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1.31.2008

Prophetic Passing Poem

Thought on a wonderful man
Prophetic Passing

I imagine he's running to Marjorie now,

Yes, running, not waving his cane.

I see him embracing his father and mother

While they keep repeating his name.

 

I see him now meeting his forebears,

Brother Brigham and Joseph are there.

Sweet reunion of prophets, united by service

That only such noble men share.

 

I see him embraced by the Savior

While Father says, 'Good and well done.

So faithful in stalwart endurance, I welcome

My noble, most excellent son.'

 

I then hear the ripples of laughter

As he says the reception's just fine,

But he hopes that he'll get an assignment or two

Since there's no need to waste any time.

 

I can hear his clear voice in the stillness

At the close of this sweet Sabbath day,

Have faith and move forward — there's work to be done.

President Hinckley would want it that way.

 

Anna M. Molgard

January 27, 2008

 

 

 

1.29.2008

Sadness decends...

The funeral for Pres. Hinckley has been announced. It will be held on Saturday Feb 2nd. I am beginning to feel sadness at his passing. We will miss his comforting presence. What a blessing he has been to this world. It is strange that the sorrow for him combines with the sorrow of losing grandparents who were so dear to me. I long to have the stabilizing influence of my grandparents generation. Maybe I am just afraid to become the generation in charge in this world. It’s a scary thing to be responsible for things. Is my generation ready? It’s not our turn just yet, but it’s getting closer.

Maybe it’s a longing to be young again and feeling like the adults and especially our grandparents will protect us and keep us happy a safe. Amid all the snow we are dealing with here this week, I long to go back in time to growing up In Idaho Falls, before the awareness of adulthood came upon me. Snowmobiling with grandparents and uncles, hearing the snow squeak below rubber boots, dressing in “snow pants” - those memories are all tied up in losing a dear old loved one. I think of my great-grandmothers hands, wrinkled and soft, and remember the love that radiated form her, and it intertwines with President Hinckley until I feel tears prickling my eyes. I know he is with his beloved wife and that makes me happy, but I selfishly miss him and mourn….

1.28.2008

President Hinckley Is Reunited With His Beloved Wife!

My mother called me last night and told me that President Hinckley had passed away. What a dear man he was to us. I was not sad that he died. Instead I remembered how he missed his wife after she died and how happy he would be to be reunited with her again. I always felt so much love from him. It often felt like he was talking directly to me. I loved him and I honor his life and all the service he gave to the Kingdom. The simplest thing to say is the he loved and was loved. I think he would like that.

President Hinckley's Testimony

 

 

1.13.2008

Hot Fudge in the Book of Mormon

Since our 5th Sunday lesson on using lds.org I have been trying to do more reading and exploring on the website. I have found it especially useful for planning FHE lessons. In fact, I usually have so much material that I cannot narrow things down! This week I am preparing to teach about agency. There is a portion of the site called Gospel Topics that enables you to search topically and lists relevant scriptures, talks, and lessons from other publications on the topics. It’s awesome!  There are so many good talks.

Under scripture references for Agency, 2 Nephi chapter 2 is listed in whole. This chapter opens the Plan of Salvation to us plainly. It is one of the most profound chapters in the Book of Mormon. It covers, the Fall, Atonement, Agency, Law, and many other topics, tying them all together to explain the nature of God and his wonderful Plan for his children. If we could only have one chapter from the Book of Mormon this would be my pick. It is like the hot fudge a banana split. The whole desert is great but that hot fudge- you just can’t beat it! 2Nephi 2 is like the hot fudge of the Book of Mormon!

 

 

http://momnmb.blogspot.com

 

1.12.2008

Andrea Bocceli rocks

I don’t care what he is saying- I LOVE hearing Andrea Boccelli’s voice soar! Knowing that he was blind, for some reason, makes me feel different about the emotion of his songs. His duet with Celine Dion “The Prayer” nears perfection -if not achieves it. He even makes marginal singers like Sarah Brightman look so much better.  

