Jill's Epiphany about Life

I had an epiphany the other day about life. For the longest time I have had a slight struggle with putting church and real life together. They were almost two completely separate lives for me. Not that I was different in on or the other, I just had a hard time equalizing the two. How did one really fit into the other, and what does it really matter anyway?
Well, as I was talking to Durrant about this late one night I was able to somehow put it all together in this parable: This world/life is like a school. Church is the classroom, and life is the lab where we go and try out all the things we learned in class. Then, after school is out, we can go home and report our progress. Some of us will have progressed further in our schooling than others, and a few of us will still be stuck in detention.
However, the classroom is critical. If we don’t have the instructions for the lab, the lab can get extremely frustrating and discouraging. We also have lots of instructors to go to when we get confused; prophets, parents, and other church leaders. And, (coming from someone who works in a college bookstore) school wouldn’t be school without textbooks: Scriptures, modern rev elation and personal inspiration.
But, keep in mind, the classroom is irrelevant without the application of the lessons learned. Why go to class if you can’t put the principles to work? Sometimes you don’t really see the point in the lab until weeks after the particular exercise, then it all comes into place and there is clarity. Other times you can’t possibly see how this particular experiment works, let alone how it could turn out okay. But somehow, if you keep following the guidelines from class, it all works out – usually better than you could have dreamed.
Yes, I realize this little parable of mine is probably full of holes. But it helps me put together two separate worlds in a way that makes sense. It also helps me realize that this life isn’t just now and that’s it, it is for eternity and what we do here really does matter.

Impromptu Vacation Part 1

So, a few weeks ago, Friday morning, I got a call from my father-in-law.  He wanted to know if we would be interested in going to Fish Lake.  This being the place where Durrant built most of his wonderful childhood memories it took about -5 seconds to say, "Uh, YEAH!"  Turned out that Bryce and Elizabeth were not able to join us, but we did catch up with Warren and Amanda while we were there.  Here is the evidence:

 The water was ICE cold (amazing that a melted glacier's water would be cold) but Asher didn't seem to notice.  I think it was because he was numb after about 5 seconds and couldn't feel it.  It was nearly impossible getting him out, he loved it.

We stopped at the dollar store and picked up some cheap water guns for the boys to play with.  HILARIOUS.  Durrant was very patient and kind showing the boys how to fill them up with water.

After playing at the lake we decided to head to the cabin for a nice warm shower and dinner.  This toy was at the cabin and Asher took it everywhere with him, he even made up sound effects for the different figures.  And, although it looks like he is naked, I promise he does have a diaper on... :) 

The next morning Asher could hardly wait to get outside and explore.  He was in his element, he could go anywhere and touch anything.  Who needs a candy store when you have the big outdoors???  Anyway, we discovered that he would find the big rocks and run to stand on them and shout "happy day."  It was so cute I had to record it.

You thought I was kidding when I said he was a climber.  Not so...

Chillin' with Dad in the hammock.  Gonna be a good day.

And the tradition of Penny Rock holds true for one more year.

I have great hopes that I will be able to install the second edition of Impromptu Vacation very soon.  However, you now have the teaser, enjoy.