Beneath the Wraps

            When I'm teaching primary, I'm sitting down.   When I taught RS, I was standing up.   The sisters have decided to put themselves in a circle, which has its benefits.   I thought I might try walking around and pace myself back and forth as I've seen another instructor do - but my voice doesn't seem to carry as loud as hers nor did I have much of a voice on Sunday and so had to stand behind the microphone.             NONE of the shoes that I wear on Sunday are very comfortable and so my feet hurt as I neared the end of my lesson and later on that night I was experiencing back pain.   I blame the shoes.   I think Roland would blame my weight.   Probably a combination of the two.             There are posts on either my own or my brother's blog which provide several reference...

           Each of us has the opportunity to make choices.   We choose to leave the house, transportation, destination, what we eat and so forth.   Often we are presented with obstacles as a result of our choices.   For example, we may have a variety of ways to get from point A to point B - do we want to take the scenic route or something faster.   If we had stayed in one lane could we have avoided the car crash that happens in the next?   What about those that we encounter.   How do our choices effect them?   And what about those things we can't control like the weather or health?  Often the result of our choices makes no difference.  Other times even the smallest decision may change our entire lives.           I think "The Mountain Between Us" gives us some great illustrations of what our choices may cost.   By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https:...

            We all make decisions.   Each choice we make has consequences whether good or bad as mentioned in this post             When we were living in Utah, Jenna had the opportunity of learning Spanish through the dual immersion program.   While some parts of Oregon offer this same program, the particular county we live in doesn’t offer any foreign language until high school.   I really did not wish to pull her out of the program.   She’s no longer learning Spanish at school, but she does have other opportunities here that she did not have in Utah.             She would not have been enrolled in band while in the sixth grade.   We may not have been able to afford the instrument.   We have the opportunity to do so here.        ...

     You ever notice that the choices we make not only affect you but those around you as well?   Take my decisions to leave the majority of my family to move to another state for the sake of my health.   And yet I personally have known others who have said, “I’m not going to leave my family.   Even if the doctor says it’s in my best interest, I won’t give up my children, my grand-children . . .” or what have you.   That’s their choice.        Some live long lives and are successful with their health choices.   Others continue to hack out their lungs while babysitting grandchildren while their children are at work and end up dying anyway.        Sometimes it becomes a larger burden for the child (or children) to bury the parent than it would have been if the parent had just moved out of state.   Sometimes it’s easier, realizing the sacrifices that were made by sa...

I remember watching a documentary with my mom in 1991.   It was called Age 7 in America.   At least I think that’s what it was called.   I don’t know who’s responsible for making it.   It looks like it may have been created by Christopher Quinn patterned after an idea done in Britain?   I don’t even recall which network sponsored the program.   Quinn (who also narrated the film) told us that the plan was to follow a number of children from different backgrounds and upbringings and interview them every seven years. I remember looking for “Age 14 in America” but not finding it.   I don’t know what prompted me to look it up on YouTube this year – but I did find it.   Age 7, age 14 and age 21 (thank you Orletta Crichlow) and watched Up 21and was really quite impressed. Years ago, when my mom and I had been watching, there were three girls wearing school uniforms.   As they were being interviewed, the one in the middle...

         I don’t know if I had met Kelly prior to the being called to serve on the activities committee.  The first activity I remember being involved with was a “food storage/budgeting made-fun activity” Kelly played Betty Barker and I became the emcee who drew the names of contestants and invited them to “come on down”.          Even then she was struggling with the Church and her family life – desiring to connect the two but feeling torn with her beliefs.  Her husband showed no sign of ever wanting to be involved with the Church or even anybody who belonged to it.  Perhaps Kelly wasn’t even active when they met but gradually came around with a desire for having God and direction in her life – perhaps not necessarily the “Mormon Church”          That was five years ago.  And she continues to battle with herself and her maintaini...