Goals for the Year

Goal #1 (these are in no particular order)

Many years ago I came across a blogger who was pretty much in my same stage of life and I began to follow her . . . not literally, because that would be weird, but in the blogging world so to speak. She mentioned how she would pick one word to live by that year. I tried it once and kind of failed. A couple of times in her testimony, my neighbor down the street has mentioned how she and her sisters each pick a word and share it with each other. This year I decided to try again. I had one word I had decided on but then another came to my head, so this year is a twofer.

Hearken and present are my two words. Hearken is the first word to begin the book of scripture known as the Doctrine and Covenants which we are studying this year. Hearken is more than just hearing, but it's also doing something about it, listening and then obeying. How one hears the voice of the Lord can be a challenging thing to discover, but it's something I have continued to get better at. The hard part has been the obeying part. I'll get a prompting and dismiss it. I believe I do it out of fear. Fear of overstepping my bounds. Fear of how people might react. The older I've gotten, I'm getting over that fear. So hearken is a word I need to improve on and was the first word I chose.

The second one came to me as I was in the middle of many things, trying to multitask, and not really "there" for any of them. I am a doer by nature, but I knew that how I was doing things wasn't right. So word number two has become present in mind and body. I am working on being more present wherever I am.

Goal #2

Nate challenged me the other day in an email to study Preach My Gospel. "Preach My Gospel is as much for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as it is for the full-time missionaries of the Church" (found in the introduction to PMG). Over the years since it was introduced, I've casually browsed through it, but now I'm beginning a more serious study. In my study the other night I reread a talk by Elder Richard G. Scott titled Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge and pulled this little nugget out of there:

"Knowledge carefully recorded is knowledge available in time of need. Spiritually sensitive information should be kept in a sacred place that communicates to the Lord how you treasure it. That practice enhances the likelihood of your receiving further light."

Goal #3

"Find something to do that you think about all the time, that you enjoy so much that when you don't have to think about it, that's what you think about." -- Henry Eyring to his son Henry B. Eyring

(Young Henry often helped his dad with physics equations on the blackboard in the basement. One day older Henry noticed that younger Henry was still working through the same problem and asked him if he didn't think about this stuff all the time. Young Henry said no and older Henry gave him the advice above.)

Ah hobbies. I have so many of them that I like to devote my time to and in the last year my job has just become a hobby as I've slowly discovered that I have a passion for early childhood literacy. I can't seem to read enough or watch enough about it. It is the one thing I think about all the time. How do I help my struggling readers to unlock the magic of written words? What is the science behind reading? I have a student who could not read one word at the beginning of the year and only knew about half of his sounds. I have taken him aside, one-on-one, and worked with him at first with just his sounds and then we moved on to very simple books. Oh to see his eyes light up and the excitement he feels when he can read a page all by himself. He has recently gotten to where he will work through a word on his own without my help. It has been so rewarding to watch his growth. Four years ago I didn't understand the trial of unemployment Tyler and I were going through. But today I do. This is where I am to be and I am loving it!

So I guess Goal #3 is to continue to learn as much as I can about early childhood literacy which encompasses so much more than just reading words on a page.

These are the days of . . . 

*still more science fair competitions. This year the district had to go virtual for the competition and the program they used was glitchy, so not all participants were able to be interviewed. Due to that technicality, all participants at the district level have advanced to the regional level if they chose to. Alex decided he wanted to which means more uploading of materials and getting paperwork signed and taking a day off when he actually gets to present. But it's all good.

*mudstorms and snowstorms. First came the mud that just coated everything. I thought a good rainstorm might clean it all but when we did get some rain it didn't. When it warms up, I will be hosing off sidewalks and pergolas and plants. We did get some good snowstorms that were much needed.

*using the puzzle room florescent light as a grow light as Tyler and I attempt to germinate seeds for the first time. I've never started my own vegetable seeds inside. This is our new little experiment. Just waiting for some black pepper seeds to show up in the mail this week before the planting commences. (I might have to figure out how to clean the mud off that window to let some more natural light in.)

*splitting our stake. We are now part of a new stake -- the Lake Point Stake. It's crazy how this area has grown in the last 10 years. When we moved out here there were two wards, now there are four. Lake Point was becoming a dying town and years ago the ward members prayed and fasted for some new blood. Well, they got it. I don't know that they ever imagined one day they would be their own stake. We got to participate in that special stake conference over a Youtube link from home. Our new stake president is President Robbins. I called that one. He decided to take our bishop for one of his counselors, so we will be getting a new bishop in the new week or two.

*our temple FINALLY coming to fruition. They announced a new location and a new name. It will be called the Deseret Peak Temple, a name a like a whole lot more, and will be located up by Clarke Johnson Jr. High. I'm just excited that it is happening. What a blessing for this valley. The people of Erda really missed out with all their bickering and fighting over it.

*finally finishing the kitchenette 10 years later. There's countertops, a stove, a sink, and a microwave. Erik may never want to move out of the basement now. But seriously, having a sink right there has been so nice. No more carrying water in a bucket downstairs when I need to clean.