is humbling to feel that I can communicate with my Creator and get direction for my life here on the earth.
And I'm learning the latter part of the scripture about how man cannot comprehend all the things that the Lord does. It seems like I have to keep reminding myself of that as I pursue many interests and take the next step along the path of my career. I'm following what I feel He has in store for me. Some choices are not the choices that I would make. Sometimes my opinion of what to pursue (such as where to live and the cost of living of such places) is not what the Lord has in store for my family. It has caused a lot of groanings in us to understand that He is in charge and knows all. He can see the whole path that we will trod and the blessings and pitfalls we will face if we trust Him or not.
I love the Lord and trust Him. I am grateful for the gift and promptings of the Holy Ghost. My life is rich. Not because I have attained blessings by my own wisdom or strength. Quite the opposite. It is when I give up my own opinions and ideas, and align myself with God's ways, that I am blessed with abundance.
What scripture(s) strengthen you?
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
General Conference was awesome, once again
Our family spent Saturday morning relaxing and getting ready for a day full of conference talks from church leaders. We made peanut butter popcorn, as promised, and snacked on it in three sessions. (By the last session on Sunday, we had completely forgotten about it. Sugar overload, I guess.)
We have spent years helping our little guys be reverent in sacrament meeting. It has paid off at church and it sure pays off on conference weekend. The boys actually sat through most of the first session before they got restless and went to play in their room. They often play quietly and that was the case this time too. Our boys are just the best.
We felt the Spirit so much by paying attention to the talks, talking about the messages together and listening for messages that would answer questions that we had written down beforehand. A couple questions I wrote down were:
How can we be a happy family?
How can we know the Lord's will for moving after Dad graduates?
I've been working on being patient with my boys. It can be tough sometimes. And I feel like they are really, really good boys. They bring a lot of happiness, peace and joy into our home. I'm so glad to have them. We are happy when we cooperate, speak kindly to each other, give lots of hugs, spend time together and have tickle fights.
I'm getting closer and closer to graduation. It's kind of weird to be so close to the end. It has been coming for nearly 6 years and now it seems like it's zooming up! We are talking about what kind of house we want to live in, how big it might be, if it will have a yard, what Skyler will do if there's no snow during the winter, etc.
We also got some bonus material from conference talks. It's stuff for our extended family. We have family members who are struggling with some tough medical and parenting issues. We passed along our thoughts to them and, hopefully, helped strengthen them at the same time.
Conference is just the best. I look forward to downloading all the talks (they are all available here now. Enjoy!) and swapping out the CD in my car from last conference.
Maybe I'll blog again about the talks I liked the most. If anyone suggests what they like to read here, I could lean toward more conference talks and scriptures or family happenings. Or else I'll just keep writing about whatever happens each week.
It's been 6 months since I started this blog. I've posted something each week and I'm s'happy that I have. I love talking about the gospel and hearing that others are reading my blog. Thank you all for reading, sharing it, and Liking it. May you be blessed for helping share the gospel!
We have spent years helping our little guys be reverent in sacrament meeting. It has paid off at church and it sure pays off on conference weekend. The boys actually sat through most of the first session before they got restless and went to play in their room. They often play quietly and that was the case this time too. Our boys are just the best.
We felt the Spirit so much by paying attention to the talks, talking about the messages together and listening for messages that would answer questions that we had written down beforehand. A couple questions I wrote down were:
How can we be a happy family?
How can we know the Lord's will for moving after Dad graduates?
I've been working on being patient with my boys. It can be tough sometimes. And I feel like they are really, really good boys. They bring a lot of happiness, peace and joy into our home. I'm so glad to have them. We are happy when we cooperate, speak kindly to each other, give lots of hugs, spend time together and have tickle fights.
I'm getting closer and closer to graduation. It's kind of weird to be so close to the end. It has been coming for nearly 6 years and now it seems like it's zooming up! We are talking about what kind of house we want to live in, how big it might be, if it will have a yard, what Skyler will do if there's no snow during the winter, etc.
We also got some bonus material from conference talks. It's stuff for our extended family. We have family members who are struggling with some tough medical and parenting issues. We passed along our thoughts to them and, hopefully, helped strengthen them at the same time.
Conference is just the best. I look forward to downloading all the talks (they are all available here now. Enjoy!) and swapping out the CD in my car from last conference.
Maybe I'll blog again about the talks I liked the most. If anyone suggests what they like to read here, I could lean toward more conference talks and scriptures or family happenings. Or else I'll just keep writing about whatever happens each week.
It's been 6 months since I started this blog. I've posted something each week and I'm s'happy that I have. I love talking about the gospel and hearing that others are reading my blog. Thank you all for reading, sharing it, and Liking it. May you be blessed for helping share the gospel!
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