EXODUS 20
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy astranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in asix days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord bblessed the sabbath day, and challowed it.
It happened one Sunday. I had had a busy week as usual. I was tired and worn out from all the demands of life. I had a to-do list everyday, and that included Sunday.
MARK 2
27 And he (Jesus) said unto them, The asabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
I felt spiritually stunted. I dreaded everything I "had" to do on Sundays, even including going to Church. And I knew it wasn't right; some changes had to be made.
ELDER DALLIN H. OAKS (Good, Better, Best)
We should begin by recognizing the reality that just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for doing it. The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives.
Jesus taught this principle in the home of Martha. While she was “cumbered about much serving” (Luke 10:40), her sister, Mary, “sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word” (v. 39). When Martha complained that her sister had left her to serve alone, Jesus commended Martha for what she was doing (v. 41) but taught her that “one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (v. 42). It was praiseworthy for Martha to be “careful and troubled about many things” (v. 41), but learning the gospel from the Master Teacher was more “needful.” The scriptures contain other teachings that some things are more blessed than others (see Acts 20:35; Alma 32:14–15).
So I took back my Sabbath. I still had to play the organ at Church every other month, but that meant that every other month, I did not! I still had to set up and study for Seminary because I had class the next day, but as a covenant commitment, it was a worthy and needful thing to do on God's Holy Day.
But the change I made is right in front of you. I stopped the blog. At first, I felt it was only temporary, but as the quality of my Sabbaths increased, the less desire I had to tie myself down to it every week. There have been a few comments about it, but not enough outrage to make me feel guilty about. My mother suggested that maybe I could do a small one once a month. So here, six days into November, I will give you October. We will see if it continues past that.
Downer
I was asked if I had stopped because of something I was embarrassed or sad about. Now, that wasn't the reason for stopping, but I could see how you might think that. Because, life isn't always hunky-dory, and we were facing something I was very anxious about.
We went through bankruptcy. This is very embarrassing for me. I feel like I'm a reasonable, intelligent person, but I have a serious math phobia. Ken, admittedly, has been very apathetic towards our finances and everything I try he'll jump into, mess around with, and I'll give up on it, leaving it to him. Then he gets tired of it and nobody's paying attention. So, we'd gotten into a big mess.
Though, to be honest, the biggest part of our mess wasn't entirely our fault. We had a house in Altus that we could not sell (upside down because of debt, that WAS our fault) and could not rent because we couldn't afford to fix major issues. The house had been kind of a lemon from Day One.
We had to hire a lawyer, do a lot of paperwork, and go to court on October 2nd. I would get grumpy every time I had to do something for it because I hated the fact that we had to do it! I was afraid to go to court, afraid of being accused and belittled and shamed.
Which wasn't the case at all. The lawyer's office had compiled all of our paperwork, we only had to show it to the clerk and affirm it was us and that all the information was correct. I walked out of there feeling much better about the whole thing. I felt a WHOLE LOT better when, a couple weeks ago, we received a letter from the court releasing us from our responsibility for the house.
Now, that is only part of dealing with the problem, we know. We are also attending our church's financial self-reliance classes religiously (no pun intended). We've read the information before; it really isn't new to us. But...the group setting, the support of partners, the sympathies of others enduring similar challenges - THAT has made all the difference. We're on board together and talk weekly about things (not all financial). It's helping a lot: finances, marriage, family, etc. For the first time in our whole marriage, I feel like we're getting things under control. Crazy, huh?
By the way, we're using Google Sheets to keep track of our budget. They have a budget template already set up, so much easier than reinventing the wheel! It's simple to use and we can both access it from our phones and the computer. We looked into a lot of crazy/expensive/complicated things. But we research this out, even watching videos on how to use it (thanks YouTube!). This was the best option for us and we highly recommend it!
