Happy Easter!

A beautiful Easter Sunday deserves a beautiful message. 

Perhaps in a beautiful song. 

I hope you'll watch this and enjoy.

He is Risen!

I truly believe that.

Mormon Humor à la Chess (Part 2)

Disclaimer: Probably only LDS people like myself will get this story. 

Roomie M's boyfriend does not get my sense of humor. No... it's not that he doesn't. It's that he WON'T. He just always seems so disapproving of my jokes. He will not smile. He will not laugh. I just can't appreciate people who can't appreciate how hilarious I am. He bothers me so much sometimes that I made the previous sentence my Facebook status. I'll have you know seven people "Liked" it. See? Those people appreciate my witty remarks.

I'm serious though. He is the biggest stick-in-the-mud when it comes to interacting with me. I'm trying to be his friend for M's sake, but he's making it impossible for me to want to. I'm a teasing person. I make jokes. I like to tease you and give you a slightly difficult time. It's my love language, y'all. You don't like it, well, go be friends with someone else. Someone more boring and less clever.

So let's talk about Sunday. And how I'm funny. And how Roomie M's boyfriend is a doof. Roomie C and I were accompanying Roomie M and her freshman brother to her hometown, because she was giving a little talk later that afternoon at a fireside. Boyfriend came along too. I almost yelled, "Shotgun, no battle!!" just to be funny, but I knew that wouldn't be received well. So I hunkered down in the middle of the backseat, right over the hump, because that's what short friends do.

Freshman brother told us about this Young Men's camp he went to before graduating high school, and Boyfriend followed up Freshman's story with a camp story of his own. All you need to know is that this camp was called "Sons of Mosiah."

I grinned and asked in a deadpan tone, "Sons of Mosiah pre- or post-angel-appearance?"

Boyfriend just glared at me.

COME ON!!

That's funny!

I'm Not Dead...

Just incredibly BUSY.

And this was supposed to be my easy semester!!! I have never EVER been so good at doing my homework in my life as I have been the last two and a half weeks. I write in a planner! I cross things off! If I weren't me, I'd ask me if I were me. That's how crazy organized I am.

Maybe it's because I don't have TV

and therefore cannot waste away my life watching the Food Network?

My schedule for today and why I can't blog:

8:30 -- stupid gen. ed. class I don't need (except I need to be full-time)

9:30 -- Help teach country swing

10:30 -- Institute (we are studying the writings of John the Beloved)

11:30 -- my country swing class

12:30 -- ultimate Frisbee class

1:30 -- eat lunch, shower, walk to work

2:30 -- work

5:15 -- get home, make/eat dinner

6:00 -- homework, homework, homework

9:00 -- DANCING

12:30 -- get home, shower, set things out for Thursday

1:15 -- go to bed, sleep for six hours if I'm lucky

I'm going to blog for reals one of these days.

I promise.

Sometimes, I Need to Be Serious...

and not so goofy all the time. This one of those times.

It's been a long time since I've talked about special things. Things that I usually keep in my heart of hearts, pull out on the weekends in the early mornings when I can look at them without sleepy discouragement blurring my eyes.

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You could call me a Mormon. That might be a little more familiar to you. I say it proudly over on my left sidebar. (If you want to learn more, you can click on the picture.) I know many of you share my particular beliefs, I know many of you are Christians as well (though I don't know which denominations you belong to), and I know some of you are anti-religion, and/or don't believe in God. That's just fine. But I do believe in God, and today is one of those days where I feel so strongly that he exists.

And since this blog is a place for me to be honest, to share my testimony, what I believe and what I know--well, I need to talk about it. I hope you will at least take the time to accept that these beliefs are the driving force behind the kind of person that I am and that I am striving to be. Whether or not you agree, I hope you will think of me as an honest, genuine human being. I say these words because I believe them to be true.

