Missionary Moment

I taught the Plan of Happiness today. That wouldn't be a big deal if I was on splits with missionaries, or if Seminary wasn't over for the year, or if it was FHE with the grandkids. But it wasn't any of those things.
I'm sitting at lunch with my supervisor and another staff member. And it's a small staff, only 10 people in the department. The supervisor turned the conversation to "what's it like in heaven?" Who gets there, what's it like, and can you punch somebody that you don't think deserves to be there? The other employee thought that those feelings of wanting to punch somebody's lights out would probably go away by then.
I asked her what she thought it would be like and she said maybe just like here, or maybe just floaty stuff. Boring? I asked. Maybe, she said. My supervisor asked, So why do you think we're here?
And there was the opportunity! They had invited me to join them for lunch and my supervisor has asked me religious questions before. He knows I'm LDS and comes to me for Biblical clarification. So, I went through the Reader's Digest version; we only had 15 minutes left.
We existed as spirit children of the Father before this life. We were part of the two-thirds who were NOT cast out of Heaven with Satan and the other third of the hosts of Heaven. We chose to follow God's plan and come here to learn and to grow to obtain physical bodies and develop relationships. That we would have time to learn more even after we left this life. That we were to become like God.
The thing that seemed to blow them away was the idea that this life wasn't random, that we are here because we want to be here, we had an active part in the decision. And yet, it seemed logical to them.
What a blast!

Physical Fitness

As I've gotten older (inevitable) and heavier (not inevitable), it has occurred to me that I could reverse one portion of the equation and possibly not feel the other. So I have reviewed a variety of phyiscal fitness programs, mostly by sitting on my ample posterior and watching infomercials.

But this morning I saw one that is a.maz.ing. The first 50 seconds of the video are kind of silly, sort of a warm up exercise, but then you see some strength and flexibility. Trust me, you will want to be in such good shape!

God Bless America

One of the greatest blessings in my life is to have been born a citizen of the United States of America. While many nations enjoy similar freedoms and similar opportunities; the creation of this nation was inspired by God, our Heavenly Father.

We are blessed to live in this free country and have a responsiblity to keep it free.

President Harold B. Lee, speaking of liberty, said, ‘Man possesses human dignity because he is made in the image and likeness of God; it is this image that makes man different, that makes man a son of God. Without this image, man has no free will and frequently neither liberty nor the capacity for liberty.’ He further said, ‘In this struggle for freedom, at home and abroad, our greatest weapon, both a sword and a shield will be our love of and faith in God.’

I love parades and fireworks and the patriotic music of this country. I stand for the national anthem and sing it through tears. I sing "God Bless America" with similar feelings.

From Kate Smith's biography: Today's younger generations may not be familiar with the origin and history of the song Irving Berlin considered his most important composition. It was written during the First World War, for an army camp show where Berlin was stationed: Camp Yaphank on Long Island. The show's producers rejected it as too jingoistic, so Berlin placed it in a trunk of rejected manuscripts. There it lay for twenty years, until Ted Collins, manager of popular singer Kate Smith, approached Irving Berlin for a new patriotic song for Kate to introduce to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Armistice that ended World War I. Berlin had recently returned from a trip to England, during which he was saddened to see signs of another war in the making. He was more thankful than ever to come back to his peaceful adopted homeland (his family had come to America from Russia when Irving was a small boy), so he was motivated to answer Collins' request, on Kate's behalf.

After several days of futile attempts to write a new patriotic song, Berlin remembered the one he had written in 1918. He asked his secretary to retrieve it from the trunk, and he made a few changes to the lyrics. Now Kate Smith was the No. I popular songstress in America in 1938, and her weekly Kate Smith Hour was heard by many millions of radio listeners that Thursday, November 10. The shy composer was invited to attend the show, but he declined, opting to listen with a few friends in his office at his music publishing company in New York. Kate sang it as her closing number, after which Berlin's phone began to ring, as people began to ask, 'Where can we get that song that Kate Smith just sang.?" Berlin was so touched by those calls that he decided to attend the rebroadcast three hours later for the west coast audience. At the conclusion of the broadcast, Kate called Irving to the stage and gave him a bearhug that swept him off his feet!

City Life 2009

I've lived in this area for ages. All of my adult life and half of my teen years. I really like the size of the city, not too big, not too small. It has philharmonic and pops, opera and ballet. And for the past three years it has brought the City Life sculptures downtown. This is the final year - too bad, they are great!

