1 Corinthians 3: 8-15

Now every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

A side note

Although I usually just blog quotes, poems, and the occasional lolcat, I do read a number of blogs on fashion and style that I really enjoy. One of them is having a contest to find accessories for her wedding dress and another is having a haiku contest around stila cosmetics. I thought I would post my submissions here for fun and to satiate my interests in fashion and style without dedicating my blog to it (Altho, maybe that will change ... )

To Halve and Halve Not

I am halving my possessions and moving on Friday into a modest studio apartment.

I am excited to own less.

I am interested to see how I like living alone.

(I hope I can fit self and self's stuff in there...)

ps - some things I have given away in efforts to shed stuff: (not an exclusive list)
ice cream maker
board games
sleeping bags (2)
suitcases
pillows
books
books
books

pps - I have to sell my queen size bed *sniff* (it simply won't fit in the new place)

Heavy by Mary Oliver

The time
I thought I could not
go any closer to grief
without dying

I went closer
and I did not die.
Surely God
had His hand in this,

as well as friends,
Still, I was bent,
and my laughter,
as the poet said,

was nowhere to be found.
Then said my friend Daniel
(brave even among lions),
"It's not the weight you carry

but how you carry it--
books, bricks, grief--
it's all in the way
you embrace it, balance it, carry it

when you cannot, and would not,
put it down."
So I went practicing.
Have you noticed?

Have you heard the laughter
that comes, now and again,
out of my startled mouth?

How I linger
to admire, admire, admire
the things of this world
that are kind, and maybe

also troubled--
roses in the wind,
the sea geese on the steep wave,
a love
to which there is no reply?

Isaiah 54:7-8

For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.

Daisies by Mary Oliver

It is possible, I suppose that sometime
we will learn everything
there is to learn: what the world is, for example,
and what it means. I think this as I am crossing
from one field to another, in summer, and the
mockingbird is mocking me, as one who either
knows enough already or knows enough to be
perfectly content not knowing. Song being born
of quest he knows this: he must turn silent
were he suddenly assaulted with answers. Instead
oh hear his wild, caustic, tender warbling ceaselessly
unanswered. At my feet the white-petalled daisies display
the small suns of their center piece, their - if you don't
mind my saying so - their hearts. Of course
I could be wrong, perhaps their hearts are pale and
narrow and hidden in the roots. What do I know?
But this: it is heaven itself to take what is given,
to see what is plain; what the sun lights up willingly;
for example - I think this
as I reach down, not to pick but merely to touch -
the suitability of the field for the daisies, and the
daisies for the field.

Babyhood

Dad's First Birdy

We had a rough weekend as a family, and so my brother-in-law Brock took my dad out golfing tonight to take his mind off of things.

Brock's idea turned out to be completely inspired - because on the 16th hole Dad hit his first birdy ever! Here he is about to finish it off :)

Sunday Will Come by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

[My wife Elisa] was my strength and my joy. Because of her, I am a better man, husband, and father. We married, had eight children, and walked together through 65 years of life.

When President Hinckley spoke at Sister Wirthlin’s funeral, he said that it is a devastating, consuming thing to lose someone you love. It gnaws at your soul. He was right. As Elisa was my greatest joy, her passing is my greatest sorrow.

In the lonely hours I have spent a great deal of time thinking about eternal things. I have contemplated the comforting doctrines of eternal life.

I think of how dark that Friday was when Christ was lifted up on the cross. I think that of all the days since the beginning of this world’s history, that Friday was the darkest.

But the doom of that day did not endure.

The despair did not linger because on Sunday, the resurrected Lord burst the bonds of death. He ascended from the grave and appeared gloriously triumphant as the Savior of all mankind.

Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays.

But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come.

No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, in this life or the next, Sunday will come.

We will all rise from the grave. On that day I will once again hold in my arms my beloved Elisa.

Because of the life and eternal sacrifice of the Savior of the world, we will be reunited with those we have cherished. On that day we will know the love of our Heavenly Father and will rejoice that the Messiah overcame all that we could live forever.

Because of the sacred ordinances we receive in holy temples, death cannot long separate relationships that have been fastened together with cords made of eternal ties.

No matter how dark our Friday, Sunday will come.

Read the full talk here.

Valentine for Ernest Mann by Naomi Shihab Nye

You can't order a poem like you order a taco.
Walk up to the counter, say, "I'll take two"
and expect it to be handed back to you
on a shiny plate.

Still, I like your spirit.
Anyone who says, "Here's my address,
write me a poem," deserves something in reply.
So I'll tell you a secret instead:
poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes,
they are sleeping. They are the shadows
drifting across our ceilings the moment
before we wake up. What we have to do
is live in a way that lets us find them.

Once I knew a man who gave his wife
two skunks for a valentine.
He couldn't understand why she was crying.
"I thought they had such beautiful eyes."
And he was serious. He was a serious man
who lived in a serious way. Nothing was ugly
just because the world said so. He really
liked those skunks. So, he re-invented them
as valentines and they became beautiful.
At least, to him. And the poems that had been hiding
in the eyes of skunks for centuries
crawled out and curled up at his feet.

