Last week, I was called to be the Sunday School teacher for the 16-18 yr-old young men and young women. We are studying the same lessons taught in Gospel Doctrine ergo Doctrine and Covenants and Church History. This week's lesson focused on Section 25 which was a revelation given to Emma Smith. I LOVE historical photos, so you can imagine my excitement when I found these gems while preparing my lesson.
Here's a photo of Emma Smith holding her youngest son David who was born about 5 months after the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred. I like studying her face, her real face-the one that shows what she went through and how she felt.
I think we put so much emphasis on the fact that six of Emma's children died in infancy, sometimes we might forget the five children she had that lived to adulthood. Though each infant death was a tragic loss, in my experience five children is joy five times over. (I only have four, but Caitlin brings so much joy, that counts for two.) Anyway, I found these precious photos of the adult children of Joseph and Emma.
This is Julia Murdock Smith (one of the twins adopted by Joseph and Emma when her birth-mother died giving birth to her and her brother). She died at about 49 years of age.
This is Joseph Smith III. My kids like his Napoleon pose. He died at age 82.
This is Joseph & Emma's son Frederick William Granger Smith who died at age 26.
 This is Alexander Hale Smith who reportedly looked the most like his father, Joseph, especially around the eyes. He lived until he was 61 years of age. It's fun to look at his photo next to Emma's and guess that the features he does not share with her might be the ones he got from his father.
 This is Joseph and Emma's last child, David Hyrum Smith on his wedding day. He died at age 51. Well, boring you may say (in the comments section), but fascinating to me. One more quick story. Caitlin's school is selling coffee for their latest fund-raiser. Caitlin felt that it would not be in harmony with her standards and the Word of Wisdom to participate. Usually it isn't too big of a deal if a child does not participate in the school fundraisers, but this time, someone decided to ask each student to make a pledge to sell two bags of coffee. They had a poster for each of them to sign as part of the pledge. Caitlin declined based on her religious beliefs. Her classmates urged her to sign the poster anyway and then just not sell the coffee. She said she did not feel right about making a pledge she had no intention of keeping. The fun thing about Caitlin is that she wasn't frightened by the situation at all; she wasn't worried about what others would think about her. She was just matter-of-fact about it saying, "This is how I feel." Way to go, Caitlin.
I visit teach a dear friend who is preparing to go to the temple for the first time. (In order to maintain proper blog etiquette, I will call her Sister B.) In preparation for this special occasion, my VT companion, who is also a dear friend, arranged a wonderful outing where we all went to the church clothing store together to buy a white dress for Sister B. (My VT companion's name also starts with a B, so I guess I will have to call her Sister BB.) Sister T who is Sister B's VT companion (and a dear friend too) came with us also. We all had the best time.  After we bought the cutest dress for Sister B, we all went to Sister Queen's for lunch. (I know for certain that Sister Queen won't mind at all if I tell you her first name is Dairy.)  Anyway, on our fun outing, we started discussing the rumor that the escalators in the temple would soon be replaced by stairs. I said I would miss the escalators because I always thought about riding to heaven when I used them.  Sister T (who is so much more spiritual than I am) said she would appreciate the new stairs because they would remind her that we have to put in our own effort every step of the way to heaven.  Sister BB said she would just take the elevator. (I just luv Sister BB.)  Now if the escalators are gone when we go in March, Sister B and I will have to decide if we will take the stairs with Sister T or the elevator with Sister BB?  Thank goodness for stairs, escalators and elevators, and that there is a Way provided for us to get to our desired destination.  Special thanks to Caitlin for the photo-realistic renderings of my friends and me on our memorable outing.
 Preston is not engaged yet, though he frequently practices proposing and really enjoys giving valentines to all his GIRLfriends.  Joseph missed his drum and hit his hand giving himself a pretty good bruise.  Preston finished a season of basketball at the Y and will start spring soccer in April.  Caitlin got contacts and finished writing 135 pages of her novel. It always helps to be able to see.  Jacob was selected for Hi-Cap testing to see if he will qualify for the advanced placement program in middle school. We'll know the results of the test in a month or two.
