Remember my post about Zenni Optical? Where I praised their customer service?

Well, I'm back for round two.  And do I have an excellent showing for you!

Let me first say, once more, I just LOVE to proclaim it loud and clear when I receive exemplorary customer service. There is just far too much whining and the like in the world. People should get kudos, even if they never, ever know.  Shouldn't we share more good things in this world, not for getting something in return but because it is just the right thing?

To remind you, or bring new readers up to date, the short story is that I busted up my glasses. Due to some eye problems, my new RX ended up being the wrong RX. When I contacted Zenni, they offered to refund my purchase by 50% on the wrong RX glasses and to let me keep them until my new ones arrived. Awesome!

Now, I have to admit to this. I shameless plug these people because I just am a fan of their cute glasses and dirt cheap prices. I tell EVERYONE. It is a real kick to me to say to a person, "You like my glasses? Great now guess how much I spent!" The new ones? Someone guessed $400! When I informed them of the $20 price tag which included a hard case, lens cloth, anti-reflective coating, and vanity light tinting of the lenses? That face was PRICELESS!

Zenni's never offered me anything, but apparently my shameless promoting combined with anyone else's must be paying off. It took forever to get my new glasses!

That's OK.  They deserve promotion. They rock and I would REALLY like for them to stay in business!

So what's the big deal? Why am I posted about all of this again? Because here was a surprise to me.  In comes my package. I open it up, expecting the same thing I always get. What is that? A pair of gorgeously pretty (redundant? yes! true? absolutely!) glasses wrapped in a lens cloth and resting inside a hard clam shell case.

This time, one of those fell out. (Since the glasses are so cheap, I get RX sunglasses. Which I recommend for EVERYONE. It's nice to have dedicated shades.) The second case followed suit, and that was the surprise!

I suppose Zenni felt bad for me? Or maybe they found my blog. Who knows. There was no reasoning from them included in the package, they sure didn't tell me to expect this, it just happened.

Take a peek:

The bottom is the regular clam shell case. Totally what I expected to come this time. The top is the case that one of my new glasses arrived in. It's hard, but covered in this lovely fabric.  There is the nice zipper, but what you cannot se is the awesome belt loop on the back. Now I know what you are thinking... "Batgirl Oz, really? Like you need anything else hanging off your utility belt?" What I'm thinking is... camera bag.

Camera bag? Why? I HATE wearing glasses when I shoot. It is like you end up mashing the glasses to your face, smearing up your frames, bugging your eyes and your eyelashes, and it affects the ability to look through that viewfinder. It makes me postal. I often put my glasses on top of my head and then they fall off.  Sometimes I just wrap a lens cloth around them and then place them oh so carefully in my camera bag for the duration of a photo shoot. (Right, THAT is what I do, I don't EVER do anything lazy like just chuck them in the bag.)  My thought: This gives me a proper place for my glasses when I am out shooting photos. With a pretty easy access for when I need to go walking, because I am actually so blind that walking without glasses can sometimes make me a little off kilter. You wouldn't believe how many walls I have walked into.

Now I have this pretty schmancy glasses case. I can't wait to show it off.

Thank you, Zenni Optical! For my way cute glasses, the fantastic price point, working with me on something that was not even your mistake, and then surprising me with the schmancy glasses case!

--Lady O

*Official disclaimer that I was in no way approached by Zenni Optical to write such glowing reviews about them. This is just what they did for me and how I felt about it all.*

I went to my mailbox one day and found an invitation to a great photography seminar. I waffled about going. I know you are all telling me I am stupid for not immediately signing up, but still, I waffled.  It's not that I don't want to be pro, or somehow haven't found myself well on the way to going pro, I just sometimes have a hard time seeing myself as a "real" photographer.

Saturday, I finally paid the entry fee. I know, procrastination... but I suppose I could have waited until Monday morning, right?

Now, all excited, I made plans.  Monday was some federal holiday no one else on the planet gets off, but in DC it means half the workers are home and the VRE does not run and everything is a little crazy. So Megs decided he would work from home.  With him home, I could feel no guilt abandoning the home and the kids for an entire day! Huzzah! (Why is it as parents, even when our kids are old enough to stay home, we feel like we are abandoning them, even if it is just a gas run?)

Normally the Mormon Temples remain closed on Mondays because we reserve Monday for "family night", however the DC Temple opens on several of these weird government holidays knowing that it frees up people to attend on a weekday.  (Saturday's are very crowded and a bit manic actually.)  They close early enough to allow most people time to race home for family night.  It just so happens the Temple is about 11 minutes from the hotel for my photo seminar.

I know what you are thinking. Oh no. Last time she blogged about misadventures in regards to the Temple, she had all kinds of car trouble and didn't make it home until like 3 AM or something.  Well, no car trouble but...

I went to the chiropractor and headed for DC.  I made it in time to worship in the Temple and that was glorious. I even went and found a nearby geocache and dumped three travel bugs. I then went in a quest for food. In a megacity and all, one would think this would be easy? Yeah, not so much. I finally found a Qdoba by the hotel, nabbed a jumbo burrito and zipped ot the hotel.  

