Category: Life according to Angela

photo essay

We had one last goodbye and thank you to our piano teacher who moved away this month. Mark is the only one still taking lessons, but Paige and Daniel joined us to say goodbye. Natalie was an incredible teacher for our kids.
A reunion of Young Women leaders to bid farewell to Deor who is going on a mission.
GARTH BROOKS CONCERT
Our tickets were not together, but we rode together on the train into Ute territory. (Note Richard Jaussi’s t-shirt.)
waiting for the wind to die down
We loved the concert. Once Mark graduates from high school I will be auditioning as a fiddler for Garth’s band. 😉
Always a sunset picture in the mix…
Working at the Filipino cultural event
We painted our fence. Hooray!

my friend

This is my friend Susan who passed away today. She served as my second counselor in the stake Primary presidency until the end of her life. Today I just keep thinking of the hundreds of children she taught over a 32-year career at our neighborhood elementary school, mostly as a kindergarten teacher, then as a third grade teacher. Walking into a room with her was like being with a rock star. Children would light up and run to her. One day a teenage boy, her former student, saw her visiting a Primary and ran into the room to hug her.

I keep thinking of her family. I keep thinking of the things she taught me. What a giant spirit in such a tiny person. Her influence is everywhere. Well done, darling Susan! I will miss you until we meet again.

Current Scriptures for Life

“But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”

1 Samuel 30:6

David was in a pretty bleak situation, and people around him were grieved. “But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”

This is my personal scripture phrase of the week.

1. I can encourage myself, and not wait around for someone to fix things.

2. I can trust the Lord’s strength, not my own.

Last week, my favorite scripture phrase was,

“I perceive that ye are weak”

3 Nephi 17:2

The Lord does know that I am weak, but I find comfort in this: the same “weak” people who couldn’t understand all that the Lord had to share, Jesus also told them they had “great faith.” (3 Nephi 19:35)

I love when people are described by really different adjectives in the scriptures. Everyone has a lot of dimensions to their character, and the Lord understands this about us. He knows we are not perfect (complete) and being weak doesn’t mean we can’t have greatness in other areas. Being weak can also be the impetus for great faith.

Contrast

Art like this brings back memories of hearing these stories for the first time in the 1970’s from records and my mom reading from the illustrated Children’s Bible.

The story of Gideon is my favorite in the book of Judges. When I taught seminary, I remember shocking my early morning students by smashing a clay pot in my living room where we met, just like Gideon’s army smashed their pitchers. With trumpets, shattering pottery, lights, and voices, Gideon’s 300-man army surprised the host of sleeping enemies, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” and their enemy was destroyed. This might have been the only day my students left seminary more awake than when they arrived, except maybe the day we cast “stones” at a life-sized mural of Goliath.

This week as I studied Gideon’s story, I focused on two contrasting verses during the exchange between the angel of the Lord and Gideon about his call to deliver Israel, verses 12 and 15.

The Lord sees Gideon as a mighty man of valor, while Gideon sees himself as poor and unimportant. Pretty much my only takeaway this week from Bible study is enough: God knows who we truly are, who we were before we came to earth, and who we can become. He sends messengers to remind us that He is with us.

I have had a few messengers in my life who have helped me live with courage. One was a friend named Jody who told me that I had the capacity to homeschool my kids. Bishops and stake presidencies have also been messengers of the Lord’s confidence in me, and reminded me that the Lord would be with me. Perhaps the most common messengers are the people who trust me to listen to them and help them. When a friend opens her heart to me, I see this is as a call to valor. Today, we help rescue Israel one by one

Summer?

When Mark helps me decorate the kitchen for summer, we tend toward maximalism.

This cold week, I feel more like making a cozy beef stew than anything else. Truly, that’s on the menu tonight. So weird. We decorated for summer, despite the snow and nonsense. Summer decorations in the kitchen signal good times ahead.

Quilting in the kitchen

I am doing a little quilt work each day this week. I have set up my sewing station in the kitchen so I can come and go easily, or sew a few seams while I wait for something to cook. This strategy is working, and the blocks are stacking up.

This blog is the tiniest window into what I do and think. You certainly won’t learn about my stance on current events here. I hope that is refreshing.

Ramble

Richard and I spent time in Salt Lake City to celebrate our anniversary. The hills north of downtown were verdant and vibrant. These hills are usually straw yellow, but the grasses were young and bright.

The high school flags line the front of the school, the last concerts are over, and a new class graduates this week. Time is so compressed for me lately, it doesn’t feel like a year since Tim graduated. But then again, our lives are so different now, that time must have carried us to this new place. We certainly haven’t arrived at this end of another school year by any conscious, overriding plan of our own. We just kept working and kept moving, and here we are.

Here is an important quote I keep using as I see complexities in how to balance love of God and love of neighbor (thanks to my mom for this one),

“Ignoring the first commandment, or reversing the order of the first and second commandments, risks a loss of balance in life and destructive deviations from the path of happiness and truth. Love of God and submission to Him provide checks against our tendency to corrupt virtues by pushing them to the extreme. Compassion for our neighbor’s distress, for example, even when the suffering is brought about by his or her own transgression, is noble and good. But an unbridled compassion could lead us, … to question God’s justice and misunderstand His mercy.

“There are those, for example, who believe that loving others means we must twist or ignore God’s laws in a way or ways that advocate or condone sin.” (Christofferson, The First Commandment First, 2022 BYU Devotional)

I work in the yard each day, trying to reclaim sections of neglected areas. It’s so satisfying. Dirt outside and thread and fabric inside are my materials for work lately. In June, I will move to paint as my medium, as we cover more surfaces in my grand plan (many years old) to repaint every inch of the house.

Someone asked me what we are doing this summer. A wedding. Two family reunions. Drivers Ed. A trip to Yellowstone. High Adventure. Pioneer Trek. These are big events, and this is my last morning with Mark at school for a little while. I just keep moving and keep working, and here we are.

Deuteronomy

I thought of this quote by William Tyndale as I studied Deuteronomy this week.

This is a book worthy to be read in day and night and never to be out of hands. For it is the most excellent of all the books of Moses. It is also easy and light and a very pure gospel that is to wete [know], a preaching of faith and love: deducing the love to God out of faith, and the love of man’s neighbor out of love to God.”

William Tyndale

Some of my favorite words from Deuteronomy:

“Fear not, neither be discouraged.” (Deut. 1:21)

“God so nigh” (Deut. 4:7)

“Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget.” (Deuteronomy 4:9)

“Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice.” (Deut. 4:36)

“Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” (Deut. 6:5)

“Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children…talk of them…in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” (Deut. 6:7)

“Love ye therefore the stranger.” (Deut. 10:19)

“Open thine hand wide unto [thy poor brother].” (Deut. 15:7-8)

“Thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee.” (Deut 26:11)

“Choose life…for he is thy life.” (Deut. 29:19-20)

“But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” (Deut. 30:14)

“Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” (Deut. 31:6)

“Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help.” (Deut. 33:29)

Do you have a favorite passage from your study? If you like, you can share in the comments or send me a message. I love to swap favorite scriptures.