Music is an emotional experience for me. It can depress me and make my heart soar with joy. It is the best way for me to waken my sometimes dead heart with awesome emotions. It often brings me to tears driven by everything from sorrow to joy. I like many types of music, and love a few. For general times of driving or busyness I prefer country although pop and some rock is also good for this mindless activity level. But for spiritual moments I love choirs and great vocal artists like Andrea Boccelli, Josh Groban, or Celine Dion type singers. I love music with a strong voice and I fit also has a strong beat, it’s even better. Of course who can resist dance music? It makes you want to move -even if you are not as young as you once were. I love to dance with my kids.

Ok, time to get back to Andrea! J  J J

 

1.10.2008

iTunes ectasy!

Every time I have access to an iTunes card, I distract myself from all reality and get lost in good music. I LOVE my iPod, because I LOVE iTunes. (I’d love it more if I could put the music I buy there on my kid’s mp3 players!)  I got my daughter a card for Christmas and she decided to use it today to buy Katherine McPhee songs. But we couldn’t get the songs onto her player, until we burned them to CD and ripped them to Media Player. Don’t waste your time trying to find another way to do it. This is the only way. Anyway, I like the songs too so I bought the card from her and proceeded to spend the rest of the card. I bought the Best of Andrea Bocelli. Man he gives me goosebumps when he sings! Then I found Carrie Underwood. I got her song Wasted, and then I discovered a gem. Her video for So Small is available. WOW what a powerful message. The song is great, but that girl knows how to make a video. It takes the message of the song and magnifies in infinitely! So after watching it several times, I felt like I could leave it for a few minutes to listen to the Andrea Bocelli. I could lose so much time on ITunes. I have begun to avoid it since I get so lost to reality!

Time to make the return trip now! (Except…..I can fall asleep listening to my iPod tonight!) J

 

 

1.09.2008

Inconvenient Book

I finally got the book. I’ve had it on hold for over a month waiting my turn. I love this book. I’m halfway through it and I find myself laughing to tears in every chapter. Not because someone is being made fun of, but because it’s so true! Rush says all humor must have truth or it isn’t funny and this book is funny!  But be advised, he writes some of the chapters mostly to men. Blind dating, Marriage advice, body image are all from the man’s perspective and loaded with good funny truthful advice for men. For me, those were the funniest chapters. Glenn Beck’s style says “I’m a regular American guy, but I’m honest about what I am really thinking.” He bares himself in these chapter with comment about his own typical male thought patterns, wondering if men have magnets and women have iron plates in certain places, but also reveals that he controls himself and knows these thoughts are inappropriate even as he struggles with himself. It’s so refreshing. He isn’t like “Larry the cable guy”. I can’t stand that guy, he’s crass, crude, ugly inside and out, and makes my skin crawl. But Glenn lets you know that he is aware and working on his thoughts and tendencies. He’s no saint but he’s a lot closer than Larry.

I love the sidebar ADD moments. They are actually the best thoughts in the book. Glenn’s ability to say what we are all thinking and doing is amazingly refreshing. And his use of humor is so good. He finds the craziest examples that you sometimes wonder if he is joking when he uses real examples.

What I really like the most about him though is his comments about divisions in America. He’s right. We have to stop dividing ourselves into groups. It gives people power over us when they can pigeonhole us into groups and then pit us against each other like a twisted group version of cock fighting.

My daughter is telling me I have to finish it tonight because she needs something to read at school tomorrow! Gotta go finish the book!

