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Sunday, March 31, 2013

Charity Never Faileth

Happy Easter!
What a fabulous day we've had that I'll post more about later, but now I'd like to share some thoughts on charity that my husband shared with me.

"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." (1 Corinthians 13: 4-7)

What is charity? The pure love of Christ. Let's read those scriptures again this way:

"Christ suffereth long, Christ is kind; Christ envieth not; Christ vaunteth not himself, Christ is not puffed up, Christ doth not behave himself unseemly, Christ seeketh not his own, Christ is not easily provoked, Christ thinketh no evil; Christ rejoiceth not in iniquity, Christ rejoiceth in the truth; Christ beareth all things, Christ believeth all things, Christ hopeth all things, Christ endureth all things."

Who are we trying to become like? Christ. Let's read this passage again with your own name inserted:

"Jennifer suffereth long, Jennifer is kind: Jennifer envieth not; Jennifer vaunteth not herself, Jennifer is not puffed up, Jennifer doth not behave herself unseemly, Jennifer seeketh not her own, Jennifer is not easily provoked, Jennifer thinketh no evil; Jennifer rejoiceth not in iniquity, Jennifer rejoiceth in the truth; Jennifer beareth all things, Jennifer believeth all things, Jennifer hopeth all things, Jennifer endureth all things."

I have so far to go to become that Jennifer, but that is the Jennifer I want to be. I believe that Jesus Christ is my Savior and He has the power to save me and help me become who I truly want to be. What a marvelous blessing!!

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Funny Bunnies

During March break we drove down to Massena, New York. The twins had some birthday money from their grandparents that was burning holes in their pockets. Anyway, while we were at the mall we saw that the Easter Bunny was visiting. Even though we were in road trip clothes with bedhead, I said, let's do it! It's not every day we get to visit with the Easter Bunny. Then I remembered the only other time I had my children pose with an Easter Bunny...

We were at the studio taking Kaleb and Noé's 3 year old pictures. There was a sign up to have your pictures taken with the Easter Bunny. Again, I said, let's do it! Well, we waited 30 minutes for him to arrive and when he did I had to bite my tongue not to laugh! What the heck? Did I really want my kids' photo taken with this random man in bunny ears? No. But did I want to be rude? No. So we did it.

My tech savvy husband said not to worry, he could doctor the picture up. Wow! Photo shop has come a LONG way in 8 years!!

Even though they weren't in their new Easter outfits and their hairdos were a little lacking, my kids are still so cute to me! This Easter Bunny wasn't too bad either.

I had to add these bunny pics of Gavin. Isn't his little face just cherubic?

He's pretty funny too!

Friday, March 29, 2013

Agency and Progression

My husband gave an excellent talk in Sacrament meeting. In honor of Good Friday, I wanted to post it here. Enjoy!

