Happy Mother's Day!

Last year I wrote a blogpost on Mother's Day acknowledging mothers and the work they do. It's only fitting that I do so once again. I realize that Mother's Day is almost over, but that's okay. Mothers need to be celebrated more than just one day a year, because they are awesome. Thank you, mothers, for your selfless and often unrecognized and unappreciated service every day. Yours is a godly task; President Joseph F. Smith once said that "The love of a true mother comes nearer [to] being like the love of God than any other kind of love" ("The Love of Mother," Improvement Era, Jan 1910, pg 278). Yours is a difficult task but a profound blessing, and you will be rewarded eternally for fulfilling this high calling. My heart goes out to those of you who are not able to have children. You are still mothers; the Lord provides us all with opportunities to mother. In His time, He will not withhold this wonderful blessing from the righteous woman who seeks it. Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there, especially my own mother who raised me, and my sisters and sisters-in-law who are raising my nieces and nephews. Happy Mother's Day to all the women who have been mothers to me, including Young Women leaders, Relief Society leaders, Priesthood leaders' wives, mothers of my friends, and my friends themselves. I love you all.

Joss Whedon and Buffy, The Vampire Slayer

Recently I've been using Netflix to watch the TV series Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, written by Joss Whedon. If you're not familiar with his work, Joss Whedon also wrote Angel (spinoff from Buffy), Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Firefly, and the film Serenity, among others. As I am familiar with much of his work, I can say with confidence that he is a great writer of television, and arguably one of the most creative. Even if you don't like vampires or science fiction or musicals, I don't see how you can not appreciate his style and creativity in the production of these shows. For the dialogue alone it is worth watching these shows.

I used to watch Buffy when I was a kid, but I remembered only very basic characters when I started watching it again a couple months ago. I'll admit that season 1 was hard to get through at times, as it is with most shows, especially since lower budget for new TV shows means lower quality costuming (difficult to ignore when the Slayer fights demons that don't look very demonic). But I'm now almost done with season 2 and am really enjoying the storyline. With me, a good film or TV show is all about the plot. For example, I used to watch Glee a lot because of the music. (Coincidentally for this post, Joss Whedon directed one of my favorite Glee episodes, Dream On, with guest stars Neil Patrick Harris and Idina Menzel.) But when the plot for Glee started having some serious issues, I got more and more frustrated. Sure, it was still funny and the singing/dancing was usually great though occasionally subpar, but it got old--fast--without a good plotline. Buffy, though it's about a high school girl who slays vampires, never gets old because Whedon keeps the storyline fresh and interesting. Of course, I also think Sarah Michelle Gellar and her co-stars are good actors, particularly David Boreanaz. They do an excellent job of portraying the characters. It's possible that the later seasons get worse, and I'm keeping an open mind about that, but I know Joss Whedon is talented and I am excited to see what happens.

I didn't intend to make this a post about how wonderful Joss Whedon is. In fact, I meant to talk about how people have responded to me watching Buffy, The Vampire Slayer. Most seem indifferent, because it's not airing right now. Yet a couple people have responded to me with derision, one even saying they can't respect me for watching it. Why? What's embarrassing about this show? Is it because it's about vampires? They are not exactly sparkly Edwards, nor is Buffy any vapid, insecure, helpless Bella. I'm not embarrassed to be watching it. Why do some people find it so mockable?

Price check on prune juice, Bob...

So this one time I decided I was going to write a blogpost nearly every day, or at least 3-4 times a week...then I didn't for three weeks. Oops. Sorry! I just didn't have anything interesting to say...

Here's what you've missed:

- I won $300 for my poster at a research conference. That was pretty cool.

- I officially finished my first year of grad school, which means I am officially half done with my Master's degree (provided I finish my thesis on time). I even got out with decent grades--not as good the last semester as the first, but still pretty good. Now I have to spend some time figuring out what to do for my thesis...

- I got all moved into my new apartment. The only real negative so far is that I am slightly allergic to the place (the girl who lived here before us had a cat). I had better look into buying a bed frame instead of sleeping on my mattress on the floor, close to the carpet that probably still has cat hair/dander in it. Anyone know of a good place in the Provo/Orem area to get a twin bed frame/box spring for relatively cheap? Price check on prune juice, Bob...

- Baby blessing for niece M. Family came into town and it was fun. M is very cute, she's 7 weeks old today and growing so much already.

- My sister C's birthday. We partied by playing games and eating pizza. What better way to party, right? And since we don't drink, we even remembered the whole thing. Awesome.

- California and family. I got to go home for almost two weeks, and I got to enjoy lots of palm trees and sunshine. I miss those things (especially sunshine and warmth...I flew back on Saturday and it was snowing.). Saw my brother D and wife M, and his kids L and S. They are so fun and so smart...S is almost 5, yet she reads 2nd grade level books. She loves to read and loves to learn. L is 7, and his new thing is that he has memorized the list of 100 most populated cities in the US and can tell you without stopping to think which city is which number or vice versa. He loves maps, geography, populations, etc. My brother K also came into town with his daughter K for one day; he had to do something for work in a nearby city, so they stayed at our house. K is doing great and growing strong. I look forward to seeing her progress continue. We celebrated (very late) my mom's birthday with a surprise dinner at Marie Callendar's, and that was fun. I also got to see a bunch of friends, like K and N (Disneyland!), J, E, and M and A who moved to Indiana but were visiting, and more. I also got to eat at a bunch of my favorite places, including two times at Miguel's Jr. It was a good trip. Didn't make it to the beach, but c'est la vie. It was a much needed break. I find that lately, every time I leave California and come back to Utah, I miss CA more and am more depressed about coming back to UT =P Not that Utah is that terrible; it has been pretty good to me, but I'm ready to move on to somewhere else after I graduate. Whether that's back to CA or off somewhere completely different, I don't know yet, but I'm open to wherever the Lord guides me.

