Sunday Study

I have always believed that any religion is better than no religion (save Satan worshipping, which is just creepy and does NOT lead to any type of happiness--I know from secondhand experience). I was reading an article about a study that showed apx. 70-80% of Mormons who have left the church become aetheist. This was one of their reasons:

" They feel the evidence supporting the reliability of the Bible/Christianity is no stronger than the evidence for the Book of Mormon/Mormonism. This is encouraged by the LDS church’s deconstruction of all other Christian faiths. It’s a restoration church so it has to show why mainstream Christianity is false and why the Bible is unreliable by itself. To supports it’s own mission, the LDS church has latched onto the best the anti-Christian community has to offer and used it to bolster its own claims. When ex-Mormons leave the LDS church, they don’t need to learn why mainstream Christianity is false, they’ve been taught that their whole lives."

(No, I do not remember who wrote it--yes, I'm awful at this editor stuff. But, you can find the whole thing on MormonTimes.com)

I thought that was interesting. I don't see Mormonism that way personally, but I do see it around me. My favorite thing in the world is Medieval studies. Ooohhhh. . . don't get me started. Just looking at an illuminated text, well, there's really not much out there more beautiful. Thing is. . . pretty much everything Medieval has Catholic undertones. I wish I could take a class in Catholicism. That, dear friends, is a FASCINATING religion. The symbolism. . . I can't find the words. . . (Okay, so I'd pretty much die if I felt I had to be celibate to be religious--never have children!--but maybe I could be like Margery Kempe--although I'd much prefer to preach the doctrines of Julian of Norwich--I really dislike Margery, and I would feel silly all in white outside of the temple--but I digress).

Anyway, I don't completely agree with that statement (Apostles of the Lord definitely do not "deconstruct" other Christian faiths--other LDS members. . . yes. In fact, I have heard the Apostles give praise to other religions and ask us to follow others' good examples), but I do hope that I can always teach my children to respect the truth in other religions. Every religion (although I do believe The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only church given God's authority to perform saving ordinances) is inspired in one way or another by God. What I don't think is inspired of God is sitting on the fence, partially believing, but not acting on your religion. If you believe in something, you should put all of your heart and soul into following it.

I have seen so many of my high school friends fall away from their beliefs. They end up in really bad places. I just hope that my kids can always believe in something, put their whole heart into believing it, and follow through with their actions. I don't always show them the greatest example. Obviously, I hope they stay in the LDS church. It is more true than any other church. There are still some false dogmatic things that have snuck in, but that's why we have a prophet. He'll set us straight. I'll stop rambling now.

Merry Christmas!

My Christmas Wishlist

Lights installed in the living room
Beadboard in the kitchen
Joanna potty trained

The best part. . .
everyone's working so hard to fulfill each wish for me!

Winter blahs

I went out today and shopped the sales at CVS. I got a ton of free stuff, but not everything was still in stock. I was just glad that I was able to use all of my ecb's before they expired. My bill was like 120$ and I only paid about 10$. CVS makes me happy. I was in the little pharmacy for 30 minutes. It takes me so long to shop--it's pathetic.

My family should be here tonight--I must admit, I was way excited, but now that my mom isn't coming, I'm not very excited anymore. Especially since this is probably the last chance I have to spend Christmas with everyone. I'll have tons of fun with my dad and sisters, but they're only going to be here like 4 or 5 days--not two weeks like my mom was. That's not enough time. :P

Joanna's been trying to cheer me up. She gives me hugs and kisses and asks me if I'm okay. "You okay, Mommy, you okay?" I love her.

Robert is cleaning everything. It's funny. I cleaned a lot for his family, and he's cleaning a lot for mine. I guess we just try to impress the in-laws :).

My Dreamy Husband--and a Nightmare

Robert is amazing. He does so much for me. I ask him to do a lot, too :D. He wakes up with kids, he takes out the garbage (I think I've only done it 3 or 4 times since living here), he does the dishes, he makes me dinner, he pays for things I buy, he does it all--and then some! His family is cool too. They just left this morning. I miss them so bad already. Grandma Johnson is unbelievable. She watched the kids while everyone else went shopping and out to eat and I went to the doctor's. She took such good care of us and the kids while she was here. I feel like I take advantage of her. I definitely appreciate her, though. I also forgot how fun it is to talk to Julia. She likes so many of the same things that I do. They had to leave too soon. Grandpa was fun too. I love how Enoch always wanted to be held by Grandma and Grandpa--I hope we can see them again soon. I'm way excited for my family to come. I hope we can have just as much fun as we did with Robert's side.

So. . . what about the nightmare? . . . well, I went to the doctor with Robert (like I said, Grandma watched the kids, so we got to go together. It was the closest thing to a date that we've had in a long time, and it was awesome). I love my midwife. She is terrific. There's only one thing wrong with her. . . she put my due date at July 20th! It was supposed to be June 19th, people! LOL. I guess I can look past this little flaw and respect her competency as my physician, but I'm going to struggle a little bit. :D

(History lesson for those of you who do not follow this blog as closely as I probably follow yours--I'm in the process of weaning Enoch, so I wasn't sure exactly when this new baby was conceived, but I was sure I would prefer a baby in June opposed to the sultry summer days of July [which are actually anything but, when you're the size of a half grown beluga in the beginning of winter and nearly as white--of course I'm only allowed to gain like 5 pounds--so maybe I'll be okay :P ].)

Wits End. . .

