NEW BLOG URL!!!

Heads up!  I've decided on a new blog name and URL, so as long as no one snatches it up between now and September 1st, we'll be "moving" to "Here in the Waiting Place." ( http://hereinthewaitingplace.blogspot.com/ )  I say "moving" because it will be this same blog, all my old posts will be there, I'm just changing the URL and Title to get with the times a little.  So please make adjustments accordingly on or after September 1st.  :)

"You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles cross weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or the waiting around for a Yes or No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for the wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting."

~Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

This pretty much sums up my feelings about our lives right now, and while we're having more fun than it might suggest, it still seems appropriate.  Maybe in a year or two we'll "somehow...escape all that waiting and staying (and) find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing."  But, for now, we wait, we love, and we blog.  :)

Sunday Thoughts: Weaknesses

All through sacrament meeting today I couldn't stop the scripture from repeating over and over again in my mind about how if we come to the Lord, He will show unto us our weaknesses so that we can become humble (Ether 12:27).  That's a hard truth, especially because when we truly feel the weight of our weaknesses, we don't feel close to the Lord at all.  I'm a fairly self-aware person, and I am especially acutely aware of many of my frailties and sins.  I'm a perfectionist in the worst way--to the point that I internally beat myself up over any weakness so much that I often can't move beyond that, to the doing and the becoming and the real humility (which is the point).  I struggle with humility.  Self-deprecation is not humility.  True humility is more about realizing how reliant we are on the Savior and our Heavenly Father to be everything that we are and to become everything we want to be, which actually leads to confidence.  I work hard every day on improving myself, but I often rely on my own strengths and persistence and teachableness alone to push my way through, instead of letting the Lord carry me.  And I take all the credit if it works out well, which just feels lonely.  And it just leads me to feel worse about myself when I know I'm not measuring up.  How much better off would we be if we let Him give us His enabling power, grace, to truly transform our weaknesses into our strengths instead of just using our own abilities to struggle through them?  It's the difference between enduring to the end and enduring it well.

I have been particularly concerned lately with the weakness that is my body.  Doctrinally I understand that our bodies are a gift and an eternal part of our immortal nature, and that as such we must take care of them in specific ways so that they can be proper temples for our spirits to dwell in.  I also am extremely grateful that, relative to many people in this world, I have a healthy body.  I can breathe without much trouble, walk with both legs, see clearly with glasses, hear just fine, eat solid foods with strong teeth, and none of the rampant diseases of the world are tearing away at my immune system or making my bones brittle or my skin fall off, etc.  I am a fairly healthy person, even with my fairly sedentary lifestyle.  But I would love to get to the point where I love my body and feel like it's a gift instead of an adversary I do battle with every day.  Between weight problems, major joint/nerve pain/damage, infertility issues, and (the source of much of it) a thyroid wreaking havoc on my body--not to mention the pressures of society that you can't help but feel to look a certain way, every inch of you--I feel like waving my little white flag at the end of the day in surrender to the BEAST of a body I have been "blessed" with.  I've been thinking about this weakness--the parts that I cannot control, and even more the parts I can but am choosing foolishly not to--and what effect it has had on my life.  And while the progress of that battle won't be as easy to define (or account for) as it may be for others, it's a battle that is my own to fight, and fight it I must.  But instead of trying to do it on my own, this time I want to bring the Lord into it in a bit more.  Maybe then I'll actually have some success.

Griffey Family Reunion

My great grandma Griffey, who's nearly 99, and as many descendants of hers as could make it gathered at Columbian Park yesterday for our annual family reunion!  It was great seeing a few family members we hadn't seen in a while, although the majority of people there I had no idea who they were.  :)  But mostly I just hung out with the kids, anyway.

Great Grandma, still kickin' at 99!

I recognize about HALF the faces here...

...more of the extended family.

My dad's family, and his sister with her hubby and kid, and they're brother's wife and sister-in-law.