The seminar was AWESOME. I won't blog about that now. Let's just say... I'm itching to take photos and it was money well spent. Woot!

While at the seminar, on a break, I noticed on twitter my good homeschooling and fellow Mormon chum had emergency big time. As in her daughter got raced to a special hospital in DC due to chemical burns! OUCH!  I kept up with her tweets and texted her.  At 11:00 PM when the seminar finally got out, I texted to see if she needed anything.  She did.  A ride home.

Ok, no problemo. I'm a big fan of NEVER driving in DC, but figured this late at night it shouldn't be a problem since there would be no traffic. Yeah, here's a big reason why I never drive in DC:

I head over to the hospital.  Mind you, I was a whole 10 miles away.  Forty minutes later, I arrive at the hospital. No, I'm not kidding.  At one point I ended up on some alley like street which I'm not even sure if I'm glad it was midnight or scared it was midnight. Yes, I have a GPS unit and I followed it as best I could! (Some of those intersections are super high on the confusing.)

My friend kisses her husband and hops in my van.  She proceeds to give me the update and tell me about the nasty rat she just saw heading for the hospital. GROSS!  Now I thought my slight rerouting due to confusing intersections and the one weird alley like road with a stop sign every 30 feet was bad enough. Boy, I had no idea what was to come.

I hand my friend the GPS and she plugs in her house. We start following the directions and end up on Dupont Circle. Why we ended up on Dupont Circle, we're still unsure. In no wise do I ever find Dupont Circle on my way anywhere.  Especially, say, Virginia.  Well, here it is, after midnight, pitch black, and we can barely see anything. And we discover that Dupont Circle is not your typical traffic circle (which I think are inventions of some evil minion of you know where), oh no. There's an inner loop and an outer loop.  So there we are driving around and around like the Griswalds in European Vacation.

Huzzah for us. We finally escaped Dupont Circle but I don't think we took the correct exit due to the whole MEDIAN between the inner loop and the outer loop.  We also decided that Dupont Circle obviously a portal to Dante's Inferno.  We're just saying.  Sydney Allen Wade, from the American President, I will forever truly respect that line about Dupont Circle from now on.

We end going down Embassy Row and to American University.  By this point we are completely befuddled as to what Lola, my GPS unit is doing.  It appears to be taking us way west, practically to Rockville and the Temple again.  Once more, we wanted to go to VIRGINIA not MARYLAND.

By this point, there's no traffic so I flip a u turn and we determine the best course of action is to go drop in on the PoTUS. I mean, we really ARE the "Real Housewives of DC" so why not? Ok, seriously, we just figured if we went for something we knew an address for, we could find our way home.  We start plodding towards the White House and we find out... lo and behold... DUPONT CIRCLE again.

No freaking way.  Not going to have to deal with THAT again.  I just completely stop in the middle of the deserted street and we start looking for a new place. Huzzah, Megs work, which happens to be between us and Dupont circle and just a couple of miles from where Obama was probably SLEEPING because he's a moderately SANE person, unlike us.  OK, so probably not, he's the PoTUS and well... busy and I'm not so sure "sane" is the right word for any president.

Now we are merrily skipping our way down the confusing mess of streets, another traffic circle with an inner and an outer loop and finally we get within a block and I go, "Hey, I know where we are, this is how i come in to Megs work!"

I once more stop in the middle of a deserted street (OK, I was at a yield sign this time) and we punch in my friend's address again.  Took a quick spin through Georgetown.  Where we see some questionable sorts, and another rat.  By this point it's nearly 1:00 AM and we've basically traveled a few miles from where i originally picked her up.  Why, oh why, did the GPS not route us this way to begin with? I have no clue other than apparently even GPS units can't function with the roads in DC.

We crossed the bridge into Rosslyn and saw the most beautiful sign ever: Welcome to Virginia.  We both proclaimed, "THANK YOU, GOD!"  Then it was just a crazy drive through killer construction (seriously one piece of equipment hung well into the only open lane! Thanks VDOT!) out to her house.  And another 45 minutes on home to me.

Left the photo seminar at 11:00 PM and walked in my door at 2:30 AM.

Sadly, with the construction on 495, I probably made it home just as quick... HA!

Here's a little map of basically where I went yesterday - though these routes were NOT what I took, you can see the locations:

I'm sure I left some things out. I'm sleep deprived. I don't even want to think about what grammatical errors this entry holds. I really don't even care. The first person that mentions a grammatical error to me (you know who you are) will get dropped in Dupont Circle. Good luck finding your way out.  Walking is not allowed. 

--Lady O

PS: Update on friend's daughter - it looks like things are fine. An operation today to basically scrape all the burned stuff away (OUCH!) went well. Now the very long healing process will begin. Lesson learned: Gorilla Glue + microwave = disaster.  I'm just glad the girl is going to be OK. Huzzah! Thanks to all those that prayed!

