Wasn’t that a band

4 March 2012, 7:28 am by Giggles
Categories: Random

There was one, there were two, there were three little angels –
There were four, there were five, there were six little angels –
There were seven, there were eight, there were nine little angels –
Ten little angels in the band.
Wasn’t that a band, Sunday morning, Sunday morning, Sunday morning
Wasn’t that a band, Sunday morning soon.

When the perfect day for a parade falls on a Sunday you get a different kind of parade. I remember my mom singing this song and getting up to forty or more angels in the band. That’s quite the angel band.

What else would be in a Sunday morning parade?

7 Shared thoughts

Needed resources

1 March 2012, 9:49 am by Giggles
Categories: Education, Health

Every month the graduate college here puts out a newsletter about how to get funding for graduate school. For the month of March it is all about getting the funds you might need to write your dissertation. The newsletter starts with:

An Introduction to Dissertation Support
The dissertation writing stage can be difficult in many ways for graduate students (and everyone in their immediate vicinity). This newsletter will give an overview of where to find financial help, for other kinds of assistance please contact your adviser, friends, family, priest, rabbi, or psychologist.

Which made me laugh in its blunt truthfulness of the situation.

It then said to start with you need to list all of the resources you need to write your dissertation, giving examples of resources beyond just money. And that seemed like a good idea. So here’s the list I’ve come up with.

  1. :x: Two computers at the same desk. That way I can look at my references on one screen and write on the other.
  2. At least three hours a day, although five would make me feel better. Good luck finding this with work and my other commitments.
  3. :x: A clean environment. At least in the immediate vicinity of the desk I’m at. Cluttered space makes my brain feel cluttered. This might result in the longest my desk area will ever be clean at the same time ever.
  4. Less stress. I know. Pipe dream. But it said to list all the resources I need. If I could remove stress in all the other areas outside of the dissertation that would be fine. But it has lead to Brett rather strongly suggesting…
  5. Daily yoga. After I inadvertently woke him up at 3am Tuesday when my body was suddenly so tight and sore that I couldn’t sleep and had to get out of bed to do middle of the night yoga to stretch me out enough so I could go back to sleep, he’s been helping me remember to do yoga before we go to bed rather than after we’re trying to sleep.
  6. Health. Because going to the doctor all the time is just one more thing I don’t want to have to schedule. Among other things, someone needs to tell my kidney stones that now is not a good time for them to be moving around.
  7. :x: SPSS. It’s a statistics program. Because there’s statistics involved in all of this.
  8. Munchy foods, preferably health foods, foods that I can just sit and munch on while I’m sitting at my desk with two computers.
  9. :x: References. I’ve actually fallen down a bit of a rabbit hole on this one. Every reference leads me to more. I need to stop it already.
  10. :x: Data. I’m actually half way through the second round. I’ll have all my data collection finished the first full week of May. Yea!

That’s five checked off, and two more (yoga and munchies) in an ongoing checking off stage. Not too bad considering that the other three are more time, less stress, and better health. And I think all three of those are related. Pulling the string of one will pull the other two with it. And I think the easiest string to pull would be time. Which means it’s time to see about cutting out all nonessential things taking up my time, as long as doing so doesn’t also increase my stress. 😉

5 Shared thoughts

Too exciting for me

28 February 2012, 10:34 am by Giggles
Categories: Happy Things, Life

I have to admit, there are days when I could go for this kind of excitement:


Although maybe what he’s saying is that compared to tree watching his life is real exciting. Is “exciting” the same thing as “hectic”?

However, you must agree that when the trees look and smell as beautiful as this, who wouldn’t want to be a tree watcher? Citrus blooms are one of my favorite smells in the world.


And we had fresh baby lettuce from our garden on our tacos last night. (Which also means there are plenty more weeds for me to pull in our yard again.) The lettuce was delicious.

7 Shared thoughts

Faith like Martha, Waiting in Bethany

27 February 2012, 8:35 am by Giggles
Categories: Gospel, Musings

I think we judge Martha too quickly when we read about her and her sister in Luke. There is another story about the two sisters in John.

