Love this skeleton.

 And this goon.

I watched "Prince of Egypt" tonight and I was amazed, as I always am, at the miracles that these people got to witness. What an obvious testament of the love and concern that their Heavenly Father had for them. I especially love the part where they are crossing the Red Sea and both they and the Egyptians are overcome with awe and wonder at the grandeur of what they're seeing.

It got me thinking, though, about how easy of a task it really was to cross the Red Sea. How big was it? Don't worry, I looked it up on wikipedia. Let me tell you. The Red Sea is 220.6 miles wide at its widest point. By looking at the map, it doesn't look like there are any super skinny parts, so I'm guessing that even if they crossed at the narrowest point, it had to have still been more than 100 miles wide. 100 MILES. They were running from an Egyptian army who was still pursuing them with the intent to kill, they come up to a giant sea that they probably can't even see the other side of, and the Lord parts it. Incredible, right? But then they still had to walk across it. At least 100 miles across it. And on top of that, the average depth of the Red Sea is 1,608 feet. So on top of the 100 miles across that they had to walk, they had to first go down at least a quarter of a mile, walk across what I assume could only be a rocky and uneven, maybe even sludgy, seabed, then climb at least another quarter of a mile out before they made it to the other shore.

This completely changed the story for me. Obviously, the miracle was still there and it was still incredible. They walked through a sea on (relatively) dry ground with walls of water on both sides. That doesn't mean it was easy, though. Their deliverance was at the hand of the Lord and it was miraculous, but it also required a lot of work and endurance and effort on their part. The Lord didn't simply teleport them to their desired destination. That effort, though, didn't make their deliverance any less real or any less divine.

What I know is this: the Lord is intensely aware of our needs and desires and He is aching to help us. He will not, however, do for us what we can do for ourselves. He expects us to work and toil and struggle to find our way. The effort He requires of us, though, does not mean that we are working alone or that He is not involved. We are surrounded by miracles, but more often than not they are miracles we must work through. The trick is to learn to recognize the miracle, even amidst our strife. We must recognize that even though our path is sometimes rocky, the fact that He's given us the path (the Gospel) at all is a miracle. The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this dispensation (or this time period)is a miracle, but it's a miracle that many people have worked for and, in some cases, died for. That doesn't make it any less of a miracle.

Jeffrey R. Holland, one of the apostles from my church said this:

"Of course our faith will be tested as we fight through these self-doubts and second thoughts. Some days we will be miraculously led out of Egypt—seemingly free, seemingly on our way—only to come to yet another confrontation, like all that water lying before us. At those times we must resist the temptation to panic and to give up. At those times fear will be the strongest of the adversary's weapons against us.

'And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. . . . The Lord shall fight for you.'"

We will struggle and we will work. Sometimes it will seem like we are doing it all ourselves, and in those times we may wonder if we've made the right choices or taken the right path. I'm sure some of those Israelites were thinking there must've been a better way as they were walking that hundred miles across the Red Sea. But we cannot let Satan blind our view and keep us from seeing how blessed we really are, and how much the Lord really has provided for us.

Life requires effort, but life is a miracle.

Best part of winter break: Jaime's visit. Hands down. A few weeks before Christmas I got a letter from Jaime in the mail and when I opened it, I found a piece of paper that said something like "You better hold off on sending my Christmas present." I unfolded the paper and realized it was an itinerary for her trip to Indiana! I called and left her a message that was somewhere between laughing and crying. These past few months have been some of the hardest I've ever gone through, and having a break would have been amazing anyway, but having my best friend here during that break was such a treat.

 

I picked her up from the airport the Friday night after Christmas. It was snowing, and I thought it would probably be safest to just go straight home, but our plans were to go to a Peruvian restaurant that night and I don't break plans that involve Peruvian food. 

We spent the next couple of days at my house playing with my nieces and nephews who I think were just as excited as I was to see her. They love to skype with her, and every time I'm on my computer, Campbell asks to see "Sammy," (Cooper calls her Jermy) assuming that she's just there whenever we decide to call her up. They loved having her here in person.

We also went to Texas Roadhouse and to see Breaking Dawn: Part Two with my sister. Then we spent New Year's Eve with my parents, partying like rock stars. We played both Settlers of Cataan and Ticket to Ride then capped off the evening by watching the ball drop on TV. I was joined by my favorite additions to my wardrobe: my slippers. And also three of my favorite people.

 

We had a countdown for Nalon before he went to bed at about 10:00, and both Thomas and Micah went to friends' houses so our New Year's Eve party was pretty calm, except for the extreme frustrations of one Settlers player who will remain unnamed. (Not me this time!)

Every New Year's Day, my parents host a roller skating party at the local rink and invite anyone and everyone to come skate. It sounds lame, but it's actually really fun.

