We Shall Be Free

I really enjoy my drive to and from school. Today I was listening to the radio and this song by Garth Brooks came on. I had heard it before, but never really paid attention to the lyrics until today, and when I did, I loved them! What a great song. It really goes along with a lot of the kinds of things we talk about in my classes. And the kinds of things we talk about in my family too. So here's the lyrics:

This ain't comin' from no prophet
Just an ordinary man
When I close my eyes I see
The way this world shall be
When we all walk hand in hand

When the last child cries for a crust of bread,
When the last man dies for just words that he said,
When there's shelter over the poorest head,
We shall be free,

When the last thing we notice is the color of skin,
And the first thing we look for is the beauty within,
When the skies and the oceans are clean again,
Then we shall be free,

We shall be free,
We shall be free,
So stand straight,
Walk proud,
'Cause we shall be free,

When we're free to love anyone we choose,
When this worlds big enough for all different views,
When we're all free to worship from our own kind of pew,
Then we shall be free,

We shall be free,
We shall be free,
Have a little faith,
Hold out,
'Cause we shall be free,

And when money talks for the very last time,
And nobody walks a step behind,
When there's only one race and that's mankind,
Then we shall be free,

We shall be free,
Listen to what I'm saying to you,
We shall be free,
Cause every night and day I pray it's true,
Together,
Forever,
We shall be free,

We shall be free,
We shall be free,
Stand straight,
Have a little faith,
Walk proud,
Hold out,

We shall be free,
Listen to what I'm sayin' to you,
We shall be free,
Every night and day I pray it's true,
Together,
Forever,
We shall be free


I also heard this song, which I had never heard before, called Dancing in Circles.

Well I don't understand why,
We do what we do to each other.
According to His word,
We're all born sisters and brothers.

But we lie and we steal,
We fight and we kill,
Even though we know the way...

Why do we go dancing in circles,
When we know it never ends?
We come so close,
To loving each other and then...
we go dancing in circles again.

All through the ages,
We try to share this world together.
Turning the pages,
Pretending we'll live here forever

But we'll have to face,
Our maker someday,
And reap what we've sown all the way...

Why do we go dancing in circles,
When we know it never ends?
We come so close,
To loving each other and then...
We go dancing in circles again.

And we know, how so,
Why can't we just get it right?
And I pray, someday,
We'll overcome all the damage we've done,
And we'll fly...

Why do we go dancing in circles,
When we know it never ends?
We come so close,
So close to living as friends,
To loving each other,
Like sisters and brothers and then...
We go dancing in circles again.


My question is this: do YOU believe that "we shall be free" and that we will actually stop "dancing in circles" once we learn how to "live as friends and love each other?" Do you think that day will come? In your lifetime? How long will it last?

I couldn't help but think of the account in The Book of Mormon where this actually did occur among the people. "There were no contentions and disputations among them and every man did deal justly one with another. They had all things common among them; therefore they were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift." After a hundred years had passed of living in this state, the people were still living this lovingly! "There was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people. There were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God. There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God." (4 Nephi 1:2-3, 15-17)

So, this is like the greatest dream of my heart, to live in this kind of loving prosperity. This is what I think of when I think of living in Zion. And my belief is that "Zion" starts by being created within my own heart, then my own home and from there, it spreads out to the relationships that I share with others. I believe it! I get excited by this thought. I really do believe that "we shall be free!" In 4th Nephi, the account says these people kept it up for a good 200 years. I intend to keep it up for my entire life!! Granted, that won't be 200 years, but by passing this way of living on to the next generation, my hope is that it will spread out a little farther and that somewhere on down the road, we will finally learn to love.

Stuff

So I read this book for one of my sociology classes today. It's a very short book, I read it in about 2 hours.

Stuff
The Secret Lives of Everyday Things

I enjoyed it so much that I by the end of the book I was giving it five stars in my head and imagining reading it with my children! It's the story of where the stuff that we consume comes from. Of course, it isn't able to cover everything. It highlights the "stories" of the following:

1. Car
2. Bicycle
3. Cheeseburger & Fries
4. Newsprint
5. This book
6. Coffee
7. Aluminum
8. Computer chip
9. Cotton
10. What the average American consumes daily

Did you know this? It's estimated "the typical North American consumes resources each year equivalent to the renewable yield from 12 acres of farm and forestland. For all the world's people to consume at that rate is a mathematical impossibility. It would require four Earths' worth of productive land." (p.67)

And "unfortunately, our high-consumption way of life is now the international vision of progress. The world longs to live the American dream, with steaks on the grill and two cars in the garage. Yet consumption on the North American scale - our own body weight per day - cannot last, and expanding it to all the world's people is only a fantasy." (p.68)

To "achieve sustainability" the authors argue that "slowing population growth is essential," which I do NOT agree with. I DO agree with their other two points that it is also essential to speed the "spread of resource-efficient technologies" and to reduce our individual consumption "through less materialistic lifestyles as well as improvements in efficiency." (p.69)

The changes that I'm willing to make in my own individual consumption habits after reading this book?