Jesus is beyond Jordan when he hears that Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, is sick. He waits two days before starting towards Bethany. During that time, Lazarus dies. Jesus tells his disciples that are with him, “I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe” (John 11:15).

When he gets near Bethany it is Martha, not Mary, that rushes to meet him, before he even arrives in the city.

Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.
John 11:20

Mary does not come until Martha tells her that Jesus has asked for her. But then she comes quickly.

As I read the story this week, the testimony of Martha stood out to me.

Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
John 11:21-27

Martha knew Jesus could have healed her brother. She knew all will be restored in the resurrection. And she knew Christ is the Son of God.

I know Jesus can take away the pains and trials I have. I know all promised blessings will be given either in this life or the next. And I know Christ is the Son of God.

This week I was able to relate the story to my life. There have been blessings I’ve waited for where it felt that in some way Christ was beyond Jordan. He did not come immediately. I was single for a lot longer than I’d originally planned on. Yet I knew the promised blessing of marriage would be mine, if not in this life than in the next. Perhaps Christ waited for my sake, in order that I might believe on Him. Because when Christ did arrive in Bethany he performed a miracle that Mary and Martha had not expected, that strengthened not only their faith but the faith of those they knew as well. He raised Lazarus from the dead. When Christ arrived in the Bethany of my singlehood, He performed the miracle of putting Brett and I together, a miracle I am still in awe of.

There are other Bethanys in my life where I am waiting for promised blessings. I know when the time comes, when the time is right for my sake or the sake of those around me, I will receive those blessings in more abundance than I can now imagine. Christ is there. He knows what my suffering is. I must have faith in God’s timing.

When Mary does come she does what many of us would do in that situation, she falls at Christ’s feet and shares her grief.

Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
John 11:32

I’ve fallen at the feet of Jesus in prayer many times and explained my grief as I see it through my mortal eyes, with my mortal perspective. And I’ve felt a comforting arm around me. One of the most powerful scriptures comes from this story.

Jesus wept.
John 11:35

Jesus knows what is about to happen. He knows there is about to be a joyful reunion of the siblings. But He does not tell them not to grieve, not to mourn, to look at the big picture. He understands their feelings. He feels it with them. He mourns with them as they view the situation from their mortal perspective.

Martha then has faith to remove the stone from the tomb, an act that makes no sense to her as experience has taught that a four-day-old dead body has some unpleasant odors with it. But she does it.

I hope my faith and testimony are such that when Jesus comes to my Bethany I will be prepared to do what I need to so I can receive all the promised blessings.

5 Shared thoughts

What happened to the old lady?

20 February 2012, 7:28 pm by Giggles
Categories: Random

Brett has seen this commercial on the tv for years now. It’s one of the few he notices. And he’s been laughing about it for years too. “That’s not for me, that’s for some old person” and “So I pushed the button” are his favorite lines. Tonight he said he wanted to know what happened to the old lady next.

I told him he could write his own ending, but he said that wouldn’t work. He doesn’t want to write what happens next, he wants to know what happens next. Do you know (or can you make up) what happened next for Brett? Tell the story in the comments.

And then of course we can combine it with another commercial and completely change the commercial.

And it’s because I can do things like this (you might recall when Job’s servant called 911), that Brett married me. :heart:

6 Shared thoughts

An open letter to the President

16 February 2012, 7:43 am by Giggles
Categories: Family, Health, Infertility, Life, Politics

I personally know many people near and dear to me who have been diagnosed infertile and struggle to realize their dreams of having a family or struggle with the reality that it might never happen to them. In light of the recent healthcare debates, I wrote this letter to President Obama and sent slightly modified versions to my representatives as well. More people than you realize struggle with infertility. Perhaps you could help me send a message to our government leaders that we want them to be more pro-family.

Mr. President,

With the current healthcare debate about the mandate to cover the prevention of children, I must ask why there is no mandate to cover the creation of children? You appear anti-family by not helping the thousands of infertile couples who are paying often hundreds of thousands of dollars each in an effort to create life as there is no standard for insurance coverage of infertility treatment.