"Blogging is more real than journalism." I heard this quote just recently.  To be honest, I hear this a lot.  

As a person with a journalism background, it sort of rankles me. As a blogger, I really don't know that I would classify my writings as "journalism". Have I done things that could end up in a local paper? Well sure. Though I will admit that since my blog is MINE, I definitely add my own flavour to it which I wouldn't do for a piece for the local newspaper.

Unless it was op-ed. Which, interestingly, I was never keen on writing. I know. Strange to think about since I... well... blog. And blogs, by their very nature, tend to be opinionated.

I'm just saying.

The reason I have blogging and journalism running through my head though comes from a discussion with a long time friend who happens to also work for a paper. The paper requires her to maintain blogs. The unfortunate reality is that the newspaper world is struggling so they have no way to truly work towards making their ideas fruitful. Basically it boils down to far too many papers slashing staff and then asking for more duties. "Hey, you are sticking around! Write for the paper AND maintain a blog with skads of viewers! Because really? You didn't WANT a life, right?"  

I don't think that it is meant to be that way, but let's face it. That's the cold hard reality. Even if it isn't presented that way.

So how do journalists promote their blogs? After all there's definitely a difference between bloggers and newspaper blogs. Right? I suppose it depends on the paper.

Straight up bloggers have so many resources. That said, they have to work hard to get their readership up. A newspaper, used to people paying for their product, think in big numbers. Numbers that your average blogger would blink and cry at. Sure, Perez Hilton has about eleventy hundred viewers a day... but Perez Hilton is NOT like the rest of us. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I digress.

How can a newspaper blogger get "guest bloggers" or "guest blog" themselves? What about joining sites like Networked Blogs or Google Friend Connect? There are several blogosphere promotional avenues of this sort that definitely help me drive people to my blogs (well not here on LJ where I cannot put the JS on the page, but that's an argument for another time), but somehow I don't see the Wall Street Journal doing this. Of course they are the WSJ and a household name. But what about Mapelwood Daily Gazette? (Hey snazzy right? Totally made that puppy up!)  I still don't see it happening.  I just don't see good old MDG there doing a "blog hop" or a giveaway either.  And don't get me started on a Meme.

I do think social networking might help. It wouldn't be hard to tweet a link or even make a Facebook fan page. I actually have my local paper on my Facebook.  I know several of the local paper bloggers get their entries posted by me to both Twitter and Facebook.  Heck, half the news I read comes from Twitter links. Easy.

I suppose, really, my musings come from my own curiosity towards my readership and the journalist in me. There is no denying that the blogosphere has changed the face of news. It has definitely changed the way people GET the news. I'm not so sure I'm ready to rely solely on bloggers, but that could be my own journalist snobbery questioning the reliability of blogging. 

Anyone out there have thoughts as to newspaper blogs vs non newspaper blogs? What about traffic ideas in regards to the two? Just food for thought on a crazy Friday...from someone who probably just has too much time on her hands since she's reflecting on her old life vs her new life...

Words. They are what we use to express what we mean. Often we tend to use the same words over and over. The same mannerisms. People can know us by the way we speak and the way we write.

In fact, every person has their own writing "fingerprint". It can truly fascinate a person if they really want to study it. Me? I don't want to study it. I just like to gawk.

So for lack of anything better to do while I scour the internet trying to study faith blogs for my own personal reasons (no I'm not actually planning to turn this into a faith blog or start another blog... I'm just doing it) I decided to make a wordle out of this blog. Why? Because while I don't particularly write this blog as a personal diary so to speak, I do consider it an extension of myself. So I thought it might be a little bit interesting. 

Plus, wordles just look cool.  

Here's mine:


Fun, right?

--Lady O

PS I had a heck of a time getting that to go in. Don't know why. LJ being stupid? Probably. I'm convinced the Drama Llama hates me.  Click on the wordle to see it bigger - so you know... you can actually READ those words!

I grew up in the over-paced overs-cheduled world we find ourselves living in. I'm honestly not sure how my parents kept up with some of this stuff. Summer camps, after school activities, clubs, dance, friends, visiting with family, and so forth. It was truly insane and only worsened the older I got.

By the time I entered high school and manned my own schedule, I lived by my diary. I carried it everywhere to record important dates, appointments, work schedule, and homework. I look back now and think, "How did I survive such a manic schedule?" 

How do you schedule now? I've tried a great many things.  These days I use my smartphone to tap into my Google Calendar which then syncs immediately to my MacBook. I created multiple calendars for my various activities and each one is colour coded. Each family member has their own calendar that shows their activities in their favourite colour. I love the rainbow effect I can see at first glance! I can also tell who's got activities right off the bat just by the coloured boxes.

The brilliant thing is now my calendars update with my husband's phone. His blue calendar is one he actually maintains. Now that the kids are entering the realm of Teen-Land I am grateful because I will be able to turn their calendars over to them. Then they can update and everyone can see what's going on and tweak their own calendar.

