Sawbones Christmas Party

    Mid-December brings the annual Sawbones Christmas Party. I can tell if the holiday tra-la-la is getting to me by how much I enjoy this event. This year I felt at peace and truly grateful for a good company and a diligent husband.

    Sawbones hosts a lunch and the families are invited. The lunchroom was beautifully decorated and the feeling was festive. My grandkids look forward to this day because lunch is plentiful and the deserts are endless.

I like watching all the employees come in tired and revive with the filling eats. This year Miss Maggie brought her math because she did not get get her school work done. No math completion no eat....tough love...

    Like I said at the beginning, my own attitude makes or breaks this event and I am so glad I felt festive and happy to be with my family and the good people my husband works with.

All the employees appreciate the personally distributed bonus checks and the raffle for local gift certificates. We all wait till the bitter end to see if we are going to be lucky this year. Little Moonbeam got bored and decided to play her own game of hide-n-seek under the banquet tables.

Merry Christmas!!

Sometimes You Must Suck It Up

    I am always looking for games that inspire total focus on the 25 mastery scriptures and sometimes we have to play "Suck It Up".
                        The outcome from playing this game is to be submerged in the scriptures.

   The incentive to jumping into the scriptures with both feet is that your teammate is moving M&M's from the "house" bowl into his own bowl for future consumption.

The hazard is that light-headedness occurs if one does not exhale often enough. This is a big hit and I am impressed that we are chasing with all 25 scriptures and someone always knows where the next scripture is found.

   These pictures do not show the smiles which occur every few seconds as the "sucker" is stopped because the rest of the group has found the verse.

   The "house" did end up with a few M&M's at the end and seminary students were happy one and all.

Baptism a New Birth

     Our birth into this world is a momentous occasion as will be our death. There are many types and shadows to remind us of us of how we came to be. Each morning we are met with such a type.

 

   The light illuminates the birth of each new day and we rejoice in what today has to offer. The birth of the day takes many minutes to emerge. It is an event to behold and each moment changes until the sun is fully present in the sky.

    There are sunrises in our life which are types and shadows of our birth. One such is the event that initiates our spiritual birth which is baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I witnessed this event in the life of my grandson. He willingly chose to be baptized and this event was somewhat like a sunrise. The moment was illuminating for us all and worth being there for.

 
The best moment for me was when the three brothers grabbed on to each other for a guy photo. That was too sweet!!

Book of Mormon Sunday II- 2 Nephi 15-21

    My focus in this read through of the Book of Mormon is to find and consider evidence of the strengthening power of the atonement. One of the most beautiful images given in this reading block is the sanctification of Isaiah. 
  2 Nephi 16:5 "Then said I: Wo is unto me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips; and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar; And he laid it upon my mouth, and said: Lo, this has touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."
  Isaiah is in a panic as the realization comes to him of his mortal state before the Lord. He is cleansed and healed by a live coal. The hot coal is taken off the altar at the tabernacle. This altar is a symbol of the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

 With this symbol he is healed, cleansed and made strong enough to carry out his mission of crying repentance to Israel and testifying of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
  The coming of the Messiah is prophesied and used as a sign to Ahaz the king, who does not want full disclosure in front of Isaiah. The coming of a Messiah is here tied to the future of Israel and it's strength in combating against it's enemies. Will Ahaz live to see this sign? No, but Isaiah's prophecy will.
 2 Nephi 17:14 "Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign -- Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and to choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings."

  2 Nephi 19:6 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
  There are so many layers of meaning in Isaiah. What applies to the House of Israel can also apply to us as individuals. The prophecies of the latter-days promise a great destruction but also a great healing as the atonement puts right all that was lost through apostasy.
 2 Nephi 20:27 "And it shall come to pass in that day that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing." 
  The burdens are our sins and the effects of mortality. These are only lifted by the anointed one who is Jesus Christ.
  2 Nephi 21:10 "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek; and his rest shall be glorious."
  His rest is glorious and Isaiah describes the strengthening power of Jesus Christ with perfection.
    Here are some sketches I made of this scripture block.

Pure

   Our little town provides variety for shoppers and those who would like to try a little something new. A generous gift certificate from a new friend brought me into an organic, vegan restaurant called Pure.

 
 I have not wandered in before this because, truth be told, I am not adventuresome. My daughter-in-law makes great gluten-free food and she has given my palette new adventures with new grains and vegetable combinations. My need to go farther afield has not surfaced.

     But thanks to meeting a dedicated fan we had the chance to sample the menu.

     The raw, vegan pizza looks and tastes fresh and savory.

    The pies are dairy free, gluten free and raw. Sound strange? Hmm, they are delicious.

     I am glad the waiting is done and I have tried PURE. It was worth it and I shall have to have more pie soon.

A Few Moments of Luxury

   Christmas time can be exhausting if your life is already full and on top of that you add extra activities. However, there are some things I like to do this time of year and it makes me happy to do them, if only for a short spell.
    I do like to jigsaw puzzles, but only certain kinds. My favorite are the Ravensburger large format 300 piece. This I can do here and there and finish in a few days.

   I did this one last week and it was a joy to work on. There is somethings intriguing about the way you have to "see" to do the puzzle. I find the mental work of rotating the puzzle piece in my head very relaxing. When I have had enough I can tell because I stop being able to "see". The next day the colors and shapes look different and reveal themselves.
   I don't really do much crafting but this idea caught my interest. It is made from sheet music and adds a little music decor to my house.

So, to bright days and warm nights, bring on Christmas.

Book of Mormon Sunday II- 2 Nephi 8-15

     I have learned a few things in my second "read-through and blog about" of the Book of Mormon which have to do with the strengthening power of Jesus Christ.

    So far Lehi, Nephi, and Jacob have testified that he, Jesus Christ, has held them up in the worst of their trials. He has done this with power to stop the adversary from overcoming them, he has lifted them to a higher plane by showing them his plan and assuring them that they will be saved to come back to Him, and he has filled them with hope that their family and posterity will be given agency and choice even when they are are on a desolate path to destruction.

   These three men have seen Jesus Christ, of that they testify, and they have absolute faith in his power to give us, the family of God, salvation and eternal life. They have also given me the strong message that these experiences are not just for a select few, but for all God's children.

     2 Nephi 10: 20 "And now, my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful God has given us so great knowledge concerning these things, let us remember him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off; nevertheless, we have been driven out of the land of our inheritance; but we have been led to a better land, for the Lord has made the sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea."

    Isaiah is quoted from in these chapters with the intent to show that in past years he, a prophet, has seen the destruction of Jerusalem and prophesied of the plan to rescue a lost House of Israel. Isaiah was recent history to Lehi, as the prophet Joseph Smith is to us. In Isaiah we learn that the rescue will come in the future through the atonement by way of the Restoration of His gospel in latter-days.
   Here are some sketches I made of this scripture block.