I have a favorite scripture.

Well, I have many favorite scriptures, but today it is this one. Actually, this scripture became a favorite on my mission. We would show the short restoration DVD to people and I loved the scene where little Joseph saw a toy wooden horse that he wanted in the store, but they were too poor to buy it. Then, his dad carved one for him. Cute dad. Like my dad.  So, the movie quotes the last part of this scripture when his dad is giving him the toy.

3 Nephi 14:8-11

"For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. 

Or what man is there of you, who, if his son ask bread, will give him a stone?

Or is he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"

It's beautiful, isn't it? I think this scripture refers to our trust in God. When I was a child, my parents took great care of me. I trust them and know that I can count on them for anything at any time of day or night and at any stage in my life. But they aren't perfect; they aren't God. Why is it sometimes hard to trust God and to trust that the things he allows to happen in our lives are for our good? Perhaps because his isn't tangibly here every day like my mom and dad are. And perhaps there are things that have happened in my life that I have yet to understand how they were for my good. But the scriptures contain countless examples of the workings of God in the lives of men that I can rely on. 

And if the Savior himself tells me in the Book of Mormon that the Father gives good things to them that ask him, I can trust that. I can trust that everything in my life will work together for my good. 

Even when I have to leave the ward and the primary class and the neighbors that I love.

Even when I have to pack up my entire house and store it all in my in-laws basement for four months.

Even when I have to be homeless for two weeks. Ok, not homeless really, just I won't be living in my home. And one of those weeks will hopefully involve a road trip to Oregon. And that I'm excited for!

Spring!

Here a few random pictures of our spring so far:



This is a tree near our house! I think it is so cute; it's like a cross between two different kinds of trees and it makes me smile every time I see it :)



And these are our first daffodils of the season-unfortunately they are all dead after the recent snowstorm.



Hogle Zoo: Mama elephant with baby Zuri

I'm alive!

Yeah, yeah, so I haven't blogged since October... You would think that with all the time that passed I would have plenty to say, but I find that everytime I think about blogging I don't do it because I have nothing to say. So, my life these past months...

My younger brother, Jake, got married the end of December in the Oquirrh Mt temple, so Peter and I are no longer the newly-weds! It was a snowy day, but lots of fun and we love Melinda!


Coming out of the temple

Waiting for them to come out (cold!)


Dad and Grandma Roxey congratulating the newly-weds.

the ball-and-chain that Brad and Nicole's table made for Jake and Melinda out of their baked potato foil (Whose idea was that anyway? I can see it coming from several people who ate at that table....)


Christmas was great-we spent the day with my family because Pete's family wasn't getting together til a few days later-his sister and bro-in-law were studying abroad in Hungary and we waited for them to return before the party. Peter gave me a "flirty apron" I think he hopes it will motivate me to cook more so that he doesn't have to survive on frozen dinners :)



Lizzy (always the life of the party) examining the contents of her Christmas sock


Scott, Em, and Amy in their Christmas jammies. Cute! Yes, my mom still gets us all matching jammies to wear on Christmas eve. :)


Peter holding up the game we got from my parents. They also gave us a tent-so, you will know where to find us once the weather warms up enough!


The digital picture frame we all gave to my parents (thanks to Brad and Nicole for coming up with the idea and picking it out!) We set it up for her the next day and I could tell she thought it was fun to have shuffle through the pictures on her memory card because she just sat in front of it for a while watching it-and commenting on how she takes so many pictures but never looks through them after that.

He's home :)

Well, the last Washburn made it...

Nostalgia

I am feeling very nostalgic right now. And it doesn't help that Peter is in bed sleeping and all is quiet. I attribute this nostalgia to several things-school starting and me not starting with it (which I am not feeling sad about, it's just kinda wierd), going through all the junk I have stored at parent's house, and a sharing time lesson I gave last week on journal writing that ultimately prompted me to find all my old journals and get them together in one place. Of course, I also ended up reading a few entries along the way. My favorites are from when I was a wee kid. My dad would sit down with each of us on Sunday afternoon and we would dictate to him while he wrote. The things I thought were important back then are so funny. And my dad would literally write every word we said, so some entries have a lot of "um, let me think"...this is a tradition that I want to do with my kids someday too. And then my high school years....if my posterity learns anything about me from those entries it will be simply that I was boy crazy!
Part of my newly-sparked enthusiam for getting all my journals together and stuff comes from finishing "The Undaunted". It was a great book, and I am always impressed with the faith and willingness to sacrifice that the early pioneers exhibited. I love reading of their experiences. I think that for me, they are some of the greatest motivators because they help me realize that my trials aren't any harder than anybody else's and they remind me that I have something (the gospel of Jesus Christ and my testimony of it) that is precious beyond measure.

Gripes (just one really)

I am really grateful to have a job--and it is an excellent job; the company definitely respects and values its employees. My gripe tonight is only about the dress code. I can't complain about anything else right now because I have week off and that is exciting. Anyway, the other day, we were in a meeting and I happened to be sitting across the table from a girl wearing a tank-top kind of shirt and one of the "sleeves" was slippping off her shoulder and she didn't ever bother to fix it so I was stuck looking down at the table for two hours. Our dress code talks about wearing nice, professional clothing to work-we aren't allowed to wear shirts with graphics or phrases because they could offend somebody. The dress code even mentions that bad breath and body odor won't be tolerated at work. Sidenote: Could a company fire you on the claim that you showed up to work with bad breath? And how would you explain that in your next job interview? But why, in a professional environment, is there no code in place for modesty? I know, it is just the world we live in, but it drives me nuts. 

 On a happier note, I checked out Gerald N. Lund's new book "The Undaunted" from the Provo Library and started reading it. I bet nobody can guess what I will be doing with my week off....

Also during the past week, I became addicted to an internet-radio show on the mormon channel (located at www.radio.lds.org). This program is called conversations and has a show host interviewing somebody of prominence in the LDS community-they just talk about their life experiences and conversion stories, you know. Anyway, I find other people's life stories fascinating and have learned so much about people such as L. tom Perry, David A. Bednar, and my favorite so far...Herbert Klopfer-he is on the church music committee (wrote the hymn "Home Can Be A Heaven on Earth"), grew up in Germany during Hilter's reign and just has some neat stories to tell. I put these podcasts on my i-pod and it helps me pass the time at work. 

Kids will be kids...

Peter and I teach the valiant 10 class in our ward. We enjoy it most of the time, although I can't say that I feel like we really get a lot of spiritual in because we are constantly discplining the kids (things like, "don't step on the scriptures," or, "We don't stand on chairs in the Lord's house,") but the five kids in our class are all good kids and we are learning to love them-and just maybe they are learning to love us, too. Anyway, today we had two visitors-twin brothers-and they were absolutely the cutest boys! We were teaching about Adam-Ondi-Ahman and about the Millenium. After I explained about how people won't die during the millenium, one of these little boys exclaimed, with the biggest grin I have ever seen, "You mean we can just keep making babies?!" It was SO funny. Peter and I couldn't help but burst out laughing!