A Praying Life

I just finished this book by Paul Miller.  It's unusual for me to read an entire religious book other than the scriptures.  It's extremely unusual for me to read a religious book written by someone of a different religion--in this case Evangelical Christian.  For a while now, though, I've been bothered by my prayers. I knew I needed to do better--I knew I could do better--but they just seemed kind of flat.  Anyway, I was looking for some books to download to my iPod to read at the gym and I stumbled across A Praying Life.  It had a good reader response, so I bought it.  It was an answer to prayer :)

Here are some things I connected with in this book:

"Our natural desire to pray comes from Creation.  We are made in the image of God.  Our inability to pray comes from the Fall."
This reminded me that by nature I am divine--something I tend to forget--so I should be able to communicate with a divine being.  Not just communicate, but relate--have a relationship.  Maybe I'm trying to hard to pray "right" instead of to pray intuitively.

"You have true intimacy, based not on how good you are but on the goodness of Jesus."
Casey often reminds me of this--that the love that comes to us from God comes because of who He is, not who we are.  "True intimacy" is something I think I want--I want to want it.  Actually, I'm not sure I know what it is or what it involves.

"We don't learn to pray in isolation from the rest of our lives.  For example, the more I love our youngest daughter, Emily, the more I pray for her.  The reverse is true as well; the more I learn how to pray for her, the more I love her.  Nor is faith isolated from prayer.  The more my faith grows, the bolder my prayers get for Jill. (his wife)  Then, the more my prayers for her are answered, the more my faith grows.  Likewise, if I suffer, I learn how to pray.  As I learn how to pray, I learn how to endure suffering.  This intertwining applies to every aspect of the Christian life."


"...learning to pray is almost identical to maturing over a lifetime."

"Many Christians pray mechanically for God's kingdom (for missionaries, the church, and so on), but all the while their lives are wrapped up in their own kingdoms.  You can't add God's kingdom as an overlay to your own."


"Adam and Eve began their quest for self-identity after the Fall.  Only after they acted independently of God did they have a sense of a separate self.  Because Jesus has no separate sense of self, he has no identity crisis, no angst.  Consequently, he doesn't try to "find himself."  He knows himself only in relationship with his Father."
Initially, this feels a little offensive.  But when I think about it it feels true and right.  He goes on to say,
"That's why contemplating the terror of the cross at Gethsemane was such an agony for Jesus.  He had never experienced a moment when he wasn't in communion with his Father.  Jesus' anguish is our normal."
That last statement really got me.  Jesus' anguish at being separated from his Father--even briefly--could that have caused some of his agony?  Of course, it did--he cried out for Him on the cross.  How much does the pain of that separation affect us?  It certainly affected Alma the Younger when it was brought to his attention.  He said it was so awful that it made him tremble to think of anyone having to go through it.  The sons of Mosiah risked their lives in order to go into the land of their enemies to try to bring them to God so they wouldn't have to go through what they had.

"When our kids were teenagers, Jill asked me, "Do you know what our family needs most?" Lots of things came to mind, including a newer car.  Her one-word answer took me completely by surprise: "mercy."  We didn't need to get more organized.  We didn't need more money.  We needed mercy."
I need mercy.  Boy do I need mercy.

"A prayer life isn't simply a morning prayer time; it is about slipping into prayer at odd hours of the day, not because we are disciplined by because we are in touch with our own poverty of spirit, realizing that we can't even walk through a mall or our neighborhood without the help of the Spirit of Jesus."
I'm a covenant-breaker, but I want to be a covenant-keeper. The covenant I break the most often is most definitely the one I make at the sacrament table each week--"that they do always remember Him."  Yet here I am--"That guy looks creepy."  "She's got on some pretty sleazy looking clothes."  Maybe I don't say it aloud, but I'm definitely not remembering Him.

"I make the jump from optimism to darkness so quickly because I am not grounded in a deep, abiding faith that God is in the matter, not matter what the matter is.  I am looking for pleasant results, not deeper realities."
I so much need to give the word "blessing" a new definition--how about a blessing is something that comes from God and is designed especially for me with the intent to bring me closer to Him.

