"The future is as bright as your faith"

It's Sunday and my mind, at least for part of the day, has been on spiritual matters.  One of the talks in Sacrament meeting centered around a talk by President Monson titled "Be Cheerful."  The talk was given in 2009 as people were beginning to realize the economy was not getting better anytime soon, us included.  It was a dynamic and hopeful talk and though I don't want to include the whole talk, this is what registered with me and felt relevant this morning:

"It would be easy to become discouraged and cynical about the future—or even fearful of what might come—if we allowed ourselves to dwell only on that which is wrong in the world and in our lives. Today, however, I’d like us to turn our thoughts and our attitudes away from the troubles around us and to focus instead on our blessings as members of the Church. The Apostle Paul declared, “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

I testify to you that our promised blessings are beyond measure. Though the storm clouds may gather, though the rains may pour down upon us, our knowledge of the gospel and our love of our Heavenly Father and of our Savior will comfort and sustain us and bring joy to our hearts as we walk uprightly and keep the commandments. There will be nothing in this world that can defeat us.

My beloved brothers and sisters, fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith."

I find it easy to get worried about our uncertain future, but then I wonder why.  It's true that being fearful is not from God.  He wants us to do all we can and stop worrying about the rest.  The rest will sort itself out.  It may not be the way we imagine, or on our time schedule, but why be miserable while we wait.  I like that he has given us "power, love, and a sound mind."  I know we are striving to do the best we can, we are raising our children with faith and love, and keeping our covenants.  We are not perfect, but we are striving to have a perfect hope and looking forward with faith.

Other things that stood out to me today included:

• When we criticize ourselves, we are criticizing God's creation. 
• "Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words."  Great quote!  This is most commonly attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, but he didn't really say it.  He said something close to it, but nonetheless  it's still a great quote.
• Continuous effort is the key to reaching our potential.
• “There is no man living who isn't capable of doing more than he thinks he can do.” Henry Ford
• "Do not expect to become perfect at once. If you do, you will be disappointed. Be better today than you were yesterday, and be better tomorrow than you are today. The temptations that perhaps partially overcome us today, let them not overcome us so far tomorrow. Thus continue to be a little better day by day; and do not let your life wear away without accomplishing good to others as well as to ourselves.  Each last day or each last week should be the best that we have ever experienced, that is, we should advance ourselves a little every day, in knowledge and wisdom, and in the ability to accomplish good. As we grow older we should live nearer the Lord each following day." LORENZO SNOW

This last week we had some pretty great moments:

Scott defended his thesis on Wednesday.  Titled:  "TEMPERATURE STRAIN PHASE DIAGRAM OF FERROELECTRIC BaTiO3/SrTiO3 SUPERLATTICES" you can tell that it was a riveting presentation.  My part of the presentation was to show up with cookies to sweeten them up - it must have worked because he passed. 

Going into the defense I jinxed him by asking if he had a backup thesis power point in case something didn't work right. He did have a copy on his flash drive, but that didn't help when he couldn't get the school projector to work out.  After calling maintenance, they got a new projector and with cookies in from of them, the 10+ people that showed up settled back for a 45 minute explanation of Ferroelectric properties.  I followed along as best I could and clapped appropriately at the right time, but I'm afraid I really can't say I understood much.   

Following the presentation, the rest of us left Scott to begin the arduous task of his thesis defense to his committee.  He said it was a rough start, but it got better once they got to his research portion.  Now he needs to make some modifications, resubmit the thesis for approval and then submit it to the grad college for graduation.  Sooooo close:)

On a lighter note, Megan also had a great week.  Thursday and Friday she spent at BSU going to theater workshops.  I think her favorite class was stage combat where she learned how to look like she was beating someone up.  She also went to her first formal dance.

She asked a friend of hers, Joseph Koslowski (spelling?) to go with her, and had a great time.  Her group included her good friends Savannah and Kylie, their dates, and another couple. They spent the morning hiking Table Rock and then did pictures later, a Chinese dinner at our house, the dance, and finally games at Kylie's.  A pretty full day, but she said it was her best date ever!

Scott and Brooke took pictures (Scott about 50 and Brooke over 100).  Here are a few favorites.

Finally, I have to add some pictures of Kimber's great hair:

Enough said!

I do have to say it was a bit weird having St. Patrick's Day fall on Sunday. Wearing green to church for St. Patrick's Day felt a little sacrilegious.  I'm sure St. Patrick was a great guy, but was he really any better than the rest of us, just doing the best we can?  I always take a little exception to mortal men deciding whether someone has reached sainthood or not.  I guess from our perspective, it's all just for fun.

Kendra did set a Leprechaun trap in her room, but only caught some Lucky Charms.  There were a few chairs over set in the kitchen and Lucky Charms thrown about, but no major Leprechaun destruction.  We had sort-of green waffles for breakfast (more of a puce yellow) and corned beef is on the menu for tonight.  I guess it's not any worse than the other off-religion holidays we celebrate.