Tired Thursday

I often forget to post on Thursdays. I go into my bed thinking I will but then I scroll through social media until I am asleep. It is hard to blog while asleep.

Anyway, I got nothing. It was a long day. Started at 6:10 ended at 10:30. I taught, I watched basketball film with my players, I had parent-teacher conferences, I avoided going to my office and chatted with a co-worker, I drove home, I cuddled and read to my kiddos, I meant to blog, I tried to watch The Good Place, and realized it was an hour and a half long being the finale and all, I slept.

Now. I shall go and conquer the last day of the week.

If you would like here is a plug for my friend’s cause. Help Sarah get hearing aids HERE.

You can read about it on this POST if you missed it.

Wisdom Within Wednesday

Have you ever finished a book and were both changed by it and also wanted to immediately read it again? That is what this book did for me.

Candace Cameron Bure is one of my favorite peeps. I follow her on Instagram and look forward to all her posts and stories. She is inspirational as a strong woman who works out and she also is inspirational as a woman of faith to me!

She is so much more than just DJ Tanner on Full House or as the girl who does all the Hallmark Movie! There are just not enough words to describe how cool she is and how much I just want to be her friend, even though it’s always weird when somebody is in the limelight and you feel like you know them like a friend.

Candace(I almost used Bure here but really we are fake friends and on a first name basis, just like me and Kelly(Clarkson)) really had found the one thing the world really needs to help change it for the better. Nope, it isn’t money, or less fossil fuels, although those things may have an impact. It’s kindness. When we are kind we can make all the difference in our own lives and the lives of others.

Now, I’m going to take advantage of not being rushed by a reading challenge to move onto the next book and actually reread this book right away and mark the crud out of it. I want to remember so many of the emotions I felt as reading it and also journal the tips I gained to better myself.

Now, it isn’t always easy to be kind and Candance mentioned a few times how she is still a work in progress, as we all are, but kindness is worth it. In fact, “kindness wins”!!!

I encourage you to go out today and do one small thing for somebody else. See how it feels. What change can it have on your own heart? Feel free to share this act in the comments along with how it made you feel. I’d love to hear from y’all.

You Bet I Will

You bet I will use one of my blogging days to help an amazing cause.

My good friend, Sarah, is experiencing hearing loss because of the autoimmune disease she has, Menieres.

I met Sarah in high school because we were both music nerds. She was in band. I was in orchestra. She is an amazing flutist, I was a mediocre bassist. She can do it all: sing and play a million instruments.  She also got a degree in music teaching and has helped many kids learn to play and enjoy music!

Her iTunes library has thousands of songs. To say that Sarah loves music is an understatement.

Here is the link to the gofundme that her family has started: Help Sarah. See, she just got new hearing aids and exclaimed that she didn’t know what she wasn’t hearing the first day she wore them. The saddest part is that her insurance won’t cover them and the payments are just too much to handle, so she has planned to just use the free trial month and then return them. That just breaks my heart. If you can, any amount helps, please donate. If you can’t that okay too, just share that page on social media. The more we share this story the more likely we will be able to get Sarah the money she needs to keep hearing as well as she deserves. Thanks so much in advance.

Love you Sarah!

Picture borrowed from Sarah’s Facebook!

Meter Monday: Fog

Fog

Thick as soup

Ya know like the pea kind

Less brothy

More chunk

Driving can be scary

Especially when others

Don’t use their lights 

Can’t imagine 

Thinking that flying 

In a helicopter 

Would be a better idea

Not even the police 

Or rescue choppers were up

Yet a basketball legend

And a private chopper

Filled with basketball enthusiasts 

Was up. 

Fog

Thick as soup

Driving an adventure

Flying…

Wait....What? No Coffee?

One of my true confessions last Tuesday was that I love coffee, but I don't drink it anymore, especially since joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints(back in 1995). 

There are lots of things that we, as church members, don't do that may make us a little peculiar, like abstaining from sex before marriage,  not drinking alcohol, not using tobacco, and not drinking black tea and coffee.

Most of the above abstaining comes from something we call The Word of Wisdom.  This revelation was given to Joseph Smith back in 1833.  During that time, lots of people were questioning both the use of alcohol and tobacco.  In fact, Joseph's wife, Emma, actually got Joseph thinking about the subject as she was tired of cleaning up tobacco spit from the floor where many of the early members of the church would meet.  Joseph sought guidance through prayer and received the 89th Section of The Doctrine of Covenants(which is a book of revelations given to Joseph Smith as well as a few of the other Prophets of our church through the years). 

In the 89th Section, it gives some guidance on many health concerns of the time.  Within the verses, it speaks of not drinking strong drink(alcohol), how tobacco is not for the belly but rather can be used on wounds(we actually have some in our house that we have used on bee stings for the kids), an urge to eat fruits and veggies with thanksgiving, use meat sparingly, that grain is good for the food of man, and that hot drinks are not for the belly. 

This is where the whole coffee thing comes from, hot drinks not being for the belly.  Over the years, leaders of the church have mentioned how herbal tea is okay, but coffee is still on the abstain list.  I think most of these things are to help us avoid addictions, like alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine.  It really doesn't feel like restriction to me either.  It actually gives me freedom.   

By following this Word of Wisdom, church members are also given this promise:

“All saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures; And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint. And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them” Doctrine and Covenants 89: 18-21

Hopefully, this little description of The Word of Wisdom makes sense.  I often feel that part of these guidelines actually are to help us learn sacrifice as well.  It makes us different, and sometimes being different is difficult.  I do love coffee, like I have said, but part of this life, I feel, is training ourselves to master self.  Sometimes we need to sacrifice in order to be better, learn more and live well.  I truly believe that following this counsel makes people healthier.  If you would like to learn more, I found a great site here that explains it well.  There is even a study UCLA that shows Latter-Day Saints who live this principle actually are healthier and live longer lives. I like that idea. Living long and prospering is one of my life goals.

If you have any more questions about my faith, feel free to ask.  I am pretty open about it!