I can't believe we're in Maui!

As our plane taxied to the gate at the airport in Kahului, Maui, a little girl a few rows behind us was so excited that she just couldn't stay quiet. Her sweet little, super excited voice just rang out with "I can't believe we're in Maui!!!!!!" The smiles and laughs from the adults on board confirmed that we all felt exactly the same way.

Dogs and Love

Ten Commandments

This year I'm teaching a early morning (7:35-8:50) class for the youth in our church who are in the 9th - 12th grades. We call it Seminary. In states with a big LDS population, the school district authorizes 'release time' seminary. In Idaho our church has a building right by the high school where classes are held all during the regular school day. 'Release time' seminary classes are a part of the student's regular school schedule. Here in Oregon there is also 'release time seminary' but because of the smaller number of students there is only one class scheduled and students just walk across the street to our church building for a class period. Other churches are starting to ask for release time religious instruction for their youth also. I think that is great!

In other parts of the world, high school age students can attend 'early morning seminary' which is held before school either in a church building or in a home. Sometimes these classes start at 6:00 a.m.!!! George and his siblings did 'early morning seminary' in Chicago when they were growing up. With Spain's late night life style, seminary in Barcelona happened from 9:00 - 10:30 at night 5 nights a week. I just couldn't imagine my teenagers coming home on school nights at 11:00 so our kids participated in the 3rd option - 'Home study' seminary. They worked on their own from materials supplied by the church and we sometimes got together with a couple of other families for a lesson.

This is my first time to be a seminary teacher and I love it! One of the goals is to have the students memorize 25 scriptures from the Old Testament and one of those is the 10 Commandments. I just was taught this clever, rhyming way to remember the commandments in order. I think it makes remembering them so easy....I decided to share it.

Commandment#1

Think of sun

Son of God

Thou shalt have no other Gods before me

Commandment #2

Think of

Zoo

Big lion statue in front

No graven images

Commandment #3

Think of

Leaves on a tree have veins

Don’t take the name of God in vain.

Commandment #4

Think of

door – the chapel door – Sunday

Keep the Sabbath Day Holy.

Commandment #5

Think of

Hive –

a family of

bees

Honor thy father and mother

Commandment #6

Think of

If you hit someone with a stick you might kill them.

Thou shalt not kill

Commandment #7

Think of

You can’t get to Heaven if you commit adultery

…not commit adultery

Commandment #8

Think

Steel Gate

Thou shalt not steal

Commandment #9

Think

Billboards signs

They can tell lies!

Thou shalt not bear false witness

Commandment #10

Think

Mother Hen covets her chicks & wants them under her wings.

Thou shalt not covet.

5Ks

The year I turned 55 I decided to run a 5K. I have never liked to run. I hated it in PE and have never been able to understand how anyone could enjoy running. But that year I just felt like I wanted to do something to prove to myself that I wasn't all THAT old so I trained and participated in a rainy Women's Fitness Celebration in Boise. I actually enjoyed it very much! Each year since I've set a goal to run three. This year George ran them with me.

We did the Lake Run right across from our apartment here in Lake Oswego.

Then we ran in the Mt. Tabor Doggie challenge. That one was particularly fun since people run with their dogs. You keep on your toes avoiding the dogs and leashes!

Yesterday we ran the Blue Lake Run and we both got awards! George's recent loss of 20+ pounds has turned him into a 'lean, mean machine'!

Although I got better times with each race, I still didn't accomplish my 'time' goal. That is because I have been pretty casual in my training. I remember talking to someone once about the promise in the Word of Wisdom that you will "run and not be weary, and walk and not faint." Her comment was that if you don't run you will be weary! I can testify that is true. Like most things in life, dedication and hard work pay off! So here's to more diligent training over the winter and improved times next spring and summer!

I stole this off a friend's blog as it applies so well.

Lonoke High School

The buildings were I went to school from 4th - 12th grade have been torn down. I know it is progress but it still makes me feel sad. My mother went to school in those buildings.

"There is something about the loss of a school that tears at the soul. Memories of teachers and plays and music performances cannot be bulldozed from the mind." From Dogwood by Chris Fabry

Delicious sensations!

From the book, "The Postmistress"

"She had the delicious sensation of returning to a place she had once loved but forgotten, like a room in childhood."

I just made my first trip back to Lonoke since my mother died two and a half years ago. I really worried about how I would handle being there in that little town that I love without my mother and my Aunt Mary. As it turns out it was a wonderful time! I was reminded that I still have family that loves me and that I love. I still have friends that I have known all my life and we still care about each other and enjoy each other's company. Most of all I was overwhelmed with a thankfulness for having grown up in this town.

My childhood and teen years in Lonoke could be summed up in the town logo. Truly growing up in Lonoke was 'life as it should be."

9/11 - I Remember

I remember that morning ten years ago today. Normally we didn't watch TV before school but that morning Johnny happened to turn it on so that he could set the VCR to tape a soccer game that was gong to be on later in the day. He came into the kitchen and told me to turn on the TV. I did and I remember feeling confused at what I saw on the screen. He had to explain to me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. The TV anchors didn't seem to know what was happening either, until that second plane hit. Then we knew we were under attack. I stayed glued to the TV all day and watched in horror as the towers fell. I listened as the reporters talked of thousands of deaths but also reported the lines of New Yorkers around the Red Cross Centers waiting to give blood. They spoke of off-duty firemen, policemen, nurses and doctors rushing to the scene to help. Strangers embraced strangers. Help and offers of help came in from all over the world! The TV anchors referred to our 'common humanity' but the thought came to me that actually it was our 'common divinity'. This song by Janice Kapp Perry came to my mind on September 11, 2001. It came into my mind again today. We do have a divine nature. We are children of God. I'm thankful for that knowledge and I will never forget.

My Nature is Divine

Why is it when I hear a baby cry
My arms reach out in love I can't deny?
Why is it when I see my neighbors need
My heart is touched to do a kindly deed?
Why is it when I see someone alone
My instinct is to share the love I've known?
Why is it when I sing a hymn of praise
My spirit yearns to follow in His ways?

Could it be
Oh could it be a sign
that deep within
this simple soul of mine
I sense by some miraculous design

My nature is divine?

Why is it when I touch a fevered brow
I know that I must give relief somehow?
Why is it when I see someone with less
I'm urged within to share my goods and bless?
Why is it when I see a soul in sin
I long to share the light I have within
Why is it that a joy beyond compare
Distills upon me when I kneel in prayer?

Oh could it be a sign that deep within
This simple soul of mine
I sense by some miraculous design
My nature is divine?