The Girlfriend
You've heard rumors, but this is Jonathan we're talking about. I sometimes call him Leo the Late-Bloomer because he does not progress (read: grow up) quickly. For example, he dragged his feet when it came to driving. I told him, he would enjoy it, get to love the freedom it gave him, and wonder what he ever hesitated about. When he finally got around to it, he found out: Mom was right.
I said the same thing about dating: get going and you'll love it! He'd gone out - once - with a girl from the YSA ward, but after the first experience, he wasn't really that excited about continuing. He likes girls; he's just shy/scared.
Well, there's a relatively newly baptized member in our branch: Allison. She goes to USAO where she's studying to be a math or chemistry teacher. She's a cute, smart, super-nice girl and we hit it off at church right away. I've even picked her up a time or two. Jonathan didn't know her, but said she should think about going to the YSA ward. I suggested we invite her to dinner the next time the sister missionaries came over and he could talk to her about it. But I warned him...she's cute!
I knew he thought that during and after the dinner. He was tongue-tied and hardly said a thing to her at dinner! But she texted me (yes, I had her phone # before he did!) asking for his number since she didn't get the info about the YSA ward. They texted and agreed they'd go together to the ward that Sunday. By the end of church, on the ride home from Norman, he'd gotten up the courage to ask her out!
And that, as they say, is that. It didn't take long for them to be more than just dating. They are boyfriend/girlfriend and the teasing gets pretty crazy here. He goes over to USAO a lot to hang with her, her roommates, and her friends. She comes here for dinner, Sunday activities, Family Home evening. She even moved her records to the YSA ward.
I refuse to speculate where it's going, though I do know Christmas plans are in the making. She gets along great with the family, even with Ken's weirdness! Analiese is friends with her, too, and she's helping Analiese with her math and chemistry. I know Jonathan is very happy and gets antsy missing her when she goes out of town. We tease him A LOT. He's twitterpated!
Halloween
You know this is a big one in our home. Ken has always loved it and I think Analiese isn't far behind. She had the house pretty much decorated for it the day after my birthday in September.
She calls this the year I had fun making up her face. She wanted to do special things for the Halloween dance. Some character from a game called "Five Nights at Freddy's" named The Puppeteer. She showed me what she wanted and I did it. And when it was done, it freaked me out! It was great, I did a good job, but spooky!
Then, the day before Halloween, at Youth Activity, she wanted me to do a spiderweb on her face. I think she meant a little one on her cheek, but...OVERACHIEVER! Actually, it looked pretty cool, too.
She had to work on Halloween, so she couldn't dress up. She did put on black lipstick and black eyeshadow. But nothing near as fun as what we did earlier! She was kind of bummed she had to work and couldn't dress up. But I think the other days made up for it.
TEACHING
Seminary, as always, has been a great, spiritual ride. Sometimes a squirrelly ride, too! I wonder where some of them get their energy that early in the morning. I understand the ones who are dozy...
VK has been interesting. New Chinese government regulations will soon affect my ability to teach a couple of lessons after Seminary. I'll only be able to on the weekends and in the evenings. Still, I am seeing a reduction in weekday evening bookings, though Fridays and Saturdays are booked full! But I'll only really be able to earn good cash on holidays and vacations, it seems. I haven't gotten any new certifications lately. I haven't had the time, energy or desire to do so.
I have also been tutoring one student for EPIC charter school. I really haven't put myself out there with advertising, but I've been afraid to overbook with everything else I'm doing (like traffic control: who can drive what where and who do I need to drive where). This one student, though, is a doozy. He has autism, ADHD and possibly ODD. We've been kicked out of the library as a place to meet and now we've been meeting weekly at a Behavioral counselor's office. Seriously. In fact, it's been more like therapy (for him and his mom), than it has been tutoring him in writing.
I prep for these sessions for hours, trying to find ways to tempt, coerce, and coax him into doing his writing. I do not know how much longer I can keep doing it, though. He acts out, seeking attention, and is rarely cooperative. He talks violently, tries to act violently (but has a begrudging respect for me, so he doesn't), and does whatever inappropriate thing he can get away with. Like drawing a male cat. Anatomically correct. His writing will not improve until his behavior improves. I am not trained to work with that. I dread going to our sessions.