Last Saturday, our family volunteered to vacuum and clean a portion of the church building where we meet on Sundays. When it was time to head over to the building, Caitlin and Joseph, who were both in sweats, asked what was appropriate to wear for cleaning the church. Roger replied, "You can wear whatever you have on. That's just fine." Preston, who had thus far gone unnoticed by his father, squealed with delight. "Alright," he said as he pumped his fist. This is what he had on at the moment.  Unfortunately, lightsabers are not especially effective when it comes to cleaning windows or taking out trash, so Preston ended up changing into something more suitable.
I have it on good authority, that a person in California (but probably not one of my sisters) did not know how to say their name in Pig Latin. Having once attended grade school myself, I understand how vital that skill is. Luckily this victim of such an unfortunate circumstance had Internet access allowing them to Google, "how to say your name in Pig Latin." Low and behold, my little blog came up as the first hit!!! (BTW-it only works if you include the quotation marks.) Since my blog gives the link to http://www.isthisyour.name/, it was actually a helpful source to this person in immediate need of internet guidance. I am so proud of my unintentional random act of blogging kindness, I may just have to mention it when I report my visiting teaching this month.  Also, it has come to my attention, that I am one of the few people in the great big world of blogging (or on the whole Internet for that matter) that has discussed the chinstrap penguin as a personal power animal. I always knew I would have a claim to fame someday, that somehow I would make a unique but significant contribution to humankind. Now it is through random acts of blogging that I have achieved this (albeit momentary) moment of notoriety. So, armed with the knowledge that occasionally someone does actually read my blog and may even in a rare instance gain valuable information from it, I have decided to start a blog about singing. (Now, my biggest fear is that someone interested in singing may actually read it.) You are welcome to take a peak, or even visit it on occasion. It's called The Legato Line.  Anyone who knows me, knows I like to talk about music. Actually, I long to talk about singing and the things I learn as I study and teach much more than anyone really wants to listen. This blog will give me the chance to do that, and maybe if I throw in the words "chinstrap penguins" and "personal power animals" enough, I will get a few readers. Seriously though, isn't it interesting how much the Internet is changing our lives? It is so much easier to learn things, to communicate, to express ourselves and to find others with similar interests with whom to e-socialize. I have a goal that each day I will wonder about something and google it. I call it, "The Daily Wonder." So, I'm curious, What do you google?
I decided to make a Blogger's corner on the right sidebar for things I learn about blogging. If you have questions or input, please feel welcome to post them in the comments section here.
Roger brought a quote home from work and shared it with me today. He knew it was exactly along the lines I've been thinking lately! I want to make a cross-stitch of this saying, or write it in lipstick on my bathroom mirror so I can remember and internalize it. I guess I'll just post it on my blog. "Never try to compel others to change; leave them free to change naturally and orderly because they want to; and they will want to when they find that your change was worthwhile. "To inspire in others a desire to change for the better is truly noble; but this you can do only by leaving them alone, and becoming more noble yourself." Christian D Larson (1874-1954) Mastery of Self I think it takes a lot of courage to give someone the space they need to make a change, but I can see how it works. For example, Roger has lost over 150 pounds in less than two years. He would never think of trying to convince someone else to loose weight, but people ask him all the time what he is doing. Several people have found motivation to make changes in their own lives because he has shown by example that such changes can be worthwhile. A dear friend of mine has a son who has cancer. I have been astounded with the poise and faith that she has shown as she has faced such a difficult time. I asked her how she could be so strong. She said she had been able to increase her participation in activities that strengthened her spirit just before her son's illness was diagnosed. I am amazed at the power that simple conversation had in my life. I have increased my participation in activities that strengthen my spirit because I witnessed that her changes had truly strengthened her. I have noticed that when a change is working in someone's life, it becomes contagious. Other people catch it too. It get's really exciting. It's fun to associate with a group of people who are enthused about changing their own lives but are willing to trust you to make the changes you feel are actually worthwhile. I think of blogging as a big party. I am so grateful that fellow bloggers let me see a little bit of their lives. I love reading about the things they are doing, learning and changing. I have become more politically minded (which is a BIG deal for me). I have more desire to be a better writer and a better cook. I want to hang cute vinyl crafts in my home. I have made changes in my life without even thinking about it because of my sweet blogger friends. Thank you. This is fun.
