Emily’s Curio

My little two and a half year old boy was playing with me while I was trying to prepare a lesson on the computer. I reached out and grabbed his hands and tickled his palms. He laughed and then wrapped his arms around my arm, disabling me once again from typing. I wrapped my arm around him and hugged him, then he grabbed my hands again. I went to tickle his hand and he said,

“No, stop, stop.”

I didn’t know what he meant so I went back to typing.

He grabbed my hands again, I assumed by how he had grabbed them that he wanted to play so I went to tickle him.

“No, stop, stop.” He said. I chuckled and turned to him to ask him what he wanted. Before I could get the words out he had aligned his little fingers up along mine, as best as he could, and then spread his little hands out and interlocked our fingers together. Once that was accomplished he stood contently next to me, looking around, swinging my arm with his.
I looked at his little happy face. I felt the love in my heart grow, and then I went to pick him up and hold him in my arms, to which he replied,

” Stop, stop.” and readjusted our hands back into the intertwined lock they had been placed in before.
I can’t tell you the measure of emotion I felt at having such a sweet thing as my son standing next to me, holding my hand, as part of his days activity.

Any substance that can cause severe distress or death if ingested, breathed in, or absorbed through the skin.

a. To pollute:  contaminate.

SALT LAKE CITY 9 March 2009 Like other large faith groups, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sometimes finds itself on the receiving end of attention from Hollywood or Broadway, television series or books, and the news media. Sometimes depictions of the Church and its people are quite accurate. Sometimes the images are false or play to stereotypes. Occasionally, they are in appallingly bad taste.

As Catholics, Jews and Muslims have known for centuries, such attention is inevitable once an institution or faith group reaches a size or prominence sufficient to attract notice. Yet Latter-day Saints – sometimes known as Mormons - still wonder whether and how they should respond when news or entertainment media insensitively trivialize or misrepresent sacred beliefs or practices.

Church members are about to face that question again. Before the first season of the HBO series Big Love aired more than two years ago, the show’s creators and HBO executives assured the Church that the series wouldn’t be about Mormons. However, Internet references to Big Love indicate that more and more Mormon themes are now being woven into the show and that the characters are often unsympathetic figures who come across as narrow and self-righteous. And according to TV Guide, it now seems the show’s writers are to depict what they understand to be sacred temple ceremonies.

Certainly Church members are offended when their most sacred practices are misrepresented or presented without context or understanding. Last week some Church members began e-mail chains calling for cancellations of subscriptions to AOL, which, like HBO, is owned by Time Warner. Certainly such a boycott by hundreds of thousands of computer-savvy Latter-day Saints could have an economic impact on the company. Individual Latter-day Saints have the right to take such actions if they choose.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an institution does not call for boycotts. Such a step would simply generate the kind of controversy that the media loves and in the end would increase audiences for the series. As Elder M. Russell Ballard and Elder Robert D. Hales of the Council of the Twelve Apostles have both said recently, when expressing themselves in the public arena, Latter-day Saints should conduct themselves with dignity and thoughtfulness.

Not only is this the model that Jesus Christ taught and demonstrated in his own life, but it also reflects the reality of the strength and maturity of Church members today. As someone recently said, “This isn’t 1830, and there aren’t just six of us anymore.” In other words, with a global membership of thirteen and a half million there is no need to feel defensive when the Church is moving forward so rapidly. The Church’s strength is in its faithful members in 170-plus countries, and there is no evidence that extreme misrepresentations in the media that appeal only to a narrow audience have any long-term negative effect on the Church.

Examples:

• During the Mitt Romney election campaign for the presidency of the United States, commentator Lawrence O’Donnell hurled abuse at the Church in a television moment that became known among many Church members as “the O’Donnell rant.” Today, his statements are remembered only as a testament to intolerance and ignorance. They had no effect on the Church that can be measured.
• When the comedy writers for South Park produced a gross portrayal of Church history, individual Church members no doubt felt uncomfortable. But once again it inflicted no perceptible or lasting damage to a church that is growing by at least a quarter of a million new members every year.
• When an independent film company produced a grossly distorted version of the Mountain Meadows Massacre two years ago, the Church ignored it. Perhaps partly as a result of that refusal to engender the controversy that the producers hoped for, the movie flopped at the box office and lost millions.
• In recent months, some gay activists have barraged the media with accusations about “hateful” attitudes of Latter-day Saints in supporting Proposition 8 in California, which maintained the traditional definition of marriage. They even organized a protest march around the Salt Lake Temple. Again, the Church has refused to be goaded into a Mormons versus gays battle and has simply stated its position in tones that are reasonable and respectful. Meanwhile, missionary work and Church members in California remain as robust and vibrant as ever, and support for the Church has come from many unexpected quarters — including some former critics and other churches.

