Car Wreck

You may have seen this on the news. Adam is a friend from church. His family is in our ward and I like to help his mom with serving lunch at Friday Forum (Institute). Adam picked us up last night to go to the ward choir party at the Dangerfield's, and on the way told us about his car accident. It's funny...I've been hanging out with Adam's mom and spent some time at their house, and somehow did know this news that went international before the cops arrived on the scene. Haha. Adam said the other cars on the highway stopped to get pictures and video and put it up online with their phones right then. I just can't believe what a close call that was! I think he was ok because of the faith and prayers of his parents. Sometimes I wonder if they were angelic messengers who were sent to earth and got stuck here. I think living a life of complete service to others has really paid off for their family.

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Nativity

We went to see the Nativity display at the Stake Center. It was fun to see all the different kinds of nativity sets that were displayed in the gym. I think there were about 450 sets, and they were from all different kinds of cultures and places: Mexico, Africa, China, Native American, Poland...etc. They had another room where you could dress up and get your picture taken. My friend, Hadra, and I are angels and Greg is a wise man. The family before us had a lot of kids, so they had Mary and Joseph, Wise Men and Shepherds, an angel, a cow, and a donkey. Hahaha!

If your church doesn't do this, you should suggest it. It's a neat experience! The nativity sets came from people in the church and the community who let us use them to display. Lots of people came throughout the last week to help set up and make it beautiful. There were people singing, playing the flute and piano, and the harp to make beautiful background music. It was wonderful!

Beautiful Savior

This is sung by a BYU Men's Choir. So beautiful.

Money!

We had a lesson about money management in Young Women's today. We talked about why God would want us to learn to use our money wisely, and how the qualities we develop as good stewards of our money will translate to other parts of our lives. For instance, you have to learn self-control and discipline to manage your money. When you can do that, you will be able to master many other things in your life. And why would we have a lesson about money management in church on Sunday? Because God wants us to be successful and happy, and these things that seem temporal to us affect us spiritually as well. The whole point of life is to learn to master yourself and become more like God.

The teacher read a quote from Dave Ramsey's book during the lesson. It may not be word for word because I wrote it down after she said it.

"Money will only make you more of what you already are. If you are a jerk, wealth with make you become the King of Jerks. If you are generous, wealth with make you most generous, and if you are kind, wealth will make you more kind than any."

That is so true! Money is not evil. Evil people are evil, and their evilness is magnified when they have money/power. And when good people have money/power, their goodness is magnified as well. (Think of Esther and the position she was in. And they said she came to the kingdom "for such a time as this." She was able to use her position of power for good in a way she could not have done were she a simple citizen of no consequence.)

The teacher also read a quote that said something to the effect of, "Money will pave the road from good intentions to good deeds."

Money isn't everything, but if you have it you can use it and be an instrument in God's hands. I have met several people who are doing very well financially, and they all had this in common: They were hard-working, unselfish people who wanted to serve God and their fellow men. Matthew 6:33 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you." One of those people told me they believed God blessed them because they gave when they did not have much to give. Now they are blessed in many ways and it is easier for them to give freely to help those around them. I admire their good examples and hope that I can be an instrument in God's hands as well.

That's been on my mind now that we're headed into Christmas and the season of giving. I hope you have a meaningful Christmas and look for ways you can help the people around you, as Christ would. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

My Young Women leaders showed this video with the song for a Wednesday night activity close to Christmas when I was 17. I thought it was so beautiful and it really touched me. That night, after watching the video, we all took turns expressing our feelings about the Savior and our faith in him. I think of that special night every year when Christmas comes. I hope it touches you too.

Merry Christmas.

Roasting a Turkey, Part 2

Ok ok, it wasn't that bad I guess. It was about 15 minutes of horrible miserable grossness, and then a few hours later it was 15 minutes of wonderful delicious dinner. And, there's tons of meat there that will go in freezer bags and be enjoyed in the coming months. It really is cool that I got that whole thing for $7. I probably will do it again next year.

...And if I can do it, YOU can do it!

How to roast a turkey....(not really)

So, I bought a turkey for the first time. All the grocery stores in the area have been competing a lot since that giant Walmart came to Pullman. I think the best deal was at Safeway: Buy $25 worth of junk and get a turkey for 25 cents a pound. It's pretty easy to spend $25 on groceries, so I decided to get a turkey to bake and then freeze the extra meat. My turkey was 23 pounds and cost about $7. Cool. I went back today to get another turkey for my sister to stick in her freezer.

I knew that getting a real turkey would be a disgusting experience, but I put off thinking about it while it thawed in the fridge. I even managed to forget about it while it thawed in the sink with water this morning. But this afternoon I couldn't deny it anymore. I really had to take the plastic off that raw turkey and pull the guts out. Ick! My friend suggested I get some gloves, and that significantly helped. Oh, but it was so gross even with gloves!


I put on a Harry Potter book and tried to just listen to the story and not look at the turkey as I reached inside and pulled the neck out. Who eats the neck anyway? And then I pulled out the bag of guts....does anybody really want that? I felt like throwing up, but somehow I managed to get that turkey in the bag and into the oven.

After that, I changed all of my clothes and washed up to my elbows. (I felt like taking a shower, but didn't.) I also sprayed down the kitchen with disinfectant and cleaned the sink. I think I might mop the floor, just in case something splattered on the floor without my notice.

I sure hope this turkey turns out good! I think I'm starting to understand why some members of my family never get whole turkeys anymore...

Maybe in a couple hours when I've gotten my appetite back and the turkey smells good I will be glad. What do you do for Thanksgiving? Do you cook whole turkeys or little turkey roasts?

Merry Christmas

This happened at Macy's in Philadelphia. They have the world's largest pipe organ. The entire Philadelphia Opera Company along with more than 20 other choirs in the area went to the mall and just hung out all around the 7 story building. Somebody was playing the organ already, but when they started playing the Hallelujah Chorus the choirs all began singing. They chose that day and time because there were some awesome sales and they knew the mall would be packed with people. As you can see, all the shoppers stopped what they were doing to listen to the music. What an amazing experience! Wish I could sing with them!

What a storm!

Last night the wind blew and blew! It was so loud that it kept me up for the first half of the night. And the thunder and lightening came! The lightening was so bright that it hurt my eyes when it flashed and lit up the room through the closed curtains. The thunder rumbled and roared like a freight train coming through my bedroom.

Lots of people and businesses in the area lost power. Luckily we didn't. I heard that the wind was going 70 miles per hour! When we left the apartment this morning we saw our neighbor's moped bike had fallen over. We also drove by a construction site that had most of the roofing progress ruined. Tar paper and shingles were all over the ground that had been torn from the roof. And most exciting, one of the schools in Moscow closed! When I went shopping I saw lots of kids happily hanging out with their moms at the store. I bet they were happy!

And on a bigger scale, here is a picture my dad sent to me. It was on the Komo News website.



Dominoes!

Greg's Costume

This is what Greg wore to work on Friday. Don't ask me what he's supposed to be...I don't think he knows either. But the mask is cool, and he made the fuzzy part of the costume a few years ago.


...maybe some kind of mexican wrestling viking warrior?