Today I want to tell you all a story.
And like all stories, it is probably best that I start at the beginning.
Or at least, it would be best, if this story had a beginning.
But it doesn’t. Not really. Just like it doesn’t really have an ending.
Indeed, it has many beginnings, and many endings.
When I first started thinking about what I would say today, I thought I would start in the Garden of Eden. It’s a good place to start; after all it was good enough for the Bible.
But as I thought about it, I thought I would start a bit before the Creation, back in the Council in Heaven during Lucifer’s rebellion.
It is also a good place to start a story. Nothing like a little rebellion to get the blood flowing and wake everyone up.
But then I realized that I had to start even earlier.
Because this is your story. And my story. And our story, which as I said doesn’t really have a beginning, because we don’t have a beginning.
Joseph Smith taught us that we are all eternal beings, without beginning and without end. That like God, we have existed forever and will exist forever.
My story thus starts with a Non-Beginning, our Eternal Existence.
The core of our being, our intelligence, has existed in some form forever. Billions and billions of us. As it says in the 93rd section of the Doctrine and Covenants, "Intelligence was not created or made, neither indeed can be.”
Which takes us to the first beginning of the story I want to tell you today. It starts when we entered into a relationship with God, so that He could instruct us, teach us, and help us to progress.
As the Prophet Joseph Smith put it, “God himself, finding He was in the midst of spirits and glory, because He was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like Himself.”
So in this beginning, we became the spiritual children of God, His sons and His daughters. And there in the eternal realms we learned, and grew, and progressed.
And from this stage we have our second beginning, the Great Council in Heaven.
The purpose of the Council was to discuss the next beginning of our story. For God told us that a world would be made in which we could grow and progress.
A physical world, where we would increase in power beyond what we had experienced before hand. A world where we could experience agency more fully.
I say, “more fully”, because as our story makes clear, we already had agency in the premortal realm. But the circumstances - both the difference between spiritual matter and this courser matter we are familiar with, but also the difference between God’s presence and the lack thereof, limited the ways in which we could exercise that agency.
To quote the Prophet Joseph again, “God has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with Himself, so that they might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in order to save them in the world of spirits."
If there are two words I hope everyone will remember from my talk it is PROGRESSION and AGENCY. Our progression is God’s purpose for us. Agency is the necessary condition, or principle, upon which that progression is built. And the plan of salvation, the message of the Gospel, the Good News of Christ, is the means by which the inherent costs of agency are overcome to allow the progression to happen.
And so God presented us with the idea of creating a world, where we would come and dwell far from His presence and learn what these new bodies would be like, what we would do with them, and see if we could have glory added to us.
And when the time came to choose whom would be the Savior of this new world, two presented themselves - Jehovah, who would become Jesus Christ, and Lucifer, who would become Satan.
Jesus was selected, Lucifer was rejected and, frustrated at his rejection, he rebelled against God and a third of the hosts of heaven followed after him.
Jehovah was selected because He approved of God’s plan, and recognized that God’s plan - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man - was good. That God’s willingness to lift us up to His level was worth the cost. And because He - Jehovah -was willing to come to Earth, humble himself below us, and bear that cost.
Lucifer was rejected because he rejected God’s plan. He did not believe progression was worth the cost, and, believing his plan to be better, he wanted to claim God's glory for himself alone. He sought to deny the rest of us the glory that God was willing to share with everyone.
Lucifer believed he could be a better God than our Eternal Father. Why? Because he claimed that under his plan, all would be saved, while under God’s plan, some would be lost.
We don’t know the details of the plan, but we know the fundamental of Lucifer’s rebellion. In the Book of Moses, the Lord tells us that Satan was cast out of heaven because he “sought to destroy the Agency of Man.”
Now there are some interesting trains of thought to pursue on how Lucifer intended to do this. Certainly here on the Earth he continues to seek to destroy our Agency. But whether his plan was premised on complete oppression and lack of freedom, or whether his plan was abolishing of law, a refusal to divide desires and behaviors into “Good” and “Evil”, the end result was to destroy our Agency.
And because Satan and his angels rejected God's laws - laws established to enable our progression and empower our agency, it was necessary to cast them from heaven.