There are fifteen life size statues placed around the downtown area and a 25 foot statue of King Lear on Courthouse Plaza. These pictures were taken as the statues were being readied for placement. The display is here until August 14. Parking on the street is free evenings and weekends. There are maps of where they are next to King Lear on the Plaza. Ya gotta see this!

Guaranteed to Make You Smile!

Even if you are a grump, this will make you smile. And I really needed to smile today!

A Wonderful Mother

We are way down south in Dixie, visiting our daughter, her husband and their two sons. We drove down last Saturday and will be here a few more days.
We participated in their family home evening Monday, which was much more structured than anything we managed when our kids were young. Their six year old conducted the meeting, and even, when prompted, welcomed the visitors! LOL
Every morning, during breakfast they've read scriptures together. The oldest boy just turned 10 and is in the 4th grade. He reads above his grade level, but then so did his mom, his dad and his uncle. Genetics may have something to do with it. The youngest just turned 6 and is in kindergarten. He also is able to read from the New Testament. I am just amazed.
Mom was reading the parable of the creditor who forgave the 50 pence and the 500 pence debts. Jesus asked Peter which one was more grateful. She stopped and asked the boys if they understood and to teach them compared it to them owing money... who would be more grateful.
The older boy said, I know what that's about. The creditor is Jesus, and the debts are sins. And when he forgave the debts, he was forgiving their sins. You could have knocked me over with a feather!
My daughter is a wonderful mother!!!

Six Destructive Ds

Elder Kevin W Pearson spoke in the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference. His topic was "Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ". A portion of his talk was devoted to the things that impede development of that faith, the six destructive Ds.

• Doubt - a lack of confidence, inconsistent with our divine identity as children of God
• Discouragement - comes from missed expectations
• Distraction - a lack of focus
• Diligence, the lack of - a reduced commitment to being true and faithful
• Disobedience - choosing to turn from what's right
• Disbelief - hardening one's heart against truth

Distraction and the lack of diligence are natural to mortal life. The six don't have to lead to each other, although they frequently do. But distraction and the lack of diligence track me like hounds. Combined, don't they mean procrastination? That comes natural to me too! LOL

I Have A Plan

The president asked that if others had a plan for the budget , to let him know. I have a plan.

1. Cut business taxes to 12%. Businesses do not pay taxes, they pass them on. Tax is a cost of doing business. They are either passed on to customers in the form of higher prices or lower quality, passed on to employees in the form of layoffs, lower salaries or higher production rates, or taken from stockholders in the form of lower dividends. We have the second highest corporate tax rate in the Western world. It needs to drop like a stone.
2. Allow health care insurers to sell across state lines. Let them treat the entire nation as one large "group". Require that they cover pre-existing conditions and catastrophic illness. Continue Medicaid to cover needs based people. Eliminate employer based health insurance. By using the nation as a group, prices will be lower than stopping sales at the state line. Employers will be able to pay their cost of insurance directly to the employees. They will also save the cost of administration of insurance, allowing prices to fall, salaries to increase or dividends to raise.
3. Drill here, drill now! Expand current forms of energy production. Just the announcement will panic OPEC and force them to keep prices at least as low as they are now. They will hope we go slow and continue to import from them for several years. Have research into alternative sources of energy proceed, but don't invent "green" jobs. Let the market determine the rate of growth.
4. Keep the Bush tax cuts in place until passage of the FairTax. In addition to it's other advantages, the Fair Tax will solve the funding issue for Social Security and Medicare.
5. Did I mention, no more bailouts!! No more federal interference with business.
6. Have all departments of the federal government audited by Clark Howard and Herman Cain.
7. Eliminate all programs that are not authorized by the Constitution of the United States of America.

I think I'm done for now. But in case you haven't seen this.... enjoy!

Lemonade Award

My good friend Nancy nominated me for this award. I love awards you can be nominated for, but don't actually have to win, but still claim! LOL

I don't usually think of myself as a making lemonade from the lemons life hands you type. However, just now I was watching the news conference and realized that I will be making lemonade for the next few years. Y'all stop by for a cup, it'll cost you a quarter! (A girl's got to make a living!)

I know so many who have already been awarded this prize..... and so many more who deserve it. I can't choose, the pressure's too much, you can't make me!

So, if you had a bad year, a bad month, a bad week or a bad day; or if you watched the news conference, you are nominated! Grab the prize and go for it!

Swashbucklers, Away!

Have you seen this one yet? It is FanTasTic!!