Greetings from Vienna

Hello, my lovelies.

Turns out I missed my flight to Norway. I won't go into the tears and frustration, but instead will tell you I salvaged my weekend by flying to Vienna to visit the family of my dear friends Becca and Benj. It's been glorious weather and I still got to visit continental Europe for the first time. {Can I also tell you that Saturday night was the first night I slept in a bed since Tuesday? Fantastic...}

As for visiting my friends Inki and Robert, I will be in Norway May 17th next year ... I'm committed!

love to you all,
kt

Hello Tommy!

I'd like to introduce you all to my newest nephew:

- Born 10:25 pm Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
- 7lbs 9 oz

It seemed probable a week ago that Nephew #2 would arrive before my trip, but today I acknowledged that I would probably not meet my nephew until after I returned.

I was wrong!

When I got out of the temple tonight, I had a voice message that Laura had gone into labor. I was able to go directly to the hospital and meet Tommy just 10 minutes after he was born :)

He looks a lot like Brady - he is beautiful! I got to cuddle him while Laura ate and both of them are very healthy and doing "more than perfect" (says the Nurse).

I'm so grateful I got to be there with my sister (and brother-in-law and mother) and to welcome little Tommy here. I know Brady will love him and be a great older brother. I love nephews !!!

Photo #2: Laura (mom) with baby Tommy

Photos #3 & #4: Baby Tommy just received eye ointment and is being cuddled by Brock (dad)

Gone Fishing

Dearest Friends,

My backpack arrived today and so I am leaving for 2 weeks on vacation. I am going to Europe* and the exotic Midwest**.

I love you, I'll miss you and my iPhone, but it's time I go exploring...

xoxo
kt

*London, Bergen & Oxford
**St. Louis & Chicago

To the mothers in my life,

Grandma,
When I am with you, I am home. Being with you fills my heart with a deep warmth and sense of security - and gives me a vision of who I am beyond age and circumstance. I think that must be what heaven is like.

Mom,
I love your guileless wit, your tender heart, and your rich gifts with language. You are beautiful, patient, and wise. The lessons you have taught me of equality and compassion still resonate in my head; you have never talked "down" to me, nor have you ever taught me that I am "above" anyone else. Thank you for loving me no more and no less than your other children.

Laura,
Motherhood has crowned you with a beauty, grace, and serenity I hope to have someday. Your son is a testament to your sweet nature and disciplined character. "By their fruits ye shall know them," indeed. The love I have for your son, which is often expressed on this blog, is only an appendage of my love for you.

love
kt

Laura as a Baby

Adorable, no? Just thought you should all see where my nephew gets his dimples and smiling eyes... xoxo

Quote of the Day

Be silly, be honest, be kind.
R. W. Emerson

Happy Birthday, Brady!

oh, how I love him...
{sigh}

A House of God

Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a
house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a
house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;

Doctrine & Covenants 88:119

Should* I ever express, with a sigh, my love for the Temple while in the presence of my father, he would surely reply (without a pause, and without variation), "you know, kt, Jesus Christ is the pattern for our lives, and the temple is the pattern for our homes."

One of my father's most effective parenting methods has been consistent, strategic communication** and his practice in this case does not vary. And so I have thought about the principles behind how the temple is managed and decorated - with the aim of executing those strategies effectively, albeit differently, in my own home.

Order and Cleanliness
One of my resolutions this year is to have "a place for everything and everything in its place" - and working toward this has been incredibly satisfying. Moving twice in the last 9 months has given me ample opportunity to purge my possessions. Even my car is tidy in this moment.# Truly, I've exceeded my expectations for myself.## The final frontier is my small bookshelf and coming up with a system to manage my bills / personal papers.

Holiness
Let me hang the proverbial WIP sign on this one. After hearing secondhand about a wonderful address on worthy music, I have been trying to purge my iTunes and DVD collections. This is really challenging for me. Not because I have anything 'black,' but of course I have lots of 'gray' (I will reserve my preferred 'grey' spelling for good greys. like shoes.). Do certain songs by the Beatles and Michael Jackson get grandfathered in? What about movies with fast cars and fast women (or ballerina dancers for that matter..) ? It's a difficulty, and I'm working through it.

Appearance
I have strong convictions about the relationship between the spirit and body. If the temple is a metaphor for our bodies and a pattern for our homes, then the appearance of our homes must also be significant. I don't mean tidiness/cleanliness, but the actual decoration.

