Women and the Priesthood

After many many months, I've finally finished "Women and the Priesthood" by Sheri Dew.

Some of the insights (either quotes from her or others) I liked from the book were:

• Although women are not ordained to the priesthood, they "have countless opportunities in the Church to lead, pray, teach, preach, and expound doctrine, including as full-time, proselyting missionaries...many privileges that require ordination in other churches."
• Considering the circumstances under which the Relief Society Organization was formed, "it was in stark contrast to the conventions of the day for the leader of an organization--any organization, not to mention the leader of a religion--to give women significant time and attention."
• "For every woman, the challenge is one of discerning the Lord's will for her and then following the promptings of the Spirit. None of our divine errands are exactly the same."
• "Jesus honored womanhood when he came to this earth as a little child through the sacred and glorious agency of motherhood."
• "Mothers go missing in movies because leaving them in the lives of characters in crisis makes sustaining conflict difficult. Mothers listen and understand, solve problems and resolve conflicts. They are selfless and love without conditions. You want to stir up a heap of trouble and make it believable? Better keep Mom out of it."

This book gave me a lot to ponder about, and I appreciated many more quotes than the ones I listed above.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

The Final Countdown

Notice the paper chain getting smaller?

We are so ready for this baby to come! In fact, I've been getting so stir-crazy that I've started relating random music lyrics to labor. For example, A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton: "You know I'd walk a thousand miles if I could just see you tonight" sounds like the desperate attempt by a pregnant woman to get that baby out ASAP so she can see it in person.

Rhetorically,

Rebekah

Mary's Christmas

Since I'm great with child this holiday season, I've done a lot of reflecting on what Mary's Christmas must have been like. Since it was her first pregnancy and all, I wonder how it went for her. Did she have all the normal pregnancy symptoms? Was she already having contractions when they were wandering the streets of Bethlehem? Did she even know she was in labor? Was she as sick of being pregnant as I am and just couldn't wait to see her baby in person? How much practice did she have with swaddling clothes, anyway?

I pondered all of this as Matt and I were able to be Joseph and Mary in our family's annual Christmas pageant.  

It was also fun to think about Mary's relationship with her cousin Elizabeth as they were both pregnant. My cute sister-in-law played Elizabeth for the pageant (see us out of costume below) and the scriptures took on new meaning as I thought about my relationship with her and how we've gotten closer through our pregnancies. 

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

If you're looking for a good children's book to read for the holidays, I highly recommend this one. I took us just a few weeks to read (reading two-three chapters a week). 

The Best Christmas Pageant is about a family of rowdy, bully-ish kids who decide to participate in the annual Christmas pageant by taking all the main roles. Having never heard the Christmas Story before, they bring new light to the story that is well-known to so many of us. 

Some of my favorite lines from the book are:

• "Hey! Unto you a child is born!" Gladys hollered, as if it was, for sure, the best news in the world. And all the shepherds trembled, sore afraid--of Gladys, mainly, but it looked good anyway.
• As far as I'm concerned, Mary is always going to look a lot like Imogene Herdman--sort of nervous and bewildered, but ready to clobber anyone who laid a hand on her baby.
• When Imogene had asked me what the pageant was about, I told her it was about Jesus, but that was just part of it. It was about a new baby, and his mother and father who were in a lot of trouble--no money, no place to go, no doctor, nobody they knew. 

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Small Notes

Dear Finals,
I hated you. But I only have to take one of you next semester and then I GRADUATE. Take that.
-Burnt Out

Dear Baby,
Congratulations~ you've reached full-term! Fell free to come out anytime...
-Not Sleeping Anyway

Dear Amazon.com,
You've really been there for me with Christmas shopping and the Baby Registry. Thanks.
-The Lazy Shopper

Dear Christmas Break,
I'm glad I caught up to you. I waited 5 hours for you.  So, good news - I saw a dog today. Have you seen a dog? You probably have.
-Buddy the Elf


Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Hot chocolate

Hot Chocolate is one of my favorite things in the winter. Over the past several weeks, I've experimented with different add-ins to the classic milk chocolate mix. My favorites so far are: vanilla ice cream, cookies and cream ice cream, eggnog ice cream, the these truffles. And no, I do not recommend adding everything I listed at the same time. 

In addition to making our own hot chocolate, we recently went to Juice n' Java and tried out their gourmet white hot chocolate and snickerdoodle hot chocolate. (I preferred the snickerdoodle). 

What's your favorite hot chocolate flavor/ add-in?

Rhetorically,

Rebekah

Life of Pi

After almost four months, we've finally finished reading Life of Pi! We also watched the movie for the first time last night. So, here's my movie/book review:

I thought they did a really good job with the movie. Obviously they couldn't put everything in there, so I think they made the best decisions on what to include and what to leave out. After having read the book and knowing all of the details, I felt like the movie packed in as much information as it could and it seemed like it was over before I knew it!

Another thing I appreciated about the movie is that it was only rated PG. It could have easily been a higher rating had they chosen to include all the gory details from the book. But they didn't, and I'm glad. They still got the message across without having to be graphic.

Moving on to the actual book, I definitely did not see the end coming. Perhaps I should have expected a surprise, as the author already set a precedent by waiting until the second part to reveal that Richard Parker is actually a Tiger. After finishing the book I was initially dissatisfied, but after talking over the themes and symbolism with Matt and watching the movie, I concede that it was a good writing tactic. A good book leaves you wanting to re-read it. One way of accomplishing this is by changing your perspective in the last few pages.

Anyway, the biggest theme we noticed was "opposition in all things." Pi talks about how in times of rain, he wanted sunlight; and in times of heat, he wanted rain. While he realized the benefits that each brought, he also noticed the drawbacks. As far as the symbolism of the island is concerned, I think it is a representation of Pi's lifestyle on the boat and a personification of his realization that he needed to get back to civilization and shouldn't acquiesce to a life at sea.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Monday Night Projects

The nursery is finally getting organized

welcome to our christmas decorations

can you identify everything?

Rhetorically,

Rebekah