THE SPIRIT OF GOD LIKE A FIRE IS BURNING

Today was orientation day for students and parents at BYU-I. The spirit was so strong; it was amazing. I have never been to an orientation of any sort where I felt the spirit, let alone how physically palpable it was today. The Lord was and is certainly on that campus. WE FELT IT. Families from all over the country came to partake.



What a wonderful blessing it is to have a son who has chosen a worthy goal such as he has. It is such a different environment than anything that I am used to. The kids there are all striving to live right—the whole campus and all the students in the apartment buildings around town. What a difference that is from what I see day to day! DS’s apartment building is for men only, and the girls have their own buildings. Pictures of the Savior are in each apartment, along with other scriptural paintings. Everyone is friendly. My husband remarked that it was more like family than just strangers. It was really amazing.

The dress code is modest, and I have not seen one immodestly-dressed person in the day and a half that we have been here. That is 180 degrees from what is normal, as I generally don’t go but a few minutes without seeing some sort of vulgarity or another, whether it be dress or the magazines on the racks at the convenience store.

The dress and grooming of BYU-Idaho students should always be modest, neat, and clean consistent with representing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Taken from "BYU-Idaho Student Baseline Campus Dress and Grooming Standards", BYU-Idaho.



I don’t want to leave; it just feels good here.



DB is rooming with other guys, at least two of whom are returned missionaries. It is just so remarkable to me to see people of this age dress and act with respect. I don’t know what more a parent could ask for than to have their own child in such an environment.



I am thankful for the great work that the faculty and workers at the school do for our kids. There are uplifting magazines laying on tables by the couches in the commons area. There is a president, who came from Harvard, to serve and guide the students. His experience is great, but his spirit is just as great, and that is what really matters. There are chapels, Family Home Evening groups, and a beautiful temple on the hill, just above the campus.



We were fed by the spirit today, in great abundance, and we were fed good nutritious food as well. A Luau was planned for us complete with a Hawaiian dinner.

I am thankful for this blessing in my life. I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for allowing me, through my son, to experience just a portion—yet such a great amount to me—of what it will be like when I return to him. Nothing else in life really matters, and today I was reminded of that.

THE SIMPLE WOMAN'S DAYBOOK

FOR TODAY DECEMBER 8, 2008...

Outside my window...are a few freshly fallen snowflakes—a welcome site.

I am thinking...that I am thankful to be home from work in my peaceful home.

I am thankful for...food, heat, and a warm cozy bed.

From the learning rooms...Algebra—for one last day. My final is tonight! :)

From the kitchen...the aroma of nephla soup—a favorite of my son’s and mine passed down to me from my German grandma. How I loved her homemade nephla soup! I also serve it in the same bowls that she did.

I am wearing...my work scrubs.

I am creating...my day planner that I will be selling in our local book store.

I am going...to school this evening.

I am reading...an issue of Country Woman—a great magazine of wholesome life!

I am hoping...to be able to work out of the home fewer days within a year’s time.

I am hearing...sweet silence…ahhh

Around the house...tidying up, Algebra study, making dumplings for my soup.

One of my favorite things...the art of creating and the joy that it brings.

A few plans for the rest of the week:work, starting my afghan.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...my Christmas box kitty. Pharaoh stuffs himself into any box that is handy—even if he doesn’t fit!





If anyone would like to take part in the Simple Woman's Daybook, please visit The Simple Woman at http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

NOVEMBER 29, 2008

My Saturday...

I had a wonderful and productive day. I cleaned house, did laundry, and got some meat out to thaw for tomorrow’s dinner. Chanielle and boys stopped by for a visit, which is always nice.

Christmas Shopping: I visited a couple of second-hand stores and bought a stocking stuffer and some Christmas candles. I also stopped by our local Bible book store and picked up some half-priced Christmas cards and a box of candy canes and bookmarks.

Because we are cutting down this holiday season both for frugality reasons and also to get back to the true spirit of Christmas, I have some plans. For our Christmas Eve, I will be reading a couple of newspaper articles about “Christmas” today and then talk of how Christ’s birth should really be celebrated. I will tell the story of the candy cane and hand out the peppermint sticks along with a bookmark that shows a candy cane and has a saying which includes the word “Jesus” on it. We’ll then tell the story of Christ’s birth using one of the nativity sets that I have. Our treat will be hot cocoa adorned with our mint candy canes. I think that my little grandchildren will be able to understand the meaning by the use of these visuals. We have agreed on plain brown paper wrapping for our gifts. I may hand decorate mine—something I used to do years ago.



I ordered several Christmas gifts from Lehman’s this evening. Many of the products that they offer are from days gone by. I even picked up a couple of little things for myself, my much-searched-for Fels Naptha soap and a sock darner ball! I’m so excited to get these things! Since we are only spending a very small amount on each other, the price will be quite minimal over all compared to what we usually spend. It’s a nice feeling, and the stress factor is greatly reduced!