Which takes us to the third beginning in our story, the beginning that starts the Book of Genesis and ends with Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden.
We are also all familiar with this story. Adam and Eve are in the garden, immortal, in God’s presence, innocent. And there in the garden Adam and Eve could take of any fruit except for one tree - the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
When God presents the tree to Adam and Eve, He emphasizes the importance of two things. Explictly, He emphasizes our Agency. Implicitly, He emphasizes that each of us used our Agency to choose to enter mortality.
Note God’s word to Adam and Eve - that they can eat from every tree except the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. NETHERTHELESS, God says thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee; but, remember that I forbid it, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
He emphasizes that Adam and Eve are free to choose, but also that their choice will have a consequence.
God did not force this life experience on us. He gave us an option, a choice, to progress from our previous state to our current one.
It is a progression that would clothe our spiritual bodies in stronger physical ones, magnifying our abilities and putting in a position of strength in comparison to the fallen spirits.
And, of course, they chose to partake, as each of us did as well in coming to this world.
Which brings us to the fourth beginning, and to the story that is each of our own lives.
Lives lived in a world where we can learn to distinguish good from evil.
How?
By experiencing Good and Evil. Joy and Sorrow. Happiness and Sadness.
We will experience it directly and indirectly. We will do it to others and have it done to us.
Good and Evil.
Let us return for a moment to the Council in Heaven.
We know why Satan rebelled. He wanted to be God. Not the Shared Godhood that our Father was offering, in which all who were willing and desirous could be lifted up to partake of the Godhead, but a solitary, unique, God above all others, even above our Father. “Wherefore, he said, give me thy Glory.”
But why would a third of the hosts of heaven follow?
Perhaps they decided that it would be better to give up the potential progression to God’s station, than risk something more. Perhaps they found it unfair, unequal, that some would be given a greater reward than others. (Even if the denial of greater rewards is a blessing instead of a punishment, as the greater gifts/responsibilities are unwanted.)
Or perhaps they looked at the pain and suffering and horrors that we would inflict on one another in the exercise of our agency and refused to have faith that our Father’s plan was worth it. Certainly there are those today who would agree with them. Who would accuse God of being unloving, uncaring, or powerless in the face of all the evil that has and does exist in the world.
Sometimes when we hear those critiques, or think them ourselves, we are moved to simply excuse God, to say that it is no big deal. That in the big picture, this life is insignificant.
But is that what the scriptures teach? No. Enoch saw a vision of the great wickedness of man’s evil towards his fellow man. And Enoch saw the Heaven’s weep. The God of creation, the Almighty, crying tears of sorrow. And Enoch was confused and asked God how it could be that He who was Holy and Powerful could shed tears of sorrow?
His reply?
Because my children, the creations of my own hands, and whom I asked to love one another, instead are consumed by hatred and bloodshed and destroy one another.
God knows that the pain and suffering we experience is real. It is important. It is the bitter side of our experience that helps us learn to choose its opposite.
Could God have stopped us from doing evil? Could God have made us always do good? Could God have made a better world?
No. Not and let us be free, to let us exist as independent souls. Not without destroying the agency of man and becoming the very devil that He had cast out of heaven.
How much grander does this knowledge make the message of salvation?
For God did not merely weep from Heaven.
No, as King Benjamin taught, God himself came down among the children of men. He made flesh his tabernacle. He came and "suffered temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people."
God did not send us to earth and then stay in his ivory tower. No. He came down here in the sweat and mud and tears of this world. He knew pain. He knew heartache. He knew betrayal, and loss, and the reality of the pain that his life and death would cause to his own mother as she watched him be tortured and crucified, the metaphoric spear piercing her heart, as the angel Gabriel had foretold.
He became one of us so that we could become one with Him. And one with each other. That we could forgive each other our sins, forgive ourselves of our own sins, be forgiven of our sins against God, and even forgive God for the sorrows and pains that we endure in this amazingly beautiful and deeply tragic world.
And what is the result of His coming? Lehi puts it powerfully when he says, “And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon."
Think of that. Free forever. To act for ourselves, and not to be acted upon.

