The Prodigal Son

In discussing this parable today at church our instructor suggested that this parable be called “The parable of the two sons,” because there are lessons to be learned from both the son that strayed and the son that stayed.

As this parable is well-known I won’t summarize it for you, but encourage you to read through it and notice the processes that each of the three men go through: The father who allows his sons their inheritances early and does not stop them from deciding what to do with it; the son who wasted his inheritance only to fall into despair and humbly return home; and the son who stayed with his father and lived well in spite of the famine in the land, only to be angry and jealous when his brother returned and was welcomed with open arms.

Why not your sleeve?

Watch this video if you are a person that coughs and sneezes. I heard a few years ago that there was a movement to change the way we do this, and now I know it’s true. You could learn some valuable information about why it is important to cough and sneeze into fabric and not your hands! –And you’ll get a good laugh too.

You’re the Best!

(Rob is working late again tonight. Last night he didn’t get home until midnight and tonight looks to be worse.) I love you babe! Thanks so much for all of the sacrifices, long hours, and hard work you do for our family. If I could really send you this cookie bouquet tonight, I would. You’re the best!

What’s for Breakfast?

A little known fact about me is that I come from a father with a strong cereal addiction gene. Cold cereal was always one of his top choices for a late night snack, and I have picked up on this habit big time! Rob teases me that I can’t go through a day without eating a bowl, and it was especially true when I was pregnant. Maybe my body is craving the calcium, because I’m not much of a milk drinker. Well, the addiction is now being past on to yet another generation. We always have at least four boxes of cereal in the pantry and eat it almost every day for breakfast.

I have a rule for picking out cereal at the store: it has to have 10 grams of sugar or less per serving. That way when the kids bring me the box of Cocoa Puffs I can say, “How much sugar is in it?” And their usual answer goes something like, “oh man, 12!” And that ends the begging. There are exceptions for cereals like Frosted Mini Wheats that also have a higher protein or fiber count.Needless to say they were very excited when the cereals came out with “75% Less Sugar” or “1/3 Less Sugar” in huge letters across the front of the box. Now cereals that were once out of reach are within the rules!

At our house we also have “breakfast dinner” which is where we eat the traditional breakfast foods like: waffles, pancakes, sausage, scrambled eggs etc. for dinner because otherwise we would miss out on these great foods. My mom was one of those wonderful moms that got up every morning and made a nice breakfast for us. Even through those early morning seminary years! I will always admire her for that, but have come to accept that in that area my children will have much different memories… “Mom, we’re out of paper bowls and milk! Now what do we eat for breakfast?”

Wedding Dresses

I have been looking for dresses for my girls to wear at Matt and Ashley’s wedding in August. I would like to use their wedding colors: chocolate brown and aqua. It has been tough to find something that I really like so I’m throwing around the idea of making them myself. Yes, really. I went through some of the “easy” patterns (I didn’t want to fall in love with a hard one) and found this dress. I thought I would do knee length for the little girls and floor length for Emma. It only goes up to size 8, but I can just cut it a little bigger and do a 10 for Emma right? Heather, Mom? What do you all think, can I pull it off? Which color combinations should I use? Brown dress, aqua sash? Aqua dress, brown sash? Tracy, would you want to do this for Adriene too? I’m scared…

New Testament Study Lesson 17

My Dad sent out a challenge to all of his kids to follow the Gospel Doctrine reading schedule. This is something we should be doing anyway if we want to get the most out of our Sunday School lessons, but it’s so easy to let it slide. I actually did it Dad! Ok, I read today’s scriptures after the class was over, but I still did it.

Included in the lesson was the story of the widow’s mite; One of my favorites from the Bible that reminds us true worship is not about giving what is easy, but about giving all you have. There was one other thing I wanted to mention that caught my attention. Mark 10:31 reads: “But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.” The context of the lesson is to discuss what is required to gain eternal life. Taken as it is, this scripture seems to imply that those who are wealthy or that seem to have it all will not get eternal life. I read the JST which seems to add quite a bit. It adds: “There are many who make themselves first, that shall be last.” This seems to imply that it is not really about those who are wealthy, but about those that put the attainment of wealth or that choose to put their own interests before their God. It seems to be a caution of pride and covetousness, and these are traits we can find amongst people in all societies regardless of their class status. Anyone else have any thoughts on this lesson?