Up and Down Weather

We have had some crazy weather this March.  We will have warm weeks and then cold weekends.

During the week we will open the windows and breeze out some of the stuffy winter from our house.  Elizabeth and I will take long walks outside, play in the backyard and go visit the dog park and swings at least once a day. During the warm weekdays Ben is always at work just waiting for the weekend, when he can enjoy the outdoors.

But almost as if it is mocking all the hard working 9to5-ers, the weather shifts every weekend to be cold and rainy/snowing.  This has spoiled some of Ben's golfing expeditions and some of our gardening/yard work projects. 

Here is hoping the weather warms up and stays warm... at least for one weekend!

Sick Sick Baby Girl!

When Elizabeth was 6 hours old she was struggling breathing and we did not know (thank heavens for good nurses). Being new parents is hard and there is a lot of new things to learn; one big thing to learn is when your child is sick and what to do about it.  We had another experience with this 'not knowing' learning curve this week.  

On Saturday Elizabeth would NOT eat her dinner.  She has started wanting to feed herself (which has made dinner more difficult) and she is having more picky moments.  I let her cry while I shoved food into her mouth and then put her to sleep a little frustrated (knowing she had not eaten her usual amount).  That night (about 2 am) she threw up all over herself and her crib.  We cleaned it up and cleaned her up and did our best to help her get some sleep.  This is when I started kicking myself for not knowing that our sweet little girl was sick and not just being picky! 

Sunday morning she crawled into the sunshine and fell asleep- poor tired girl!

 

The next day she again refused to eat or drink anything.  This was accompanied by diarrhea and a high fever.  Ben went to church without us and when he got home we checked her fever again and found that (during a lapse between Tylenol) she had a fever of 105 degrees.  So we took her to urgent care where, after 3 hours, we were told that she looked healthy (ears, nose, throat, lungs, ect) and we were given anti-nausea medicine to help her drink/eat.  The next day she started drinking a little bit (again no food) but her fever continued and we were getting nervous about dehydration. 

On Tuesday we noticed that she was getting blisters on her hands and we went to see her doctor and were told that she had a virus (that was going around).  He said that the blisters looked like she might have Hand, Mouth and Foot (a very contagious disease similar to chicken pox).   By Wednesday her fever was gone and she was eating a little better BUT her blisters (on her hands, arms and feet) were still pretty bad. 

She did finally start eating and drinking...

You can't see very well- but she has blisters all over her tiny fingers

 

Now, 8 days after she started acting sick, her blisters are starting to look a little better and she is acting like her normal adventurous smiley self!  It is such a scary thing to have a sick baby and to feel helpless in knowing what is wrong and how to care for them.  I am glad that we have smart doctors who can help ease my mind and give me advice and guidance.  And I am grateful for loving parents and siblings who give me advice and encouragement to help through this new learning curve! I am also grateful for a healthy girl and that I am now getting some sleep! ;)

Here is hoping Elizabeth will stay healthy!... at least for a while!

Follow the Prophet, He knows the Way!

It seems like every year, before General Conference, there is some huge controversy with the church or our beliefs (from abortion to gay marriage).  It feels like a strong attempt of the adversary to get us to judge and/or discredit the leaders of the church.  This year the controversy is from a group within the church; there is a group of feminists who want the priesthood to be given to women.  

There is so much I can say on this topic; we do have the power of the priesthood through our husbands, fathers and sons.  We were not ordained for the same purpose as men, Etcetera.  BUT I am not the type of person to get into a debate; it usually leads to arguing and a loss of the spirit.  So this is what I will say on the subject...

One of the great blessings and differences between our church and other churches is our belief in continued revelation through Latter-day Prophets.  Like the prophets of old (Moses, Isaiah, Peter, Nephi, Mormon...) the Latter-day Prophet testifies  of Jesus Christ and teaches his gospel.  True to the Faith says,

"They [Prophets] make known God's will and true character. They speak boldly and clearly, denouncing sin and warning of its consequences. At times, they may be inspired to prophesy of future events for our benefit.

We can always trust the living prophets. Their teachings reflect the will of the Lord, who declared: “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same” (D&C 1:38).

Our greatest safety lies in strictly following the word of the Lord given through His prophets, particularly the current President of the Church. The Lord warns that those who ignore the words of the living prophets will fall (see D&C 1:14-16). He promises great blessings to those who follow the President of the Church:

“Thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me;

”For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith.