1. Post 25 random things about myself. 2. Give birth to octuplets and then find out I already have six kids at home. 3. Admit to past crushes by blog. I only do that by phone and only about Donny Osmond. (I was really young.) 4. Send a message in a bottle only to have it returned marked "Not at this address." 5. Tell a joke that’s not funny. Oops, I just did. 6. Play professional ice hockey. 7. Find a snake in my washing machine. 8. Wait a whole week to see the next episode of Lost.9. Grow a beard. 10. Discover I was a dumb blonde in a previous life. (No, not twice!) 11. Perform with a smelly accompanist. 12. Find a zit inside my nose. 13. Find out I am actually Darth Sidious undercover. 14. Become perfect in this life. (No fun. No fun.) 15. Realize I've forgotten my own birthday. 16. See the back of Mount Rushmore. 17. Eat a broken banana. 18. Find out my life history is not a true story. 19. Realize that it’s not over until I sing. 20. Go skydiving with a broken parachute. 21. Spill a word wrong. 22. Find out I’m really normal after all. 23. Join Mensa – whatever that is. 24. Mistake Times New Roman for the baptismal font. 25. Look in the mirror one day to discover that I look like subject of The Scream.
Over the years we have come up with many ways to make our family scripture study more meaningful, or at least ways to keep us focused on the task at hand.  A few years ago while we were studying the Old Testament, every time we came to a verse that began, "And the Lord spake unto Moses" we would have Caitlin read that phrase. It got to the point where we would say, "Caitlin" and she would say, "And the Lord spake unto Moses" without even looking down at her bible. 
While studying the Book of Mormon, we started a tradition where each time it said "chief," the kids would give an Indian yelp. We had to stop that after a while, though, because it distracted from the spirit. It also scared me.
Last year, we read the New Testament and found that portions of it were harder to understand than the Old Testament. When we finally got to Revelation, I noticed that after too many months of reading the epistles, we were just reading words and not really getting into the fabulous imagery in Revelation. I just couldn't sit by as we read about beasts, thundering and lightnings, fire and destruction with no inflection at all; reading as if we were in the fast lane on the freeway going at least 5 miles-per-hour over the speed limit. My husband and children are really bright, so I assumed they could understand all that imagery at high speeds, but not me. I was missing out. My blond covered grey matter just couldn't keep up. Besides, why not enjoy some of the drama of Revelation while reading it.
So I proposed a contest. (Nothing like a contest to increase spirituality.) I suggested that at the end of each evening's scripture study, we would vote for the person who read it with the most expression by holding up our fingers, 1 for dad, 2 for mom, 3 for Joseph and so on. Knowing my children's almost too-well established self-esteems, I added a rule that no one could vote for themselves. Otherwise, we would have had a six-way tie each night.
It has revolutionized the way we read scriptures. (Now we don't tend to stay with the same scripture reading tradition for more than a year, so don't be surprised if we come up with something else in a while, but this has worked for several months.) Sometimes, we give little campaign speeches offering special favors in return for votes. If we have guests, we add them into our mix and vote for them too. (Somehow the guests always win.) Sometimes we read with our British accents, and once I read a conference talk with my Transylvanian vampire accent. (I won that night.) Roger has banned my vampire accent. He says it's not reverent enough. (I think he just doesn't want Caitlin thinking about Twilight while we are trying to study the gospel.) Now we are reading the Doctrine and Covenants. Joseph likes to read the word, "Behold" in his deep authoritative bass tone. Everyone loves his "Behold" voice so much, and he wins so much of the time because of it, we all fight over the verses that say "Behold" trying to imitate him but never succeeding because he is just the best.
Now, lest you get the wrong impression, we are not silly the whole time we are reading the scriptures. Just a smattering of family humor keeps us engaged.
I hope you don't think this was a boast post either. I tried to be totally humble in the way I subtly let you know we have studied the entire standard works together including every single word of the Old Testament. Yes, completely, totally humble. Like I always am. (Maybe I'm the real reason we have to have the no-voting-for-yourself rule?)
 Anywho, one more fun tradition. Up until this year, Preston was too young to take a turn reading, so for his contribution to family scripture study, we would have him hand out the scriptures. I was joking one night that someday in the distant future, we would be gathered as a family with grandchildren and great grandchildren and it would still be the duty/privilege of Preston's descendants to hand out the scriptures. Then making up the name of a future grandchild I said in my perfect replica of a granny voice, "Erastus George, will you hand out the scriptures?" Well, the name stuck, and now, whoever is assigned to hand out the scriptures goes by the name Erastus George for the study period. The sad thing is, now my children may feel obligated to actually name one of their children Erastus George. How hip. Actual Dramitization. Not a real scripture reading event.