"Repentance brings the split personality together and thus restores integrity to the life.  The real self is made public.  When the proud person is humbled, the elevated self is united with the true self." and "When we remove our false selves, repentance creates integrity.  We return to the real source of love--our heavenly Father.  We become authentic."
Is repentance not merely a change of heart and mind, but an actual restoration of my true self?


"It (Judaism) survived attempts to exterminate it from Pharaoh (Moses), the Philistines (David), the Syrians (Elijah), the Babylonians (Daniel), the Persians (Esther), and the Samaritans (Ezra).  It survived the Greeks during the time of the Maccabees, the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, and the forced evacuation from Palestine in AD 135.  It survived Islam, the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Russian tsars, and Hitler's Final Solution.  But Orthodox Judaism has barely survived the Enlightenment.  It is but a shadow of its past, claiming only 10 to 15 percent of Judaism."


"A thankful heart is constantly extending grace because it has received grace."
How often am I extended grace from the Lord and I refuse to receive it?

"Self-will closed the door to a spirit of prayer."
I'm always stumbling over that one.  And the next highlight--
"The great struggle of my life is not trying to discern God's will; it is trying to discern and then disown my own."
I hear ya.

"The best gift of the desert is God's presence.  We see this in Psalm 23.  In the beginning of the psalm, the Shepherd is in front of me--"he leads me beside still waters" (verse 2); at the end he is behind me--"goodness and love will pursue me" (verse 6, NIV); but in the middle, as I go through "the valley of the shadow of death," he is next to me--"I will fear no evil, for you are with me" (verse 4).  The protective love of the Shepherd gives me the courage to face the interior journey."
I read little story once of a guy who was sitting in a priesthood leadership meeting.  The general authority who was conducting the meeting asked (probably in reference to D&C 18:10), "Brother Jones, what is the worth of a soul?"  He was taken by surprise at being put on the spot and asked him to repeat the question.  Finally, he said,"I suppose the worth of a soul lies in its ability to become like God."  God has eternal life.  He lives it and He has the ability to give it.  To give life--in and of Himself.   No wonder we are cherished, loved, protected, guided.
Recently we had the sister missionaries over for dinner and one of them talked about an article in which the author said that everything is stacked in our favor to triumph over this life.  So everything must be stacked in my favor to be able to pray more meaningfully--to really communicate with Him.  Knowing that--believing it--helps a lot.

"When we don't receive what we pray for or desire, it doesn't mean that God isn't acting on our behalf."


"The thought--Paul, I'm going to work on your character--had a similar impact on me as Jesus' words--"You will deny me three times" (Matthew 26:34)--had on Peter.  After his fall, reflecting back on Jesus' warning would have brought Peter to a deeper repentance.  It also gave Peter hope, possibly saving him from suicide.  He could say, "Jesus knew this about me ahead of time, yet he loved me and prayed for me that I wouldn't despair."  In my life, when suffering came the following year, that unexpected thought gave the suffering meaning and purpose.  It gave me hope."
I really appreciated this reflection.  In fact, reading it again makes me feel so thankful and increases my desire for my family to know this.

"We need the sharp-edged, absolute character of the Word and the intuitive, personal leading of the Spirit.  The Word provides the structure, the vocabulary.  The Spirit personalizes it to our life."
The "unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost."  Yes.

"Augustine recalled when he was a boy stealing unripe pears from his neighbor's orchard even though he had ripe pears on his side.  Because Augustine had encountered the living God, he was able to see the irrational bent in his heart toward evil."
It is irrational.  It doesn't bring happiness--it's against the nature of the beast to find happiness in doing wrong.

"By June, I realized that God didn't seem particularly interested in saving me from the difficult situation.  He just wanted to change me."
Gasp.  How often am I praying for things--in my life and the lives of those I love--to go against His will?

"Don't be truth-focused.  The truth is that I need to love the other person."
I know that's more important than being right and I have a LOT of things to change.

"Just last week I'd prayed that my Father would show me what feeds a lack of faith in me.  I was beginning to see that too much media was subtly framing how I viewed the world."
Introspection.  I need a greater ability to understand what I really need to ask for.  That's a prayer in and of itself.