Insurance companies that do offer infertility coverage will often only cover up to two attempts of in-vitro fertilization because they fear the risks of multiple births. However, couples who know they only get two tries will risk a multiple birth by transferring several embryos in order to increase their chances of hopefully welcoming at least one child into their home.

The nation of Israel has addressed this risk by providing coverage for in-vitro fertilization until the couple has two children. This policy has reduced the number of multiple births because couples are more likely to transfer only one or two embryos rather than putting all their hopes and embryos on their only two tries.

Much of the talk about contraceptives is that it is preventative medicine. Children are not medical conditions to be prevented. If you must talk prevention, pregnancy and breastfeeding have also been shown to reduce the risk for several cancers.

Mr. President, please stop your anti-family practices.

Lisa M. G. Dennis, M.Ed.

Emails are great. Physical letters are better. Or do both, make sure they can’t ignore this.
Contact the White House
Contact your senator
Contact your representative

7 Shared thoughts

I’m so lucky

14 February 2012, 9:41 am by Giggles
Categories: Family, Happy Things, Relationships

This post, post number 1111, is dedicated to Brett (because he said he’d care when the post was #1111).

The phrase “I’m so lucky,” or as it was originally, “you’re so lucky” is a bit of a joke between us. It is the result of an unfortunate pause one day when I was speaking. We have several jokes that are either the result of me pausing at the wrong place or moving seamlessly from one topic to another entirely unrelated topic. For example, reading a scripture about the martyrdom of a prophet and moving seamlessly to comment on how much I like it when Brett rubs my back which came out something like, “And thus Abinadi suffered death by fire. I like that.” There’s also the times when I don’t finish the first topic and move on, which resulted in “Apparently I’m cuddling.” Brett’s real good to understand my grammar.

At the risk of being too mushy gushy in public, here are 1111 reasons why I’m the lucky one in this relationship. But don’t worry, I’ve told all of this to him personally. I never want to be one of those people who gets up in public to say I don’t tell him how much I love him often enough.

  1. I ended up having to be gone for nine hours on Saturday. And I came home to a completely clean house. He knew it was one of the things I was stressing about and that it was the only thing he could help with.
  2. I might put the laundry in the washer and drier each week, but Brett is the one that sorts and folds it.
  3. I think if we calculated it out I only cook dinner half the time. He’ll even bbq in the middle of a monsoon storm.
  4. He says I help warm the bed too, but my contribution is negligible compared to him. I’d been contemplating buying an electric blanket before we got married. No need now.
  5. He freely admits that while he understands the words coming out of my mouth when I’m explaining some project I want to do, that he can’t imagine what it will look like when it’s over. And yet he has complete faith in me that it will work out and goes along with it till the end.
  6. Piano music.
  7. Long talks (some of them in writing, so there’s proof we said that) and quiet moments.
  8. I know I can depend on his strength, and not just his physical strength to open all the jars.
  9. He makes me feel needed, even in his sleep. If I’m up late grading on the couch I’ll hear him not sleeping soundly in the other room. But if I grade in bed with my lap top and let him at least cuddle with my leg he sleeps soundly. If I get up in the middle of the night I’ll come back to just a sliver of bed left because he’s kept rolling over trying to find me. He hasn’t rolled off the bed yet though.
  10. I mentioned in passing one morning that I’d always wanted one of those super soft terry cloth bath robes. Several months later he got me one for Christmas. He makes my dreams come true.
  11. He helped me fulfill my dream of working chains at a football game. We did five! (and we’re on the books to do the next season too!)
  12. I get to play with the yard and grow plants and feed birds.
  13. He goes to the quilt show with me and lets me tell him all about the quilts and the different blocks and then starts giving them his own names.
  14. Crinkle nosed kisses.
  15. He knows me, understands me, and married me anyway.

Admit it, I’m the lucky one. :heart: Happy 2.25 years!

6 Shared thoughts