Sunday School

I've been thinking a lot about this coming week.
I've been thinking a lot about Christ and how in just a few years on earth, the tremendous impact he had.
You probably know this already, but just in case you don't, I am Christian.
I believe in Jesus Christ.
I love Him.
And while I am no master scriptorian, I do hope that I may be considered a worthy follower of Him and his teachings.

The following link will take you to an article that describes Christ's last mortal week.
When I think of Him and the things he went through, it makes my weeks seem very small.
But I hope that I can make my small  & weak great.

"Reflections on the Savior's Last Week"
By Eric D. Huntsman Associate Professor of Ancient Scripture, Brigham Young University

Ensign, April 2009
__________________________________________________________________________________

My friend teaches the adult Sunday School class in our ward.  Saturday she invited "a parent with a young child (three to five years old) to bring the child to class, introduce him or her, and briefly describe some of the child’s admirable qualities. After the parent is finished, ask class members to think of childlike qualities that Jesus would want us to have. List responses on the chalkboard." That parent was me. That child was little mr. j. I cried a little while doing it & little mr. j did great in front of all those grown ups.

The lesson used Matthew 18 (becoming like little children & parable of the unmerciful servant).
Oh boy is that chapter full of so much wisdom.
It's been a touching day.
And a touching week.

For my "journal" purposes of this blog, I'm going to list a few of the things that have happened (without much detail, sorry).

-miss s's telling us about her presentation in her marriage & family class on LDS Marriages (alright--this one might need more detail--she's the only LDS kid in there & she said the whole hour turned into a question and answer period. I am so proud of her and her courage.)
-trying to find the perfect earrings to match miss h's prom dress
-listening to miss h and the prom drama
-listening to miss h and the friend drama
-miss s teaching little mr. j ukulele
-listening to the Bau sisters presentation about their father & mother's experiences in the Holocaust
-talking to my friend, an incredible woman & a recent convert to the LDS faith, while waiting for a soccer game to start
-little mr. b getting a package in the mail that he ordered and paid for and was wayyyyy excited about
-watching little mr. b make a goal at his soccer game
-being able to visit teach one of my ladies (whom I've been very delinquent in visiting) in the Wal Mart parking lot :)
-dog wrestled, didn't lose, but still limping after 5 days
-being brave enough to deliver fliers about the brain training I do to the school and hopefully drum up some summer time business
-three very windy soccer games
-pressing install and a password on many free aps
-seeing (for the first time in 2 1/2 years) the trainer from the gym who helped get me started on getting healthy and listening to the wonderful story of her trials, finding Christ, forgiveness and the redemptions of her past year
-funnest family dinner today. miss s said something so hilarious that I almost choked and died. Then we started teasing miss h about a silly thing that we kept catching her doing & she didn't get mad at us.

All Awesome.
This week I plan to ponder a lot and clean up the office.
But I'm sure more will come.
Thanks and good night.

Assume

Image from here.

Who knows what assuming something does?

Let's spell it out:

when one assumes,

one makes an

A _ _

out of

U

and

ME.

ASSUME

Somebody assumed that I was mad at them because I did not answer a text they sent.

Somebody was wrong.

And now I think somebody is mad at me.

But I am not going to assume that because what would that make me?

I left this kind of drama long ago.

It's stupid.

I will not be sucked in to it again.

Life is too short and time is too valuable to play games in this arena.

If you want to know how someone feels about something, ask them.

Don't assume.

And if you think someone is not telling you the truth about their feelings,

maybe you are right and maybe you are wrong.

It doesn't matter.

All you can do is take them for their word and move forward.

Hopefully in a positive direction.

_______________________________________________________________

PS- I am at a great point in my life.

I have gained the courage to speak my mind, if deemed necessary.

Most of the time it's not necessary.

Most of the time it just doesn't really matter what I think.

But when it does, I do say something.

And I did.

I just don't know if somebody heard.

Sunday School - ramblings on reverence

I thought I would let you know right up front that I am just going to ramble about here at Sunday School today. I hope you don't mind.

A few weeks ago, we sat in front of a seat kicker. It felt like I was sitting in a massage chair. I remember thinking, "Gee, I wish he would kick a little higher and work on those knots in my upper back." Then I realized that the pew doesn't go up that high and he would just be kicking me and that would not be pleasant.
And then I got prideful and thought,"Wow, how good of me to not get all judgemental, frustrated and impatient with this kid's lack of respect and annoying behavior."  And then I wondered why I didn't get judgemental, frustrated and impatient. I think it's because my back was just really needing some attention at the time and it was a huge blessing that we sat where we did.

Today we sat in front of what I think might have been the noisiest bunch of people ever. 

my mr. has gotten us into the habit of arriving about 10 minutes early to our Sacrament Meeting (main meeting-everybody's there). It's been a very peaceful time to sit and listen to the music and really shift our spirits to worship.  And even though my mr. had responsibilities in another congregation today and was not with us, I got it together and got us there early. (That doesn't always happen when he is not around. I try, but usually only get us there three minutes early. Doesn't work as well.)

Anyway, today was weird.
During our sitting time, little mr. b leaned over to me and said, "It's noisier in here than in my cafeteria at school."
I said, "You're right, now be quiet."
Even miss h & miss s commented on how chatty people were being.
And I had to separate little mr. j and miss s, because they were being obnoxious.
And it just was not the correct time or place for the business they were conducting.
miss s gave me crusties.
I don't care.

The congregation finally shut up after the counselor in the bishopric had been standing at the pulpit ready to start the meeting for a little while said something like, "We welcome you...." I don't know what he said, because I couldn't hear him.

