Stepping up to the plate

Recently I have made several discoveries about myself, maybe I knew of them but choose to ignore them, who knows, in any case several things, faults/weaknesses, have come up and been made known. I find it really interesting to find that little things in the past have continually made huge impacts on my life and has not been until now that I'm realizing certain behavioral patterns are negatively impacting my relationships with family members, friends, and past and current boyfriends. Luckily I have an amazing support network and an awesome bishop, who, come to find out, deals with this all the time (apparently I am not the only one in the singles ward with issues...surprising). Last week, at my bi-weekly bishop meeting, the bishop challenged me. I'm not sure I'm up for the challenge. But I'm going to at least try. Wish me luck

189 miles later

This past weekend I had the opportunity to participate in a relay race from Wickenburg to Downtown Scottsdale. For two days I was stuck in a van with Nick's dad, two brothers, and sister. By the way we placed 15th out of 75 teams in our division I must say it was very interesting. I learned a lot about Nick and his family...probably more than he would like me to know. I found it funny that everyone just assumes Nick and I are getting married. Not that that is a bad thing, its just kinda weird to me. His sister wants me to go up with her to run the St George Marathon in October. October? Thats like five months away. Who's to say Nick and I wont break up by then? Not that I would want us to break up..but still I am a little weirded out. It's like all of the sudden I have assumed a role in their family. Crazy. It got me thinking what it would be like for my family and nick's family if we ever got married. I don't think they would get along as I would hope. Not that either of our families are bad...is that the right way to describe them. But I think there are a lot of extremely strong personalities in both our families. I can see some butting of heads in the future. Obviously I'll just have to wait and see what happens, but I must admit that I have never really had a thought like that before...you know family dynamics after marriage ect.

Follow Up

Okay my last blog "I just don't get" was a pity party. I like to throw those out there every once in a while. I appoligize for my rant. There are people in africa who are starving, beaten, raped, stoned, ravaged by AIDS and here I am complaining about how hard dating is. I am embarassed and just thought I should appoligize. I'm learning. I'm growing. I can't promise I won't throw any more pity parties but I can promise to try and remember how lucky I am.

Blind leading the blind

Anti-Mormon DVD given to 18,000 homes
Jim Walsh
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 27, 2007 12:00 AM

A ministry opposed to Mormonism distributed 18,000 copies of a DVD to homes across the state on Sunday as part of a nationwide effort to persuade members to leave the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The distribution of 15,000 DVDs in Mesa, Gilbert and Tempe was timed for the last weekend before the church holds its General Conference in Salt Lake City on Saturday and Sunday, said Jim Robertson, executive director of Concerned Christians, an organization largely made up of former Mormons.

Another 2,000 copies of Jesus Christ/Joseph Smith were distributed in LDS-heavy Snowflake and Taylor, and 1,000 were distributed in Tucson. advertisement


"We've found this works very well. We need to step out in faith to do it," said Robertson, a former Mormon who founded the organization 35 years ago. "We're not against the Mormon people. If we hated the Mormons, we'd let them stew in their own juices."

But Don Evans, an LDS spokesman in Arizona, said Robertson is on a lifetime crusade to attack his church.

"It won't faze members of our church one iota," Evans said. "They're strong enough in their own beliefs. It's water off their backs."

Dave Udall, a Mesa attorney and former church spokesman, said Concerned Christians was denounced in the early 1980s by the National Conference of Christians and Jews and by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith after showing the film The God Makers at the Mesa Convention Center.

"I'm disappointed. We need tolerance in our community, and religious tolerance is one of those things we need to do," Udall said.

He said Concerned Christians pickets the annual Easter Pageant produced at the church's Arizona Temple in Mesa, handing out literature, but the LDS Church opposes religious conflict. The pageant begins tonight.

"The attitude of the church is there is freedom of religion," Evans said. "Our church would not go after another religion."

But Robertson said the DVD was produced in response to aggressive Mormon missionary work, saying, "they're stealing sheep" from other religions.

"I don't like the fact that they lie to people to get them into the church," he said. "They're not telling people what the church is all about until after they have them hook, line and sinker."

Utah-based Living Hope Ministries coordinated the nationwide distribution of the DVDs, Robertson said.

Bob Betts, Concerned Christians' office manager, said the DVD contrasts the teachings of Jesus Christ with those of Joseph Smith. He said about two dozen southeast Valley residents upset by the DVD called the ministry's office Monday morning to complain.

He said about 100 volunteers, mostly from churches, distributed the DVD but another 35,000 were not distributed because of a lack of manpower.

"The Mormons are madder than hornets," Betts said.

Evans said that Mormons believe in Jesus Christ but also believe that church founder Joseph Smith was a prophet.

I don't get it

Okay so either I haven't got enough sleep, I've had way too many diet cokes, or I am just plain going crazy. Maybe its that last one. So...can someone please explain to me why I have to make things so difficult? Why do I read so deeply into things? For reals, I should not be dating anyone right now. Or ever for that matter. Why are there people out there that have everything together and don't have a significant other? I live with two amazing girls. Well educated, good looking, smart, friendly, kind, and active members...yet they are single. These girls should be married. There is nothing wrong with them. They are cool girls. Then there are people, like myself, who are a complete mess; have tons of baggage, second guess every decision they make, and don't have a clue to what they are doing. How do I always have a boyfriend? I haven't been single since I was 17. Well besides the 7 months between one of those Jeff rounds. People should not date me. I have issues. Mad issues. I used to think the boys I dated had issues but in reality its me. Is this some cruel joke? I just don't get it

Double Meaning?

According to a study published in the current issue of the journal Nature, it is impossible for a person immersed in quicksand to be drawn completely under. The fact is, humans float in the stuff.

Researchers in the Netherlands and France studied quicksand, a combination of fine sand, clay, and salt water. At rest, quicksand thickens with time, but it remains very sensitive to small variations in stress.

At higher stresses, quicksand liquefies very quickly, and the higher the stress the more fluid it becomes. This causes a trapped body to sink when it starts to move.

But a person moving around in quicksand will never go all the way under. The reason is that humans just aren't dense enough.

The botfly and the frog

Deep in the Chilean rain forest lived a beautiful tree frog. Despite environmental factors, the encroachment of man, and natural predators, the frog lived a "good life". One day, as this beautiful tree frog rested in a Kapok tree a small fly landed on its back. Before the frog could react, the fly flew away. Unbeknown to the frog, the fly left a little white deposit. Within days this little white addition to the frog's back, hatched into a larva that began to burrow into the frog's body. For several weeks the frog lived his "good life" as the the larva slowly began to eat the frogs internal organs. On one particular day as the frog was leaping from leaf to leaf, his left hind leg suddenly detached. The frog fell several feet to the bottom of the forest floor. He tried in vain to move around. Several hours passed as the tree frog struggled to regain his footings. But he got tired. As he laid in a pile of decomposing leaves, the larva started working its way out of the beautiful tree frog. Suddenly the larva, now a full sized botfly , emerged out of the frog's back, killing the frog instantly.

Honeymoon Over

Infatuation

Etymology:

Latin infatuatus, past participle of infatuare, from in- + fatuus fatuous

Date:

1533

1 : to cause to be foolish : deprive of sound judgment 2 : to inspire with a foolish or extravagant love or admiration

— in·fat·u·a·tion \-ˌfa-chə-ˈwā-shən, -chü-ˈā-\ noun

When does the "honeymoon" stage of a relationship end? When does the infatuation change into love? One thing is for sure...I haven't got a clue