So I was scrolling through the dashboard on my blogger account and found that *SURPRISE!* I wrote this post at the end of July and never actually posted it. I had paused before I put in the pictures and apparently never came back. So it's out of order and lacking pictures, but it will make me feel better to not have a perfectly fine blog post go to waste and maybe someone will be interested so here it is. Enjoy! Or skip over. Whatever strikes your fancy.
July 27, 2016
These last 2 months have been BUSY, BUSY, BUSY. Starting June 1st all the way until today, life has been on the go and there just has been no time for writing and I can feel it. But I'm back and it's time to fill you all in. Yay!
June 1st was the beginning of my first ever, real, live college class. I went waaaaaaaay out of my comfort zone and took an oral comm class. Almost masochistic, really. I was, and still am, definitely not comfortable in front of people. But since I am considering a career in communications (writing. not talking.) and it's a gen. ed. no matter where you go, I signed up. Also, I knew the teacher and he was nice so that helped make it a *little* better.
The class was 3 weeks, 3 credits, 3 speeches. I literally did nothing other than that class for all 3 weeks. But at the end I was happy. I had given 3 successful speeches, 1 of which I even thought was *easy* (insert a shocked face here) and I mostly earned an A- in the class. (A painful and stupid mistake on my part meant that my teacher didn't see the last assignment that I turned in and I got a 0 and actually got a B+ in the class. Note to self: Check the @*#& emails before checking out and switching gears to the next life event.) **update: I talked to the professor a few weeks later and it turns out that "final grades" are not actually final. He reviewed the last assignment, updated my grade, and I got an A! Yay!**
Which was a trip to Mt. Rushmore! The family all plotted and planned for a year and a half to put together a family reunion at Mt. Rushmore. Four whole days after class ended, we hopped in the car and went. It ended up being a little bit of a sad turnout out of the 9 families since life took plenty of unexpected turns for all of us, but for those of us that made it it was a blast! We did a bit of quasi-camping, sightseeing, and just hanging out with the family. On the way out, our carload stopped in De Smet, SD to check out the Laura Ingalls homestead since Chelsea is still a big fan. I wished we had more time there. We only had about 2 hours, which we stretched out to about 3, and then we had to keep going. And it's a good thing that we got going when we did because just a couple hours later the wheel on the trailer blew! Chunks of rubber everywhere.
We ended up doing a lot of running around trying to find someone that could help us replace the tire, and in the end 2 very nice young men from the construction zone we were in stopped and took the whole trailer away to the dump after we strapped all our stuff to the roof. Since we got rid of it and got back on our way we miraculously made it to the campsite only a few hours late.
Lots of hanging out with the family, lots of sightseeing, and lots of pretending to camp (The kids and I were on a tent site... right next to the cabin everyone else was in so we had a kitchen, running water, electricity, flushing toilets, the whole she-bang. Fun for sure, but definitely not camping.) Dave even drove from Utah to spend 2 days with us. Honestly, the whole thing is a bit fuzzy. That feels like a year ago.
We made it back home with no further car trouble or other unnecessary excitement, and 2 weeks later we went on ANOTHER long road trip! This time to the Francis Family Reunion in Bear Lake, UT and Rexburg, ID. Sue, Tom, and Jocelyn all walked in the graduation ceremony and we all had a great big party. Paddle boarding (way harder than it looks), kayaking (also harder than I remember. We'll blame it on the wicked current/opposite wind combination.), family pictures (Forget the smiles! Let's just get all the faces.), and lots of ice cream. Bear Lake has the most amazing raspberry and peach shakes. Then off to Rexburg for the graduation. We skipped most of the ceremonies since we knew the kids just couldn't sit for that long, but we made it to the convocation. I have decided that I like going to graduation ceremonies for the arts colleges. They did have several speeches, but they also had performances from the dance and music departments. It made it so much more interesting! I really enjoyed the marimba performance. I can't say that I have ever been moved by a percussion performance before. Usually they are just fun. Or just noise. But the song and the emotion behind it were both amazing! I teared up for a marimba. I'm still confused about that.
While we were out in Idaho, Dave was supposed to have a phone interview for a job in Iowa, but there was a communication breakdown and long story short, we got home from Idaho on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon we drove to Iowa for an in-person interview! We drove around the town and out in the country around it and absolutely fell in love. I am wishing/hoping/praying that Dave gets the job so we can move to such a beautiful place. The scenery is great, the people are friendly, and the food was delicious. What more could you ask for? Seriously. Dirt roads, tall corn, a lightning storm rolling in at sunset, and fireflies dancing on the edges of the fields and the top of the corn. Everyone smiles at you. I wasn't quite sure what to do when I happened to look over at the car next to me at the light and instead of looking away she smiled and waved! And I had my first taste of lobster. Oh. my. goodness. Lobster stuffed ravioli swimming in pink cream sauce topped with mushrooms and shrimp. So good. I could live in that place for.e.ver. **update: We didn't take the job offer that he got from this interview since it wasn't a good fit for Dave, but he interviewed again early in the fall and got the job offer for his current job. So we are living there and have a contract to stay for at least 2 years. Given our track record, that is basically the same as forever.**
Not exaggerating at all, I can say that I have traveled almost 6,000 miles in the last month. I have seen some amazing people, been in some beautiful places, eaten some breathtaking food, AND I got to do it all with family. It's been a whirlwind, but it has been fabulous.
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Welcome to Burlington!
Alrighty. I'm trying something new tonight since I can't get my phone to play nice with my computer and upload pictures. I'm writing a blog post on my cell phone! Please excuse my awkward thumbs and any typos they may cause. Acidental or otherwiz.
So I have pretty much decided that I love our new town. We moved to a small Iowa town a little over a month ago and have been getting settled in and visiting family that was previously way too far away and generally falling in love with the goodness that is Burlington, Iowa.
