June: Speech, Celebrations and Celebrity Psychopaths.

Hi Family and Friends!

I've fallen behind.  And the fun and businness of July have almost distracted me from writting about the fun of June.  So here it goes. 

It's summer!  We've been busy feeding ducks, rolling in the grass, and eating icecream.  I'm happy to see so many lightining bugs in Michigan, though they usually come out after the boys are asleep.

Our garden.

Picking strawberries with friends. 

After thinking about it for too long, I finally took the plunge and cut my hair.

Before:  Sloppy bun every day, with a headband if I felt like being fancy. ;)

After:  Freedom!  Nearly everything is easier with short hair. And lately a few people have told me I look a lot like Emma Hill.

I've never been told that I look like any celebrity, ever.  So I had to look her up. She's so cute!  What a compliment.

And then I found out that she plays a psychopath murder, and people usually imagine her wielding an ax and looking like this.  

Oh well.  Can't win 'em all.

Father's Day!

Ira really wanted to make Anthony rainbow pancakes.  That's right.  When we eat food coloring, we really eat food coloring.

We're so lucky to have him.

The boys decorated Anthony a cake all by themselves.  Their first attempt at fondant. 

And after church we went kite flying.  Conditions were perfect.

Kite overload.  Sorry, couldn't just pick one.

We were thrilled to have a visit from the Applebees, my sister's family. 

Chillin' at the Henry Ford Village, watching a vintage baseball game reenactment.

The Applebee kids decided to do the Color Run with us, which was a blast. 

They ran the whole 5k!

And a few of us decided to check out the Ann Arbor Art Festival.  Kristen and I were cracking up.  We were dancing like crazy to this awesome kid's band remeniscent of They Might Be Giants, while Ira and Jonah looked like they were having their teeth pulled, and just wanted to go.

Here we are exploring some of U of M's campus.

We loved having them here.  Come back any time Applebees!

One of my dear friends just had her third child, but first boy.  So some of us, got together to throw her a babyshower.  This was, of course, before she gave birth.

Diaper Design contest.  That's right, I was in charge of games. :)

Muppet theme!  I wasn't in charge of food.  But I did help a little. 

And the sad news of June, is that our dear friends the Wendts moved.  

So Lame!  We're keeping our fingers crossed that they'll decide to move back to Michigan some day.

In other news: We've had Eliot assessed, and it looks like his speech is about a year behind.  The good news is that he's developmentally normal in every other way, and our time in Utah (more on that next entry) seemed to really boost his efforts in speech.  He's making progress!

Both Anthony and I beat our dietbets (his win and weight loss was much more impressive than mine), and he came in second at work for losing the most amount of weight.  

Happy Summering all.  Peace!

Staying Anchored While Still Keeping Hope for Change

This past year, I have been addicted to reading anything related to Mormon feminism.  And in the past 24 hours I’ve somberly watched the discussion from being interesting, provoking and a little controversial to extremely emotional.  Many of my close friends are updating their Facebook statuses using words like, “Sad,” “heart-broken,” “irritated,” “disappointed.”  Some are criticizing the Church’s handling of the situation, and others are justifying their inactivity in the church.

I hope to provide a little comfort, sympathy, and also hope for those who feel like they’re on an spiritual  roller coaster.  

 

This is NOT the first faith hurdle that church members have had to confront.

And it’s not the first time that church leaders have made incredibly unpopular decisions.  Many of these decisions have been inspired, and in my opinion, a couple of them were not.  This only makes sense if you believe that Heavenly Father has given us free agency in order for us to learn and grow.  He hasn’t excluded church leaders from these opportunities. 

But popularity and my personal rationale is not a good measurement of divinity.  Moses comes to mind as a Prophet of God, who was very unpopular among the Children of Israel, but called of God nevertheless.  Anyway, each of these instances in Church history (polygamy, priesthood being withheld from blacks, the church’s stance on the Equal Rights Amendment, Prop 8, etc, etc, etc,) seem to present a fork in the road.

  We can choose

1. To follow Prophets blindly and brush discomfort under the rug

2. Follow our own desires, thoughts, and passions and ultimately lose our faith, or

3. To dig deep, do some soul searching, and humbly search for inspired answers from God through scripture reading and prayer. 

I’m obviously a big fan of the 3^rd option.  It takes the most effort and time, but results in the most amount of sustainable peace.    

Looking for Answers in the right places

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

Matthew 7:7

Where we look for answers is just as important as the questions themselves.  When our faith is shaken, or our testimonies seem turned upside-down, are we searching for answers in the great bloggernacle of philosophy, or are we knocking on Heavenly Father’s door?  Recently I’ve found myself nudging towards the “lose faith” track, and tried to counter the embarrassing amounts of time I spend reading opinion blogs, with even more time reading scripture and praying.  The results have been great amounts of peace and hope when it comes to gender equality in the church.  I have since received specific inspiration that has helped me feel comfort and even empowered as a woman in the LDS church. And more importantly, I’ve felt closer to Heavenly Father and happier.

