Marta

 This week has been a difficult week. I need to record the miracles so I never forget and I don't have to repeat these lessons!  quare On Monday, Martin Luther King day, our office was closed. I went early to clean as I normally do. Brin and Sara were there, willing to help. They did for a bit, then they went to the college to workout in the gym.  Brad came a little later, and we sat down and talked about Brinley for a bit. In the end, I felt like we had made progress towards understanding, but still had discrepencies about how were moving forward. We went to leave the office, and I was still feeling frustrated. I pulled up the driveway, and thought I was going. to drive away someplace for some time. The light was red, and I had to wait. Brad caught up to me behind, and called me on my phone. I told him I was not feeling happy and that I was grateful he caught me so I couldn't just drive away. He didn't hear me say that at all. He had something he wanted from Lowes, and so

I want to record this link to the article about the pearls that Kamala Harris and others are wearing pearls this week. Other commentators have talked about them, but none as eloquently as this article does.  https://www.poet nytimes.com/2021/01/19/style/inaugurations-pearls-kamala-harris.html To quote the article:   "430,000 women who are members of a Facebook group called “Wear Pearls on Jan 20 2021.” The idea is to honor Kamala Harris who wore her signature pearls when she graduated Howard University, was sworn into Congress, grilled Brett Kavanaugh, debated Vice President Mike Pence, as she received her Covid-19 vaccine and again on Inauguration Day when she was sworn in as the country’s first female vice president." “They represent sisterhood,” said Darnell-Jamal Lisby, a fashion historian.  "The group was started in early December by Hope Aloaye, 46, a retired Navy chief who lives in Orange Park, Fla. “I woke up and thought, ‘We need to come together as women not ju

 Kranz later stated, “Once you think of surrendering [. . .] that is the path you go down. You [. . .] have lost [. . .] the mental sharpness [. . .] that is going to take this survival situation and bring it to a successful conclusion.”4

 "T he silence of heaven is a temporary state. Even during those times that our pain and fear drown out His words, He is always there, beside us, holding our hand, anxious to do all that is necessary to heal us and ultimately save us." (Ogden, C., 2020  https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/inspiration/its-difficult-to-see-clearly-through-eyes-blurred-with-tears?lang=eng) “You can’t see anything properly while your eyes are blurred with tears. You can’t, in most things, get what you want if you want it too desperately: anyway, you can’t get the best out of it. … The time when there is nothing at all in your soul except a cry for help may be just the time when God can’t give it: you are like the drowning man who can’t be helped because he clutches and grabs. Perhaps your own reiterated cries deafen you to the voice you hoped to hear” (C. S. Lewis,  A Grief Observed  [New York City: Bantam Books, 1988], 53–54).

Parley P. Pratt once taught, “The gift of the Holy Ghost . . . quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural passions and affections. . . . It inspires, develops, cultivates and matures all the fine-toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindred feelings, and affections of our nature. It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness, and charity. It develops beauty of person, form and features. It tends to health, vigor, animation, and social feeling. It invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man. It strengthens, and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being.” 1

 Questions for General Conference What can I do to help my family (sons and daughters) be more committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ? What do I need to change to help them see my own commitment and choose to commit their own life? Is there something I can do to change the relationship for the better with Paulsen's?  As we have this restoration year, I wish we could restore that relationship. My kids don't even know them. I have tried to reach out, only to be hurt again and again. Is it time to do something more? Or is it still time to wait?  What can I do to strengthen my marriage? How can I better balance my time so I have time to take care of all the responsibilities and promptings I have been given? I need to take care of Brad, do my school work, keep up the accounting jobs at the office, do the cleaning and advertising for the office, and yet be a homeschooling MOM!  Sophia asked this week "What was your dream job when you were little?" It was to be a Mom! I fee