There are many similarities to the area I grew up in, but there are some new and interesting features as well. Burlington is smashed up against the Mississippi River with its own little port where the riverboats coming through from St. Louis stop off and take a peak at the cute little town before moseying up the river on their way to Minneapolis. There is a very nice library with tons of free activities and events for the entire community. This afternoon Chelsea and I attended a Christmas Carol concert put on by the community choir while enjoying free hot chocolate, good books, and snow falling.
A side note: I talked to the director and am currently in the process of setting up an audition to join said choir. *Sqeeeeeeeee! I'm going to be in a community choir again and they are performing with a nearby university symphony in February! I can't wait!*
Burlington also boasts dozens of Mom and Pop shops, a delicious Italian restaurant, and some very subtle, but amusing, finds.
So I have pretty much decided that I love our new town. We moved to a small Iowa town a little over a month ago and have been getting settled in and visiting family that was previously way too far away and generally falling in love with the goodness that is Burlington, Iowa.
There are many similarities to the area I grew up in, but there are some new and interesting features as well. Burlington is smashed up against the Mississippi River with its own little port where the riverboats coming through from St. Louis stop off and take a peak at the cute little town before moseying up the river on their way to Minneapolis. There is a very nice library with tons of free activities and events for the entire community. This afternoon Chelsea and I attended a Christmas Carol concert put on by the community choir while enjoying free hot chocolate, good books, and snow falling.
A side note: I talked to the director and am currently in the process of setting up an audition to join said choir. *Sqeeeeeeeee! I'm going to be in a community choir again and they are performing with a nearby university symphony in February! I can't wait!*
Burlington also boasts dozens of Mom and Pop shops, a delicious Italian restaurant, and some very subtle, but amusing, finds.
That there is a pink yield sign. They were even kind enough to put a bright red fire hydrant next to it for comparison. Nope. My camera is not messed up nor am I color challenged. That there is a pink yield sign.
That says "Deery Collision Center". I guess we know their speciality.
Ok, so this isn't so funny, but it's cool. That's an angel ice sculpture cut-out. Chelsea actually found this one today. She makes a pretty cute little angel, if I may say so.
And this one is my favorite. They're not beating about the bush on this one. Don't. Just don't.
Well, that's a peek at Burlington. Come visit sometime! It's pretty fabulous.
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Fall Trinkets
The morns are meeker than they were -
The nuts are getting brown -
The berry's cheek is plumper -
The Rose is out of town.
The Maple wears a gayer scarf -
The field a scarlet gown -
Lest I should be old fashioned
I'll put a trinket on.
- Emily Dickinson
As the colors worked their way up to their peak, I made an effort to spend the majority of my time outside so I could just soak them in. I finally got in a run at Schmeekle and visited the Dells of Eau Claire and both yielded some nice pictures to share with the rest of the world that has to miss the display.
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Happy Sunday
Today has been a really wonderful day. I am fortunate enough to play piano for the Primary at church, which is the organization for the kids ages 3-12. I love playing for them and with them. I love being able to help them recognize the power of music and use it to worship. We work all year long to teach the kids about Christ and the gospel and they work to memorize songs and scriptures and learn gospel concepts. Every year around this time the kids put on a program for everyone and today was the day! It came together beautifully and I was so proud of all the kids' hard work and ability to share what they have learned and their testimonies of Christ. I absolutely loved it. The kids sang 7 or 8 songs, but this one was my favorite.
Not too long ago, I was asked to speak in church and several people who weren't able to listen have asked me to share my thoughts here. Back in April 2015, Elder Russell M. Nelson gave a talk called The Sabbath is a Delight and I have spent a fair amount of time since then thinking about the Sabbath, so I decided to study it out and talk about what the Sabbath means to me. So here it goes.
A few years ago for a Relief Society activity the sisters in my ward did a project called Sunday "Cans". It was a can full of popsicle sticks with ideas for things to do on Sunday to prevent boredom and help teach our families about appropriate activities for Sunday. It's easy to think of what not to do on Sunday, but sometimes it is a little difficult to find good things to do or keep kids busy. So instead of focusing on what we should not be doing, we came up with over 100 ideas of things we can do.
Having that can full of ideas was really useful to my family, but after the recent focus on the Sabbath throughout the church, I realized that although keeping the Sabbath day holy is a commandment to honor Heavenly Father, it is more than that and it is for our benefit, not His. The Sabbath is a day of purposeful remembrance of our Savior and His atoning sacrifice and Sabbath day observance can help us stay focused on Christ all week long.
In the very beginning of time as we know it, Christ modeled Sabbath day observance for us. He worked for six days to create the earth and everything that is in it and He rested on the seventh day. After giving us this example, Christ has repeatedly commanded His people to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
When Moses went to Mt. Sinai, the Lord revealed His law to Moses. Moses then went down the mountain to teach the Isrealites, but found them worshiping idols. They had abandoned their God, who had just delivered them from slavery to the Egyptians, and had tossed His commandments out the window. The Isrealites were not ready for everything Christ had revealed to Moses, so they got the condensed version. Moses went back up the mountain and came back down with just ten simple commandments. Included among these most basic and most important commandments was the commandment to "remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." They had been given Christ's example of keeping the Sabbath and to help them remember their God and His goodness and mercy in delivering them from Egypt, the Isrealites were commanded to dedicate one day each week to the Lord.
We can find the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy repeated many times throughout the Old Testament. We know that the Sabbath was still in full force when Christ was on the earth because the Pharisees frequently contended with Christ on how to properly honor this holy day.
This commandment still applies to us today. In 1831, the prophet Joseph Smith received the revelation that is now Section 59 of the Doctrine and Covenants, in which the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy was reiterated.
"Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things. Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day; for verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High."
"That [we may] more fully keep [ourselves] unspotted from the world," we are to remember the Sabbath. Remember the Lord's goodness and mercy and sacrifice for us, and keep it holy by respecting the boundaries that Heavenly Father has set for this one day each week and dedicating it to Him.
We are asked to give a broken heart and a contrite spirit - the Lord wants humility and respect. And just like in the Old Testament, we offer our first and our best. We offer the first day of the week, not the last. In return, he blesses us greatly. In Leviticus 26, the Lord tell us the blessings of keeping the Sabbath.
"Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. ...
For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. ...
And I will set my tabernacle among you...
And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people."
Elder Earl C. Tingey of the Presidency of the Seventy talked about these blessings in a talk called Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. He said, "We can relate to the promises of the Lord in this modern-day world. Do we not need today, just as the Israelites did in the Old Testament, to have the land yield her increase and the trees of the field yield their fruit? Do we not also need to have rain in due season and peace in the land and to be able to lie down and not be afraid and to not have the sword or wars go through our land? Do we not also want the Lord to have respect for us and help us be fruitful and multiply and establish His covenant with us? All of these promises apply to us today."
In Mark 2:27, Christ said, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." In addition to the prosperity, peace, and respect of the Lord promised in Leviticus, the Sabbath is a blessing in and of itself. President Eyring said, "The greatest test of life is to see whether we will hearken to and obey God's commands in the midst of the storms of life. It is not to endure the storms, but to choose the right while they rage." That sort of effort and strength requires support. The Sabbath day is our support. It is a day to learn of Christ, remember our promises, and to find peace in the turmoil.
The Sabbath is also a day of rest. A chance to catch our breath, find our strength, and renew our testimonies after 6 days of demanding work, in whatever form our lives present it. D&C 59 called the Sabbath "a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors." It is a day of rest physically and spiritually. We pause our physical labors to be able to devote our energy to our spiritual renewal, which we do by worshiping the Lord, taking the sacrament and remembering Christ's atonement, studying the scriptures, serving others, and spending meaningful time with our families.
The Sabbath is a day of healing. To prepare for the sacrament, we take mental inventory and repent of our mistakes, cleansing our hearts and our consciences. In taking the sacrament, we renew our promises to follow the Lord and start fresh. In attending our church meetings, we learn about Heavenly Father, His plan for us, and how we fit into it. At home, we have time to pray, seeking comfort during our trials. Surely, "the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath."
Everyone's Sabbath day observance is going to look different from the next person's and it's very difficult to create a comprehensive list of appropriate Sunday activities. The Pharisees - the spiritual leaders during Christ's life - tried to spell out proper Sabbath observance and failed. The lists can help us to find activities that invite the Spirit to be with us, activities that will help us to draw near to the Lord, but they are just ideas.
Elder Tingey told a story that illustrates four important concepts. He said, "I learned to observe the Sabbath day from my parents. I grew up on a large farm where we had animals to feed and care for, cows to milk, and vegetables to pick, harvest, and market. It would have been very easy for our family to break to the Sabbath day. Although we attended to essential chores on Sunday - such as feeding the animals, milking the cows, and taking the water turns when they came - we never did farmwork on Sunday that could be done at other times during the weeks. Our tractors were turned off, and no plowing, planting, or cultivating were done on the Sabbath. We never hauled in the hay before a coming storm. My parents had a very simple philosophy: 'The day we violate the Sabbath day and have to miss our Sunday meetings to care for the farm is the day we sell the farm.'"
First, Elder Tingey learned from his parents. We have a responsibility to teach by example. I grew up in the LDS church, but I didn't gain a testimony of it until after I left home. Although my parents worked hard to teach and to set a good example, I found myself breaking as many rules as I thought I could possibly get away with without screwing up relationships. At the time, I had no interest in being a member of the LDS church or following their rules, but I learned the importance of drawing near to the Savior. Eventually, my parents' example and my need to find direction brought me back to the gospel. Today I have a testimony that even when it doesn't look like we are succeeding, the Lord blesses our efforts to teach our children and lead them to Christ. It is important to not give up, but to lovingly teach by example.
Second, there are some things that qualify as physical work that are absolutely necessary to do on Sunday. For Elder Tingey, it was taking care of the animals. For me now, it is taking care of my children. When I worked as a CNA, I was sometimes on the clock taking care of my patients. But, third, we can prepare for Sunday by minimizing our responsibilities so we still have rest and renewal. And fourth and finally, Elder Tingey's family was aware of the demands and made conscious effort to stick to their commitment to keep the Sabbath day holy. He said they never hauled in the hay before a coming storm! There must have been times that choosing to observe the Sabbath day cost them financially on their farm, but I know that the Lord blesses those who obey. And I know that eventually the blessings always outweigh the losses.
In his talk The Sabbath is a Delight, Elder Russell M. Nelson said, "I learned from the scriptures that my conduct and my attitude on the Sabbath constituted a sign between me and my Heavenly Father. With that understanding, I no longer needed lists of dos and don'ts. When I had to make a decision whether or not an activity was appropriate for the Sabbath, I simply asked myself, "What sign do I want to give to God?" That question made my choice about the Sabbath day crystal clear."
I ask myself 3 questions. "Does it help your relationship with Heavenly Father? Does it help your relationship with your family? Does it prevent anyone else from having the choice to keep the Sabbath day holy?" Asking ourselves these same questions and giving ourselves honest answers will help us find the best choices for Sunday activities.
I am grateful for the Sabbath day. It is not about the "do"s and "don't"s. It is a gift from our loving Heavenly Father to help us remember our Savior and His goodness and mercy toward us that brings strength, rest, knowledge, and healing both physically and spiritually. It is a reminder to stay focused on Christ, our guide through a very difficult journey through life.
