What inspires you?

I love to be inspired.  It is my favorite feeling.

Lately I am inspired by the power of kind words, natures beauty, acts of service and group efforts.

I'd love to hear about the things that inspire you.

The Glory of God is Intelligence

I was asked to speak at our adult session of stake conference this last week.  Since I received a few request for copies of it I figured i'd just post it here. This isn't exactly what I said but they are my notes and it comes pretty close. 

The Glory of God is Intelligence

Bio Med was the First class I ever had with both a lecture and a lab.

            Lecture mostly asked of us to listen, take notes and remember what we were taught.  Wrote and rewrote notes, got together with friends and quizzed one another endlessly on all the different names of the body parts, digestive system and circulatory system, and all of their corresponding locations and functions. The test would come and even though I was a good student and put forth much effort, I didn’t get A’s.  It was just too much information for me to process.

            The lab was the hands-on portion of the class.  We were put in groups and given a dead cat that smelled horribly of formaldehyde and was as stiff as a board.  My best friend named our cat Turbo and gave him a mohawk. We spent lots of time with him.  We were asked to look inside the cat and find the body parts, organs of the digestive system and how they interconnected.  It was a much different process of learning.  And I enjoyed it much more than sitting and being lectured to.   And what I found was that.. the process of learning by doing was much more effective for me.  It increased my understanding exponentially.   I got A’s without having to study as many hours.  In many ways the lab was easier, more fun, and exciting and I got so much more from it.

D&C 88:118  Seek Learning even by study and also by faith.

Chalkboard:

Study                                                                                    Faith

Lecture                                                                        lab

Taking notes                                                            hands on

Learn by trying to remember                                    learn by doing/experience           

“Faith is the principle of action in all intelligent beings.”

Have you ever asked yourself, why does Heavenly Father want us to seek so much learning all the time? 

Seeking learning is different then just a seeking for knowledge.

Elder Bednar said, “as we look to the future and anticipate the ever more confused and turbulent world in which we will live, I believe it will be essential for all of us to increase our capacity to seek learning by faith.

We get more Learning by doing!

Elder Bednar said that when he learned how to learn, he became a better student of the Gospel.

Two of My kids go to BYU Idaho and have both had to declare their majors and take classes and labs to gain the necessary intelligence needed to receive their diplomas

Lets say as members of the church we are on a quest to receive our diploma and were MUST DECLARE OUR MAJOR in Celestial Glory.

(In D&C 93:36 we learn the definition of “the Glory of God is Intelligence or in other words light and truth”. so let’s call it the Celestial intelligence major and we need to obtain all the necessary intelligence needed in order to get that diploma.

Chalkboard:

Celestial Intelligence Major

University of Life

Grad plan:

Classes

Lecture:  receive instruction/try to remember                  Lab: Doing                                                                       

Relief Society                                                                 visiting teaching

Elders Quorum                                                                home teaching            

High Priest Group                                                           home teaching

Young men                                                            scouting/duty to God/ (at mutual)

Young women                                                        personal progress (at mutual)

This act of home and visiting teaching is essential to our learning, understanding and progression in this life.

 In the process of, “the doing” of, the lab of home and visiting teaching, we discover more about how to be like Jesus than studying Jesus’ life.

Same is true for scouting, duty to god, and personal progress. 

But do we ever think of it that way?  Often it becomes a checklist and just a duty we feel obligated to complete. 

When we seek learning by doing however, we are acquiring the same characteristics of Jesus Christ.

And by allowing others to home and visit teach us we are seeing the characteristics of Jesus Christ in action.  It is a much more alive and active way of learning and understanding the gospel.

So like my biomed lab, it helps me remember what I am learning.  And it increases my understanding exponentially!!  so I have much greater success!

So Why do so many of us struggle with doing our home and visiting teaching?

Why do we have such a hard time committing to completing our duty to God and personal progress

I asked 40 men 40 women to answer something for me so in true family feud form …(ask 2 families ahead of time to help during meeting)

Chalkboard:

Top three answers are on the board. Here is the question…

What are the top 3 reasons for not doing our home teaching or visiting teaching?

1.  I run out of time, I don’t have enough time, I am too busy

2.  I found the time but the people I visit ran out of time

3.  Afraid I might be bothering those I am called to visit

 I think as a visiting teacher myself I already knew the answer to this question but it was good to hear that I wasn’t the only one feeling that way and wasn’t the only one having that experience.

So now what?  As members of the church we are very busy. And often with many good things.

I’d like to suggest that for many of us we have not declared our major. 

We have not decided that we choose to get our degree in Celestial Intelligence

and we are getting distracted by all the other fun and maybe even, not so fun, and interesting classes there are being offering at the university of Life. 

And don’t get me wrong; there are many noble and great degrees that do much good, however,

 If celestial intelligence is our ultimate goal in life then, it must be our first priority

And we can minor in other things.