Maybe if we re-invent whatever our lives give us
we find poems. Check your garage, the odd sock
in your drawer, the person you almost like, but not quite.
And let me know.

Update

Hundreds were fasting for Christian and Stephanie today. It is so great to know that love and faith - made manifest through prayers and fasting - have such a healing power. That God lets us manifest our love in such a way to help each other heal.

Stephanie and Christian have been taken out of trauma, but are still in critical condition. Our family is much more hopeful with tonight's update and know that the progress they have made has been to the credit of their physicians, the faithful prayers and fasting of friends and family, and Stephanie's and Christian's love of and desires to be with their family. We are humbled by the outpouring of love and faith we have felt. Truly this has been a time to turn our hearts to God and to our family.

I know that though this will be an ongoing healing process for Stephanie and Christian, that for them to bear these burdens together will be a great mercy.

I am so grateful to have temple covenants that bind me to my family - and to such wonderful extended family as the Nielsons. They are very dear to me.

I am also grateful for friends and family who strengthen each other with faith, such as Stephanie's dear friend Reachel.

Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to remember Christian and Stephanie. I know that it will bless them as they heal.

Morning Poem by Mary Oliver

Every morning
the world
is created.
Under the orange

sticks of the sun
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again

and fasten themselves to the high branches ---
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands

of summer lilies.
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it

the thorn
that is heavier than lead ---
if it's all you can do
to keep on trudging ---

there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted ---

each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,

whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.

Tragedy

Some of you may know of the private plane crash that my cousin Christian and his wife Stephanie were in on Saturday. They are in critical condition in the Arizona Burn Center. Please join us in praying and fasting for them. You can read updates on Stephanie's sister's blog here.

Enduring Together by Bishop Richard C. Edgley

From bearing one another’s burdens as ward members, we have learned several lessons:

1. The Lord’s organization is fully adequate to know and care for those with even the most dire emotional and spiritual needs.

2. Adversity can bring us closer to God, with a renewed and enlightened appreciation for prayer and the Atonement, which covers pain and suffering in all their manifestations.

3. Members who suffer tragedy firsthand often experience an increased capacity for love, compassion, and understanding. They become the first, last, and often the most effective responders in giving comfort and showing compassion to others.

4. A ward, as well as a family, draws closer together as it endures together—what happens to one happens to all.

5. And perhaps most important, we can each be more compassionate and caring because we have each had our own personal trials and experiences to draw from. We can endure together.

I rejoice in belonging to such a loving and caring organization. No one knows better how to bear one another’s burdens, mourn with those who mourn, and comfort those who stand in need of comfort. I choose to call it “enduring together.” What happens to one happens to all. We endure together.

Read the full talk here.

The only time in my life I've worn glasses

Sunrise by Mary Oliver

You can
die for it-
an idea,
or the world. People
have done so,
brilliantly,
letting
their small bodies be bound
to the stake,
creating
an unforgettable
fury of light. But
this morning,
climbing the familiar hills
in the familiar
fabric of dawn, I thought
of China,
and India
and Europe, and I thought
how the sun
blazes
for everyone just
so joyfully
as it rises
under the lashes
of my own eyes, and I thought
I am so many!
What is my name?
What is the name
of the deep breath I would take
over and over
for all of us? Call it
whatever you want, it is
happiness, it is another one
of the ways to enter
fire.

I love this boy

The Melville Pantry

If you want an insight into my roommates and Melville, this one is pretty great.

Quote of the Day

"I took apart a HP laptop, and it was made of components (transistors, capacitors, circuit board, gold linings and such), you know, the boring usual result of the miniturisation process. When I took apart a Mac, I stumbled upon a world was full of little elves and unicorns who were playing on rolling green hills surrounded by snow-tipped mountains and fields of beautiful flowers that danced in the wind like a Russian ballereena. There was also a rainbow or two there as well.
The HP laptop was surprisingly a little bit heavier, but that's to be expected. Mactops were sprinkled with faerie dust for taking off most of the weight."

slashdot

Young Sea by Carl Sandburg

The sea is never still.
It pounds on the shore
Restless as a young heart,
Hunting.

The sea speaks
And only the stormy hearts
Know what it says:
It is the face
of a rough mother speaking.

The sea is young.
One storm cleans all the hoar
And loosens the age of it.
I hear it laughing, reckless.

They love the sea,
Men who ride on it
And know they will die
Under the salt of it

Let only the young come,
Says the sea.

Let them kiss my face
And hear me.
I am the last word
And I tell
Where storms and stars come from.

Quote of the Day

You need kissing, badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how.

Rhett Butler, Gone with the Wind

iTunes Playlist

My Favourite Book (Stars)
(What A) Wonderful World (Sam Cooke)
Love of my Life (Queen)
How Deep is Your Love (The Bird and the Bee)
A Thousand Tiny Pieces (Sean Hayes)
Love me like the World is Ending (Ben Lee)
You are the Sunshine of my Life (Stevie Wonder)

LOLCAT of the Day

Romans 8:38-39

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Waking from Sleep by Robert Bly

Inside the veins there are navies setting forth
Tiny explosions at the water lines
And seagulls weaving in the wind of the salty blood.