I want to have a praying life--to "pray in all things."   There are so many things this book has made me think about that I haven't written here.  I can't write them because I feel them more than think them, but I believe He understands that kind of communication as well.  I can do better.  I can become closer to Him.

A Terrible, Wonderful, No-Good, Beautiful Day!

It started out with a phone call from Casey. Of course, that was good!
He wanted to tell me that he had lost his wallet and had called the bank to stop all of our cards.  Bad.
This will give me the opportunity I needed to adjust our personal account with the Quicken file that had become corrupted and get that all straightened out because very little money will come out of that account over the next few weeks.  That's good!
The scale was down another pound.  Two good things in a row!!
All of this happened as I was just getting up on June 24th, which was my 53rd birthday.  Eh.
Ami called to wish me a happy birthday and I've lived to be 53.  Very good!
The kids overslept, so they didn't get to bring me breakfast in bed.  Bad.
They all got up before 7 a.m. without me being the alarm clock and I don't even like having to eat my breakfast in bed!  Yay!
I got a late start to the gym. Bad.
I went to the gym. Good!
Lillian gave me the coolest beaded thing that can be used as a belt or necklace or tied however.  Good again!
I have Lillian!  Another good!
I made maple walnut ice cream, but I thought I didn't put enough walnuts in so I put in more and now there are too many walnuts in the ice cream.  Kinda bad.
I love walnuts! Good!
The kids and I went out to dinner (Tony Roma's) and to a movie (Cars 2)where I ate too much and slept through some of the flick.  Groan.
I really don't care that I ate too much and slept through the movie--it was fun to just be with the kids. Good!
I spoke with Casey several more times on the phone and got a call from each of the away kids except for Jake who I got to chat with online last night.  Best in show.

It's all in how you look at it--and that's very, very good!

facebook Revisited

Several years ago I wrote my first comment on here about, what was at the time, the relatively new social phenomenon Facebook.  As time has gone on, my FB friends list has grown to over 400 (?!--who ARE they?), and photos, videos, comments, observations abound in my account.  Some of it has been lots of fun (the Conner Butt photos--hahaha!) and sometimes I am inspired, but sometimes I come away wondering what I find so absorbing.  More often than not, I check my FB and find nothing particularly interesting--kind of like running to check the mail and coming back with a handful of ad flyers.  Or worse, sometimes coming back with bills!  Ugh.  Sometimes I come away feeling like I wish I hadn't seen, read, or (this is the worst) commented on something I did--sure, I could go back and delete, but often it takes me a day or two to realize I should have kept quiet about something.  I'm slow like that.

Recently I've been wondering how much FB affects us as individuals.  I'm sure it varies, but I don't know that I want to be shaped by FB on any level.  Often it seems posts are competitive--seeking the approval of other people--"how many comments did I get?"  We do that too much already without Facebook to encourage it.

In our day distractions are plentiful and insidious.  I had a quote in my old scriptures that said "Don't get thickly involved in thin things; don't leave the things that matter most to the mercy of the things that matter least."  Casey doesn't Facebook--never has.  He says he doesn't have time for that and he doesn't want to get caught up in it.  For me to be ruminating on it to this extent I figure that the Spirit has brought it to my attention.  Maybe it's an important adjustment for me to make.  Maybe it's a necessary step.  Maybe it's an answer to prayer.

Definitely, for me, it's right.

Ingin' the Ooh

Some days I just feel like hiding.  No reason.  Nothing's wrong.  Just want to hole up somewhere with a good book and no responsibilities.  And maybe my laptop.  And wireless, of course.  Music I like.  Food readily available.  A phone to which nobody has the number.  Family around, but totally preoccupied with anything that doesn't involve me.
Feelings like this make getting older sooo much more attractive. :)

Time for a Change

Here's the thing...we've lived here 10 years.  When we first came the landlord had these blue/white/pinky drapes that I didn't want because 1- they were blue/white/pinky, and 2- because of this:

which is The View from the living room

 and the dining room. 

