Sufficient to prepare them

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday Morning Session of the April 2005 Conference.

I remember listening to President Nelson's talk (he was Elder Nelson then, of course) in this conference where he talked about his wife Dantzel's unexpected death. He was just sitting next to her on the couch, holding her hand, when she suddenly slipped away. I wonder if he could have ever anticipated then that he would still be alive, and leading the church, almost 20 years later? It's sad that he's had to live so long without her, but I'm so glad he's still here with us! Think of all the things he's taught even just at Conference in those two decades!

My favorite thing from his talk in this session was actually a quote from Joseph Smith:

"[The celestial] rest is of such perfection and glory, that man has need of a preparation before he can, according to the laws of that kingdom, enter it and enjoy its blessings. … God has given certain laws to the human family, which, if observed, are sufficient to prepare them to inherit this rest.”

I just like the wording there: God's laws are "sufficient" to prepare us for celestial glory. Sometimes when I "think celestial" as President Nelson has counseled, all I can think about is how far away I am from being ready for celestial behavior! But it's helpful to think that God already anticipated how much preparation and transformation we'd all need to be celestial people, and he already put in place every commandment we'd need to get there. Now, instead of figuring it all out for ourselves, we can just "observe" the laws He's already given us and if we keep doing that, we'll be fine!

Temple Bound

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week skips ahead to the current conference that just took place, April 2024.

I have even fewer notes than usual because we were watching Conference while out of town! But we did get to watch all the sessions! So I will just mention a few highlights and random thoughts:

• I loved hearing from Elder Holland again. I got the impression that he had been quite ready to move on to the next life, but we as a church prayed him back for a little while longer. He seemed good-natured enough about it! But I wish so much I could hear his stories of what he experienced while he was unconscious. I also think it's so interesting that he, one of the most earnest and urgent testators of Christ I've ever heard, came back with the impression he hadn't been quite urgent enough!

• I loved the symbolism in Elder Dushku's talk of one ray of light joining with another until there we have a whole pillar of light for our testimony, just as Joseph Smith did.

• I liked Elder Soares bringing up multiple meanings of "temple bound"—tied to the temple as well as headed for the temple. This was definitely a temple-centric conference, wasn't it? 

• I always love Elder Eyring. I've learned about that Teton Dam Collapse on the secular side too, but I always love hearing Elder Eyring's experience with it. I don't know if I've heard before that his kids were in the flood zone with a babysitter?! That must have been so scary for everyone. I relate with Sister Eyring's annoyance: "How can you sleep at a time like this?" I think that about Sam all the time. Haha. But good for Elder Eyring for finding peace amidst that turmoil!

• The discussion of "be still" in Elder Bednar's talk was amazing and, as usual, too deep for me to quite grasp in one hearing. Excited to re-read this one.

• More temple stuff in Elder Gong's talk. I really love the promise that "all things work together for good to them that love God," so I'm always happy to hear it expounded. It was a cool thought that "we can know that [that promise] is true without knowing how it's true." That describes me 99% of the time.

• Elder Uchtdorf is the cutest man. I loved his face as he quoted the Wright Brothers' dad: "Higher, Orville; higher!" So happy and joyful. His message really resonated with me about seeking a higher, holier form of joy—and being able to find it through selflessness and service. I have such a desire to be this kind of person: joyful and hopeful and selfless. It feels…very far away. I did love the thought that "seek and ye shall find is not just a commandment but a statement of fact. We very rarely find something we're not looking for. Are we seeking eternal joy?" Yes! I'm seeking it! It's comforting to know that that's an important step.

• Sister Porter's talk to the primary kids was good. Usually people who say "I'm going to talk to the children!" actually don't talk to the children—or not very well. But Sister Porten really did talk to them through her whole talk, in simple and clear language. I liked it.