Well, for sure I will start turning off my computer at night.

I will start recycling instead of throwing everything in my garbage can.

I kept thinking it would be really interesting to take myself on two field trips: one to the local recycling company to see how and what they do, and the other to the local landfill. It's been easy to toss something away when I don't ever have to see it again, so I think that visual image of the landfill would be a nice reality picture for me.

I will start looking for paper that is totally chlorine free, like the Europeans do. And I'll add this lovely little gadget to my wish list so when I get it, I will start consuming my books electronically.

(The thought of having a huge library that can fit in my purse is quite nice. It's always been a little bit crazy dragging my collection of books with us when we move and finding a home for them. And I've still got plenty of life left, I'm SURE I'll be collecting LOTS more books for a long time to come!)

I did feel really good about my clothing consumption choices because I buy 90% of it second-hand already!

And I felt good about my nice front load washer, although I'm not quite ready to use only cold water, or hang dry my clothes. :S baby steps to change, right?

As far as shoes go, I felt really good about that too because I only have less that 10 pairs of shoes, where, according the book, the average American woman owns 25 pairs. Plus, they are all second hand, expect for one pair.

And then there's the biggie: the car. Well, while I was reading I visualized myself biking with my family, carting kids in a trailer as we fly down the hill to do a little grocery shopping. It was fine until I got to that hill, then I decided I would go the alternate route, once the road is finished.

So yeah, I can visualize it, but not for very long before my fear takes over. It's gotten to the point now where I am just plain afraid of getting on a bicycle. So in the meantime, I felt good about my consumption habits in regards to the car we use because it does get good gas mileage and 6 times out of the 10 that I use it, I am driving a lot farther than just five miles from my home. That's more than half... better than less than half!!! :)

My very favorite part of this book was the last paragraph which says, "one of the best ways to reduce material consumption is to focus on the non-material things often lacking in our lives. We sometimes consume for lack of something better to do. Feeling lonely or dissatisfied, we shop. Lacking community, we travel. Concentrating on friendship and community may make us happier while, almost without our noticing, it trims our consumption. Is it only a coincidence that "conversation" and "conservation" are spelled with the same letters?" (p. 71)

And I promise, one day I WILL overcome my fear of bicycling and we'll be a bicycling family!

Read an excerpt from Stuff.

A God of Miracles

Remember the Staker family? I found this beautiful video that they have put together highlighting Bronson's miraculous journey. It brought tears to my eyes all over again!



They were even invited to be on the Today show and had a wonderful opportunity to bear their testimony of a loving Heavenly Father.

In a news article that I read about this family and their amazing experience, Sara Staker recalled something that she attributed to Mother Teresa, saying, "I am but a little pencil from a loving God who is writing a love letter to the world." I loved that thought and hope that my life too can be a testament of His love for His children.

10 Years

Ten years ago in my seminary class when I was a senior in high school, we filled out a questionnaire about our lives at the time and some of our goals and dreams for the future. Our teacher told us she would mail it to us in ten years, but actually, she ended up giving them to us at the end of the year for us to keep ourselves. Well, I stuck mine in my journal. I've come across that sealed envelope a couple of times since then while going back and reading through my journal, and I wanted to open it so bad. But I exercised some serious self control and left it there, unopened, and waited. It occurred to me the other day that it's been ten years and I can finally open up that envelope! It was fun to read through it and interesting to see what things are the same, what are different, what came to pass and what didn't. So here it is, my answers ten years ago are in green and my answers/comments for now are in red.

1- How old are you? 17 going on 18 :) 28

2- How long have you lived at the house you live in? 5 years 15 months

3- Who are your best friends? Christina H. & the other girls, Jen W., Meg D.
my husband John... and a lot more. There are so many more people today that I consider my best friends than when I was in high school. But one thing is the same, I am immensely grateful for my friends, then and now!!

