FHE Armies of Helaman

Lately, I have been at school a lot, and consequently Carol has been home with the kids by herself. I think as an artifact of me being missed and Carol being worn out the kids have been less than perfect. Carol and I were talking about it and what we thought we could do, and decided to have a special family home evening talking about obedience. It was going well and then I suddenly switched topics and started talking about the Armies of Helaman. After we talked about how miraculously they all survived the war even though they were all injured, I challenged the girls to do there best to obey with exactness. We then told them that we would have an extra special family home evening if they could do their best to obey with exactness. The first week went by and we didn't see a ton of improvement. Then the next week was spring break and I was home and with both of us there we were able to remind each other and the girls to obey with exactness. So for our very special family home evening we made and decorated card board shields. Then we had a fight with the Nephites and the Lamanites. I was the Lamanites and the girls were the Armies of Helaman. Carol was Helaman. Carol and I worked it out so as long as the girls obeyed with exactness her commands I would lose. But as soon as they didn't obey with exactness, I would start to win. The girls had a blast. (I designed Mett's shield and Carol colored it, just in case you were wondering.)

Elder Oaks

So, we had an amazing opportunity to hear Elder Oaks yesterday in a special session of Stake Conference. He came to do some Priesthood leadership training, and our Stake President scheduled a special stake conference so we could hear an Apostle. Carol and I were planning on going to a satellite building but at the last minute decided to go to the stake center anyway, and surprisingly the building wasn't full. So we actually got non horrible seats. His first message was on repentance, then he spoke about the first vision and the significance of the evolution of the accounts of the first vision. Hopefully it is something I will realize as I get older but he said that he had had spiritual experiences that initially he analyzed and believed meant one thing but as time went on he realized that there were other things that were as important or more important than the initial impression. He believes that is the case with Joseph Smith's different accounts of the first vision, initially all he paid attention to was the fact that he was forgiven of his sins, then his focus slowly turned outwards on things that pertained more to the restoration and the Saints. He also spoke on the mantle of apostleship. I found it interesting because a lot of the earlier messages were focused on what a great opportunity it was to shoulders with an apostle, and it felt as if his response was, I am just a man trying to do what the lord has asked me to do, and often not fulfilling the responsibility as well as I ought. He spoke a little on being better at proclaiming our belief in Christ. He said that he went through his christmas cards this last year and out of more than a hundred fewer than a third had an image and message centered around christ, conversely more than half didn't even mention christmas, but said seasons greetings, or happy holidays. He even said his wife had to go to three different stores to find cards that had both an image and a message focused on the birth of our savior. He also shared a few funny stories, one about a ten year old little girl who gave him a letter that explained she knew he was an apostle because he was clean and his head was shiny. Cora and Jess busted up at that. Overall it was an awesome opportunity. I found it interesting how casual it felt, he hadn't prepared any message and they had left him over an hour to fill, so he kept saying, lets see what else did I have to tell you. I also could see him taking notes during other speakers which he then used to reiterate some of the messages that had already been shared. It was also interesting to feel the power of the spirit that he carried. He went through the congregation shaking hands, and from 20 feet away you could feel the spirit just permeating the area. I was walking around with Emmett, but Carol said you could feel the spirit simply when he entered the chapel. It was also amazing to have the spirit give such a powerful witness to his calling as he spoke and interacting with our stake, he is truly an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Beyond that it has been spring break, and though I had high hopes, I got much less work done than I had intended, so I better get my butt in gear before this semester swamps me.

~Josh

The last few weeks

You may have noticed that the blog has been a little neglected as of late. So here is what you have been missing and what has been keeping us away from updates.....

First... Record snowfall hit Denton, we got 12 inches in the city and about 13 where we live. And as seems to be a requirement whenever North Texas gets snow, we built a snowman. Granted, I didn't break out a scraper and level like some people I know, but the girls liked their snow girl. They repeatedly told me it had to be a girl, so I put her hands on her hips akimbo. How else does when designate gender in snow people (other than what I saw on the snowmen built at UNT by undergrads).
Second, Annette's family came out to see Rollie before he got deployed. He has been stationed at Fort Hood, which from the news, you probably already know is down in Waco area. He had a weekend off before being sent overseas, and for some reason Annette thought it was worth it to drive out here and see him off. As an added bonus we got to see the family. Annette and Carol took the kids to the Dallas Aquarium. I was at school teaching, so I don't know what they did, or saw, but here is a picture of them there, and for some reason the aquarium seems to need a leopard as well. (Carol says I sound jealous, I just think it's silly since cats hate water).
We were also spent Sunday (2/21) at Griselda's house with Rollie, and Annette, and Rollie's family. They have such a sweet family. Such beautiful kiddos.
And since I have been putting in a ton of hours at school, the girls have been missing me. Fortunately the Daddy daughter dance was scheduled for last Saturday night. Cora and Jess had a great time, and I actually danced, if you can believe that. Maren didn't get to go, but I took her out just Dad and Maren to get ice cream a couple of nights before, so hopefully she doesn't feel too left out. She has been asking me to go on another date almost daily since.
Beyond all of that fun stuff, I have been trying to get too much done. I am working on another submittal that looks at the factor structure of a spirituality measure and how it correlates to existing measures. I realize only a few readers will know what that means (or have a translator) but I wanted to let you know I haven't been wasting all my time these past three years. I have also been teaching a full lecture with 104 students and a lab with 21. I have also decided that making tests sucks. Carol has been very supportive, and has been sending me picture mail so I don't miss out on to many moments at home. Cora and Jess even made a special effort and cleaned up their toy room, the bathroom and their bedroom so the house would be clean when I got home. I think Jess has been struggling the most; more than one night I awoke to have her snuggled into bed with us. She is so funny, she doesn't make any announcements about it, or even try to wake us up, she just climbs up next to me. I usually don't even notice until I am caught between two snuggling heat suckers and I start frying with no escape. I think that covers most of it pretty well. Hopefully were all caught up on the major news, and now I have some more papers to grade (ugh).

~Josh