State Fair and other things

Upcoming:  The Yearly Cook O Rama.  No, it's not really appropriate for children, but I would love all of you to try and come this year.  It's on Thursday, Oct. 1.  Dinner is served at 5:30 (you could bring your kids for the dinner). Roy's making his famous Sloppy Joes.  The speaker this year is Bryson Cook.  He is a relative that served as a mission president in Zimbabwe and has only recently returned.  He is big into doing genealogy, much of it on the Cook line.  He will share experiences from his mission, etc.  I think he will be an excellent and interesting speaker and it will be well worth the time and effort it will take to be there.

This week I was rereading the Saturday Morning session of April's General Conference, and I came upon Dallin H. Oaks' talk called, The Parable of the Sower.  There is so much that we can work on to improve ourselves, and in the first four talks of that conference session, I found several things that I, particularly need to work on. This talk stood out because it seemed to be timely for all of us.

Dallin H. Oaks retells the parable of the sower:

I. Stony Ground, No Root

Some seed “fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: but when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away” (Mark 4:5–6).

Jesus explained that this describes those “who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness,” but because they “have no root in themselves, … when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended” (Mark 4:16–17).

What causes hearers to “have no root in themselves”? This is the circumstance of new members who are merely converted to the missionaries or to the many attractive characteristics of the Church or to the many great fruits of Church membership. Not being rooted in the word, they can be scorched and wither away when opposition arises. But even those raised in the Church—long-term members—can slip into a condition where they have no root in themselves. I have known some of these—members without firm and lasting conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we are not rooted in the teachings of the gospel and regular in its practices, any one of us can develop a stony heart, which is stony ground for spiritual seeds.

Spiritual food is necessary for spiritual survival, especially in a world that is moving away from belief in God and the absolutes of right and wrong. In an age dominated by the Internet, which magnifies messages that menace faith, we must increase our exposure to spiritual truth in order to strengthen our faith and stay rooted in the gospel.

Young people, if that teaching seems too general, here is a specific example. If the emblems of the sacrament are being passed and you are texting or whispering or playing video games or doing anything else to deny yourself essential spiritual food, you are severing your spiritual roots and moving yourself toward stony ground. You are making yourself vulnerable to withering away when you encounter tribulation like isolation, intimidation, or ridicule. And that applies to adults also.

I would encourage you to read the entire talk, but this is one section that stood out to me.  I noticed when we attended Dan's ward that the leadership there were making a concentrated effort to keep Sacrament Meeting technology free.  "But, my scriptures are on my Ipad" or "I'll put it in airplane mode..."   I am not pointing fingers, believe me, I am tempted to look at my phone, too.  I have used it during the sacrament to read scriptures because I felt like it helped keep my mind focused on the Savior, but one of the general authorities said we shouldn't be scrolling at all during the sacrament.  That includes reading the scriptures on our device.  I also notice in many wards that phones and Ipads, etc. are used to entertain the little ones.  I am guilty here, as well.  I think it would be good to bring them other quiet activities,  I'm in favor of letting them draw or color, because I think they will at least pick up on some of what is being said, whereas with an electronic device, their entire attention is held.

Well, enough preaching.  It's just something to think about and an area where we can all probably improve.

This week has been a little less busy because everyone's back into their routine.  I started a quilting class Monday night.  I thought I was experienced enough with embroidery and quilting that it would just be good to do it with other women.  I was wrong.  I'm overwhelmed with the project. Thankfully, I have Jieun's artistic eye to help me with the colors.

Wednesday night we managed to get away from responsibilities and go to the Utah State Fair.  We had two goals.  Dad wanted to see the chickens, and I wanted to see the Nuttall's booth and get their coupons.  I achieved my goal, but the chickens had already gone home.  There was a small cage of cute little baby chicks, though.  We saw a lot of the farm animals and it was fun to watch the kids interact with them.  Since it was raining, it wasn't terribly crowded and the girls got to pet goats, calves, and a dove among other animals.  Hyeji and Doyeon were able to do something I've never done--they both got to try milking a goat!  We missed having Adrienne and AJ and the boys.  I think they were getting ready to head to Sun Valley for their bi (tri?) yearly trip with the Green's.   Check out instagram for a great video of Ollie golfing!  Of course, Crista and Matt and Elise and Andy are just a little too far away to join us for every family activity.  You can see from one of the pictures below that Jennie came, too! (she's the taller one with the black hair facing away from the camera).

Friday night we had a family pizza party, put on by Sara and Nick at our house (we just have more room, that's all there is to it).  Sara and Dan (or Jieun) made the pizza dough and everyone brought favorite toppings.  Dan's combo with pineapple, bacon and jalapenos was surprisingly tasty as were all the others.  Nick and Sara had invited a friend who had worked with Nick on a game while they were in school.  He works for Disney, now.  While everyone was visiting, I had a good time teaching my granddaughters how to take selfies.

Saturday we caught up on chores.  It's hard to find a weekend to work, we've been so busy playing this summer, so it felt good to get a few things done.

Adrienne and her family stopped by for a visit on Sunday evening.  They were tired of driving because they'd just arrived home from Sun Valley, but Gunnar knew that the rockets grandpa ordered were here and he doesn't understand "wait till later."  AJ built the rocket with a little bit of help from grandpa.  Now Gunnar has to wait for it to dry, and then they have to paint it.  I don't know how he'll handle the long wait until we all get together to shoot everyone's rocket off.  Finn was a sweetheart.

                                       Have a good week!