Breakfast Devotional

While I was eating breakfast this morning and trying to be distracted from thinking about the fact that the last time I ate oatmeal and pears in a polka dot bowl I was sharing it with Shad, I decided to read Emily Freeman's entry on her Daily Closer to Christ blog.

I was glad I did, but it is hard to eat, cry and feel overwhelming love from my Savior all at the same time.

I'm pretty sure this post was written specifically for me and I am grateful.

P.S. I am adding Kaitlyn and her family to my prayer list today and hope you will too.

This morning I am grateful for

moments when I know my Heavenly Father is aware of what I am going through and that He loves me personally.

memories.

light traffic on the 8 so we still got to the hospital before Shad went to surgery, even though I took some extra time eating breakfast.

Gila Valley Temple Trip

While planning some summer activities for our Relief Society sisters to enjoy, we had the idea of taking a day trip to one of the Arizona temples that we don’t frequently visit.  We chose the Gila Valley temple and began making plans. 

It seemed like at every turn we were questioned,  “Why go all the way (a 3 hour trip each way) to the Gila Valley when there is a temple in your own back yard?”.

We started out saying things like, “It will be an adventure”, “It sounds fun”, and “It’s something we haven’t done before”.  However, after being asked numerous times, we decided perhaps we needed to really think about this activity.  Why were we considering it?  What did we want the sisters to experience and gain on this trip?  Was it worth the time commitment and expense?  Was it really something we felt that our Heavenly Father would want us to do? 

As we thought and prayed about it we felt the Lord’s approval and came up with several important goals for this trip.  First, we felt that it would be good for the sisters to really have to sacrifice an entire day to going to the temple.  We are very blessed to live only 10 minutes from the Mesa temple.  Many women in the church have to plan and save and dedicate large amounts of time and money to be able to visit the nearest temple to them.  By making this effort, we hoped that our women would be more grateful for the availability of the temple and the 3 hours total it usually takes us to go to the temple would be a little less daunting. 

We also felt that the time we would be able to spend together as sisters, traveling to and from the temple and while there, would be a good bonding experience.  Seldom do we get to really visit with one another and touch on more than the bare basics of what is happening in our lives.  With these two main goals in mind we continued to move forward.

 It seemed as though things still didn’t readily fall into place and there were setbacks and challenges along the way, but we pressed on.  When we looked at our schedule we determined that the best endowment session for us to attend would be at 1:15 PM.  As we researched this though we discovered that this session was done only in Spanish.  The majority of us were English speakers, but we determined that this too could be a positive learning experience and we could make it work if the temple had enough headsets for all of us.  The temple assured us that they could accommodate our group and that they would be happy to have us there.

We originally had 24 sisters and a few husbands sign up to attend.  We arranged drivers and had just enough seats for everyone.  The relief society president was planning on transporting 7 sisters in her vehicle.  A few days before we were to go she decided to have the tires on her car checked and rotated.  Much to her disappointment, she was informed that 2 of her tires were unsafe and that she shouldn’t even drive to Phoenix on them.  In addition, the tires she needed would have to be ordered and wouldn’t be available until the next week.  We were down a large vehicle and didn’t know what to do.  However, just the day before a sister who was not originally planning on attending had called and asked if she could go. As the relief society president pondered on whom she could ask to drive, this sister came to mind.  She had a van that she was willing to drive and we were good to go again.

Since we were going to be gone all day we had decided to provide lunch for everyone.  We were just planning to eat at the picnic pavilion located close to the temple.  We knew that it was July and it would be hot, but thought we could make it work.  One of the sisters called a couple of days before the trip and was extremely worried about the excessive heat forecast and felt that we needed to make other arrangements.  We considered finding a church building that we could have access to, but as we thought about what we should do our president was impressed to go a different route. 

