So I'm starting this on Sunday and we've had a busy time. Lots of errands this week. We also got Christmas presents from grandma Patsy! Just in case any were bigger jon had her ship them here. We haven't had much self control. I will say George loves one of his toys, or loves me when I'm playing with it? Anyways, I'm probably bringing that one with us, we'll see. And I got a nice camera to take pictures of George with. I haven't had time to charge it or see if it needs batteries yet. Friday we had Friday forum (institute) and our young married institute class that Jon and I were in charge of conducting. There are a few other babies in the class. As a testament of how cute George is, in Friday forum, there's this guy, Curtis Crafton, who has 4 of his own cute kids, and he says, "I need to hold him. Can i?" And then this guy Ross Coughanhour, (coke-an-hour), who has three of his own cute kids, stole him from Curtis. Most guys don't get baby crazy like us girls do, and they both have "babies" of their own (the Crafton's is one and the Coughanhour's is younger), and they still wanted to hold George. Curtis even got a laugh out of George. Maybe unfortunately, more people watched George than the general conference talk.
Saturday, jon got an oil change and I lost track of time snuggling and talking to George. When Jon got back I had to hurry and get ready. We, with the institute choir were singing and ringing a bell for salvation army outside of the sears in the mall. George was good, slept and let me bounce him and hold him. (Also, we were behind on dishes. Important to the rest of our Saturday. ) Then home and the sister missionaries were coming at 5:30 to make chocolate chip cookies, eat dinner and then go caroling to a few less actives, a few investigators and some of our neighbors. Well we got home and after having tried a few times, realized our dishwasher is broken- the soap dispenser won't open and still won't clean the dishes even if we leave the dispenser open, so we were still handwashing dishes when the sisters came.
The sisters came and we went caroling, bearing gifts. That went well, and we met an investigator of the elders (the sisters work with the less active wife) and some less actives.
Sunday, we got ready, then went early for choir for our ward's Christmas program. We left immediately after sacrament and drove to Illinois where Jon's children's choir had their winter concert. Then before that was over but after they performed we drove straight back for our stake's Christmas program. Then we met with the stake president and I got to talk briefly to a few people. Then home before 10. Oh and George had his first blow out at church. I thought it was just a dirty diaper, so in between musical numbers I went to change him, but I didn't grab the whole diaper bag or his change of clothes, so he went back in, mostly naked where I changed him in a corner, in my lap.
News: George has rolled over twice, but definitely is scooting. He has slept through the night twice now and tonight he sleet for a good 7 hours straight. :-) course I'm still waking up, but soon. I might get normal sleep again soon.
Spiritual thought: our married institute class was on the guidance of the spirit. We talked about different things, one was on how we remove our personal feelings from the equation so we can decipher the spirit. He didn't have a direct answer but it made me reflect. When our personal feelings are opposite our answer, I think it's easy to decipher, because we don't want to "give ourselves" certain answers. Example: on my mission my companion and I prayed to know what to do. The prayer ended, we sat in silence for a short time and then my companion says, "what do you feel we should do? " my response: "I don't want to say, what do you feel we should do?" The response, "I don't want to say either. Alright, on the count of three ". The answer was tracting. So we prayed about a street. It was an unusually slow day. Most of the time we would see a lot of people who were busy or not interested, this time no one seemed to be home. It was such a strong answer and I started to wonder if we were only tracting to show our obedience. We decided to do three more houses, after an hour of just walking and knocking on empty homes. THE LAST house, Isaac came to the door. He was my only baptism from tracting. He happened to be black, and most wards had a hard time fellowshipping them. But Isaac was different. I didn't keep in contact, he liked to fall in love with the sisters and wanted several to come back and marry him, but I later talked to a member of the ward who said he was active, he had the Priesthood, he was the ward's favorite convert, and since he had shown diligence in riding his bike to church every week (even as an investigator) and it was over an hour bike ride, the ward chipped in and got him a car. Other examples of the spirit in my life include mooching to indiana. We were both fasting on whether to move to Camarillo or woodland hills or Moorpark, or another surrounding city. Walking into church I felt, maybe Bloomington. After church jon tells me, "earlier today I was thinking and I would like you to consider Bloomington as a possibility." Sometimes the answer isn't something we dread, like tracting, but sometimes it comes from almost nowhere and is unexpected. These answers are easier to decipher than the ones I'm about to talk about. (Bloomington has been a huge blessing for us, even though we want to end up near family. We know we are meant to be here.)
Lastly, deciphering the spirit when we aren't sure if our desires are our answer or not. Thesev are the hardest-is it the spirit or we just want it to be? On my mission we were once walking in the ghetto trying to contact a few people we had met previously. Every now and then my imagination will run wild. What if the spirit warned me of something and I left, but knew what I had left-i could have a great story to tell later. What if a tornado blew through and I saw it? Well I don't remember what, but my imagination was thinking about something where I started to want to leave. But I thought I was just scaring myself, so I didn't mention anything to my companion, but I did say a silent prayer as I continued walking. I asked for a sign, and in my prayer I said i wasn't asking for a sign for belief, but I just wanted to know if He wanted me to leave or if I wanted to leave, I needed a little extra help knowing if it was actually an answer. I don't believe asking for reassurance about an answer is wrong, as long as we aren't trying to change the answer. I also feel we can ask for that radiance to come in a different way (though we can't just ask for a Joseph Smith experience and expect one). Kinda of like the bible has a few witnesses in the new Testament,but the book of Mormon, from a different continent helps solidify or testimony. Well, back to the example, here's the part I've shared before. A guy came out waving around a rifle, very carelessly. I looked at my companion. No words were spoken. There was no fear. But I knew that was my answer. We did not belong there at that time. (We did, later have a convert from that complex, but we weren't on our way to see her that night). With deciphering answers- pray. Think of everything Christ has done for you. Reflect on past answers. Consider your options. Make a choice. Then consider an option you don't especially want, humble yourself and be ready to accept and follow it. Ask if the decision you made its wrong, and keep mentally prepping yourself to follow the answer you don't want. In this humble state, where I'm ready to receive and act on the answer i don't want is when I get my strongest answers-and sometimes they are what I want. And if you start to doubt if it was really an answer, read D&C 6 and remember your answer. Ask to feel that way again for reassurance if it's right. Don't ask for a different answer (we all know that ends badly) but all for the reassurance that will give you the courage to follow your answer. May we all follow the spirit this Christmas season. And now, I feel I should close in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. (And with a few pictures of George.)