• I loved Elder Paul Pieper's talk about trust. That really deserves a whole post of its own, but I was absolutely astounded to realize that he was right about how much God trusts us. I would have assumed God is waiting to trust us until he sees we're a little more worthy of it. But Elder Pieper pointed out how God's trust of us underlies his whole plan—at least trust in our potential. I am working on learning to trust God better myself, and I like knowing that on His end, at least, the trust is already there, just waiting for my own trust to catch up!

• Oh, I can't leave out Elder Kearon. I love him! I already knew I liked him but his first talk as an apostle was SO good! He has such an elegant way of speaking, and I don't just mean his beautiful accent. I mean phrases like "The intent of the Plan of Happiness is our happiness, now and in the future. The intent of the Plan of Mercy is mercy." Couldn't get much more obvious than that, but somehow stating it in that way made me see it as I haven't before. And "God is in relentless pursuit of you, and employs every possible measure to bring you back." That is truly beautiful.

Small Things

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Relief Society Session of the October 2004 Conference.

Just a quick quote this week because I'm traveling, but I love this from Sister Kathleen H. Hughes:

We must not become weary of doing good, and we must not become impatient; the changes we seek will come about “in their time.” Most important, the great work we wish to do will proceed from “small things.”…

Spirituality through prayer and study. Service to others. Generous tithes and offerings. These are not new principles. These are some of the “small things” that are prerequisites to that which is great…It is our hearts and our minds that must be made new. We each have our failings, our weaknesses, our less-than-perfect attitudes. The Lord asks us to open ourselves to Him, holding nothing back.…The newness of heart comes when we do and give all we can, then offer our heart and will to the Father. As we do this, our Father promises us that our lives now and in eternity will be abundant. We need not fear.

Sisters, don’t become weary in doing good. If we are patient, we can experience the change of heart we seek. For most of us this will require only a slight change of course, sending us toward true north. The adjustments we must make are in those “small things,” but that does not mean they are easy. Too many forces are confusing our compass. But the pull to the polar star is one we recognize. It is the direction toward home.

Novel experiences, "our" firemen, and quinceañeras

A few weeks ago I took Ziggy to the grocery store with me and he asked to ride in the car cart. He was so happy, riding along making police car noises and so forth as we shopped, and as he talked excitedly to me, I realized he had never ridden in a car shopping cart before. ??! It's true that I hardly ever take kids to the store anymore. He has been to Costco with me lots of times, but it's Macey's that has the car carts, and I don't go there quite as often. But I didn't think it had been never with him! 

On another day, Seb took the little boys to the airport to watch planes, and on the way home they had to stop to use the bathroom at a McDonalds. They got really excited about the playground, so Seb let them play for a while, and it emerged that they had never been to a McDonald's playground either! It is so strange to suddenly realize that so many experiences my big kids had—which feel like they were recently commonplace parts of our lives—are a completely foreign country to my younger children. It makes it feel like maybe those earlier years were just a dream.

Speaking of foreign countries, in which one would this costume be traditional? Any?

This, though. Matching is definitely something the older boys used to do. Little cuties.

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As I think I mentioned, we've been having an Emergency Services unit for school, and after we toured the Police Station we thought we should tour the Fire Station too! I haven't been to a fire station tour since I had Cub Scouts. The tour was SO good! The firefighters seemed happy to have something to do and people to talk to. Even the chief came out and talked to us for a while. There was one man who was officially giving the tour, but the other three men on duty all gathered around and walked with us too, interjecting helpful comments. Eventually it turned into each child basically having his or her own personal guide and escort who could answer every little question. So great!

We went to the fire station close to us, a relatively new one. It was fun to imagine what it would be like to live there for several days a week with your team, cooking meals and learning new skills and watching movies together at night. Almost like Scout Camp or something, but better. :) We got to see the sleeping rooms and gym and kitchen and everything, as well as the fire engines, of course!

