Carol's random babble

Hey, that's what this blog is all about, right? Okay, two Sundays ago (Sept. 18), we had some awesome talks in Sacrament meeting. First was Chad B., a young man getting ready to go on a mission. Then came Elder G., who talked about being comfortable sharing the Gospel. He pointed out that we are comfortable talking about movies and sports with people, but not so comfortable talking about the Gospel. Part of that is being familiar with the Gospel. Last talk was Elder E. He's from South Carolina, and when he got his mission call to Iowa, he wanted very strongly to come to Fort Dodge. He told us why at the end of his talk - his great-grandfather attends our ward! Brother T. sits in the front row of the chapel and was there that Sunday. It was truly awesome to hear that. I made a decision that Sunday to not read any fiction books until I've read the Book of Mormon all the way through. I'm currently up to Alma 2. I'm power reading this time, but will write down scripture...

I've been meaning to post that I made sort of a pledge - I won't read any novels until I've read the Book of Mormon all the way through. I made this decision on Sunday after some awesome talks by one young man who is ready to go on a mission and two missionaries. They talked about being comfortable talking about the gospel. I realized that I have no problems talking TV shows, movies, books and bargains with people, but I'm not comfortable talking about the gospel. Part of my problem is I've never read the Book of Mormon all the way through. So, I'm "power-reading" it. I try to get a surface understanding, but I'm not going for depth this time around. I'll read it quickly, then go back for more in-depth understanding. I'm up to Jacob 7 next. And ... this morning is a doozy already. Both girls missed the bus. Kent had a physical therapy appointment at 8:45 a.m., which would be a stretch with everything else - dropping the girls at school, pic...

I've been the Gospel Doctrine teacher in our ward since last October. I was called, but didn't get sustained for a couple of weeks (General Conference was the Sunday following my talk with the Bishop). So, I was recently called to be a Primary teacher and 3 weeks later I'm sustained. The Bishop was gone for a couple of weeks. And, it very nearly didn't happen last Sunday - my bit of ward business was at the end of sacrament meeting. ;-) I'm to be sustained next Sunday, but I'll be teaching my new class then. My 12-year-old daughter is in my class. I haven't taught Primary in more than 20 years (long period of mostly inactivity in that time period). I've got a lovely Primary manual in a binder with the pictures in page protectors. The manual looks untouched. That's going to change. I leave my mark on manuals with pen and highlighter. You should see what I turned in to the Sunday School president. I apologized to the new Gospel Doctrine teacher, but ho...

Today is the first day of school. Amanda is in 7th grade now, beginning at a new middle school. She's just that much closer to high school (where's the "EEK" smiley when I need it?)! Cayla is in 4th grade - her last year in elementary school. EEK again. I made cake mix cookies for breakfast and told each of them my customary goodbye, "goodbye, have fun, be good." Although I've been waiting for this, I'm still not ready. But, I'll go right back into my routine: stay up late, up at 6 a.m., go on the computer until the kids are out the door, then back to bed for my morning nap, get up, have lunch, get ready to go to work. It's naptime. ;-)

Read the third and fifth posts. Now, that's a cool mother-child relationship. This thread has been picked up and commented on by many others. ;-)

Warning: the above link is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. It is something that Serenity / Firefly fans will appreciate, however. I don't go to movies very often - I usually wait for them to come out on DVD. I'm cheap, okay? But Serenity is something I want to see on the big screen. It deserves it. I'm a latecomer to the Firefly phenomenon. I work nights, so I never got to see the show while it was on TV. My niece bought the DVD set and loaned it to me. I watched every episode (in order, even!). I'm hooked. So, I'll be going to see the movie when it comes out. I might even see it twice. I don't recall going to see a movie on 2 separate occasions. But it's worth the money.

It's just past midnight. I'll be going to bed in a few minutes. But, first, let me tell you why I left work late tonight (around 11:15 p.m. instead of 10:30 p.m.). That would be because I got a phone call from a person I shall not name who wanted to know if there would be a story in tomorrow's paper about an accident that happened in a completely different part of the state. At least one victim is supposed to be from this area. Well, no, we didn't have anything. And, we didn't have anybody currently in the newsroom who was qualified to do anything about it. So, I called the person who had been "on desk" that evening. I was advised to try to get information and leave info for the person on desk and reporter who would be working tomorrow. I called my informant back, and got a possible name of the victim. With that information, I tried calling the hospital where the victim was supposed to be. They had no information for me. I don't know if that means I ha...