I didn't want to cover up The View!  However, I also had the noise.  Oh, the noise, noise, noise!  Marble-tiled floors, concrete walls--aye-yi-yi! 

 I've stood it for 10 years, but now as our house settles into less kids and more contemplation (?!) I want a more muted sound.  A year or so ago we got a bigger area rug for the living room and I think we're just about ready for a rug under the dining table (no more spilled jars of pickles, etc.), but I just don't know what to do about the windows. At one time I did put up some curtains and when I think about those curtains now--they were gross.   Maybe I've just gone so long with naked windows that I can't picture them with clothes.

I'm open to suggestions...  

Another Day at the Conner's

Well, I've talked about baking on Sundays, done an FHE post...probably the only other day of the week that really stands out at our house (other than Wednesdays, which is Youth Night so we aren't even here), is Friday night.

Friday is like this big release--you made it through another week. Ahhhh. Time to kick back, relax, maybe watch a movie, have a little free time when it's okay to put off whatever needs to be done for another day or another week.

Maybe that's what it's like for some people, but not here. Friday is ... fun! The kids invite bunches (yes, bunches) of their friends over, if I want I make pizza, we order out if I don't. The Wii, computer games, music--the limits of the week are off! Oh the noise, the smells, the noise, the eats, the noise, the sights, and the NOISE! It's a blast!

On Friday nights, I'm living the dream of having a home where the kids would want to bring their friends to hang out and have fun. We talked about that many years ago when we only had one kid. I wanted them to come to OUR house--I wanted to know what they were doing and where they were and I didn't want to miss out on the fun of knowing my kids' friends.

Tonight, Friday night, is no exception. I've been making pizzas since 3:30 this afternoon when Kait called to ask if Ashley, Christina, and LaKell could come home with her from school. Then Jershon called to see if Christina was here and I told him someone would come down and pick him up. Then when the girls arrived LaKell had her little sister with her. Then Arthur showed up. Then Solofi. Then Sam said Joe and Jenny and Daniel would be coming up with him tonight....

I'm tired. I've been up since 5:00 this morning. But I'm old enough to know that when this is all over I'm going to miss it. Memories--that's what I'm after here.

Sunday Baking

Sunday afternoon and baking just go together, don't they? I remember my mother telling me that she loved to cook--just not meals (and I'm sure when she said "cook" she meant "bake"). I think I've inherited her attitude. I like leisure baking, not duty cooking. Mallory said lately "cooking therapy" and that's what it's like. It's in-home therapy--creative, goodly, cozy, productive, even philanthropic (hahaha!)--all those things that make me feel like for a little while the world is all right.

Vacancy--Inquire Within

I want to do something today. It's Friday and I often feel like this on Fridays. I just taught my last early morning class for the week, the kids are just about done with the weeks schoolwork and ready to turn it all in, I don't want to think about my diet or what I need to prepare for Sunday, or any of the things I have to do. AND Casey's home, so I just want to do something. Something fun.

I want to sit in bed all day and play on our computers. I want to IM back and forth and laugh at how silly that is. I want him to show me interesting articles and information he finds on the internet or something funny someone sent him. The kids can bring us food. :)

Or maybe I want to go snorkeling and look at the fish and the coral. And we'll sit on the beach and talk and let the water cover our feet with sand.

Or maybe after lunch we'll go for a walk. Not a fast exercise walk, just a walk we'll walk until we want to turn around and walk back.

I want to eat Chicago-style pizza and watch something funny with Sam and Arthur because hearing them laugh makes whatever so much funnier.

Whatever. I just want to do something I don't have to do. I like Fridays.

Back to The Blog

I repent! Maybe. I told Mallory that I thought one of my New Year's resolutions would be to write in my blog again, so here I am. The problem is Facebook.

I've gotten so into Facebook as a place to upload pictures and videos, keep up on what's going on with family and friends, and record my little thoughts and comments that a blog has gotten to seem a little redundant. I feel like with Facebook I do my duty as far as keeping my Stateside kids reasonably up-to-date on what's going on in our lives and on the rare occasion anything comes up that needs more detail or more privacy, I email them.