This week we celebrated Preston!  Mom says, "Preston is a sweet little dude. He is charming and fun. He is a good reader and enjoys going to school. His endearing personality is enjoyed by friends young and old."  Jacob says "Preston is happy to do things and he's cute."  Caitlin says, "Preston is energetic and funny." Preston started basketball this week. He is really excited about basketball. That's one of the best things about Preston; he gets genuinely excited about so many things. You can celebrate Preston too! What do you like about him?
So we had three great speakers in sacrament meeting today. Caitlin was the youth speaker and of course, she did a great job. To read her talk click here. The second speaker was a sister I truly admire and like to quote because she says really profound things. The third speaker was a brother who is one of my all-time favorite speakers. So wow, the meeting was a real treat. The subject was adversity and the brother who was speaking was talking about how it is important to endure to the end in adversity. The way he said endure sounded a little like endear, so from that I got a little bonus sermon. I have found that my trials have forced me to rely on the Lord in intimate ways, to forge a really close friendship with him and to cherish his promptings and his tender mercies. Through the process I have let God and his words become more precious and dear to me; I have endeared through adversity. So, "Endear to the end" seems to be a really appropriate phrase to me. It reminds me that the gospel is about love: love of God, love of Christ and his teachings, love of our family members and love of God's children. I would love to hear your thoughts on "Endear to the end." Well, I hope I haven't offended you by being all spirchul on my blog. I prefer to write silly things, so next time maybe I'll tell you about my adventures as a Dumb Blonde Relief Society Counselor. Each Sunday I come home with new stories of really great blunders starring ME! Here's a recording of our ward choir singing a Christmas song featuring Caitlin on the Bells. Joseph is singing tenor.
Overcoming AdversityFor much of the week it was unclear to me exactly what I should say to you today. I was asked to speak to you on the topic of adversity and explain to you that with the assistance of our Heavenly Father we can overcome all things. But since this week has been particularly difficult for me, writing this talk wasn’t as easy as I had thought it would be. As I was searching for some inspiration in some of the General Conference talks from last October I was struck by what Elder B. Wirthlin said in his talk: Come What May, and Love It. He said: “You may feel singled out when adversity enters your life. But the dial on the wheel of sorrow eventually points to each of us. At one time or another everyone must experience sorrow. No one is exempt.” I believe that this is very true. Everyone at some point in their life will experience some form or another of adversity. This does not mean that we will all face the same trials, but each person has to face adversity in order to grow. When we think of adversity, our thoughts are often turned to those who have gone through some of life’s more serious trials, such as the loss of a limb, cancer, being the only one in your family left alive after a devastating natural disaster and other similar situations. But the word “adversity” can refer to much smaller things as well, such as the everyday struggles we may have at school, with our friends, our family and with ourselves. All types of adversity—big or small—can be frustrating. But the Lord is there to help. For several years I struggled with problems with my thinking. I often felt like my brain was a senseless blob of Jello that could never be molded into something beautiful. However, through patience and faith, I was able to follow the promptings of the spirit and the advice of my parents so that I could discover that certain types of exercise could transform my brain into what it needed to be in order to function properly. Because of this, I no longer have to fight to make sense of things as I had to before. I am able to focus the creativity I have been given into my art, writing and music where it can not only make my life more enjoyable, but the lives of others as well. This has truly been a great blessing in my life. I also believe that no matter how severe or seemingly insignificant your trials may be, God won’t ignore your needs. He doesn’t choose who he helps first through their adversities based on the enormity of their circumstances. God has his own plan for when and how he will help each person though their own adversities. Just because someone with what seems to be a greater trial is tended to first in some occasions, that does not mean God won’t help you as well. He understands what you’re going through and only wants you to be happy. There are a lot of great things we can learn from the experiences we have here on this earth. I do not think I would fully appreciate being able to have full use of my mind if I had not at first understood what it was like not to be able to. And similarly, sometimes it is hard for us to truly understand what happiness is until we’ve experienced the opposite. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said: “The Lord, Jesus Christ, is our partner, helper and advocate. He wants us to be happy. He wants us to be successful. If we do our part, he will step in.” I testify to you that if we pray diligently to the Lord and have faith that he will help us through our adversities, he will be there for us. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
