Saturday is a Special Day

It's the day we....

• watch three hours of Young Women basketball.
• get The Boy to a friend's place for a birthday party, hopefully Genius Golfer will remember all his sledding gear with The Boy reminding him every five minutes.
• get the kids to do their chores, with any luck, so when I get back from BB watching I can finish cleaning the house.
• substitute for Monday jobs this weekend as we have tickets to the Draper Temple Open House on Monday.
• prepare for the Sunday lesson I am supposed to give, like tomorrow.
• catch up on every one's homework.
• start reading lines with The Boy for his part in the 6th grade play. He's the narrator!
• do a little freezer-casserole-cooking to put stuff away for other days coming up that are too busy to think about cooking.
• send good wishes to Dear Friend Micheale who is running the half marathon in St. George today!
• send subliminal, relaxing messages to Dear Friend Kelly who is with her as Micheale is running. Hope they have a great time! They BOTH deserve a break from home.
• keep plugging away at The Boy's scrapbook that I began working on again this week. We are to 5th grade, so we are making progress. There is no end, however, as they keep on living life while I am catching up scrapbooks.
• watch Cranford on DVD as I scrapbook; that is really a good diversion while I mindlessly slap in photos and bits and pieces from his life!
• get myself to bed on time, at least--if not early, to try to catch some extra rest.

From the looks of this list, I think the first thing I should do is head tot he Gas 'n Sip for a big Diet Coke! Happy Saturday, friends.

Example of the Believers

This past Wednesday night I was asked to share some thoughts in another ward's New Beginnings program about the new 2009 Mutual Theme taken from 1 Timothy 4:12. It says, "...Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."

So I spent my five minutes or so with them trying to expand and expound. Here is what I shared:

Timothy was one of Paul's closest friends. Paul even calls him his "son in the faith". You could certainly call Paul Timothy's mentor. They traveled together all over the region and Timothy saw a lot of Paul's teaching and was trained well to become the first bishop of Ephesus.

Though Timothy was young, that made no difference to Paul. He recognizes that in the first line of this verse, in fact. But them he gives Timothy, and all of us this year, some very valuable direction. Do we know what we are to do as examples of the believers?

To be an EXAMPLE in WORD, I thought of how we speak to each other. Do we use our words to build up those around us? Or do we tear others down when they are not in our presence? Are we gossipy or passing along rumors?

To be an EXAMPLE in CONVERSATION is a little different. The Greek root word for "conversation" means more about our conduct or behavior. So, how do we treat others? Do we include them in our activities? Do we invite them to join us at lunch? Or do we try to separate ourselves from those we see as 'not good enough' to hang out with?

To be an EXAMPLE in CHARITY, according to Elder Wirthlin, it means "subordinating personal interests willingly and gladly for the good of others." To we put the needs of others before our own? Are we more interested in helping others than getting ourselves ahead?

To be an EXAMPLE in SPIRIT I asked the Young Women and their leaders about their attitude. Are you in a good mood? Are you gracious? Happy? Enthusiastic? Fun to be around? If we are showing our testimony in our attitude, shouldn't it be one of joy? If we truly believe in Christ, we have the "good news" of the Gospel! We should show it!

To be an EXAMPLE in FAITH is a little harder to see. But you do this if others can tell what we believe by the way we live our lives. Can you share your testimony through your actions? Do you fulfill callings with commitment? Do your choices reflect your beliefs?

To be an EXAMPLE in PURITY is of renewed interest recently, as we were just given an eighth YW value to study and pursue. Are we living a life filled with chastity? Fidelity? Moral strength? These are what 'pure' encompasses. I think it also has to do with our way of thinking as well. As we become an example in purity, our desires to do our own thing melt away and we have only the desire to do the Lord's will.

What's the Point?!

What is it with women? Why do we feel it necessary to worry over things so frequently out of our control? Do we find entertainment value in this worry? Do we think in some subliminal way, it helps the situation? I know it isn't making me thinner or smarter or more attractive. So what is the point?

This week and a half or so I feel like I have had recreational worry again. I worried about my dad's surgery 900 miles away. (Report from home last night that all was well now shifts the worry to his recovery and long term health adjustments.)

I worried about The Boy's audition for his sixth grade play. (It is only 6th grade, for Pete's sake!)

I worried about Genius Golfer's job situation. (Nothing has changed there, but he is still submitting resumes and has interviewed a few times, but no offers yet.)

I worried about Dear Friend Tammy and her health issues and her family dealing with her health. (I have missed the last two midweek visits as GG's interview/my visit with the principal for The Boy/Mr. Rick's dental appointment all took over two weeks ago and this week GG was in bed sick so couldn't go either--and I worry they needed more help than Mr. Rick told me.)

I consistently worry for friends, near and dear, who all have issues at home with children, health, spouses, jobs, callings--you know the stuff life throws at your when you might not be looking for it. (My worrying doesn't ever change these things, but I feel like I can lend compassion and some bit of understanding for nothing more than moral support sometimes.)

I worry about The Girl and the issues she is dealing with in Junior High and teenage years and the friends and her complexion and the questions of popularity and acceptance that every girl goes through at this point in her life. (At least the complexion part of that I can finally help her with and we are seeing some improvement.)