I know that was super long. It was a 20 minute speech! For those of you who read to the end, thank you and I hope that you enjoyed it. Enjoy your week!
Not too long ago, I was asked to speak in church and several people who weren't able to listen have asked me to share my thoughts here. Back in April 2015, Elder Russell M. Nelson gave a talk called The Sabbath is a Delight and I have spent a fair amount of time since then thinking about the Sabbath, so I decided to study it out and talk about what the Sabbath means to me. So here it goes.
A few years ago for a Relief Society activity the sisters in my ward did a project called Sunday "Cans". It was a can full of popsicle sticks with ideas for things to do on Sunday to prevent boredom and help teach our families about appropriate activities for Sunday. It's easy to think of what not to do on Sunday, but sometimes it is a little difficult to find good things to do or keep kids busy. So instead of focusing on what we should not be doing, we came up with over 100 ideas of things we can do.
Having that can full of ideas was really useful to my family, but after the recent focus on the Sabbath throughout the church, I realized that although keeping the Sabbath day holy is a commandment to honor Heavenly Father, it is more than that and it is for our benefit, not His. The Sabbath is a day of purposeful remembrance of our Savior and His atoning sacrifice and Sabbath day observance can help us stay focused on Christ all week long.
In the very beginning of time as we know it, Christ modeled Sabbath day observance for us. He worked for six days to create the earth and everything that is in it and He rested on the seventh day. After giving us this example, Christ has repeatedly commanded His people to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
When Moses went to Mt. Sinai, the Lord revealed His law to Moses. Moses then went down the mountain to teach the Isrealites, but found them worshiping idols. They had abandoned their God, who had just delivered them from slavery to the Egyptians, and had tossed His commandments out the window. The Isrealites were not ready for everything Christ had revealed to Moses, so they got the condensed version. Moses went back up the mountain and came back down with just ten simple commandments. Included among these most basic and most important commandments was the commandment to "remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." They had been given Christ's example of keeping the Sabbath and to help them remember their God and His goodness and mercy in delivering them from Egypt, the Isrealites were commanded to dedicate one day each week to the Lord.
We can find the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy repeated many times throughout the Old Testament. We know that the Sabbath was still in full force when Christ was on the earth because the Pharisees frequently contended with Christ on how to properly honor this holy day.
This commandment still applies to us today. In 1831, the prophet Joseph Smith received the revelation that is now Section 59 of the Doctrine and Covenants, in which the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy was reiterated.
"Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things. Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day; for verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High."
"That [we may] more fully keep [ourselves] unspotted from the world," we are to remember the Sabbath. Remember the Lord's goodness and mercy and sacrifice for us, and keep it holy by respecting the boundaries that Heavenly Father has set for this one day each week and dedicating it to Him.
We are asked to give a broken heart and a contrite spirit - the Lord wants humility and respect. And just like in the Old Testament, we offer our first and our best. We offer the first day of the week, not the last. In return, he blesses us greatly. In Leviticus 26, the Lord tell us the blessings of keeping the Sabbath.
"Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. ...
For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. ...
And I will set my tabernacle among you...
And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people."
Elder Earl C. Tingey of the Presidency of the Seventy talked about these blessings in a talk called Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. He said, "We can relate to the promises of the Lord in this modern-day world. Do we not need today, just as the Israelites did in the Old Testament, to have the land yield her increase and the trees of the field yield their fruit? Do we not also need to have rain in due season and peace in the land and to be able to lie down and not be afraid and to not have the sword or wars go through our land? Do we not also want the Lord to have respect for us and help us be fruitful and multiply and establish His covenant with us? All of these promises apply to us today."
In Mark 2:27, Christ said, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." In addition to the prosperity, peace, and respect of the Lord promised in Leviticus, the Sabbath is a blessing in and of itself. President Eyring said, "The greatest test of life is to see whether we will hearken to and obey God's commands in the midst of the storms of life. It is not to endure the storms, but to choose the right while they rage." That sort of effort and strength requires support. The Sabbath day is our support. It is a day to learn of Christ, remember our promises, and to find peace in the turmoil.
The Sabbath is also a day of rest. A chance to catch our breath, find our strength, and renew our testimonies after 6 days of demanding work, in whatever form our lives present it. D&C 59 called the Sabbath "a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors." It is a day of rest physically and spiritually. We pause our physical labors to be able to devote our energy to our spiritual renewal, which we do by worshiping the Lord, taking the sacrament and remembering Christ's atonement, studying the scriptures, serving others, and spending meaningful time with our families.
The Sabbath is a day of healing. To prepare for the sacrament, we take mental inventory and repent of our mistakes, cleansing our hearts and our consciences. In taking the sacrament, we renew our promises to follow the Lord and start fresh. In attending our church meetings, we learn about Heavenly Father, His plan for us, and how we fit into it. At home, we have time to pray, seeking comfort during our trials. Surely, "the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath."
Everyone's Sabbath day observance is going to look different from the next person's and it's very difficult to create a comprehensive list of appropriate Sunday activities. The Pharisees - the spiritual leaders during Christ's life - tried to spell out proper Sabbath observance and failed. The lists can help us to find activities that invite the Spirit to be with us, activities that will help us to draw near to the Lord, but they are just ideas.
Elder Tingey told a story that illustrates four important concepts. He said, "I learned to observe the Sabbath day from my parents. I grew up on a large farm where we had animals to feed and care for, cows to milk, and vegetables to pick, harvest, and market. It would have been very easy for our family to break to the Sabbath day. Although we attended to essential chores on Sunday - such as feeding the animals, milking the cows, and taking the water turns when they came - we never did farmwork on Sunday that could be done at other times during the weeks. Our tractors were turned off, and no plowing, planting, or cultivating were done on the Sabbath. We never hauled in the hay before a coming storm. My parents had a very simple philosophy: 'The day we violate the Sabbath day and have to miss our Sunday meetings to care for the farm is the day we sell the farm.'"