“For by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name's glory” (D&C 21:4-6).

It then proclaims: We sustain the President of the Church as prophet, seer, and revelator—the only person on the earth who receives revelation to guide the entire Church. We also sustain the counselors in the First Presidency and the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators. 

I also believe what President Wilford Woodruff stated: “I say to Israel, the Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as president of the Church to lead you astray. It is not in the program. It is not in the mind of God.” 

I sustain Thomas S Monson as the President of the Church but also as a Prophet, Seer and Revelator.  I know that he is the ONLY person on the earth who receives revelation for the church.  I 100% support him, believe his teachings and uphold him in this role! I do this because the spirit has witnessed to me that he is indeed the Living Prophet of God.  

This testimony should be all the convincing any member of the church should need in order to believe that the church is being ran as Heavenly Father intends it to be ran.   I am excited to hear the words of the Living Prophet, Apostles and Church Leaders  at General Conference in two weeks!

  

President Ezra Taft Benson gave an address of the Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet. This talk has been quoted on multiple occasions and shares more truth about the Latter-day Prophet.  Read that talk HERE!

February- Article of Faith 2

We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.

I began this month by focusing a lot of my study on the Planof Salvation.  Before the world was created there was a counsel in Heaven where our Heavenly Father laid forth his plan for his children on this earth.  During this counsel (war) Satan presented a plan in which the people would have no agency and no choice (and no option to choose evil) and therefore we would all return to live with our Heavenly Father.  Another plan was presented in which there would be opposition in all things, agency would be in full effect and the Lord would give commandments to guide us to choose the right.  This plan would allow growth and faith in the people but would require a Savior, at which time Jesus Christ was pre-appointed to be that Savior.  

I studied the Plan of Salvation to better understand the mindset of both Adam and Eve and of our Heavenly Father when they were placed in the garden.  In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were in the presence of Heavenly Father and were commanded NOT to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17)  However they were also commanded to multiply and replenish the earth (Genesis 1:28), which was impossible in their state of innocence in the garden.  These two commandment are not able to both be followed and therefore Adam and Eve had to make a choice (as the Plan of Salvation intended)

'President Smith taught: “The Lord said to Adam that if he wished to remain as he was in the garden, then he was not to eat the fruit, but if he desired to eat it and partake of death he was at liberty to do so.” Faced with this dilemma, Adam and Eve chose death—both physical and spiritual—which opened the door for themselves and their posterity to gain knowledge and experience and to participate in the Father’s plan of happiness leading to eternal life.'

I had never thought of mankind being punished for Adam's transgression because I knew and had learnt the plan of Salvation and the need for agency as a child.  I had always been taught that because Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden, we were able to be born and receive our physical bodies and therefore learn and grow. I tried to study with the mindset of a new member or nonmember and to separate the idea of mankind being blessed by the opportunity to have bodies and being physically seperate from our Heavenly Father and experiencing challenges.  This concept was very challenging for me and hard for me to understand the other side of the argument. 

Another thing that I studied, through conference talks and the words of our Latter-day Prophets was the distinction between SIN and TRANSGRESSION. Regarding this distinction, Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles observed: “This suggested contrast between a sin and a transgression reminds us of the careful wording in the second article of faith: ‘We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression’ (emphasis added). It also echoes a familiar distinction in the law. Some acts, like murder, are crimes because they are inherently wrong. Other acts, like operating without a license, are crimes only because they are legally prohibited. Under these distinctions, the act that produced the Fall was not a sin—inherently wrong—but a transgression—wrong because it was formally prohibited. These words are not always used to denote something different, but this distinction seems meaningful in the circumstances of the Fall.” 

 

President Joseph Fielding Smith (1876–1972) said: “I never speak of the part Eve took in this fall as a sin, nor do I accuse Adam of a sin. … This was a transgression of the law, but not a sin … for it was something that Adam and Eve had to do!”

I enjoyed studying the Plan of Salvation and the Fall of Adam in more detail this month.  I have a strong testimony that how the life and fall of Adam transpired was by divine design and that because of this the world was able to have a Savior.  And that because of this I am able to have a mortal body and to learn and grow, through my trials and through faith, so that I might be stronger when I once again return to live with my Heavenly Father.