The Dana Diaries: October 2009

Sunday, October 18, 2009

New Stake Center

This is going to be a short post and another Spiritual Experience one to boot. We were able to go to the dedication of our new stake center tonight. Two years ago after a youth fireside on Sunday night where I acutally got to be one of the final speakers in the building (I guess that's my claim to fame), our stake center was set afire by arsonists. I don't know who did it, and I guess to me it really doesn't matter. I was just very sad that someone would do something like that on purpose. Anyway, 2 years later we have a beautiful new building and me and my family were able to attend one of those completely amazingly spiritual meetings.

Our stake president told about some of the things that came about with the fire and after the fire and bore his testimony then we had Elder LeSueur from the quorum of the 70 speak for a short minute and then read the dedicatory prayer. I've been to a rededication of temples, but the only church building dedication I remember was the Main Street Chapel in Snowflake. I was in High School and don't remember much about it except that my Dad was conducting the meeting as the 1st Counselor in the Stake presidency. He had been called as the new Stake President, but that would not take place until the Stake Conference meeting later that day. Elder Dallin H. Oaks was presiding at the meeting that day and was there to set apart the new Stake Presidency. My dad must have been quite nervous, because as he was conducting and announcing the speakers, he drew a blank and had to turn to Elder Oaks and say "What's your name again?"

Anyway, I digress - back to present day. The prayer was so amazing. The buiding was dedicated almost room by room to perform the proper functions in each important area of the building. The primary room, the Relief Society room, the YM and YW rooms, the chapel, the cultural hall, the Priesthood rooms, the Bishop's offices, the stake offices. He even mentioned the artwork and that people will be inspired by the stories and the meaning that go along with the artwork chosen for the building. This was especially poignant for me because I got to choose artwork for the YW room at the very last minute. In fact, it's not even hung yet, but when I was thinking about how to choose artwork that will have special meaning and will accompany the YW theme, I really feel like I was directed what to do and how to do it.

After the amazing prayer, we sang "The Spirit of God" and on the last verse, the choir sang the Halleluiah anthem that was written for temple dedications. As Jeff said, you could cut the Spirit with a knife. We walked around the building for awhile afterward and spoke with friends and we were leaving as President Ahlstrom and President Clouse were coming back in the building. We spoke to them and told them what an amazing meeting it was. Even Cooper was saying how neat it was. So when we got home and I was saying goodnight to him, I asked him how he felt about the Spirit that was there tonight. When I asked if he had felt it like that before, his response was, "No, not like that." He hadn't really wanted to go, mostly because he didn't want to put his church clothes back on after dinner, but he chose to go. What at great lesson for him and for me to take every opportunity possible to expose yourself and your children to the Spirit. I'm sure that will be a meeting that he'll remember for the rest of his life.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Sharing the Gospel

So, I'm not the best at opening my mouth and sharing the gospel. I know that I should do more, but I get a bit intimidated and worry about offending anyone by being too pushy. Our ward and stake have challenged us to share the gospel and to invite friends to have gospel experiences. With the work I do now, I actually have more opportunites to share the gospel, but need to be careful also.

Tonight I was reading the Ensign and I found a good solution to my problem. There is a great article on how blogging can be a great forum for sharing my testimony in a very un-pushy way. I can do that. I can express some the the feelings I have when I hear a great talk or listen to a great lesson. I felt such wonderful things as I listened to General Conference. There were wonderful talks on recognizing the Spirit, having the Holy Ghost with you all the time, on giving service, and on the importance of having a testimony of the Book of Mormon.

But what I really wanted to tell about today on my blog is the wonderful lesson we had in Relief Society today. I had time this morning to read the lesson before our church time. It was a great lesson from the teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith. It was on "Family: the sweetest union for Time and for Eternity". It was a great lesson to read. But I certainly got the most out of it by the lesson given by our sweet teacher, Sister Dixon.

First she talked about how many times we hear a lesson and we think of what a great lesson this would be for so and so. I think I do that often. I wish someone there was with me to hear the lesson - not acknowledging how much I need the lesson for myself. (That was my first great lesson of the day!)

Next, she handed out paper and pencils and had us divide the paper into four sections or Applications we would be able to use for ourselves of things we learned from the lesson. The lesson of course was about the way to make family a sweet union for this time on earth as well as for eternity. We completely skipped the part where he talked to the men - because that is not applicable to us. Our section headings were "Me - as a Wife", "Me - as a Mother", "Me - as a Daughter", and "Me - as a Sister". There were sections in the lesson that then spoke to me in all of those different applications.

One of the things that really hit me hard both when I read the lesson this morning, again in Relief Society, and then at the dinner table when I was talking to my family about it, was the beautiful relationship that was had in Joseph Smith's family. He spoke so lovingly of his parents and of his siblings. The example was given of how at age 17, Joseph would sit with his parents and siblings and teach them about what he was learning to be prepared for what he had been called to do. I wondered what I would have done as a sibling had I been in that situation. Would I have listened to any of my brothers or sisters tell about a strange spiritual experience and been receptive to what they had to say, or would I have dismissed them because I knew they had too many short-comings to be able to know what they were talking about?

Then I wondered what I would have done as a parent in the same situation. Would I take the time to listen and learn or would I feel the need to question and correct as I often do? The answer is that I don't know, but I hope that as I've learned this lesson I'll be better at being a Sister and a Mother because I can better apply the lesson taught and example given by Joseph Smith and his family.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

First Day of School

So I got the kids off to school on the first day. I drove the carpool to Mountain View for Shelby's first day and then I dropped Cooper off at Franklin for his first day of 5th grade. I get to the school and see all of the parents taking the traditional 1st day of school pictures in front of the bell and in front of the school sign and realize that I completely forgot about 1st day of school pictures. What kind of mother am I? I was so concerned about getting them off to school and then getting home in time to get to work that I forgot a very important part of our 1st day ritual. I was literally sick for the rest of the day. I had so much guilt about my hours of work anyway that this was some really gross icing on the cake for me. Anyway, I picked the kids up from school and brought them home to take their 1st day of school pictures AFTER they got home.

San Diego Pictures

Okay, so I've been reading other people's blogs and I seem to be the only one not including pictures. It's been awhile and I don't want anyone to forget what a great looking family I have. It just seems to take forever to upload photos and I haven't been spending that much time on my computer lately (at least not for fun!).

Here are some of the pictures from our annual San Diego vacation that happened August 1-8th. We always have a great time. Some years with more pictures than others.

Cooper and Jackson Beach Buddies!