Trailride

We are grateful for: horsies, sunshiney mountain days, the Man from Snowy River movie (because its theme song kept matching our ride), and a special thank you for Dad, who worked hard to make our trail ride perfect.

During one day of Thanksgiving break, we went up near the family property in Lowman, Idaho for a good journey up the trail. With a few of our cousins joining in, we got 7 horses lined up. Jerry did great riding the mustang Garnet, especially for it being only his second time on a horse! He kept a brave smile through all the trotting, and remained a good sport even with several mishaps including: a saddle that slid sideways on him, mismatched stirrup lengths (turns out he got the broken saddle), borrowed sneakers (not boots), and a saddle-sore rear end for the next several days.

On the plus side, we can all applaud Jerry's uncanny skill with a camera. He took this cute shot of Titan and me while riding in front of us. He twisted his torso in the saddle and stretched his arm out behind him with the camera aimed in my general direction. Voila!

Chinese Thanksgiving

We heard the Chinese Ward was having a big dinner this weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving. Since we are technically not part of the Chinese ward, we brainstormed how to legitimately attend and thereby feast in the joys of Chinese culture and also eat all that good food. We decided to invite one of our friends, James, who is Chinese, to go to the dinner with us. While he is not yet a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, James fit right in with the happy crowd that night and seemed to have a lot of friends there. Way to be social, James! He won a doorprize: a pumpkin. He let me bake a pie from it yesterday--and apparently it was delicious, because he phoned later that day to say he and his roommates had finished it off so I could go pick up the empty pan.

The day after the ward activity Jerry took James to the MTC where they volunteered to be taught by missionaries learning Chinese. Guess who was there! Elder Brandon Steele! Jerry felt so grateful to see him, and even snapped a quick picture--but didn't have a chance to chat, of course, as the missionaries were all pretty wrapped up in their work. Only about one more week and then Elder Steele, with the rest of his district, depart for their respective areas all around the world.

New Job!

Jerry landed his first "real" career recently. He keeps trying to be humble about it, but let's all remember what the business world looks like these days. We feel really grateful the Lord has smiled upon us. Only a dozen or so applicants out of seven hundred were accepted for this particular position. Jerry is enrolled in Avery's rotation training program (GOLD = Global Operation Leadership Development program), meaning they will train him in different areas of the company. His first training will be about Lean Processing (supply chain). Then about one year later, they will rotate him into another position, for example engineering, so that he can learn different things in a short period of time. After 2 or 3 rotations, they will assign him a management position. The starting salary is above BYU Business school's average.

Next time you lick a US postage stamp and smile at the delectable taste, thank Avery--it is the contracted provider. The company deals with most types of adhesives, even the reflective sticky stuff that covers street signs and license plates. They also make stationary, labels, commercial product labels, protective outer layers on cars, and so forth. Check out the website if you are interested in the new world of Jerry: http://www.averydennison.com/ . Avery-Dennison is a Fortune 500 company.

We are not sure yet about the location for his position, because he will fly out to several different plants to make sure he gets a good fit. This company does have plants in Asia, including Hong Kong, but we will be in the US for at least the next few years. Avery will wait for Jerry to graduate of course, so we get to stay in Provo at least until May or so of 2009.

Retracting a Previous Statement

A couple weeks back we remarked on our dislike for turkeys. We now have to say, since one of the most adorable little gobblers (pictured above) has become part of our family, turkeys aren't so bad!

We won this huge hand puppet--approx. $50 value--at the bookstore's Christmas preview night yesterday. The store was full of news cameras, crowds of stampeding customers, and free prizes galore. We got quite a handful of free items, but will not detail them here, as some will be given out as gifts for Christmas...! We plan to whip out Mr. Turkey Puppet at our Thanksgiving visits with family. Be excited boys and girls!

Christmas

I have started to hear rumors of Christmas in the air. It began with the playing of Christmas music the day after Halloween. Then, five minutes ago I discovered one of my friends has finished putting up Christmas decorations in every room of her house, complete with color scheme and all. My first instinct was to say, "Wow. Early." But then I glanced behind me and had to sheepishly acknowledge the wrapped Christmas gifts I taped and ribboned-up just last night.

These presents are simple--kazoos, chocolates, a clip-on tie--and are getting sent to Australia tomorrow, to make sure little brother going there for his missionary service gets the package in time. The postal worker told me last week (with a frantic look in his eyes): "To Australia?! Send it as soon as possible! You never know with customs!" So pre-Halloween Christmas shopping began. Jerry had the idea of sending a clip-on tie, because he feels indebted to his clip-on for its habit of helping him be punctual. A regular tie, he has explained, is nearly impossible to don while driving down the road. A clip-on, in contrast, can be snapped with ease while the steering wheel gets briefly managed by some body part other than the hands.

Second Admission of Christmas Planning: A few weeks ago for a Family Home Evening activity, Jerry and I assembled Christmas boxes to send to soldiers. We donated them through a campus-wide service project. We felt cheery while we wrote Christmas greetings to unknown faces far across the world. We included small games, craft kits, toys, candies and clipped stories to send from past issues of the December Ensign. We kept our costs low, but got creative and overall felt pleased by our humble contribution. Project Uplift occurs every October at BYU, so keep an eye out next year if it sounds like something you'd like to do!

Forgive the lack of Halloween posting. Christmas, here we come!

Turkey, anyone?