Sometimes it works to go see what tech brings to us. I remember the large diary, the Franklin-Covey planners, the printed calendar sheets, and the white boards. It took a long time to manage these various things and took a lot of conferencing with people. Not any longer!  Talk about brilliant! 

So what kind of things do we schedule? Field trips, work seminars, church activities, scouting events, birthdays, our weekly family night... the list goes on and on. I have sometimes even checked the calendar and noticed my husband's scheduling "Go on a date" for the evening. Yes, it's sad, but you know what we've learned? The world is busy and if we don't make the time, we'll lose the time.

I recently heard a wise man say that in a family, love is spelled: T-I-M-E. It reminds me of the spots on television my Church ran for a while stating: Family, isn't it about... time? It so is.

How many times do we eat dinner on the run? How many times have I said to someone that I haven't spoken to my husband in a week? How many times do we say we are going to do something and then we don't because we forget or we're tired or we just run out of time? 

Too often.  So my challenge to you is to look at next week on your own calendar. Pick a day. Block off just an hour and mark it Family Time. Everyone is required to be there. It doesn't even matter what you do. Play a game of cards, talk about your day, or just sit and stare at each other. Just turn off the TV, put down the phones, and step away from the computers.  You won't be sorry. Even if the kids whine because you are seriously cramping their X-Box scores.  Let me know how it goes! We enjoy our family nights. I'll admit we've been not so great in doing them, but we try! It's kind of fun to see the teen-type boy children taking it into their hands because they want it so much!  (Ours is on Monday nights.  Seems a good way to start the week!)

--Lady O

**CAPTION** The Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform for the Sunday Morning session of the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this October. **CAPTION**

In case you don't follow my tweetstream so somehow missed out on my nearly 550 tweets, this weekend was the 180th Semi-Annual General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (If you do follow me on twitter, well, I hope you were uplifted! I promise not to do that again until April!)

So what is this conference all about? In a nutshell, it's a two day experience filled with beautiful music, many inspiring sermons, and for many - cinnamon rolls. (I don't know, I saw that last one on twitter. In my house we had these way yummy Ghiradelli muffins.)  This conference might be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, but it is broadcast throughout the world. During the event itself, the proceedings get interpreted immediately into scores of languages.  Video and audio recordings are already available at the Church's conference website and by Thursday we can read the written transcripts. Next month a magazine with each talk included will become available to the Church as a whole.

Basically, I sit at home in my jammies worshiping with 14,000,000 of my nearest and dearest Latter-day Saints.

Why? Because us Mormons don't do anything small.

Those speaking are the men and women that spearhead our church on a global level. (It's why we call it "general". They are commonly referred to as "General Authorities" within the Mormon church.)  And yes, I did say women.  (There's a common misconception about women in the Church but that's a blog entry for another time should anyone want it.)

So here I am on Monday evening, and pondering what I experienced in eight hours (and nearly 550 tweets) over this weekend. (Ten hours for my menfolk!)

Here's some of the highlights courtesy of a Meme I found from the good gal over at The General Conference Book Club:

First let me say that these talks, while geared toward those of my faith, hold many things that other Christians could find uplifting and encouraging.  Some of the topics spoken on were: Faith, parenting, and overcoming addiction. I'd say those are things that are probably good for anyone!

Me, joking here, says: 2010 Conference is summed up as: "Hollow trees lead to stupid cows that have pens that don't work in space but we'll go fly fishing while we follow the Prophet." (Seriously, you had to be there!)

On to the Meme:

General Conference Highlights, October 2010:

1.  Who were your three favorite speakers?

Seriously? Three? Only three? Ok...

President Uchtdorf on "foundations". I love that he can take ten completely unrelated items and somehow make them into a talk. One of those is always involving flying jets. I always look forward to his talks!

President Monson, our beloved prophet.  He has a story for every situation and somehow always works in widows. Ok, he was also in the publishing industry. I just relate very well with him. That and he said he has "miles to go before he sleeps".  Seriously, he's the head of a major world religion. If he has miles to go, I must have light years.

Elder Gong. Ok, he's this cute little Asian guy with these cute little stories from Asia.  And I adore him. No really. I do!  This time he talked about the Dragon in his family line and how his wife bakes awesome bread. I like anyone who bakes awesome bread. :)

2.  Favorite talk?

Geeze, really? *SIGH* Ok I'm just gonna grab one for you. Fly Fishing. Why? Surely not because I like fly fishing or anything. I mean really? Not my scene. But the analogy was AWESOME. The gist is that a fly fisherman designs his lures to fool fish into biting. It was said that: Satan is not into catch and release. AMEN! I think he's more into "Catching and Frying." Anyway... it's just one of the talks that struck a cord. Watch out for the temptations that are there. They are crafty.

3.  Favorite hymn sung during Conference?

No way. Too many. We were blessed to hear from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir THREE times! THREE! Anything that America's Choir sings is AWESOME.  So because they get enough love, I'm going to say something from the second session because it was a family choir. A FAMILY choir. That took up just as many seats as the MoTab. That's like nearly 400 seats. All I have to say is, Only in Utah. LOL The song is Lord, I Would Follow Thee. This is one of my favourite hymns, if I have to say I have "favourites". The name says it all.

