Scripture Sunday: Feeling

For me, today was one of those days when my attitudes before and after church were about as different as night and day. I stayed up too late last night. In the morning I yelled at the six-year-old, and I wish I would have been nicer and more cheerful. My nap after church helped me feel less irritable, but attending church meetings was what really did it for me. On any day of the week, when I draw near to Jesus Christ by studying and living His gospel the best I can, I feel Him draw near to me. Sundays are even better because partaking of the sacrament in remembrance of Christ's atoning sacrifice renews me. I know, through the Holy Ghost, that as I repent Heavenly Father forgives my unworthiness. I feel more pure.

Today's combined Relief Society and Priesthood lesson got me thinking about how important it is for us to pay attention to how we feel. Brad, the ward mission leader, said that when planting seeds about the gospel (see Alma 32) we need the individuals we talk with to feel something. "It's not what they know, it's how they feel." I've already used the word here. I feel different when I go to church and when I repent. I could feel the influence of the Holy Spirit during the church meetings, and I feel it now. There are many general conference talks, scriptures, and articles that address this topic; I'll share a few.

President Eyring has said:

• Such a feeling of responsibility for others is at the heart of faithful priesthood service. If your companion feels an impression to urge change, watch what he does. ("Man Down!" Ensign, May 2009)
• It is not surprising that when we feel the influence of the Holy Ghost, we also can feel that our natures are being changed because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. (Gifts of the Spirit for Hard Times, Ensign, June 2007)
  
• How could I become better at sharing my faith with those who do not yet feel what I feel? (A Child and a Disciple, Ensign, May 2003)
• If I had the chance to teach one thing, it would be what it means and how it feels to exercise faith in Jesus Christ unto repentance. (The Spark of Faith, Ensign, November 1986)
  

In Margaret S. Lifferth's talk (Ensign, May 2009) she quoted the Primary song that tells us reverence is "a feeling I get when I think of his blessings."

Kathleen H. Hughes said (Remembering the Lord’s Love, Ensign, November 2006), "tonight I invite you to remember with me what it is to feel the Lord’s love in your life and to feel encircled in His arms."

In lesson sixteen of the Family Home Evening Resource Book, a woman named Rose says "a feeling engulfed my whole being; and I knew that this man whom I had never met before, never spoken to before, nor even heard speak was a prophet of God."

1 Nephi 17:45
. . . Ye have seen an angel, and he spake unto you; yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words . . .

Alma 5:26
And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?

D&C 9:8-9
But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong . . .

what we've been doing this May

Sleeping: Shboogoo still needs naps, but if I read to her in her room and then put her in her bed she tells me she doesn't want to be there. She only lies down for a second. A few times we've gotten in my bed with some of her books, and after a while she follows my example and falls asleep. Other days I have driven with her until she is asleep, then opened the windows, turned the car off, and read. (I wonder how many pictures I've taken of her sleeping in the car seat throughout her life). Also, we slept over at my dad's one night, and my sister's another night.






Race for the Cure: Walking the 5k was harder than I thought it would be, because 1) I am a 3rd-trimester preggo and 2) I didn't go to bed as early as I should've the night before. I'm glad I did this, though (with a TON of other people).

It was neat to see breast cancer survivors participate.

pink finish line:

My mother-in-law met and walked with us for about the last half-mile.

Mother's Day: My husband and I are blessed with amazing and kind mothers. He called me and our moms that day to wish us a happy Mother's Day. This picture was taken after visiting my mom's ward, where Shboogoo made me a big paper flower in nursery. (Please excuse my "raccoon eyes" and nose shadow.) This was my 4th Mother's Day as a mom, because I was pregnant with Shboogoo in 2006. I love being her mom so much, and I love our bun in the oven.

Reorganizing our stuff, which is at home (some in boxes), at my mom's house, and in our storage unit. An Army friend of mine was nice enough to give us clothing her granddaughter has outgrown, so I've sorted that. I assembled a small wooden shoe shelf for my closet as well as a rocking stand for our baby's moses basket (for Shboogoo I borrowed a bassinet). But even though it might not sound like it, I am resting enough. Life is good. We're taking it one day at a time.

untitled human haiku*

wearing an iPod,
Army PT clothes, brown hair,
but he is not you.

{by manda, may 3, 2009}

* often called senryu -- see this and this

she remembers Daddy

It has been more than 5 weeks since my soldier husband and I last saw each other. Add a week to that for the last time he was with Shboogoo. They miss each other. She and I really enjoy talking to him on his phone, though, which is nearly every day and sometimes more than once a day. Shboogoo has said some cute things to me about him. Many times she is the one who brings up the topic of her daddy and the things they have done together. I'm grateful to have such a happy girl. I'm glad that she doesn't understand how long a year is. (He and his unit are still in the U.S. for a few more weeks, and the year will begin once they reach their destination in the Middle East.)

Every time she sees him on the screen saver she tells me excitedly, "That my daddy!" Also, I often push against her forehead with mine; when I do she says, "Daddy used to do that!"

On 4.19:
1. Erika said that my hair is short and brown like hers. Shboogoo touched her own hair and said "And my hair--" I finished the sentence for her: Your hair is brown, too. "And my daddy has brown hair."
2. Shboogoo was on our bed and I asked her whose bed it is. "This is mommy's bed, and my daddy's bed."

4.22:
1. She said to me, "You have two phones! You have a phone and Dad has a phone."
2. "That person running! Like Daddy! And you run, too!"
3. She said she saw something; I explained it was the car wash, where people wash their cars. "Daddy did that!"
4. After we got off the trampoline, she said, "Daddy used to do that with me! He used to do that with me. He used to come outside with me."

4.26:
I asked, "Do you love mommy?" She answered, "And I love my daddy, too."

4.29:
We were watching American Idol. First she said that Daddy watched it with us, which is not really true since he was usually at work those nights. Well, then she said, "I was watching Bolt! I was watching Bolt with Daddy. Last night." (Last night = in the past. They went to the dollar theater to see it in March.)

5.1:
She was in the car with me and one of her uncles. We weren't even talking about the mountains, but Shboogoo said, "Daddy climbed the mountain," which he did in September.

5.7:
I set up our play pen because she wanted it, and I told her, "Here's your crib." She was really happy as she said, "I do that with Daddy! . . . And he turned off my light. And he was so nice."

5.10:
She told her Baby Lamb, "Your daddy will come back soon."

Today:
1. "My baby's daddy is at the Army. . . . Your daddy came home! . . ."
2. She picked up the shoe cleaner and asked, "Is this for my daddy?"

"If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom." Audra Foveo

near aunt m.'s house, 4/24:

on a slow walk, 4/28:

near my little bro's friend's house, 5/1 (these two, like a few of the others, required no editing!):

{all photos by me}