Daddy and Elle have a fun model project that they're working on together!

 

First Youth Conference - Facebook 25 Jun 2016

It's Ethan's very first Youth conference and stake dance today! I'm super excited for him to get home so I can hear all about it! 😁 #riteofpassage  #slowdown 😭

Learning Hebrew - Facebook 25 Jun 2016

 My brother in law told me about duo-lingo, a free language leaning app/website. I'm learning Hebrew. Why? Because if I have to learn new words in another language I'd rather have to learn all new letters too! 😜

אני אישה. האמא אוהבת לחם וחלב

Streaker - Facebook 17 Jun 2016

Peter decided to strip naked at the city pool today and come out of the women's bathroom parading past all of the lifeguards who were laughing at my little nudist. I grabbed up his clothes and ran to meet him. Once dressed in the bathrooms, he came out walking by them all again, who gave him great big smiles and thumbs up for having pants on this time. Oy vey! 😂

Mom struggles.

 

A Simple Solution to the Problem

Saturday night a Muslim extremist gunman went into a gay nightclub and killed 49 people and injured 53 more.  Social media is on fire with the story.

Internet outrage is exhausting.  Particularly because even though the aftermath is always brutal and horrifying, the cries for change focus on the wrong root cause.  It's not guns that kill people.  Guns are a means; a tool.  If guns were really the issue then you would have unmanned firearms leglessly walking into occupied areas, eyelessly aiming at innocent people and fingerlessly pulling their own triggers.  It doesn't happen.  Bombs,  knifes, clubs and even airplanes must have, by requirement, a human element in order to kill people.  People kill people. 

We need more gun laws to stop the violence!!!

We do have a laws that would end the violence.  Laws against 1st degree murder, second degree murder, homicide, man slaughter.  But how about this one:  Thou shalt not kill.  Or this law: Love one another. 

But that's too simple.  I'd rather hate people who are too stupid to agree with me on political issues.  I'd rather hate people who have values different than mine.  I'd rather hate people who choose to live their lives, build their families, and contribute to the world in ways that I disagree with.

Stop it.  Just stop.

But even if I love my neighbor, my neighbor isn't going to love me back.  The violence will continue. 

You're missing the point.  If EVERYONE loved one another, the violence WOULD stop. 

But to address the reality of the world we live in, there's a handy axiom for that too:  Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.  If only one gay patron had had a concealed carry permit, the man, who said to the 911 dispatcher, "I pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may God protect him [Arabic], on behalf of the Islamic State," would not have had a three hour opportunity for his killing spree.

And since we're talking about recent internet outrage, let's talk about Brock Turner.  Love one another would have prevented that atrocity. Because, if he truly loved that girl he would have picked her up, carried her to her sister, called them both a taxi and made sure she got home safely to sleep off the alcohol.  He wouldn't have taken pictures of her naked body and texted them to her friends.  He wouldn't have taken her behind a dumpster.  And he wouldn't have ruined his own life in the process. 

There is a more specific law that addresses what he did:  Do not commit adultery.  In other words, do not have sex with anyone who is not your wife.  Problem solved.

Not only would that law prevent rape, it would also prevent sexual trafficking and slavery, teenage pregnancy, the walk of shame, heartbreak, and a myriad of other problems.

You're so ignorant!  Women are raped by their husbands all the time!

Yes, but the Love One Another law would avert that entirely.  Universally husbands would be gentle, considerate, loving, generous and protective.   

The truth is: there are sufficient laws to solve the world's problems.  They are very simple.  They do not take up entire libraries, nor do they require expensive degrees to understand.  But since the origin of these laws have a religious background, they are rejected and often mocked.

Instead, the outraged masses want to pass more and more new laws that will accomplish the same thing as these few simple ones would.  The problem isn't the lack of sufficient legislation.  Despite laws people are still willing to choose horrible, destructive, hateful, and violent paths.  There's a few simple names for that too: wickedness and sin. 

GASP!  You're judgmental!  You're bigoted!  You're racist!

Sigh.  Those are the favorite rebuttals used to shut people up, aren't they.  Except to state the facts at the beginning, I haven't said one word about a particular race or social group.  I'm not even judging by my own standard.

People break laws all the time.  Laws don't actually prevent anything.  They only give teeth to society to punish criminals once the law has been broken.  Until each individual is willing to write the law upon their own hearts and freely choose to keep it, the violence that we find so abhorrent will continue. Since society's laws are so voluminous and complicated, it might just be easier for everyone to go with the simpler ones I've already mentioned.

Change begins with each person.  One at a time.  Let's each choose a higher, simpler law:  Love one another. 

There's even a catchy tune for the marketing campaign:

As I have loved you,

Love one another.

This new commandment:

Love one another.

By this shall men know

Ye are my disciples,

If ye have love

One to another.

 John 13:34

I am a Bear

I really thought about creating an entirely new blog to chronicle this incredibly vulnerable part of me, but for anyone who may stumble across this, maybe you do need to know that I'm a real person.  With a family.  With history.

Putting this on here after the baldness and stress posts makes me feel like I'm just a hot mess.  It's all drama lately.  But writing for me is therapy.  And this for me is a start.  So if you want to judge me or talk behind my back, well then your a crappy person and I don't like you. 

Write out of the Darkness

I'm going to go curl up in a ball and cry now.

Frustrated - Facebook 07 Jun 2016

Facebook is not the place for thoughtful debate. Do not post dissenting thoughts. In fact, don't think at all. Just repost and let the news feed and public hysteria dictate your personal opinions on subject matter.

I was going to chime in on a recent event, but after being blocked by a friend today I've reconsidered saying anything controversial.

At least I can engage with one friend without offense. Thank you Michael King. You always make it safe to speak up even when you disagree.

#NoOffenseIntended #Sheep #Frustrated

[Private Portion]

I lost a friend today because I responded to her highly charged recent events post with some unpopular positions. Let this be a warning: Don't share your opinion unless it's in lock step with the rest of the public at large. Or suck it up and stand for what's right, no matter who gets offended. You may not be engaged in a thoughtful debate but rather thrown under the bus and blocked. This is what's wrong with society. They want to have their amoral cake and eat the benefits of moral choices.

Keep your hypocritical righteous indignation.