- Easter! For the first time since high school, I was home in CA for Easter. We went to the annual Easter egg hunt/pinata fiesta at my cousins who I haven't seen in a long time, and I spent some time with my Grandpa, his wife, and my dad's sister J who I haven't seen in years. My mom made her traditional delicious cinnamon rolls. But of course, most importantly, we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Without Him, we would have no hope for the future. Without Him, we would be eternally damned, but with Him, we have the hope of eternal life.

Now you're all caught up =) I suppose I shall have to figure out things to write about now, if I want to write more regularly...and I don't have the excuse of summer classes to keep me from writing! I'll be working but not taking classes all summer, though I plan to spend a lot of time on my thesis. So if I don't write, I will blame my thesis and work. Happy May, everyone!

In That Holy Place

Lately I have considered whether or not it is the right time for me to make an important step in my spiritual progression: that of attending the temple. I am blessed to live in a place where the temple is close enough that I can do baptisms on a regular basis. However, I have not yet been blessed with the opportunity of being sealed in the temple to a righteous man for time and all eternity. In my youth, I did not anticipate that there would come a time when I would be still unmarried but of an age and spiritual maturity that would lead me to consider receiving my temple covenants, rather than wait to do so until my knight in shining armor comes along. But though I did not foresee its coming, that time has come.

Before anyone assumes as much, this is not an announcement; I choose to share these feelings with you because they have been on my mind and in my heart. This is a deeply personal decision between me, the Lord, and with the counsel of my Bishop, and I feel that this is something I don't need to rush into. I feel I may be ready to make those covenants, but it is not something the Lord is urging me to do at this time. At a recent Stake Conference, my stake president, President Dahle, said, "It's not so much about getting into the temple, but about getting the temple in you." My efforts will be well spent in striving to purify my spirit and my life. If I focus on sanctifying myself and keep attending the temple regularly to perform baptisms by proxy, He will let me know when the time is ripe. Perhaps I will have met a man to marry by then; perhaps not. The Lord knows all things, and He knows what will happen then and what I need to be doing at this time.

"In That Holy Place", by Sally DeFord

Holy temple; hallowed walls; filled with heaven's light
Where the Spirit teaches truth and testifies of Christ
There within that holy place our hearts are made as one
United by the power of God in pure eternal love

House of learning; house of faith; house of peace and prayer;
House of glory; house of God; I’ll feel his presence there
I will stand with heart and hands kept clean and pure each day
Worthy of the blessings found in that holy place

Holy temple where we learn creation's grand design
Where our souls will be endowed with power from on high
There we kneel, our hearts prepared, to cov'nant with our Lord
And there his Spirit binds our lives in love forever more

House of learning; house of faith; house of peace and prayer;
House of glory; house of God; I’ll feel his presence there
I will stand with heart and hands kept clean and pure each day
Worthy of the blessings found in that holy place

Holy temple where we bless our loved ones gone before

Where eternal ties are sealed by sacred priesthood pow'r
There we turn our hearts to those who gave us life and birth
How beautiful that holy place where heaven dwells on earth

House of learning; house of faith; house of peace and prayer;
House of glory; house of God; I’ll feel his presence there
I will stand with heart and hands kept clean and pure each day
Worthy of the blessings found in that holy place.


http://www.defordmusic.com/inthatholyplace.htm

April Living (Avril Lavigne?)

Life in April is just great. It's a good month. It starts off with a holiday I don't really care for (April Fool's jokes are rarely genuinely funny anymore, they tend to be uncreative or just plain mean), but it makes up for it with the other 29 days. At the beginning of April is when the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints speak to us, giving us counsel and guidance and commandments from the Lord. This provides us with a great spiritual feast. April 6th is the anniversary of the reorganization of The Church in the latter days. April is when it really starts to get warmer (except for here in Utah...it got really sunny but is now snowing again. The weather here is definitely bipolar.). April is the month of my sister C's birthday (yay!) and a few cousins' birthdays (also yay!). It is also the month ending winter semester at BYU, which means I get a break from course work until Fall semester. It's when I get to move (this week!) to a new apartment, which will be great. What's more, the end of April is when I get to go back home to visit family, friends, and California for almost two whole weeks! I'm excited. I'd say it's the best month of the year so far. =)

In Avril's own words, as applied to the month of April..."You're not, not, not gonna get any better, You won't, won't, won't, you won't get rid of me never..."*

*This may or may not be a slight adaptation of the meaning of the lyrics. To hear the original song, feel free to check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2i5Jp7mdMc.