On the sad-but-true good side, it's not going to last much longer. I tried to send in my October invoice to EPIC, but they said he only had $10 in learning funds left. Also, he's about to get kicked out of their program because - surprise! - he's not doing his work. His mom took him out of school because of all the trouble he was causing there, but he's only gotten worse at home. I sympathize with his situation; his home life isn't great and he wasn't dealt a decent hand in life. But I'm not doing this for free and I'm barely doing this for money. I'm not trained for this and my nerves (even though I'm holding myself together admirably when I'm with him) are fraying. We'll see how this plays out.
CONFERENCE!
The best thing EVER! I saw a sister in our branch at the store the day after conference and she said, "Maybe I'm getting old, but doesn't conference just seem to get better and better each time?" I don't agree with the former, but the latter is so TRUE!
I learned things that helped me re-evaluate goals. I had answers to prayers. (Actually, all of conference congealed into one big answer to a major issue I was having!) I got ideas for Seminary lessons, and I felt so much love and support from Heavenly Father!
I was able to attend all the sessions, including the Women's session. On Saturday, between the morning and afternoon sessions, Ken, Jonathan & I went to the Rock Island Art Festival downtown and enjoyed a food truck lunch! I don't know why these events are always planned on conference weekends, but we can enjoy them in between! I had (fresh, homemade) potato chip BBQ brisket nachos. So fattening, so good!
The temple announcements are always exciting, but I was super happy to hear of the one scheduled to be build in Arkansas. We have friends in both Bentonville (where the temple will be built) and Little Rock. Currently, they either have to come to our OKC temple (4 hours) or go to Memphis TN (? hours). This is a great blessing!
The Girlfriend
You've heard rumors, but this is Jonathan we're talking about. I sometimes call him Leo the Late-Bloomer because he does not progress (read: grow up) quickly. For example, he dragged his feet when it came to driving. I told him, he would enjoy it, get to love the freedom it gave him, and wonder what he ever hesitated about. When he finally got around to it, he found out: Mom was right.
I said the same thing about dating: get going and you'll love it! He'd gone out - once - with a girl from the YSA ward, but after the first experience, he wasn't really that excited about continuing. He likes girls; he's just shy/scared.
Well, there's a relatively newly baptized member in our branch: Allison. She goes to USAO where she's studying to be a math or chemistry teacher. She's a cute, smart, super-nice girl and we hit it off at church right away. I've even picked her up a time or two. Jonathan didn't know her, but said she should think about going to the YSA ward. I suggested we invite her to dinner the next time the sister missionaries came over and he could talk to her about it. But I warned him...she's cute!
I knew he thought that during and after the dinner. He was tongue-tied and hardly said a thing to her at dinner! But she texted me (yes, I had her phone # before he did!) asking for his number since she didn't get the info about the YSA ward. They texted and agreed they'd go together to the ward that Sunday. By the end of church, on the ride home from Norman, he'd gotten up the courage to ask her out!
And that, as they say, is that. It didn't take long for them to be more than just dating. They are boyfriend/girlfriend and the teasing gets pretty crazy here. He goes over to USAO a lot to hang with her, her roommates, and her friends. She comes here for dinner, Sunday activities, Family Home evening. She even moved her records to the YSA ward.
I refuse to speculate where it's going, though I do know Christmas plans are in the making. She gets along great with the family, even with Ken's weirdness! Analiese is friends with her, too, and she's helping Analiese with her math and chemistry. I know Jonathan is very happy and gets antsy missing her when she goes out of town. We tease him A LOT. He's twitterpated!
Halloween
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| Dino dressed up for Halloween! |
She calls this the year I had fun making up her face. She wanted to do special things for the Halloween dance. Some character from a game called "Five Nights at Freddy's" named The Puppeteer. She showed me what she wanted and I did it. And when it was done, it freaked me out! It was great, I did a good job, but spooky!
