Eight Months Since I Posted!

I found that blogging is not my thing! I love reading everyone else's but when I sit down to write my mind goes blank! It has been 8 months since I even tried to post- I should be ashamed! Since that time, Kay retired; I had another birthday; found out we are going to be grandparents again; endured a very wet month of June - so unusual for Utah; we upgraded our 5th wheel; the engine in our truck blew up the first time we tried to tow the 5th wheel; so we packed suitcases and took the car to Wyoming for 3 days; we flew to Nova Scotia for a 14 day visit; been to Meridian several times; saw Ammon and Torrie and Isaiah sealed in the Twin Falls Temple; finally got the truck back (hope it's fixed); and are hopefully planning a trip with the 5th wheel. I am sure I left stuff out. I will try to write more and add pictures later - if anyone actually reads this anymore!

Stillness

This past week I have been preparing for a RS lesson on - Stillness. As I have pondered I have come to realize how important daily moments of stillness are to our well-being. A few years ago I helped a friend with her masters degree project on "A Secret Place". She wrote poetry and created paintings on this theme. (I brainstormed with her and edited her writing. It was so fun!) Her introductory poem conveys what I want the sisters to understand:

A Secret Place

Finding silent spaces isn't easy

A noisy world clamors relentlessly.

Paralyzing my perceptions.

Roaring obsessions. . .

Technology, tools, toys -- a ravenous need to fill the void.

Complacence spawns unintelligible babble.

Hollow confusion assaults every sensation.

I become a non-entity, a passive receptor

In a fragmented universe. Always doing rather than being.

Finding silent spaces isn't easy.

But when I am weary of inane repetition,

Longing to ban irksome mind chatter,

And sit quietly with no task,

Breathe easily with no apprehension,

Entertain wild ideas not visible before,

Recover something forgotten. . .

When I yearn to lean into magenta, blue, and violet

Allowing patterns of meaning to wash over

My original self

It is then I escape to my secret place

Where I absorb amazing silence and carry it with me

When I leave.

Jennifer Davis Sorensen

The place is not as important as the quiet you will find - to be still, to think, to breathe deeply, and feel His peace. The amount of time is not important. It might be better to find a ten-minute block of time one or two days a week to be still, than to decide being still is not possible because we do not have an extra hour in our schedule!

"Do not go with any agenda except to be still, to do nothing, to sit quietly. The Lord can better guide your soul. Take something with you to write on, for when you are still, God can speak to you." Carolyn J. Rasmus, simplify, pg 22

"We need to build ourselves spiritually. We live in a world of rush and go, of running here and there and in every direction. We are a very busy people. We have so much to do. We need to get off by ourselves once in a while and think of the spiritual things and build ourselves spiritually. If you have a study at home, lock yourselves in it. If you have a place in the basement where you can be by yourself, go there. Get by yourself and think of things of the Lord. . .Just meditate and reflect. . . about yourself and your relationship to your Heavenly Father and your Redeemer. It will do something for you." Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, 608-09

K went on his 3 mile walk this morning with his camera while I drove to a bridal shower. There had been fog during the night and as the sun rose this morning there was a beautiful world before our eyes. This picture conveys stillness, peace, beauty, and a priceless gift from our Heavenly Father.

Snow Snow Snow

So far we have had a ton of snow and it is still coming. This is typical of winter in our Valley and especially where we are situated right at the foot of the mountain. The kids enjoyed the white stuff over Christmas, particularly A, T and I and C and his boys. There was actually an article on KSL that said our little town had 70" in 10 days but ". . . don't feel sorry for them because they absolutely love it!" They didn't interviewed ME!!! Enjoy the photos!

SNOWBALL FIGHTS!


SLEDDING!

BUILDING SNOWMEN!

This little snowman family had a great time frolicking in our back yard!