There is a scripture that I have come to love for the blessing it promises. I will interchange the word glory and light with intelligence as I read it.  Because of the definition we read earlier of the glory of God is intelligence or in other words light and truth. 

D&C 88 67

“if your eye be single to (obtaining my intelligence), your whole bodies shall be filled with (intelligence) and there shall be no darkness in you, and that body which is filled with (intelligence) comprehendeth all things.

Put obtaining God’s intelligence first in your life.  Be willing to learn by faith.  Be willing to do the hands on activity of the Gospel.

It goes on to say…

:"Therefore sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God, and the day will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you.”

And, I testify that when God unveils his face to us we will see Him and his intelligence in everything.  He is in the sun and the sunset, he is the beauty of the earth and in beautiful music, his intelligence inspires invention and progress, he is in the laughter of children and the wonders of space. Everything in this life testifies of Him.

and…  He is teaching us in every act of service and every sacrifice of self; 

Through every act of parenting and

every act of strengthening our marriage,

in ever trip to the temple

and every home visit.

in every action we make to love one another

and serve our fellow man.

Its my hope that we don’t forget why we are here at the University of Life.

Lets declare BOLDY or majors

and SEEK continually from the laboratory of the Gospel by putting our desire to learn Gods ways first.

I testify that even if we don’t think we can ever be good at loving, serving, and sheparding someone, His intelligence can change us in miraculous ways.  Jesus Christ proves to us over and over in the scriptures that he can do miraculous things.  He can change water to wine.  He can make a blind man see.  He can make a deaf man hear.  He can make a lame man walk.  He even has the power to raise the dead.   

I believe he showed us all of these miracles to prove to us what happens to us when we seek learning by faith.  He can do all these things for us spiritually and intellectually.

He can change man.  In the topical guide under man new, spiritually reborn,

it lists scripture after scripture saying…

God gave him another heart

I will give him a heart to know me

I will put a new spirit within you

Make you a new heart and a new spirit

Help you walk in newness of life

Renew your mind

In Christ you are a new creature

Thy faith(doing) hath made thee whole

Hearts had been changed and

He was born of the spirit and became quickened.

Id like to suggest that the miracle we will love most is the one he will perform on us.

 

And it wont happen unless we seek learning by doing!

It Has Been a While

So much has transpired in my life over the last year.  Many wonderful things came about in 2013, but the road was painful and hard.

Phillip and I celebrated 23 years of marriage in Laguna beach. It proved to be the calm before the storm.

We welcomed Tanner home from Bogota Colombia after a scary 2 to 3 day ordeal and traumatic but brief hospital stay in NewYork City.  I will never forget the way my heart felt during that time.  It ached in ways I never knew were possible.  Those days in March I reached a new low and felt the highest high.  I was exhausted but I am sure it was nothing compared to how Tanner was feeling.  Getting that boy back home was such a relief. I cried as I grabbed him into my arms.  BEST. FEELING. EVER.  He is doing great, got a job and worked hard before heading back to school at BYU Idaho.   He also, just recently celebrated his 22nd birthday!  He is majoring in Mechanical Engineering and is having quite the adventure trying to remember calculus after spending 2 years forgetting about it.  He will get through it and will build amazing things some day. He is so determined and wont rest until he accomplishes his goals. If we could just convince him that sleeping is super important.  We love him and he brings us so much joy.  (Joy is such a small word it just doesn't do the feeling justice.)

A bright spot in 2013 was also Emily thriving at BYU Idaho.  It has been such a blessing that she has met so many wonderful new friends and is loving her major... and minor.  I love hearing about her culinary adventures.  She got very excited about the deep frying section of one of her school books.  I think her friends and roommates are the ones who benefit most from her culinary studies.  It can all be so fun but learning to be away from home and grow up is hard work.  I miss her at home so much but know she right where she should be.  We have no doubt that she will do all she has set out to do! She found a job in the spring on campus.  She was recently promoted and is excited to be making a little more money! We are so thankful for her and her good life. We love her.

Chad got through his freshman year of high school alright.  Flew through the work and flew past 6'2 ... 6'3 ... 6'4.... 6'5 and is now 6'6.  I speak often of his height but Chad is so much more than his stature.  Sometimes we get stuck on the obvious with people.  That boy thinks deeply about life and works so hard.  All my kids are like this is some way but Chad is probably our most serious Child.  He is growing up fast!  I think the only way he knows how to relax is to play hard on a skateboard, surfboard, basketball court or guitar.  (JV basketball this year.) He doesn't seem to rest until he masters things. I find myself telling him to find a way to clear his head and relax, often.  Would it sound contradictory if I also said that he a needs a swift kick in the rear to take out the trash and mow the lawn, sometimes.  Haha. We do adore him.

