January- Article of Faith #1

We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in his son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. 

 

One of the main differences between my faith and the beliefs of the majority of the Christian world is that the Church of Jesus Christ believes that God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are three separate and distinct personages.  One of the main revelations on this subject came from Joseph Smith's First Vision when Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him.  He later wrote, "I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other- This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" (JSH 1:17) The first vision also proves that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have bodies of flesh and bone and that we, as Heavenly Father's children, were made after his likeness. 

This knowledge gained in the first vision gave me the idea to study Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost  separately and I chose to study Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ 'in OUR likeness'- meaning in a 'human' way that I understand. 

Heavenly Father: One of my favorite quotes, referring to the character of God, is by one of our latter-day Prophets, Heber C. Kimball, who said," I am perfectly satisfied that my Father and my God is a cheerful, pleasant, lively, and good-natured Being. Why? Because I am cheerful, pleasant, lively, and good-natured when I have His Spirit." 

Jesus Christ:  I am studying Christ, as my Savior, in more detail later this year.  To study Christ's character I read and compared the gospels (Mathew, Mark, Luke and John) in the Bible.  The well known stories and accounts of Jesus Christ's life on this earth are good accounts of his character. In church and conference we often hear about Christ-like attributes that we should implement in our lives. 

 While studying some conference talks I found some other interesting quotes.  A talk given by a latter-day apostle, Jeffry R. Holland, titled The Grandeur of God, he said "In all that Jesus came to say and do, including and especially in His atoning suffering and sacrifice, He was showing us who and what God our Eternal Father is like, how completely devoted He is to His children in every age and nation. In word and in deed Jesus was trying to reveal and make personal to us the true nature of His Father, our Father in Heaven."  

Holy Ghost: This was by far the hardest topic of my study this month and the one I spent most time on.  The Holy Ghost is a member of the Godhead and therefore I want to group him in with God and the Savior  in 'human likeness' but that is incorrect.  Doctrine and Covenants 130:22 says, " The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit.  Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us." The Holy Ghost is also referred to as the Holy Spirit and the Comforter. 

The Spirit is often described as a feeling of peace, warmth, love and hope and is described as a warmth or 'tingle' in ones heart, often brings tears of joy and/ or a clarity of mind.  These feelings and the presence of the Holy Ghost helps to guide and prompt us to follow God's will in our lives. We are taught that the gift of the Holy Ghost ("right to have, whenever one is worthy, the companionship of the Holy Ghost"- Bible Dictionary, "Holy Ghost") is given, through a priesthood blessing, to members of the church following baptism.  This confused me because I know that people not baptized into the church have felt and received spiritual guidance.  This lead my studies to the 'Light of Christ.'

The Light of Christ is similar to a conscience it "is given to every man, that he may know good from evil" (Moroni 7:16).  In the Bible Dictionary is says that the influence of the Light of Christ is to prepare and lead people to the influence of the Holy Ghost.  The influence, or 'power', of the Holy Ghost (again not the Gift) is then a witness/testimony of the truth of the gospel.

I liked studying about the Godhead in January.  I thought it was interesting that by getting to know Christ (which is what we usually focus on) we are in turn getting to know our Heavenly Father.  And in order to get to know Christ we need to utilize the Holy Ghost in our lives. 

New Year Scripture Study Goal

This year, for my scripture/gospel study, I have decided to go 'back to the basics' and study the 13 Articles of Faith.  The Articles of Faith are 13 simple statements about the basic beliefs of the church.  In 1842, Joseph Smith was asked about the beliefs and history of the church and responded in a letter (later known as the Wentworth Letter).  In this letter, among other things, he wrote the 13 Articles of Faith and they are now included as scripture in the Pearl of Great Price.  

I have decided to extensively study one Article of Faith each month (yes, I will have to double up on two to get all 13).  This proved to be challenging at first because of their simplicity I was unsure what I was going to study and how it could take me an entire month.  As I started and delved deeper in my study I discovered that a month was not enough time to fully delve into the doctrine. Another challenge I have faced is the accountability of my study; when reading straight through the Book of Mormon (or any set of scriptures) you can see and measure how much you have studies but when studying by topic it is harder to measure the 'worth' of your study. So I have decided to write a comprehensive blog post at the end of each month, sharing some of the thoughts that I have learned (and therefore making me more accountable for my study).  

Church Basketball Shiner

 Ben loves to play church basketball and I love that he plays BUT every year he hurts himself.  The first year we were married her sprained his ankle REALLY bad and after that always managed to twist it.  The last two years I have been making him wear a brace and this year he got new shoes (actual basketball shoes) so that his ankles are supported.  This year they are having practices on Tuesday nights (the games are Saturday mornings) and he is enjoying it. There are more people on his team- so he doesn't feel quite so dead after every game.  

Last week Ben came home from Practice  a little early sporting an already blue and swollen black eye.  He had got elbowed in the face (by one of his teammates- oops).  It stayed swollen for a couple days and was really bad. 

Day Two (2/5/2014)- the color isn't too bad but the swelling is there!!

Day 3 (2/6/2014)- The swelling is gone but the color is strong.

Day 5 (2/9/2014)- how he wore it to church....