So, I found this website that will tell you how to spell your name backwards (Oh good, because I couldn't figure out how to do that myself) and how to say your name in Pig Latin (another dumb, but funny feature.) It also guestimates how many people in the US have your full name, tells you how to write you name in binary code and the meaning of your first and last names (slightly more interesting and more valuable features.) BUT the best feature of all was that this website tells you what your power animal is - SOMETHING I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW! OF COURSE.Oh, I suppose that now you want to know what my power animal is. Which animal, you wonder is like a guardian angel to me? What creature will be there to help me conquer my darkest fears and lead me to greatness? What, you may ask, is the animal that is always in my dreams and the most likely to be on my charm bracelet or hanging from my rear view mirror?My Personal Power Animal is . . . .The Chinstrap Penguin
 Doesn't it look like me? I could follow this fellow into battle. Waddle my foes to death. BUT, where was my power animal at church today when I was so cold I couldn't stop shaking for the entire three-hour block? Oh, that's right, I don't really believe in power animals. If I did though, I would have been warm at church. A penguin should be able to do that for me, right? At least my power animal has an eternal quality - its smile, or is that a very definate double chin. You decide. (I really hope double chins are not eternal. I do not want to be resurrected with a double chin. One life is enough!) Jacob's power animal is . . . The Giant Weta (Ta Da!)  We couldn't stop screaming when we saw this photo on the internet. The Giant Weta can get up to 8 inches long. I knew Jacob was talented at bugging us, but I didn't know it was his power animal's fault. Talk about inspiring courage, Preston's Personal Power Animal is a . . . Yellow-bellied Weasel (no kidding)  Ahhh! so cute. Now we see where Preston gets it. So here's a few more: Caitin: A Black Widow Spider
Roger: Roughtail Stingray
 Joseph: Angora Rabbit
Melinda's Relatives
 Kimball: White-lipped Peccary
 Grandpa Davenport: Desert Dwarf Mongoose
 Grandma Davenport: Madagascan Fossa
 Darian: Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker
 Stevie P: Black Pirranha
 Lance: Amazonian Manatee
 Nathan: Blue Iguana
 Hudson: Blast-ended Skrewt
Roger's Relatives
 James: Ring-tailed Lemur
 Dave: Honey Badger
 Grandpa Lawrence: Leopard Gecko
 Grandma Lawrence: Greater Roadrunner
If you don't like your personal power animal, well, too bad for you. I'm not the one who named you (well, for the most part - I guess I did name four people on this list).
I didn't look up everybody because there are sure a lot of people in the world and that would take a long time. And, I thought you might have some fun looking yourselves up. Besides, you might need some help learning how to spell your name backwards.
Here's the name of the site: http://www.isthisyour.name/
Tell me what your personal power animal is (even if you already know, like from a vision or from seeing it on TV).
|
Caitlin let Joseph read part of her novel, "Angel." He can't wait for her to write more chapters so he can find out what happens next.
Jacob and his Dad built a pinewood derby car together.
Jacob won two races at the pinewood derby, and he received the "Slickest Car Award."
Roger bought season tickets to the Sounders Soccer games for the boys and himself. They appeared on National TV as part of the cheering crowd during the first home game.
Preston started reading chapter books. He is devouring them at an incredible pace. We checked out all 28 "Magic Tree House" books from the library earlier this week. He has read the first four already. He wants nothing to do with those childish picture books.
I learned that Lucy Mack Smith led a group of Saints to Kirtland, Ohio in the spring of 1831. They traveled from Fayette to Buffalo, New York on the Erie Canal. When they arrived at Buffalo, the bay on Lake Erie was completely blocked with ice as you can see in the above satellite image. (I told my Sunday School class that this image was taken on the very day that Lucy Mack Smith arrived in Buffalo. They believed me for about two seconds.) As you know, after she urged the Saints to pray for safe passage, the ice parted allowing their boat to pass and closing right after them.
Here's a photo of Emma Smith holding her youngest son David who was born about 5 months after the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred. I like studying her face, her real face-the one that shows what she went through and how she felt.