If I was more faithful, I would just pray and leave all my worries at the Lord's feet. I'd put my trust in Him to take care of the things that I can't. I would leave it for Him and move onto more productive actions.

I do pray about all these things, and more, frankly. But it doesn't remove them from my mind or my heart or my worry. Maybe that is a sign that I am not faithful enough to trust Him and believe He can make the differences up in each of my points of worry. But really, I know He is capable of all that, but other people's agency comes into play here and that is a wild card like no other. I guess THAT is where my worry really lays.

The worrying doesn't really help anyone, least of all me. I wake up with headaches. I sleep uneasily (even with a reduced quantity of caffeinated beverages). I hold on to tension in my shoulders and get kinks in my neck. I should just do something that will wipe the slate of my mind before I go to bed, but so far I don't know how to do that effectively. Instead I seem to keep eating Lindt Lindor Truffles. THAT is definitely not working to better any situation.

Surf's Up!

Two weeks ago this is what we were doing. It is a place called FlowRider in the Salomon Center in downtown Ogden. Wild place. My sister and her two boys "gave" this experience to my kids for their Christmas gifts, and on New Year's Eve day we went up with them to play.

The top photo is The Girl on her boogie board. She seemed to like it the least of all the kids, but she did get slammed pretty hard at the top of the wave. She got a nasty scrape on her lower back--we told her to call it a Shark Bite.

The Boy boogie boarded at first then thought he would try the surf board. He did great! At first they let you hold on to a rope--like wake boarding--but even then he usually had a lot of slack in the rope, so he got the balance issues figured out pretty fast. The FlowRider employee that was helping The Boy told us he was a "natural". I think it is all the snowboarding that helped him. Same balance and basic positioning.

I'm sure it was a pricey day of fun, but the kids had a great time and enjoyed being with their cousins. I liked it for the memories of the beach and the sun and the summer, and all that goes with that--while this morning we are at 9 degrees again and snow is still all over the ground. But I digress....

No Bias Given

Last Saturday I got to be a time keeper fro the Young Women's basketball games at our Stake Center. We have 6 wards, so we had three games to watch and time, score, and cheer on.

It always takes a little while to get in the groove again after almost a year of not running a scoreboard to remember just what it is I am supposed to do.

I thought I had it all figured out, and the first game began. Less than a full minute I realized that the clock portion (a slightly important element in my TIME keeping assignment) wasn't counting down. I had to interrupt the game, stop the action, call an audible--oh, wait, that is football. I had to ask for an "officials time out" to get some help to restart the clock. Duh...

I finally got it together and the game resumed.

Afterwards our Stake Presidency counselor who was there watching his daughter play had to give me a hard time. (This is regular banter now between us. It is much like a senior teasing a lowly freshman, who usually can't help being a geek.)

Finally I told him, "Hey, this wasn't like I was favoring either side. My bias is unanimous because I suck equally for both teams here."

At which point he laughed and told me that he'd be sure to pass that information onto President A. at their next Stake Presidency meeting. Then added as he walked away, "But that still won't get you fired."

Drats; foiled again.

Lost in Austen

Last night I recorded an American premiere of a British show called "Lost in Austen" on the Ovation channel (I didn't know we even go that one...). It is a story of Amanda Price who reads Pride and Prejudice continually and prefer Elizabeth Bennett's world to her own for its language and manners. Low and behold she discovers a portal from her bathroom in her London flat to the attic of Mr. Bennett's house. She trades places with Lizzy and hilarity ensures.

I am watching it in pieces today as I fold laundry. On a day like today, I can see the interest in swapping places with Lizzy too. Despite my complete lack of said portal, and the second half being broadcast tonight, I would otherwise enjoy such a diversion myself.

In lieu of that, I may have to just invite my fellow Janites over and have a 'girl's night in'. Any takers?

Another Tender Mercy

In sacrament meeting today we had a pair of guys in our ward Young Men's presidency speak on service. They are both great guys and the YM president is just delightful. He has a beautiful family and his lovely wife is The Girl's Beehive teacher--how can you NOT love that?

Anyway, as we were leaving the chapel today I stopped to tell Brother P., the YM president, what a great job he had done and he said, "Did you catch my reference?"

Confused, I thought, "Huh?!"

Seeing my dazed look, he began--as his wife joined him--saying, "that comment about the sister who was always helping someone when we first moved into the ward, that we called 'Sister Service' because we didn't know her name...that was you. I'm sure you caught that, right?"

I had thought he had meant Dear Friend Doris, who can consistently earn that moniker too. You could have blown me over with a feather.

On the way home, I was thinking out loud and mentioned to the kids that I am surely glad they saw me as "Sister Service" when they could have easily called me "Sister Snarky" on a given day.

It touched me that someone was watching and could recognize my efforts--though certainly not worthy of such a name. I was grateful to have been a good example, rather than what I feel like some days. I was grateful, not that he used that in his talk, but that is made a good impression, and that I was caught being good.

It made me more grateful to a Heavenly Father who loves me enough to prompt someone else to say something to remind me that He, as always, knows what I try to do. Even when I don't do it perfectly, or right, or even close. He knows the intents of my heart and all the things I wish I could do for Him to serve those around me more perfectly. For that reminder, I was humbled and grateful. It was another example of the tender mercies of the Lord in my life.