4.  Who wore the best tie?

All I have to say is: Purple tie trumps all. Bishop Edgley FTW! Dude, I loved it. you rocked the stripes in my fave colour!

5.  Do you think conference had a “theme”?

Given we had several talks that actually used the same background? Uh yeah. Let's see. Faith. Follow the Prophet. Holy Ghost.  Beware of Addictions. Faith. Follow the Prophets. Holy Ghost. Beware of Addictions. Faith... oh you got the picture? Yeah.  Unless you want to say "Ezra Taft Benson" since I think he was quoted in every session.

6.  Share a few of your favorite quotes (paraphrasing is fine).

HAHA Read my tweet stream. But here:

"Satan is not into catch and release"
"Stupid Cow" (In case you people wanted to know why it was trending on twitter... thank us crazy mormons and farming stories)
"I lost my voice... that's a foundation I need to have!"
"Parenting is not a popularity contest"
"Five new temples" Ok, this is just always making me happy. :)
President Monson talking about taking on the MoTab as a responsibility when he became President of the Church. :) Then telling about his mother saying, "Tommy, you should have stuck with the piano." Then he sang a little ditty to us. HEHE
"Gratitude unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel the love of God."
"A teacher's attitude is not taught, it's caught!"
"Love is spelled T-I-M-E."
"As much as there is wrong in the world today, there is much that is right!"
"Cultivate the attitude of gratitude."
"Endure to the end, you must." (President Monson channeling Yoda?)
"Pride is the switch that turns Priesthood power off, humility that turns Priesthood power on."

And my personal favourite comes from the session for women (we call ourselves Relief Society) a week before (so really, it was 10 hours for me overall.. LOL). Take it away President Monson: "Why beholdest thou what you think is dirty laundry at your neighbor’s house but considerest not the soiled window in your own house?"

7.  Something that made you smile during conference.

Seriously, did you not read the quotes above? I gotta say first off watching President Monson. He's so funny. He pulls these faces and when he breaks into a grin I just can't help but grin back! I must say the "stupid cow" story had me in stitches. So did President Monson's singing.

8.  Any evidence that your children paid attention?

Ok, so I have to tell you that at one point I had Joram doing sit ups and solving the Rubik's Cube at the same time. Caramon was doing chin ups. And Megs? He was on our Gazelle. (It's like an eliptical.) However, my boys and I spoke about different things we heard and they really did listen to a lot. I think the greatest thing was when Caramon was on the floor, solving the Rubik's Cube and the analogy of fly fishing was going on and Caramon looked up from his cube (while still flipping it) and said: This is really all true. Fly fishing is a great way to compare with the actions of Satan." 

9.  If you had to give a talk in General Conference (don’t faint, this is hypothetical), what do you think you’d speak about?

Holy smokes. So many topics. Faith. Adversity. God's love. I don't know. Especially since I know my Bishop could actually find his way here. I mean isn't this just asking to speak in Church? (Actually I don't have a problem. As a journalist, I can write. As someone who grew up on the stage, I also don't mind being in front of people. I just gave a ten minute talk on baptism and The Holy Ghost. While pretty much blind and unable to read the talk I prepared.)  I would say though? It would be a toss up between "leaning on the Lord in trials" and "music and the spoken word".

10.  What are some of your post-conference goals?

a. Study Ezra Taft Benson's 14 Fundamentals in Following the Prophet
b. Pray more - My Bishop has requested we pray three times a day. I'm trying!
c. Go to the Temple more
d.  Be more grateful, even through my trials.  At least to have a better attitude.  

So there you go. Just a tidbit of what I got from General Conference. I love my Church, I love my leaders, and I love my Lord.

--Lady O

One of the blogs I follow spoke on long-suffering last week.  It asked that we all think about what it means to be long-suffering. Then my Bishop spoke about it in testimony meeting. Think this means something? (Maybe it just means he also reads Christian HomeKeeper, but somehow I doubt it...)

I think the most profound thing I've ever heard about "long-suffering" was from my Bishop's mouth.  He said even the word itself seems unpleasant.  I mean seriously?  He's right. Do I want to be long-suffering? Heck to the no! Suffering is bad enough and I sure don't want to endure something awful for a long time. I'm pretty sure that I am in good company with about six billion other people on this planet.  (OK, so the good people at Christian HomeKeeper said the same sort of thing. Why? BECAUSE IT IS TRUE!)

Unfortunately, that is just not how life works. At least, not for me. There are times when life is great, sure. But we all go through times when life is nothing but major suck-a-tude. It is how we deal with major suck-a-tude that makes the difference.

Unsurprisingly, linked right in with long-suffering is patience. A word both Christian HomeKeeper and my Bishop used. Yikes. Let's just say that I can remember the nun at Catholic School reciting her proverb: Patience is a virtue. Cherish it if you have it. Seldom in women, never in men.