Gender Equality from here

Now, I have always considered myself a feminist.  I remember arriving at BYU as a little 17 year old and realizing within my first few days that almost everyone I was surrounded by considered feminists to be faithless, bra-burning man-haters.  I was baffled since the gospel and Christ himself have always seemed to respect women just as much as men, and hey!  Who doesn’t believe in equal pay for equal work?

There are those who probably believe than seeking for any change within the church reflects a lack of faith.  But change happens all the time among the Latter-day Saints.  That’s why we have a living Prophet!  And I believe that there is room for progress in the church when it comes to gender equality.  I think some of our negative emotional reactions to Kate’s excommunication have to do with a fear that all opportunities for growth will be stamped out and all conversation on equality in a general sense will die.  But I highly doubt that this will be the case.

In fact some of these changes are happening now.  Leaders in my state of Michigan have recently been urged by General Authorities to include women in their counsels and to stop calling men “the Priesthood.”   Three weeks ago, as I was sitting in Primary with my class of 4 year-olds, a Bishopric member came in to discuss the Priesthood during Sharing Time.  He said, “little boys and little girls can grow up to hold the Priesthood.”  And this last Sunday, a Sister Missionary gave a talk in Sacrament meeting on the topic of Priesthood and spoke about the priesthood authority that she has and exercises as a servant of the Lord.  Are these members in danger of losing their membership in the church?  No way.  And the reason is, that this fork in the road that's been placed before us can take us to some beautiful realizations when we keep our focus on Christ.  

I’m quite sure that some of these changes may come because OW has forced the topic onto the table.  And I’m grateful that although the outcome isn’t what Kelly would prefer, that greater light and knowledge is coming to members who seek to understand the priesthood authority that women already have.

Don’t lose hope

I remember asking my mom about dinosaurs and the Creation or something as a kid, and her response was, “Don’t give up what you do know, for what you don’t know.”  This has always stuck with me.  What do I know?  Jesus is the Christ.  He restored his Church in these latter-days through Joseph Smith.  The Book of Mormon is True.  I don’t know if Kate was justifiably excommunicated.  I don’t know her heart, or her Bishop's heart.  But I do know that I’m in the right place.

“The standard of truth has been erected.  No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”  

-Joseph Smith Jr.

May: House Make-over and More

We finally got around to replacing our rotting trimming.  This was not a DIY project.  

Before

After

I made this wreath in April for about $1, but it looked pretty ghetto on our dingy white door.  Not quite so bad on our door all made over.

 The boys' bathroom: Before

We didn't have a medicine cabinet in here, and the window sill was getting a little full. 

After

I "stamped" on some bubbles using cups and lids we had laying around.

The color is a little more toothpastey than we planned, but the left over from our other bathrooms was dried up, so I bought this color on a whim.

The next bathroom was redone last year, but I realized I never got around to posting it.

Master bathroom (on the left): Before

After

The Color is Valspar's Blue Lagoon. 

Anthony and his Dad put in the shower door a few months ago, so now it's a fully functioning bathroom! 

Craft room/ Study/ Guest Room: Before

After

Prints by the famous Kristen Applebee.  Thanks Sis. 

 Anthony gave me this beautiful print as my Christmas/Anniversary present.

Brian Kershisnik's Nativity.  The quotes I got to frame it were between $400-$700!  So I made my own for $25. (Well add on $80 for the stretchers and to have it stretched.  But still beats $700!)  And it doesn't look that bad as long as you don't get too close. 

As for the rest of May, we were super lucky to have a visit from Dallin and Becca.  They're so great.  We took them to the Henry Ford and showed them around Detroit a bit.  I'm embarrassed at how few pictures I have of them.  More pending once I steal Becca's. :)

We just happened to be there the same day as Thomas.  We ran up to the tracks just in time to see him pass by.

 Ira

He's been coloring non-stop for the past week or two.  It's like he decided over night that he can color in the lines.  Lots of fun to watch.

Last field trip for preschool: the Botanical Gardens.

Last day of school.  This is Ira with his best friend from school.  

There are some play-dates in the works with this cool kid.

Ira with "Grandma Ilene."  She is such a super star.  Ira has told me after school almost every day that his favorite part of the day was drawing maps and dragons with Ilene.  She has spent so much individual time with him.  I LOVE her.  

Saying bye to Miss Mieke, the teacher.  She's also great.

 Eliot

He and his brother have loved getting out camping with buddies.

We've got a dog lover in the family!

Somersault lessons.

How the boys eat when left unattended for 5 minutes.

Jamming on our new (used) piano! 

That's life.  We've got Eliot in the works for some speech therapy and finally had our first assessment.  We're off to a new session of birth classes, and are excited about the fun students.  And we're generally just having fun keeping busy.  Let the June begin!