First, Elder Tingey learned from his parents. We have a responsibility to teach by example. I grew up in the LDS church, but I didn't gain a testimony of it until after I left home. Although my parents worked hard to teach and to set a good example, I found myself breaking as many rules as I thought I could possibly get away with without screwing up relationships. At the time, I had no interest in being a member of the LDS church or following their rules, but I learned the importance of drawing near to the Savior. Eventually, my parents' example and my need to find direction brought me back to the gospel. Today I have a testimony that even when it doesn't look like we are succeeding, the Lord blesses our efforts to teach our children and lead them to Christ. It is important to not give up, but to lovingly teach by example.
Second, there are some things that qualify as physical work that are absolutely necessary to do on Sunday. For Elder Tingey, it was taking care of the animals. For me now, it is taking care of my children. When I worked as a CNA, I was sometimes on the clock taking care of my patients. But, third, we can prepare for Sunday by minimizing our responsibilities so we still have rest and renewal. And fourth and finally, Elder Tingey's family was aware of the demands and made conscious effort to stick to their commitment to keep the Sabbath day holy. He said they never hauled in the hay before a coming storm! There must have been times that choosing to observe the Sabbath day cost them financially on their farm, but I know that the Lord blesses those who obey. And I know that eventually the blessings always outweigh the losses.
In his talk The Sabbath is a Delight, Elder Russell M. Nelson said, "I learned from the scriptures that my conduct and my attitude on the Sabbath constituted a sign between me and my Heavenly Father. With that understanding, I no longer needed lists of dos and don'ts. When I had to make a decision whether or not an activity was appropriate for the Sabbath, I simply asked myself, "What sign do I want to give to God?" That question made my choice about the Sabbath day crystal clear."
I ask myself 3 questions. "Does it help your relationship with Heavenly Father? Does it help your relationship with your family? Does it prevent anyone else from having the choice to keep the Sabbath day holy?" Asking ourselves these same questions and giving ourselves honest answers will help us find the best choices for Sunday activities.
I am grateful for the Sabbath day. It is not about the "do"s and "don't"s. It is a gift from our loving Heavenly Father to help us remember our Savior and His goodness and mercy toward us that brings strength, rest, knowledge, and healing both physically and spiritually. It is a reminder to stay focused on Christ, our guide through a very difficult journey through life.
I know that was super long. It was a 20 minute speech! For those of you who read to the end, thank you and I hope that you enjoyed it. Enjoy your week!
Monday, May 23, 2016
Catching Kate
Last week we went to Chicago to visit my sister, Kate, and her family and play tourist for a few days. Having grown up only 4 hours away from the Windy City, it's a little embarrassing that I hadn't gone to see the sights before now. Fortunately, Kate hooked us up and was a fabulous tour guide for us! *Thanks again, Kate!*
I had only two requests for our trip to the city - the bean and the beach - and they did not disappoint. But first we took a walk to a nearby park where we met an ICE CREAM TRUCK!
Yes. This is a big deal. I could not remember ever getting ice cream from an ice cream truck before, and I have now officially checked "Visit an ice cream truck" off my bucket list. Yay!
Day 2 was a trip into the city. We needed to see the bean, which apparently is called Cloud Gate. Who knew, right? Along the way we saw Buckingham Fountain, and the Crown Fountains, I ate a Chicago Dog (and my very unadventurous children had plain, old, nothing-on-them hot dogs), and went to the bean.
Buckingham Fountain was beautiful. We walked up while the fountain was shooting a geyser into the air. Like, a you-can-see-it-from-the-other-side-of the-park geyser. Very impressive. It stopped before we walked around to the other side, but that's ok. We got this fabulous family picture.
However, Buckingham Fountain is definitely the see it and go kind of attraction and so we snapped some pictures and moved on.
Chicago is a very interesting city. I have lived near Los Angeles (where this blog was so pitifully started, thus the name SoCal) and near Salt Lake City, but Chicago is a very different creature. They manage to blend nature and art in with the hustle and bustle of one of the biggest cities in the country so seamlessly. On the walk from one spectacular fountain to the next, there were tons of little fountains and sculptures. The park was full of gorgeous gardens, the streets downtown actually had large leafy trees. It was pretty. I could probably do a whole post with just pictures of the art around town. This one was Chelsea's favorite, though. Most of them were not particularly interesting to her, but Chelsea stopped and asked for a picture of this.
Crown Fountains were super cool. They are two miniature skyscrapers covered in subway tiles with water pouring all over the place and they are set up like a splash pad with benches all around so we stopped and had lunch, took off our shoes, and went a-splashin'. The kids had a blast and it was fun to see the faces that are projected on the two sides facing each other. The faces cycle through a variety of expressions and then spit water at you. Watch out!
Another short walk away was the BEAN! The iconic reflective sculpture of Chicago. The masses were insane, but it was worth it. I saw tons of pictures on the internet of Cloud Gate all showing it with the skyscrapers in the background (here let me add another ^^^), but I didn't see a single picture of the inside. It was amazing. Kate suggested there may be a hole up the middle of the bean and that may explain the crazy reflections on the inside. So many curves and stretching reflections in directions you don't expect. Does anybody know? Why does the inside of the bean look like it does?
A stop for ice cream after getting off the train made for some happy kids and cute pictures. A refreshing end to a fun day.
