Benevolent

2 February 2011, 4:33 pm by Giggles
Categories: Gospel, Learn Something

This year’s theme for the youth is the thirteenth Article of Faith:

We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

So that means youth all over this country are trying to figure out what “benevolent” means (and “admonition,” but at least they generally say “benevolent” right) and a lot of their leaders are scratching their heads as well about how to explain it. Because somewhere inside we think we know what it means, but it’s hard to find the words for it.

This past Sunday while I was sitting in yet another meeting where they were trying to explain what it meant it came to me.

The word is obviously of Latin origins (at least I’m going to say that because it makes perfect sense that way, but the dictionary agrees). So I broke it down into two parts: bene and volent.

Bene sounds an awful lot like the Portuguese word, bem, which means “well” as in “I’m doing well” and “well done.” And it sounds exactly like how I would say “well” if I was faking Italian. So the first half of the word means “well.”

Volent makes you think of other similar words in English (no! not “violent!”). Words like “volunteer” and “volition.” (“Volition” means “exercise of will” if you weren’t sure.) It also reminds me of the Portuguese word vontage which means “will” as in “strong willed.” (The vol- to von- was a bit of a stretch for Brett when I told him this wonderful insight of mine, but just go with me on this.) So the second part of the word means “will,” or “wish” if you’d like.

Now when we put those to together you basically get “wishing well” (and not the kind you sing into while waiting for your true love). Which is exactly what benevolent means, wishing well for others, doing good, and having good will towards others.

Ta-da! And now you know.

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My new jacket

31 January 2011, 5:29 pm by Giggles
Categories: Quilting/Sewing/Knitting/Crafting

Clear back when, I bought a jacket pattern and some lovely red corduroy to make myself a great jacket with. And then I didn’t. But I did make a great black corduroy jacket with the pattern three years ago. Last year, with my goal to sew more old things than new things I pulled out the red corduroy again. And I got as far as cutting it out. It’s progress.

Finally, the first week of this year I started sewing it. It always feels like cutting out sewing projects takes forever and then the sewing is real quick. But that’s never the case. It might just feel that way though because the sewing is more fun. So it took me just over a full day of sewing to get the jacket done.

It might have gone quicker except I’ve now made a wedding dress and that changed my sewing. I know more techniques now, and I’m less likely to leave little mistakes, which is why I ended up cutting out two sets of breast pockets and completely removing one set after it had already been sewn on. It’s also why my red jacket is fitted and my black one is boxy. And because I’ve been reading sewing blogs (like this one where she made a red corduroy jacket) I tried cutting the yoke on the bias and I really like the chevron look of the corduroy there. It’s subtle.

And here’s a picture of me in my new jacket on my first day of school this semester.

It’s more of a fashion jacket than an every day jacket, but I’ve already found several outfits to wear it with this month.

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Five years

29 January 2011, 7:17 am by Giggles
Categories: Education, Science & Tech

Miss Giggles has been on-line since October 2003. But this blog didn’t start until January 2006 – “Welcome to the randomness that is me.” The weekend the site moved servers was the fifth anniversary of the blog. Which might explain why I missed it. This also means I’ve been in graduate school for five years. This blog was one of my first homework assignments – to start a blog. It was a class about technology in education, and I learned a lot.

And now we’re here. Happy 5 years and 2 weeks Random Giggles!

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Celebrating a special day

28 January 2011, 6:54 pm by Giggles
Categories: Family, Food, Proclamations, Relationships

In the third area of my mission they had hot dog stands that came out at night. Brazilian hot dogs are thing to behold. We’d pass one stand, Dog do Ceu, on our way home at night and I very frequently found a reason to stop and get one. Nobody slammed the door in our face, we didn’t get rained on, it rained and cooled everything off, I could always find a reason. In my next area it was a great ice cream place. Brasil also has some of the best ice cream ever. I also gained 30 pounds as a missionary. Man that food was good.

I still find reasons to celebrate all the time (although not very many of them involve ice cream or amazing hot dogs any more). I make a calendar every year (here’s 2011’s) with many random and obscure holidays on them. Surprisingly, there’s really only one holiday on there that I’ve “made up.” And that’s today – Shoe Day. :run:

Shoe Day is a celebration of the day Brett and I met. He sent me his first message on January 28, 2006. I didn’t reply till the 29th because I wanted to be coy and not appear desperate. And the date got it’s name because Brett told me in that first message that he had great shoes. Which is very important to know.

What reasons do you find to celebrate every day?