It is the morning. The country has slept the whole winter.
Window seats were covered with fur skins the yard was full
Of stiff dogs and hands that clumsily held heavy books.

Now we wake and rise from bed and eat breakfast!-
Shouts rise from the harbor of the blood
Mist and masts rising the knock of wooden tackle in the sunlight.

Now we sing and do tiny dances on the kitchen floor.
Our whole body is like a harbor at dawn;
We know that our master has left us for the day.

Quote of the Day

There is one virtue, attribute, or principle, which, if cherished and practised by the Saints, would prove salvation to thousands upon thousands. I allude to charity, or love, from which proceed forgiveness, long-suffering, kindness, and patience.

Brigham Young, JD 7:133 34

The Silken Tent by Robert Frost

She is as in a field a silken tent
At midday when the sunny summer breeze
Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent,
So that in guys it gently sways at ease,
And its supporting central cedar pole,
That is its pinnacle to heavenward
And signifies the sureness of the soul,
Seems to owe naught to any single cord,
But strictly held by none, is loosely bound
By countless silken ties of love and thought
To every thing on earth the compass round,
And only by one's going slightly taut
In the capriciousness of summer air
Is of the slightest bondage made aware.

Under the Harvest Moon by Carl Sandburg

Under the harvest moon,
When the soft silver
Drips shimmering
Over the garden nights,
Death, the gray mocker,
Comes and whispers to you
As a beautiful friend
Who remembers.

Under the summer roses
When the flagrant crimson
Lurks in the dusk
Of the wild red leaves,
Love, with little hands,
Comes and touches you
With a thousand memories,
And asks you
Beautiful, unanswerable questions.

Doctrine & Covenants 46:30

He that asketh in the Spirit asketh according to the will of God.

Flashback: Mom

Flashback: Karren, Stu & Laura

Brim With Joy by Neal A. Maxwell

"God is serious about joy." Joy is the essence of what He would have us experience.

Joy is obviously of a higher order than mere pleasure. Pleasure is perishable. It has a short shelf life. Joy, on the other hand, is lasting. It involves the things that really matter, such as being forgiven and forgiving another. One true test of ultimate value has to do with whether or not something is lasting.

Joy has a way of renewing itself, and the ripple effects of joy are constant and ever emanating; joy has a momentum of its own.

When we enlarge our capacity to love, other people become real individuals, not merely functions. Gospel duties cease to be mere routine and become, instead, doors to delight. Every doctrine of the gospel is a door to delight that, when opened, exposes us to a vista of things we have not yet fully comprehended.

Joy will come in a thousand ways--when we see a relationship mended or enriched as between spouses and siblings and friends.

When we reach a point of consecration, our afflictions will be swallowed up in the joy of Christ. It does not mean we won't have afflictions, but they will be put in a perspective that permits us to deal with them. With our steady pursuit of joy and with each increasing measure of righteousness, we will experience one more drop of delight--one drop after another--until, in the words of a prophet, our hearts are "brim with joy" (Alma 26:11).

Read the full talk here.

Have We Not Reason to Rejoice? by Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Have we, amidst all of our challenges, not reason to rejoice?

We all go through different life experiences. Some are filled with joy, and others with sorrow and uncertainty.

Aren’t the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and our membership in His Church great reasons to rejoice?

Wherever you live on this earth and whatever your life’s situation may be, I testify to you that the gospel of Jesus Christ has the divine power to lift you to great heights from what appears at times to be an unbearable burden or weakness. The Lord knows your circumstances and your challenges.

My dear brothers and sisters, there will be days and nights when you feel overwhelmed, when your hearts are heavy and your heads hang down. Then, please remember, Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, is the Head of this Church. It is His gospel. He wants you to succeed. He gave His life for just this purpose. He is the Son of the living God. He has promised:

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

“For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee” (3 Nephi 22:10). “I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer” (3 Nephi 22:8).

My dear friends, the Savior heals the broken heart and binds up your wounds (see Psalm 147:3). Whatever your challenges may be, wherever you live on this earth, your faithful membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the divine powers of the gospel of Jesus Christ will bless you to endure joyfully to the end.

Read the full talk here.

Quote of the Day

Patience is not indifference. Actually, it means caring very much but being willing, nevertheless, to submit to ... what the scriptures call the "process of time."
Neal A. Maxwell

Press Release: The Family, California Marriage, and Proposition 8

As many know, a recent petition placed a constitutional amendment on the November ballot in California. The proposed amendment reaffirms an intiative passed in 2000 defining marriage in California as being between a man and a woman. This year's proposed amendment comes in the wake of the previous initiative being deemed unconstitutional by California judges.

On June 29th of this year, the first presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints distributed a letter to California saints, requesting that all members support the constitutional amendment (proposition 8). In my congregation and others in the Bay Area, this was significant due to both the doctrine (many of us have colleagues / friends who are gay) and the political nature of the request (rarely, if ever in our lifetimes, has the Church requested political activism of the saints).

Yesterday I was given the assignment to mobilize my ward as directed by the stake as the Proposition 8 Coordinator.

I'm pretty overwhelmed by this assignment, but ever since the letter was read, I kept thinking about it - it kept coming up again and again for me. That was in my mind yesterday when I received the assignment and I felt it reaffirmed to me that this assignment is from God.