The little boys were very impressed with the "Jaws of Life", especially after the firefighters crushed a can with them

Trying on headsets in the fire engine

The girls were flattered too because the firemen were so nice to them, saying what good questions they asked, and praising their ballet/running fitness skills, and trying to convince them to join a fire crew in a few years. They told the girls, "Some of our best firefighters are women!" They were very persuasive. The job sounded pretty fun when they described it!

And Ziggy, of course, was just totally thrilled by the whole thing.

For days and days afterwards, all the little boys wanted to play was Fireman. They made fire trucks out of blocks and loaded them up with all kinds of equipment (and then had me come listen to their "tours").

Ziggy chopped his way into our house with his axe and sprayed everything with his hose (just for pretend, thank goodness, but only because the hose isn't hooked up to the water right now).

And he hung his firefighter gear in readiness next to his bike, with everything laid out for optimally quick entry (even his boots tucked into his pants just like the firemen had theirs!).

Here are the two little boys up on the hill, having raced there in great excitement when they heard sirens. "Maybe it's our firemen!" I confess we now check every ambulance and fire truck we see, hoping it's "our" firemen. They were so nice! It makes it fun to drive by the fire station now when we're out and about, just knowing what's inside and feeling almost like we have friends there.

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Let's talk about Clementine. Here is the little Miss Monkey herself, matching her Evie doll. She loves to match! I think we have another little Daisy on our hands, except this time they each have a built-in "match-er." Big and Tiny.

She's a menace, because she can and does carry this stool everywhere, reaching anything she wants to reach! Nothing is safe!

I love this little Sunday coat all the girls wore when they were little.

Babies holding babies down to the fourth generation.

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Junie and Goldie took it into their heads to decorate a cake one day

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Walmart was selling this big soft yellow bunny for $15. Obviously I bought it for myself. I let Zig hug it on the way home.

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It's funny how hard of a time my phone has telling Daisy and Junie apart. Now that they're older, it's a little easier than it used to be, but still. You'd think a computer could handle it.

Daisy gave a piano recital a few weeks ago (with a few pieces played by Sebastian and Goldie and Junie too). This was her pretty hair for the recital. She looked so grown-up and elegant!

I was laughing at Malachi and Abe who were fighting over the good chair, and ended up both sitting on it at the same time!

Junie

Daisy

Goldie

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Gus in a Gus-cubby

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Our friend Daniela who moved here from Venezuela turned 15 in February, and we helped her mom plan and put on the Quinceañera for her birthday. We've never been involved with one of those before, and it was a cool experience to see how they do it! It is a huge production—almost like a wedding. Daniela's family came to the U.S. with practically nothing, so it was cool to see how all the neighbors pitched in to help and figure out ways to make it nice without spending a lot of money.

Daniela's parents asked Malachi to be Daniela's escort for the party, which is quite an honor. He agreed even though it meant learning a special dance with Daniela (…or maybe because of that? haha). Carmen came over a few different nights to teach them the dance and have them practice, and she was a stern taskmaster! She is actually hilarious—a force of nature. Woe unto anyone who tries to resist her! She is still learning English but definitely can communicate the things she needs to say! She and I have an inexplicable understanding of each other. Somehow we manage entire impassioned conversations with both of us speaking floods of words in our separate languages (and a bit of help from google translate). Our kids laugh at us but are secretly impressed, I think. :)

The little kids were very impressed with the dancing, and decided to join in

It became a bit raucous after a while!

We spent the night before the quinceañera boxing up 150 pieces of cake and tying ribbons around each one. Lots of work! But fun! I didn't make the cake (some other ladies in the neighborhood helped out with that) but I did make 180 vegetable bars and 200 cream cheese brownies.

I had thought Malachi could wear his grey suit, but Carmen insisted on a full tuxedo, and he really did look wonderful in it. (She even went with us to the fitting and expressed a great many more opinions about the cut and fit than I would ever have dared to myself! Ha!)

Daniela looked absolutely darling as well. They made a lovely couple.