Just dad's fam...and Great Grandma.  :)

A rare happy shot--it was SOOOOOO hot, AND his naptime, so he was pretty cranky for most of it.  But peekaboo always wins!

Cooling down at the park's zoo's watery entrance.

Caida, happily getting splashed by metal elephants.

The poor wallabies were thirsty!  With 97+ degree temperatures, can't blame them.

The river otter tunnel!

My brother Ben as a prairie dog.

Brother Lukey and niece Caida.

Luke liked the petting zoo, especially the pregnant goats.

I *loved* how this little guy was putting himself up for sale!  Hahaha!

Caida at the Dino Dig.

Ben.

Luke.

"Hey, guys, I found something!"

The three little monkeys.

"This is the happiest day of my life." ~Lukey, upon seeing the monkeys.

Back to the water to cool off again!

Tanner was soaked.

What could be better than water on a hot day?  Snowcones!  Well, shaved ice, anyway...

In spite of the heat, it was a lot of fun.  But shaved ice and all, I got a wee bit too hot, and got a little sick to my stomach, and when I got home I fell asleep and pretty much slept through my 10-year high school reunion.  But that was okay, because I didn't really want to go, anyway.  Who has a high school reunion at a local bar instead of the actual school?  And who wants to revisit high school when you were a depressed teenager without any friends?  I like my life now WAY better than my life then, and have no desire to look back.  Besides, one reunion in a day is more than enough!  :)

Food in Florida

Maybe it was because we were in Florida, or maybe it was just because I didn't have to cook AT ALL while we were there, but I loved eating during our vacation.  First of all, the hotel provided a hot breakfast every day AND dinners Monday-Thursday.  When we weren't taking advantage of that, we were eating out on the company's dime.  Two cool places worth mentioning:

Thai food (our favorite) at Thai Ruby!  It had a different selection than the Thai places here, but it was still pretty awesome.  I think I like Basil Thai better, though...but maybe it's just because it is familiar.

AND...Columbia!  It's Florida's oldest restaurant (since 1905), in Ybor.  It's a little pricey for average dinner food, in my honest opinion, but the ambiance of the old building as well as the FLAMENCO SHOW totally make up for it!  I so need to learn how to dance.  :)  We went with two of Paul's coworkers, and that was a fun change of pace.  Definitely a good parting dinner, since I left EARLY the next morning for home.  Sorry for all the blurriness, we only had our phone cameras with us, and they don't do well inside...in the dark...with lots of moving people.  :)

Clearwater Beach and Swimming!

You can't go all the way to Florida and not hit up a beach at least once!  :)  We went to Clearwater, and it was BEAUTIFUL.  I seriously want to go spend a week there.  They have cute little shops and cafes right across the street, with a real "boardwalk" kind of feel.  Couldn't have asked for warmer weather, or warmer water.  The white sand along the Gulf was amazingly fine, and the best part?  We got within 10 feet of a manatee that was just chilling with all the swimmers!  That's close enough to be a misdemeanor!  I wish we had thought to bring along a camera IN the water, but we were too afraid it would get destroyed.  So you get what you get.  :)

Haha, these turtles were on all the showering stations around the entrances.  I love them!

My free souvenirs, which I'm going to turn into a bracelet or something soon!

Beautiful flowers, which were EVERYWHERE in Florida!

And, of course, the palm trees lining every road.

Haha, this picture's for my Ya-Yas...we have a restaurant to eat at when we go there together someday!

Amazing view on the way back--just water and sky, separated by miles of bridges.

That dark blog in the middle of the picture is the manatee.

Here's a slightly better view...of course, we got a LOT closer than this later on before we found out it was a small crime!

When it started to get late enough our meter was going to run out, we headed home...but still felt like swimming, so we hit up the hotel's pool.  It was beautiful, too!  A little colder than the salty waters of the Gulf, but still amazing enough we got sunburned.  :)

See?  It's BEAUTIFUL.

Paul, acting like the manatee.  :)

*Sigh*  Just LOOKING at all these pictures again makes me want to go back!