There is a former ward member, in her nineties, who moved into her daughter’s home in Thatcher a few years ago.  When we first began to plan this trip we thought that it might be nice for a few of us to visit her while we were in the area, and even got a detailed map to her home from one of the other sisters who had been to visit in the past.  As the time drew closer though we realized that we didn’t really have time to fit in a visit and let the idea pass.  The relief society president felt very strongly that she should ask if we could eat lunch at this sister’s home. She was hesitant to essentially invite 20+ people to lunch, even though we would be providing the food, but the feeling persisted and she started making phone calls.  It took a few tries and a couple of days to finally connect with the daughter, but she was very willing to have us descend upon them in force the next day.   What a sweet, gracious relief society sister.   We all had such a pleasant time in her home and enjoyed renewing acquaintances.  It turned out that not only our former ward member, but her daughter as well, knew some of the sisters that came.  When we got ready to leave, the daughter pulled us aside and confided that her mom had been having a difficult time and that this visit had really perked her up.  She felt it was just what she needed and thanked us for coming. 

It was amazing to us how everything turned out the way it was supposed to in so many different ways.  We believe that we accomplished our original goals and some of Heavenly Father’s plans as well. Many of the sisters commented that it was valuable for them to see how others sacrificed to fit temple attendance into their lives and that they were grateful they lived so close to the temple.  It was wonderful to see strong friendships formed and strengthened in each vehicle during the journey.

We truly felt the Lord’s help and approval numerous times throughout this experience.  One sister felt inspired to go to the temple at the last minute and her vehicle was the one we needed to make the trip work.

Another sister felt inspired that the park wasn’t where we should eat lunch and several lives were blessed because of the change that was made.

At our gas station pit stops we attracted a lot of attention and were able to share our love for the temple and its importance and to engage in some simple missionary work. 

We used every available translating headset that the temple owned, but our one Spanish-speaking sister was touched by the opportunity to attend a session in her native language with all of her relief society sisters. 

It really was  a wonderful and fulfilling experience for all who attended and a day well spent.  

General Conference

I just want to tell each one of you

who tuned into General Conference today

hoping to receive answers to your questions and concerns

that I am sorry.

Apparently, Heavenly Father inspired all of the speakers

to focus on my list today.

However, you can tune in again tomorrow.

Perhaps those will be your sessions.

I sincerely believe that what was shared today

by prophets and apostles of God

was intended to humble, teach, strengthen and uplift me personally.

I hope those of you who listened

to any or all of Conference today

feel the same way.

Isn't it wonderful?!!

Today I am thankful for

a son that cares if his shirt needs ironed or not and irons it himself if it does.

my crockpot.

spiritual food.

A Cell Phone is NOT a Necessity

My youngest son's cell phone is currently in my possession. Since we (the hubby's money and my check writing, envelope licking, and stamp sticking skills) pay the cell phone bill each month, we set up a few simple rules for its use. One rule is that the cell phone shouldn't be used at the dinner table or during Family Home Evening. The biggest rule is that the cell phone can and will be taken away for disrespectful behavior. Tonight during Family Home Evening when the son kept texting his friend and his mouth kept running faster than his brain I had finally had enough and asked for his cell phone. Following some extreme theatrics I was given the phone and I am not planning on returning it anytime within the next 24 hours. Every few minutes the son comes in with another reason why he NEEDS his cell phone right now.

He NEEDS it to wake him up in the morning. He does use the alarm on his cell phone to wake up, but lately he still seems to need a couple of parental reminders as well and he does have an alarm clock next to his bed, so I'm pretty sure we'll manage to get him up on time in the morning even without his phone.

He NEEDS to call someone really important. Hard as it is to believe, we have a house phone that calls people just as well as his cell phone does. No, he can't take it outside and around the corner and up on the top of the block wall to chat in private, but it would still work.

He NEEDS it to text me and let me know if he needs a ride home from school or not tomorrow. I do appreciate his texts that say that our neighbor can give him a ride, which saves me a trip, but I told him I will just plan on picking him up tomorrow so that alleviates that problem. He's pretty sure that just won't work.

I don't think anyone really NEEDS a cell phone. Yes, my cell phone makes my life easier and there are times that I wonder how I ever managed without one, but if I didn't have one I would still survive. I'm almost positive that a cell phone is a WANT and not a NEED.