Which brings us to the crux of the story – where my story today meets our real life.
Some believe that our having agency means we are free to do whatever we want.
And, in a technical sense, that is true.
We are free to sin. We are free to be mean to others. To speak in anger. To lie. To steal. To be dishonest in our business dealing. We are free to be lazy, or destructive. We are free to cheat on our spouse or have sexual relations outside of marriage. We are free to abuse and to kill. We are free to do whatever we want.
But the freedom to do evil does not mean freedom from the consequences of doing evil.
We are, after all, in the same technical sense, free to go to jail. Free to lose our spouse, free to have emotional heartache, free to lose our jobs, our families, our self-respect and our dignity. We are free to develop addictions that rob us of our agency. We are free to trade our long-term happiness for a momentary pleasure. We are, in both literal and figurative senses, free to trade our freedom for captivity.
We should not fall for Satan’s lie that disobeying the law, whether the laws of God, of man, or of nature, gives us freedom.
Similarly, we should not fall for Satan’s other lie that obeying the law, whether the laws of God, of man, or of nature, deprives us of freedom.
Yes, God commands us to love one another, to do good to one another, to bind up the down trodden, to honor one another with bonds of chastity and fidelity.
But He does not force us to do those things, any more than Satan forces us to do the contrary.
Neither God nor Satan force us. Both whisper to us, inviting us to obey.
The difference is God gives us laws to follow, to empower us, to set us free and save us.
Satan gives us nothing; following him empowers him, not us; it ensnares us and damns us.
As we are free to sin, we are free to do good. We are free to be kind to others. To speak in calmness. To be truthful. To compensate others for their work. To be honest in our business dealing. We are free to be hard-working and creative and to make the world a more beautiful place. We are free to be faithful to our spouse and to reserve sexual relations for marriage. We are free to comfort and to give life.
Yes, We are free to do whatever we want.
As Nephi said , "We are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the power of Christ, or to choose captivity and death, through the power of the devil."
Which, of course, brings us to our fifth and final beginning. Though, to be honest, I expect it will be no more final than any of the other beginnings.
I am deeply grateful for the vision Joseph Smith received 181 years ago, in which he saw the three degrees of glory. He saw that God created many kingdoms, with many laws, so that He could save almost all of His children, except those who would - through their own agency - refuse any salvation and thus become children of perdition.
Doctrine and Covenants 88 puts it this way regarding the three degrees of glory.
"For he who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom cannot abide a celestial glory. And he who cannot abide the law of a terrestrial kingdom cannot abide a terrestrial glory. And he who cannot abide the law of a telestial kingdom cannot abide a telestial glory; therefore he is not meet for a kingdom of glory. Therefore he must abide a kingdom which is not a kingdom of glory."
Why does God do it this way?
I believe it comes back to agency. As Section 88 states, we will be filled with a degree of glory dependent upon how we use our agency, according to what degree of God's redemption we are willing to receive; according to what law we train our souls to follow.
The Law gives us a framework – a structure – for expanding our power and our agency. For God does not command us in all things. We are expected to do good of our own free will. And obedience to the Law – to the Spirit of Christ – empowers us to do Christ's work.
What is our final goal? The greatest hope that we have? What is our Father’s work, and His Glory?
To make us like Him. God’s desire is for us to become like Him and to participate in the eternal work of progression. He desires for us to receive of His fulness, as it states in Doctrine and Covenants 93, to become, as Paul says, "Heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, in whom dwelt the fulness of God bodily."
How can God share the fullness of His glory with us unless we have worked with Him, through the Atonement of Christ, through the power of the Holy Ghost, to be prepared to use it properly?
Using our agency to follow the Celestial Law, we can then be filled with Celestial Glory.
What does that mean? In Section 76, it is described as being gods, as being given all things, life, death, present and future.
God follows the Celestial Law. His own Law. God is independent of all other things, and that is the state we hope to find ourselves in. Independent of all, except of course the community of the Gods themselves.
If we are to enjoy God's glory, His power, His influence, we must be prepared to handle and use it the same as He does.
Imagine if we could be given God's power and glory without first becoming capable of distinguishing Good from Evil. Without first having our imperfect, sinful souls redeemed and purified, so that we only use our agency to manifest and empower the Good.
What great evil we could accomplish.
If we are to become like Him, in the end, we must learn the virtues that Peter outlined in his second epistle; temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity.
What will restrain us from doing evil? It will be, it must be, ourselves. The same as with God.
In Doctrine and Covenants 121 it describes the future power that we can share with God – in other words, it shows us how God's Godhood is manifest – as “an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth...an everlasting dominion",,, which "without compulsory means" flows unto Him – and eventually unto us - "forever and ever.”
God's authority is not oppressive. God will not drag us unwillingly into His presence, nor force upon us a power and a glory that we have not worked with Him to prepare to receive.
No - God reaches down to lift us up, and it is only when we take His hand willingly does He truly becomes our Master, our Father, and our Friend.
God wants us to progress to be like Him. That is what is on offer. Progression. Eternal Progression. He offers it to us freely, and will not force it upon us. He offers us a plan by which all of our sins and weaknesses can be overcome and we can be rendered without spot, so that we are ready to receive what He is offering – even everything that He is.
May I leave us with a prayer that all of us will have the power and courage to use the agency that God has given us. Not simply given us, but purchased for us with His own blood in Gethsemane and on the Cross. Let us choose Good and reject Evil. Let us choose liberty and eternal life.
CHRIST HAS ALREADY CHOSEN US. LET US CHOOSE HIM.
I offer these words, and this final prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