4- If you drive a car, what kind is it? our family car, the old celebrity you know what's funny? I don't even remember what car that was... today I drive a white pontiac bonneville

5- Who do you currently have a crush on? Rick S. :) hehe! I'm so proud of myself for asking him to one of the girl's choice dances that year... I'm brave.

6- What is your current height & weight ? (optional) 5'3" & 135 wow. what would that even feel like to weigh 135 again??

7- Who is your favorite musical group and song? Celine Dion, Tim McGraw, Jim Brickman, Savage Garden; The Love of My Life, Destiny the only one of these artists that I don't really listen to anymore is Savage Garden. Other than that, I still like them, although I don't know if I would say they are my favorites. Today my favorites are Gary Allen, Brad Paisley, the MoTab... and I've got LOTS of favorite songs... *see my playlist for a lot of them*

8- What was the best movie you saw this last year? Runaway Bride & Anna and the King my favorites that have come out this past year are Dear John, Avatar, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, The Time Traveler's Wife, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Imagine That, Up, and 17 Again. I still haven't seen Invictus, Sherlock Holmes, and The Blind Side and I totally expect those to be on my favorites list as well.

9- What are some of your favorite or current fashion trends? quarter length shirts, solid colors, wide leg pants (if I ever wear tapered I'll shoot myself!) & draw string pants I like shirts with interesting necklines, capris, long shirts that hide my belly, and peasant skirts. (And you'll still never find me wearing tapered pants!)

10- Who are some of your favorite actors and/or pro athletes? Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, Michael Jordan, Tom Hanks I would have to add Sandra Bullock to that list.

11- If you work, what is your job and salary? don't work today I am a "professional" mom and student, neither of which come with a salary. :) But I am also building up my home based business, so ask me again in a couple of years how that is treating me.

12- When you go out to lunch, what is your favorite meal and how much does it cost? I love Taco Bell & the Nacho Bell Grande I always get is about $2.40 I definitely wouldn't say that Taco Bell is my favorite anymore... haha! I still occasionally eat there though. My favorite places to eat are Cafe Rio where I always get the sweet pork salad, Wingers where I love the sticky finger salad, Red Robin where I always order the bonzai burger, and if I'm going fast food, it's probably the value chicken sandwich and fries at Wendy's. Um, this is making me really hungry.

13- What is a favorite memory you have made with your friends recently? We just had a really good scripture study last night. It was a cute bonding moment. :) very spiritual I loved how we did scripture study together as friends on Sundays! I miss that. Most recently, we had a girl's night out where we ate, talked and played Balderdash. That was pretty fun, and we are making it a regular occurrence for the last Saturday of every month! That gives me something fun to look forward to.

14- Where do you want to go to college? BYU or SUU hey, I'm going to SUU!

15- What is the career you would like to pursue? a mommy to be a powerful wife and mother is still my NUMBER ONE "career" goal. I'm also currently pursuing a fantastic career as a network marketer. And I would like to work with the adoption services for LDS Family Services or doing marriage and family counseling when I am finished with my schooling.

16- If you're planning on a mission, do you think you'll go foreign or stateside? I'd love to go somewhere in Europe, but I'll probably stay in the states I'm still planning on serving a mission and I want to go to CHINA!!! I am so excited to serve missionS with my husband as soon as we can!!

17- How old do you think you'll be when you get married? 23 or 24 and what do you know, I was 4 months from turning 24 when I got married!

18- What are five qualities you hope your spouse will have? romantic :); good sense of humor; helpful; spontaneous; sweet I would say check to all of these qualities... except romantic... well, he was very romantic when we wrote each other, before we were married... but he could definitely improve on his romanticism... :) But I'm just extremely grateful for my husband because he really is PERFECT just for me!

19- Where do you want to raise your family? in Utah I've thrown around the idea of Tennessee, but I think the grandparents of our children would not be so happy... ;)

20- How many children do you hope to have? 5 or so my answer now to that is as many as the Lord wants to bless me with. Plus I plan to adopt children too, so as soon as we can support a larger family, we will be doing so!!