You know that time, right between Thanksgiving break and finals--more towards the finals part than the Thanksgiving break--that you realize crunch time has passed and you're moving right into judgement day. You seem to recall things like, 'Oh yeah, I was supposed to do that between the turkey and Muppet's Christmas Carol.' Well, people, I'm there.

That was a nice first trimester--technically I'm still in it for a few more days--or a month, depending on who's counting. . . lol.

I slept through the "rationally busy, yet prepared" stage, and I napped through most of the "frantically losing my mind in Christmas decorating and house cleaning". . . now I am smack dab in the middle of "The Savior slept in a manger that first Christmas, right?" also known as "what can I get by without doing--does my family really need clean sheets?"

I've been trying to clean my room since the week before Thanksgiving. Our washing machine broke 3 days ago. (Maybe a blessing in disguse, seeing that the poor old-timer must've lived through its lifetime warrantee 3 or 4 times--no joke). Robert and I can't decide on how to do the bathroom, or find the time to do it. His parents are coming in on Wed. My parents will be here 2-3 days after they leave. We planned a bunch of remodeling projects for over Thanksgiving break and accomplished none of them, but started a few of them.

Accomplishment for the day: excluding a present for my parents, and either Becky or Sandi (depending on whom I choose to give what to), I am FINISHED Christmas shopping. (*I know that you're all applauding, and I can hear it loud and clear). Thank you, Thank you. There's something to be said for online shopping :D.

Prepping the house for baby. . .

Ha! It just dawned on me that I hardly have to do anything to prepare for the new baby. Except for the fact that this kid will be born in a completely different season than my other two (so I'll have to get a few new maternity items, and a couple of different onesies and such), I'm pretty much set. Thanks to Eenie, there aren't many (if any) chokable things lying around. We're already accustomed to buying a trillion diapers, and sleeping arrangements shouldn't be that hard to figure out. There's something to say for having kids so close together. Basically, I just have to scrub down the house when the time draws nigh, and make sure I do the laundry. . .

At least that's what I'm going to tell myself these next few months :D.

I'm so glad that Robert has a break from school when the baby comes

Kids

I was chastised for not putting enough pictures of the kids on our "family" blog--maybe I should change the title ;}--so here's a few. There always are so many, and I get so far behind, so usually I don't even try to keep up. I'm still not going to even try--but maybe this will make the chastisers stop :D.

Our snow angel. (Enoch is inside napping, poor boy hasn't gotten a coat yet--he has one--it's just not here yet).

Joanna making a snowman.

Ingesting some reading material.

Playing "in" the toy box.

Not exactly a rare occurence :D.

One day JoJo took all of the food out of the pantry (at least the shelves she could reach :D), and then said a prayer. Do you think she's trying to tell me something?

Sleeping

I am sleeping all day long. I wake up, eat (sometimes), feed the kids, put Enoch down for a nap, stick in a movie for Joanna, and zonk out. Enoch cries when he wakes up--I give him a bottle and go to sleep again, hoping that he will take a second nap. Then all night long Enoch wakes up because I made him sleep so long in the day--and I'm even more tired the next morning. It's a vicious cycle. I'm going to go take a nap now. 'Night.

This blog needs more pictures, Don't you think?

My first time skiing. I look like I need a bathroom :D.

Preference. This is the first time Robert put his arm around me. I don't look at all uncomfortable, though, do I? And don't ask me why we thought plaid and stripes would be appropriate attire. I look huge!

Sandi and Becky make me laugh--they look so different (this is when Robert and I are dating--he took the picture).

MY dog, Patches. I miss him.

The first time I tried to make candied carrots right after we were married. We still ate them, they were just smoky flavored.

Confession--and an extra dose of negativity

I hate telemarketers.

Really. I'm not sure if I'm going to the Celestial Kingdom because of it.

No, I do not want to support the firefighters/policemen/dying children. Can't you tell by the sound of my voice that I'm a heartless, horrible person that could care less if my meager 20 dollar donation could save the world--I'm keeping it for myself!

So why, I ask myself, do I agree to a "free gift" that's going to cost me 60 dollars after the "free gift" period is over (which happens to be 10 days). For a book about herbal remedies of all things! Excuse me, if I need a "remedy" I'll ask my husband to write me a prescription. (He'll be a doctor by the time I found the time to read the book, you see, which will definitely be longer than 10 days).

The "free gift" thing always gets me. No, I never actually want the "free gift," they just get me to say "Yes" so many times that it's hard for me to say "No" when I need to. Ugh. I think they also purposefully hire people with impossibly thick accents--I'm not incredibly sure why--but the ones with thicker accents seem to get me more often. The call today went something like this:

"These people are willing to send you a free thingy because they want to help your family--isn't that nice of them?"
"Sure"
"Would you be so kind to answer some questions for me?"
"I guess"
"Is this your address?"
"Yeah. . ."
"Is this your name?"
"Yes"
"Are you female?"
"Definitely"
"Do you try to be healthy?"
"Yeah"
"I'm going to record your confirmation: Do you want this thingy?"
"Uh. . . yeah. . . " (D'oh, I can't believe I just did that. Robert's going to be upset. What is wrong with me!)
"Have a nice day!"
"You, too." (I wish you didn't exist!)

I hate telemarketers.

Sorry, I'm really upset, and when I'm upset I blog. Probably should kick that habit. . . . but like I said, I might not get in to Heaven, so who cares.