I personally do not like to be politically proactive because I don't like to get into inflammatory arguments. I don't like to contest others. I also have friends that I care deeply about who will not agree with me on this. But I do know that the sacrifices God may ask me and my generation to make may be different from past generations - but perhaps just as difficult. I also know that true doctrine can be taught in love, even when it is not accepted.

I know that the content / doctrine of this request is true because I know that the Proclamation on the Family given in 1995 is true. I know that the political nature of the request is divine because from what I have read in the Old Testament and in the Book of Mormon, God holds his people accountable for the laws of their country. We will be held accountable if we sit in complacency and do not act in faith.

I know that our country will be blessed as we uphold eternal truths and values. This includes freedom, justice, and family.

James 1:4

Let patience have her perfect work.

Flashback: First Day of School

2 Sam 12:22

While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live?

Quote of the Day

Why waste your time, your talents, your means, your influence in following something that will perish and pass away, when you could devote yourselves to a thing that will stand forever? For this Church and kingdom, to which you belong, will abide and continue in time, in eternity, while endless ages roll along, and you with it will become mightier and more powerful; while the things of this world will pass away and perish, and will not abide in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord our God.

Joseph F Smith

Flashback: Laura & Karren

Flashback: Mom & Karren

Ephesians 4:29-32

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but [only] that which is good . . . [and] edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God. . . .
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you. . . .
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

The Virtue of Kindness by Joseph B. Wirthlin

One way you can measure your value in the kingdom of God is to ask, "How well am I doing in helping others reach their potential? Do I support others in the Church, or do I criticize them?"
If you are criticizing others, you are weakening the Church. If you are building others, you are building the kingdom of God. As Heavenly Father is kind, we also should be kind to others.

Read the full talk here.

John 20:29

blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed

Flashback: Laura & Karren

Happiness

The Indigo Bunting by Robert Bly

I go to the door often.
Night and summer. Crickets
lift their cries.
I know you are out.
You are driving
late through the summer night.

I do not know what will happen.
I have no claim on you.
I am one star
you have as guide; others
love you, the night
so dark over the Azores.

You have been working outdoors,
gone all week. I feel you
in this lamp lit
so late. As I reach for it
I feel myself
driving through the night.

I love a firmness in you
that disdains the trivial
and regains the difficult.
You become part then
of the firmness of night,
the granite holding up walls.

There were women in Egypt who
supported with their firmness the stars
as they revolved,
hardly aware
of the passage from night
to day and back to night.

I love you where you go
through the night, not swerving,
clear as the indigo
bunting in her flight,
passing over two
thousand miles of ocean.

Virtues of the Boring Husband by Li-Young Lee

Whenever I talk, my wife falls asleep,
So, now, when she can't sleep, I talk.
It's like magic.

Say she hasn't had a good night's sleep in a week,
feels exhausted, and lies down early
in the evening,
but begins to toss and turn.

I just lie down beside her,
prop my head up in one hand and say,
"You know, I've been thinking,"

Immediately she calms down,
finds a fetal posture,
and tucks her head under my arm.

I know she lies dispersed, though in one body,
claimed by rabble cares and the need to sleep.

"Will you stay?" she asks.

"I'm right here," I answer.

"Now, what were you saying?" she wonders, and so I talk.

"It isn't that lovers always meet in a garden,"

and already her eyes
get that dizzy look, like she can't focus.

"Go ahead," I tell her, "close your eyes."

"OK," she says,"but keep talking." And so I do.

"It isn't that lovers always speak
together in a house by the sea, or in a room
with shadows of leaves and branches
on the wall and ceiling.

It's that such places emerge
out of the listening
their speaking to each other engenders.
I mean, maybe . . ."

And she sighs. Her breathing begins to slow.
And I remember something I heard somewhere:

Every so many breaths, a sign.
Every so many sighs, sleep.

Or was it: Every so many sighs, death?

I go on talking, now stroking her head,
pushing her hair back from her forehead,
clearing her bright brow,
and listening for her next sigh.

"Maybe the face-to-face true lovers enact
manifests a prior coincidence
of heaven and earth, say, or body and soul,
equal opposites exchanging
and combining properties in perpetual transformation:

shore and not shore, sea and sky,
room and a world, the gazer and the gazed upon."

Little twitches run the length of her, beginning
with her arms, then her legs, then her feet, as though
tensions were being fired from her body.

She mumbles the beginning of a word.
I go on talking.

"Maybe the union of lovers is an instance
of a primary simultaneity, timeless,
from which arises the various shapes of Time and duration:
arrival, departure, waiting, resuming,
fountain, terrace, path, an eave.

And maybe any world is born, is offspring,
of the liaison between
God and Mind,
Mind and Mind's source."

I count her second sigh, lower, longer.

"Or maybe God says I love you! and the whole
universe, consciousness included, is a shape
of that pronouncement.

Or maybe there's no You in that,
but only I love! ringing,
engendering all of space, every quadrant
an expression of God's first nature: I love!

