I'm a Cheater

I'm reading Middlemarch by George Eliot. Middlemarch is supposed to be one of the greatest books of English Literature, and the prototype example of the Victorian novel. However, it is extremely long (over 800 pages) and very slow moving. This is a self-inflicted act of martyrdom that has its root going back over 20 years when I was an exchange student at Coffs Harbour (Jetty) High School in Australia, and decided that it was time for me to become a culturally literate person. I made myself a list of novels, authors, and poets, that I felt I needed to read in order to become an intellectual and embarked on a life quest of reading classic literature. I finished my initial reading list within a matter of months, but have continued the practice throughout my lifetime.

This quest led me to major in English in college, and has brought me to the likes of Milton, Dante, Austen, Hugo, etc. Through it all there have always been classics that I didn't enjoy, like Beowolf, and the crazy bizarre French lit (Bartes, Zola, etc.) in my theory classes. On the other hand, my quest has also led me to many that I have loved again and again such as Austen, Hugo, Dumas, Frost, Cather, and more. Middlemarch is going to land I think on the leave-it side of take-it-or-leave-it, yet I am compelled by the terms of my quest to finish it.

Here's the thing-- I am completely swamped in Middlemarch. I started reading it months ago, and I am only about 200 pages from the end, but I can't bring myself to pick it up. So I have been sneaking around reading other stuff like magazine articles, holiday catalogs, and of course the Internet. I cruise around Barnes and Noble fantasizing about what I will read next. Or at least I was doing that until it happened--I started another book (a big one)-- The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett. I've been keeping it in my purse. That way I force myself to only read it on my lunch break or if I get stuck waiting somewhere. This keeps me honest about reading Middlemarch at home right?

Then, I bought another book that captured my eye, Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks. I love books about sensory perception and the brain and Sacks always has lots of fascinating cases in his books. I dutifully left the book on my pile, and kept slogging through Middlemarch, until I said to myself, "Oh, I can read one chapter, and then get back to Middlemarch, and it won't really be like I started another book, because it's just one chapter!" Haven't touched Middlemarch in about a week since I opened that book (except to move it to vacuum the floor in my bedroom).

So I'm a book cheater. I'm having an affair on my novel, with another novel and a sort-of-medical book. If I don't get back to Middlemarch soon, I will have to re-read to get caught up with where I am in the book. I think I may need serious help.

The Truth About Football

This post is in honor of the big Utah vs. BYU game on Saturday. This game is the source of much anxiety and holding of breath in my household right now. A couple of years ago Marty bought season tickets for him and Joe, and this season, took the opportunity to buy a third spot for Caroline. They are planning to tailgate with friends before the game and will be watching from the 35 yard line (Northeast bleachers, third row). Joseph told me that there is nothing that will keep him from going to that game.

Most people probably think of football players and think of their many more noticeable qualities such as size, strength, and toughness.




However, being married to a former grid-iron guy, and now being a football mom, I have found that there are other characteristics of football players (and the game they play) worthy of recognition. So enjoy this little photo essay uncovering the real truth about football, the players, and their coaches.

Sometimes the players need a little help with their equipment...


...and there is usually someone around to help them out.







Sometimes the team gets a little worked up before the game.

...but they have to listen very carefully to the coach.

Occasionally someone important will come scout warmups to check out the talent...

Players can develop close friendships that sometimes result in hanging out off the field (aka playdates).

Photo credit: Julie Shipman

Some football players play with babies on the sidelines of their little brothers' games.

Sometimes games can get very intense, you can see it on the coach's face...

...And the players can get pretty serious about the game.

But a good team knows how to break the tension at halftime...

Sometimes they take a moment at halftime to catch up with their admiring fans.

Football players helmets get banged up during the season, but the players view each scrape as a mark of honor.

Occasionally the game takes on an epic feel.

When the team wins, everyone celebrates the team's victory.

Photo credit: Julie Shipman

In the end, the coach directs the grid-iron giants off the field...

Photo credit: Julie Shipman

...where the real purpose of football is revealed...

Photo credit: Julie Shipman

The team treats (at least until cheerleaders enter the picture).

After the game everyone is tuckered...

And so the footballers and fans alike rejuvenate with a long nap...

I hope you made it all the way through my first photojournalism attempt (photojournalist is my secret dream job). And in honor of the football guys in my life GO UTES!!!

A Brand New Year

A Celebration for Youth

Last night I attended the taping of a DVD called "A Brand New Year" which was specifically for the Young Men and Young Women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was a fun evening, and we enjoyed ourselves. The message was really great and focused on the great things that the youth throughout the Church have done throughout 2008. It is going to be showed throughout the Church as a New Year's event (possibly on New Year's Eve). The program asks youth to make personal commitments during 2009 to make a specific effort to keep the standards listed in For the Strength of Youth. 

Young Women's President Elaine Dalton and Young Men's President Charles Dahlquist challenge the youth to do three things in 2009:

-Pray day and night
-Read the Book of Mormon at least 5 minutes each day
-Smile and be happy

I was amazed at the production quality of the event, and the talented people who are involved. The youth performed both in singing and dancing as well as playing in the orchestra. It was kind of like experiencing, "High School Seminary Musical." The songs were really great, and even the prelude music had a little bit of a swing to it. 

If you are working with youth, or have children in the YM/YW program, I would encourage you to have them attend an event where this DVD is shown, or to plan to show it at home on New Year's Eve.  I am thinking of showing it to my kids as well, even though they are only 7 and 10, because this would be very aspirational for them as they are into watching shows that feature teens (which we limit).   We'll be traveling on New Year's Eve but I think we can maybe work this in.  I think it will be interesting to see how the DVD turns out in comparison to our experience attending the event.  If you want to learn more about the DVD, go to www.lds.org.

I was sitting there thinking that we had nothing like that when I was at that age. When we had firesides, they were basically just like a mini general conference meeting for youth in the Tabernacle.  We were lucky to sing a stirring version of an old standby hymn (which I love don't get me wrong).  We had the corny Seminary filmstrips (Remember, "I'm free to choose, to win or lose, no matter who, comes and tries to turn my head around----"), and there were a few LDS musical artists, but I got the feeling that the Church really didn't want us listening to those (mostly they were really cheesy anyway). But the music industry has really come a long way in working with LDS Artists in the past 20 years, and there is really some good and fun music out there now. 

