December 7, 2011

67 degrees on December 7, 2011 in Durham, NC. Contemplated wearing shorts today. It's Christmas and I'm singing about chestnuts being roasted by the open fire. There is something wrong with this picture. 

Thanksgiving break with Emily, Jerry & Family

Since there are so many fun things we did, I'm just going to inundate you with pictures. There were just too many cute ones. :) 

1. Playing at the park on Thanksgiving day: A, S, Me, and Em

 2. Prepared & ate a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, complete with pumpkin cheesecake and a brined turkey! Delicious!

3. Had a "Girl's Day Out" where we went to Fort Sumpter near Charleston. We had to take a ferry across to the Fort - which was the location of the first shots of the Civil War! It was beautiful and interesting. Later on that night, we shopped until we dropped at the Outlet Malls. Fun!

I saw Justin Bieber at the mall! Oh my goodness!

4. Went on a beautiful walk in downtown Charleston on the pier!

5. Went to Cypress Gardens - a pond with trees (with Spanish moss on them) growing out of the water. We even saw an alligator on our boat ride!

Em, S, & M on boat ride

Me & A - a little apprehensive of the twenty alligators swimming around that pond somewhere...

Check out those huge catfish!

M, waiting for the boat ride to start. She has grown up so much & I love her chubby cheeks & cute smile! 

Butterfly house!

It was such a fun visit, Thank you Emily & Jerry! 

Why it's a bad idea to give your child a bowl-cut at age 6.

No caption necessary.

Is she wincing at the hair cut?

Gender may be unclear and cause awkward situations. 

This is what their hair will look like as it grows out. 

Just a few reasons I love my sister Emily

1. She makes brining a turkey fun, disgusting, and fascinating all at the same time. 

2. She makes a killer mint milkshake & enjoys a good treat almost as much as I do.

3. She makes the best "funny faces" of ANYONE I know. Hands down.  

4. She is one of the only people I know that can motivate her intelligent children (and 25-year-old sister) to run as fast as they can around a tree. For no reason. Her persuasive power is RIDICULOUS. More evidence: She had me, all of the primary teachers, and all of the primary kids CAPTIVATED as she told a story about butterflies. Seriously, I couldn't leave the room. And I had a super strong desire to be reverent and catch butterflies. 

5. Emily is always giving and is one of the most caring and genuine people I know. This includes not only her husband and children, but her parents, siblings, and even the lady at the grocery store.  

6. Emily is such a good Mom and is an example to me of what kind of Mom I want to be. Her kids are happy, crazy, and intelligent. She doesn't leave them wondering whether they love her, whether it's by disciplining them when needed, or being sympathetic for the hardships of a two-year-old (I would cry, too if I someone turned off my favorite Princess song).  

7. She is super blunt & says it like it is. If she thinks the elaborate cheesecake she spent hours on is disgusting, she will say it. Her opinion & perspective is one I value highly (at least in matters unrelated to cheesecake) and she always has good advice and opinions on things. 

8. Not only is she tots adorbs & gorg*, but she is not pretentious at all. 

*tots adorbs & gorg= totally adorable & gorgeous

9. Her willingness to accept other cultures. (You would, too if your baby looked Asian!)

10. She is super fun, loves jumping pictures (you do, right?), & knows how to photo-shop people out of the background of the picture. Side note: Her computer skillz are ridiculous! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

A postlude to RIDICULOUS & it's remedy

New meaning of ridiculous:

Being described as "perfect and upright" and then having

1. ALL of your oxen, [donkeys] stolen in the same day -(Job 1:14-15) RIDICULOUS 

2. ALL of your servants and sheeps consumed in flames from heaven- (v.16-17) RIDICULOUS 

3. ALL of your sons and daughters killed in a freak accident by some random wind destroying their house- (v.18-20) RIDICULOUS 

4. All of this happening in 24 hours and being able to say "the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (v.21) REALLY RIDICULOUS.

It gets worse, just wait. 