Or maybe a You
arises as echo, the counter-ringing,
to the sovereign I love!

and we're the You to the Source's I,
the second person to God's first personhood.

Then, to surrender any sense of an I
is to feel our true condition, a You
before God, and to be seen.

Being seen: the crowning experience
and mystery of a You.

Maybe, too often, we mistake
the guest for the host,

confusing the I and the You. And yet, maybe
out of that confusion more worlds arise."

By now, she's barely listening, if at all.
I lower my voice and go on rambling,
afraid she'll wake if I stop too soon.

"Maybe love for God amounts
to the Beloved returning
the Lover's gaze.

And out of that look and looking back,
all of our notions
of space, home, distance,
beginning, end, recurrence,
death, debt, fruition, number, weight
emerge; all are issue

of that meeting between
lover and lover, our souls' intercourse
with what it loves."

By now her jaw has gone slack, her fingers loose
where earlier they were clenching the edge of the blanket,
and I'm almost whispering.

"Maybe it's true, what sages have said,
I don't know if I'm remembering it right.
Something about moving up a ladder of love.
Maybe we learn

to love a person, say, first as object,
and then as presence, and then as essence,
and then as disclosure of the divine,

or maybe all at the same time,
or discovering over time
each deeper aspect to be true.

And maybe our seeing it in another
proves that face inside ourselves.

Oh, I don't know. You sleep now."

And then I stop talking, kiss her forehead,
and wait a minute
before leaving the bed and closing
the door behind me.

Close the door. Come lie down.
There's no ocean out there not already in you.

What a narrow residence,
the lifetime of her eyes.

Quote of the Day

Maybe we learn to love a person, say, first as object, and then as presence, and then as essence, and then as disclosure of the divine.
Li-Young Lee

Talk on Service

Last April I gave a talk on Service in my ward as part of being both a new member in my ward and being a part of the Rebuilding Together committee (our ward helped renovate a house in East Palo Alto with Rebuilding Together).

You can download an MP3 of the talk here (Clicking will start the download). It's about 11 minutes in length.

Last Days at Melville

Tender Mercies

Matthew 21:22
And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

God has answered the following prayers this week:
(1) My father no longer has the job he hates, but still has his salary & benefits through the end of the year. He can now focus on finding a job that he likes and still meet his financial obligations.
(2) My friend Brandon emailed me to offer me transportation / lodging for Bruce's wedding in Seattle in August - I was sure on Saturday that I would no longer be able to attend because of the expense of hotels / cabs.
(3) I didn't have to get a root canal on Wednesday - the endodontist was open and honest with me about my options and I may not have to get one at all (at all!).
(4) My mother's physical therapists expect that she will have 100% use of her shoulder by 6 months after the surgery (she had it in March 2008) - originally the doctors projected 12 months.
(5) My brother now has an MBA marketing internship - which begins the Monday after his girlfriend leaves town for the rest of the summer. This means that not only did he get to spend the maximum amount of time with her this summer possible (after being long distance), but he will also have the internship on his resume.
(6) My room is clean.
(7) My work trip got rescheduled - meaning that my roommate will no longer be alone in our house for 8 days before moving to Med School.

iTunes Playlist

Viva la Vida (Coldplay)
Put On Your Sunday Clothes (Hello Dolly)
Sing (The Carpenters)
The Great Beyond (REM)
Miss Sarajevo (U2)
Alone in Kyoto (Air)

Waiting Upon the Lord by Henry B. Eyring

Next time I decide to do something, I think I will ask in prayer, "Heavenly Father, is this what the Lord would have me do?" And I think I will wait upon the Lord until I know. Then I might say, "Please, while I am working at it, can I remember that I am doing it for the Lord?" I promise you that if you will be patient and diligent, you will have a blessing come to you that you will know that you are doing what the Lord would have you do.

Read the full talk here.

LOLCAT of the Day

2 Timothy 1:7

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Quote of the Day

The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her . . . I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little strategems. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her . . .

Antoine de Saint Exupéry, The Little Prince

Strength During Struggles by L. Lionel Kendrick

Fasting and prayer will help us control our thoughts, feelings, passions, and appetites. We can bring these and our bodies under subjection of our spirits. We will experience added spirituality, strength, power, humility, and testimony. We will be able to get answers to our prayers and enjoy feelings of peace and comfort. We will enjoy the companionship of the Spirit. We will experience an increase of love. Ill feelings will be removed from our souls. We will have added power to resist temptations and to overcome weaknesses. We will become free from undue worry. Our faith and hope will be increased. Feelings of doubt and discouragement will be dispelled.

Read the full talk here.

Quote of the Day

What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?
George Eliot

Jude 1:22

And of some have compassion, making a difference

That We May Be One by Henry B. Eyring

We can have His Spirit with us by keeping [the covenant in the Sacrament]. First, we must promise to take His name upon us. That means we must see ourselves as His. We will put Him first in our lives. We will want what He wants rather than what we want or what the world teaches us to want.

Second, we promise always to remember Him. We do that every time we pray in His name. We also keep our promise to remember Him when as families we pray together and when we read the scriptures.