That's been my way--and the way of some of my children. If asked how was our day, the answer is short (i.e., "Good." "Okay." "Mmm." "Eh."). Often, I just don't have anything else to say. That day is over--what is there left to say?

Other of my kids will launch into a detailed account of every part of their day. Every conversation, thought, action, everything! I love that, but it's not me. Oh sure, I have times when I want to give a detailed review, but on the day-in-day-out? No.

Ironically, the most consistent blogger in the family is of the short-answer type. And it's at her request that I repent. Maybe.

I Love You More Today Than Yesterday...

Happy 29th honey! (Thanks again Del.)

Ex-PATRIATE, Not Ex-PATRIOT

Our niece is moving to Spain with her husband and four children ages 14 and down. What an incredible experience this will be for them! I hope they will come to love Spain and the people. I'm sure there will be challenges and certain aspects that may be confusing, frustrating, or just plain annoying, but I hope that overall they will fully enjoy the wonderfulness of their new home and they'll end up with many happy lifelong memories of their time there. I also hope they will acknowledge and express at least an appreciation for the home they've left.

I've noticed, since moving away from the U.S. in 2001, that some ex-pat Americans have a tendency to fall into the habit of viewing their native land with a jaundiced eye. My own experience has put me in a community with members of many other nationalities and I don't see it anywhere else. Palauans love and revere Palau, Koreans long for Korea, Filipinos miss the Philippines, and many Americans miss the good ol' USA, but definitely not all judging from the sometimes volatile tirades they get on in listing everything that's wrong with it. Loudly. Publicly. Authoritatively as if they're the final word.

Of course, there are any number of reasons behind a decision to move away, and that may be why these people are ex-pats in the first place. Some of them end up being the convicting judge and jury on their new homelands as well, but I wish they would keep it to themselves. Doesn't it ever feel like a privilege to be where they are? Maybe they grew up in families that moved around a lot and they're just plain sick of all of it--I guess I could understand that. Maybe the nay-sayers feel like they need to run down the U.S. in order to appreciate wherever else they are. You don't have to dislike one to like the other--you can love both! The beautiful lands, the cultures, the people, the interesting histories, the quirks, the language(s), the struggles, all of it!

Being an ex-pat enriches, enlightens, and expands life in marvelously meaningful ways. I've learned more about other people and how they think, the influence culture has played on my sense of right and wrong (as opposed to what is truly right or wrong), since 2001 than I probably would have in a lifetime if I had stayed at home. I've also come to have a greater appreciation for freedoms that enable me to live and travel pretty much where I want and have shaped--and allowed--a compassion and interest in others. I have learned to marvel at the God-given privileges that my native country has in this world and seen it struggle with how to live up to the responsibilities that come with that position.

Enjoy life in Spain! Love it. Embrace it. Be Spaniards! And be Americans. Be both.

Just Thinking about Names...

I'm up waiting to take a young man who has been staying with us to the airport for a 4 a.m. flight to the States (so we'll have to leave here around 1:45 a.m.), so I'm just killing time Facebooking and surfing the internet and I thought "Hey. I could actually do something constructive like blog," so here I am. It's been a while.

I was thinking awhile ago how weird names are here. It seems like people find a sound they like and go with it. I know a brother and sister whose names are Scarley and Scarla. Then there's Wallynda and Wandalyn and Wallyson. There are Eileen and Heileen--

Aaaaahh! Earthquake! We just got a shake!! Okay--just a little one.