Day 3 was the beach. We went in the morning to a beach on Lake Michigan. It was an overcast Friday morning and we got the beach entirely to ourselves! The lake was clean and quiet and coooold. Also, very different from an ocean beach. (Who'd-a thought?!) The sand was hard and rocky, except a strip about 6 feet wide all the way down the beach. I'm actually not a huge fan of the ocean - too many times almost drowning and could that smell be any worse? - so the tiny waves breaking, the light color, and the fact that I could actually see the bottom 15 feet away from the shore all made that lake pretty much perfect. I'd go swimming in there in the summer.
All in all, we had a wonderful time visiting family and touring Chicago. There is still so much to see and do so we'll have to go again sometime!
I had only two requests for our trip to the city - the bean and the beach - and they did not disappoint. But first we took a walk to a nearby park where we met an ICE CREAM TRUCK!
Yes. This is a big deal. I could not remember ever getting ice cream from an ice cream truck before, and I have now officially checked "Visit an ice cream truck" off my bucket list. Yay!
Day 2 was a trip into the city. We needed to see the bean, which apparently is called Cloud Gate. Who knew, right? Along the way we saw Buckingham Fountain, and the Crown Fountains, I ate a Chicago Dog (and my very unadventurous children had plain, old, nothing-on-them hot dogs), and went to the bean.
 | |
| Chicago Hot Dog! What else could you possibly put on a hot dog? It was startling at first with so many flavors, but it was good. |
Buckingham Fountain was beautiful. We walked up while the fountain was shooting a geyser into the air. Like, a you-can-see-it-from-the-other-side-of the-park geyser. Very impressive. It stopped before we walked around to the other side, but that's ok. We got this fabulous family picture.
However, Buckingham Fountain is definitely the see it and go kind of attraction and so we snapped some pictures and moved on.
Chicago is a very interesting city. I have lived near Los Angeles (where this blog was so pitifully started, thus the name SoCal) and near Salt Lake City, but Chicago is a very different creature. They manage to blend nature and art in with the hustle and bustle of one of the biggest cities in the country so seamlessly. On the walk from one spectacular fountain to the next, there were tons of little fountains and sculptures. The park was full of gorgeous gardens, the streets downtown actually had large leafy trees. It was pretty. I could probably do a whole post with just pictures of the art around town. This one was Chelsea's favorite, though. Most of them were not particularly interesting to her, but Chelsea stopped and asked for a picture of this.
Crown Fountains were super cool. They are two miniature skyscrapers covered in subway tiles with water pouring all over the place and they are set up like a splash pad with benches all around so we stopped and had lunch, took off our shoes, and went a-splashin'. The kids had a blast and it was fun to see the faces that are projected on the two sides facing each other. The faces cycle through a variety of expressions and then spit water at you. Watch out!
Another short walk away was the BEAN! The iconic reflective sculpture of Chicago. The masses were insane, but it was worth it. I saw tons of pictures on the internet of Cloud Gate all showing it with the skyscrapers in the background (here let me add another ^^^), but I didn't see a single picture of the inside. It was amazing. Kate suggested there may be a hole up the middle of the bean and that may explain the crazy reflections on the inside. So many curves and stretching reflections in directions you don't expect. Does anybody know? Why does the inside of the bean look like it does?
A stop for ice cream after getting off the train made for some happy kids and cute pictures. A refreshing end to a fun day.
Day 3 was the beach. We went in the morning to a beach on Lake Michigan. It was an overcast Friday morning and we got the beach entirely to ourselves! The lake was clean and quiet and coooold. Also, very different from an ocean beach. (Who'd-a thought?!) The sand was hard and rocky, except a strip about 6 feet wide all the way down the beach. I'm actually not a huge fan of the ocean - too many times almost drowning and could that smell be any worse? - so the tiny waves breaking, the light color, and the fact that I could actually see the bottom 15 feet away from the shore all made that lake pretty much perfect. I'd go swimming in there in the summer.
All in all, we had a wonderful time visiting family and touring Chicago. There is still so much to see and do so we'll have to go again sometime!
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
County Cultural Festival
We got to go to the Portage County Cultural Festival this last Saturday and we had tons of fun! There were booths from many, many different countries and cultures showing food and traditions, there were performances with dancing and music, and there were kids crafts. All sorts of interesting things for the whole family.
At the entrance to the festival the kids were each given a "passport" to have stamped at each booth we visited, so of course we started out doing that. People wearing traditional clothing answered questions and sold food and toys. Each booth had some sort of stamp that said their country's name or had a traditional symbol and for about 30 minutes the kids were super excited about gathering stamps and looking at the beautiful displays. But we got down to the end of one row and found the stage, where a band was playing traditional Irish music and Chelsea just had to stop. We sat and listened until a cute little girl in the front started dancing. Chelsea got up and danced for just a minute (until her nerves got the better of her). Unfortunately, I only got one very fuzzy picture of Chelsea dancing. You'll have to take my word for it. She was adorable. Jumping straight up and down, holding her arms straight down at her sides like a Riverdancer - thank you YouTube videos for teaching her that - smiling so big her face might split.
We then found some delicious Chinese food - I know, not very adventurous for being at a cultural festival. But the kids ate it well - and stopped at the Norwegian booth for some lefsa and a rosette. They had some amazing looking sweets and we tried a few, but the rosette was definitely the winner. Light, delicate, beautiful, and delicious.
After lunch, we wandered over to the kid crafts area where Chelsea and Zach made Olympic torches,
leaf crowns, an Indian game called Ludo,
and a mariachi hat game.
By the end of all that, the kids were done and we went home to have a quiet/nap time and enjoy the afternoon at home.
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Digging in the Dirt
One of my favorite parts of homeschooling with my kids is nature study. I think I may get just as much, if not more, out of it than they do. Most of the time we sit outside and choose something to draw. Get up close and personal and draw it in a sketch book. Here are a couple of my favorite sketches from my book.