Jerry just spent a few minutes reviewing our pictures from the recent zoo trip. As he examined the turkeys I'd photographed in all their autumn glory, he commented, "Turkeys are gross. I don't think I want to eat them anymore." We will remind Jerry of those sentiments come November 27th...But I have to agree. Turkeys are vile creatures, with propensity to eat all sorts of garbage if they find access. Their featherless heads remind me of vultures or some other type of carrion eater. The Bear picture was taken by Jerry. He has a good eye for opportune moments, and caught the bear's thin pink tongue flicking out for a sip of water. Giraffes were Jerry's favorite, because he wooed them close enough to touch their furry heads with his fingers. Giraffes have purple tongues as long as my forearm.

One more reason

There are different types of understanding. Spiritual, intellectual, and cultural facets are just a few of the lenses through which to understand other people, events, and issues. Have you ever had an understanding in just one area, and then felt enriched by expanding that understanding to other realms as well? In a recent post I remarked on my spiritual acceptance of the need to support Proposition 8. While gaining my own spiritual understanding of the need to protect marriage was a fulfilling process, I have found my resolve to promote Prop. 8 strengthened by learning legal and cultural implications as well. I now have a cultural understanding of the need to protect marriage as it is currently defined, between a man and a woman.

If the US government accepts same-sex marriages as equal to heterosexual marriages, the schools, businesses, churches, and other organizations of society will eventually be pressured to accept same-sex marriages, or be severely penalized for failure to do so. For example, imagine Proposition 8 fails. If I am a public school teacher reviewing sex-ed with my fourth grade class, I would now have to teach the children that homosexual acts are normal and okay, if they feel so inclined. If I am a church who rents facilities for marriages, I would suddenly have to allow gay marriages to be performed in the church or risk expensive lawsuits for my "discrimination."

The movement pressuring the US culture to accept homosexuality is understandable to some degree--what if I had a significant part of my lifestyle persecuted or inhibited? I would feel terrible.

But wait! That is exactly what will happen to the majority of the US population if proposition 8 is overturned; their heterosexual family lifestyle and moral beliefs WILL be persecuted and inhibited. Civil rights groups are even now straining at their leashes to begin taking legal action against any entity who discriminates against same-sex marriages. Visualize cultural violence. Visualize the lifestyle of a fundamentalist, faithful follower of Jesus Christ being ridiculed for his or her beliefs. It is happening already.

But also visualize protection. "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness in this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." --Ephesians 6:12-13

Protect religious freedom, protect parental rights, protect the culture of faith and duty to God on which the United States was founded. Vote YES on Proposition 8! Encourage others to do the same.

Thankful Thursday

Today I came home from class with rather a frowning countenance--call it the predictable result of midterms and lack of sleep. But as it is Thankful Thursday, I found a lot of blessings to count. My number one favorite blessing: good neighbors. We live in a community of saints, where everyone helps each other with joyful abandon.

One example is the communal sharing of children. Two of those pictured are straight from Mexico. Their mother entered the MBA program this semester, which takes 90+ hours per week, and their father is employed outside the home for a portion of each day, so various ward members split up the shifts and the kids get tended. Today was their day at our home, and we also managed to reserve the kids for next Thursday, when we will take them to an on-campus children's Halloween party! I remember feeling wistful last Halloween when I walked by the party on campus and realized you had to have children to be admitted. So borrowing a few kids this year is my strategic plan to crash the bash.

The third child pictured recently moved here from Korea with his family. We met him on the playground. Then, at his invitation, we invaded his home to check out his famous magnet toy which, he assured us, promised crazy amounts of fun. We had fun indeed, and his mother--in true Korean hospitality--even gave us all a snack and a couple sacks of potatoes to take with us on our journey out the door. (I know, potatos seem a little random, but what kind of Idaho girl could resist such an offering? They are even caked with dirt in the manner of freshly dug tubers)

At one point I started grasping for ideas of kid-friendly activities in our non-child-oriented home, so I whipped out a few rags of fabric from my quilting pile and tried to get the kids to dance with their fabric pieces. They appeased me for a good 30 seconds before deciding to tie the fabrics on each other's heads like blindfolds. Then they staggered around the room with dizzy blindness, laughing like cherubs.

Probably those of you who have children grace your home on a regular/permanent basis find these anecdotes unremarkable--but to Jerry and me, each moment brought new surprises and a constant smile to our lips.

Proposition 8

I like to think of myself as an activist--someone who stands up for what I believe is morally sound, regardless of opposition. However, I had to pray for desire to join the movement for Proposition 8. I have friends and acquaintances who either term themselves "gay" or say they have "same gender attraction." I love these friends, and want their happiness. A portion of my morals says, "Let them use their agency, and learn from the consequences--just stay out of all this fervor."

But as I prayed for how to reconcile these feelings with the clarion call of my church leaders to defend Proposition 8, I felt an empowering realization: Aside from having a moral obligation to allow for agency of others, another part of my personal moral belief calls for protection of the sacred.

Sacred means, in one dictionary definition, something holy that must be "secured against violation, infringement, etc., as by reverence or sense of right." Marriage, as an institution given by God, holds the title "sacred" in my mind. If marriage becomes allowed to describe unions not sanctioned by God (i.e. same gender unions), the term will have been "violated." Therefore, I feel a motivation to secure this institution against infringment, and urge others to do the same.

All Creatures Great and Small

My highschool friend Trina lives close by, so we try make it out to see her once in awhile. Little brother Davey, Mom, Jerry and I all joined Trina and her two young'uns for a jaunt around Hogle Zoo. Highlights:

Jerry managed to get a free ice cream cone without even asking (his charisma amazes us all).


AND we stayed in the zoo 4 minutes past closing time so we could hunt down the kangaroo for Elder Steele. He's headed for Australia in just two months now, and seems pretty well adjusted to the MTC. Thanks all for the letters, packages and help you have given him!