Questions

I did it! I really, really did it!! I got my hair c-h-o-p-p-e-d off. It’s the shortest I’ve ever had it and well, I LOVE IT! I wonder why in the world I’ve waited this long . . . I’ll tell you why. Since childhood, I have had embedded in my brain (kind of like the stone in Goliath’s forehead) that long hair was the correct way for a girl to wear her hair. . . And while that was very nice for the pioneers, I’ve decided that I am very happy with this new look that only needs a blow dryer and some pomade! Which brings me to the first question of this post: What keeps women from getting the hair style they really, really love???

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Thank heavens the weather here has favored the cooler temps because the A/C in our van isn’t working. And I have been putting off the expensive fix for a while now.  But with no A/C in a 15 passenger van, the   summer will be a Death Valley vacation on wheels. Sad thing is, I remember when A/C was a l-u-x-u-r-y.  It wasn't until I was in Junior High that our family vehicle had the exhilaration of cold air blowing through our hair when the window was closed.  Do luxuries always have to become necessities?

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So I'm reading through my three junior high-ers' yearbooks and I see HAGS scrawled throughout the pages. "HAGS?"  I thought.  "My boys are NOT hags (and neither is their mother)."  Then I calmed down and thought, "Think code word.  Maybe HAGS is a code word for a Happy Associated Girls' Society?"  That didn't seem right either.  And then it clicked in my brain that if I had known 20+ years ago when I graduated from high school that Have A Great Summer could have been condensed in just four easy letters, I could have saved myself A LOT of time and started summer vacation a whole lot earlier.  BTW, what acronyms have you come across that took you while to figure out?

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We have a white board in our kitchen area.  Up until this week it has been largely ignored.  But this week my boys have decided it is now a forum to write messages.  Here are some of the messages that have been written:

"If you don't have time to do it right, you must find time to do it over."

"All men are created equal."

"With God nothing is impossible."

"Life is not a game. Life is work."

"When something is hard it doesn't mean you shouldn't try.  It just means you should try harder"

"Rum Punch, quite satisfactory." - Mary Poppins

To tell you the truth I was surprised my boys had it in them to generate such enjoyable, thought-provoking messages.  And it's been such the craze that each boy has an assigned day when he can put his message on the board.  In what ways have your children surprised you?

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I love the scriptures.  I mean, I LOVE the scriptures.  On Memorial Day we focused our family scripture study on those who men and women who fought and died for our liberties and freedom.  We learned that the fight for freedom for this Land of Liberty - even this land of America - extended far beyond the Revolutionary War.  That fight, and specifically the right to worship God, makes this land the greatest on earth!

We took our discussion from Alma 43:9-21.  And this time around I equated the armies of the Lamanites to the 1/3 of the hosts of heaven who were cast out of Father's presence and the Nephites to be all those spirits who chose Father's plan to come to earth.

And when the armies of the Lamanites [1/3 of the hosts of heaven] saw that the people of Nephi [spirits who chose to follow Father's plan], or that Moroni [Jesus Christ], had prepared his people with breastplates and with arm-shields, yea, and also shields to defend their heads, and also they were dressed with thick clothing [think a physical body WITH the Armor of God] —

Now the army of Zerahemnah [Lucifer] was not prepared with any such thing; they had only their swords and their cimeters, their bows and their arrows, their stones and their slings [aka temptations of EVERY kind] ; and they were naked [they had no physical body], save it were a skin which was girded about their loins; yea, all were naked, save it were the Zoramites and the Amalekites [sons of perdition];

But they were not armed with breastplates, nor shields [they did not, no, they could not have the Armor of God]—therefore, they were exceedingly afraid of the armies of the Nephites [children of Christ] because of their armor, notwithstanding their number being so much greater than the Nephites [those of the Church of God].

What have the scriptures taught you this week?