Ooooooh! Touche!

.....now this election just got really interesting!.....

An Oldie, But A Goodie

This was a picture of Kami from September of last year, but I love it so much that I wanted to scrapbook it. Fall in Korea is probably one of my favorite seasons. The weather is perfect, the rice fields are green and ready to harvest, everything is green and lush. I love it! And of course, my then one-year old is as beautiful as ever! I can't believe how much she's grown. And to think in just a few short weeks she's going to be the best big sister ever! :^)

Baby Shower

Yeesh! Sorry, it's been a while since my last post! For those of you wondering, nope, no baby AJ yet! Although, he's quickly running out of room, so I can't imagine it'll be too, too long! I've been to two doctors appointments up in Seoul already and am getting ready for my stay up there beginning next week. Meanwhile, I thought you'd all enjoy some baby shower pictures, curtesy of my friend, Bernie! She did a fantastic job! I'll keep you all posted on the stork drop!

Joy To Me

YW Lesson 30 "Scripture Study"

Yesterday on my way home from church I realized that this will be my last Sunday lesson I teach until October! The next Sunday I would have taught is the day when Elder Bednar will be in Seoul for a Youth Fireside and so our branch is holding a two hour block that Sunday to give families travel time (traffic can get crazy here!). The week after that, I'm headed up to Seoul as well until our new little addition to our family decides to make his world debut! Wow! I can't believe how quickly time is flying by! So, happy teaching to all of you YW teachers out there! I'll see you in October! :^) Jess

Story
“Some years ago the president of the Sweden Mission related an experience when he was on a boat going out through a number of small islands toward Finland. As he watched the boat plow out into the sea, he noticed the meandering course of the pilot among the various islands. He wondered, Why doesn’t he take us to that more interesting island over there instead of this dismal place over here?
“He said, ‘As I sat there watching and wondering, I noticed what appeared to be broomsticks bobbing up and down in the water ahead. I then realized that someone had mapped out the safest course in these waters and had put out these guidelines to guide us safely.’
“Then he brought out this lesson: ‘Just so, God’s engineers have charted the safest way to us, and that safe way is written in the gospel of Jesus Christ, just as unmistakably as our ship was guided through those dangerous seas out into the safety beyond” (“Find the Answers in the Scriptures,” President Harold B. Les, Ensign, Dec. 1972, p. 3).

Question/Discussion
1. In what ways can the scriptures guide our lives?
2. Do you have a favorite scripture that has helped you meet challanges in your life, or just a favorite scripture in general that you'd like to share?

Case Studies
One way we can look for specific answers to questions in the scriptures is by using the Topical Gude and Index. Presented are some young women who need to find specific answers to their questions. Let's take a few minutes (I gave them about 7-10 minutes) and help these YW find the answers they're looking for.
Shauna was struggling with her faith in the power of prayer. She felt that she was not receiving answers when she prayed, and she was beginning to doubt the faith and beliefs of her childhood. Her Young Women adviser asked her to compile a notebook on prayer using only what she found in the scriptures. Find some scriptures that you think would help her regain her faith in prayer.

Marie was aware that Layne, her fourteen-year-old brother, was lying more and more frequently to her parents about where he was going and what he was doing. Marie had tried to talk to him about it, but that only made him angry. He insisted that his little lies weren’t doing any harm. He just wanted to spend more time with his friends. Marie’s father assigned her to give the lesson in family home evening the following Monday. She decided to give it on the importance of being honest. Find some scriptures that might help Marie teach Layne about the value of honesty.

Sarah’s mother had just died of cancer. Sarah was brokenhearted. Why had the Lord let this happen to her beautiful mother? She was so good and so young. The family had prayed fervently that she would be healed, and the bishop had helped her father administer to her mother. Using the key words of death and resurrection, what scriptures can you find to comfort Sarah?