Kate finished up 6th grade and started 7th.  She changed dance studios which proved to be more difficult than we realized.  Its rough being the new girl and having to be critiqued when your 12.  Who am I kidding, that would stink at any age.  She decided to focus more on ballet for one more year and then I think she may like to play some v o l l e y b a l l!! Thats right! I can't wait!  She is also growing fast, it will be fun to see how tall she gets.  I was 5ft 10 by 8th grade.  I think she is about 5'6 5'7 now. She has missed having Tanner and Emily home but is learning to get used to the change.  Arguing with Chad helps her pass the time. They will grow out of it. right?  Were bracing for the teenage years but we do love her so much!

At church this past year, actually the day Tanner arrived, our ward split and we lost some dear friends to the change in boundaries.  We welcomed a new bishopric, whom we love, but said goodbye to leaders we had grown to love and appreciate for their kind service and good lives.  By fall our Stake split as well and we went from 15 wards down to 7.  While we enjoy how it affords us an opportunity to foster stronger friendships with those closer to our neighborhoods, it has been hard to not see those on the other side of the stake as often.  We will miss them all.  Lots and lots of change! but I am grateful that it served as a good distraction from some of the more personal trials the year brought.

Phillip and I both have new positions at church and we are learning a lot from the challenge.  Phillip is now teaching seminary at 6am each school day like i did for couple of years and I was recently called as the director of Public Affairs for our new Lake Elsinore Stake.  I am still helping out in a ward calling too (relief society meeting leader or what ever the title is now) We're, both, hoping the hardest part of the change is behind us.  We both just need to keep plugging along and we will get the hang of things eventually.  We know that, in time, these opportunities to serve will prove to bring about many blessings in our lives.

Phil Holmes Design is still going strong and we count our blessing each and every day that we are able to afford to pay for two kids in college at the same time! Phillip works hard at his job and we feel blessed that he is willing to sacrifice so much to support our family.  He started swimming again, this last summer.  He is making some waves at the gym pool and a few new friends too.  I like to watch him swim near the end of his workouts.  I stand at the glass and am always amazed how he is able to glide across the water and make it look so effortless.  I love it.

We enjoyed an extended family vacation on house boats on Lake Shasta this last summer with my Dad and his wife, my little sister and her new fiance, my mom and her husband (yes you read that right), my brother and his wife and kids and some of her family too.  The weather was perfect, the water was awesome, having all the family there was wonderful and the relaxation was heaven-sent.  My favorite part was sleeping on the roof of the boat under the stars with Phillip and all four of our kids.  I had to pinch myself as I watched them sleep so peacefully right there next to me, just like old times. They will always be my babies.  

The holidays were filled with mostly coughing and throwing up.  It was quite the way to end the year.

All this remembering... it's making me tired.  The good was so good but the trials, I'd really like to forget now.

Happy 2014!  I already feel like its going to be a year long deep breath.   I am so ready.

Big Steps. 2012

 This is how I spent my birthday this year.  Balboa Island and some of my favorite people...

and lets not forget the frozen chocolate banana.  

It was a good news and bad news kind of day.

The bad news is that I turned 41!  I am not sure how that happened but it is evident in many many ways and I can not deny it.  The good news is that it has lit a fire in me that hasn't burned for a long time.  Like a decade long time.  Perhaps it is that now 2 of my kids are off to college or that I have 3 not too big church responsibilities instead of one giant one for the first time in 9 years. I don't know for sure, but I like it.  I think coming to terms with my age just makes me want to prove to myself that i may be old but i am not dead. So hear is to getting strong.

Phillip gave me thee best gift ever this year also.  He told me that he was renting a uhaul and he said I was allowed to throw anything away/donate anything I wanted to until our garage was all cleaned out.  It took from 8am to 5 pm but you can bet i took him up on his offer.  He then had the floor coated and bought new cabinets and bins and we have been organizing and repacking our garage over the last couple of months.  It's a big job but let me just say here... it has changed my life! I feel like I have lost 50 lbs!  or like someone just added more memory power to my brain.  I have always felt like clutter made my brain work slower and less effectively. It' true it's true!

 During the process.

 after the floor was finished

new cabinets.

I will post a final picture soon.  We need a couple more cabinets and we are still waiting for a few wall mounts for the bikes etc. to come in the mail.  But, isn't this a breath of fresh air?  It makes me giddy.  Im serious guys.  I not kidding. 

It has been a busy few months.

Emily graduated from high school

It's moments like these, you know the hard earned ones... that bring deeply profound satisfaction.  Emily has become such a lovely, kind, caring, and thoughtful young woman!  If I could just remind all the moms of young kids who are going through rough phases to hang on.  Keep parenting and dont give up because one day all the things you are teaching your kids sink in!   

Mother's day 2012