unfollow me

 Today in Sunday School brother H taught.  He made a big deal of not being a good teacher but he taught with stories which are an excellent way of teaching.

One of the many off topic comments I made was that I appreciate Facebook's use of the word "Follow".  I want to be deliberate about what influences I am inviting into my life.  So having made that comment, I came home and am working on unfollowing facebook people I am not related to.  We're still friends and I can check in on them.  But I don't have to make facebook such a fun place to hang out. 

Jesus has invited me to Follow Him.  I spend too much time following the news, social media, and things I don't need, and can't do anything about.  I really enjoyed reading the Book of Mormon for Lent.  I'm a goal person so I would like to challenge myself to do another project to help myself follow Jesus.

I'm a mother and a wife, and a disciple of Jesus Christ.  I want to make those relationships my priority.

1st week of school 2021

 M and G returned to school full time on Monday.  They were up early each morning to drop M off at seminary and take G to school.  G had a schedule crisis resolved.  M survived full time school and an away game.

 The band was doing a concession stand for the new high school that was renting the school field.  I told the ladies that my mom was a band mom and that she worked in the concession stand.  They said my mom would be proud of me.  I know my mom was always proud of me.

Today I walked with my neighbor LM.  She grew up on Vilano!  It's funny how you can know someone for years and until you walk a mile or 4 with them, you don't get to hear their story.

We finally go out on the water with the kayaks!  It was nice to have everyone spread out and not piled on top of one another.  

The trailer makes it so much easier compared to the racks we had to attach to the roof, lift the boats to the roof, lift them down, lift them back up, lift them down at home, put them up in the garage, and take the racks off!  Wow.

We're cutting G's hair tonight after dinner.  Yay!

Epic Saturday and other good times.

 I took G to get an eye exam and he picked out these glasses.

P ordered a cocoa pod and made chocolate!

 

A tree fell down in the back yard.  P borrowed a chainsaw and cut it up.  He had the kids drag pieces down to the swamp. 

 

Then being in possession of a chain saw, P carved this bear!

We took Grandma to the butterfly museum a few weeks ago.

 

We went mini golfing for L's Birthday.

I took the kids to the beach to say goodbye to the summer.  

Virus

 On Tuesday G started coughing and saying his nose hurt.  He was spraying germs all over the place.  We all got sick and on Friday G and I took covid tests.  Our tests came back negative and we're still sick.  I lost my sense of smell/taste on Saturday.  It's unusual for us all to get so sick so fast.  I guess a year of not having any colds, we were all primed to catch it and our bodies had forgotten the keys to knocking it out.

We have been getting any vaccine needed or offered at the Dr.'s office.  Meningitis, HPV, Flu, Covid, MMR...  I feel better today and hope to keep getting better daily.

noom

 I subscribed to Noom because my motivation was 0.  So far I really like it.  I like it so much that my sense of individuality is threatened by how well it fits my psychology.

Beach Boil

 My friend had a party at the beach and it was so wonderful.  I got to see old friends and relax and hang out.  I feel like every social event I go to these days is the best party I've been to in the last 18 months!  I'm like "Parties are so fun!  Why haven't we done this in so long!?"  Of course we didn't because of the pandemic.  People disagree about whether it is or isn't a serious deal.  2 friends of mine recently got really sick with Covid, like last week.  I don't know why they didn't get the vaccine.  They, like so many other un-vaccinated (?) didn't wear masks to church once it wasn't required.  I don't get it.

In other news my RS president has been without a compassionate service coordinator for 7 months.  She said meals for people can be just worked out between the people who need meals and the people who want to give meals.  I have been in the middle of many conversations where the 2 parties should have talked to each other instead of relaying through me.  So I'm happy for this.  So often our institutions get in the way of people reaching out to each other.  We wait for the compassionate service leader to call us.  She tries to not call the same people all the time.  Whether you get meals or not is decided by a 3rd party, not by whether people want to give you meals.  So having a compassionate service leader disrupts the natural flow of empathy and service.  But sometimes it is really nice to have someone else coordinating meals.  It's tricky to have one of your sisters who is capable of really doing the calling and taking the burden from the RS president, tied up in a calling that is only active intermittently when people have a birth, death or major illness.  

I'm re-visiting the book Multipliers.  I think there is a lot to be said for leading in a way that increases the abilities of those around you, instead of leading by doing everything yourself.  I think the church means to lead in a multiplying way, but that we don't teach the people in charge to not do everything themselves.

Teaching

 I got to teach the deaf Sunday School today.  The topic was Doctrine and Covenants 71-75.  I covered some history of Ezra Booth and what led to the revelation.

7 Wherefore, aconfound your benemies; call upon them to cmeet you both in public and in private; and inasmuch as ye are faithful their dshame shall be made manifest.	Surprise them by inviting them to meet in public and private.  If you :Love them as yourself                                       Believe in things unseen                                      Keep it classy They will look silly holding a grudge.
8 Wherefore, let them bring forth their astrong reasons against the Lord.	Let them talk.
9 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you—there is no aweapon that is formed against you shall prosper.	Nothing they say can hurt your salvation.
10 And if any man lift his voice against you he shall be aconfounded in mine own due time.	Trust the Lord.
11 Wherefore, akeep my commandments; they are true and faithful. Even so. Amen.	Love the Lord.  Love your neighbor.

 

Who was Ezra Booth?

Ezra Booth was a Methodist preacher who joined the LDS church after seeing a miraculous healing.  He later was called on a mission to Missouri and was not pleased that he was told to walk the entire distance and preach along the way while Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon went by wagon.  On the return trip he chose to travel by boat and stage.  He left the church and wrote criticisms in the Ohio Star.

Who was Newel K Whitney?

Newel K Whitney was a store owner and belonged to Sidney Rigdon's church, the Campbellites.  He joined the church and housed Joseph Smith's family above the store.  He was called as a bishop and served in that calling in each location the saints emigrated to. 

How has the bishop blessed you?  How can we sustain the bishop?  What does it mean to sustain?