"As man now is, God once was. As God now is, man may be."
-Lorenzo Snow

To learn more of our beliefs visit: Mormon.org

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

March Date

Black and White.

I am the White Swan traditionally representing innocence, grace, purity, and sweetness.

I am the Black Swan traditionally representing guile, sensuality, boldness, and impulse.

We make a great pair!

We got to redeem my Christmas present and see the ballet Swan Lake. Oh, it was so beautiful!! Yes, of course, the story is tragic, but the dancing was just dreamy. The way they float on their tippy-toes, leap through the air, get lifted up as if they weigh a feather is as if they are truly flying. It is just amazing and pure pleasure to watch. When I was a little girl I wanted to be a ballerina when I grew up. I still want to be a ballerina when I grow up. Oh man, I just realized I am grown up, darn! Maybe I can be a ballerina in Heaven.

The feast for our souls was followed by a feast for our tummies- Nando's Chicken, my most favorite chicken EVER- extra hot!!

Friday, March 22, 2013

If it's GREEN it's GOOD

I've been really wanting to have a "mantel" to switch up each month for the holidays/seasons, but alas our mantel holds our TV. So I decided to turn our buffet into our new mantel. I moved the flowers and candles from it to the dining room table, moved the rooster from the dining table to the living room coffee table, and moved the candle sticks from the coffee table to the buffet. I'm in the process of making crepe paper rosette kissing balls in every color of crepe paper I can get my hands on (I have 22 so far, ha!). For St. Patty's I have an assortment of greens- dark, medium, and light, tee hee. I also moved my Subway art frame to its new home on the "mantel". I have other holiday items for most months, but I've sketched out some wood trios that someday I will paint/modge podge with cute scrapbook paper. I also want to sew bunting or banners for each month too, but that's in the even farther future. It's fun for me to finally have a little holiday spot to rotate around and help me bloom where I'm planted!

Our St. Patty's was pretty low-key. We all went to church, then came home to a nice crockpot meal of roast, potatoes, and carrots. We completed the meal with whole wheat dinner rolls and Leprechaun floats. What's a Leprechaun float you ask? It's a 2L bottle of cream soda (left over from a birthday party) tinted with green food coloring, poured over top vanilla ice cream, and topped off with whipped cream. Voila la yum!

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

My sweatpants always win!

I laughed so hard, I just had to share this! I must confess too- I am the proud owner of Pajama Jeans! Have you seen their commercial? My daughter Noé is all about infomercials and when she saw these she was desperate for a pair. Unfortunately, they don't come in kid size extra tall and super skinny. They do come in middle-aged mom of 5 kids size though, and they were looking attractive to me. Until I saw the price $49.99 plus taxes, shipping & handling, no thanks. Well, last weekend we drove down to New York and there at Walmart were Pajama Jeans for only $19.99, that's a price I can afford. Oh, I love these pants. Seriously, the most comfy pants EVER. I mean EVER. But I am not a complete fashion moron, they're not fooling anyone into thinking they're real jeans. I don't care though, they are so comfy, ahhh!