Quote
“I fear that many of us rush about from day to day taking for granted the holy scriptures. We scramble to honor appointments with physicians, lawyers, and businessmen. Yet we think nothing of postponing interviews with Deity—postponing scripture study. Little wonder we develop anemic souls and lose our direction in living. How much better it would be if we planned and held sacred fifteen or twenty minutes a day for reading the scriptures. Such interviews with Deity would help us recognize his voice and enable us to receive guidance in all of our affairs. We must look to God through the scriptures” (Carlos E. Asay, in Conference Report, Oct. 1978, p. 79; or Ensign, Nov. 1978, pp. 53–54).

Question
1. How can we make Scripture Study more meaningful in our lives?

Quote Sheet
1. Schedule
2. Pray
3. Search
4. Ponder
5. Relate
6. Apply
Because We Have Them Before Our Eyes, by Elder David A. Bednar, New Era, April 2006
Search the Scriptures , by Elder L. Lionel Kendrick, Ensign, May 1993

Poem

More Digi Playing!

Okay....here's another page I created! This time I broke down and bought PhotoShop Elements! And....I'm having a lot of fun! Anyway, here's my latest creation!

Ummm....Oops!

So, tonight, as every night, I started Kami's bedtime routine with a bathtub. So, I put Kami in the tub and while it filled up, I though, I'd find some stickers that would go well with a scrapbook page I was working on. Found the stickers and then thought, well, I'll go ahead and just finish up this page. So, I finished up the page and I started thinking about some emails that I needed to write. So, I sat down on the computer here and wrote a couple emails. Then.....I hear Kami from the bathroom, "Uh-oh! My bathtub broken! Uh-oh! My bathtub broken!" I assumed she meant her little Elmo bathtub that has suction cups on it that she's always getting frustrated with. So, I did a few more things on the computer and she kept saying, "Uh-oh! My bathtub broken!" After a minute, I wobbled (because that's about all I do these days) to the bathroom to find that.....oops! I forgot to go back in and turn off her water! My brain cells are seriously zapping out by the second! This AJ better be one smart kid, because he's taking just about all of the brains I've got! :^)
Aaaaand, here's a cute picture of Kami that I forgot (surprise, surprise) that I had taken!
On a totally seperate note......Sunday I get a call from friend Bernie, she was at the BX and what book to they have on their shelves??? Yep. You guessed it! So, she picked up a copy for me and Kami and I went to her house that night to pick it up from her. After putting Kami to bed, I stayed up until about 1AM reading. The next morning I got up about 5:30AM to keep reading. Kami woke up at 7AM and I got her ready for the day....then I kept reading and reading and reading and reading. Only stopping to switch out DVD's from Dora, to Elmo to Hi-5 for Kami as well as other necessities we needed to do that day. Tuesday I woke up early again and read through the AM finishing the book! Whew! 700+ pages in that amount of time....I think I just set a new record for me! Because so many of you are still reading, I won't say much more other than....I LOVED IT! Happy reading everyone! :^)

Envy

Okay. So, the counter on the right side of the page counting down to when the release date for the new Twilight books comes out was pretty anti-climatic for me, seeing as I'm all the way over in Korea, where to AAFES (Army Air Force Exchage Service, aka: our Target/Walmart/Dept. Store) "Breaking Dawn" is just another item to put out on the shelf...maybe....when they get around to it...IF they ordered it. So, while AAFES takes their sweet time, my back-up copy is sitting in an Amazon.com warehouse somewhere waiting to be shipped out *hopefully* on Monday. Thankfully, 95% of the time, Amazon orders are pretty quick to ship here, but every once in a while, a box gets stuck on the "slow boat" and it takes up to 6 weeks for orders to arrive. Anyway. I lament. I type this blog with the greenest of envy oozing out of my fingertips for those in the states who wandered into a local bookstore today and picked up their copy. And of course will nothing other than sit and read the story we've all been on the edge of our seats for months, waiting just to see how it ends. BUT, don't you dare write me and tell me what happens! I may be seriously wishing I was reading it right now, but I do have enough dignity to wait until *hopefully* next week when I can read it myself! :^) Happy reading everyone!