This week

Jeff is fishing on the Green River in North Eastern Utah, he was lucky enough to be invited by some guys through his work and he is loving it!  This is the picture he sent me from his phone the first day with this text:  20 fish before 11AM.

In other words, it's darn good fishing!

The older boys are wishing they could have gone along for the trip I think, especially when I told them how many fish he's been catching!  But it has to be FREEZING, if you know how much he hates the cold that will tell you how much he loves to fish.

Teacher Conferences are this week, here they encourage you to bring the kids, which I find annoying.  How likely am I to get the full scoop if they are sitting right there.  But their teachers assigned as homework for them to come.  

Kiefer had his first debate tournament of the year yesterday, they won 2 of the 3 debates they were in.  He's busy working on college entrance and scholarship essays, and entrance forms, and looking for a job.

Quinn just finished his driving with Driver's Ed, he passed and is anxiously waiting for his birthday now.  Here in Utah once they get the certificate from the class they just take it to the DMV and pay $30 on their birthday, much less stressful than anxiously waiting to test.  He has begun hard core wrestling practice, and has his first tournament next Wednesday.  

Tate is this close to finishing his Eagle paperwork, thank goodness! Can't wait to be done with another one! Quinn is trying to talk him into wrestling for the Jr. High this year, it speaks much for Quinn's persuasive powers that Tate is seriously considering it.  

Thane is busy with Scouts and friends, and trying to talk us into snowboarding lessons this winter.  The city has a great program where they take kids to a ski resort all day Saturdays in December and they get a half day lesson and then go up the hill to practice the rest of the day.  I told him I'll look into it.  It would be a great Christmas gift, if only it was after Christmas!  Utah has free ski passes for all 4th, 5th, and 6th graders as well, so he's trying to use that as leverage-he's really too smart for me.

Sage is absolutely in love with crafts right now.  She's been begging to do some sort of needlework, so I got her a cross stitch bookmark to make, it was a hit.  Then she started latchook, another hit.  Then she made herself a hat on a knitting loom.  The girl loves her projects-at least at first.  It takes some serious prodding from me once the newness wears off.  But she was thrilled when she finished the hat, I'll have to take a picture of her wearing it, it's pretty cute.

That's it for this week, I'm busier than I can keep track of .  Work is good-I moved to a department with weekends and evenings off, and that's been really nice.  But I have to train down in SLC and that's been a pain.  I keep telling myself it's all worth it to go to Church every week, and it is---it's just hard to remember that as I drive back and forth 4 days a week.  Soon I'll be able to work from home again, and then it will really be worth it! 

The Book That is Changing My Life

 

I've been reading this, and it's literally changing my life.  It has turned my heart and my brain in new directions, opened my narrow mind to new horizons, and challenged me to really evaluate how I'm living every single day.

The book is based on an experiment Virginia H. Pearce participated in when she was in a Stake Relief Society Presidency.  Here's a great description of the  premise of the book (found it here)

What is the experiment all about?

As the introduction to the book states:

The love of God truly is the most joyous and delicious thing we can experience on this earth. It is so good that when we are filled with it, we are consumed with a desire that others should feel it too.

But experiencing God's love can be an elusive thing. Though we believe that His love is constant and unchanging, we seem unable as mortals to consistently feel it. And if we can't feel it, we are unable to help others feel it.

This book is meant to help the reader explore and experiment with the simple concept of opening her heart--simply making space for the Lord and others. Because this experiment is more about becoming than doing, it is simple, doesn't consume time, actually creates energy, and is therefore self-perpetuating. 

The Experiment:

1. I will be more aware of the condition of my heart, and with that awareness, seek to keep it more open toward others.
2. I will do this in the normal course of my life, in other words, not feel pressured to put any extra activities into my day--no extra visit, casseroles, etc.
3. I will notice the way I feel and be willing to honestly report what happened or didn't happen.

A few guidelines:

• Observe the physical/emotional/spiritual response of your heart, independent of your words or actions.
• Think of your own metaphor for an open heart and a closed heart.
• Observe your physical approach to people. What is your body language saying?
• Take the initiative to get outside yourself and express an interest in those you encounter. Pray for the courage to do so.

It would be great to do this as a group of friends, or a book club and be able to really discuss everyone's experiences, but it's been an amazing gift to do it on my own as well.  I am so much more aware of the how the people I interact with could be perceiveing my actions, so much more aware of offering any kindness that comes to mind, and perhaps most importantly, I am so much more aware of the small, quiet whispers of the Lord to my heart to say certain words, share an experience, or just listen.  

It has been a true gift, and I hope I will continue learning to live this way.  It has been such a blessing to me, more than I would have imagined the day I bought it for my Kindle after listening to an interview with the author about her new book here.