Jaime and Emerson were very patient models as I tried to figure out how to use the camera on my new phone. Campbell was not a very cooperative skater. She refused to move her feet, so her skates went wherever they wanted, requiring some very intensive assistance.

Jonah was a pro from the get-go. Cooper lasted about 10 minutes I think.

The turnout includesd mostly extended Shoaf family, including Crystal, Jayna, and Tessa, but many people from church came, too, and some neighbors and friends.

Afterwards, my Uncle Joel and Aunt Crystal, along with Adam and Karina, plus Tessa and her kids and Jacob and our cousin Alexis came over to my parents' house. We ate more food and played more games.

I don't think I was having a very good time by the end of this game, but Jaime and Jacob did pretty well!

Campbell is obsessed with taking pictures with my phone, but when it's in backwards-facing mode, she struggles with splitting her focus between the screen and the camera. This is the face she made when I told her to look at the camera, not the screen.

The next day, Jaime and I went to The Big Cheese and unabashedly shared three sandwiches between the two of us. Then we stopped by grandparents' house in Hope and visited with them. Talking to my grandpa is one of our favorite things to do and we laugh about it all the time. He's a funny guy.

We went to sushi that night, looking for a restaurant to replace Happy Sumo. It was pretty good, but I have yet to find a roll that I love as much as the cabana roll at Sumo. I'll keep trying.

The next morning we got up and went to an early showing of Les Miserables. I liked it, but I'll admit, I'm not sure I could sit through it again. It was just really long and not exciting enough to keep my attention for 3 hours. When we came home, we made cauliflower pizza. I'd never made it before, so Jaime took the lead. The crust is made up of cauliflower, an egg, and mozzarella cheese, then the toppings are the same as normal pizza. It looks pretty good, right? It tastes good, too! It's obviously not the same as regular pizza, but the flavor is still really good.

That night we went shopping and to dinner with my mom and sisters. I just really like being around all of them, and it's also nice when you find lots of good stuff. I scored some killer deals and came home with a bit of a haul. Jaime got some good stuff, too, and I thnk it took a lot of strength and effort to get her suitcase to close when she was packing up.

Jaime was sick while she was here, and Friday when she woke up she was just really not feeling well so we decided to take a sick day. I got up and worked out and did a few things around the house while she slept, then we played Monopoly and made dinner, followed by a movie. It was my idea to play Monopoly because I hadn't played in years and I thought it would be fun. I was wrong. I realized that unless you win, there is no way for that game to end well. It's a slow, painful death where the other person takes everything from you little by little. I probably need to never play that game again. I bet you can guess who won.

Our last full day we hit up the Indianapolis Museum of Art, because it's something to do and, bonus, it's free.

Neither of us is very knowledgeable when it comes to art, so our favorite part was the top floor which had contemporary exhibits that are a bit more interesting and impressive to the untrained eye.

We also went downtown to the NCAA Hall of Champions museum. I loved it. It's a pretty small museum, but they've set it up so you can compete as you go along, and I'm always up for some friendly competition. The first floor is full of small exhibits about each NCAA sport. Jaime obviously rocked the basketball trivia game. That's her at the top.

The top floor is all interactive. There's a small basketball court where you can shoot free throws, a virtual simulator where you can kick a soccer goal, kick a football field goal, throw a football pass, or shoot free throws. I went 9 for 9 on the free throw simulator and the guy who worked there was legitimately shocked and impressed. He said that no one who works there had even been able to make them all. I think he was a bit disappointed when he saw me shoot free throws for real in the basketball court. I'm pretty sure I made 1 out of 5.

I'm a wrestling champion. World champion.

Our last stop was another sushi restaurant, where we met Tessa for dinner. I forgot to take a picture of the sushi in all its glory, but here's our plate after we scarfed it.

The pieces were HUGE! We had some serious chipmunk cheeks goin' on.

The second Sunday was really fun because I was teaching that day. I love having people in my class who I know will always have insightful things to share. She's great about that.

When the kids came back from their dad's house that night, Cooper and Campbell wanted to watch every one of their FHE DVDs over and over and over again, and they obviously wanted to be sitting on Jaime while they did it.

I had to work the next day, but Jaime's flight didn't leave until that night so we had a chance to go out for dinner one more time. So obviously we went back to the sushi place we'd gone just two nights before. I'm a litle bit obsessive about sushi. We got one of the rolls that they set on fire when they bring to your table. We weren't big fans of the smokey taste that the fire left, but it was pretty!

This time, we both tried wasabi on our sushi for the first time. O.M.G. I don't know why you would ever do that to yourself more than once. Lucky for Jaime, I caught her experience on camera.