21- What names have you already picked out? Jessie Anne, Matthew Lee, Timothy, Kathryn Autumn, and I really like Eternity for a middle name :) I had forgotten about most of these names! Here are the names that we've picked out now: Lyle Asher, Matthew Lauren, Benjamin Eli, Emmalee Robin, Lida Joy, and Kaili Anne

22- Do you expect our country to be at war within the next 10 years? yes I was right

23- What is your prediction of our economy? who knows? and I was right

24- If you're a guy, how much hair loss do you predict? :)

25- What is your current success prediction on our new light rail system? I think the excitement will die down somewhat, but it will still be successful I was right

26- What are your New Year's Eve plans? maybe go to the stake dance for part of it, then just hang out with my friends I don't really do much for New Year's anymore.

27- What Y2K problems do you predict? nothing except people's ridiculous fears I was right.

28- What are your New Year's resolutions? to love my family more & more and to keep a day to day journal (I started one last night!) :) Can I just say that I love this resolution? to love my family more and more? What a wonderful goal Lindsay. I love you.

29- Who is your current Bishop and Stake President? Bishop Dietlien & President Riches Today it's Bishop Rasmussen, and, this is really sad, I have no idea who my stake president is. I know who one of the counselors is though! Does that count?

30- What is your current calling? a faithful young woman :) I was cute. haha! Today I am on the Relief Society activities committee and I teach in Primary... I've taught the 5&6 year olds and the 8 year olds within the past year, and now I am teaching Sunbeams

31- Write your current feelings about the gospel and your hopes for the future. I love the gospel so much! And I know I have a lot that I need to do to become a better person, but I am so glad that I have it in my life. I hope that I will be able to find someone who will treat me like his queen. I hope we will be able to share an eternal marriage and family. I love my Savior and all that He has done for me. I feel His love so much around me and I hope I can be a better person for Him. It's amazing to me that I can express much of the same sentiment now about my feelings about the gospel as I did ten years ago when my feelings have gone through so many changes in the last ten years. I feel like my testimony runs all the more deeper today. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe that it is the plan of happiness for me and is the perfect blueprint for me to experience joy and a fulfilling life with my family today. I love living the gospel. I am grateful that I DID find someone who DOES treat me like his queen. My husband really does love me, of that I have NO doubt and I am so grateful for that. I am hopeful for an amazing future together where we continue to build strong family relationships with each other and each of the children that will come to be a part of our family.

happinesses

I have been really blessed to have wonderful friends and family close by that help me out by watching Joseph while I am at school or working my business. I have been really grateful for their help! Joseph has got to spend a lot of time over at his Uncle Doug & Aunt Diane's house. His favorite person to be with while there has been his cousin Davin who is such a great older cousin. *take note of the long hair in the middle of his head in this picture*

Joseph's hair was driving John crazy so he wanted me to cut it. Well, I didn't want to, but oh well. I did it anyway. So here is Joseph's first haircut. This was a little more than a month ago.



I love this face.





It was so short! I didn't like it. John did. Now we're both happy because it's grown back out and it's even.


We enjoyed a spontaneous visit from my mom and younger sister Saydi the first weekend of February. It was so fun having them here. My mom was an ANGEL in helping me clean my house! I know Joseph enjoyed their visit too.







Joseph loves to poke my eye and play with my eyelashes. He's started saying, "eye?" as he pokes it. The only thing that drives me crazy is when he decides to intensely dig his fingernails into my face all of a sudden. Doesn't feel so good. John and I have both received battle wounds from his unexpected attacks.


Here's Joseph with his little friend Addi. They get to play with each other a couple of times a week and both always play so happily when the other is around. It's been so fun becoming good friends with her mom. And John has become good friends with her dad, so we do things with this family quite often. They are feeling more like family every day. It's really nice to have such good friends so close.


Joseph usually doesn't play on his own in another room other than the one I'm in, but today he did. I had been on the computer for a bit and could hear him playing in the bathroom. As time kept ticking by and he kept on playing in there, I finally decided to go take a peek at what was keeping him so entertained and this is what I found. It gave me a good laugh.


I sure love this little guy! He's 15 months old already! I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by. He has 8 teeth and if you look closely you can just about see all of them in this awesome smile. He's been signing a lot more and it is so fun to be able to communicate with him that way. He signs: more, milk, banana, all done, cereal, cracker, eat, daddy, doggy fan, socks and a couple of his own made up signs. He will use objects to help him stand up and then will let go and balance and clap for himself. He does that pretty well and has taken just a couple of steps on his own. I'm sure he'll be walking in just a few more weeks. Actually, one of his favorite ways to get around right now is walking, but on his knees! It's the cutest thing. I'll end this post with a video I caught of him doing that very thing.