My Firm Foundation of Testimony

I had the opportunity to attend the General Women's Broadcast last night in the Conference Center and thought it a bit ironic that we would sing verses 1, 2, 3, and 7 of the hymn "How Firm a Foundation". Last week was our Primary program and the children sang verse 1 and then the congregation joined in on verses 3 and 7 of the same hymn.

1. How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled.

3. "Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

7. "The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no never, no never, forsake!"

I can't even begin to describe the power of singing with 20,000 other women that we will never forsake the gospel of Jesus Christ. I felt a little like one of Helaman's 2000 stripling warriors going into battle. It also brought back to rememberance the talk Sister Beck gave at BYU Women's Conference this last spring. In her talk she brought up the plague of pornography that is inundating the homes of good Latter-Day Saint homes and families throughout the world. She paused and then very forcefully said, "Fight!" "Fight pornography and defend our homes." It was very moving and actually brought the audience to spontaeous applause.

So I reaffirm Sister Beck's words to fight! Fight against all that is unholy and ungodly. Fight for goodness and virtue. Fight vigilantly for the family, for more time with our families, for less media and distractions.

My dad once told me the story of Heber C. Kimball and Brigham Young. They were both called on a mission to England in September of 1839. Heber C. had just finished his new log cabin for his family that measured 14' by 16', and they left for their mission so sick and weakened by disease "that both of use could not take a common trunk two feet long and ten inches square and put it in a wagon." Brigham then said, "The Devil meant to afflict us to see whether he could not back us out; but he had two hard fellows to deal with."

Well, the devil has got a hard gal to deal with in Melissa Seamons Leary. I'm a fighter. I fear not what the devil can do, neither am I dismayed by the world in which I live. I will never desert to the other side, and I will never, no never forsake the testimony I have that God lives. His church is on the earth today, restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. I know that God is in the details of my life and is very interested and concerned about me. HE KNOWS ME PERSONALLY BY NAME. Of that I declare with certainty.

Please refer to this blog post --

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

I regret to say I grumbled and complained A LOT even though I vowed last year I wouldn't do it. I had no ambition to do a Primary program this year and procrastinated very badly. Our theme this year was My Eternal Family and I knew I wanted the program to be presented in families instead of classes. In the previous two years I've decided not to have everyone "say" a part. This year I knew everyone would need a speaking part if we were going to have it presented the way I wanted it. I tried writing a program and got as much as a 1/2 page and finally consulted the internet where I came across a program that was written much better than I could ever hope to do and was basically what I wanted to accomplish. Some people just have a talent for such things. I am not one of them. Thank you lindblomaubrey on the Primary Page at Yahoo Groups.

It really did go well. The kids sang great, the program flowed fairly smoothly, and we ended on time (even with almost 100 kids speaking). And I'm breathing a little more easily tonight thinking there will be no more nightmares of chaotic Primary programs.

We ripped the strip. Does that mean it's time to move again?

While living in Magna, our project one spring was to rip the parking strip in front of the house and get rid of the grass. We didn't have a sprinkler system and I was tired of making sure it got watered. Plus the weeds were starting to encroach. Well, as soon as that was done, we put our house up for sale and moved.

Our spring project this summer was ripping 90 feet of parking strip, so we offered on a home several days ago. However, this doesn't mean a permanent move since we won't be selling our current home. We're looking at this as an investment opportunity.

Tyler's been surveying the short sale market for awhile and came across a house in Stansbury that was in desperate need of a yard. It's a 4000 square foot home on .68 acres (cul-de-sac) of weeds and a few bushes with a four-car garage for . . . you know . . . those people who only have one car :) We've deduced it was a young, first-time homebuyer who built the home, thus cutting corners (although they felt the need for a BIG garage). There are no vaulted ceilings, laminate counter tops, and the deck is okay but we would be taking a huge step back in terms of the deck and the yard. We're interested. It has potential. A lot of exhausting potential.

When Tyler first broached the idea I said no way. I didn't even want to entertain thoughts of starting over again. I've slowly warmed to the idea, but have not had any strong feelings either way. When we where living in a one-bedroom apartment, I knew it was time to move when we were expecting our second child. After walking through the Magna home, we sat in the car and I told Ty, "We found our home, didn't we." It just felt right. And it was. It was a good place for us. There was no urgency to move the second time around. I had just delivered our fourth child and didn't really want to think about moving, but we knew we were going to start feeling a little cramped. We went house hunting and I fell in love with our current floor plan walking through a different home. So when we got the flyer on this one and it was the same, those same feelings came back, "We found our home, didn't we." And Stansbury has been a good place for us.

Short sales are a funny business where the sellers are basically upside down in their loan but the bank doesn't really want to deal with a foreclosure. The bank, therefore, lets the seller try to sell it at a discounted price so they dont' have to. There is already an accepted offer on this house at the bank. But a myriad of different things can happen for it to fall through (buyers don't want to wait and back out, bank doesn't like the terms of the loan or the purchase price). The seller is also allowed to accept multiple offers. So technically we are in back-up status. The odds are not in our favor. We give ourselves about a 10% chance of getting this home, which won't break my heart. Short sales take a long time, anywhere from 3 months to a year. Time is certainly one commodity we have lots of. Patiently waiting it out just might make us the proud owners of a second home.

(Don't let the picture fool you; there is no good grass in the front. It's basically weeds.)

Salsa Jargon

Tonight we had salsa and chips.
Nate commented on how hot the salsa was.
I told him it was medium.
Erik said, "Does it come in small?"
I told him there was mild which wasn't as hot.
He asked if there was a hot one and I told him it was called hot.
"Is that like large?"