Do you have any favorite LDS Musicians? Here are a few that I really like:

Mindy Gledhill

Jenny Oaks Baker

Michael Dowdle

Dean Kaelin  

(Incidentally, Bro. Kaelin was actually a seminary teacher at East when I was there, and he is amazingly talented as a musician. He was not MY seminary teacher, but I used to attend his class from time to time with friends.   I will always remember his musical devotionals when he would play blindfolded, with mittens on, backwards, with his back turned to the piano, even with his feet I believe. He is probably best known as a voice coach to American Idol star David Archuleta.  I would not be suprised to learn that Bro. Kaelin was involved in the production of this DVD.)

Happy Friday dear readers.  And by the way GO UTES!!!!

Family Search Indexing

This is based on an article I wrote for my Ward's Newsletter regarding Family Search Indexing. It is really fun and easy, and you don't have to be LDS to do it.

In September 1842, Joseph Smith wrote the following direction to the Saints concerning preparing family history records for temple ordinances:

“Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.” (D&C 128:24)

As individuals, we may need to change our thinking from me centered, to we centered, or from my ancestors to our ancestors.

Family Search Indexing is a program which ambitiously aims to catalog and index millions of rolls of microfilm providing census, vital, probate, and church records from over 100 countries. This work is done by volunteers of any age or faith. All information is made available free to the public, helping church members prepare names for temple ordinances and allowing the spirit of family history work to bless individuals across the globe. Your help is needed in this effort, including a special need for individuals who can read foreign languages. If you have a computer, Internet access, and a few minutes, you can help participate in Family Search Indexing from your own home. The process is easy, low pressure, and there is no paperwork involved.

If you want to learn more about Family Search Indexing, read the August 2007 Ensign article, Family Search Indexing, visit the website www.familysearch.org, or contact your local ward’s Family History Consultant.

The Spirit of God Like A Fire Is Burning

(The next in my series of blog posts about the Mormon hymns I have grown up with and loved. Since this is the second post, I officially have a series. So far I am going in order the hymns appear in the official Hymn book of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but I may change that if the mood strikes me!)

This post is about Hymn #2, The Spirit of God, by W.W. Phelps.
I can honestly say this hymn is a favorite. I know that I’ve said that they are all my favorites, and it’s true, but this is a favorite favorite. It’s probably in the top half of the top ten of my favorites.

I came across in interesting quote by Bruce R. McConkie that relates to how I feel about singing this song, "Music is given of God to further his purposes. Sweet melodies mellow the souls of men and help prepare them for the gospel. After men receive the truth, songs of praise to Deity help to sanctify and cleanse their souls." Mormon Doctrine (1966), 521

The Spirit of God was written by W.W. Phelps, who also wrote many other really great hymns which would be at the top of my list of favorite favorites as well. I have learned in the course of researching the hymns that the authors often wrote the text and then the hymn was sung to various different tunes that were familiar to the people. This hymn has been set to four different tunes, finally settling into the current version which goes by the tune name “Hosanna.” This explains why the LDS hymn book has an index of meters, and you can find that when the meters match, you can sing the words of different hymns to different tunes in the book. However this is an extremely difficult exercise when you have sung the same hymn to the same tune for 30 plus years. I don’t recommend it unless you have your thinking cap securely snugged down.

The hymn was sung at the dedication of the first Mormon temple in Kirtland and is sung still at the dedication of temples throughout the world.

The first stanza reads,

The Spirit of God like a fire is burning;
The latter day glory begins to come forth;
The visions and blessings of old are returning;
And angels are coming to visit the earth.

I love to sing this part, or play it on the piano, or listen to someone else play it, because as soon as I sing or think in my heart, “The Spirit of God” like a fire is burning, I start to feel the Holy Ghost testify of the truth of the doctrines the song teaches, feeding my soul, cleaning out the cobwebs and false ideas that clog up the ability to really ponder and understand the truths of the Gospel.

It’s thrilling to think of the Kirtland Temple dedication and the marvelous events that accompanied it. The Kirtland Temple was the first house of the Lord built in the latter days and was a place where several heavenly visitors came. Jesus Christ Himself appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and accepted the Kirtland Temple as His house. Moses, Elias, and Elijah also came and gave Joseph and Oliver the authority to gather Israel and to seal families together forever. According to the research I did, Phelps wrote this text in January 1836, and the temple dedication was in March 1836.

An interesting thing to note is that there are two stanzas of the hymn that we don’t sing in modern congregations. The original stanza four speaks in the spirit of prophecy about these Kirtland events in even more detail,

Old Israel that fled from the world for his freedom,
Must come with the cloud and the pillar, amain;
A Moses, and Aaron, and Joshua lead him,
And feed him on manna from heaven again.

The chorus reads,

We'll sing and we'll shout with the armies of heaven:
Hosanna, hosanna to God and the Lamb!
Let glory to them in the highest be given,
Henceforth and forever: amen and amen!

This chorus invokes the Hosanna shout, an LDS ceremony performed when participating in a dedicatory service for a temple. It is accompanied by the members of the congregation waving a white handkerchief . The hosanna shout was performed in Jerusalem upon Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem and signifies welcoming him both symbolically and physically into the world, our hearts, and the place of worship being dedicated. It acknowledges ceremonially that each of these are the Lord's as he has won them and then shared them with us through the Atonement. I love that these words are the words that repeat four times as we sing with the song.

I read that in the Community of Christ church, they have changed the first line to read “angels of heaven” and I like that idea. I understand the military symbolism, but I also like the idea that there are armies of angels in heaven.

The second verse reads,

The Lord is extending the saints' understanding—
Restoring their judges and all as at first;
The knowledge and power of God are expanding
The veil o'er the earth is beginning to burst.

In this verse, the hymns’ writer and performers acknowledge the vastness and completeness of the restoration of the Gospel. The tune is so powerful and triumphant, when I get to the line, "the veil o’er the earth is beginning to burst", it feels like Holy Ghost fireworks, almost like the Holy Ghost could be showing off a little if he could possibly do that.

Stanza three is a little more reserved in its tone, putting out a call to action of how we will play a role in spreading the Gospel and in building up the kingdom.

We call in our solemn assemblies, in spirit,
To spread forth the kingdom of heaven abroad,
That we through our faith may begin to inherit
The visions, and blessings, and glories of God.

I love the promise that these lines imply, that we are the inheritors of God’s nature as his children, and we have the right to access the visions and blessings and glories of God through our faith.

And the last verse has another wonderful Isaiah reference (you can rely on Isaiah to make the Gospel sound poetic and inspiring),

How blessed the day when the lamb and the lion
Shall lie down together without any ire
And Ephraim be crown'd with his blessing in Zion,
As Jesus descends with his chariots of fire!

It refers to Isaiah 11:6 "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them." This verse makes me think again of the hosanna shout, waving that white handkerchief in a symbol of welcome to the Prince of Peace.