It was really sad to see her go, especially since it meant I was back to my daily teaching life which I'm not a huge fan of. I was so grateful that she came, though, and I really felt like it was blessing from my Heavenly Father, telling me I'd done ok, I'd gotten through the first semester, and now here's my reward. I just wish she could live here so I could have her and my family all in the same place!

 

My friend Craig posted this on facebook today, and it hit me pretty hard:

 

"I said to my children, 'I'm going to work and do everything that I can do to see that you get a good education. I don't ever want you to forget that there are millions of God's children who will not and cannot get a good education, and I don't want you feeling that you are better than they are. For you will never be what you ought to be until they are what they ought to be."

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

I sat here on my couch today, preparing a unit plan for my classes and then doing some reading about data analysis for my grad school class. All the while, I was thinking that this was not interesting at all to me, and I'd be happy when I could be done with it all.

 

After reading that quote, I realized that even if I do quit teaching after my two years, which I think is ok to do, I can never really be done with it all. It is still my moral obligation to ensure that those around me have the opportunity and future that a good education brings. Even if I'm not doing the teaching, I need to find another way to be involved in this movement which is so important, because I can never really become who I want to be if I neglect the needs of those around me.

Resolutions 2013

The Big Revealing: Resolutions 2013

"One of the best sequels I've seen in at least a year." -an anonymous critic
"There's no way this is not going to be epic." -a hipster blogger
"I feel really good about this." -me.

Ok, there's been a lot of hype about these resolutions. I know you've been hearing quotes thrown around by really important people about whether or not these are the best resolutions that have ever been made. I invite you to make that judgement for yourself, but I will go ahead and tell you what judgement you should make: these are the best resolutions I've made this year.

My good friend Carla makes four resolutions every year: a social one, a spiritual one, a physical one, and a mental one. I loved her idea and modeled mine after that last year, though I added a few because I tend to overexert myself. This year is no exception. I also added a financial one, since I have yet to get my stuff together in that arena.

Last week, a guy in my ward gave a really great talk about goal-setting, and he talked about how all things are spiritual to God, even if they may seem temporal to us. He encouraged us when setting goals to find scriptures to go along with the goals to help us remember and understand that our goals matter for our long-term growth as spiritual children of our Heavenly Father. Challenge accepted.

Here we go:

Spiritual
1. Give away one Book of Mormon per month. I'm not going to lie, this is the one I'm most nervous about. I've never been very good about member missionary work, because, well, it's kind of scary. But since moving back to Indiana, I've really been feeling like I should be doing more to share the Gospel with those around me, and there are SO MANY people who know nothing about The Church of Latter-day Saints. And I find it incredibly misleading to meet new people, get to know them, and share nothing about what is absolutely most important to me. So, if you've ever wanted to know what those crazy Mormons believe, feel free to help me fulfill this resolution. :) I'd be happy to give you a copy of The Book of Mormon which has all the foundational doctrine we believe in. I might just make you wait a month if I've already handed one out the month that you ask me. Just kidding. "And thou must open thy mouth at all times, declaring my gospel with the sound of rejoicing. Amen." Doctrine and Covenants 28: 16

2. Read the Sunday School and Relief Society lessons before church on Sunday. I'm awesome at this when I teach Sunday School. Not so awesome any other time. I've seen how helpful it is, though, when I come to church prepared. "Therefore, prepare they heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about to give unto you." Doctrine and Covenants 132:3

3. Go to the temple at least once every other month, and study something about the temple the entire week before I go. I did well with my temple goal last year, so I'm just trying to step it up a notch. "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God." Doctrine and Covenants 88:119

Physical
4. Drop 10 pounds. I did really well this past year, actually losing about 20 pounds. This year, I have those pesky last 5 that I've been working on for a few months, plus the 5 I added on during the holidays... "...shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones." Doctrine and Covenants 89:18 I'm taking "health in their navel" to mean that I'll lose that extra padding that's hanging out right around my belly button.

Financial
5. Pay off my credit card. This is a repeat goal, but I feel much more confident about it this year. I've got a steady income, my sister doesn't charge me rent, and I'm committed to not using the credit card, which helps in paying it off. :) "...they should deliver themselves out of bondage." Mosiah 22:1

Social
6. Do something social with people my age at least once a month. Ok, it's a little pathetic that this has to be a resolution, but I've really struggled with it since moving back to Indiana. My job keeps me crazy busy during the week, then during the weekend I pretty much want to just sit at home and do nothing. That's where it was really helpful to have roommates - they were at your house already. Not so easy when you live with children. On top of that, most of the friends I've made here socialize at bars and parties with alcohol, which I'm just not comfortable with. THEN you add on to the situation that I'm just not very social and making friends is a chore for me, and I've got a legitimate problem. My family is great, but if I ever want to get married, I should probably start hanging out with people I'm not related to. "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly; and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24