Yeah I'm definitely not in the "seldom" category of women mentioned there.

Let's just say I know long and I know suffering. If you want only one painful example. Kiddie Cancer. Yeah. Like you were surprised I brought THAT up. When your kid gets diagnosed with cancer it is not something that is going to go away with a simple round of antibiotics and a tub of ice cream.  It's long. It's most definitely suffering. And then it gets longer. And there's even more suffering. And you are tired. And most of all, you are impatient because life is a whole lot of hurry up and wait.

So yeah, I know of which I speak.  And trust me, there are times when I just want to say: ENOUGH!!!!!  I suppose we all have our Abrahamic Test, as my Bishop likes to say. Boy do I know he's right. At least in my case. So here's some interesting questions from Christian HomeKeeper about patience/long-suffering to get my juices flowing and direct my thoughts.

God has worked in my life regarding patience and long-suffering in these ways - I have managed to endure, without losing my mind, long wait periods. I've learned that often these long periods go by faster then one might expect. I thought my 18th birthday would NEVER come when I wanted to get baptised. I spent the many months waiting learning and growing. The good thing is that when I finally got to the waters of baptism, I KNEW it was what I wanted. I'd fought against people questioning me. I'd survived flack from my parents.  knew about a thousand times more about the Church I was joining then when I first decided to join it nine months previously.  I stood there thinking, "Finally! This day has come!" Immediately after that, I thought, "Wow, it really wasn't that long!" That's just one example that has repeated itself over and over in my life. While going through the trial, it can seem like time is creeping by until I stop and look back and realize... time has quite literally flown.

The hardest part of showing long-suffering is - Not letting it wear me down so everyone else thinks I'm a sad-sack. Trust me. I struggle with this. I have a real hard time being the "strong one". Ok, so people tell me all the time that I'm strong. But I feel like I'm losing it and that I'm really weak and barely able to stand.  I am pretty sure (going back to the last question) that I really can't stand about 90% of the time and like in Footprints in the Sand, the Lord is carrying me. I thank him all the time. Seriously, if you look behind me there's only one set of footprints for as far as the eyes can see. Those footprints aren't mine.  He's carried me.  Unfortunately, I find it hard not to whine about it in his ear.  I'm working on that.  It goes back ot the whole not coming of like a sad-sack.

The most rewarding part of showing long-suffering is - Um... this one, I don't know. I suppose getting to the end of the trial and going 'Huzzah it's over." And then finding what I learned from it. And then finding the words to share what I learned from it. I think something that is hard when you are going through a trial is the feelings of loneliness. I hate for people to feel alone. Really, it's so silly when you think about it. For example, I'm not the first woman or the last woman to have extremely difficult and dangerous pregnancies. Regardless of this fact, I sure felt like the only one when going through mine. Seeing people who could make it through trials inspires me. I sure don't think I'll inspire anyone, but the thought that I might help someone make it another day does make me feel like at least my trial was worth it. I don't think that makes sense. But it does in my head. I guess what I"m trying to say is I just really want to help people, so if I can because of my long-suffering Abrahamic Test, yay!

The one kind situation that I have the most trouble showing long-suffering in is -  The one I'm currently in now. It's gone on for just so many years. I think I used to be better at it. Now i'm just tired. I don't' even want to get into it. In fact, Bishop, give me a calling and make me busy. So I don't have to think about it. See, I'm not kidding. The current one is hard. It just happens to be one thing I have promised to never blog about. Sorry people. Never fear, it has gone in my personal journal.  A lot. So I'm working through my issues like a good little person wanting to have some semblance of decent mental health.

I see how kindness goes hand in hand with long-suffering because - Kindness is brought about from love. Love really can make it easier to bear things. Be that kindness given to you that brightens your day or kindness you give to others while bearing your own hefty load. Once, when Caramon was on one of his eternal hospital stays, someone rang me and offered to visit and bring me food and a magazine. People didn't really call me a whole lot then. I get that they just didn't know what to say. That is fine. A visit was wonderful and made me feel like the world hadn't forgotten about me. Best of all I got something that wasn't KFC or Hospital Cafeteria as a special bonus. It was just a salad from McDonald's which sounds like it's just really a dumb thing to get excited about, but after 3 weeks in the hospital with Caramon with only KFC and Cafeteria food... it was like a four star meal.  It really made my day.  Another time, a young boy had surgery and his family lived so far away they could not get off work and come to visit him.  So Caramon and I went up to this boy's room and played games with him.  It was late, he'd missed dinner, and wanted food.  So I went to the parent kitchen and made him a sandwich from my own stuff.  Seeing him smile and not be so alone really helped brighten our day in the hospital. Charity really is the pure love of Christ.

I want others to show long-suffering to me when - I am a fool and say something stupid. Really? This is pretty much everyday.  Sometimes my brain moves too fast. Sometimes I just don't know what you are going through. I really hate the idea that what I say might offend people and I know that I just say stupid stuff that causes pain. Please. Forgive me. I really don't mean to be stupid.