Of course the last two lines of Stanza Four are thrilling as well, as we can envision the Lord’s triumphant return to the earth to claim his people as his own.

I am reminded of the scene in the Book of Mormon where the Lord calls down his angels from heaven to minister to the children of the Nephites:

“And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them.”

The Spirit of God, it burns like a fire in my heart, a light and a warmth that illuminates, directs, protects, and cleanses, teaches, and sanctifies.

Limerick of the Day

Okay there is no limerick of the day feature on this blog, but there should be, because limericks make my heart sing.  So this one came to me today as I was walking back from lunch, thinking about writing Halloween poems with a bunch of 5th graders next week:

There was an old man named Bernanke,

Who supervised bank hanky-panky,

They spent the last dimes,

Making loans for sub-primes,

And made Mr. Bernanke cranky.

(and the stock market tanky)

The Morning Breaks

I’ve been thinking about things that I could blog about and an idea that keeps coming up is about how much I love the hymns of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I have grown up with many of these songs and loved them throughout my life. It probably started with my mom being the Primary Chorister. I can still remember going to Primary on weekdays and helping my mom with Primary as a tiny tot. Whenever someone asks me what my favorite hymn is, I can’t decide. It’s like choosing a favorite son or daughter. All of them are my favorite. So I decided to start at the beginning of the (Mormon) hymnbook, my beloved readers, and respond to the hymns that move me the most.

The Morning Breaks.
The morning breaks; the shadows flee;
Lo, Zion's standard is unfurled!
The dawning of a brighter day,
The dawning of a brighter day
Majestic rises on the world.

The clouds of error disappear
Before the rays of truth divine;
The glory bursting from afar,
The glory bursting from afar
Wide o'er the nations soon will shine.

The Gentile fulness now comes in,
And Israel's blessings are at hand.
Lo, Judah's remnant, cleansed from sin,
Lo, Judah's remnant, cleansed from sin
Shall in their promised Canaan stand.

Jehovah speaks! let earth give ear,
And Gentile nations turn and live.
His mighty arm is making bare,
His mighty arm is making bare
His covenant people to receive.

Angels from heaven and truth from earth
Have met, and both have record borne;
Thus Zion's light is bursting forth,
Thus Zion's light is bursting forth
To bring her ransomed children home.

The text of this song was penned by Parley P. Pratt. It first appeared in print on the cover of the first issue of the long-running (1840-1970) LDS Newspaper, “The Millenial Star.” I came to love this hymn as a freshman at East High Seminary when I was privileged to participate in a Seminary choir in which we sang this song at the Tabernacle. I can’t remember the occasion, but I believe it was some kind of youth fireside.

First of all, I’m a complete sucker for any hymn that is considered a Restoration hymn, as well as any hymn that has an Isaiah scriptural reference, or any hymn that expounds on the vision of the future of Zion.

I love the imagery in this poem. The image in my mind is always of the day bursting forth over the Wasatch Mountains (of course in my mind they are covered with snow—they look best that way).  That daylight causing the shadows of dark to flee is so powerful. It is a wonderful metaphor analogous to the way that God’s power has been made manifest among his children with the Gospel spreading over the earth and deep into the hearts of men and women.

The Isaiah reference for this hymn reads,

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.”

And this is exactly what has been happening since the Restoration. The darkness that once covered the earth has been overpowered by the light of the Lord that has arisen like the sun to shed light and knowledge into the world. When you look at the many advances in technology, medicine, science, political systems, and even in the goodness of humanity that have taken place in the latter days it is astounding.

I love it when the hymn is sung and the men sing alone with the first repeated line from each stanza, and then the women sing alone the refrain, and then the four parts together come in to finish the sentence. It is always so climactic and exciting to sing this part. (Plus, this song has an interesting alto part, which is always a plus for those of us who sing that part and are usually limited to the notes e, f, and g. As an aside, I learned an entire Mozart mass in college and literally those were the only three notes in the piece for altos).

The last verse of the hymn is the most exciting, although I am sure a lot of people have tired voices by the time they get through the first five. In this verse, Zion’s light, or the law, the doctrine, and the love of God, is bursting forth and providing a beacon that leads the “ransomed”, all of us who are saved through the Atonement, back to our home in the Lord’s presence. (How relieved we are to be ransomed, and how grateful to be on the path toward home!) The wonderful thing about that light is that it while it leads us, it also warms us, and enlightens us, and fills us up with its presence while we are still on the journey, not requiring us to wait until we arrive at the destination to feel the satisfaction and love of God.

The guiding light referenced in the song brings to my mind the pillar of light that Joseph Smith describes as being what he experienced in the first moment of the First Vision event,

“I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.” And who was in the midst of the light? The one who said, “I am the light which shineth in darkness… Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I am the life and the light of the world” (See D&C 11).

Scripture References: Isaiah 60:1-3, 3 Ne: 16: 7-20

Interesting Links:

Ensign article about Parley P. Pratt
President Hinckley admired Parley P. Pratt
Text of this hymn appears on Parley P.Pratt’s grave marker
Story of the composition of the “Careless” version of the music

View from Ensign Peak Sept 20. 2008

Marty and I went on another little photosafari on Saturday night for our date night. We were exploring our hometown of Salt Lake City, Utah. Salt Lake is a beautiful city, and one of the most spectacular scenes is the view from any mountainside from the mountains that surround the valley. No matter what time of day or night or what time of year, our mountains provide a spectacular place to see nature's beauty which brings into relief the growth and development of the Salt Lake Valley.

This is the view from Ensign Peak just after sunset looking down over downtown Salt Lake City.

Click the photo to see my other photos. If you are family or friends and have a flickr profile, add me as a contact and I will enable you to see more pics of the kiddos.

Go Out Into the Darkness

"And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year,
Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown'
And he replied:. Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand Of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way'
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night."

This is a set of lines composed by British poet Minnie Louise Haskins in 1908. It was made famous when King George VI of England read it in a radio address at Christmastime as the British entered World War II. President Monsen quoted these lines in his Stake Conference address (which I wrote about in my last entry). These lines express to me the value of faith. Faith is what the Lord requires of us, and is one of the many things that we strive to give him, that derives and sustains itself in him-- his goodness, his love, his caring, these are the things that bring us faith.

I loved the way President Monsen phrased it. After extending his personal love to each member of the congregation, he admonished all of us to love the Lord and love our neighbors. He said, "the Lord's Gospel is a law of love and encouragement. .. 'Follow thou me,' is the Savior's beckoning call."

President Monsen counseled the congregation to model ourselves after the scripture D&C 88:119, " Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;" This scripture was given in context of building a temple, and President Monsen reminded us that the Lord has said, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?" In this talk, he asked us to, "be sincere with God, fair with others, and honest with ourselves." In our "Houses of God" we should have, "clean hearts, noble purposes, and willing hands."