This line of thinking has reminded me of two items I have been musing about recently. Friday morning a friend of mine received the following text that she shared with me.

Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?
What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
What if we used it when we traveled?
What if we used it in case of emergency?
This is something to make you go....hmm...where is my Bible? Oh, and one more thing: Unlike our cell phone, we don't have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill.

Definitely something to think about. I can honestly say I do know where my Bible is but do I NEED my scriptures as frequently and fervently as I seem to NEED my cell phone.

The second thing is this post I read today about a year long activity focusing on "Every Needful Thing". What is it that I actually do NEED in my life? I'm pretty sure that it's not a cell phone, but I'm interested in participating in this journey and being reminded of the things that I do NEED and trying to include them in my daily life. Perhaps you'd like to join me.

Today I am grateful for

a house that is a tiny bit more organized.
zucchini and scrambled eggs.
January in Arizona.

Word of the Year

In my flitting around the web reading blogs I ran across a New Year idea that really appealed to me. I started with a post on one of my favorite escape blogs which led to some blogs that I had never visited before and some posts entitled Resolution Solution and One Little Word

Choose One Word to center my direction around for the coming year. What a wonderful way to focus on improvement in 2010 without making a huge list of resolutions. I love words and all the thoughts and ideas and inspiration that a single word can bring into my head. I have been bouncing around some ideas of words that resonate with me. What word will I choose to represent this New Year? Will it be...

Abundance
Celebrate
Gratitude
Remember
Enough
Happiness
Joy
Purpose
Peace
Hope
Optimism
Faith
Charity
Believe

Stay tuned for the final decision to be made soon.

Today I am grateful for

breaks from the routine.
the world wide web.
words.

Thoughts on Columbus Day

Today is Columbus Day. It seems to me that Columbus has gotten a bad reputation in the past few years or perhaps it is just that I hang out with more Native Americans now days, who are not big Columbus fans. I will be the first to admit that Columbus didn't treat the natives that he met in his travels very nicely, but I think that Columbus's discovery of the new world was part of a much larger plan. This was an event that had to happen in order for the gospel of Jesus Christ to be restored to the earth.

In the Book of Mormon we can read about this, "And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land." 1 Nephi 13:12

Columbus himself felt that he was led and inspired by God. "Our Lord," said Columbus, "unlocked my mind, sent me upon the sea, and gave me fire for the deed. Those who heard of my enterprise called it foolish, mocked me, and laughed. But who can doubt but that the Holy Ghost inspired me?" (Jacob Wasserman, Don Quixote of the Seas, pp. 1920)

I found this paragraph, included on a History of Columbus Day website, to be good musing material. It says, "Christopher Columbus never did accomplish his original goal - to find a western ocean route to Asia. Instead, he achieved something even greater - he ushered in a new era in world history by opening up the Americas to exploration." - The History of Columbus Day

Often when I feel inspired to do something I usually think I know why I have those feelings and what it is that I am going to accomplish as I follow those promptings. It never fails to surprise me, when looking back, that what my Heavenly Father had in mind was something totally different than I had at first imagined. It just goes to show me that my Heavenly Father will use me to accomplish his purposes if I will just listen to the spirit when he speaks to me. He has a plan and it is much better than the one that I usually come up with. Just like Columbus, I might end up doing something that changes the world. You never know.

All Done?

Tonight we had a Stake Fireside for the youth and their parents as an introduction to this upcoming year's youth conference theme. The focus is on Family History. When the youth arrived they were given an index card with a name and a date on it. The high councilman who was in charge invited everyone to imagine they were in the temple waiting to do baptisms for the dead. Then some individuals and families all dressed in white entered the chapel and were seated on the stand. They were introduced as individuals who were waiting for their temple work to be completed. The first person came to the podium and introduced himself and told a little about his history and then asked if anyone had his name. No one did and he returned to his seat on the stand. After the next person spoke she asked if someone had her name and someone did and she excitedly left the stage and went and sat by the individual with her card. Next was a son whose work had been done, but was there with his father wanting to see if his name had been found. The father still had to wait. There were several more individuals and several families or parts of families with compelling stories. The last group to speak was a mother, father and 5 children. The mother introduced them and then asked if anyone had her children's names (all but the youngest daughter left the stand). Then the mother asked if anyone had her name and she had been found as well. The father put his arm around the daughter and told her they could wait together, but the daughter told him he needed to ask if anyone had his name. He asked and was called down. It was a very tender, thought provoking moment when the father moved into the audience and the daughter returned to her seat on the stand. This enactment really made me think about the possible fragmented families that are waiting on the other side of the veil for me or someone else to link their family together for eternity. This fireside motivated me to want to increase my family history efforts. Hopefully it inspired the youth as well. I guess time will tell over the next few months as they are involved in a multitude of Family History activities. I think it sounds fun!