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| Ken went with her to the dance (he drove & stayed). I did his face, too. |
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| Analiese with friends (and my past online students)! |
Then, the day before Halloween, at Youth Activity, she wanted me to do a spiderweb on her face. I think she meant a little one on her cheek, but...OVERACHIEVER! Actually, it looked pretty cool, too.
She had to work on Halloween, so she couldn't dress up. She did put on black lipstick and black eyeshadow. But nothing near as fun as what we did earlier! She was kind of bummed she had to work and couldn't dress up. But I think the other days made up for it.
TEACHING
Seminary, as always, has been a great, spiritual ride. Sometimes a squirrelly ride, too! I wonder where some of them get their energy that early in the morning. I understand the ones who are dozy...
VK has been interesting. New Chinese government regulations will soon affect my ability to teach a couple of lessons after Seminary. I'll only be able to on the weekends and in the evenings. Still, I am seeing a reduction in weekday evening bookings, though Fridays and Saturdays are booked full! But I'll only really be able to earn good cash on holidays and vacations, it seems. I haven't gotten any new certifications lately. I haven't had the time, energy or desire to do so.
 |
| Big Bad Wolf Puppet for a class! |
I have also been tutoring one student for EPIC charter school. I really haven't put myself out there with advertising, but I've been afraid to overbook with everything else I'm doing (like traffic control: who can drive what where and who do I need to drive where). This one student, though, is a doozy. He has autism, ADHD and possibly ODD. We've been kicked out of the library as a place to meet and now we've been meeting weekly at a Behavioral counselor's office. Seriously. In fact, it's been more like therapy (for him and his mom), than it has been tutoring him in writing.
I prep for these sessions for hours, trying to find ways to tempt, coerce, and coax him into doing his writing. I do not know how much longer I can keep doing it, though. He acts out, seeking attention, and is rarely cooperative. He talks violently, tries to act violently (but has a begrudging respect for me, so he doesn't), and does whatever inappropriate thing he can get away with. Like drawing a male cat. Anatomically correct. His writing will not improve until his behavior improves. I am not trained to work with that. I dread going to our sessions.
On the sad-but-true good side, it's not going to last much longer. I tried to send in my October invoice to EPIC, but they said he only had $10 in learning funds left. Also, he's about to get kicked out of their program because - surprise! - he's not doing his work. His mom took him out of school because of all the trouble he was causing there, but he's only gotten worse at home. I sympathize with his situation; his home life isn't great and he wasn't dealt a decent hand in life. But I'm not doing this for free and I'm barely doing this for money. I'm not trained for this and my nerves (even though I'm holding myself together admirably when I'm with him) are fraying. We'll see how this plays out.
CONFERENCE!
The best thing EVER! I saw a sister in our branch at the store the day after conference and she said, "Maybe I'm getting old, but doesn't conference just seem to get better and better each time?" I don't agree with the former, but the latter is so TRUE!
I learned things that helped me re-evaluate goals. I had answers to prayers. (Actually, all of conference congealed into one big answer to a major issue I was having!) I got ideas for Seminary lessons, and I felt so much love and support from Heavenly Father!
I was able to attend all the sessions, including the Women's session. On Saturday, between the morning and afternoon sessions, Ken, Jonathan & I went to the Rock Island Art Festival downtown and enjoyed a food truck lunch! I don't know why these events are always planned on conference weekends, but we can enjoy them in between! I had (fresh, homemade) potato chip BBQ brisket nachos. So fattening, so good!
The temple announcements are always exciting, but I was super happy to hear of the one scheduled to be build in Arkansas. We have friends in both Bentonville (where the temple will be built) and Little Rock. Currently, they either have to come to our OKC temple (4 hours) or go to Memphis TN (? hours). This is a great blessing!
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| Chickasha HS Homecoming Parade (4 of my 6 seminary students are in band!) |
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| This month, the youth showed off their talents. |
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| The sister missionaries left us a note on our mirror! |
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