If we are striving to build ourselves into a place where God can dwell, we have access to his power. The Lord makes this promise as recorded in Moroni 7:33, "If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me."

President Monsen of course is very in tune with the Spirit, notwithstanding his inability to cook for himself or use simple household appliances (see his Conference talk from last April's conference). He told a story that was a perfect example of being on the Lord's errand and being led to do what the Lord desires even when you have no idea what it is.

He described making a stop on the way home from his work day to attend the viewing of a female friend. At the funeral home, he walked in the wrong direction and showed up at the viewing of a gentleman. He walked through the line and up to the viewing area and to his chagrin, realized he did not recognize the person in the coffin. However, he graciously proclaimed, "He was a good man!" He turned around only to notice that he was in the midst of a grieving family that exclaimed, "Thank you President Monsen for coming! Thank you for remembering our son!" It turned out the that man who had passed away was the son-in-law of a brother who was a counselor to President Monsen in a former responsibility he had as a Bishop. President Monsen testified, "The Lord knew where I needed to be that night."

This story was a counterpoint to Elder Ballard who shared that as a Bishop he had a prompting to visit an ailing sister in his ward, but he put it off a couple of hours, just missing her passing. Elder Ballard's story hit home for me as he said (quoting Pres. Monsen), "The Lord is not far from us-- the Spirit will direct us. Never have the regret of ignoring a prompting." I have this regret as I had several promptings to visit my grandmother in the weeks leading up to her death a couple of years ago and did not go visit her. I have a lot of reasons, but not one of them seems very important now. I wish that I could have that chance back again and do it differently so that I could have talked with her one more time before she went.

This conference was a joy to me as it reinforced my love for our Heavenly Father, for the Saviour, and for the Holy Ghost. I have a deep and abiding love for the Gift of the Holy Ghost and have in the past few years come to realize what a profound gift that is. It was wonderful to hear again the importance of using this gift to find our own unique missions and to learn truth from the ultimate teacher of truth. Indeed the guidance of the Holy Ghost is, "better than light and safer than a known way."

"The Finest Thing I Have Ever Done"-- Gordon B. Hinckley

On Sunday, my family attended a huge multi-stake conference. My stake, the Salt Lake Bonneville Stake, was invited to attend at the conference center in downtown Salt Lake City.

Although it was a challenge to accomplish attending this conference, we made the effort after a very firm plea from our Bishop, Terry Smith, in the Sacrament Meeting the week before. He said, "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity." That was enough to hook Joop and Cricket, Mom was already on board, and Marty was working on his list of reasons it never going to work. However, we got Dad on board successfully, and we made it in plenty of time to get a great seat. Marty was so great and took care of Henk so we could listen to the conference. And because of my new calling in YW, I wanted to journal about it since that can count for my Personal Progress! (I already earned the Young Womanhood Acheivement Award, when I was a Young Woman myself, but I can earn it again as a leader.)

This was in a conference that focused on two primary issues-- first, following the Spirit's promptings as a guide in life, and second, building and protecting ourselves and our families as spiritual temples. The speakers were Richard G. Hinckley, Melvin J. Ballard, Cheryl Lant, and Thomas S. Monsen.

President Hinckley is the son of THE President Hinckley and the brother of my Stake President Clark Hinckley. I've known him since high school as the father of my friend J. My mom has known him since college, and says she is amazed at how much he is growing to look like his Dad. (I agree). She said he was one of the most handsome guys at the U when she was there. Anyway, he spoke about his deep gratitude for the Lord's generous and loving promises to us as children of God and members of families. He stated, "the family is the fundamental unit of God's Kingdom." He spoke of the keys of sealing power and how that power was on the earth at different times throughout the ages and in our time. Then he shared a very tender story from a recent family experience.

He described being present at a sealing of a Hinckley granddaughter in the Salt Lake Temple. His father, President Gordon B. Hinckley conducted the sealing. As is customary, President Hinckley made some remarks at the sealing. After his remarks, he said (in a low voice, almost to himself), " It has just occured to me that I have sealed all five of my children and all 24 of my married grandchildren in this temple....and I think it is the finest thing I have ever done."

What a tender moment to share with us, and what a wonderful expression of President Hinckley. With all of his accomplishments, to speak so highly of this duty shows how important it is that we honor those covenants and seek to help others accomplish them.

President Hinckley was a hero of mine, and I just reveled in hearing this story. I also loved the story that President Monsen told. He chuckled to be sitting to the right of another President Hinckley and mentioned that when he was called to be first counselor to President Hinckley, the prophet asked him to tap him when he started to doze off during conference. President Faust asked for the same favor. President Monsen said, "You better believe you don't fall asleep if you're conducting." President Monsen said, "I don't know how you tap the President of the Church for falling asleep." When it happened, he started to panic, until he noticed that President Faust had dozed off too. He lightly touched President Hinckley on the shoulder and said, "Look at Jim," pointing at him. President Hinckley reached over with his cane and bopped President Faust, saying, "Wake Up Jim!" That story made me just chuckle!

August is so much fun

There have been so many fun things going on in our lives these days.

First, we had Marty's birthday. Can you believe I'm married to such an old man? He's getting a little salty around the temples these days. For his birthday he asked for a camera so he can go on photo-safari with me (usually the only wildlife we ever spot is our kids though). He told me that he likes the fact that we can do the hobby together and that I can teach him about it. And he actually listens when I try to explain, although I must not be too good at it because we keep going over it again. "Okay now remind me, what is shutter speed?" He wants to learn how to do everything manually, which is admirable. I usually use the auto settings myself because I'm too lazy and it takes to long to adjust everything so you miss the shot.

Then we had our anniversary. 18 years we've been married now. To celebrate, we went out to shoot some photos in Millcreek Canyon and Garden Park Ward. It was a really nice way to spend some quiet time together.



Then we had Joseph's birthday. He and I headed to Cedar City for the Shakespeare Festival. We had a lovely time, just the two of us. We saw three plays and ate at Subway three separate times! I think that the Subway was a bigger hit than the plays, but Joe took it all in stride. I had enough alone time with him to last for a while, and decided that if he continues in the path he is on, both of us will be ready for him to go on his mission and I won't need to tag along with him after all. Although, the jury's still out on Henry. Don't get me wrong, he is a joy to be with and he was a gentleman for the whole trip, but there's a limit to how much ten-year old boy a grown woman can take.





When we came back home, Marty, Caroline, and Henry were practicing skateboarding. Marty can still skateboard despite the fact that he hasn't done it since before his mission. I think he'll wear out his new board before Joseph does (they both got boards for Joseph's birthday).



