USA

The Sabbath

Deuteronomy 5: 14 14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.

As Mormons, we take this scripture literally. We do not do anything on the Sabbath that requires others to work: eat out, shop, or any type of recreation. It is a frequent debate between members about how elaborate of a meal should even be made on a Sunday. Some people seem to think that even cooking a roast is too much work.

This strict Sabbath Day observence is sometimes hard for our children to understand. They understand that God has asked this of us in the Bible and our kids love God but, they just don’t get why no one else around them seems to care.

All of our kids have had to miss out on a lot of birthday parties, but none was as hard for me as the one that Allie celebrated last month. Allie is Sophia’s best friend. Allie is riot; we just love her. Sophia, being the shy kid that she is, just loves Allie; and Allie being as outgoing as she is, is a wonderful influence for Sophia. Sophia has proudly exclaimed repeatedly since the 2nd week of school that Allie is her best friend. I have never seen a happier child than Sophia when she brought home Allie’s birthday invitation to the ice-skating rink. My excitement for Sophia being able to participate in the simple joy of life we call the birthday party was shattered when I referred to the calendar and saw that it would take place on a Sunday.

So, what did we do? We took Allie out to McDonald’s after school on Friday instead. [ALL kids love McDonald’s] We blew out a candle in her kids’ meal hamburger and had ice-cream. Allie opened her gift and then, to pass time before we had to go back to meet her mom, we walked around K-mart and got some clearance Christmas candy. I guess this made an impression enough because yesterday when I took the girls back to this K-mart that we don’t frequent, all Sophia and Bella could talk about was the day that we had brought Allie there. “Remember, this is where Allie hid. This is where we chased Allie. This is where we found the candy that we got with Allie.”

So, I guess I dodged another birthday party bullet. Phew.

On another Sabbath day note:

On Sunday night, LG went to the Stake Bishopric training without me by his side to attend the simultaneous Wive’s Training. I originally typed this post on Sunday evening, but according to my hubby’s counsel I toned it down before publishing it.

As LG was leaving the meeting, he saw a friend of ours. He asked her what I had missed from the women’s meeting when she asked where I was. LG told her that I had taken courage from a talk today in church. The regional rep’s wife talked about resting from our labors on Sunday and when LG got home from church I explained to him that his calling in the Bishopric is one of my greatest labors. I was resting tonight! I needed to be home with my kids, not take them off to a sitter on Sunday. (If I am to be totally honest, I would have preferred to have LG home with us too, but I can’t control him or his desire to attend his meetings)

Our friend told LG that the wives’ meeting was about righteous selfishness. (I still don’t think this is exactly the correct term) The friend explained, “The jist of the meeting was that when a woman has a husband in such a busy calling, it is o.k. for her to act selfishly sometimes if it is to meet the needs of the family. “

LG replied, “Oh good, I guess it was o.k. for Alice to miss this one. She’s got that one down. In fact, she is practicing that right now.”

Yeah for me: I am a great Sabbath Day keeper! Yes, I do a lot of other things wrong, and I may even receive criticism for my choice to not go to the meeting. But by golly, I am teaching my kids that the Sabbath is the day for a family to worship together, not to go to parties or be carted off to the sitter.

Domonick’s back!

I just read this story from my Wierd news RSS feed. It talks about a cat who bolted away from her owner on a trip to the vet 3 years ago. When the found cat’s microchip was scanned he was taken back home.

LG refused to pay for a microchip for our cat. I understand his cheapness, but I wonder if he was changing his mind during several of my sleepless nights that we couldn’t find Kitty Bear. One night when she was a baby I stayed up all night and cried when she wandered away.

I went all around town putting up lost pet signs the next day just to have my neighbor across the street come rushing over to tell me that she saw the sign down the street and her daughter had taken the cat in for the night. (My neighbor is a HUGE animal lover – I could have kissed her)Kitty Bear had been meowing at the wrong door. Yes, she is smarter than that now. The only time she gets lost now is when she slips into someone’s dresser drawer for a good warm night’s sleep. But, man I was a wreck. LG had the nerve to say, “Man, Alice, what will you act like if anything ever happens to one of our kids.”

But, between this story, my previous post, and thinking about Kitty Bear I have been reminded of our cats growing up. I cannot tell you how many cats we had growing up…..at least 20. The funny part: we always thought it was the same cat coming back.

We would always exclaim, “Mom, mom, Domonick’s back.”

My brother had named our first black cat with one little white spot under his chin, Domonick (after Dominoes). Of course the cats would disappear from time to time. (Wouldn’t you want to escape from a family with 7 children?)

We were always a little sad whenever our cats would go missing, but to no avail. it would turn out o.k. when another black cat would show up…I guess black cats with little white spots must be quite common because I am sure that Domonick could never survive the surrounding wild infested with coyotes. Or did he?

American Idol Women

I hate to say that I was not sufficiently impressed by any of the women tonight, including Brooke White….It may be the season for the men. Hopefully, they’ll redeem themselves next week. I am not even going to include a picture!!

Oh yeah – Pres Day

Yes, Presiden’t Day would have went unnoticed at our house this year if it wasn’t for the following conversation that just took place on the way home from school.

Abigail: “Mom, Abraham Lincoln was a liar.”

Mom: (not totally paying attention) “Really, why?”

Abigail: no response

Mom: (realizing what Abigail just said and wondering what in the world they are teaching at public school) “Did you say that Abraham Lincoln was a liar? I’ve never heard that.”

Abigail: “No, mom, I said, he was a lawyer.”