God shows long-suffering to me in these ways - Seriously? This is a question? Can I even begin to count the ways?  He loved me enough to send his Son to die for me. He hasn't yet gotten so sick of me he's struck me down by lightening or worse. I have probably the best and most patient Bishop on the planet earth (just no one tell him I said that).  Seems God somehow sends someone to say just the right thing to me when I need it most. 

Ephesians 4:1-4 says  - As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ²Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—

This week I will begin to ask God to -  I've been asking the Lord to help me find the patience to go on one more day. To help me find a brighter attitude. To forgive me for being a real depressed monster last week. (I blame hormones and stress. It was REALLY bad.) To help build my faith that I can strive for the light at the end of the tunnel that I sometimes cannot see.  To give me the strength to bear the crosses I've been asked to carry.

--Lady O

 

I decided before I ever entered Kindergarten that I wanted to write.  I loved making up stories, but even then I was smart enough to realize that writing little stories meant I'd slowly starve to death. My plan? Journalism. It had absolutely nothing to do with my schoolgirl crush on Superman. Which I've totally gotten past, too. No, really. I have.  I mean it!

Yeah I wouldn't believe me either. But come on. He shows off those great legs with tights, has a cape, can fly, and let's not even talk about the hair. So yeah, I dreamed of becoming Lois Lane and meeting Superman and totally winning him over to Team Oz.

For a short stint, I even got to work for a paper. It was great. I loved it. I miss it. Well, I miss the keeping in touch with the community, knowing what was going on, writing, using my brain, and meeting people.  I definitely don't miss the stress I went through worrying about my articles. I do not lie when I say this caused me extreme stress. I may blog, but when I write? It freaks me out to share. I worry. A lot.

Sadly, my industry is not fairing well these days. Newspapers are downsizing, closing, and changing in so many ways. It pains me to see their struggle because it is something I believe in.  Let's not even talk about the venomous hate people have towards journalists.  Or the fact that journalists are still barely making enough money to feed themselves while working constantly.  (Seriously, when I worked before I was often up until 4 AM writing my articles.)

Did I tell you about one of the highlights of my life? I toured the CNN HQ in Atlanta, GA and got to try out the teleprompter. Hey, I waited about three nanoseconds to see if anyone else would want to try before I jumped in front of everyone.  I got to say my name in the same sentence as "For CNN, this is..." 

I nearly melted. On the spot. Right there. *SWOON*

Ok, so why all of this? Well, because 1. This week I've been doing a little newshound-ish type stuff and it's made me super ecstatic. And that's all you are going to get on that topic.  2. I saw this new Barbie and while I've never been a huge fan of Barbie or anything but really? I want this.



I don't know what this means for me. I suppose it's just another example of what a geek I am. So I spent all morning solving the Rubik's Cube over and over. So I am lusting after the R2D2 Droid. I think we've all known that I am beyond geeky. Why try to hide it?

Now, how do I look like Barbie? Because if I did, I bet I could totally score one of those coveted 8,000 slots in America for this job. Yeah, dream on girls. I don't mean to burst your bubble, but really? This is a near impossible job to get. Never fear, I'm in the bubble with you.

--Lady O

A new study out by the Pew Research Center takes a look at religious knowledge across the United States.  Some are shocked by the results, while others are not. What are your thoughts on the study stating that the most knowledgeable groups about religion comprise of atheists, Jews, and Mormons?

These findings resulted in quite a few ruffled feathers as well as intrigue. The findings purely fascinated me. 

The first thing that needs stating is that the headlines touted the knowledge of three distinct groups that might upset many mainstream Christians, however the news is not all bad for them.  The question one might ask is, why did they score under the other three groups?  One might also ask, just how much under did mainstream Christians perform?

Truthfully? Not bad. Not great, but not bad.  Here's the base results of the 32 question quizze given to more than 3,000 Americans:

With an national average of 16 out of 32 questions correct, here's the average breakdown by subgroup:
Atheists/Agnostics - 20.9
Jewish - 20.5
Mormon - 20.3
White Evangelical Protestant - 17.6
White Catholic - 16.0
White Mainline Protestant - 15.8
Nothing in Particular - 15.2
Black Protestant - 13.4
Hispanic Catholic - 11.6

So sure, there's a definite drop after you see the top three, but it's not all bad.  There was definite evidence that amount of schooling, background, and location played a role in how well people did. Unless you were Jewish or Mormon.  Those two groups outperformed regardless of education level which is something to look at in and of itself.

Studies have long since proclaimed Mormons and Jewish to be among those that value education.  This is probably a good reason behind the results of this study.   But here's a look at some of the reasons that perhaps Mormons outperformed their Christian counterparts, taken from my own musings as well as quick discussions with other Mormons in leadership and non leadership positions.