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Janus

25 January 2011, 7:00 am by Giggles
Categories: Gospel, Life, Musings, Relationships

Janus. The god of passageways, gates, doors, and beginnings and endings. He is often depicted with two faces (a lot like creepy Voldemort coming out of the back of Quirrell’s head in Philospher’s Stone actually), one looking forward and one looking back. That way he could see who was coming in and who was going out. His name is where we get the name of January from, as he sees the old year and what has passed as well as the new year and what is to come. The new year is a passageway from the old to the new.

Sometimes that can be helpful. Sometimes we need to know where we’ve been so we can know where to go. Sometimes seeing where we’ve been also helps us see how far we’ve come.

But sometimes looking back like that can be a problem if you start dwelling on it. And that’s what I really love about Elder Holland’s BYU devotional in January 2009, “Remember Lot’s Wife.” Looking back too much can hold us back. Dwelling on the past means our faith cannot grow.

The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead, we remember that faith is always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives.

I particularly found this quote important to me in my life and how I relate to myself and others. Remembering this has been an important change in my life this last two years, and one that I’m still working on.

There is something in us, at least in too many of us, that particularly fails to forgive and forget earlier mistakes in life—either mistakes we ourselves have made or the mistakes of others. That is not good. It is not Christian. It stands in terrible opposition to the grandeur and majesty of the Atonement of Christ. To be tied to earlier mistakes—our own or other people’s—is the worst kind of wallowing in the past from which we are called to cease and desist.

…

When something is over and done with, when it has been repented of as fully as it can be repented of, when life has moved on as it should and a lot of other wonderfully good things have happened since then, it is not right to go back and open up some ancient wound that the Son of God Himself died trying to heal.

Let people repent. Let people grow. Believe that people can change and improve. Is that faith? Yes! Is that hope? Yes! Is it charity? Yes! Above all, it is charity, the pure love of Christ. If something is buried in the past, leave it buried.

With the new year, with the new mistakes that we will each make, with the new challenges we will all face, and with all of our pasts that got us where we are today, I love these closing words of Elder Holland:

I call out, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Faith is for the future. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ truly is the “high priest of good things to come.”

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The other side of meetings

21 January 2011, 10:49 pm by Giggles
Categories: Education, Musings, Work

While I was an elementary teacher I sat through many many meetings in the library of our school. The majority of them were just among those of us who worked at the school. But occasionally we’d have someone from somewhere else come in and talk to us about some thing or another. They’re all still meetings though.

Yesterday however, I had a weird life moment. This semester I am teaching a child development course to a cohort of pre-service elementary teachers out in the elementary schools. They spend part of their week in college classes in an elementary school room. And then part of their week actually working with elementary classes and getting to try out what we teach them. Yesterday the professors had a meeting in the library of one of the associated elementary schools with the cooperating teachers to explain what they should expect from our students this semester.

About half-way through the meeting it dawned on me – I’m one of the visiting experts. Me? An expert? When in the world did that happen? I know what I teach and I’d like to think I’m pretty darn good at it. I’m having a lot of fun with the class so far. But there are so many things I still don’t know, and then so many things I don’t even know I don’t know. How can I be an “expert”?

It’d be nice if life changes like that didn’t sneak up on me.

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Not the best night’s sleep

20 January 2011, 9:47 pm by Giggles
Categories: Life, Random

With this, that, and the other happening this week I ended up not having the best night’s sleep last night. And I took Brett along for the ride.

First, some this, that, and the other. For starter stress we moved servers this week. I stayed up WAY too late Sunday night getting that done. I made the official switch Monday about 11:30am and it slowly worked it’s way through the system that day. Which was good. Because I thought the old server was deleting our files on Wednesday and they actually deleted them Tuesday morning. According to Brett, “It’s kind of like Johnny Depp stepping onto the dock just as the mast of his ship goes under water, isn’t it?  We’re safe, and that’s the important thing.”

Today was my first day teaching as well (last week was just introducing each other). And I covered a chapter and a half. And it went very well. But three hour teaching block is a bit daunting at first.

And then there’s just other things going on as well. All of which resulted in me going to bed very stressed last night.

Around 2am, Brett checked the clock not me, I woke up and started asking Brett if he’d figured out the “lower function thing on the left tab.” He had no idea what I was talking about, and admittedly, I don’t either at this point. But I needed to know if he’d worked it out. When I kept asking him he asked me if I was awake. Which was super annoying. Of course I’m awake! And this is real important! Then he asked me what it was I was referring to. I told him I’d explain it to him when I woke up in the morning. He said I sounded real annoyed at that point. And then I went back to sleep and dreamed about making pico de gallo, only it was not working out well at all.

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