And the crowning event of August-- the kids went back to school! Independence day and financial relief for the parents (because paying for daycare for 3 kids everyday costs a mid-sized fortune). Marty was so enjoying his first day of freedom from children (he is a working-at-home Dad). Now he only has to babysit his co-workers!

September is here and has brought with it cool weather. We celebrated by having a backyard fire with S'mores on Sunday night. That had to be a highlight for me as we had an ad-hoc family night, sharing our testimonies with the kids. Of course, they responded by sharing their Descartian hermenuetics, "Mom, sometimes do you wonder if we are all a dream and we are not real?" You have to hope that something is sinking in.

Book Review- I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I Capture the Castle is an old novel by a somewhat well-known British Author, Dorothy (Dodie) Smith. Most people know of her most famous book, 101 Dalmations, which was the basis of the Disney film.


I Capture the Castle features Cassandra Mortmain as the young narrator/journalist whose experiment in learning to speed-write leads her to begin a diary describing her family life. Set in 1930's England, Cassandra writes of the physical and emotional poverty and richnesses of her family, which is living in a ruined castle that has been rebuilt into a farmhouse. The book has shades of Jane Austen, as the whole family (outside of the dottering father) takes on the role of attempting to marry off the oldest daughter, Rose, to their rich American neighbor and landlord.


The book is an interesting study of class as well. An example of this is the relationship between the Mortmains and a young boy who lives with them, Stephen. Stephen was the son of their former maid/nanny who remained with the family after she died. However, the family still views him as a servant even though he is the only one providing for the family, bringing in income and sharing it with the whole family. Cassandra looks upon him with a combination of love and disdain.


The character of Cassandra, as the narrator, is the central figure of the novel. It is fascinating to witness her evolution from a naive young child into a somewhat conniving and emotionally complex young woman in a matter of a very short time as she begins to experience the world in a more socially complex way and starts to feel the pangs of love and hormones.


The novel has a fun British sort of tone to it, reminiscent of Austen with a modern twist of PG Wodehouse. I think the novel reveals the kind of British humor that you see in quirky Britcom shows and movies.


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Am I as old as I feel?

I had the epiphany today that for the first time in my life, I actually feel, mentally speaking, younger than I actually look and am in years. My mom used to say that I was born pushing 40. I guess now that I actually am, I want to turn back the clock.

I have always felt that I should be older-- that I was somehow mature beyond my years in terms of my serious nature and the incredibly (to the rest of the world) trivial intellectual pursuits constantly occupy my thoughts. I somehow thought that when I reached an age when I felt that I was as mature on the outside as I was on the inside that somehow people would take me more seriously and I would have arrived, so to speak. Well somehow I have missed that moment, and if I ever arrived, that train is pulling out of the station.

Book Review-- the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time (there are no caps in the title on the cover of the book) is a kind of murder-mystery told from the perspective of the narrator, one Christopher John Francis Boone, a teen who lives in a small British town with his father. Christopher discovers his neighbor's dog, Wellington, impaled on a pitchfork, and is assumed to be the dog's killer. Upon being released to his father's care, he determines that he will become a detective and solve the mystery of the dog's demise. In the process, he writes a book detailing the things he learns in the course of his investigation. Oh, one more thing, Christopher is autistic. Christopher learns way more than he bargained for, and the reader learns along with him.

Christopher is not only the narrator of this book, but is also something of a hero as he enters into a kind of epic journey and learns to deal with a whole new paradigm. We get the opportunity to see the world through Christopher's perspective and can acknowledge how insane many things about our world can be when viewed through a strictly logical lens. This can be amusing such as when Christopher points out the silliness of common metaphors:

I laughed my socks off.

He was the apple of her eye.

They had a skeleton in the cupboard.

We had a real pig of a day. (Never heard that one)

The dog was stone dead.

Christopher says, "I think a metaphor should be called a lie because a pig is not like a day and people do not have skeletons in their cupboards."

Of course, Christopher's world doesn't make perfect sense either. For example, he hates the color yellow, and evaluates his days categorizes his days as Good, Quite Good, Super Good, and Black. A Black Day is a day when he sees 4 yellow cars in a row on the way to school. On Black Days, Christopher refuses to work, eat, or speak.

There are other interesting visual, numerical, and linguistic problems and details included throughout the book that help not only develop the plot, but also help explain how Christopher deals with the world.

I found this book fascinating, and it is such a great device to have a narrator with this kind of unique voice allowing the reader to anticipate the things that Christopher doesn't see, to see things that the reader would never normally notice, and to have great empathy and compassion for Christopher and his parents.

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Book Review- Austenland by Shannon Hale

Austenland: A Novel by Shannon Hale

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Jane Hayes has a problem-- she is in love with Mr. Darcy-- specifically the Colin Firth Mr. Darcy from the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. Next to him, no man is good enough. A long-lost auntie leaves her an inheritance-- three weeks at Pembrook Park, a Regency-era reenactment estate in England, where she must dress, speak, and act as if she is a character in Jane Austen's England. There, in character as Jane Erstwhile, she must confront her fears about love and determine if she wants to live forever in her fantasy or take a chance on the real thing. The book ends in the spirit of Jane Austen with a suprise twist on what is actually real, and true love prevails. This was a quick, fun summer read. I read that at one point Hale was developing this as a screenplay, and it would make a great romantic comedy.


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The Importance of Words

This is a subject about which I have a constantly running inner monologue.

That is, the importance of words in our development as human and spiritual beings. Words seem insignificant-- we use them all day, every day. We use them to describe everything, from the most mundane aspects of life to the most sublime. And often when it comes to those most sublime moments, we lack the words to describe our feelings about them. However, under the surface of that, it is (at least for most of us) through words that we come to understand and experience the world. It is no coincidence in my view that God said that he created the world by issuing forth his word. And it is also no coincidence that one of the names God gives himself is "The Word." It is through words that we can draw near unto Him when we pray, and it is through words that we make sacred covenants together with God. He defines our relationship with him through the words Father, Son, Child, Holy, Divine, Brother, and Savior.

From the time we are tiny infants, we have a strong need to develop language skills to help us to gain more information about our environments. We use words to name things, to label them, to give them a story that matches our understanding. Through language we can express our wants and our needs. We also come to understand ourselves through a narrative. At least in my own experience, I have a need to have a life's story. I need to understand myself and I can only do so by examining my past narratives. What do I choose to retain? How do I choose to define myself in the words that my language and culture gives me? What stories about myself do I hold on to as being my stories? Are these the right things for me to hold on to?

