something else that's consuming my thoughts

Our family and friends in California are working tirelessly to help residents really understand what Prop. 8 is about, (because the media's sure doing a lot to cloud the issues and confuse voters) only to have their signs stolen at night and to be attacked by protesters on the way to worship at the temple. Then throw in the 1st grade class taking school sponsored field trips to a gay wedding and "gay day" in kindergarten-things are getting pretty heated over there. But aside from donations (which are needed) I don't know what else to do. Except talk about it.

So here it is in plain English:

We try to practice respect, tolerance and acceptance. But do you really understand what this means for public school, and maybe even for marriages being performed in our own temples? We should be able to expect the same respect in our practices of religion and when and what values and ideals our children are taught, but as I read articles and commentaries I feel the rage building within me over the hatred, disrespect, dishonesty, confusion and anger from both sides.

So I turn to my own religious leaders, and found this article, which offered clarity and a little light to the darkness hanging over all his.

READ IT, and then if you agree, please donate because it's going to take a whole lot to counter the millions of dollars being pumped into opposition to Prop. 8 by the California Teacher's Association (huh?) and Hollywood.

can't get it out of my head

This Story about the Nielsons. About sisters. About hope. About love.

And now that I've stopped crying, something else I can't get out of my head is my own sisters. Their lives. Their challenges. Their strengths. I need to be a better sister.

I'm grateful for sisters. Blood, law, and the ones that fill in when the real kind are too far away.

a story and our wall

Once upon a time a little boy found some himself some heroes.

These heroes:

They are the Stripling Warriors. This painting by Clark Kelly Price is entitled, "It's True Sir- All Present and Accounted For". Their story is found in the Book of Mormon, which is a second witness of Jesus Christ and a companion volume of scripture to the Bible that records God’s dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas. Their story goes like this:

(as told by the artist)

Seldom in the annals of history has there been such an inspiring example of unwavering faith in God as was exhibited by the valiant young sons of the Ammonites. These two thousand and sixty young men were a "Great support" to their country's defense. Though they had never fought, the scriptures tell us "they were exceedingly valiant for courage . . . . . and true at all times in whatsoever thing they were instructed. They were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God, and to walk up rightly before God." (Alma 53:20-21) Their mothers had especially influenced their faith. Their commanding officer, Helaman, called them his "sons," "for they are worthy to be called sons," he said. (Alma 56:10) They called him "father", such was the love and respect they had for him.

This scene depicts the moment when Helaman (shown on his horse) learns from a subordinate officer that all two thousand and sixty of his beloved sons have survived a terrible battle in which everyone of them have "received many wounds." This was the second time this had occurred, though many other soldiers in the army had perished, this "little band" under Helaman's leadership, lost not a single man. Speaking of this unbelievable occurrence, Helaman states, "two hundred out of my two thousand and sixty had fainted because of the loss of blood; nevertheless, according to the goodness of God and to our great astonishment, and also the joy of the whole army, there was not one soul of them who did perish.

A year and a half ago, our family took this little trip to Palmyra, New York. We spent some time in the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center where there happened to be a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL video clip about the Stripling Warriors.

Although it was nearing time to begin our 6 hour journey home, we could not pull Garrett away. He pushed the button over and over and OVER. Each time, my eyes welled up at the poignant message and the genuine intrigue my sweet little boy had in these 2000 young men.

Some 5 hours after leaving Palmyra, Garrett sat quietly staring out the window. After this continued for some time, I joined him in the back seat and asked him what he was thinking about it.

He replied, "The Stripling Warriors".

This began a tender conversation about these heroes, his deeper understanding of them and what it was about them that made them so valiant, faithful and full of the strength of the Lord.

At some point, it hit me. He gets it.

He wants to be like them.

Help him do it.

Since this time, we have often discussed the Stripling Warriors with our family. They come up in Family Home Evening and in very unexpected yet precious teaching moments. We've likened ourselves unto them, discussing the qualities, the faith, the courage they had, and what we need to be to be like them.

We want their story to be our story.

Matt and I want to be like Helaman and the parents of the 2000 Stripling Warriors who must lead our precious little ones off into battle, having taught them the truth and to have faith in God.

I think of my kids. Valiant. Faithful. Going forward to wage this horrible final battle against Satan himself.

Our quest is that in the end, we rejoice as Helaman did, knowing that we are:

back for a limited time

ME.

After another month long unplanned hiatus, I'm back with a firm commitment to not commit at all to how long I'll be back for. I've all but given up on this blogging thing because lately I feel like I'm drowning and some things just have to go from time to time.

But I have some time this weekend and I have some things to say, some memories to document, and some stories to tell.

