Random Giggles | Page 115

The Bell Tower

6 August 2010, 4:20 pm by Giggles

Categories: Education, Musings

I was invited to visit the BYU campus in the fall of my senior year at high school for a weekend while BYU tried to “woo” me a bit (I don’t know if it worked or not since I’d decided before hand to go there). We visited with professors and departments and got to experience some classes they put together for us.

There was one point during the weekend when we had some free time and I ended up sitting on the steps below the bell tower. I sat there for a while and just kind of took in the whole feeling of the place. I’d been to BYU many times before when we lived in Utah. But there was something about sitting on those steps at that moment that was different.

As I sat there I felt like I was home. There was no place else I wanted to be.

My mom said when she picked me up at the end of the weekend, which ended with the first football game of the season (which I’d painted my face for, like I did the majority of the ones I went to while I was a student), that she could also tell something was different. Part of me had already moved out of the house and was at BYU.

The whole time I was a student at BYU I liked to pass the bell tower whenever I could. It was always a special place to me, a symbol of my home there.

There are those places in the world and in life where you just feel at home. Places where it seems you just belong, where you are comfortable, where you feel like you’ve always been there. Even people I’ve met have had that feeling for me. The bell tower was just one of those places for me at that time of my life. Since then I’ve certainly felt that at other places as life has taken me where it has. As my life has moved, so has that feeling of home.

Right now, that feeling of home for me is in our home, together.

Where have your homes been? Where have you felt that you’ve come home to?

2 Shared thoughts

Response

4 August 2010, 2:47 pm by Giggles

Categories: Family, Gospel, Politics

SALT LAKE CITY | 4 August 2010 | The Church issued the following statement today in response to the ruling by Judge Vaughn R. Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Perry et al v. Schwarzenegger et al:

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regrets today’s decision. California voters have twice been given the opportunity to vote on the definition of marriage in their state and both times have determined that marriage should be recognized as only between a man and a woman. We agree. Marriage between a man and woman is the bedrock of society.

“We recognize that this decision represents only the opening of a vigorous debate in the courts over the rights of the people to define and protect this most fundamental institution – marriage.

“There is no doubt that today’s ruling will add to the marriage debate in this country and we urge people on all sides of this issue to act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility toward those with a different opinion.”

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The Family: A Proclamation to the World

“We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.

“All human beings – male and female – are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.

“In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.

“The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.

“We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God’s eternal plan.

“Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. ‘Children are an heritage of the Lord’ (Psalms 127:3. Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives – mothers and fathers – will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

“The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.

“We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

“We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society” (Ensign, Nov. 1995, 102).

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The wheels on the bus

3 August 2010, 1:33 pm by Giggles

Categories: Happy Things, Venting

The bus wheels aren’t going round and round this week. At least not often enough to make it worthwhile.

Monday morning at midnight the bus drivers went on strike. Seven routes are still running limited service but the rest are all shut down. My route is one with limited service, but since it’s running every two hours instead of every 20-30 minutes like before it’s not exactly the most convenient form of transportation right now. Thank goodness I have a car. And thank goodness it’s summer so the parking garage isn’t full.

When did I realize there was a strike? Monday morning I left the house quickly to catch the bus and on the radio heard someone call and request a hard working union song (it was a country station, they have several of those songs) for the bus drivers on strike. Huh? When I got to my stop there were no cars and no bus there. I gave it a few minutes before driving in to campus and then looked it up on-line. Perhaps if I watched local news I would’ve known about it sooner. But the local news stations here are so annoying. xD

My transportation issues were not quite over yet. I parked my car in the parking garage and went and taught my class. When I went to leave, someone had parked next to me at such an angle that I could barely slide my hips between the backs of our cars to barely open the driver’s side of my car (that’s the only door with a key hole) so that I could get in my car from the passenger’s side and crawl across. Amazingly there was no damage to either cars in the process.

On my way out of the parking garage there was a big SUV in front of me in the right turn only exit. The driver was on her phone which made it difficult for her to put her ticket in the machine to lift the arm so she could leave. And then when she did manage that bit of tricky maneuvering, what does she do? She turns left?! I’ll never understand how someone can drive down a lane with a big arrow pointing in one direction and then turn the other. :annoy:

After all of that I made it home safely.

And for reading all of that, check out these covers of pop songs by groups that are anything but pop – Orchestras Go Pop. I particularly enjoyed “The Final Countdown” because I’m impressed with anyone who can play the cello and head bang at the same time, and do it with style. “Poker Face” was just incredible. And the James Bond theme made me smile.

