Job

The events of this last year and a talk last Sunday on Faith and Adversity led me to re-read Job in the Old Testament. I have always liked Job, not particularly his friends, though. As I prepared my talk, I read Job and based the first part of my talk on chapters 1 & 2. I got to the end of the second chapter and Job's wife gave him some poor advice. I started to think about her side of the story. The events were happening to her as much as him. They had been the wealthiest couple in the east, they lost everything in a matter of hours, including all of their children. She had remained faithful until Job got boils from head to toe. It probably dawned on her at that moment that she was suffering all of this because of Job, which was true. I think this story is where the idea "bad things happen to good people" came from. It also reminds me that our circumstances are not always due to our own efforts or lack thereof. Sometimes we are put into situations that don't seem fair (like Job and his wife). Anyway that you look at it, this life is our challenge to learn. I believe that Brigham Young noted that some of us have to learn the same lesson over and over. If you are frustrated with a certain area in your life, maybe you are not learning the lesson. I am learning once again how to deal with chaos, and people who can't do anything for themselves. This time my perspective is different so maybe I will learn the lessons faster. Maybe. I hope so.

I've been observing

I've been observing some weird things lately. Mostly concerning children of various ages. One thing is that parts of childcare is truly disgusting and it can make other parts equally disgusting. Think about peanut butter. Now think about a poopy diaper. PBJ anyone? Why do little boys grab their boy parts the minute the diaper is off? Grandpa says it is because they can. I think they are trying to pull it off so they can be girls.

Why do Walmart and Target carry 1500 different shoes for girls and 2 for boys? In fact, all clothing is marketed more for females than males. Why don't they have a little more creativity?

Why are school emergency cards in triplicate for each child? This seems redundant and inefficient to me.

I probably need to go take a nap.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Ken and I have been married 39 years today. Good for us. I can still remember the events of that day. Good for me.

Choices

I have been asked to give a talk on Choices leading to everlasting light; and, Choices leading to darkness and destruction. It seems pretty self-evident as to which is which. I am looking for scripture references that I can use. lds.org does not have a catagory listed as choices. That means I have to work at this. One thing I am sure of is that sometimes our choices are limited. Sometimes they are taken away by the actions of others. Sometimes circumstances create the limitations, sometimes they remove the limitations. Anything you do is known by Heavenly Father and he will compensate for the limitations, circumstances and actions of others. Your life is well-directed for your benefit through prayer. Like He told Joseph Smith, all these things are for your good, and if you endure them well, you will attain the glory I have reserved for you. I think that sometimes we forget that great promiese. Of course, the enduring to the end is the hard part, enduring them well is a whole other thing!

Swine Flu

I was somewhat amused by the news when it was announced that American pork was being rejected by other countries because of Swine Flu. I must assume their knowledge of medicine is greatly lacking. It reminds me of my father thinking that by drinking alcohol, he was medicating himself against getting a cold. The fact that it was a weekend, he sat around resting and was very relaxed would have done the same thing; but he insisted that the booze helped. He always got better, so how could we argue effectively? The mind is a powerful medication!

My second thought is that this is far more serious in Mexico--are they boycotting their pigs, too? I get the feeling we only get a fraction of the news. How about a nice pork loin for dinner on Sunday? I bet they will be on sale!

Frustrations

I am trying to be more computer savvy, but it seems the more I try the worse it gets. I am frustrated by the fact that after replacing a fan, the speakers suddently don't work. After trying to eliminate a greeting card that didn't work right, I get the greeting card screen for my home page! Sometimes I want to cry, scream and throw the thing out. I am thinking that a virus to the most annoying companies is how they all got started. Revenge!!! We think that they were started by a twisted person--I say it was just a frustrated person who knew how to get back at some annoying company. He just wasn't talented enough to make it work right. Oh, yeah, that would pretty much describe all the computer programs. They just don't usually work right. Then there is the hardware............................

Shopping

I went shopping today to get photograph boxes to help me organize all the photos from 38 years. I inadvertantly saw some awesome art work. I found a wrought iron chicken that is so cute that I have decided to do the kitchen in a farm/chicken motif. The walls are a yellow-cream, so anything rust, yellowish, brown, black (think about the colors of roosters and chickens) will fit in perfectly. Now that I have the basic idea to work with, it is rather exciting to think about getting curtains and accessories. I am glad that I don't have to mess with real birds. They are tasty little beasts, too, but I am glad they come plucked.

Inside Day

The weather this year (2009) has been really weird. It fluctuates daily between sunny and warm and cloudy, wet, and freezing. Today is freezing and rainy. Because of the ice, it is recommended that everyone stay home unless necessary. That always makes me want to go shopping. No one else will be out and the check-out lanes are empty. Cashiers are friendly and glad to see anyone to break up the boredom. I was going to go out, but it really is dangerous. Elizabeth was in an accident on Saturday. Another driver hit her van (she is ok), but it makes me a little wary about venturing out. Her van is probably totaled. Theron spent the night with us last night. He has been wanting to come and Rebecca needed someone to watch him early this morning. This was his first night away from home and tonight will be the second. Mother and child are both doing fine. In fact, Theron said he didn't want to go home yet. Makes it easier not to have to explain why he has to spend another night. I think it would be fun to have all the pre-k kids come spend the night. We can stay up late, tell goofy stories, and Elizabeth will make waffles in the morning!

Fun

A client asked me what I do for fun, and I paused. She laughed and said if I had to think about it, I wasn't having enough fun. This from a lady who's life is a lot more frustrating and disapointing than most people I know! So, what do you do for fun? I think for my New Year's resolution (I don't make a long list anymore), I will have more fun. I must now think of something more fun than being with my family, bouncing babies, and planning ridiculously large parties....... poor me!

Happy New Year

I have been going through boxes and boxes of pictures. How fun it is to see our past lives captured on film. How cute we all were. Now I look in the mirror and see wrinkles more and more each day. Oh, well, I am starting to really feel much better, and a little onerier; so watch out! This year will be very interesting. I can see a lot of changes for us--good and not so good. We will grow as we learn.