7. Write a letter every month. This one's kind of obscure, and I just thought of it randomly. I just think it would be really nice to receive an unexpected actual letter in the mail, rather than credit card offers, so I'm going to do that for someone else at least once a month and send it to that person through the mail with a stamp and envelope and everything. "That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate." 1 Timothy 6:18

Mental
8. Keep a gratitude journal. I've been doing this for a few weeks now, and I'm surprised actually at how hard it is for me to come up with things to be grateful for sometimes. I realize that's ridiculous, so I'm hoping this project will help me recognize how many great things are really happening in my life and help me be happier overall. "...that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and belessings which he doth bestow upon you." Alma 34:38

That's it. I did 8 last year, and I've got 8 this year. I'm excited to make myself a little chart to keep track of my progress, so feel free to ask me how these are going at any time during the year. I'm really grateful for the chance to start fresh every year and make plans for how I'm going to ensure that I'm a better version of myself at the start of next year than I am now.

My Friday night:

1. Pick up toddlers from preschool.
2. Explain to one toddler that we are going to listen to music on the way home and he can "take a nap" in his bed when we get home if he so desires.
3. Make dinner for four kids (and me).
4. Try to get kids to eat dinner.
5. Realize one toddler is hiding and refusing to come to the table because she has had an accident in her pants and is ashamed.
6. Bathe said toddler and her brother.
7. Clean out a legit nasty underwearful of feces.
8. Try to get kids to finish dinner.
9. Clean kitchen.
10. Have an impromptu Michael Jackson dance party in the kitchen.
11. Tuck in toddlers to the tune of one of them crying for 30 minutes.
12. Put slippers on the crying child so he'll go to sleep. (That's what he finally decided he wanted).
13. Watch "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" with the older two kids.
14. Answer incessant questions about the movie and listen to a recap of what just happened as we're watching from the two older kids.
15. Grade quizzes while watching movie.
16. Cry while watching movie.
17. Solve cat's-scratching-me-while-I'm-trying-to-go-to-sleep problem of one of the older two.
18. Listen to the cat scratching at the door of the room he's locked in while the kids fall asleep.
19. Unload and reload dishwasher.
20. Hit the late-night snack I'll regret when I weigh-in on Monday.

What can I say? I party hard.

It's the middle of January: about the time that I get around to making resolutions. I take resolutions seriously, so I'm not going to just make one up December 31st. I've got to think about these and make sure they're reasonable, measureable, and worthwhile..able.

First, a recap of my resolutions from last year.

1. I will run a half marathon. Status: Done! I did this May 5th and got so excited that I signed up for another one for September 1st. Then Institute happened. And moving. And 100+ degree weather. So...the one in September didn't happen. But I did run one! And I actually ran a good chunk of it - 8 miles straight - before I had to walk.

2. I will make a budget and either find or design a way to record my spending. Status: Not so much. I didn't make a budget, nor did I find a way to record my spending. I did read a book about it. Does that count?

3. I will pay off my credit card debt. Status: Not quite. I overestimated my earning power last year, since for the first 5 months of the year, I made very little, followed by 3 months of making nothing. The last half of the year came out strong, though, and I have made a significant dent in it.

4. I will talk to each member of my family at least once a month. Status: Done! And I'm so glad I did it. It really made me excited to come home, as I strengthened my relationships, and being able to actually see each of them regularly the past several months has been awesome.

5. I will write and accomplish a Utah bucket list. Status: Halfway done. I did write it, and I did accomplish several of them. When writing it, though, I didn't take into account the fact that I was leaving Utah in May and a few of the things I put on my list were more summer-related activities.

6. I will read at least five classic novels before I begin teaching high school English this fall. Status: Done! I was a substitute teacher this past Spring, and I had A LOT of time to read, so I actually was able to read over 30 books in just a few months. I'd say about half of them were classics. Verdict: I still hate classics.

7. I will attend the temple at least twice a month while in Utah and at least once every other month in Indiana. Status: Done! I'm really glad I set this goal, because there were a few times that I only went because of the goal, but I was always glad I had gone.

8. I will read the Book of Mormon once through with a specific theme. Status: Done! I read The Book of Mormon this year once through with the theme Charity and Love. It wasn't quite as insightful as I'd hoped it would be, but it was still an interesting project.

Five and a half out of eight is pretty good! Oh, but it's only 69%. That makes me feel less good about my accomplishment... When I was still living in Utah, I had a little chart that I made and hung above my desk so I was always looking at my progress, which helped a lot. When I came to Indiana, I didn't put it back up and I think that stopped my progress a bit. I'll have to make sure I do that again this year.

Stay tuned for this year's list!