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My inner introvert

28 July 2010, 7:00 pm by Giggles

Categories: Life, Relationships

My name is Lisa. And I’m an introvert.

And I’m perfectly fine with that fact and don’t plan to change it any time soon.

I know several people who would actually argue the fact with me. But that’s because I’ve learned some very good coping skills and because they would be the ones who I truly open up to.

I do not like large groups. I attend events because I think I should for some reason or another, but rarely because I’m actually super excited about going. One way I cope at large gatherings is by shrinking it in my head down to just the two or three people around me. So much interaction is just completely overwhelming to me. It’s too much to focus on and keep track of. I also enjoy sitting on the edge of the large group and simply observing everything that everyone is doing. You can learn a lot about people that way.

I do like people. But only in small doses.

Yet I love teaching. Which is one reason why most people don’t think of me as an introvert. But here’s the difference. Teaching is one big interaction. It’s not a large number of small interactions. When I’m teaching it’s an interaction between me and the class. And I’m basically in control of that interaction. I know where it generally will go and what might come up. With a group gathering I have no idea on any of that. Teaching is not the same as a party.

Teaching excites me. Parties exhaust me.

It’s a similar reason why I hate the phone. It’s too intrusive. I’d much rather have face-to-face or e-mail communications. Or even, gasp!, paper letters! 😮 Then it’s more planned. Or at least not distracting. We just got a family plan for our phones and got the lowest number of minutes available. The salesman seemed to think it wouldn’t be enough. But we’re both introverts. His phone is generally off (he doesn’t get good reception at work so turns it off and then forgets to turn it back on). And my phone is rarely within reach. I’ve never gone over my minutes. I’ve never even gotten close. If you want to reach me, send me an e-mail.

Introversion isn’t bad. We just live in a rather extroverted world so introverts get a bad rap.

If you’re interested, I’ve recently come across the blog “The Introvert’s Corner” which I find describes what it’s like to be an introvert quite well.

4 Shared thoughts

Good News Minute

25 July 2010, 10:21 am by Giggles

Categories: Happy Things

In some wards they have a “Good News Minute” during Relief Society. It is 60 seconds for anyone to share whatever good news they have that week. There is no discussion of the news, just sharing and moving on to the next person so as many people as possible can share in the time allowed. The idea of keeping it to just sixty seconds is to not take away more time than necessary from the lesson. One ward I was in realized it was still distracting and has moved it to their week-day meetings instead though. And a few wards I’ve been in have simply cut it all together in favor of more time for the lesson.

It’s generally the same type of stuff that people share. My kid’s potty trained. My kid is pregnant. I’m pregnant. My kid graduated. My kid got their mission call. All nice stuff. All good stuff. But surely there’s more good news than that!

One sister in one of my wards looked forward to it every week. She was the first to share and had something good that had happened to her each week that she was beyond excited to share. I admire that. I took that as an example. Surely we all have at least one good thing happen to us each week.

So I started thinking about the good things that were going on in my life, none of which had to do with babies, pregnancy, or potty training. Instead they were things like not killing my plants that particular week (gardening here is HARD!) or that my shoes matched that day (I have two pair of the exact same style, one in black one in dark brown, and I mixed-n-match one day, so it was nice the next time to have them match).

When you are looking for good things, you’ll find them. :sun:

So take your own 60 seconds today and think of the good news in your life. And if you feel like it, go ahead and share it here (or elsewhere if you’d prefer).

3 Shared thoughts

Power of 2

24 July 2010, 9:41 pm by Giggles

Categories: Random

As Brett pointed out in my birthday card, I’m now a power of 2. So in binary I’m 100,000 years old. And boy do I feel it some times!

Two is a pretty cool number though. Lots of good things come in sets of two. Like heads. Heads are good things to come in pairs.

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Sweet 16

20 July 2010, 6:35 pm by Giggles

Categories: Life

Sixteen years ago this week I was celebrating my “sweet 16” birthday party. I’ve always been a little different, and I wasn’t exactly sure what a “traditional” sweet 16 party included, so I made up my own.

And it was sweet! :woot:

I invited the seven kids I regularly babysat over for a party. We played pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. We blew bubbles. We made sock puppets. And we ate cupcakes. It was a lot of fun. They gave me cards that they had colored (which I still have in my scrap book) and made me a shirt with their foot prints on it, my Texas Two-Steppers. 🙂