When reality hits you

This morning, I woke up to a quick kiss from Danny. We said a prayer together and then he left for work. I spent a few moments trying to decide whether I'd wake up or go back to sleep and decided to get moving for the day. Imagine my shock at finding the news about the Colorado shootings. Perhaps you felt it yourself.

For those of you who haven't heard, there was a brutal shooting in Aurora, CO at the midnight premiere of the new Batman movie. I've literally spent all morning obsessing over the news story, and trying to come to terms with the fact that this could easily have happened to any of us, anywhere in the world.

There's a part of me that wants to panic, to never attend a midnight showing ever again, and to refuse to even go see the new movie, no matter how good I've heard it is. It brings to mind speeches and talks I've heard of where violent movies/video games were discussed as a potential cause of violent behavior later in life.

We all make choices in life. It's up to us to accept the consequences for those choices. But I find it hard to see why it is that other people's bad choices have to affect us directly or indirectly in such negative ways.

I've found a few answers to these questions and confusing feelings as I've thought about the events of last night: just basic gospel principals (for those of you who don't know, I am a Mormon):

1. God knows each of us here on Earth by name. He knows our deepest thoughts, fears, and desires. He also knows what we are capable of handling by way of trials in our lives. It is up to us to meet the refiner's fire, no matter how hot or heart-wrenching it feels, and live our lives the best we can, relying on our Savior every minute of every day.

2. It is not our place to judge. No matter how terrified, how sad, and how confused I, or any of you, feel about the man's actions in Colorado, it is not for us to decide if he will be saved or not. It is our obligation to obey the commandments of God, and forgiveness is one of them:  

"Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin. I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men." 

Doctrine and Covenants 64: 9-10

3. We are all Sons and Daughters of our Heavenly Father. Our Spirits "grew up" together before we chose to come to Earth. Whatever relief I feel that this terrifying event didn't take place in a theater near me, that it didn't happen to me or my family, I find myself realizing that at some point in my pre-mortal life, it is likely that I knew some or all of the people involved--they are a part of my family: my spiritual family. My heart goes out to them. 

I pray with all of my heart that the families involved will find comfort they seek. I know that there is life after death. In the words of Albus Dumbledore, "death is just the beginning." Whatever the world says, death is NOT the end. Our Spirits and our bodies will be reunited one day in total perfection, to prepare to meet our God and our Savior. We ALL will live again, will have the chance to be reunited with lost loved ones, and will have the opportunity to meet those ancestors who passed away well before we were alive. Christ will come again and we will be judged according to our actions here on Earth. I know each of these truths without a doubt.

Oh what do you do in the summer time...

It's summer time, and in AZ, for those of you who don't live here, this means MONSOON season! Yeesh. It's July and officially MONSOON season. 

Our backyard is royally flooded. Pretty sweet huh? Wrong! We do NOT want our house flooded! :P

Danny's first instinct? "Let's make paper boats!" 

So, we did. Correction: Danny did. :D

His hands are moving so fast here you can't even see his fingers!

It. Was. Awesome.

Epically awesome. 

Oh, and the cat joined in too!

Here's a link to the page where he found instructions for anyone who wants to try making these nifty boats:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Paper-Boat 

 

THE MAIDEN VOYAGE

 

The rain was battering down pretty hard.

Currently, the sailing is going well...

Crashed on shore. Testing, failed. Next time, we'll build a bigger one! 

Despite the warning not to leave the house, Danny and I are off to Famous Dave's with Don and Debbie Hubbs. Food + Rainy day = Very good. 

Tah-tah for now! Enjoy the rain and stay safe!

 

A family reunion and a trip to the lake

Imagine a tarantula. Now add a hard shell and evil looking claws. The spidery legs just keep wiggling, squirming, almost touching your fingers. Snappish is what you could call those claws.

