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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...

Jesus the Christ: Chapters 8 & 9

Wow! I am way behind! Good thing I didn't really commit to regular blogging, I just said I would TRY to post once a week!

Chapter 8: The Babe of Bethlehem

Who doesn't love the Christmas story? I mean seriously! I love it start to finish and that's really what this chapter is all about. I love that angels announced His birth to shepherds, they didn't go into churches, they didn't go to important politicians to make their announcement, they went to shepherds in the fields tending their sheep. Christ often spoke of sheep and shepherds throughout His earthly ministry and really, isn't it lovely imagery?

I also love the story of Simeon who was promised that he would live long enough to see Christ. Oh, and the story of Anna who knew the Christ child when she saw him for who he really was! How would it feel to be Anna? or to be Mary? Honestly, I don't even really want to imagine what it would be like to be Mary...way too much responsibility!

How about the wise men? Isn't it fun to imagine them following a star for who knows how long, weeks or months maybe, to see the promised Messiah...and that leads to King Herod....how evil do you have to be to kill thousands of babies? That's something else I don't want to know. Did you know that this is the reason Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate Christmas?

Chapter 9: The Boy of Nazareth

"And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him." Luke 2:40

There isn't much more than this written about his childhood, but Talmage points out that historically Jewish children were well educated in the law and the scriptures and that Joseph and Mary we devout and faithful in all observances of the law. So we can conclude that Jesus was well educated. The Bible tells about him at 12 going to the temple and sitting with the learned men and impressing them all with his knowledge and understanding. As a mother I see it from Mary's point of view, she suddenly discovers her child is missing (haven't we all had that moment of panic when your heart sinks into your shoes?) when she finds him he doesn't even have the decency to realize that his poor mother is worried sick! Oh the humanity! And then he reminds her of who he really is, and I can totally see how she might have forgotten that, she probably had several small children and a household to run...she was a busy woman! To her, he was just her child and she was scared to death that she'd lost him in the big city.

This book just keeps getting better and better! I better get reading, I'm falling way behind!