We do the same with others, assuming that the words that we use to describe them (even to ourselves) are true, often without even questioning the veracity or charity of the words we select to describe them and the narratives that we place on people's lives. And then we sort ourselves in relation to others based on these words and narratives.

My challenge to myself is to examine this part of my mind and heart and think about the "self-talk" I have going on constantly. I desire to recognize the need to be charitable and to see myself and others the way God does. If only we could believe in the vision and perception God has of us as individuals and families, how different would we be? What language would we use if we truly viewed each other as "Beloved spirit sons or daughters of heavenly parents...each [with] a divine nature and destiny?" (From the Proclamation on the Family)

I have thought lately that while there is much to be learned from the Book of Mormon, and it is possible that the most important lesson that the Book of Mormon has to teach us is that perfect charity is possible. After the time when Christ visited the Nephites, Mormon recorded,

"And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people...and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God." 4 Nephi 1: 15-16

The love of God dwelt in the hearts of the people because they came to understand themselves through Christ's teachings. Note throughout 3rd Nephi how often the references are made to "words."

In the April 2007 conference, Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland spoke on this subject with much eloquence. He stated, "Our words, like our deeds, should be filled with faith and hope and charity, the three great Christian imperatives so desperately needed in the world today. With such words, spoken under the influence of the Spirit, tears can be dried, hearts can be healed, lives can be elevated, hope can return, confidence can prevail."

The Lord's Mysterious Ways

First of all I want to say that it is really uncomfortable to me to share some of these things on my blog, but I feel inspired to do so. The reason for the discomfort is not so much that I don't want to share my thoughts, but perhaps a little worry about what others might think of them, and experience with getting completely flamed on the web for having the audacity to have statements influenced by religious beliefs enter the public discourse.

Inspiration and Revelation

I just love the way the Lord hands out inspiration in little bits here and there. Over the past several weeks I have had so many wonderful things occur to me and they are all seeming to be on a related theme. Right now I'm not really sure where they are leading me, but I am curious and enjoying the journey. My theory is that one function of the Holy Ghost on the mortal is to build a literally more spiritual brain through constant exercise of the neural pathways related to spiritual thinking and experience. Putting that theory into practice has been an interesting experiment. I'm starting to try to link these many events together so I guess I'll cover them in several entries:

Temple and Family History Work
My current calling in my ward is Family History Consultant, which means I am called to help people do their family history and temple work. It is a challenge because of my natural shyness to try to reach out to people to convince them to let me come over and help them do something they are already feeling reluctant and guilty about. However, I am excited about this calling. I have been working on my own family tree as well as doing Family Search Indexing. Family Search Indexing is the process of viewing an old document and typing the information into a form that makes the document searchable. What I find is that each person becomes so real to me as I type their information. It drives home to me how much our Heavenly Father loves each individual person. For example, I typed in a death certificate of an unidentified military airman who died when his plane crashed in LA during WW2. I wondered if his family ever found out what happened to him in this accident. But the Lord knows who this man was and has a plan for him. In Alma 40: 10, Alma states, "God knoweth all the times which are appointed unto man."

Family history and temple work gives you a whole new sensitivity to the joy and love God has for each of his children. I find myself grateful for a sense of wonder that I experience when I walk down the street and see each individual person as a beloved child of God-- my own sister or brother. And mind you, I am walking down the street at the Gateway mall where the people have some serious issues. In one course down the mall you can see several homeless people, folks who have tanned, colored, surgically altered, and fashioned themselves to the point of being unrecognizable, as well as the gothic gender-benders with multiple tattoos. Yet, I echo Louis Armstrong and "think to myself, 'What a wonderful world.'" (Okay, I have a running soundtrack in my mind sometimes, especially when walking down the street.)

Another thing about family history work is it allows me to see a life in its whole context from beginning to end, and to a degree, in its eternal perspective. When I learn about an ancestor, it is wonderful to learn about how they became the people they were, how they overcame obstacles, and one thing that always stands out to me is that they take nothing with them but who they become. Ultimately all the temporal things that they have worked for fall away and become not meaningless, but history. So the value of temporal pursuits really gets placed in a different perspective. Temporal pursuits create value in the way that they force you to serve, to grow, to learn. Realizing that the word temporal is an adjective meaning related to time, and reflecting back on Alma 40 (verse 8), "all is as one day with God, and time only is measured unto men."

I find myself changing my thinking (perhaps this is due to reaching a more mature phase of life- I am after all hitting middle age full-stride) and making more measured decisions about the things I choose to do and say and think with this new, more spiritually-influenced perspective.

Great Salt Lake Sunset

Great Salt Lake
Originally uploaded by FishChick

Who knew the Great Salt Lake could be such a magical place! Marty and I went down there on Satuday evening to take photos with a group called Photowalking Utah (www.photowalkingutah.com). This group meets up once a month to take photos in one place, usually with someone who has a special skill or knowledge to share. I enjoyed the evening so much and got some really great shots. I think I will be back there again.

I have been trying to work on my photography skills in the past few months since I upgraded and got my own brand new computer (an iMac). Now I am having some serious lust for new equipment and software so I can try some different techniques.

Cracking (up) the DNA

I've noticed that there are more things that are passed down through the DNA that one would not normally think of. I don't think there are any Nobel prizes to be found in studying the genes responsible for these things, but they are interesting to me.

Barefeet---
This one is manifested in three generations of my family (that I know about). My Dad, myself, and my son Joe are all barefooted as often as possible. I personally have been known to leave shoes all over my house, and am currently under penalty if I fail to put them away. All three of us kick our shoes off the instant we walk in the house, and could go literally for days without wearing them if given the opportunity.

Sense of direction---

It's amazing that my pioneer ancestors made it West. They must have been following someone who knew the way, and not only that, they never had to make any right turns or leave at a certain time. I struggled my whole childhood with being unable to tell time on a clock, to tell left and right, and to remember how to set a table. As an adult, I finally was able to master these skills, but it is still a challenge. I know most people can intuitively tell left and right, but I still have to take a moment to think about it. I chuckled when the subject came up at a family gathering and I found out that several of my female cousins suffer from the same quirk! Not only that, those who did not grow up in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountains also had trouble with directions (N, S, E, W).

Sense of humor--

Speaking of the pioneer ancestors, I love learning stories about my forebears. However, I am tickled the most when I hear details that reveal my forebears' sense of humor. I got a kick out of reading a sketch of a pioneer family arriving in Utah and being sent to settle in Lindon, Utah. They had sold all their worldly goods, traveled for months through many trials, and finally arrived at the place the prophet had called them to establish Zion. The night they arrived, they camped out near the main road, not knowing that this property belonged to what would be their new neighbor. Upon waking, they found the rancher stopped nearby waiting to chew them out for camping on his land. One of the sons remarked saracastically, "So, this is Zion."

