What is love?

I finally found a picture of Christ that speaks to me. Can you capture love? Is it possible? In a small way, I can see a measure of love in this piece of art. When you really love someone, there is nothing you won't do to make sure that they are given the very best. And this picture seems appropriate for a Sunday post. This is love...it's painful, all encompassing, sacrificial, but also eternally rewarding.

When I Need Meat...

  This lady is quite the amazing bible scholar.  I find her writings to be especially thought provoking.  I am not the kind of reader that loves a light book.  This book gives me the meat I need to chew on.  White bread and honey might be easy to digest but it leaves you hungry for more in just a short time.  This kind of read sustains you, fills up your stores of knowledge for long periods of time.  I have found that the classes I am taking right now are quite....easy.  I already know 99% of what is being taught.  I am not finding intellectual stimulation in the least bit.  So this is how I exercise my brain.

Here's a quote or two to stimulate those of you who need a little meat now and then...

" When we covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ, we become passengers on a plan that moves steadily toward it's destiny in the celestial kingdom, with all the sights, sensations, relationships, and experiences particularly selected for our personal.most effective use of this preparatory period.  Elder Richard G. Scott said: "H would have you suffer no consequence, no challenge, endure no burden that is superfluous to your good. "  We may know then for ourselves that what is coming in our individual futures is benign in its design if we will pay attention to the lesson it means to impart while we are faithful to the Lord. " pg 16

" God will "wake us" if we need to be wakened; God will bring to our attention that which it is necessary for us to know when we need to know it.  He may also withhold certain information so as to precipitate a situation which is pregnant with learning possibilities for us.  The right orchestration, the right timing for events, even sad ones, is part of the covenant promise..." pg 15

"When a woman accepts in spirit who she was in the premortal world, her beauty of spirit, her valiance, her power, her passion, her great love; and when she accepts who she is destined to become; and when she acknowledges that that gifted, premortal woman is present now in the mortal woman and is seeking expression now in the mortal probation, she will know that she does not have to accept behaviors meant to demean her nor act in self-demeaning ways.  Rather she can honor her inner divinity and step forth in her God given power and birthright to bring to pass much beauty and holiness, and thereby fulfill her own unique earthly mission." pg 164

Anyone that can use the word pregnant like she did, just has my upmost respect...such great imagery in this book while dealing with deep subject matter...

The Christmas Spirit

I want to go home.  That is all I want.  But it's complicated.  Evidently, you have to be completely sinless to live with Father.  Try as I might, I cannot live a sinless life.  All is lost....  I can never measure up.  None of us can.
My big brother wants us home too.  He loves me more than I can imagine.  He loves all of his brothers and sisters the same.  He wants us all back.  So he came down and lived a sinless life and then paid for all of our sins, sicknesses, heartaches, and deprivations.  He paid that price....  So when I think of that beautiful tree sparkling in the corner or when my children tear open a gift, I think of the stars that I will look upon with my Father someday and the many gifts that He has given me throughout my life.   Because all I want....really...is to go back home.  Sometimes, for a split second, I can remember...what it felt like and that is what carries me through and makes me cry when I hear a Christmas song.  I love my Brother dearly.  He deserves to be praised everyday.  I cannot wait to go home again and see Him and all my loved ones....

I Fancy Facial Hair

Wandering through my local Deseret Book ( an LDS bookstore) on friday while killing time before picking up my husband from work, I happened upon my favorite picture of Christ. Ok, it's really the only picture of Christ that I even like. It seems to me that they either make him out to be a football player or he looks too fake. Even in this one, they make his shoulders unusually large, and I just tell myself it's a metaphor for the weight of the world on his shoulders.... I'm hard to please. See, we have no picture of Christ in our house. This one framed, a small one, would set me back $250. But I digress, this post is about my fetish...
So after scouring the framed and unframed art, I came the the realization that I think Jesus is HOT! That sounds so incredibly horrible, but why do I? And it all became perfectly clear to me, an Ah Ha moment if you will. I have a thing for facial hair. It's true, I confess, I love men with hair on their face. Did it start with George Michael? Or maybe it's because I don't ever remember having my father with a clean shaven face. Both my brothers sport a goatee. After purchasing this amazing shot of Christ walking along the shore, the small 29.95 one, I started to think about all the men that I found attractive. Every celebrity that, to me, is eye candy looks 10 times better with facial hair.




So why is it so unacceptabe? I don't get it. Jesus had a beard. Depictions of God, show him with a beard. Prophets of old had a beard. Gosh darnit...what is the big deal?! I think it looks amazing! In a devious sort of way, I asked my husband what he thought of men with a beard...or facial hair. His first response was Hitler! His next, the Unibomber! I don't get it...why didn't he say Jesus, or Brad Pitt? Or my dad? What is it about our culture that frowns upon facial hair as some hippie act of defiance and unkempt or unclean. On more than one occasion, I have begged my husband to sport a goatee. He goes for months and looks fabulous only to shave it off because he has some meeting and doesn't want to appear sleazy or like he's hiding something????

So you decide...which picture of these extremely famous men looks more masculine? I know, I have a problem. Is there a class I can take or a 12 step program, because I don't think I can get rid of this problem alone.....:(

Political Ideology

I am an anomaly. Very different than most of my friends but I am sticking to my guns ( if I choose to own one, which I don't...Patrick on the other hand is a firearms man.) Lately, I have found myself throwing my hands up in the air with people who are idealistic in their thinking. Have they never had problems or been on the receiving end of anything at all? Maybe I am just not that blessed or maybe they think that everyone that needs help is unworthy of it. Let me make myself crystal clear, I don't believe the crack Ho with 8 kids is any better than myself. Is that graphic enough for you? Freedom to choose right and wrong is something divine. I am proud and blessed to live in a country where my religion can be practiced, where I am not forced to think like the majority, where I can try new things and have someone catch me if I fall. I believe in repentance and I believe in helping everyone. I don't need more money and I don't need more stuff. This has been really frustrating for me to try and explain to people what I think without voices getting out of hand. So in my quest to define my position, I came across these scriptures that sums up what my political ideology is in a nutshell.

Jacob 2:17-21...."Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you. But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good-to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted. And now, my brethren, I have spoken unto you concerning pride; and those of you which have afflicted your neighbor, and persecuted him because ye were proud in your hearts, of the things which God hath given you, what say ye of it? Do ye not suppose that such things are abominable unto him who created all flesh? And the one being is as precious in his sight as the other. And all flesh is of the dust; and for the selfsame end hath he created them, that they should keep his commandments and glorify him forever."

What does this make me? Socialist, Democrat, Communist, Moderate? I don't know, but I do know that I couldn't have said it any better than Jacob. Just thankful for a God that can help me find my voice when I need to explain why I think the way I think.

Brighten is Baptized

My Baby looking so grown up :(





She lost a tooth the day before...
This is my Beautiful Brighten that is not Baby Brighten anymore. Although I think I could still call her Bitty Brighten because she is a tiny little thing. I made the dress out of extra drapery lining I had from drapes I made 2 years ago and the beads were from a project that I never completed...all in all, the dress cost 2.99 for the ribbon. The buttons were even free as they appeared miraclously on the ground outside our barn one day. Totally not joking either...the Lord works in mysterious ways.
She is now a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! I imagine great things in her future. She is a strong one...like her mother.