I have been blessed with diligent family members who have been involved in faithfully doing our family history for generations. I have often felt that the work has already been done for many of my ancestors, and it very likely has been. This evening I was reminded however of the possibility that someone has been missed. With the increased technology now available I could very easily be the one to find that missing person.

I think this sidebar in an article in the October 2009 Ensign says it well.

All Done?

Some say, "My family history is all done." Others say, "Uncle Fred is doing it all."
That's a bit like saying. "I don't go to Church, but that's okay because Uncle Fred goes for me."
The fact is that we need to be personally engaged in family history so our hearts will be turned to our fathers. Then we will forge that welding link between our ancestors and us that is so important to the Lord.
Think about it. We each have four grandparents and that doubles each generation. In 10 generations we have 512 "grandparents" - not counting the thousands of other family members they bore. In 16 generations, we have nearly 33,000 direct ancestors. Our family history hasn't all been done - I guarantee it.

I'm excited that our youth are being given the opportunity to personally be involved in family history and to experience the joy that comes from turning their hearts to their fathers.

Today I am grateful for

youth leaders who work hard to help my children have positive spiritual experiences.
eternal families.
Primary singing time leaders who come and do music in nursery. The children pay a lot more attention to them than they do to me. These same singing time leaders (a young husband and wife team) sang at the fireside tonight also. They both have gorgeous voices and really brought the spirit with their music.

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

Susan Boyle.

You can watch her here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk

Need I say more?

And yes, I cry every time I watch it.

Baptism

Tonight the sons, my youngest daughter and I attended the baptism of one of our friends. This young man started out as a friend with my youngest son when they were in middle school together. He enjoys playing basketball and he and my son connected on the basketball court. The son and I also enjoyed sitting in the stands with his dad and his uncle watching him play on the middle school basketball team. Then he started playing on the church basketball team (Deacon) that my older son coached several years ago. He has continued to play church ball each year and played on the team the youngest son was on recently.

He is #14 in this picture. (Unfortunately I didn't take my camera with me to the baptism.) He lives in the ward that we share our building with and he has attended many of their Wednesday night activities over the years and became close friends with many of the boys in that ward, especially one young man, who was also his neighbor and whose family have always welcomed him into their home.
Not too long ago the boy who was baptized tonight lost his dad unexpectedly. His mom has never been a part of his life, at least not for as long as we have known him. After his father's death he ended up moving in with his much older brother, but that ended up being a less than positive situation and a change needed to be made. The neighbor family invited him to live with them just after the start of the year. Since then he has attended church every Sunday and recently decided he wanted to take the missionary discussions and things progressed from there.
Whenever someone I know decides to be baptized I stop and ponder what kind of an impact I personally had on this decision. Did my interactions with this person give him a desire to know more about the gospel or did he decide to join the church in spite of my example? I think it's good to have opportunities where we really stop and think about the influence we can have in other people's lives and the difference we can make. We really never know who is watching us.
In this situation I don't really believe that anything my children or I did made a huge difference in how things transpired. Perhaps we were all cast in the supporting roles in this life story, not as one of the main characters. I am happy to say though that I can't think of too many moments when our choices might have actually stood in his way of joining the church, except perhaps those few times when my youngest son or I got a little too emotionally involved in the drama of an exciting basketball game. Could we have done better? Most definitely. Are we glad we did what we did? You better believe it.
This young man is such a great kid, who has faced a lot of challenges in his life. It was a very sweet experience to see him enter the waters of baptism this evening, surrounded by his new church family. I love baptisms and the spirit I felt during this one tonight.