Sometimes we go for walks, paying attention to what we see and hear and smell. Sometimes we just sit and birdwatch. This morning we identified a new species in the yard! That was super exciting. A very common, but new to us, brown thrasher. Sadly, he was too fast for me to get a picture. But he sat in the top of the tree (completely hidden) and sang for us for about 5 minutes.
And then there are the days - my favorite days - we get to play in the garden.
We are not very experienced gardeners, but we sure love playing in the dirt and have been working on cleaning up my parents' gardens - a rather large vegetable garden and a nice flower bed. Today we finished cleaning the weeds out of the flower bed and planted some new flowers! Pink dahlias, yellowy-orange pansies, and this pretty little purple flower that Chelsea picked out and I forget what it is called.
We met quite a few critters and worms as we went along. Both Chelsea and Zach have a particular fondness for worms, but the big winner this morning was definitely the toad. A cute, bumpy, little, brown toad.
He jumped out from under an overgrown leftover from last year and just sat in the middle of the garden while I recovered from the surprise of finding him (and being grateful I didn't skewer him while I was splitting that plant he was hiding under). Of course, I called the kids over and they were completely enthralled. We scooped him up and took turns holding him for a few minutes and then put him back under his plant. Come visit again, Mr. Toad! (I'll do my best to not let my inquisitive children scare/squish you to death with loves.)
Sometimes we go for walks, paying attention to what we see and hear and smell. Sometimes we just sit and birdwatch. This morning we identified a new species in the yard! That was super exciting. A very common, but new to us, brown thrasher. Sadly, he was too fast for me to get a picture. But he sat in the top of the tree (completely hidden) and sang for us for about 5 minutes.
And then there are the days - my favorite days - we get to play in the garden.
We are not very experienced gardeners, but we sure love playing in the dirt and have been working on cleaning up my parents' gardens - a rather large vegetable garden and a nice flower bed. Today we finished cleaning the weeds out of the flower bed and planted some new flowers! Pink dahlias, yellowy-orange pansies, and this pretty little purple flower that Chelsea picked out and I forget what it is called.
We met quite a few critters and worms as we went along. Both Chelsea and Zach have a particular fondness for worms, but the big winner this morning was definitely the toad. A cute, bumpy, little, brown toad.
He jumped out from under an overgrown leftover from last year and just sat in the middle of the garden while I recovered from the surprise of finding him (and being grateful I didn't skewer him while I was splitting that plant he was hiding under). Of course, I called the kids over and they were completely enthralled. We scooped him up and took turns holding him for a few minutes and then put him back under his plant. Come visit again, Mr. Toad! (I'll do my best to not let my inquisitive children scare/squish you to death with loves.)
Monday, May 2, 2016
Thoughts from a Sunday Afternoon
Doesn't that just look lovely? It conjures pictures of crisp morning air, not a care in the world. Just sitting on the back porch with a hot cup of raspberry and lemon tea listening to the birds chirping with no place to go and nothing better to do than soak up the early morning sunshine.
Yeah. Right. I am frequently reminded of the saying, "Whoever said 'easy like a Sunday morning' obviously did not have to get kids ready for church!" Let's face it. Getting 3 kids (or even just 1) ready and out the door for church at 9:30 in the morning is no picnic. It is a process that starts Saturday afternoon with making sure the good clothes are clean and just gets more and more hectic as you go until Sunday morning you realize that, as a friend said to me once, "It's either me or them. We don't get to both look good." Sometimes I really wonder if taking them to church is worth it.
But yesterday as I sat in church, trying to keep the kids quiet and happy and telling myself that they were listening even if they don't look like it, I realized that I love going to church. I love listening to the lessons and learning from other people's points of view. I love that the scriptures have different meaning to different people based on their life situations and needs. And on the weeks that I don't get to go to class because my baby is overtired, cranky, and just needs to not be in that little room being quiet I can take to the halls where I will find other mamas with their little kids trying just as hard as I am to get something out of the 3 hours at church. And it's ok. It's ok that life is messy. It's ok that things don't always (ever) go as planned. Because the one thing that is consistent is the Savior and His love for us.
The lessons over the last few weeks (what I have been able to pick up from them) have really hammered on the message that we have a loving Heavenly Father and it doesn't matter where we are on our path as long as we are headed in the right direction. We have a Father that we can trust to be there for us no matter how far we are from Him. He is just waiting for us to turn to Him. Through all the chaos and uncertainty, my faith has been my grounding. I know my Father is helping me. I can see His hand in so many ways in my life. Little things and big. The coolant lines in my car burst as I was driving across the country and nothing else broke even though I put another 1000 miles on the car before realizing what happened and getting it fixed. I have a terrible time making good friends, but so many good people are literally asking to be my friend. My children have been thrown into a very difficult situation with huge adjustments and are not absolutely nuts. I have peace in my heart and help everywhere I turn which gives me hope. Hope that everything will be alright.
So yes. Church is hard. Momming is hard. And there are times when I feel overwhelmed and my efforts seem futile. But I know that God's got my back.
Friday, April 29, 2016
Something Old, Something New
First, we'll start with a picture of my adorable children! It has been ages since I wrote anything here and everything is outdated. So a quick "here's us now".
Zachary is 3, Rachel just turned 1 - that was fun! I will tell you all about that soon, and Chelsea is 6. Life is crazy, as I'm sure everyone can say. For some very specific (but not going to be discussed here) reasons Dave and I have separated. Temporarily for now and we'll see how life goes. So the kids and I are living in Wisconsin! In a quiet little town not too far from where I grew up where there are millions of trees and the sun shines... sometimes. But the birds are always singing and are kind enough to frequent the bird feeder out back and let us gawk at them from the kitchen window while we eat our breakfast each morning.The neighbors are friendly and don't play mariachi music until one o'stinkin'o'clock in the morning. One of them even has a couple little boys and our kids love playing together. The air is clean and I am running outside again when it's not drizzling or trying to snow. All in all, Wisconsin is pretty great. I think the only I really miss right now is a good old-fashioned, Wisconsin-style thunderstorm.You know, the ones that rattle the windows and you can hear the rain and thunder inside a very noisy Walmart. The storms that make the birds run for cover and then rumble away so the birds can sing again about their freshly washed homes and the goodness of a quiet life. I need the smell of good, clean, wet dirt. I think it may be time to go play in the garden again...