And they did a great job on their dance. First Daniela danced with her dad, and then he turned her over to Malachi for the next dance. Then other men and boys from the audience could come cut in and dance with her for a few minutes, and then at the end of the song Malachi came back and they finished the dance together. I liked the symbolism of these good, trusted men, all known and admired by her parents, each having a role in taking care of this young lady now that she had reached womanhood. It reminded me of the circle of men that holds a baby during a priesthood baby blessing.

It was the fanciest party any of us had ever been to! ("Your weddings will probably not even be this fancy," I told my girls, just to manage expectations. :)) It was fun to dress up and bring the whole family.

One of the beautiful food tables! There are my vegetable bars looking pretty in the foreground, and my brownies in the middle.

Clementine loves Daniela

The older girls were at the church all day long putting up decorations. It looked absolutely beautiful. We especially liked these balloons lit up with twinkle lights. They made a pathway along which Daniela could make her grand entrance.

Some of Carmen's co-workers made the beautiful balloon arch. I've never seen one so pretty!

After the food and the dances and the speeches, there was dancing for everyone! It was really fun. Clementine didn't know quite what to do at first. She found this random little girl (I still don't know who she is, haha) and solemnly held hands with her. They stayed like that for about 10 minutes, neither of them knowing if they should let go or not.

I loved seeing my big kids dance with my little kids. Daisy had Gus and Ky had Clementine. It was adorable.

They handed out glowing glasses for the boys and lighted flower crowns for the girls. Gus the Good loved his glasses (and his cake, which he made sure to secure early so he'd be assured of getting a piece. He needn't have worried. There were piles left over.)

Afterwards, while we cleaned up, Clementine was absolutely enchanted by the balloons. We tied one on her wrist and it stayed bobbing overhead, just out of reach. She thought it was hilarious.

It was a fun and happy night. Such a cool thing to be part of!

The next day, Gus insisted on making and wearing this crown to church, "just like Daniela." He was so funny about it! He wouldn't take it off, just kept saying, "I'm Daniela!" all day long. He was a cute Daniela. She liked him too. :)

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Another really cute thing is that Clementine has joined Daisy and Junie's ballet class (the one they're teaching for neighborhood kids). She was just so interested in it, and so eager, that they couldn't resist letting her come (even though technically they were only going to teach 3- and 4-year-olds). They found a couple of their old leotards (they're a little big, but they pin them up in back) and they put her hair into tiny buns, and it is SO CUTE.

She loves it so much, and she is so proud of herself! She runs around the room twirling and says "I'm dancing!"

Evie had to get dressed up too, of course!

The teeniest bun.

I love this picture so much. I love Daisy's perfect ballerina jump and Junie's flying ponytail, Anna's tiny hop, Noelle's tongue, Clementine's spinning tutu…it's all just the best.

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We had a big windstorm in our neighborhood a few weeks ago, and there were so many tumbleweeds! It even got on the national news, I guess. We didn't have them at our house (thank goodness, they are such spiky and unpleasant weeds!) but they were all over at the end of our street and near the edges of the neighborhood. They even piled up and blocked off some roads! The city had to bring in big dumpsters and even backhoes in some places to clear them out! If you look closely at the picture above you can see the pile of tumbleweeds is taller than the lady walking! Abe took this picture when he was trying to drive out.

Some more pictures--from other people on Facebook

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Speaking of weird weather, this was a snowy day that ended up almost pleasant. (Pictures taken at 10 am and 6 pm.) I love snow in March that melts so quickly.

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Very early one morning I was on the hill and the temple was lighting up the clouds in just this one spot. It struck me as symbolic of the way that trying to learn the "mysteries of God" gives us a tiny patch of light to focus on amidst the darkness of the world. So often I feel like I'm walking in that tiny pool of light, unable to see anything in front of me. "Keep thou my feet, I do not ask to see the distant scene—one step enough for me."