Tonight I am thankful for

the Holy Ghost.
individuals who open their hearts and their homes to others.
my oldest daughter who rescued her father when his car died on the way home from work and none of the rest of us would answer our cell phones because we were at the baptism

If You're Missing Baby Jesus

Tonight my brother and sister-in-law and 3 of their sons brought dinner to my mom's house and came to share family home evening with us. It never ceases to amaze me how much better food tastes when someone else does the cooking. My sister-in-law made wheat chili which sounds kind of strange but was actually quite good. She told me the recipe, but I can't remember what all was in it. According to her youngest son poison was very likely one of the ingredients and it possibly could have killed me, but I'm still alive so I don't think that was on the list.

The mother of the family had brought a book to read for our lesson. It was called "If You're Missing Baby Jesus" by Jean Gietzen and although apparently all of my extended family are familiar with the story, it was one that I hadn't heard before. It is based on a true experience from the author's childhood. Her mother had purchased a Nativity set that year and when she set it up at home there were 2 baby Jesus figures. The mom and the children really worried about the set that was missing the most important part and the person that purchased it and how sad they would be. Finally the mom went to the store and asked them to post a sign with her phone number to call if anyone was missing baby Jesus. The story tells about what happened when someone finally calls. It was a sweet, touching story and my sister-in-law had to pass the book off to her eldest son when she got a little emotional as she was reading it. He finished off the story and of course I cried and was touched by the message that this book shared. However, as often is the case at our Family Home Evenings, someone had to bring up the fact that this child and her siblings were allowed to ride in the back of a pickup truck in below freezing temperatures and that perhaps the parents should have been charged with child abuse. I guess it is nice to know that my home is not the only one where attempts at feeling the spirit and keeping it around for a while are thwarted by a silly boy. I personally enjoyed the story and got much more out of it than a desire to call CPS. Sometimes I feel like my Christmas Season is missing the most important part of the celebration. It's always good to be reminded of the real spirit of Christmas, which is the spirit of Christ. If you haven't read this book you might want to add it to your Christmas collection. A version of the story is available here.

This story reminded me of a friend's blog that I read today and her nephew's insightful placement of the figures in her Nativity Sets. I too want to be close to Jesus and I am glad that Christmas gives me so many little reminders of Him and His love for me.

We ended our fun evening with chocolate chip bar cookies. Mom even got a candle in hers in honor of her upcoming birthday.


Today I am thankful for

reminders of why I celebrate Christmas.
dinner made by someone else.
opportunities to spend time with family I don't get to see as often as I would like.

Distractions

I am a person that is easily distracted from accomplishing what I set out to do. Sometimes my Blog is my distraction and sometimes other people's Blogs distract me from mine and sometimes just turning on the computer distracts me from everything.

I have become very distracted this past week by the aftermath of the vote on Proposition 8 in California - Protests outside Mormon temples, church member's jobs, homes, and businesses being threatened, white powder being mailed to several different religious buildings... I was caught off guard by all that has been happening. It is hard for me to comprehend what has been taking place following a decision made in a democratic election. A statement issued by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says "People of faith have been intimidated for simply exercising their democratic rights. These are not actions that are worthy of the democratic ideals of our nation. The end of a free and fair election should not be the beginning of a hostile response in America." I don't understand why political officials in California aren't willing to stand up for the majority of the people they represent and acknowledge that this decision is the will of the people and affirm that they will uphold it. I try to picture the individuals in favor of Prop 8 behaving in a similar fashion if the final tally had gone the other direction and not in our favor. I can't even imagine it.