ANYWAY, there's Marlene and Maylene and there are the twins, Marcy and Marsha--maybe not so unusual for twins.
Another thing I don't get about names is Bo-boy. It seems like everyone has a son that they call Bo-boy--the Filipinos and the Islanders. The boy has a real name, but he's called Bo-boy. I don't get it. Juniors they call Jun (June), but he may also be called Bo-boy. It's confusing to me, but it's not unusual for someone to have 2 names that they're well known by. For instance, in my class I have a young man who goes by "Sev," but he also goes by "Ton." Sometimes I call him Sev and sometimes Ton--trying to go by what seems to be most popular among the other students at the time. The Secretary of Health's name is Joseph Kevin Villagomez--sometimes the newspaper uses "Kevin" and sometimes "Joseph" or "Joe," and it's the same with people around island--about 50/50 "Joe" or "Kevin." Of course, there are probably 2 or 3 "Joe Villagomez"-es that all have government positions.
When somebody dies and their half-page color obituary goes in the paper it gives their name and then the name everyone knew them by which doesn't seem the slightest bit related to their real name--like the name may be "Margarita Sablan Camacho" and underneath it will say "Tun Chong" which is what she was known by.
There are some really beautiful names like "Sioloa" (the "Si" makes the "sh" sound). Then there are the misunderstandings that stick, like the brothers, Jim and James, who didn't realize that they were just two different forms of the same name when the US came on the scene and they chose American names. Or one Korean student who chose the American name "Jenny" but her mother made her change it to "Jeiiny" (pron. Janey), because she was told (probably by other Koreans I'm sure) that it would be luckier (maybe) and easier (huh?).

Well, I've got to go to the airport. It's 1:45 a.m.--I'm interested to see how this is going to read tomorrow when I can think straight.

On the Wagon

*I'm posting this blog to force myself into a state of accountability.*

I'm an addict. A junk food addict. I am a junk food junkie. Me. I have to accept that. I love sweets. In fact, it seems that the less nutritional value a food has, the better I like to eat it. Marshmallows? Love 'em. Sugar wafers? Mmmmm. Cotton candy? One of my favorites. I call them ingestible non-food items, because food is supposed to have nutritional value. Can you live on pure carbohydrate? Groan.

Some of the youth here, in order to develop their self discipline I assume, will occasionally pick a "vice" (most often chocolate) to give up for a specific amount of time. I knew a man who used to live here that gave up sweets because he could see that he was getting hooked on them. Well, I'm joining that club. I'm going to give up junk food for six months.

At first I thought that I would just give them up for good, but I decided that I need a more concrete, short-range goal at least for now, so six months sounds good. That puts me at September 26th. At the end, I'll see how things are going and hopefully add on another six months. We'll see. No junk food. None. Nada. Zippo. Six months. Yeah.

Songs of The Heart

We're weird! I never knew! Okay, that's a lie. But I didn't know that one of the ways that we're different is that we sing regularly--as a family.

We're certainly not the King Family Singers (boy, that dates me!), or the Jackson 5, but we do sing in our home quite a bit. I guess "quite a bit" is a relative term and I'm just realizing that it might apply to us. Of course we have individuals in the house that sing privately in their rooms--with or without the cd player. We have those who, like my sister when she was a teenager, sing in front of the mirror with a make-believe mike (deoderant containers work great).

But as a family we sing every morning before scripture reading and every night before family prayer. Several Sundays a month we have friends over and sit around the livingroom and sing whatever hymns we happen to want to sing (in between eating biscuits--actually, I'm not sure if we have biscuits when people come over to sing or if we sing when people come over for biscuits!). Sometimes Casey plays the banjo and we sing "old timey" songs like "I'll Fly Away" or "Amazing Grace." We've prepared special numbers and done them for church (the whole group, not just our family). We've taken a whole year getting a special number ready for performance before--it didn't need that much prep it was really just an excuse to get together to sing.

Many years ago Casey suggested that he would like the kids to have some of the hymns memorized, so we did that. It was pretty easy--kids are great memorizers, especially anything set to music. We rarely sing children's church songs, but one time we did learn a song called "Love Is Spoken Here" in parts (girls' part/boys' part)--that was for Family Home Evening. We've memorized all of the books in the Old Testament to the tune of "Praise to the Man" and the New Testament to "Guide Us, O Thou Great Jehovah." (I like those better than the ones they have in the children's book--we can sing them FAST.)

One of my favorite memories involves singing together. It was Christmas 2006 and all of the "away" kids had come home for the holiday. One of the drawbacks (and it's a big one) of living where we do is that when you send one of your children off to college, etc., you never know when you're going to see them again--especially at home. It was the night before Levi was to leave and we were having family prayer before sending the little kids off to bed. We paused as we looked around the room, and someone started to sing "I have a family here on earth...." Even though Levi no longer was practicing our religion, of course he knew the song and we all joined in as always. I never felt the words of that song more warmly than I did at that moment--I was glad that we could express our feelings for each other in that way.