Now comes another series of Big Love, and despite earlier assurances from HBO it once again blurs the distinctions between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the show’s fictional non-Mormon characters and their practices. Such things say much more about the insensitivities of writers, producers and TV executives than they say about Latter-day Saints.

If the Church allowed critics and opponents to choose the ground on which its battles are fought, it would risk being distracted from the focus and mission it has pursued successfully for nearly 180 years. Instead, the Church itself will determine its own course as it continues to preach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world.

1. My husband reading scriptures with me at night and holding my hand while we talk about them.

2. My kids waking up and greeting me with, “HI MOM”, as they give me a hug.

3.My husband using my eyeliner or lipstick on the wall of the shower, or on the mirror in the bathroom to leave obscene messages.

4.My kids making a mess with something they know they shouldn’t, on the bathroom walls, because daddy did it, and then crying on cue of being caught and apologizing while declaring their infinite love for me.

….can you tell what kind of day I had?

5. the smell of breakfast.

6. a book that makes you laugh and cry, and can leave you in suspense.

7.cookie cutter sandwiches.

8.cold vanilla ice cream with hot, right out of the oven brownies.

9. a good run.

10. Robin coming home.

11. playing hide and go seek with the kids.

12. dancing.

13. raking leaves, shoveling snow, running through the sprinkler or lying wet on the hot cement as the sun goes down.

14.homemade bread and homemade jam.

15.watching Robin cook with the kids.

16. a new baby.

17. Andrea Bocelli

18. ice skating.

19. a good laugh.

20. a good cry.

I just read the entire book of, ‘The uses of Adversity” today, by Carlfred Broderick.  I love short books with really strong messages, ones that let you read them in under an hour and think about them all day. There are so many beliefs out there, false ideas, that if someone is living right nothing bad will ever happen to them. I never believed that. I always thought that life would happen to you no matter how you were living, but blessings would only come to those who were faithful and obedient, thus encouragement for being faithful and obedient.

Lately I have gained a perspective of the atonement that I hadn’t had earlier in life; that it is there for me, and for the people that I love, and for the people that I dont know and/or don’t love.  It’s been a deep seeded feeling that has touched me not to care less about any person but to care even more for them, especially the ones who are the hardest to care for.

I met a man who went through a difficult time, and he and his wife went through a devastating adversity where much was at stake, even life. He told me that once he was able to get out of it and see a bit of light, and feel a bit of releif, his perspective changed. He didn’t want to do or say or think anything that could cause anyone more pain in their life. He is probably one of the most compassionate, caring, Christlike souls I have ever met. He used his adversity as a tool, it never defeated him. I appreciate his aquaintance and his wifes, she is also someone who understanding, and kindness flow from.

I’m grateful to Emily Watts, who persued the publishing of the book until it was done.

I am a lover of books. I love Caldecott, Newberrry, anything that looks interesting and anything my brother wants to put past me to veiw that he has written. I especially love the classics, children’s books, and books for youth.
I hooked my baby sister on Harry Potter books, thinking that it would get her rolling. She didn’t care to read anything else but Harry Potter books, even though I tried to get her to, and when the final book of the series came out she read it and went back to video games. Then I tricked her. I opened the pages of the book called, Fablehaven. It had been out for a while but I hadn’t picked it up until I had finished reading ten other books before it. To get my sister hooked I read to her the part where the diobedient brother sneaks into the forest and meets a haggard, toothless woman chewing on a rope outside a strange shed. The scene is so well written and so full of animation and humor that my sister opened the book and started from the begining. Even though she expressed little enthusiasm once the book was finished she has read the next two books more than five times each and she knows more about the story than I do.
Having this connection with my little sister, who is more than ten years my junior, has been quite the connecting point for us.
We are both artists and have even drawn a crude little comic book with all of our fablehaven, star wars, and Harry Potter characters in it. It may make it to the blog, and then again it may just be mentioned and quietly destroyed by some simple means. We’ll see.