The Temple

I love having the Houston Temple so close to our home.  It's about a 45 minute drive and Curtis and I usually on weekends and I often go with girlfriends during the week.  I love the perspective I get from going to the temple.  It's a powerful reminder of why we are here and what really matters.  I know many people are curious about Mormon temples and it's really so much less exciting than people imagine.  But I love learning about the creation and quietly thinking in the Celestial Room.  I also find it really empowering to participate in ordinances where women only are laying their hands on my head.  I have felt such a sweet peaceful feeling doing this work and am so grateful to have access to it.  
I absolutely love the viewpoint my faith has on Adam and Eve.  I read a book a few years ago called "Eve and the Choice Made in Eden."  I actually got to hear the author, Beverly Campbell speak and her life has been so interesting.  I find it hard to believe that many people blame Adam (and more specifically Eve) for all the suffering in this world.  A God whose plan fell apart so easily in the Garden of Eden doesn't seem very omnipotent.   So much confusion has come from difficulty in translation, most especially with the word "beguiled."  This is a Hebrew verb that has not been used in centuries and the meaning is complex.  It implies an intense emotional and spiritual experience. This interpretation dramatically changes that part of the story. Suddenly Eve is not weak and naive.  She is someone who sees the big picture and understands that staying in the garden will frustrate God's plan because she and Adam need knowledge in order to have children.  We don't know how long Adam and Eve were in the garden or how much they talked and walked with God but I believe that they were valiant and brave and we owe so much.  
I love my faith and and so grateful to have it, especially in a day when values seems to be changing on a weekly basis.  I appreciate the clear voices of prophets in our day, reminding us that we are God's children and He cares about our individual happiness.  I love this letter written by Terryl Givens: Letter To A Doubter.  I think it's harder to be a religious person today than ever before and God wants us to chose faith.  

Conference, Bluebells, Bluebonnets & EASTER!

I think we found a new tradition.  Well it was fun this year anyway.  For Saturdays General Conference sessions we decided to get in the car and drive to Brenham, Texas.  It's about an hour away and we were able to listen to conference on our XM radio.  We got to Brenham and the Bluebonnets were everywhere.  People seriously stop on the freeway and lug their kids out to the fields to get pictures.  I heard somewhere that there was a nice field behind the Home Depot so we checked that out.  It was so pretty and not too many other people.  We took some fun pics and then headed over to the Bluebell factory for ice cream.  Yum!  Then we listened to another hour of conference on the way home.  We were able to have a little downtime before the boys went to the priesthood session. 

I really love general conference and look forward to all the talks but it is a lot of listening in a short amount of time.  This little road trip mixed it up so that we were able to just stay home on Sunday and listen on our computer.  I loved Elder Eyring's talk on "Fasting."  I have been thinking about the untapped power in fasting and prayer and appreciated his words. I need to reread them all but Sister Wixom, Elder Nielsen, Elder Holland and President Uchtdorf all gave talks that really touched me.  In a world with such an overload of information, it was nice to listen to inspired words.  :)

I wish I had a picture to share but I didn't take any of our amazing Easter Feast!  An awesome family from church invited over 50 people to their home to have dinner.  The food was amazing, the company was so fun and interesting to talk to and we just loved celebrating such a special holiday with so many people we love.  We watched this video earlier in the day and loved it:
http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/collection/easter-videos/because-he-lives

February

This has been a hard month. There were some petty troubles, teacher and church issues that were more annoying than anything. And then we found out that Curtis needed to have surgery again on his other shoulder. The surgery itself is not so bad but the 6 month recovery is a drag. He's on day 5. :O Then a few weeks ago Curtis lost his uncle, who was much more like a brother to him and just 4 years older. We've dealt with death before but losing Guy really knocked us both down. He leaves behind a beautiful family and we have been praying for them everyday. We will miss the interesting conversations (he was such a thoughtful person), his great cooking, walleye fishing trips,and his computer-like brain for building things, to name a few. I firmly believe we will see him again and am comforted by the thought that he is finally reunited with his father, who passed away when he was just 15.

Slogging through this month has not been real fun but a few things have helped.

Good food (actually what I mean is bad food. Anything unhealthy seems to be my fav comfort food)
Reading "One Thousand Gifts." Some of it is cheesy but I love the message. I need this message!
This article on grace. For years, Latter Day Saints have frankly gotten this message mixed up and it's so nice to see things being clarified. My sister and mom both recommended the article and it has brought me a lot of comfort.