Happy Father's Day To All The Wonderful Fathers In My Life

Tonight I made a beautiful pizza.  It had peppers, basil, home-seasoned sauce, onion, ham, pineapple, and lovely stringy mozzerella cheese.  When I took it out of the oven, it looked perfect.  The cheese had melted and browned to perfection, and it was worthy of a picture.

But I didn't take one.

Then I picked it up to move it to the table so my friend and I could eat.  Before I'd even gone one step, it fell out of my hands, and landed on the floor - plop - upside-down.  (I guess I greased the pan too well!)  My lovely friend said, "I'll eat it anyway - quick - pick it up!"  So we did.  We flipped back over the pan and put the crust back on it. Using two handy spatulas, and we scraped most of the plopped toppings back onto the pizza, spread it around a little, and put it on the table. 

I didn't take a picture of that, either, but I should have.

The pizza still tasted good.  When you make your own sauce seasonings, definitely add all of these ingredients: ground black pepper, red pepper flakes, oregano, and cinnamon.  The red pepper flakes give it a little kick, and the cinnamon makes it delish!

Then I called my dad... and my brothers... and wrote this post.  I would have made the pizza for them, too, if I were closer.  But I don't know if they would have wanted to eat it after it fell on the floor.  :-)

And that is my Father's Day story.

Score!

On today's mail:

$ received > $ owed

(New couches, here I come...)

On warm summer weather:

fun time outside with friends - awesome...

mosquitoes bites - 1.

(a small price to pay for a game of Frisbee...)

On dinner:

food in my stomach before bedtime - yes...

something substantial enough to qualify? Don't ask.

(But I do like homemade zucchini bread...)

Happy Friday!

On Theism

I attended a fireside by Elder Russell M. Nelson on Thursday evening.  He gave a masterful discourse on Theism and how critical it is to stand in support of a Theistic culture (as opposed to an Atheistic one).  He spoke boldly in favor of marriage and the traditional family (a man and a woman, married for life, having children).  He also talked about how the traditional family has a positive impact on our economy. For some interesting additional reading, peruse the talks given by Dr. Patrick Fagan at the World Congress of Families... I just did and there's a lot to think about there.  Profoundly, Elder Nelson stated that "If you lose marriage, you lose freedom of religion."  That was enough to make me sit up and pay attention (even more than I already was)!

His words opened the eyes of my understanding to why the Church is so bold in its opposition to the propositions that seek to redefine the marriage relationship, and why its members have been asked to stand for the same, actively participating in sustaining marriage and family.  I have wondered more than once how I would feel about being asked to get politically involved in my own community on issues such as these.  This, of course, then makes me wonder what I should or could be doing now to defend the Theistic culture on which our country was founded.  It is good food for thought, especially on a Sabbath eve.

You Know You're Tired When...

You start yawning at 10:30. AM.

You forget things faster than you can walk down a flight of stairs.

Washing your face seems too hard.

The best plan is the one that doesn't involve movement.

(So why am I still up???)

The Endless To Do Lists

You'd think that if I was exhausted, I wouldn't blog about being tired, I'd just go to bed.

But that would be too easy.

I learned something new today.  OK, it's not really new.  It just reinforces the existing assumptions I already have been using (mostly) to operate in my life.  It's this...

No Matter How Early You Start, You Will Never Be Done. 

With everything important, I am learning, there is always more to do.  Another project, another person to reach out to, another set of things to learn, another event, another book, another load of laundry.  Life is not about getting done.  It's about finding joy in doing, obtaining a proper balance for the current time of life, and prioritizing.  It reminds me of Elder Oaks' talk in conference a while back about Good, Better, Best.  "The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives."

It turns out that "catching up" doesn't really mean much, in the grand scheme of things.  (What or who am I catching up to?  And according to whom?)  Learning to love, teaching truth, and overcoming obstacles do mean something.  So does scripture study ... and temple attendance ... and family time.  Thus, even if today's to do list was longer at the end of the day than it was at the beginning (in spite of starting earlier ... and even if that happened yesterday, too), it's OK.

End of sermon to self. (With luck, someone else can appreciate the need for it, too.)

(End of parenthetical remarks... of which there were an overabundance tonight.)

Gale Force Winds

I heard the rumblings of thunder, and moved a chair into the sunroom so I could watch the progress of the storm.  We've had storms pretty regularly this past week, including thunder cracking just overhead (at 3:15 am) so fiercely that one jumps out of bed to shut the windows while simultaneously praying the lightning doesn't actually strike something familiar.  At first, the storm seemed pretty mild, the pitter-patter of rain and the gentle rumblings of thunder soft in the background of the passing traffic.  But within a few minutes, the fierceness of this summer thunderstorm was unleashed, and rain poured down from overhead. Not to be outdone, the wind kicked up, and then the rain was pouring not down, but sideways, through the open windows and into my home.  It looked like a hurricane when I glanced out my kitchen window as I grabbed paper towels to clean up the mess - within a minute, enough water came in one window sufficient to fill a glass and quench my thirst (I just mopped it up off the floor instead).

I don't remember having thunderstorms like these so consistently in past years.  Or weather patterns where one moment the sun in shining, and within minutes, the sky has gone dark and a torrential downpour ensues.  It is fascinating to live in a place where you can watch the clouds speed by during the time it takes the light to turn green at an intersection.  I appreciate the experience, even when it means cleaning up puddles after failing to close the windows quickly enough.

Today I watched a good brother who was recently baptized administer the ordinance of the sacrament - a sacred responsibility in itself - and noticed that he took an extra few seconds before putting the bread and water to his lips to ponder the significance of what he was about to do.  It struck me that perhaps, sometimes, our religious rituals become so commonplace that we fail to comprehend the signficance of the symbolism so deeply etched within them.  This brother's small action was a reminder to me of the privilege it is to take the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, to renew the covenants we have made with Him, and to receive afresh the remission of our sins.  What a blessing!  I am learning to deeply appreciate the insight that a new convert's perspective on the "everyday doings" of our Church can bring.  We have much to learn from these good people.

There has also been occasion to ponder the Lord's workings in my own life as I have observed my heart becoming softened in some ways, and recognized its hardness in others.  Thankfully, the Lord who is Master over the winds and the waves and the stormy rains is also Master of our souls.  His Atoning, redeeming grace makes up for what I lack, and gives me capacity to change.  With Him, nothing is impossible.