I am constantly trying to keep my sarcastic comments to myself, but it is a challenge when such wit and humor are charging through my veins on an hourly basis. It makes me giggle to see it expressed in my kids, like when Henry laughs and refuses to say Daddy, even though Marty wants nothing more in the world.

Book Review- Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

My review

rating: 1 of 5 stars
So I just finished reading this book. I have had recommendations from friends that this is a good easy read. I don't really know why I even read these any more because I never enjoy them. Anyway, this book is written for teenage girls, and I suspect it would play very well with that audience. After all, I loved Karate Kid when I was that age.



I thought Twilight was boring and flat. I don't really understand the fuss I've been hearing. The story focuses on Isabella (Bella) Swan and Edward Cullen. Bella moves to Forks, Washington after her mother remarries and decides to follow her new husband in his career. Bella hates everything about Forks except her Dad, Charlie. Everyone seems to know who she is before she arrives, but she just wants to be invisible. Pretty soon Bella is the target of all of the boys at Forks High School, none of whom hold any interest for her except Edward Cullen, who acts like he can't stand her. Turns out he is so attracted to her that he doesn't trust himself to be around her. Bella is nearly immediately and "irrevocably" (and inexplicably) in love with Edward and he finds himself having to save her from her own clumsiness and what seems to be her destiny to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.



I don't find Bella to be a very compelling character at all, and I am having a hard time understanding what the appeal is for Edward-- it has to be more than that she smells good. She is supposedly articulate and well-read, but to me she seems boring. She seems to be a loner, but for someone who is so independent-minded she does not seem to have much of an active inner-life that would make her appealing to the teenage male population of the entire town of Forks. She spends her time alone brooding, writing emails, listening to CD's, taking showers, etc. ZZZZZzzzz. She rarely seems to catch on to anything that is going on around her. Maybe this gets developed further in the sequels.



Edward is a more interesting character as he is more developed (strange since the whole story is told from Bella's perspective as the narrator), but I can't help but wonder why a man who is supposedly 80 plus years old would be interested in a 17 year old girl. The constant sexual tension seems creepy to me in that context. He is chronically on the knife edge of wanting to devour her and wanting to protect her. Sounds like some kind of creepy Nabokov-esque fantasy.



The rest of the characters have even less character development. The writing falls flat and the dialogue is stilted. Bella seems to have a stronger connection with the vampire family than even her own family (despite her attempts to protect her parents).



Overall, I guess this book is just not my style. If you want to read a really good vampire book, try The Historian, which is a lyrical book that has interesting characters with actual plot development.


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Marty

A few weeks ago was the 19th anniversary of my first date with my husband- May 28, 1989. So that means we have officially past the point where I have known him longer than my whole life before we met. He has really worked hard to become the person, the father, the husband, and the son that he wants to be. He works constantly both at his job and at home and just does what needs to be done. He was gone all week last week, and I missed him. While he was gone, I walked around my house and yard and looked at how every surface has his touch on it. He has painted it, mowed it, repaired it, tilled it, cleaned it, and maybe once in a while left a fingerprint or two. Of course he has a few flaws, but they are overwhelmingly outweighed by his generous heart, loyalty, and supportiveness. He is my best friend and the first person I want to see in the morning and the last person I want to see at night. We have been together basically all the time for 19 years now, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Henry William Lorenzo

Okay all you readers it's time for me to confess something. My husband thinks we named the baby Henry William after his father, Willem Henrikes. Here is the truth:

What he does not know is that in my mind the baby is named Henry after my favorite character in Shakespeare's Plays, King Henry (Henry the 5th), who is the main character in Henry IV, parts 1 and 2, and Henry V. I find the image of the (now) righteous warrior king to be so powerful as Henry leads his subjects into battle against the French, and then binds up the wounds by making a love match with the princess Catherine.

This speech is my favorite: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechhenryV.html

Of course William is after The bard himself. Forget that William is Marty's middle name, or his Dad's (Willem), or his grandfather, or my great-grandfather. Okay maybe those things were influential, but not THAT influential. Don't you know that Henry is going to be a brilliant writer himself and bring the literary world to its knees, not to mention sell millions of books and buy his mother a castle in Scotland next door to JK Rowling? (Maybe MacBeth's is available?) Then I can spend my days wandering the Heath, looking for eye of newt. Never mind that right now the only word he seems to know is "NIIIIIYE!!!!" (Which originally meant Caroline, but now seems to be an all-purpose word meaning, "I'm here, pay attention to me!") Don't you know that Henry's 17th great-grandfather was Geoffrey Chaucer, the Father of English Literature (this is the problem with studying Family History, you get a rather inflated sense of your destiny by knowing that you have such potential within your genes).

When we were in London, visiting the new Globe Theater was really a highlight of the trip for me.

Lorenzo I was able to throw in there after learning about my great-great grandfather Albert Lorenzo Cullimore. I fell in love with him a little bit (in a granddaughterly way of course) reading about his life, and I needed to throw in a little something from my family, since we were after all naming the baby after his father's father!

I think I developed my love of Shakespeare as a child doing backyard Shakespeare three separate summers. Never mind that I played male characters the first two years, at least I had a good role the second year. In my final year I got a plum role as Gertrude, the queen in Hamlet (Hamlet's mother). I can still remember the brocade ribbon on my costume and having my sister french braid my hair for me, since I could never do it well myself. I can remember the feeling of standing on the stage/back porch in the hot summer evening. I think that was a prime moment in my life.

So Henry, my beloved son, as you turn one this weekend, remember that you will grow up to be kind, righteous, and brave like King Henry, and witty and clever like the Bard, and generous and faithful like grandpa Albert.

This is the stuff I think about

Is "email" a noun that can be used as a singular and a plural noun? For example, one does not say, "I am going to check my emails." However, when one receives several responses to a single message, one might say, "I have received several emails about that message." The word "mail" refers to all of the mail in the mailbox, be that one piece or many.

This comes from me getting tripped up in a book I'm reading (Twilight by Stephenie Meyer) in which the main character, Bella, refers to one of her weekend activities as sending "email" to her mother. I am assuming she is sending more than one since she does not say, "an email," but it tripped me up because I would have said I was sending "emails."

I love a language conundrum. (Is the plural of that condundri or conundrums?)

