Changes

Well, nothing stays the same forever, and it seems like a lot of times lots of things change at once. At least, that's what it's been like around here lately!

In May Thomas turned 18 and graduated from high school, Erin completed middle school, and I was released from my calling as the Young Women secretary. In June, Thomas headed off to Scout Camp again, Lilly got accepted back into Bel Cantos, and I got called to teach Primary again!

I don't know what I feel about Thomas becoming all adult on me...somedays it makes me sad and other days I am just proud of raising a child all the way to adulthood!!! wooohooo! Mission accomplished, one down, two to go!

Being released from YW was sad...I've always loved the young women program and I enjoyed every minute of it. It was great to spend that time with my daughters and to get to know the teenage girls, I was a little afraid of them at first but discovered they are a great group of girls! However, I do love Primary, I love the innocence of little children, everything is so new to them and they are so inquisitive, and they haven't been beaten down by life yet, so they'll tell you pretty much whatever is on their minds. Not to mention that the music in Primary is more fun and we get to do more singing!

Photo Card

Contempo Grad Forest Graduation

Shutterfly graduation announcements and gifts.

View the entire collection of cards.

Flashback...

Friday was Thomas's final ballroom performance of his high school career. The tradition is to spotlight each senior by having them stand in the middle of the stage with an escort of their choosing while they tell the audience about the soon-to-be-graduate. Seniors choose their escorts and I think most choose their Mom or Dad, but some choose a small child or a grandparent or a girlfriend or boyfriend...anyway, Thomas asked me to do it. And I forgot. Until they asked all the escorts to go backstage...HOLY HECK I'VE GOT TO GO ON STAGE! That was my thought...good thing I was still dressed for work, but it was a Friday so I was wearing jeans...Oh well...it wasn't too terrible....So we did it and I survived, although at one point I realized I was making a weird face on stage...so had to quickly adjust.

Thomas has improved his dancing skills a bazillion since he started dancing last year so it was really fun to watch him shake his booty on stage!

So by now you're probably wondering why I titled this post "Flashback"....Yeah, I'm getting to it, I promise.

When the show was done I gave my sweaty boy a hug and some money to go to the after party at Perkins, told him to buy his sister something to eat too, and he said "bye Mom, I'll see ya later"....And that was my flashback...to his first day of preschool. On that first day of preschool I was totally prepared to stay with my firstborn until he was ready to let go of his Mama and lo and behold, he was ready the minute he walked through the door, "Bye Mom, I'll see ya later". I cried that day and teared up when he said it again on Friday night.

Jesus the Christ: Chapters 11-13

I am SO far behind! Well, chapters 11 to 13 are about the ministry of Christ and while it was all interesting it wasn't really new information to me so I don't have a lot to share on these chapters. A couple of thought provoking items were the time Jesus turned water to wine at a wedding and when he told the people of his home synagogue that he was the Messiah.

The wedding story makes me wonder a little...I think there's something missing in this story, or maybe it's just something I'm missing. Mary asks him to do it, and he sort of puts her off, but then he does it anyway. Was he annoyed that she asked? Did he do it just to make her happy? Was there some greater reason that he did it? If he was going to do it anyway why did he say no at first? I don't know, there's something to this one that I just haven't quite wrapped my head around yet.

At the synagogue, isn't it interesting that the people wanted to throw him off a cliff? Really? Doesn't that seem a bit harsh? Wow! So glad I don't live among people like that! I'd have been killed several times over by now! The other interesting thing about this story is that he just walked away from it...how did he do that? Was it just because he was really good at calming people down? Was it a miracle? How did he do that? Really, I want to know. :)

So there you have it. My thoughts on three chapters of reading. Have a great week!

funny!

Spring

Erin and I took Spot (aka "Crazypants") for a nice leisurely walk along the Snake River yesterday, here's some of the pictures...

Jesus the Christ: Chapter 10

Chapter 10: In the Wilderness of Judea

I liked this chapter too! I love that John the Baptist was kind of a non-conformist, living in the wilderness, eating locusts and honey, and wearing "rough desert garb". I can see him now, looking a little like a wild man and preaching with energy and enthusiasm, he must have been quite a sight! He was clearly a very effective preacher, there were those who thought he was the Messiah. He called for repentance and charity and prophesied of Christ.

Jesus came to John to be baptized and John tried to turn him away, saying "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?". Jesus answered, "suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness". What must it have been like to be there? to witness this conversation?

The next part of the story is after Jesus is baptized and the Spirit of God descends like a dove while God speaks from above. We believe this is evidence of the separateness of the Godhead. We believe they are separate physical beings, but one in purpose. Our belief that the Godhead is made up of three separate individuals is one of the reasons that many people do not believe Mormons are Christians.

The last thing this chapter talks about is the temptations of Christ. This is a part of Christ's life that I really haven't given much thought to before now...of course, I'm familiar with the basics, that he went into the wilderness and fasted for 40 days and then Satan tempted him...but that's about it. So this was a good refresher and went into it in more depth than I remember studying it before.

I never thought about why Jesus spent 40 days fasting in solitude in the wilderness, but Talmage points out that he had a lot to think about...duh...I should have thought of that! Of course he had a lot to think about, he had some major events ahead of him. I'm sure he needed to mentally prepare for what he was sent here to do - to atone for the sins of the world. No small task and definitely not an easy one. Then, to be tempted...