Pics of the Week: October 2015

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Book of the Week

Bean!

We listened to this book in the car.

Sunday, October 18, 2015

It's been a week of double takes. With the high school year just winding up and Noah graduating, every third conversation seems to begin with the question, "So, what's Noah planning to do next year?"

When I say that he's going to Bulgaria for 2 years, I get a double take. And I love it! So fun to tell people about Noah going to Bulgaria!!!

huh?

What did you just say?

Bul-what?

Oh my!

Bulgaria!!!

It was MY turn to do a double take on Friday night at the high school awards dinner.

Noah's physics teacher approached Mike and me with obvious excitement. He is the teacher who calculated the points for the top students to discover who would be "dux" (valedictorian). Noah was among the top three students under consideration.

"You knew that Noah was in the top 3, but you'll be thrilled to hear..."

"so excited about his results" "can't tell you all the good news just yet"

"calculated his GPA for those blasted American college applications..."

"fantastic results!" "You will be so happy!" "so pleased that Noah's work has paid off" "exceptional student"

He leaned in and whispered his grand conclusion, the bit he'd saved for last,

"Noah got ... eighty-eight percent! His GPA is 3.3!"

Now it was my turn...

huh?

What did you just say?

eight-what?

Oh my!

3.3 GPA - Go, Noah!

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk

For spring break, we took a 4-day backpack around Lake Waikaremoana, one of New Zealand's Great Walks.

Mike and I travelled with the Sutherlands, 7 teenage boys (3 of them our sons), and Mercy. What a pleasure!

Photos don't capture the richness and variety in the old-growth forests, trees that were a thousand years old and heavy with burls and epiphytes. Giant ferns. Rata vines.

The lake was always on our right hand.

high altitude "gnome" forest

Sue taught us the names of all the trees.

Our family in the giant Rata

Monday, October 5, 2015

D&C 132

Classic story from our New Plymouth branch yesterday, as told by Nigel himself during Sunday School during the 2nd hour...

Nigel said a very long and very personal prayer as our closing prayer in sacrament meeting. It ranged from gender equality, atrocities enacted on the Scottish, Irish, and Welsch, the Roman view of patriarchy, Heavenly Father and Mother, matriarchy and patriarchy as enacted in different societies and also in different homes, including his own home. According to him, he got swept away in the moment, and felt like he said more than he should have - he hadn't really wanted to come to church anyway - so when he finished the prayer he decided to leave. As he walked out of the church building, he passed 8-year-old Cody in the hall.

"Hey, Nige! Awesome prayer, man!" said Cody cheerfully. Nigel said that at that moment, he knew he shouldn't leave, so he turned around and came back.

We all have a part to play in our ward/branch families, wherever we live. I love it that our branch is the kind of place where a 8-year-old knows Nigel's name, and even feels comfortable shortening it to, "Nige." I'm thankful for our little branch.

Cody's mom recently told me that Cody told her that he "has to marry Sage." When she asked why, Cody said, "So those big brothers could be in MY family!" ("big brothers" meaning Noah, Danny, and Oak).

Cody's mom said, "What about Sage?"

Cody, "She's all right, too."

What our family has been doing the last couple of weeks:

Joyce - coping with temporary hearing loss from a bad cold

Sage - thrilled about finding such a great birthday present for Danny

Danny's birthday gift from Sage - one of those big fancy advent calendars.

Mercy - passed off her Mozart Twinkle Variations and performed twice.

Oak - built a few more hectic bike jumps in our yard, and then broke his thumb during a youth trip on the Kairau Marae.

Danny - spending the week in Palmerston-North for basketball nationals

NPBHS First V

Noah - planned a 4-day skiing trip with friends.

"Wat a primo trip! We got pitted bro"

Mike - flew to Hawaii to take his 10-year licensing exam.

Holly - I got to teach D&C 132 in seminary.

I was reminded again how thankful I am for the following two resources on the subject of plural marriage...

Valerie Hudson, "Polygamy as an Abrahamic Sacrifice" (link - podcast), and Eugene England, "On Fidelity, Polygamy, and Celestial Marriage" (link - article).

I can relate to the young married BYU students that Hudson talks about near the end of her podcast: I was troubled by polygamy in what felt like a "healthy" way before I got married, but after I got married, the idea of polygamy felt like a spiritual cancer almost overnight. Like Hudson's students, I suddenly felt myself swinging between feeling that 1) I didn't want to go to heaven if that's what heaven was, or 2) I better keep some distance from my husband, just in case. Terrible!