I was trying not to be judgemental, frustrated and impatient.

Then during the Sacrament, there was still a lot of noise. Now this is the most sacred part of our meeting and it was very distracting to have a low murmur going on.  My kids must have decided that if others were whispering, it must be ok for them to do as well.
I thought not.
After it was all over, I told miss s that this was a very sacred time and the whisperings and "Mom" questions need to stop, because it distracted & interrupted people's worship. Especially mine.
I should have told all my children.
miss s gave me a crusty.
I don't care.

It turned out to be a very nice meeting.
I am sure I would have got more out of it if I hadn't been judgemental, frustrated and impatient.
I'm going to try.
Maybe I can sit in the massage pew next week.

Snore

Image from here.

It is 12:34am CST (at least it is that time right now, when I finish typing this sentence and when you read this it will be a totally different time, but I wanted you to know anyway).

Now it is 12:35am. For me.
And I am sitting at this computer typing in words listening to the rumbling sounds coming from a snoozing somebody. A few minutes ago somebody else was talking about something.  Busy night here, huh?

I'm waiting for it to be midnight April 6th, 2010 MST. I was going to go to bed and wake up for the event, but I stayed up too late and didn't want to do the whole go to sleep, wake up, be groggy, wake all the way up and go back to bed again and not be able to go back to sleep. Did that two nights ago when some rude young neighbors decided to antagonize the dog. Not fun.

Tonight will be fun. miss h's enrollment for fall classes opens and we're hitting it right when it opens. 
(Yay, she wants me around for this!)

Very far cry from the days when I went to a giant gym and waited in line for hours and hours only to find out what I wanted was full or canceled.

I still have nightmares that I am in college and it's finals time. Only I haven't been to class - ever - and I can't find the room the exam is being given in. Oh, yes, it's a doozy and bothers me greatly.

And now I will share a family story that has become legend:

Once upon a time, we had a little boy who woke up numerous times every night. He said a monster woke him up and was very scared. It was a difficult period in his and our little lives.

One day my mr. was taking a nap on the couch in the living room. little mr. b was playing in his room down the hall. little mr. b came out in to the living room and said to me, "Mommy, the monster's here."
So being a good mommy, I encouraged him to face his fears and lead me to the monster. (Hoping of course that we could deal with the problem and be free of the monster.)

little mr. b took my hand and walked me over to his snoring dad and said, "That's the monster noise that wakes me up."

Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go ask someone turn on his side.
Good night.
12:51am.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday (on Saturday)

Today's a big day in the Mormon circle of the world.
Actually, today and tomorrow.
It's General Conference weekend.
Happens twice a year.
First weekend in April and first weekend in October.
It's a time where we can be fed spiritually and hear the messages our Heavenly Father wants us to hear.
For our time.
Right now.
Today.

So, if you'd like to join the family, you are totally invited.
(We'll be playing this bingo game with m&ms and enjoying our time together.)
If you can't make it to our house, you can access Conference in quite a few different ways.
(And know, that if you can't watch or listen live, you can always access it later. The directions are there.)

Here's a link to the Church news & events website:
http://lds.org/church/events/181st-general-conference-of-the-church?lang=eng
Scroll down to "How do I watch?" and you can choose the best option for you.

Toast

Image found here.

Today's show and tell item was supposed to start with the letter "T."
little mr. j wanted to take the toaster.
After some cajoling, he settled on toast.
When he came home he told us that, "This was the first time ever in the history of my school that someone has brought toast for show and tell."
Yay us!

And in more preschool antics, he came home with one of those very coveted tooth shaped container charm necklaces-you know the ones the spoiled kids get when they lose a tooth at school-and he told me, "Mom, Mom, I lost a tooth! [pause] April Fools!"

I wondered if his teacher might have told him to do that to get back for the toast.
(She's got a very fun sense of humor.)
(The tooth necklace was a little reward for remembering to bring your show and tell.)
(Something we've forgot in the past few weeks, and will not forget again.)
('I' is next week's letter. I suggested ice that's melted. He wasn't impressed.
He would like to bring his friend, Isacc.)

When I asked him if he heard that April Fool's joke at school, he said, "No, I made it up myself, on the bus."
Good night, we are going to have to take great care on future April 1sts.
Or else we'll be toast.

There's a Fence Blocking Me

This is one of many pictures that I did not take.

I was driving on a freeway and didn't feel like

it would be very safe to take my attention off the road,

but wanted so badly a picture of the Utah

mountains that I said to my awesome cousin,

Heidi,

"Would you please take some pictures for me?"

And she did.

And I'm glad.

Because it looks like I'm having my annual

(maybe bi-annual or quarterly)

mental freak out.

This time it's my identity.

Well, my future identity.

Who will I be?

What will I do?

Why can't I get it together and keep up the house?

I have a daughter leaving in June to start college.

(That's what prompted the Utah trip-checking out things.)

I have a baby who'll be in school full time in September.

I have a husband who is very involved in lots of things, but still likes some attention.

I have two other tender hearted kids who have their own special needs.

(And I don't mean they are special needs kids, I mean they each have things they are dealing with - that, as a mom, I get the divine priveledge of helping them work through.)

I finished college.

I chose not to have a career.

I (really, we) chose to start our family young.

I (we) worked hard to get my mr. through school.

I told myself that I'd "go for it" when the kids were older.

But now I am wondering how much older.

I worry about how we'll make it,

even though I know it always works out.

And I feel like there is something wonderful hiding behind a fence,

waiting for me to get through to it.

I would really like to know what it is.

My hand on the wheel of an awesome rental car with my dad's hat on the dash.