5. THEN having "sore boils" afflict you from head to toe (Job 2:7) RIDICULOUS

6. Having your best friends turn against you in the time you need them most, being judgmental and suspicious instead of comforting and caring (Job 4, 11) - RIDICULOUS

7. All of THIS happening and still being able to declare, "Though [God] slay me, yet will I trust in him" (Job 13:15) - REALLY RIDICULOUS

I have yet to read all 42 chapters, but I am sure it just gets more and more ridiculous. And I thought my life was ridiculous...

Today in Sunday School we talked about how God is love and light. We had a good discussion that awakened in me a series of questions and concerns I didn't realize I had. The teacher mentioned how it is important to seek out signs of God's love in your life daily. She mentioned how it could be simple, like the beautiful trees or living in a place with nice weather. Another example could be avoiding a car accident or some other catastrophe. While I am the first to appreciate nice weather, it got me wondering...What about when the weather is bad? It's been raining for months? Obviously that doesn't mean God doesn't love you. What about when you don't avoid that catastrophe? What about when you personally or someone in your family encounters a trial that seems unbearable? What about when you pray really hard for something, and you don't get an answer? What about when righteous desires are left unfulfilled? What about little children who grow up in an abusive home? 

How can we really feel God's love, even in moments of rejection or despair? In the midst of trials that we find unwanted, unwarranted, and unbearable? 

After pondering about these things, I have had two examples/sources come to mind: 

Job. He had a testimony of Jesus Christ even when all was gone in His life, even when it would have been a lot easier to assume that God didn't love Him or that He didn't care. Pretty amazing that Job was faithful through all of those trials and was still trusting in God's love for Him as an individual. His faith was awesome-RIDICULOUS. Although I know my life doesn't even compare to his, I want to have faith like he does and trust like he does. 

Elder Christofferson's talk from last April General Conference: "As Many As I love, I Rebuke and Chasten"

I love everything about this talk. It has spoken to my heart on so many occasions, and especially right now. 

Today, this was one of my favorite parts about trials and sacrifice: 

"Sadly, much of modern Christianity does not acknowledge that God makes any real demands on those who believe in Him, seeing Him rather as a butler 'who meets their needs when summoned' or a therapist whose rolse is to help people 'feel good about themselves.' It is a religious outlook that 'makes nor pretense at changing lives.' 'By contrast,' as one author declares, 'The God portrayed in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures asks, not just for commitment, but for our very lives. The God of the Bible traffics in life and death, not niceness, and calls for sacrificial love, not benign whatever-ism."

Even our trials are meant to refine us and helps us bring forth more fruit. I want to be able to join with Paul when he says, "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,  nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)

The remedy to ridiculousness. 

Contagion

Remember when you were about to graduate from high school and you were picking your senior quote? You agonized for hours and days and days and hours about what quote you should choose? What quote should represent you for years to come to your classmates? What would be your legend, your identity? Really, it was the most important decision in your life at that point. (Let's be honest, there was no question about where to go to college. Especially if you were like me and only applied to ONE school).  

I remember those times.

If only life were still that simple. If only the decisions that loom in my future (ok present, let's be honest) were really as miniscule as a senior quote or what I was going to wear that day. If only I wasn't deciding on who to spend eternity with, or what I would be doing every day for the rest of my life. If only I could not worry about the fact that my job doesn't use my brain, or my heart, for that matter. And not worry that I'm living under my potential every day, a potential that I don't even know how to realize. And not worry about the thousands of other details of life...grad school? where? how to fund? why? why not? what?

Or maybe life really is still simple and I'll look back and realize these decisions aren't that huge. But I seriously doubt that.  

For now, I have no choice but to harken back to that dear, sweet, (random) senior quote of mine: 

"Enthusiasm is contagious. Start an epidemic." 

....Still have no idea what I was thinking with that quote....

But this enthusiastic laugh is certainly the most contagious I have EVER experienced: 

Thanks, Adorable Niece Liesel.