I think because I find some of these events so incomprehensible, I keep being drawn to more and more information about them hoping in someway to make sense of the whole thing. I have wasted a lot of time reading articles and news reports about all that is transpiring and still I simply don't understand. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I am sure that part of the issue is that I don't like to see the Church that I belong to and believe in reflected in a negative light, especially when I don't feel that we are the ones that have done anything negative. Also, in the back of my mind I keep feeling grateful that California is where this issue has come to a head and not Arizona (following the passing of Proposition 102) and then being disappointed in myself because of those feelings. I worry, "when will it be my turn to have to stand in the face of dangerous and demoralizing opposition and courageously maintain my position?" I am frightened by the visibility of Satan and his plan going forward in today's America.

Since this issue has been foremost in my mind recently, I thought it was appropriate when I opened to Elder Robert D. Hales conference talk to read in the Ensign today. It is entitled Christian Courage: The Price of Discipleship. It amazes me over and over again how inspired our leaders are in the messages they prepare and share with us. I may have been surprised by what happened in California following the election there, but obviously the leaders of the church, both here on earth and in the heavens above, were not surprised at all. This talk brought me the peace and understanding that I have been searching for in so many ways. God knows what is going on. "The opposition which may seem hard to bear will be a blessing to the Kingdom of God upon the earth." "When we do not retaliate - when we turn the other cheek and resist feelings of anger - we stand with the Savior. We show forth His love, which is the only power that can subdue the adversary and answer our accusers without accusing them in return." However, the message that struck me with the most power was this, "We have a great work to do, which will not be accomplished if we allow ourselves to stop and argue and be distracted. Instead we should muster Christian courage and move on. As we read in Psalms 37:1 'Fret not thyself because of evildoers'."

There is Heavenly Father's message to me. Don't let this distract you. Move away from the computer and go and do what needs to be done.

With that said I guess I better sign out.

I find it ironic that since November, the month to be thankful, started I have been very remiss in writing down what I am grateful for every day. Writing these things down is a very important part of my life and makes a big difference in my daily attitude. I need to step it up again.

Today I am thankful for

Inspired leaders who receive revelation concerning topics to speak on in General Conference and pass that inspiration on to me.
Family Time.
Times when things just seem to work out right. Today the youngest son and I both got to be happy with a trip to the church.

Walking Backwards

Since coming back from Utah I have been very stressed. I'm not sure why. I think it's a combination of a lot of things. The fact that I really wanted my elimination diet to make me feel like a new woman, or at least better, and it didn't. My house that needs my full time attention and me having no desire to give it even 5 minutes worth. My kids and their individual challenges. The Hot, Hot weather that seems like it is never going to end. Just little stuff that seems to have bloomed into a big thing in my mind. I have been wound way too tight and everything has been seeming like more than I can handle. I have felt like I am tied up in knots or tangled up like the phone cord use to get when we use to have a phone with a cord. I've been tempted to hang upside down and spin like I use to do to untangle the phone cord, but I wasn't quite sure how to do it.

Today as I was driving back from dropping the youngest son off at school I was telling myself all the reasons why I should go walking when I got home. You know - it will make me feel better (even though it doesn't), it is cooler now than it will be later, it's good for me, it will give me time to think, it will be one less thing to feel guilty about today... As I was pondering all these thoughts I had the impression that I should walk backwards today, not literally backwards but counter clockwise rather than clockwise. I have some walking routes mapped out in my neighborhood for when I go walking. I have one that is a mile and one that is two miles and some others in between, but no matter which walk I take I always start out going the same direction - North. Going the other direction just seems unnatural to me. However this morning, after I got out of the van and threw the newspaper at the door, I headed off going the other way - South. As I walked I started picturing the playground at the elementary school where I use to work. I could see the kids sitting in the swings twisting them up into a tight knot. Now this was against the rules and normally I would have stopped them, but in my mind I let them twist and twist and twist until those chains were so tight they couldn't go another inch and then the kids lifted their feet and instantaneously began to rapidly unwind. As I walked "backwards" I could actually feel the same thing happening to me. The further I walked the more relaxed and unknotted I began to feel. I imagined a long, long twisted and bumpy rope slowly unwinding and becoming smooth. No more kinks or knots or tension. Just a long, straight rope.

I can't say that all my problems just up and disappeared, but I will say that I feel a lot less uptight about them. Sometimes it's good to just pick up my feet (one at a time) and unwind.