 By Sunday the black/blue-ness was turning green/yellow and his eye was the big talk at church (he also went up to sing in the Ward Choir so EVERYONE got a good look).  It is starting to look a lot better now but he will always remember his church ball shiner!!

Pizza Taste Test!!

Elizabeth has been sick and under the weather for a couple weeks (she is now on antibiotics for a sinus infection and is feeling much better) but, as usual, I caught it and have been sick this past week.  We had signed up to feed the missionaries on Thursday but I wasn't feeling great so we decided that I shouldn't cook; instead we did a Pizza Taste Test!  

 The Elders, Elder Stoddard and Elder Sewell, got here before Ben got back from work so they had to stand on the front porch (poor boys, at least it was warm-ish) but I told them what we were going to do for dinner and they talked excitedly about what they thought our taste test would reveal (it was fun having them so excited- thanks Elders).  We ended up getting a medium pepperoni pizza from Little Ceasars, Blackjack and Dominos.  I put small slices on numbered plates and Ben and the Elder's had to taste them and rate them (not knowing which was which).  We rated them on the sauce, crust and overall (looking back we decided we should have also included cheese in our rating system).  They got really into the ratings and it was SILENT as they all sampled the pieces, took sips of water in between, and carefully selected their ratings. Once everyone was done, I tallied the ratings (I don't have the final numbers- sorry) and we had our results. 

In the end the clear winner was.... DOMINOS!!  I know I am shocked- that is now what I would have guessed.  Dominos had a slightly sweeter sauce and a good crust (not too crispy and not too soft).  Black jack was in second place but the crust was too soft and Little Ceasars crust was too thin and crunchy and their sauce was more spicy (which I kind of like).  It was also interesting to note that Dominos was the most expensive (maybe price does make it better?) BUT their slices were cut very crooked (not a deal breaker but annoying)! 

Ben made the Elder's eat till they were sick (seriously those poor guys) and we almost finished all pizza.  We introduced the Elder's to the joys of honey on pizza crust (it's like dessert at the end of each slice) and Elizabeth LOVED the pizza (she probably ate two pieces on her own).  It was great having the Elder's over and fun to have our Pizza Taste Test!!

With the WINNER!!!

Elizabeth's 1st Birthday!!!

Our baby is ONE!! 

When did this happen? Where has the time gone? 

ONE YEAR- February 9, 2014

One Month- March 9, 2013

All week we have been talking about our lives a year ago; baby two weeks overdue, cancelled induction, grumpy pregnancy, induction and labor and then the NICU and post labor.  It feels like it all happened so long ago and yet at the same time, it feels like it was yesterday!  

 I am so grateful for Elizabeth in our lives and the little miracle that she is.  She has grown and developed so much and added so much love to our lives. 

The day before Elizabeth's birthday we went to the Stones' house for dinner and presents with Grandma Baker, Nana and Grandpa.  She got lots of music/noise toys from Mom and Dad (I could see the mischievousness in their grins, it said, "I get to give her these joyous toys but YOU have to live with them!") and she loves them. Grandma Baker knitted her some cloths for a cute stuffed monkey and she carried it around making monkey noises (which kind of sounds like a high pitched laugh).  It was fun to see them and for her to spend that time with them.  

She opened her presents little piece by little piece and handed Nana each piece... at least she cleaned up!

 

Elizabeth's birthday was on a Sunday so we went to the Newson's for her birthday dinner/dessert.  I have been singing Happy Birthday to her all week to get her excited and happy and it worked because once everyone started to sing her smile was huge- she is definitely a fan of the spot light!!

I tried to make dog cupcakes (she loves looking at dogs- doesn't so much like them up close) but the brown frosting (for fur) ended up pink and the dogs looked like weasels- so we called them fox cupcakes and wrote her name in the rest of them to spare me from having to make more weasles.  She liked the frosting (not so much the cupcake) but didn't get as messy as I had hoped- our delicate little thing- but she did throw it all on the floor to show that she was done (oh goodness- we are working on that)!  

Getting Daddy dirty!!

She got some fun toys (egg puzzle thing that squeaks and finger puppets) and Nedra made her an adorable doll.  She is spoiled and is loving it!!! We are so happy to have her in our family and have decided to keep her... at least for another year!!! ;)

CU vs Utah Basketball Game

For Christmas Elizabeth got Ben some tickets to see the CU vs Utah Basketball Game (Feb 1) with our friends the Larsen's.  Ben loves CU and it was fun to go to one of their games.  The game was great; Utah was up at the half and we were always really close.  We ended in a tie and then CU won in overtime- YAHOO!!

The last big sporting event we took Elizabeth to she was only 5 months and cried through most of the noise but this time she loved it! Every time people would cheer, so would she.  She loved the constant music that allowed for her constant dancing.  And she always loves the attention of being adorable in public.  She wore herself out (so much so that she put her head on my shoulder in the last 5 minutes and fell asleep).  

It was so much fun to all go to the game and to spend that family time together!!

**The next day was the Superbowl and the Denver Broncos were playing the Seattle Seahawks.  Although we did not really watch the game- Elizabeth still showed her support through her cloths! (Sadly the Broncos were trampled.)