Alright, so this week. It's starting to get hard remembering what happens from week to week. Tuesday George and I drove to Brazil (a small town in Indiana, not the country. I wanted to take a picture for George's first time to Brazil but he was asleep when we got there and it was getting dark on the way back. I have a good friend who moved out there (she's been put in charge of all the music for the upcoming temple dedication). So when George fell asleep, I put him in the car seat and we took off. He woke up as I got him out of the car-perfect timing. Anyways it was good to see her. I got some more children's book recommendations along other things and we just got to talk. She needed it too. They moved out there and it took her awhile to make friends (because of different callings, most of the people in a similar situation were all in primary and she didn't see much of them at first). But even now that she has friends, the closest ward members live about 45 minutes away. (Weird ward boundaries-she has to drive through another ward's area before getting to the other members. ) Anyways, I had a lot of fun. we didn't time things as well heading home. George wasn't tired and it was getting dark. I sang and then let him cry for a little bit. I timed it and then pulled over. There's not much in between. I ended up stopping in a small town called bowling Green. You know you're there because there's a billboard for the town but there's no gas station, no restaurants or fast food, there's a city park and like 3 side streets. Anyways, I think it's a safe town but just in case, and since it was cold, I locked the doors and got in the back with George. I nursed him and played with him for a bit and then we took off again.
Wednesday-Jon had his big test. 8 hours. I told him is bring him lunch- anything he wanted if he told me. He didn't tell me, so I ordered take out from a place i'd been to with friends. I got three things- a salad and two entrees is be willing to eat so he could choose (we ended up splitting them all). They have really good sweet potato fries and hamburgers. We ended up saving the salad to eat with dinner.
Friday we took George to the library- not his first time, but the first time we went to the kids section. We read books with him and Jon tried playing with a train set with him. We rented three- one that was recommended to me and two others that looked good. George only seems to like the one that was recommended to us. Oh well, we'll exchange them and get new ones this week.
Weather. It has been very nice here. Everyone kept saying this year was supposed to be worse than last year. Last January and February it never got above 10 degrees. This year the lowest high was 21,but most days have been in the 30s and 40s. :-)
Ward choir has been struggling. We were happy with the turn out today. We had 2 sopranos, two basses, one tenor and two Altos! Usually we have two Altos and one for the others. Our ward is very musical but people just won't come. The thing is, the people who do come probably have the best excuses not to, but they come anyways.
Spiritual thought. For a few months I've been thinking along the lines of same-sex marriage. The thing is, we believe it's a sin. People get offended by that. But we also think drinking alcohol is a sin. My drinking friends know what I think but don't seem to get offended. We believe heterosexual pre-marital sex to be a sin. But our friends don't get offended by that. We believe so many little things are sins. And we ourselves sin, but we don't offend ourselves. if acknowledging something is a sin means we hate the sinner, who is there left to love?
Then, on the same topic of same-sex marriage, I was reading Dallin h. Oaks' talk from last conference, where he says, " In public, what religious persons say and do involves other considerations. The free exercise of religion covers most public actions, but it is subject to qualifications necessary to accommodate the beliefs and practices of others. Laws can prohibit behavior that is generally recognized as wrong or unacceptable, like sexual exploitation, violence, or terrorist behavior, even when done by extremists in the name of religion. Less grievous behaviors, even though unacceptable to some believers, may simply need to be endured if legalized by what a Book of Mormon prophet called “the voice of the people”" ("loving others and living with differences") I think what he's saying is we have the right to believe as we do, but the country, politically may make other laws to allow others the right to believe as they do. It reminded me of a class I took at byu. I was assigned to defend legal abortions. In my studies I actually changed my opinion. I think I won us the debate. The thing is, I may believe it is wrong but making it illegal in the past didn't lower the number of abortions, but it increased the amount of injuries to babies and pregnant women. Those who wanted abortions still found ways, but sometimes they didn't kill the baby but only severely injured it. I wish I could change everyone's opinion, but I would much rather have a quick death for a baby than an increase in babies that were abused in the womb due to a failed abortion attempt. And I hate the term pro-choice. I consider myself pro-choice but also pro-accountability. Women who get pregnant from a choice to have sex should be accountable for the known chance of having a baby. Those who had no choice in the first place I feel should be given a choice to have the baby or not, though with how much I love George I hope that they don't choose to abort. It's like robbing a bank. If someone chooses to rob a bank there's a chance they may get caught. If they get caught they don't get to choose whether or not to pay the consequences.
Anyways, back to same-sex marriages. I don't think the country should treat same-sex couples differently. I believe marriage is a religious thing, but the country acknowledges marriages for various things, including taxes. To allow freedom and not discriminate I think the best option is to allow people and religions to marry as they see fit but the government should only see unions, regardless of what type. I can't stop the world from sinning, I can only teach my kids what is right and wrong. " In dedicated spaces, like temples, houses of worship, and our own homes, we should teach the truth and the commandments plainly and thoroughly as we understand them from the plan of salvation revealed in the restored gospel. Our right to do so is protected by constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and religion, as well as by the privacy that is honored even in countries without formal constitutional guarantees." (Same talk by Dallin h.Oaks)
Oh, George also tried real food this week. Just cheerios. Doesn't like them yet.