Life of a Ladybug

I was thinking today about what I do that keeps me from doing all the things I think I should be doing or want to be doing, like learning about logic, American History, genealogy, ect. Well, on an ideal day, I wake up around 630 or 7 and get kids off to school until 8. I try to stay out of their way and let them scramble as much as possible until they are almost late. I have begun charging them for gas for rides to school if they are late or just don’t want to walk in the winter weather. Then I dash off to the gym (remember this is an ideal day) and take a shower before leaving around 11:00. Of course I am starving at this time since I forgot to eat breakfast while getting kids off- so I dash home for lunch. Then I have about 3 hours before the first kid comes home from school. ( Unless it’s Wednesday- early release).During that time, I pay bills, write emails, shop, do errands, make phone calls, clean house, do laundry, and on the ideal day, get a short nap about two pages into whatever I’m trying to read at the moment. Once kids start coming home, trying to concentrate is useless so I have to do my studying after they go to bed. On an ideal day they go right to bed promptly at 8pm and I have about 2 hours to study until I have to go to bed. I try to read myself to sleep every night now in an effort to catch up to my library book due dates. I guess it’s just life that keeps me from getting as much done as I think I should be able to do in one day. I keep telling myself that I don’t have to do everything at once and I will have a nice long life to do everything I want to do. But since I have to repeat that to myself quite frequently I guess I don’t really believe it. I’ve often wished that I could get books on a giant SD disc and download them into my brain. But then I wouldn’t have the fun of reading them I guess that defeats some of the purpose.

 I think that life is like this on purpose. If it were not and we lived to be 900 years old like Adam, we wouldn’t have to make so many choices. What we choose first and what we put off surely shows our priorities in this life. I guess since this life is the time to prepare to meet God it won’t really matter if I know American History or Political Science, but it will matter if I know my husband and my kids. How much will my ancestors care if I choose to go to the Temple or take a class? What if it’s a genealogy class?  I don’t know. That’s the life of a Ladybug. Choices Choices Choices………

1.08.2008

FHE fun

Family Night went well. Besides the goofy- excited- happy- kid questions that had NOTHING to do with the lesson, (or maybe because if it) we had a good time and I am pretending that my kids now understand the Fall. Of course I know they will have blank moments about what it is in the future, but for a moment, they knew. Whew! FHE is difficult. But I am so blessed to have good happy kids that don't fight me on it. I remember FHE when I was growing up, well I vaguely remember it. We complained so much! It just really interfered with our personal plans for the evening. Anyway, I am really liking this Family Home evening thing. Its fun to be with my kids. It forces me to drop my serious MOM attitude. I haven't had this much fun while at the same time wanting to strangle my kids, for a long time! We had chocolate muffins and played Pit too! YEAH!

Modern Parable of the Ant and the Grasshopper

TRADITIONAL VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!
MODERN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.
CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green."
Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We Shall Overcome." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.
Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry and Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has become rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.
Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer! The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.
Hillary gets the Rose Law Firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill Clinton appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients. The ant loses the case.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.
The ant has disappeared in the snow.
The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2008.

1.05.2008

President Wadsworth's visual aid

Creation

Fall

Atonement

Physical Body

+

-

+

Presence of God

+

-

+

Knowledge of Good & Evil

-

+

+

Children Family

-

+

+

The Fall

I was taught by a wonderful man in Fallon, Nevada about the doctrine of the Fall. It opended my eyes and I finally understood the dynamics and the reason we had to have a Fall. I am going to teach my kids about the Fall for Family Home Evening this week. I found a good lesson in the Gospel Doctrine manual at lds.org. I love using lds.org since all the scriptures are linked and I can go off on tangents, searching for things that enter my mind while reading. It's such a tailored experience to study there. I re-created this chart, used by President Wadsworth who taught me so beautifully.
He taught that only through the Atonement of Christ could we change all the symbols to a positive + in each column. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were given four goals.First, they had been given a physical body so that was +. Second they were in the Presence of God so that was a +. But they were not able to have children, the third goal, or learn anything about good and evil, the fouth, until they fell. But by the Fall they were made subject to death, and lost the presence of God turning all their positives into negatives. Only through the Atonement could they keep the positives of being able to have children, and retain their knowledge while also entering the presence of God and conquering death accomplishing all four goals.
President Wadsworth taught powerfully that we must understand the Fall in order to appreciate the Atonement of Christ. I will be forever grateful for his patience with me. He was like an angel to me at that time in my life. I needed to have his teachings, and they were like chocolate to me- delicious! I hope this will be useful to you and your family too.
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