[The faith to keep all of the commandments of God] turns our call as a home teacher or a visiting teacher into an errand from the Lord. We go for Him, at His command... That faith-that the Lord calls servants-will help us ignore their limitations when they reprove us, as they will. We will see their good intent more clearly than their human limitations. We will be less likely to feel offense and more likely to feel gratitude to the Master who called them.

We must speak no ill of anyone. We must see the good in each other and speak well of each other whenever we can... We do not know the hearts of those who offend us. Nor do we know all the sources of our own anger and hurt.

There is a protection against pride, that source of disunity. It is to see the bounties which God pours upon us not only as a mark of His favor but an opportunity to join with those around us in greater service. A man and his wife learn to be one by using their similarities to understand each other and their differences to complement each other in serving one another and those around them.

Read the full talk here.

Press Release: KT's new calling

I was recently called as a gospel doctrine instructor and I taught my first lesson on Alma 17-22. It was the smaller upstairs classroom, so it was much less intimidating. The main points of the lesson were:

Alma 17
- there is great joy in learning that those we love are still our brothers/sisters in the Lord
- preparation for teaching includes fasting and prayer
- fasting and prayer was specifically to be instruments in the hands of God
- immediate response to prayer included comfort, direction (be patient and long-suffering, teach word/doctrine), and promise that yes, they would be instruments in the hands of God
- they supposed their work was great - and Alma says, "assuredly it was."
- their cause was to teach the Lamanites - each of us should consider what our cause is (home/visiting teaching, families/friends, callings, etc.)

Ammon's Experience
- service / faithfulness softened hearts of King Lamoni and his people
- taught pure doctrine with boldness
- was wise, yet harmless
- saw his prayer answered in that the Spirit was poured upon the heads of those he taught
- overwhelming joy
- example of generosity and faithfulness to King Lamoni's father (Ammon sowed)

Aaron's Experience
- imprisoned, mocked, beaten, stripped
- taught King Lamon's father (Aaron reaped)

We can apply the principles fasting, praying, teaching pure doctrine, testifying with boldness, being wise (yet harmless), and sowing / reaping as we go along.

If you can love her without politeness or delicacy, the fox says, love her with your wolf heart.

Jack Gilbert

1 Corinthians 13

Charity is not easily provoked
- How do I react to others? to my circumstances?
- I should replace frustration with perspective. with patience.

Charity is kind

Charity suffereth long

Charity vaunteth not itself
- What exactly is vaunting - what do I do that draws attention to myself? How can I remove such things from my life?
- Vaunting is a frivolous kind of pride.

Charity envieth not
- Am I grateful for my present blessings and circumstances?
- Do I envy my future self?

Charity doth not behave itself unseemly
- Am I light minded? Am I boisterous or rowdy?
- Am I sensitive? Am I careful? Am I tender?

Charity seeketh not her own
- Do I spend time with a select group of friends only?
- Do I seek to serve and bless others I come in contact with?
- Do I seek friendships with those I visit teach or do I simply do my duty?
- How do I use my social time? In indulgent ways or in true ministry?
Luke 14:12-14

Charity thinketh no evil
- When I perceive what I think are others' mistakes, do I judge them harshly or am I patient with them?
- Do I assume the worst case?
- Do I set others up for success?

Charity rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in truth
- Do I love the commandments?
- How do I react to chastisement (truth) when it comes? Do I accept it as more light and knowledge and understanding or do I resist a new opportunity to learn / grow?

Charity beareth all things
- Do I only bear some things? The things I choose?
- What does it mean to bear? How can I be strong to bear the burdens placed upon me?

Charity believeth all things
- What do I believe? Do I believe in others? Do I believe in promised blessings? Do I believe in what I can be? What others can be?

Charity hopeth all things
- Do I have hope in Christ? Do I have hope that I can change? That I can be more like Christ each day?

Charity endureth all things
- Do I endure well? Do I murmur and wait? Do I do my duty faithfully and allow the process of time to do its work?

They shall have stars at elbow and foot;

Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

for RM

full poem here

American Humanities at BYU

So, as I mentioned in my previous post, I moved a lot of files over from the iBook I used when I was at BYU. I found a lot of art clips that I particularly liked from some of my art history / humanities courses and I thought I'd post some of them here.

These two are from my American Humanities class - I took it Fall of my freshman year - and it was the first time I studied art history (and LOVED it).

This was one of the early photography pieces that we studied in the last part of the class:

Title: Manger

Photographer: unfortunately, I can't remember and can't find it on google at the moment. I believe her name was Mary ---

The following was one of my favorite pieces that we studied.

Title: Annunciation

Artist: Henry Ossawa Tanner

Press Release: MacBook Purchase

So, I finally bought myself a computer last weekend and last night I finished moving over my personal files from my work pc. I also moved over files from my dying iBook (the computer I had in college). More on those later.

I am especially enjoying the webcam special effects. This one is the comic book effect (I got tired waiting for the 3-2-1 countdown). I know I'm behind the times on this one, but it's still a novelty to me :)

Aren't the dots on the pillows beautiful? I love that effect. 

LOLCAT of the day

I bet you've missed these...

Bond and Free by Robert Frost

Love has earth to which she clings
With hills and circling arms about--
Wall within wall to shut fear out.
But Thought has need of no such things,
For Thought has a pair of dauntless wings.