Mom: Cracking up. “Do you know why that was so funny ?”

Abigail: SMILING HUGE because she got it…”Yeah mom, his name is Honest Abe.”

So, I guess that public schools aren’t failing us, even though Abigail reminds me now that my hearing continues to fail me.

I guess the lawyer/liar thing is a secondary part of the joke.

Subway – Eat Fresh

In my last post I made mention to asking for a sarnie at Subway.

I then went back to instapundit to find the link about Jared’s ridiculously hot girlfriend. (Who by the way, I don’t think she is hot at all.) This link about Jared’s marketing power is very interesting.

Jared is the man. You have to give him credit for keeping all his weight off and making a fortune at eating out. All we ever do is give our money away when we eat out. (But hey, at least, we won’t have to give up half our fortune to an X, like Jared is having to do)

Play Jared’s 10 yr anniversary Pants Dance here. So funny!

English Ed & Et #4

Are Harry and Hermione stepping out on Ron? That is what the local news reported recently. How cute!! The article said that they were both really trying to make sure no one saw them together: yeah, hello, they will confuse all the young Harry Potter fans….what? Hermione and Harry????

I love Harry Potter. The books have got to be one of my very favorite things that have come from Britian.

Here are some more English terms brought to you by my two favorite English bloggers: Saxon and Mike Ball.

I will just share the ones with HP connections for now:

lift – elevator or giving someone a ride. How about taking a lift in that muggle flying car? or We took the lift to our dormitory, isntead of hiking the 12 flights of stairs.

headmaster – the principal of course. Did you know that Dumbledore was gay?

Muggins – fool, sap, etc. Now, who would you consider a muggins? Malfoy?

galleon and pence: from Saxon – A galleon is about 4 Litres I think. (me: what is a litre?) There are 100 pennies(pence) in a pound. ie. How many galleons did that Nimbus 2000 cost? Read Saxon’s comment to understand how totally idiotic I was with this one. I think I got a little confused here from reading Harry Potter…don’t they call wizard money a galleon?

tea – not just tea, but also dinner Will you join me in The Great Hall for some tea?

sarnie -sandwich (yeah, this will be a fun one to try and incorporate into my vocab next time I go to Subway- “Can I have a sarnie please?)

And lastly, for the people who may want to watch the news about Radcliffe when they do visit the U.K., you need to know this crazy tidbit:

If you have a TV you have to buy a TV licence here in the UK. It only lasts for a year so you have to buy a new one each year as long as you have a TV. The licence is a £135 and if you don’t have one and are caught by one of the ‘detector vans’ watching TV you will get a fine of up to £1000. (I still haven’t figured out how much money that is, but either way, that seems just crazy to me)

Hope you enjoyed…it took me long enough to get to it.

Church signs

Go here to check out my church sign photos.

While at Cracker Barrel a few weeks ago, I saw the above book, The Great American Book of Church Signs. It was very fun to rummage through. This book is a compilation of a very important part of Southern living: the church sign. I have to admit that even though I have never even stepped foot inside of a church that sports any type of unique church sign, the signs are one of my favorite aspects of Southern living.

For my many Western friends. Let me explain. In the South a person in a vehicle can pass a different church at about every block. Under the name of the congregation, each of those churches usually display a block letter sign with a new weekly message. There seems to be an unspoken competition going on. The winner of the competition will win the most parishoners for the following Sunday. How will the church sign do that? Well, of course, the parishioners will not be able to resist attending because of the originality or perfect humor of the church sign.

I grew up in California where all church signs were very bland. Their sole purpose was to let the passer-by know which domination was represented. In Utah, it seems that every church has the same The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sign etched in granite out front. Which, in its own way is entertaining, given that you will have two exactly similar signs sported a block apart.

But, in the South, the church sign is vital for the spread of Christianity and humor. I am unsure how the church sign tradition got started, but I am sure it has to do with some unorthodox Baptist preacher a few hundred years ago. And, yes, he must have been a good preacher because he can take credit for even teaching this Mormon how to be a better Christian. Here are some of the messages from the signs that I have seen recently:

Lost? Get a GPS (God’s plan of salvation)

You think it’t hot here.

Who’s your daddy?

Free trip to heaven, details inside.

Church parking only – violators will be baptized.

God loves you and he approves this message.

Wal-Mart is not the only saving place.

God answers knee-mail.

Friends don’t let friends go to hell.

Don’t make me come down there. ~ God

If God is your co-pilot, switch seats.

The wage of sin is death, repent before payday.

At the heart of sin is the letter I.

Pessimists need a kick in the cant’s.

So, feel free to add your favorite Southern church sign in a comment. Whenever we all get over the flu at my house, and I can actually think I may try to come up with some signs that they can adopt to put in front of the Mormon churches in Utah. Here are a few off of the top of my fried sick brain:

Join our ward, the boundary is unlimited.

Our Bishop is better than yours!

Is your sacrament bread homemade?

Join us, every Sunday is fast.

Yeah yeah, these are week; I am sick! I can’t stop coughing, so I am going to go. I just didn’t want to be banned to my own bi-weekly blogger list.

Word Association

Kathy made me think of legos.

Legos of Thriller. (it’s legos 50th anniversary & this link shows Thriller redone w/ legos) Only something a man could enjoy.

And, thriller of some prison in The Phillipines. You have all probably seen this video, but I thought it was worth posting for those who may have not seen it yet. I was in awe the first time I saw it. If you haven’t heard about this prison who elected to have dancing as their main source of rehibilitation, you have to check this article out before you watch the following video.