I may even get two or three posts in before I disappear again. I know, aren't you lucky? Those few of you who actually happen to check my uneventful blog on occasion. And even if there are none of you left, at least my journal won't suffer this continued neglect.

an overdue post- Arizona photo shoot

So way back in August, we spent some time with Kerri and Doug on our way home to Texas. It was quick, but the best 9 hours of the whole trip!

We managed to pull the cousins away from each other long enough to squeeze in a little photo shoot. Ker has a fantastic photography gig and I couldn't be happier with the outcome. Now that I've got a little decorating done at our house, I'm ready to order about a bazillion prints. Here's just a little sampling of what she came up with:

Check out the rest of her talent and services here. You're gonna want some of your own.

Thanks, Burch's for "the goods" and for such a fun visit!

letting go

Dear Brazil,

I'm breaking up with you. The separation just isn't working for me anymore. Have you noticed how ridiculously long my front page is getting? I couldn't bear the thought of parting with our last memories together and letting them fall away into the archives, so I kept you hanging on.

But let's face it. It's time to move on. I have a new life now. You changed me. You opened my eyes, you won my heart, and I'll never forget you.

Love, Me

For our final farewell, I leave you my favorite sand creation:

I borrowed this picture from Dixie's blog. I remember seeing this very sandcastle down the beach from us in Barra da Tijuca. We loved driving along Copacabana and Ipanema and admiring the amazing sand creations. At Easter time, someone created a sand rendition of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. It was amazing!

after the storm

The Texas sky just following the storm:

So, we successfully rode out our first hurricane. It felt like an earthquake, except it lasted for hours. It was a long and scary night for us first-timers, but thankfully the kids slept through it in our walk-in closet away from most of the noise and movement. Just as we were pulling the BBQ out of the garage to grill up some of our rapidly thawing meat Saturday afternoon, our power came back on after only 12 hours or so of being out. We were prepared for several hot days without power, but fortunately we have underground power lines and small trees. Despite some minimal damage, our neighborhood came through fairly unscathed.

We feel very blessed, especially as we watch the news of many of the other neighborhoods of Houston and the coastal cities and the extensive damage and flooding they have. School and work are canceled for a couple days at least. Our own suburb is scattered with numerous trees entirely uprooted, tree limbs down, debris throughout the streets, fences down, street and building signs knocked over, even a roof blown off a building. It also appears that most of the area still doesn't have power. It's crazy, and we're probably one of the better off areas. It's amazing how powerful the wind and water can be and all the spiritual/life analogies about storms, weathering the storm, being deeply rooted, etc. seem to have much more meaning to us now!

there's a storm comin'

So, we're earthquake folks. I've got those drills and procedures down but we're entirely new to this hurricane thing.

We're taking the crash course from the news media and preparing for this major storm headed right at us.

Although parts of Houston are being evacuated, we're being told to stay put and prepare for power outages and possible damage from winds and storm surge.

I'm sure we'll be fine. We're prepared. Maybe just pray for my kids who tend to flip out over mild thunderstorms.

So far we've convinced them that it's going fun spending Saturday (riding out the storm) camped out in Mom and Dad's walk-in closet (because aside from the bathroom, it's the only place in the house with no direct exposure to windows) all snuggled together with games, snacks, the DVD player, and maybe even FLASHLIGHTS!

Patriotism

As still fairly new Americans-back-in-America, we are basking in our status as patriots as opposed to

ex-patriots, a title I've never quite understood for Americans living abroad. (So we lived in another country for a time. It's not like we abandoned ship or anything, but whatever.)

Amid our sense of patriotism, we find ourselves wrapped up in current politics more than ever before and are stoked about this:

Along with our hearty helping of national patriotism, we're beginning to sample the local patriotism here in Texas.

Matt has an official TX driver's license.

Our van has converted too with new plates.

The Sequoia and I go in for our makeovers on Friday.

And we all laughed right out loud when Garrett told us that every morning in school they say the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the Pledge to Texas.

These people are SERIOUS about patriotism.

**Late addition** Matt wanted me to clarify some statements:

1) I misspelled ex-patriate. Maybe the correct spelling makes it sound a little less un-American?

2) We are STOKED about the enthusiasm Palin has brought to the Republican party. Honestly, McCain has never been our favorite. We wanted Romney. We like Palin though, and have a lot of respect for the woman. With feel much better now about our options going to the polls.

We are, however, getting a little tired of hearing the same soundbites from both campaigns, and want to start hearing more about the real issues.

Okay. Enough on that. On to the storm that's brewing...

round two

A quick forced picture and off he went,

Out of the car, never looking back.

Go get 'em, Big E!