I'm not here to preach or to debate or to point out the differences between you and me. I'm simply going to tell you that I believe in God. I believe in His son, Jesus Christ. I believe the Holy Ghost is given to us to guide, inspire, and teach our spirits truth. I believe that a prophet guides us even now. I believe that Thomas S. Monson is that prophet today. I believe in the power of the priesthood. I believe in families. In moms and dads, and sons and daughters. In husbands, in wives, in brothers and sisters. In friends. I believe in love. And I believe that love and bonds between families and friends last so much further beyond death. I believe in ever afters. I believe in eternity.

I don't think that we could feel so strongly for one another, to work so hard to take care of each other, to cheer each other on, to strengthen and support one another, if we weren't working towards something much greater than what our limited human knowledge here on earth can understand. I don't think that we have come into each other's lives merely by coincidence.

I haven't met most of you, but you have shown me unbelievable kindness, charity, and friendship (the most beautiful aspects of humanity) through your comments and emails. I wish I could tell you how much of a difference you have made in my life in the past several months. It's people like you that teach me that there is something greater than what each one of us can do by him or herself. People coming together in love is what makes this world a beautiful place.

And that love, which can transcend distance, language, culture, time, and ultimately death... is not something I believe just showed up. I believe that it has always been and it will always be. It's so deeply ingrained in us, because it is a godly characteristic, and I believe we are God's children. Our parents know how to love us, and we'll know how to love our children, because God first loved us. I honestly believe that. We wouldn't know how to do that if a precedent had not been set for us. And I think that pattern was set long before this earth came into existence.

My very favorite scripture (aside from 2 Nephi 4) is found in the Book of Mormon (though I love the Bible as well), 3 Nephi 5:20. Mormon is speaking, and the most powerful lines from the verse read as follows, "I have reason to bless my God and my Savior Jesus Christ...that he hath given me and my people so much knowledge unto the salvation of our souls."

I have so many reasons "to bless my God and my Savior." So many! You, dear Groupies, are one of them. Thank you. Thank you so much. You are a significant part of why I value my life just the way it is. I'm so grateful for you. I have other reasons too: a healthy body and mind, a wonderful university where I can learn, a roof over my head, plenty to eat, a job, a family, and the dearest of friends.

So, those of you who believe in God and His son, Jesus Christ... 

what reasons have you to rejoice? 

Those of you who may believe in other gods, 

what reasons have you to bless them? 

And those of you who may not believe in any god, 

what are you grateful for? 

Because if nothing else, 

I think we can agree that the GOOD in this world

far, far outweighs the BAD.

Have a wonderful week! I'll talk to you soon!

:-)

I Laughed Out Loud...

(while reading my scriptures)

I know.

You're probably thinking, "Oh, she is so irreverent."

(I know I am.)

You'll think I'm even more irreverent when I say that sometimes the Book of Mormon is hilarious. Seriously. For a minute in the story, Ammon is one of those guys who struts around the gym with his arms held out stiffly so you can't help but notice the muscles that he's so proud of. 

Alma 18, and it's after Ammon totally pwned all the Lamanite punks and still found time in his ARM-CHOPPING RAMPAGE to cuddle the lambs and feed the horses.  I know, right?! King Lamoni is all, "Uh-oh, I need to talk to him, but I'm scared!" But Ammon comes in and says, "King Lamoni, my man, how can I help you out?" Lamoni can't seem to find the words, and it's right there in verse 16 that I just LOL'd.

Because Ammon goes all humble and says, "Dude, Lamoni, don't be afraid of me. Even though I single-handedly defended your servants.... AND your flocks... AND I killed seven of them (SEVEN) with my sling (MY HOMEMADE SLING).... AND I cut off all the arms of others... singlehandedly... which means I did it alone... in defense of your servants... AND your flocks... by myself. Bro, that was nothing."

Here, I imagined him surreptitiously flexing and kissing his own bicep. Breathing on his nails and buffing them on his Nephite tunic.

I know.

I know I'm slightly paraphrasing, but can't you see how that's funny?!

Hahahahaha!

PS. Ammon, if you're reading this from wherever you are (up there somewhere), I'm sorry. You know I'm joking, right? But really? Cutting off arms? That's gross.