Book Review-- Ghost Rider by Neal Peart

Ghost Rider is a memoir of the author's (Neal Peart, Rock Star Drummer, author, etc.) journey from grief to grief as he travels alone across North America on his motorcycle. The reader is brought into his inner thoughts through his journals and letters to dear friends and family. The level of his grief is profound, and for me it meant that I sometimes needed to take a break from the book. And his journey through that grief goes on, and on, just like the Ghost Rider. The author is very gracious for allowing the reader into this tender and painful part of his life. I was amazed at the kindness he displayed toward his own pain-- noting that his grief had splintered him into many characters, each of whom served a different purpose in helping him cope. He seemed to have a tenderness toward these fractured aspects of himself and treated them as if they were all friends. It was a very profound lesson in moving on by keeping moving (but moving in a previously unforseen and unknowable direction). I was relieved and satisfied that eventually he is able to exit "Death Valley" and find access to joy again.

One thing that I found very interesting in the book were the common literary references (didn't expect this from a drummer in a rock band.) For example, the title of one of the chapters is "Homeward Angel, On the Fly" is a reference to a Milton poem (possibly also a Thomas Wolfe book entitled Look Homeward, Angel), Lycidas, in which an "uncouth swain" mourns the too-soon passing of a dear one lost at sea,


"Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear,
Compels me to disturb your season due:
For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime,
Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer"


At the point in the poem where Milton writes, "Look homeward angel" he makes a turning point from describing the bitter sorrow that the whole earth feels at the loss of this friend, noting that the weeping must end as Lycidas has gone home as an angel where heaven is all that much more improved for the presence of Lycidas. And then the shepherd aka "the uncouth swain" moves on...

"And now the Sun had stretch'd out all the hills,
And now was dropt into the Western bay;
At last he rose, and twitch'd his Mantle blew:
To morrow to fresh Woods, and Pastures new. "

Cricket

Cricket is my darling daughter. She is such a fun daughter-- so kind and sensitive. Her teacher sent home a report card this week that says she's brilliant in every way except that she needs to learn to stay out of things that don't concern her. I find this so interesting because I have also had parents come up to me and tell me how she has stood up for their child and defended them against bullies or other threats. I think these are two sides of the same coin.

She does need to learn to navigate that a little better, but I think we all do. I had another mom warn me that Cricket is a little naive when it comes to the queen-bee drama that goes on at her age, and she was very concerned about Cricket being the target of this at a recent sleepover party. I was a nervous wreck because it was really her first sleepover with someone who wasn't a first cousin. However, it seemed to go smoothly. Her daddy and I made a deal that she doesn't do any more sleepovers when Momma doesn't feel good about it!

She is growing up so fast.

Book Review- Infidel by Aayan Hirsi Ali

I learned so much from reading this book. Aayan Hirsi Ali has led an astonishing life characterized by cruelty and oppression, and yet throughout her life has somehow preserved a sense of hope, love of mankind, and a deep perception of real justice. I found her premise about the reason for the rise of terrorist groups very compelling. Hirsi Ali argues that because governments based on Islamic Law (Sharia) cannot be criticized (because if Allah requires it, it cannot be questioned), when government fails the people, the people must turn outward rather than questioning their own decisions and systems. In this situation, the natural instinct is to criticize Islam's perceived enemies, i.e., Jews and Western civilizations.

Hirsi Ali has been a champion against the maltreatment of women in Islamic societies, and compels us to look at our own role in not condemning practices such as female genital mutilation, honor killings, and physical and emotional abuse of girls and women. Hirsi Ali believes that Western guilt and political correctness requires that we look the other way in the guise of tolerance. While I find her argument very compelling, I also think that she paints with a very broad brush, blaming human problems on religious beliefs. I tend to agree with her that Islam is fundamentally flawed for many reasons, not the least of which is that it cannot grow and change as the world evolves.

This book is so brave, and I know it puts the author at grave risk to have published it. She takes us from her childhood growing up in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya, to her escape from an arranged marriage and asylum in Holland. She eventually becomes a Dutch citizen and a member of parliament. The story is told in a level of intimacy and detail and skill that must be drawn from her history of the oral tradition of her family, as she describes her grandmother passing on the family legends. I found it somehow a personal connection to know that Aayan (that is how I think of her after reading her memoir) is just my age, born just 5 months before me.

Baby Love

Baby Love
Originally uploaded by FishChick

This is my little one Henk, who is just about the sweetest most happy baby that I ever saw. Who wouldn't want to spend every day with such a sweetie? He has this power over me and has since he was born and would look up at me so aware and perfect with his mouth in a little O.

Questions about Prayer

Does praying for something that is not happening in your life now, mean that you are going against God's will for your life? Can you ask others to pray for you to help you get what you want?

Prayer has been a huge part of my life since I was a girl. I have had many answers to prayers and it seems my heart is often drawn out in prayer. I had many people pray for me when we were trying to conceive Joseph (and Caroline and Henry for that matter). When we were nearing the end of the IVF process with Joseph, we had a family fast and broke the fast together, and many friends joined us in the fasting and prayer. It was a great source of support at the time. If I am praying about temporal needs, I still think that is okay, like finding a job, or being led to people who can help meet my family's needs. If it is a more selfish motivation, I still think it is okay to ask, but I don't think that prayers will be all that helpful if I am praying in the wrong direction. The act of prayer is something however that requires me to examine my goals and motivations and determine if I feel they are aligned with God's desires for me and my life. The examination is an important process, and part of the reason why mighty prayer is referred to as work. That is something I have learned about prayer lately.

I have been praying for the same thing for over 10 years (the opportunity to be a mom at home with my kids) and have yet to receive the answer I want to that prayer. However, I have had the burden lifted and my life has gone in directions where I can see that the time was not right for me to have what I have asked for. My current situation has been necessary to make other important things happen in my life. But there have been times when I have felt that my prayers have been in vain, and that I felt far from my Father in Heaven. When I have changed the way I pray, asking for guidance on what to pray about, I have felt those answers in terms of lifting the burdens, making them easier to bear, and lifting the despair and grief that I have sometimes felt. I still pray for this desired outcome, which I feel is a righteous one, but I have a new perspective on it these days.

All that's best of dark and bright

I have been trying to get started with blogging again and have made a few false starts with trying some new things, but I am now back to blogger again. I was struggling to come up with a name for my blog and remembered one of my favorite poems, She Walks in Beauty, by Lord Byron.

She Walks in Beauty

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that 's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:

Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

I know there are many interpretations of this poem that are less than the ideal on the surface, but I prefer the simplest interpretation, that Old Georgie boy was smitten with this lovely woman in both her physical beauty and her character. I also love that he loves her darkness and her brightness, because I seem to need that kind of counterpoint to really feel deeply about something too.

So I am hoping that this blog will be a place for me to write about all that's best of dark and bright in my perception!