September 11th/Autumn Time

On Saturday, Dave and I went for a run.  The weather was brisk and pleasant.  The sun was shining.  It was great to get outside and exercise after a week of school and work.  There were two things that I reflected on as I ran: 1) the date, September 11th; and 2) the season, with its oncoming harvest.

My thoughts on #1: Out on lawns that we passed, there were flags out to...I don't know the right word to use.  Celebrate September 11th?  That doesn't seem right.  Remind people of September 11th?  That's probably closer to the purpose of the flags.  Either way, I thought quite a bit about the events of that day 9 years ago and how it has affected my life.

I also reflected on the disturbance that this event has caused in the world and in our country.  There are lots of people who have been rejected or discriminated against because they are (or look) Middle Eastern.  There are people who have been attacked and abused for their religious beliefs. There are even Christians who think it is okay to show great disrespect to religious symbols and to the people who hold them sacred as some kind of protest.  I ask, why can't Christians forgive and show respect, even if there is still pain caused by memories of the September 11th attack?  Why can't people who weren't involved in that event be respected and loved?

September 11th should be a day when everyone everywhere thinks about the lives that were lost in the terror attacks, and also about the injustices that have come about and how we can change that.

My thoughts on #2: As Dave and I ran, I noticed lots of signs of approaching fall.  The temperature was fairly low.  There were apple trees and alfalfa fields.  We saw a full pumpkin field the other day, and it was the first time that we had recognized the crop as pumpkins.

I reflected that Autumn time is a time for harvesting again at the end of the year.  We're blessed with so much abundance.  But there's no more time for a farmer to improve his crop.  It has to be harvested how it is.

We (everyone) are going to be harvested by God, whether we're ready or not.  At the end of our lives (which could come any time) we will be judged with how we've acted and the faith that we've had.  We should demonstrate that faith daily.  And as a Christian, I don't think that disrespecting other religious beliefs and texts is a demonstration of faith.  So, beforfe we are "harvested", we need to try today to be the people that God wants us to be.

Adoption

I have two family members and one friend who are trying to adopt.  And I just realized how extremely hard it must be to wait for someone to choose you as the parent of their child.

So, in order to help with that process, I'm going to post about my friend Rachel and how she's trying to adopt.  If you know someone who is giving their baby up for adoption, please read on!

Rachel was one of the girls I lived with as a freshman at BYU.  She liked to have a lot of fun, and made life in our dorm very exciting!  I haven't really seen her much since that time, 8 years ago, but I've kept myself updated through her blog and a few mutual friends that we have.

Rachel is married and living in Buffalo, NY.  She and her husband Ryan both love kids, and they have volunteered in an orphanage in El Salvador every summer since they got married.  They are unable to have children of their own, and would love to adopt.

They just recently had their profile put up on LDS Family Services' website, which is the organization that they are adopting through.  The adoption agency is affiliated with their church, but the birth parents do not need to share their religion, nor do they need to live in New York.  And they would love a child of any race or background.

Check out their profile and pass it on to your friends if you think that they may know someone who needs this information.

Here is the link to the profile: https://www.itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/24585097/ourMessage.jsf

I hope that sometime soon, Rachel and Ryan are connected with the right people so that they can adopt.

Beautiful Easter!

There is a green hill far away,
Without a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified,
Who died to save us all.

We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains he had to bear,
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.

There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin.
He only could unlock the gate
Of heav'n and let us in.

Oh, dearly, dearly has he loved!
And we must love him too,
And trust in his redeeming blood,
And try his works to do.

~ Cecil Frances Alexander

Women's Conference!

I went to Women's Conference today! It was great! I could only go to one day of it because of work, and I actually only had time today to go to two of the classes. But it was still way fun. Here are some thoughts from Julie B. Beck (General Relief Society President) that I'd like to share:

Her talk was called Nourishing and Protecting the Family. She spoke about the definition of the family, and why it was important; the problems that families face; and what we can do to protect our families.

One of her ideas about the importance of the family was a story about her own family. I loved this story. She said that her mother was an older woman when she got married. I'm not sure how old she meant, though. But she had already graduated from college and had a career. She had a lot of things that she enjoyed, like skis, a bowling ball, a racquetball racket. And then she met her husband. He was a widower with three children, and Sister Beck's mom said that all five of them fell in love at the same time! The mom had to decide to give up her career and BECOME a mom. Sister Beck emphasized the choice that she made to sacrifice so that she could have a family. And then on their honeymoon, the two parents talked about what kinds of things they wanted to include in their family. They talked about how they wanted their kids to be married in the temple. They talked about education and work. And Sister Beck's message was about how communication is a big part of preparing for problems.

Some of the problems that she talked about included the idea that the world puts forth, that children really aren't important or desirable. She also included pornography, financial strain, and other problems. She said to FIGHT for our families! And I don't think that that means to fight our families! When we're having problems that are caused by imperfections in our family members, fighting the problem doesn't mean fighting them. It means doing things that will change the circumstances and support our family members. It means creating an atmosphere that is conducive to change.

It was a great talk. Right now they don't have the transcripts for this year up, but sometime soon they will have the transcript of her talk on the Women's Conference web page, and you can find it here.

Day of Faith: Personal Quests for a Purpose

My friend Josh had posted a video of a Harvard Latter-day Saint girl named Rachel Esplin explaining Mormonism. The forum was a Harvard panel discussion of several students from different religious backgrounds called Day of Faith: Personal Quests for a Purpose. All of the different students are interesting to listen to. Take a look!