Going Green

Some people may call me a granola girl but I choose to say I'm just trying to do my part to not clutter the world as much.   When I went to USU I had a roommate, Robin Wignall, who had boxes in the kitchen for recycling.  She had a box for milk cartons, for paper, and cans.  I got in the habit because of Robin to recycle.  She would take these down to the recycling center every time they got full.  I thought this was so cool.  It wasn't much longer I was married and I carried on the torch of recycling to my own home.  I remember loading up our recycled goods every couple weeks and driving it down to Smiths.  After Devin and I had been married 7 years we moved to Nibley and I kept on recycling.  Our nearest recycling was just up the road but they didn't do everything, so sometimes did two drop offs to unload glass.  The one that really drove me crazy was plastic bags.  I always forget to unload them when I'm at the grocery store so they sit in my van forever.  Now I just use them as garbage liners and I have recently tried to use my own fabric grocery bags.  The hardest thing is just remembering to bring them with me in the store.  I don't always remember but the times I do it makes me fill like I'm helping just a little. 

Now I feel like it's come full circle because I have a beautiful blue garbage can that I put out in front of my house!  They pick that up every other week and it's wonderful. The only thing I still take to the recycling center is over sized cardboard boxes, Christmas trees, and glass.   I am really glad that it's getting easier to be environmentally friendly.  Going green seems to be the cool way of saying it lately.  One thing we are going to start as soon as it gets warmer is composting our fruit and vegetable scrapes for our garden.  I stop doing this in the winter, it's just too cold!  

It takes planning and organizing to recycle and I think that's why sometimes its hard to do.  But God has given us this beautiful earth to enjoy and care for.  The month our Primary has been focusing on D&C 88:119. One of the points of making a house of God is to establish a house of order. We each can make ourselves, our homes, our neighborhoods, and cities a little more orderly. If everyone does their own part we can make a difference.  If you have any ideas that that you have tried lately in "Going Green", please share. 

Another Great Sunday

This Sunday really was a great Sunday, once we got to church that is.  With the shift of Daylight Savings it was a little difficult to make it to church on time.  We usually go to choir practice at 8:15 before Sacrament meeting but that didn't happen.  I was suppose to meet a family that I was accompanying for a musical number a few minutes before the meeting and luckily I made it just in time to still practice.  

Devin was asked to talk in sacrament about Priesthood blessings.  The whole week we were revisiting experiences he and our family have had that have strengthened our testimonies of the Power of God.  The more we remembered the more humbled we became in knowing how much the Lord has blessed us through the Priesthood.  

Some of the times we remember is when Traeden was 6 months old and had complications with his circumcision.  We took him to the ER after he filled one diaper with blood.  After we arrived there, Traeden was just so upset and we didn't have a Binky to help soothe him.  Devin ran home to get a Binky and thought he would call our good friend Dan to help give him a blessing.  They came and administered to Traeden and the sweet feeling of love, comfort, and healing the blessing  pronounced touched us all.  

When the Kids stared school this year Devin gave Traeden and Conrad a Fathers blessing to help them be calm and ready for a new school year.  After he gave each of them a blessing; Samantha, only 2 years old, went up and sat in the chair and said "my turn."  We chuckled a bit and then saw how reverently she sat there, so Devin gave her the sweetest blessing.  She stayed very calm and reverent during the blessing and the spirit testified of the Lord's love for this sweet little girl.  

I always wondered how the priesthood holder knows what to bless people with.  How do they know if it's the spirit prompting them to say something or is it their own thoughts.  Devin shared this example that help me understand how he does it.  When he was a missionary, his companion needed to see a doctor.  So Devin left the Missionary Training Center (MTC) and went to a nearby hospital.  While at the hospital, they were stopped by a woman who asked them to give a blessing to her 80 year old father who was going to have surgery.  This was a stranger to him and he wanted to be sure he said what the Lord wanted the man to know.  As he started giving the man a blessing he pictured a blank screen and let the spirit fill the screen with the words of the blessing.  The man was promised that he would recover from the surgery and be able to go home to his loving family.  

I am so grateful for Devin's example he shows our children in honoring and serving with the Priesthood. The Priesthood is such a wonderful blessing and I'm thankful to have a husband who is worthy to use it.