The hymns that I know have helped me a lot over the years. I suspect they have helped the other members of my family as well--I hope they have.

A Looooong Way from Forest Street

Ez was looking through the refrigerator for something to eat after we got home from church today.
"Mom, is there any more of that raw fish?"
"I don't think so."
"Oh. I was really hoping to use up the wasabi--it's really good with the raw fish."

Oh my.

Good People

Listening to the news and reading the paper, we sometimes forget that the world is full of them--and this one's from Maine! This came in an email from my cousin--it's worth reading.

CHRISTMAS AT ARLINGTON CEMETERY
Arlington�National Cemetery

Rest easy, sleep well my brothers.
Know the line has held, your job is done.
Rest easy, sleep well.
Others have taken up where you fell, the line has held.
Peace, peace, and farewell...

Readers may be interested to know that these wreaths -- some 5,000 -- are donated by the Worcester Wreath Co. of Harrington, Maine . The owner, Merrill Worcester, not only provides the wreaths, but covers the trucking expense as well. He's done this since 1992. A wonderful guy. Also, most years, groups of Maine school kids combine an educational trip to DC with this event to help out. Making this even more remarkable is the fact that Harrington is in one the poorest parts of the state.

Forgive Me My Debts

It was my father's rock-solid creed--DON'T SPEND MONEY YOU DON'T HAVE PERIOD THE END. But, at least in the U.S., it isn't that way. It's one thing to go into debt for a house or an education--it's quite another to go into debt for Christmas presents--ahem, ahem--or (out here where we live) christenings and birthday parties. The reality is that millions of Americans do it on a regular basis, and if they ever get out of the debt, many of them turn right around and do it again! And we blame the politicians, the media, the banks, the people who have big families, the town drunk, but please, please don't put this on our doorstep--oh no! And, oh yeah, would you hurry up and fix this bank thing so I can get on with the American dream--which USED to be that hard work and persistence equalled self-reliance, but NOW it's that I am "entitled" to whatever I decide I'm entitled to. (OK, I have to stop now because the cynical evil twin has taken over....)

It's Maddening

Question: How much of this recession is a result of people acting on media-driven perceptions? My husband thinks it's about 100%.

Twilight: The Book vs. The Movie

I read this book as a preview check before giving it to my daughter for her 12th birthday last year. I came so close to tossing it a hundred times before I got to the last few chapters when the action began. I found Meyer's writing mediocre at best. Her descritive phrases are redundant (i.e., "...his eyes tightened"). Her heroine is such a poor model for teenage girls--here's a girl who sees nothing good or worthy within herself and becomes so enamored by her "love" that she is willing to kill/destroy herself for him depending on whether she thinks he loves her or not. Teenage girls have enough issues without romanticizing the problems that are already rampant among them.

I saw the movie last weekend and liked it very much--I thought it was well done. In fact, it was one of the very few movies I've ever seen that I thought was actually better than the book. It got rid of most of the nauseating descriptions of Edward's perfection and created a much more tolerable Bella. At least it kept her "I can't live without you" manic episode to a hospital room where it could be partly written off as trauma.

GO-bama!

I'm pretty much a family-post blogger with a few tirades thrown in here and there, but this email from my son-in-law made me think about something my husband had pointed out to me. I've included my response.

Here is an interesting quote from Elder Maxwell given in 1979. I thought of Proposition 8 in California when I read this. -Michael

"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life.'

"This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ...Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions.

"Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened...Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself. Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.' Thus warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat."
Elder Neal A. Maxwell"A More Determined Discipleship", Ensign, Feb 1979, pgs. 69-73

When Elder Maxwell says, "...others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness..." and "...having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds..." I thought of the millions of [racial minorities in the U.S.] who voted during this last presidential election, many for the first time, having been stirred to hope by the candidacy of Barak Obama. Millions of voters who have a great tendency to be socially conservative when it comes to family values. Thanks for the quote. Mum