Shopping: I spent hours going through the material and craft isle at our local Mission second-hand store. What bargains I found! I am starting a collection of Barbie’s to go with the one I got as a girl. I thought that I would have a hard time finding them, and that they may be expensive. However, I found three of them at the bottom of a cake decorating box today! They were .99 a piece; I couldn’t believe it!



Someone must have unloaded their entire attic full of crafts, as there were all sorts of items from, I am assuming, the 1960’s. How fun it was to look through all of these things. I never did find the crochet hook that I was searching for but had lots of fun just perusing the treasures. I even found a dress for $3.99. I’ll wear it to Church tomorrow.

Struggles: I had the very rough decision these past weeks of whether or not I could continue school. At long last, I decided that I just couldn’t work enough hours to pay the bills and pay for school and carry my class load too. It was very difficult to come to this conclusion, as I have tried two other times to get my degree. This time, my straight-A GPA will also be ruined. It’s an ego buster, I guess, and it stays on my record for ever. I suppose that I just didn’t push myself enough. There is always good that comes out of bad though, and my good is that I will be able to spend more time in my home and domestic endeavors. Elliott has wanted me to crochet him an afghan to take on his mission, and I would like to do some sewing also.

OUR FAMILY

Our youngest son graduated last spring. Wow! What an amazing and very strange feeling it is to have your children all grown. I always heard, "It will go fast", but you never REALLY know until it happens to you. You know, it was yesterday that I was in my 20s with three little children. Now, I'm turning 46 next month and married to a 51-year-old man! Who would ever have thought! It just is more than I can iterate until you feel it for yourselves. And, I was never one of those mothers who couldn’t wait until their children were out of the house. I still dread (although we always raised him to do so) the day that our boy leaves for his mission next Spring. Oh, I don’t know that my heart will handle it. But, he will be doing the Lord’s work, and that is the most important of all.

Here are a couple of pictures from Elliott’s graduation.

Elliott and a friend from school.



My Boy and Me

GARDENING, HARRIED, AND ROOSTERS

I am very excited about a new way of gardening that will hopefully fit into my full schedule. I do so yearn to garden again but really haven’t been able to. In our paper yesterday, a gentleman told about a couple of different ways that he grows his own food utilizing a cart and five-gallon buckets and also above-ground container gardening. I am excited to view the web site and to learn more! My son has agreed to help me in building the containers and hopefully a compost bin as well. My daughters are much like me in wanting to go back to the basics, and my oldest daughter will probably be setting up a gardening system at her house as well. I am so looking forward to it.

It seems that every day, I yearn more and more toward going back to the basics; a simpler life; a pure and real life. Would that I go return to the time when I stayed at home as a mother and homemaker. We did that for years, but my husband was tired of always having to work two jobs, so for the past 10 years, I have worked a regular job. I don’t blame him at all for not wanting to keep working that way. It’s a catch twenty-two unfortunately. Life today is such a rat maze of harried running all day long; it just isn’t good for a person. As I sat taking my half-an-hour lunch (twenty minutes by the time I’ve gotten my food), I thought how pitiful it is the way that we are expected to always be at a baseline of high stress. I stuffed my food down (I prefer to eat slowly) while cramming in some study time. I had studied all night until 3:30 this morning and then got up at 6:30 for work. Before I knew it, it was time to race back to work then head up to the college to cram in some more studying before taking my test then finally heading home exhausted. My whole goal today was to come home, rest, and blog with people such as you who are also craving the life that I am. Ah, I’m here at last…for tonight at least. : )

A very depressing realization came to me tonight that my straight-A average has officially taken a dive. I don’t think it is ever again attainable, once it has been lost. That is so discouraging to me, as it goes on my school record for life. I guess that this time around in my schooling, I just haven’t been up to only getting a meager amount of sleep each night before heading to work in the morning like I did a couple of years ago. I just can’t seem to push myself hard enough this time. I’m not sure if I’ll quit school altogether, change my goals, or what. With the need for time and money to always be available simultaneously, it makes for quite the challenge.

Back on the domestics, my girls bought roosters today and are probably, at this moment, out butchering them. This is a first for them, so it will be very interesting. I don’t know that I could butcher them too easily myself. I could if I absolutely had to, but my heart just hurts for anything that has to endure torture or pain.

SCHOOL

I love to learn. Right now, however, it is doing me in. It feels pretty near impossible to continue in the aloted time for this semester. I don't know which decision is right. Due to money (ever the all-mighty dollar), time, and/or family issues, I have had to start three times with at least two years in between restarts. I am getting impatient. Nonetheless, I don't quite know how to do it all.

Women used to be housewives. We then had to work out of the home while still keeping our duties as women of the home. We now are expected to better ourselves through learning and degrees while working outside the home and still being keepers of our home and all that that entails.

No, we don't HAVE to go to school, but if you want to earn more, in this day and age, you pretty much need to go. I guess that it's good that I enjoy learning. I don't want this to be yet another time that I must postpone or quit. But, I can't seem to make enough money for bills AND pay for school and then have the time for homework on top of it all. I just don't know how to do it all!

I am praying about it and pray that Heavenly Father shows me what I need to do.