On snow and sand and turf, I see
Where Love has left a printed trace
With straining in the world's embrace.
And such is Love and glad to be.
But Thought has shaken his ankles free.

Thought cleaves the interstellar gloom
And sits in Sirius' disc all night,
Till day makes him retrace his flight.
With smell of burning on every plume,
Back past the sun to an earthly room.

His gains in heaven are what they are.
Yet some say Love by being thrall
And simply staying possesses all
In several beauty that Thought fares far
To find fused in another star.

Hip it to the Hop

So a few weeks ago I started taking a Thursday evening hip hop class with several ladies from my ward. It is so fun! I've decided that I want to take more evening classes to get more of an exercise routine in my life. So, last night I went to a bikram yoga class (90 minutes of heated yoga) for the first time in about 18 months. It definitely kicked my trash, but it feels so good to be sore today :)

So this is the plan:
Tuesdays - Bikram Yoga (90 minutes)
Thursdays - Hip Hop Dance (60 minutes)
Saturdays - Hike/Run the Dish (60-90 minutes)

I have a beginner's pass to yoga, so I may go more often than Tuesdays until that expires (unlimited for 30 days!) and when hip hop is over, I'll have to find another dance class, I think. But I'm excited about the variety AND, frankly, I love all of these things, so it won't be a chore! Hooray!

The Second Coming by W B Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Quote of the Day

Just tell yourself, Duckie, you're really quite lucky!
Dr. Seuss

Wall-E

I loved this movie!!!!

Happiness by Mary Oliver

In the afternoon I watched
the she-bear; she was looking
for the secret bin of sweetness -
honey, that the bees store
in the trees’ soft caves.
Black block of gloom, she climbed down
tree after tree and shuffled on
through the woods. And then
she found it! The honey-house deep
as heartwood, and dipped into it
among the swarming bees - honey and comb
she lipped and tongued and scooped out
in her black nails, until

maybe she grew full, or sleepy, or maybe
a little drunk, and sticky
down the rugs of her arms,
and began to hum and sway.
I saw her let go of the branches,
I saw her lift her honeyed muzzle
into the leaves, and her thick arms,
as though she would fly -
an enormous bee
all sweetness and wings -
down into the meadows, the perfections
of honeysuckle and roses and clover -
to float and sleep in the sheer nets
swaying from flower to flower
day after shining day.

It is in your self-interest to find a way to be very tender

Love by Czeslaw Milosz

Love means to learn to look at yourself
The way one looks at distant things
For you are only one thing among many.
And whoever sees that way heals his heart,
Without knowing it, from various ills--
A bird and a tree say to him: Friend.

Then he wants to use himself and things
So that they stand in the glow of ripeness.
It doesn't matter whether he knows what he serves:
Who serves best doesn't always understand.

Today is my favorite

I am doing tonight what I love to do best on Friday nights. I'm pretty excited. I'm getting all dressed up and I've been looking forward to it all week. I won't give you the details, but it's going to be a GREAT day!

Quote of the Day

Benedict And, I pray thee now, tell me, for which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me?

Beatrice For them all together; which maintained so politic a state of evil that they will not admit any good part to intermingle with them. But for which of my good parts did you first suffer love for me?

Benedict ‘Suffer love,’ a good epithet! I do suffer love indeed, for I love thee against my will.

Beatrice In spite of your heart, I think. Alas, poor heart! If you spite it for my sake, I will spite it for yours; for I will never love that which my friend hates.

Benedict Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably.

William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing

Quote of the Day

How shall we know that we obey [God]? There is but one method by which we can know it, and that is by the inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord witnessing unto our spirit that we are His, that we love Him, and that He loves us. It is by the spirit of revelation we know this. [JD 12:99]

Brigham Young

1 Kings 3

5 In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.
6 And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
7 And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.
8 And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.
9 Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?
10 And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.
11 And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;
12 Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.
13 And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.
14 And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.

Quote of the Day

True disciples are meek but very determined.
Neal A. Maxwell

Doctrine & Covenants 43:24-25

24 O, ye nations of the earth, how often would I have gathered you together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not!
25 How oft have I called upon you by the mouth of my servants, and by the ministering of angels, and by mine own voice, and by the voice of thunderings, and by the voice of lightnings, and by the voice of tempests, and by the voice of earthquakes, and great hailstorms, and by the voice of famines and pestilences of every kind, and by the great sound of a trump, and by the voice of judgment, and by the voice of mercy all the day long, and by the voice of glory and honor and the riches of eternal life, and would have saved you with an everlasting salvation, but ye would not!