Despite the miniature size of the crawdads our nieces and nephews pulled out of Big Lake, AZ, I still managed to scream when the one I was holding wriggled all over the place (most likely in the middle of its death throws).  It. Was. Nasty.

This was RIGHT before I screamed because the legs looked like they were going to get me.

Other activities included being rained on in the tent (no rain actually in the tent, but it sure sounded like it wanted to come in...), reading, because Danny and I LOVE the books we're reading, and of course, fishing around Big Lake--at least watching fishing take place. It was really neat to meet more members of my new family.

Don't I look like a little librarian? A very tan librarian lol.

One of the neatest experiences I had the whole family reunion was hearing stories about the Donaldson ancestors. Obviously, I couldn't have known most of them, but a few of them were Danny's great aunts and uncles. It's incredible the memories their sons and daughters still have of them. I only hope that they'll preserve them in writing some how, if they haven't already.

Speaking of family stories, I'd like to share a story my sister-in-law shared with me when Danny and I first arrived. I hope Sarah doesn't mind: their son, my nephew, got feeling pretty sick early on at the reunion. He was running a fever, feeling pretty low. Sarah was thinking they might need to take him into town and have him checked out. Their son's reply was that he didn't need a doctor, he just needed his Grandpa Don and uncle to give him a blessing. His Dad was at the lake with the other kids, or else in town picking up medicine (Sarah, I don't remember which). Don and I think it was Billy gave him a priesthood blessing. In the blessing Don basically told my nephew Sam that if he had faith, that he would recover from his illness. It was only a matter of hours before Sam was up and about, wreaking havoc in the campsite with the other cousins. Even though I wasn't there, I know exactly what Sam was feeling before and after he was given a blessing.

There have been many times that I asked my Dad for a blessing because I was sick, and times I've asked Danny to exercise the priesthood (the authority to act in God's name) to give me a blessing of healing or of comfort. I know my Heavenly Father was listening and according to my faith, those blessings have been fulfilled. I'm so thankful for the priesthood in my home and in my family.

Danny and I also had the opportunity to go to Saguaro Lake with my family this weekend. These are just a few pictures.

The angle of the photo just makes Danny's arm look tiny. He really is a normal-looking person. :P Love you Danny!

Would you believe me if I said this is a picture taken with a cell phone camera? I know, pretty sweet huh.

The highlights of the lake trip:

-- Danny getting up on the wakeboard for a little bit, and then totally eating it. I wish I'd taken a video. lol He hadn't wakeboarded in 15 years! I think he did pretty awesome!

-- My brother Cameron doing crazy jumps over the wake, sometimes landing them, and other times....well, just kinda smacking around into the water.

-- My sister Brooklyn slalom-skiing. I must say, she's pretty dang good at it.

-- Tubing with Danny. Cameron was driving the boat. Never letting him do that again. We got thrown so hard, my stomach hurts again just thinking about it! :P

-- Watching Jenna and Evan tube behind the boat. They're so tiny in that giant thing!

-- My Mom jumping into the lake with Evan to go to our neighbor's boat and eat food (he was hungry.)

-- Being on my Dad's newly reupholstered boat. Red, white, and blue inside and out. It was definitely awesome. 

I'm SO grateful to have a wonderful family to spend time with. We had a blast at the lake, and I look forward to spending more time there with them. Off to more work this week? I think yes.

Coundown of early mornings left this summer: FIVE. :D

Random Funnies

So since pictures aren't up from the recent family reunion, I have a funny story from about....11 minutes ago.

Danny and I are watching a TV show, no big right? But then, suddenly, I have to PEE. I run to the bathroom, go to sit down, and SPLAT!

I fall down on the inner rim of the toilet seat, nearly splashing my bum in the cold water. Thankfully, I hadn't started tinkling yet.

"Danny!" I screamed. "What!?" he called back. "Don't leave the toilet seat up!"

This was his reply: "But then I wouldn't be able to laugh at you!"

:P

Husbands...gotta love 'em. :D