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Hogwarts- Special Term

Enter the world of witchcraft and wizardry!

I secretly invited 3 pairs of siblings to celebrate the day with Kaleb and Noé. It wasn't a surprise party, but it was a secret until their actual birthday. I don't know who was more excited for the party- them or me?!

"Happy Birthday" banner on the Hogwarts and 4 house crests.

(From Etsy)

I was going to make "owl" balloons, but I ran out of steam. The kids didn't know and were quite happy with the red ones.

Instructions for the Potion and Divination classes, as well as books and journals from Hogwarts' most famous student- Harry Potter.

The great hall centerpiece: cauldron with wands, and several potion jars.

Class Syllabus- let the games begin!

The day began with the students lining up oldest to youngest. They each had a turn wearing the sorting hat, then secretly choosing their house card. Since the demise of Voldemort all 4 houses are in good standing, so everyone could be happy with any house they were assigned.

A Gryffindor values bravery, loyalty, nerve, and chivalry.

A Hufflepuff values hard work, patience, and playing fair.

A Slytherin values ambition, cunning, and resourcefulness.

A Ravenclaw values intelligence, knowledge, and wit.

Making their house ties.

And modeling them.

(The cuties!)

I had so much fun making the wands- wooden dowels, hot glue, assorted beads, acrylic paint, and modge podge. I mean I had so much fun finding wands at Olivanders Wand Shop.

The wand chooses the wizard!

(Len sat behind the couch holding all the wands in one hand. As each student took their turn he would raise one wand in the air, voila that student's wand choosing them.)

Kaleb named his wand Silver Flash, while Noé named hers Goldenrod.

Pygmy puffs!

(styrofoam balls, feather boas, googly eyes, and lots of hot glue.)

For magical creature care they learned how to handle pygmy puffs. Pygmy puffs don't like to be held in hands for very long, so it was kind of like hot potato as they passed the puffs around to "Double Trouble" (AKA Something Wicked This Way Comes). Whenever the music ended the student holding the puff would be out and that puff would become their pet. The game continued until each had one. They don't like to be held in hands for long, but they love snuggling and being named. Berry, Fluffy, Green Goddess, Moonstone, Bluebell, Dandelion, Expecto Patronum, and Ruby Tuesday.

Next was Potions class. We made a Witch's liquid rainbow:

1 cup orange worm juice (honey)

3/4 cup red snake blood (light corn syrup with food coloring)

2/3 cup blue dragon spit (Dawn dish soap)

1/2 cup green frog bile (water with food coloring)

1/3 cup yellow hog snot (vegetable oil)

1/4 cup purple spider tears (rubbing alcohol with food coloring)

Pour each ingredient s l o w l y and do NOT have it run down the inside walls of the container.

*I would have loved to use a cup of each ingredient, but I didn't have a container big enough to hold 6 cups!

For house-elf training the students ran a relay race acting as house-elves. The purpose was to teach them to be benevolent masters when they have their own house-elves someday.

Leg 1- Carrying 4 balls, run to the end and toss them into the bowl of socks, retrieve 2, then run back and pass them off.

Leg 2- Crab walk with the 2 balls on your tummy and toss them in the bowl, stand, retrieve 1, then run back and pass it off.

Leg 3- Carry the ball on a l o n g wooden spoon, drop in bowl, run spoon back and pass it off.

Leg 4- Crawl with spoon, dig through the socks to find the longest and most colorful, remove from bowl only using spoon, put it on, and run back.

Whew! What a work-out!

Luckily, Divination class came next. The students got to choose between water, sprite, and clear cream soda to drink. However, when they were poured in the cups they turned out red, yellow, green, or blue. The students had to divine which color their drink would be. Two got it right! The rest had to do homework.

Red- Faithful and Loyal Friend.

Yellow- Champion Quidditch Player.

Green- Great Potions Master.

Blue- Practical Jokester.