But surely my apartment does not need to be decorated exactly like a temple, right? (right??) Firstly, I've seen quite the variation in temple decor. Secondly, I like lots of bright colors and whilst some temples have quite a bit of color, I find it is more subdued than I would like in my own home. Thirdly, as the function of a home varies from a temple, so (I presume) the execution of these principles may.

And so, let's keep this high level. Here are the patterns I've noted thus far:

• Motifs are simple, primarily organic, but often geometric.
• Artwork is not exclusively "religious," but may depict nature, or family life (emphasizing local history /culture).
• White and gold are used extensively. Other commonly used colors include green, purple, and pink (again, colors often found in nature).
• Lots of wood, stone, glass, mirrors, chandeliers.
• An impression of light, simplicity, and open space.

I love the idea of strategically decorating my home using similar principles. I may use this as my "best" in the good better best spectrum. While I could end up collecting quite a bit of pop art (I love movies, pop culture, etc.), what would that emphasize and romanticize to my {future} children? What would I find myself thinking about when I am home in my leisure time? If the artwork reflects the beautiful world God has created, the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, and the joy of family, I can see that supporting the strategy for keeping an eye single to the glory of God and raising children to do so as well. I think that the more I model my home's decor after the temple, the more the temple will seem "like home" to me and my {future} family. The temple may be more soft, more sober, more subtle; but I would love for it to seem familiar - perhaps even an extension - of home.

* hypothetically speaking, I mean.
** remind me to give further evidence of this later...
# I consider my car to be an extension of my home. Indeed, I consider my personal email inbox and my work cubicle to be extensions as well.
## did I mention they were low?

Hooray for May!

I have to say that even MY love for poems has been satiated by National Poetry Month and I greet the month of May with relief. It will take something truly splendid to bring another poem anytime soon (You have my permission to take that as a challenge. However, if I were you, I'd save it for August's Haiku Challenge). Who knew that 30 poems would exhaust my supply and test my resourcefulness? Surely, I did not.

Anyway, it's now May. And May is all about...

Mums!

So check these out:

Scary
Sad
Sweet
and
Real





ps. I sometimes wonder what kind of mum I will be. Here's my guess:

• bossy
• charming
• preachy
• entertaining
• exacting
• affectionate
• always right

Covenants: Source of Power

{I wrote this for my ward's May 2009 newsletter}

Last August, my cousin, 30, and his wife, 27, were in perfect health and beauty, but within the course of an afternoon, a private plane crash left them both severely burned – even in critical condition. Our family was filled with great pain and anxiety by the thought of the physical, mental, and emotional burdens they would now carry.

During this time, I found that the covenants made in the temple increased in significance and tenderness. As I attended regularly and performed each ordinance, I thought of how each promise I received had also been made to my cousins. The promise of the resurrection became more dear, physical blessings more tender.

In the past 9 months, our family has witnessed many miracles of healing. Most marvelous of all: seeing my cousin and his wife greet and bear these burdens with the endurance of faith. Their strength is a gift from God, given through the temple covenants they have made and kept.

In his recent conference address, “The Power of Covenants,” Elder Christofferson taught that God is the source of moral and spiritual power:

“The source [of power] is God. Our access to that power is through our covenants with Him. [And] we enter into covenants by priesthood ordinances.”

Elder Christofferson goes on to identify three ways that making and keeping covenants with God “gives us power to smile through hardships, to convert tribulation into triumph, to be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and bring to pass much righteousness.”

1. Gifts and Blessings - Obedience to covenants brings “a continual flow of blessings”.

"And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them" (1 Nephi 17:3)

2. Increased Faith - “[Covenants] produce the faith necessary to persevere and to do all things that are expedient in the Lord.”

"It was [faith] that enabled the ancient saints to endure all their afflictions and persecutions, and to take . . . not only the spoiling of their goods, and the wasting of their substance, joyfully, but also to suffer death in its most horrid forms; knowing (not merely believing) that when this earthly house of their tabernacle was dissolved, they had a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (2 Cor. 5:1)" (Lectures on Faith [1985], 67).

3. The Bestowal of Divine Power – “In all the ordinances, especially those of the temple, we are endowed with power from on high. This power of godliness comes in the person and by the influence of the Holy Ghost.”

With Elder Christofferson, I testify that through sacred covenants we can grow in faith and godliness. I have witnessed the power of covenants in the life of my family and hope to feel their transforming power over the course of my own life, and that all of us “after … temptations, and much tribulation, … shall be converted, and [that Christ] will heal [us].” (D&C 112:13)