Now, I know this study isn't going to prove to all the Christians out there that we are Christian, regardless of our using the name of the Savior in our Church name. (That's right, while we've come to accept people calling us Mormon, which was once a derogatory slur, the actual name of our church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Sadly, there are many that I've met who did not know this and seemed surprised that we would use the name of he-who's-church-it-is in the actual name of our church. Good surprise, but surprise none the less.)  I think it is safe to say that regardless how you feel about us, we do seem to know our stuff.

According to the study, Mormons scored the highest on Biblical knowledge with 7.9 out of 12 questions correct.  (White evangelicals came in second with 7.3 correct.)  We also scored third highest in the world religions category with 5.6 out of 11 questions answered correctly.  (Above us were Atheists at 7.5 and Jews at 7.9.)

Now, to the reasons:

One of the first things out of people's mouths: Seminary.  For non-Mormons out there, Seminary is typically thought of as the school one must attend in which to become a clergyman. If someone says they are entering the Seminary, you know they want to be some sort of preacher, pastor, or the like. For Mormons, with a lay (IE: non paid made up of the general public of the congregation) ministry, we don't have anything like this. 

So what is Seminary? It's a four year study of scripture that our high school age students around the world participate in. If you are lucky enough to live in Utah, or somewhere with an overwhelmingly high Mormon population this can get placed into your normal school day. For the rest of us unlucky souls, this means an hour of instruction before the school day starts. Seminary in my congregation runs from 6-7 AM Monday-Friday.  This is free for all high school students and a requirement if you want to attend BYU.  Each year you study a different book of Scripture.  For those unsure what our scriptures are that would include a full year for the Old Testament, the New Testament, The Book of Mormon, and finally the Doctrine and Covenants (IE History of the Church).

That's a good start to learning about religion, especially our own. We also have courses at the college level open to all adults.  At BYU this is required of all students, and areas in America offer it primarily for college-aged adults and sometimes for those past the typical college age and is called Institute. It builds on what you learned in Seminary. 

The very next thing involved our Church worship.  We attend three hours of Church on Sunday alone. Twice a year, the leaders of the Church itself speak to us for 12 hours in one weekend.  (With an additional hour and a half the week before geared toward teen girls and their leaders in the spring and all adult women in the fall.)  If you want to check it out, it streams live over the internet, on BYU TV, on smart phones with the Mormon Radio app, and in some areas on local tv and is this very weekend.  These proceedings are translated live into dozens of languages and you can download within about four hours these proceedings to listen to you on your mp3 player, home computer, or what have you. And in one month's time we can receive a published version of the addresses in print which are then used as lessons on the fourth Sunday of each month as well as whatever personal study we'd like to do on our own.  And, by the way, you can read conference address for several decades on the church website.

Which segways right into that... according to this study nearly half of Americans (48%) say that outside of their scripture, they do not read books on religion or use the internet to learn about even their own church.  Of course only 37% said they read their scripture at least once a week outside of services. However black Protestants (29%), white Evangelicals (30%), and Mormons (51%) stated that they DID read books about religion and accessed the web to learn about their own religion at least once a week.  I can attest that we use lds.org on a daily basis in my house. I will also attest to having people call me for information and I'll say, "But that's on lds.org" and then end up pulling the information for them anyway.

Another factor that probably allowed us to score high in this survey is our missionary action.  You can spot our 20 year old Elders a mile away. Who else would be at the Boy Scout Jamboree in a white shirt, black pants, and a tie when it's 112 degrees outside? Or riding a bike in a non-urban area?  Even the Kirby salesmen leave the suits at home.  These boys look like door to door bankers when they are tracting.  A mission is typically a two year long, full time, at the cost of the misisonary and his family experience in which daily scripture study is required, meeting people with different beliefs is a given, and can even include learning another language in a matter of months.  (Women can also serve missions that include the same requirements but are 18 months in duration.)

There's other factors from our encouragement of weekly family nights which are supposed to include a lesson, family scripture study, study between husbands and wives, attending the Temple for further worship and edification between Tuesday and Saturday, the training our members receive throughout the year in fulfilling their duties in the congregation, and preparing for lessons or addresses. (For example I just spoke for about ten minutes at a baptism of two girls on not only baptism but the Holy Ghost.  I've spoken to the church membership about Temple work, prayer, family history, overcoming adversity, the meaning of Christmas, blessings, and the power of the priesthood.  Who knows what my next address will be on!)  

There's plenty of other things I heard mentioned that I could expound on, but I think I've done enough for now. I will say I found the study fascinating.  And scary.  Are there really people who think that Stephen King wrote Moby Dick? Yikes!

At any rate, maybe now that you can see some of what Mormons do, you can understand the results. These programs and expectations must factor into the results in some way.  Have you any thoughts?

If you want to read more, here's the link pewforum.org/Other-Beliefs-and-Practices/U-S-Religious-Knowledge-Survey.aspx

There is also a quizze of fifteen questions based off the full quizze you can take.  What religion was Mother Teresa, who founded the Mormon religion, who started the reformation, what is Ramadan, and other such questions.  All are multiple choice which makes it a bit easier.

--Lady O