I'm starting a new chapter in my life. There are so many changes being made right now and I'm excited for some of the things coming up. For starters, Chelsea is big enough to play tee ball! When did that happen? She has had one practice already and has her first game tomorrow. She thinks it's pretty great and she is excited, but that may just be because I bought her a cute new pair of jogging sweats to wear. And her team is named the Royals. That all by itself makes the game worth playing. I certainly have a girly girl and we love (almost) every minute of it! It's adorable and fun to watch her out on the field trying to play with all of her girly, 6 year old awkwardness.
The other super exciting development is that, after 10 years and 2 failed attempts, I signed up for summer school at the local university (as a special student since I'm not actually in yet) and applied for the fall semester! Since things are so up in the air right now, I don't know if I will actually be able to attend - gosh, doesn't that sound familiar - but I figure if I am still here I want to have that option and I'm getting a jump start in June with 2 classes. YAY! I'm finally a college student! A very old college student, but whatever.
I think most people would not be thrilled with the classes I'm taking - Comm 101 and early US history - but I am. I may have bitten off way more than I can chew - Hello! Why did nobody warn me or tell me to stop and think about how intense two 3 credit classes over the very small space of only 3 weeks would be? - but I'm excited for them. I struggle with face to face conversation and I am terrified of speaking in front of people. I would much rather sit here and type because it always comes out so much better and if I don't like it there is always the lovely backspace button to erase whatever nonsense came out of my fingertips. So hopefully an oral comm class will help with that.
Also, I keep realizing just how dismal my high school education was. I'm guessing that's mostly due to a lack of interest (and effort) on my part. Whatever the reason, I don't know so many things. With the current political climate being the mess that it is, I wish that I knew more about the founding fathers and what our country is supposed to look like. I want to know if there was a specific time period, event, or person to blame for the fact the Constitution is well on its way to being null and void. I want to know the stories behind and of the wars. Preferably the real stories, but I recognize there is no such thing as unbiased history and I'll take whatever information the class has to offer with a grain of salt and be glad to be further ahead of where I am now.
Zachary is 3, Rachel just turned 1 - that was fun! I will tell you all about that soon, and Chelsea is 6. Life is crazy, as I'm sure everyone can say. For some very specific (but not going to be discussed here) reasons Dave and I have separated. Temporarily for now and we'll see how life goes. So the kids and I are living in Wisconsin! In a quiet little town not too far from where I grew up where there are millions of trees and the sun shines... sometimes. But the birds are always singing and are kind enough to frequent the bird feeder out back and let us gawk at them from the kitchen window while we eat our breakfast each morning.The neighbors are friendly and don't play mariachi music until one o'stinkin'o'clock in the morning. One of them even has a couple little boys and our kids love playing together. The air is clean and I am running outside again when it's not drizzling or trying to snow. All in all, Wisconsin is pretty great. I think the only I really miss right now is a good old-fashioned, Wisconsin-style thunderstorm.You know, the ones that rattle the windows and you can hear the rain and thunder inside a very noisy Walmart. The storms that make the birds run for cover and then rumble away so the birds can sing again about their freshly washed homes and the goodness of a quiet life. I need the smell of good, clean, wet dirt. I think it may be time to go play in the garden again...
I'm starting a new chapter in my life. There are so many changes being made right now and I'm excited for some of the things coming up. For starters, Chelsea is big enough to play tee ball! When did that happen? She has had one practice already and has her first game tomorrow. She thinks it's pretty great and she is excited, but that may just be because I bought her a cute new pair of jogging sweats to wear. And her team is named the Royals. That all by itself makes the game worth playing. I certainly have a girly girl and we love (almost) every minute of it! It's adorable and fun to watch her out on the field trying to play with all of her girly, 6 year old awkwardness.
The other super exciting development is that, after 10 years and 2 failed attempts, I signed up for summer school at the local university (as a special student since I'm not actually in yet) and applied for the fall semester! Since things are so up in the air right now, I don't know if I will actually be able to attend - gosh, doesn't that sound familiar - but I figure if I am still here I want to have that option and I'm getting a jump start in June with 2 classes. YAY! I'm finally a college student! A very old college student, but whatever.
I think most people would not be thrilled with the classes I'm taking - Comm 101 and early US history - but I am. I may have bitten off way more than I can chew - Hello! Why did nobody warn me or tell me to stop and think about how intense two 3 credit classes over the very small space of only 3 weeks would be? - but I'm excited for them. I struggle with face to face conversation and I am terrified of speaking in front of people. I would much rather sit here and type because it always comes out so much better and if I don't like it there is always the lovely backspace button to erase whatever nonsense came out of my fingertips. So hopefully an oral comm class will help with that.
Also, I keep realizing just how dismal my high school education was. I'm guessing that's mostly due to a lack of interest (and effort) on my part. Whatever the reason, I don't know so many things. With the current political climate being the mess that it is, I wish that I knew more about the founding fathers and what our country is supposed to look like. I want to know if there was a specific time period, event, or person to blame for the fact the Constitution is well on its way to being null and void. I want to know the stories behind and of the wars. Preferably the real stories, but I recognize there is no such thing as unbiased history and I'll take whatever information the class has to offer with a grain of salt and be glad to be further ahead of where I am now.
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