Ultimate Frisbee

Tim is the first to get up in the morning at our house and the last to come home after school. Band and Frisbee take a lot of time, but he is still a straight-A student. He is amazing.

A Great Devotional

I heard this devotional while driving yesterday. When I got to my destination, I parked the car and sat and listened to it in the parking lot. It’s that good. Here is a highlight video of Elder Neil L. Anderson’s BYU Devotional address, “A Holier Approach to Ministering.” If you’re in a hurry, begin at minute 2:35.

Gift

Two of the most beautiful passages of War and Peace happen when Prince Andrew is wounded in different battles. He has clarity in these moments about others and himself, feeling compassion and love instead of his usual contempt and ambition. Fame reveals itself as the small thing it is. He remembers how it felt to be a child.

I think of these scenes, and they remind me of the goal: to experience life in a more welcoming, childlike way. If I did, I could enjoy warmth, comfort, compassion, companionship, and love more easily. There would be no room for grudges or worries. A child trusts; a child seeks joy; a child accepts the gifts around him as reality.

In another War and Peace passage, Pierre, the restless seeker, realizes,

God is here and everywhere… He felt like a man who after straining his eyes to see into the far distance finds what he sought at his very feet. All his life he had looked over the heads of men around him, when he should have merely looked in front of him without straining his eyes.

-War and Peace, ch XII

I sat in a concert about a month ago I had a War and Peace moment. It was neither sought-for nor earned; I was actually tired and a little frustrated that I couldn’t find a good seat. During the long concert, I looked around me at the families who had come to support their children. I felt how they loved each other. I smiled at the grandmother who hugged her tough son and grandchildren. I noticed a middle school aged boy sitting alone, holding a bouquet of flowers carefully in his hands during the whole concert. I strained to watch him give the gift after the concert, but lost him in the crowd. He was love. I loved him. He loved someone enough to sit alone and bring her flowers. I was love. I could see beyond my usual categorization of people and just see their goodness. This was a welcome rest. This was happiness.

These moments of pure love are rare, so I am writing it to remind myself it’s always there. I just need to develop a capacity to receive it when it is revealed to me.

“I was then wiser and had more insight than at any other time, and understood all that is worth understanding in life. because…because I was happy.”

Pierre’s insanity consisted in not waiting, as he used to do, to discover personal attributes which he termed “good qualities” in people before loving them; his heart was now overflowing with love, and by loving people without cause he discovered indubitable causes for loving them.

-War and Peace, ch XIX

Nine years old

Yesterday this blog turned nine years old. I didn’t think of it until this morning. Instead of commemmorating, I spent some time installing a plug-in to make the blog private. I think Richard has talked me out of closing off the blog to most visitors. As I contemplate a tenth year of blogging, I realize the main reasons for beginning a blog are gone. My parents returned from their mission. We live closer to family and can see them more often. I am no longer home schooling and needing validation for it. The kids are much older now, and there are no more cute baseball pictures and ballet recitals to share. Milestones such as graduation, a mission, an internship, driving, and our baby turning twelve are coming, and I don’t feel the clarity to write something worthy of these moments. I look at my first posts, the kids eating a treat and playing baseball in Arizona, and feel the difference in our situation deeply. We are not here to stay the same, as these years have shown. But Paige is still the one that inspires us to pull together for traditional meals and activities and she is still creating art. Daniel continues to inspire awe with his creations and surprise us with his mature insights. Timothy still disarms me with his smile and shows steady excellence in all he does. Mark remains affectionate and is a bright, entertaining companion. Richard sits at the same desk and works in the yard. I fuss about the house and carve out time to read and write between driving people places. In some things, we are what we have always been, just more full in the expression of them. Thank you for checking in on us.

Holy Week Activity

Does Easter sneak up on you? I have been meaning to update our Easter scripture activity for years, but I am surprised every year, so I don’t get it done. This year, even though I have two adult age children, I finally did it. I wanted more of a Holy Week activity, with readings about the Savior’s actions and teachings during the last week, not just Gethsemane and the Crucifixion. I found a good LDS podcast which educated and inspired me to do more to commemorate the week and looked up several reading lists for Holy Week to help me narrow down which Bible passages to use. In the end, my favorite additions are the alabaster vial with a reading about the anointing woman and some doves for the reading about the cleansing of the temple. Instead of an empty egg representing the empty tomb, I have small Christus in the final egg. He is tangible and present, and not a missing person.

Here is a list of the readings I chose. I typed out the passages, printed, and folded them into numbered eggs along with these small objects. This year, we will read them all in one or two sittings. In the coming years, I hope to do two readings a day in the week leading up to Easter.

  1. Jesus Enters Jerusalem: Matthew 21:1-11 (palm leaves, donkey)
  2. Jesus Cleanses the Temple: Matthew 21:12-15 (money, birds)
  3. Mount of Olives Discourse about the Second Coming: Joseph Smith-Matthew 1:1,4-11, 22, 31, 37 (picture)
  4. The Anointing Woman: Mark 14:3-9 (small white vial)
  5. The Last Supper: Luke 22:7-8, 15, 19-20 (bread, cup) additional: John 14:6-7, 15, 18, 25-27
  6. Gethsemane: John 14:31; Matthew 26:36-45 (picture)
  7. Arrest: Matthew 26:14-16, 47-50, 56; (30 quarters, rope)
  8. Trial and Peter’s denial: Mark 14:53-72 (rooster)
  9. Jesus is Brought Before Pilate and Sentenced to Death: Matthew 27:1-2; Matthew 27:24-30 (scourge, purple cloth)
  10. The Cross: Luke 23:33-34, 44-47; John 15:13 (nail)
  11. Jesus is Buried: Luke 23:50-54 (white cloth)
  12. The Stone is Sealed and a Watch is Put in Place: Matthew 27:59-66 (soldier, stone)
  13. An Angel Appears to the Women: Mark 16:1, Matthew 28:2-8 (angel)
  14. The Resurrected Lord Appears to Many: Mark 13: 9-15 (Christus)

My words

Someone asked us at church to come up with a word that described our individual focus for the year. It was just an exercise and she wasn’t saying that a theme word should have to be a thing we do. But it is a good exercise to get you thinking. Some examples women came up with: acceptance, kindness, patience, love, and joy.

I couldn’t think of one word, so I chose this phrase from Alma. This has been in my head this year, and some good has come from it. Unfortunately, it hasn’t had an effect on my exercise habits.

And this little letterboard makes me really, really happy.

Gratitude lists for mid-March

3/12-3/18

  • A good family home evening lesson
  • Ideas flowing for writing
  • Protection from harm during a lightning storm on a playing field
  • An evening listening to a member of the Presidency of the Seventy
  • Paige’s visit
  • Midnight drive with Daniel to ask someone to a dance
  • Good visit with Helen
  • Time and energy to serve someone who was busy and frazzled

3/19-3/25

  • Beautiful lunch with my presidency after a visit thanks to Kristy
  • Finding reassurance from conference talks
  • My presidency
  • Sunshine on Friday
  • Lunch with sisters
  • Richard’s happy Deacons quorum after completing their Duty to God requirements go to a Jazz game together 😃😃😃
  • Daniel’s vocal trio at the choir concert and watching him accompany choirs on the piano
  • Sunshine on my face on Friday
  • A new kitchen faucet
  • A good interaction with a sister in my ward, despite my fear of more failure in my fumbling efforts to reach out
  • My nephews’ reactions to the toys and candy at the family Easter egg hunt
  • A Sunday full of resolutions to dilemmas and efforts