Possessions Are Nine Points Of Conversation by Ogden Nash

Some people, and it doesn't matter whether they are paupers or millionaires, Think that anything they have is the best in the world just because it is theirs. If they happen to own a 1921 jalopy, They look at their neighbor's new de luxe convertible like the wearer of a 57th Street gown at a 14th Street copy. If their seventeen-year-old child is still in the third grade they sneer at the graduation of the seventeen-year-old children of their friends, Claiming that prodigies always come to bad ends, And if their roof leaks, It's because the shingles are antiques. Other people, and if doesn't matter if they are Scandinavians or Celts, Think that anything is better than theirs just because it belongs to somebody else. If you congratulate them when their blue-blooded Doberman pinscher wins the obedience championship, they look at you like a martyr, And say that the garbage man's little Rover is really infinitely smarter; And if they smoke fifteen-cent cigars they are sure somebody else gets better cigars for a dime. And if they take a trip to Paris they are sure their friends who went to Old Orchard had a better time. Yes, they look on their neighbor's ox and ass with covetousness and their own ox and ass with abhorrence, And if they are wives they want their husband to be like Florence's Freddie, and if they are husbands they want their wives to be like Freddie's Florence. I think that comparisons are truly odious, I do not approve of this constant proud or envious to-do; And furthermore, dear friends, I think that you and yours are delightful and I also think that me and mine are delightful too.

Alma 37:36-37

Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

The Great Commandment by Joseph B. Wirthlin

True love lasts forever. It is eternally patient and forgiving. It believes, hopes, and endures all things. That is the love our Heavenly Father bears for us.

We all yearn to experience love like this. Even when we make mistakes, we hope others will love us in spite of our shortcomings—even if we don’t deserve it.

Oh, it is wonderful to know that our Heavenly Father loves us—even with all our flaws! His love is such that even should we give up on ourselves, He never will.

Read the full talk here.

Deuteronomy 31:6

Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Doctrine & Covenants 109:21, 34

And when thy people transgress, any of them, [grant that] they may speedily repent and return unto thee, and find favor in thy sight, and be restored to the blessings which thou hast ordained to be poured out upon those who shall reverence thee in thy house.

And as all men sin forgive the transgressions of thy people, and let them be blotted out forever.

Of Sisters and Surfboards

My baby sister is an artist and a friend of ours commissioned her to paint his surfboards.

I think they're amazingly beautiful.

The Bungler by Amy Lowell

You glow in my heart
Like the flames of uncounted candles.
But when I go to warm my hands,
My clumsiness overturns the light
And then I stumble
Against the tables and chairs.

Doctrine & Covenants 19: 32

For this shall suffice for thy daily walk, even unto the end of thy life.

Best Things about Memorial Day Weekend

• delicious BBQ pork loin sandwich at Boston Blackies
• watermelon-strawberry frescas
• seeing U of Chicago campus
• the sass (don't take that out of context)
• walking along Lake Michigan
• being with T every single day =)

Chicago

In the sun, you are the white city.
Beaming and proud, hard in the heat; Sparkling in your ivories and greys.
Stone slabbed, white peaked, you are unrelenting.
But with the moon, you bend down unto the lake: warm, caressing.
Reflecting its tones, you are gleaming, glistening, blue.

Leaving late, late tonight, returning late, late Tuesday.
So much to love about Chicago :)

Isaiah 30:20

And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:

Quote of the Day

The eye, the ear, the hand, all the senses may be deceived, but the Spirit of God cannot be deceived; and when inspired with that Spirit, the whole man is filled with knowledge, he can see with a spiritual eye, and he knows that which is beyond the power of man to controvert.

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 16:46

The Spirit Giveth Life by Loren C. Dunn

When I was younger, I lived to play basketball. It was on my mind constantly. I spent countless hours practicing. Gradually I began to go through the moves automatically, without thinking about them. Physically and mentally I had become conditioned to do certain things by instinct. I had practiced them until they became natural to me.

In like manner, we keep the commandments and teachings of the gospel in order to condition us spiritually. It is not a matter of how many laws we keep and how many we do not keep. We keep the commandments because they are the laws that govern the Spirit. The Spirit in turn will sanctify us, condition us spiritually, and eventually prepare us to live in the kingdom where God is.

Read the full talk here

Matthew 10:8

Freely ye have received, freely give.

Happy Birthday Brady!

iTunes Playlist

Secret Heart (Feist)
Air (Erin McKeown)
Hide and Seek (Imogen Heap)
With Arms Outstretched (Rilo Kiley)
California Stars (Billy Bragg & Wilco)
Out of the Woods (Nickel Creek)
A Comet Appears (The Shins)
Calendar Girl (Stars)
Eyes (Rogue Wave)

Abraham 2:12

Now, after the Lord had withdrawn from speaking to me, and withdrawn his face from me, I said in my heart: Thy servant has sought thee earnestly; now I have found thee;

Quote of the Day

A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it! Something of the awfulness, even of Death itself, is referable to this. No more can I turn the leaves of this dear book that I loved, and vainly hope in time to read it all. No more can I look into the depths of this unfathomable water, wherein, as momentary lights glanced into it, I have had glimpses of buried treasure, and other things submerged. It was appointed that the book should shut with a spring, for ever and ever, when I had read but a page. It was appointed that the water should be locked in an eternal frost, when the light was playing on its surface, and I stood in ignorance on the shore. My friend is dead, my neighbour is dead, my love, the darling of my soul, is dead; it is the inexorable consolidation and perpetuation of the secret that was always in that individuality, and which I shall carry in mine to my life's end. In any of the burial-places of this city through which I pass, is there a sleeper more inscrutable than its busy inhabitants are, in their innermost personality to me, or than I am to them?

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities