Stephenson Family Ties

Charlotte: We're leaving on the warm updraft. This is our

moment for setting forth. We are aeronauts and we are

going out into the world to make webs for ourselves.

Wilber: But where?

Charlotte: Wherever the wind takes us. High, low, near, far

east, west, north, south. We take the breeze, we go as we please.

from: Charlotte's Web

by: E.B. White

I really thought last night was to be the night.
We ALL thought that last night was to be the night.

In lieu we got snow.

Instead we heard the news of Josh's engagement to darling Jordan!!
Happy News!!!

And one more thing...

There is not one unhealthy snack to be found stashed anywhere in this house of Anna's and Dave's.
I want to console my impatience with sugar. I think Im going through some sort of withdrawal and find myself hunting the cupboards, drawers, and refrigerator shelves for something unhealthy...and it cant be found!! Ugh!!
White sugar withdrawal
White flour withdrawal.
St George withdrawal.
Hiking withdrawal.
Grandbaby withdrawal.

Please dont get the impression that I want to be anywhere else but here!! For I dont!! I love hang'in with my dear daughter and David....but my strong suit has never been patience. To practice patience I guess I need treats...sometimes known by another name....comfort foods. I suppose Im better off for it...thats what these to say anyway.

Come on Baby Ben!! Groundhog Day is a perfect day to have a birthday!!!

Day 2

The power of love is a curious thing
Make one man weep, make another man sing
Change a hawk to a little white dove
More than a feeling that's the power of love

You don't need money, don't take fame
Don't need no credit card to ride this train
It's strong and it's sudden and it's cruel sometimes
But it might just save your life
That's the power of love

*Now another Hollywood model.
Wouldnt it be fabulous (if you are a girl) to be a vision of beauty, a symbol for all the world, a lush embodiment of female allure? The question brings up, or maybe it is down, the blonde that gentleman were supposed to prefer.
Much has been said of the causes of her suicide, her desperate reach for the lethal overdose. Her ex-husbands are silent. Mr.____ says she was drowned in a wave of erotic illusion, or perhaps disillusion. Mrs. ____ says the American public killed her. All agree she was not the girl who had everything. But what would a spiritual post-mortem show? Not, perhaps, that no one loved her but that she, like so many of us, lacked the power of love; that she was still-born in an atmosphere that neither her conscious mind nor her spirit-self ever really breathed? Anyway, MM is something to ponder. Her sleeping pills awaken us to the futility of the fiction that when you get right down to it love is just animated glands.

*Truman Madsen- Four Essays on Love

What better way to get to know someone than

through her choice and treatment of books?

from: The Thirteenth Tale

by: Diane Setterfield

Jacques Chapiro

Jean-Pierre Gibrat

Jessica Rice

Every experience God gives us, every person

He puts in our lives is the perfect

preparation for the future that only He can see.

from: The Hiding Place

by: Corrie ten Boom

News from the Ventura California Mission via Elder Brian.

This weeks letter from Brian was down-right chatty!!!
What a pleasant unexpected surprise.

He confided that he's been having more problems with his feet. He visited a doctor and was diagnosed with 'almost' having flat feet!!! He's now the proud owner of a pair of insoles that he hopes will also remedy his chronic shin splits. Keeping my fingers crossed.

He confesses that studying and reading from the Doctrine and Covenants is hard for him. He needs to know that I feel exactly the same way!! (most times when I read from the D&C I feel like God is an angry God...which I know in my heart He is not.)
Brian in "into" the Book of Mormon, just like me!! (or the New Testament)
He also reports that he loves studying the Preach My Gospel manual and has made it all the way through...from cover to cover again!! Its such a great resource for him and for me.
It looks as though Bri is turning into somewhat of a reader. He also told us that for his evening reading he's wading through a book entitled The Cleansing of America. I havent read this one. I'll have to look into it. He described it as "crazy stuff."

I have always known Brians deep attachment to the Temples. He longs to attend more often than time allows as he serves his mission

Brian and his companion have been teaching 4 less active families lately. It seems they have the opportunity to do this quite often in their area.

This week he also shared with us about some special experiences hes had with fasting. First he fasted for personal strength and guidance; another for a young mother who was just diagnosed with cancer. Brain has been touched often by witnesses from the Holy Ghost that the work he's doing for these last many months is exactly what he should be doing.

I Love my Boy!! I miss him so very much!! People tell me that the time will fly from here on out....well, I've done this before, and I can tell you, it doesnt fly it creeps. (Just like waiting for Baby Ben here...tick tock, tick tock....and still no baby!!!!)

is for LOVE -Day 1

But behold, all things have been done in the

wisdom of Him who knoweth all things.

Adam fell that men might be; and men

are, that they might have joy.

There are 14 days until Valentines Day. My plethura of time for reading has found me lighting upon some great and interesting thoughts... and since I dont believe in coincidence...I thought I'd share some really heady stuff...ideas that are difficult to understand...at least in the way that Truman Madsen writes. I wish I could instigate conversation on these ideas.

How to Be Loved and Beloved

*"In the midst of the stresses of youth there is a secret:
how to find and express romantic love.
It is exciting.
It is consuming.
But it is also uncommon. Few know it at its actual source and still fewer are able to communicate it, even in poetry or music.
Meanwhile we give our immoral support to stars who throw dust in our eyes.

You all know the initials of the handsome man who pays millions in alimony. He is a superb actor, and for widely screened reasons he is big box office. Not matter whom he is married to this week, he says he cannot perform on stage or camera without a "powerful love interest" in his leading lady, an interest which, apparently, goes all the way. In sacred books this sort of "interest" is not described as love. But if we are disposed to stone Mr. ____, let us learn at least this much from him:

Even make-believe love, even diseased and perverted love, is a powerful force."

Truman's post script or later expounding on this thought:

"This person is only a symbol of three different rip-tides felt in youth. (or us!)

First, the notion that love is lust and that "it is all;" " nothing but seething glands."

Second, the notion, traceable in part to the Puritan tradition, that it is really a very nasty business.

And third, the notion, for which religion has too often been responsible, that love and marriage are of the Fall and even of the Devil and that the really religious person avoids them in their romantic modes. These attitudes are not always explicitly voiced. But they are "in the air" and they drench us, and they mislead us."

*Truman Madsen- Four Essays on Love

Is that just as clear as soup!!??

Ivan Aivazovsky, Between the Waves, 1898

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

yarn bombing in paris

Lucky thought of a question that Short Sammy's story had lodged

into one of her brain crevices. She figured she had so many

crevices and wrinkles, almost all of them filled with questions and

anxious thoughts, that if you were to take her brain and flatten it out

it would cover a huge space, like maybe a king-sized bed.

from: The Higher Power of Lucky

by: Susan Patron

Today was another day for reading, waiting, sipping tea, reading, waiting, speculating on just how much Anna has let baby Ben 'drop,' reading, hiking up to the Taggert Student Center to hunt for the ever illusive slice of homemade cinnamon bread. More reading, more waiting.

Highlights of the day:

Hearing baby Ben's heart beat strong and vigorous and full of life.

Seeing is believing-- Anna has most definitely dropped BB in the last 24 hrs! Ready are we! In position is he!! (there have be a few other tell-tale signs, unspoken here, but known by all that have passed this way before them) Lets get this show on the road!!

My Amazon book order arrived today!! Yay!!! another book to entertain me!!

As I sat in the cafe' of the Student Center and enjoyed some people watching, I wondered to myself, "how did I look when I was plowing my way through these very hall all those years ago?" Did I hold my head up high with at least a smattering of confidence; where I could look others in the eye and smile or nod? Or did I shuffle through looking at my feet not wishing to be noticed? Im fairly confident that by the time I graced Utah State, I did indeed posses enough self - esteem to appreciate my surroundings and fellow students, enough to even go out of my way to look for connections with them. I loved my years in college!!! At times I even miss them.

The sun has been shinning brightly in a blue sky today. It in no way resembles a typical Logan winter in any way, shape or form. Anna says its a tender mercy from God just for me. I'll take it!!! And Im grateful!!

Each night we go to bed later than we planned, thinking that this will be the night. For some reason we have been conditioned that labor begins in the nocturnal hours. I do indeed go to bed hoping that this will be the night that our sleep will be disturbed by those gnawing, rhythmic aches deep within, signaling the beginning of the end of a long and enlightening 9 months. That this could be the night that we meet Benjamin.
The "exist strategy" has been planned. We each have our responsibilities and duties to get Anna to the birthing center in a timely fashion and in complete comfort and peace.

Anna has prepared, practiced, studied and put her all into being prepared for the birth experience she has envisioned for herself, David and baby Ben. I have loved answering her questions about bathing, breast feeding, and sleeping schedules. We've enjoyed discussions about parenting styles now labeled with such titles as, "attachment parenting" and "parent directed care." We keep telling her that her natural instincts will kick in and to not worry about things that have no need of worrying. She's going to be a fantastic mom!! She has been surrounded by wonderful examples of women who love being mothers; she has life experiences that she learned on her mission. And now she also has the added blessing of Davids confidence and encouragement as well.

MAYBE TONIGHT!!???

.PS- if you are scratching your head about the photo for this post....a few friends have endearingly nic-named David and Anna as Thing One and Thing Two!! You'd get it completely if you have had a chance to see them together. te he

"Starting a novel is opening a door on a misty landscape; you can still

see very little but you can smell the earth and feel the wind blowing.

from: Under the Net

by: Iris Murdoch

I relish reading books that arent just about the plot and some intrigue and titillating nonsense....
I prefer reading for the beauty and mastery of their words...the descriptions... the metaphors.
Once again I have stumbled upon another little known gem of a book...Under the Net. Published in 1954 as her debut novel...and now her most famous. I think it was to be a political and philosophical tome...but it never bogged down as such.
This is a story of a young man living in London, who translates books from French to English and who is barely getting buy...who is swept along from one incident to another at an alarmingly swift rate, trying to keep afloat. Its laugh out-loud funny which I didnt at all expect to find this in its pages.
In the end its a story of a man who learns through a series of life's lessons to forget himself (at least a little) and to think of others and how they too see the world.
This was a delightful read!! Wholly unexpected!!
**** 3/4 Stars

...she must have been remarkably beautiful....having

added a few pounds, having acquired the seams and

crinkles of seasoning experience, she possessed the

deeper beauty of the beautified; the sweet humility

and the tenderness that time can teach, the appealing

glow of care and character that, in their last years

on this earth, no doubt marked the faces of those

who were later canonized as saints.

from: Odd Thomas

by: Dean Koontz

Happy Birthday Sharon!!
Mom of #21 and all-around super woman!!
Hope you have a wonderful day and year!
Love you!!!

MIMI MONDAY:

There has been time for contemplation while we wait here for baby Ben to arrive. Resting my hand on Anna's belly, feeling Ben move around...brings back dear memories. Its been a while.
20 years to be exact. sigh
One gets to thinking what you want for these beautiful children that make our life so good.

May you not sweat the small stuff.
May you always lend a hand to those in need; lift a heavy load.
May your dreams come true.
May you love and honor your parents and they you.
May you enjoy lifes' journey.
May you make righteous choices.
May you see truth and act.
May you be brave and strong.
May you find joy in simple things.
May you learn to love without conditions.
May you appreciate work.
May you dance without restraint.
May you be creative.
May you find joy in learning.

Sabbath Reflections

The word gospel comes from the classic evengelium, "the joyful news," "the glad tidings."

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me
ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have
tribulation: be be of good cheer: I have overcome the world." John 16:33

We are commanded to be joyful because he has borne our sorrows. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief so that we need not be. Our own sins and limitations are the things that make us sad. If we remain gloomy after what He did for us, it is because we do not accept what He did for us. If we suffer, we deserve to suffer because there is no need for it if we only believe Him.

But shouldnt we pay the price for our own sins? Isnt it only right and proper that we do so, and does it not weaken our character to be given something we do not deserve?

In answer to this we might imagine the human race to be in the position of a mountain climber on a precarious ledge. The man has been climbing mountains all his life; he has never yet (or else he wouldnt be alive) found himself in a position from which his will and his wit have not been able to extricate him. But now at last he is in such a position. Whose fault is it? Strictly speaking the climber is wholly responsible for getting himself in a "jam," for he took the risk. Yet it is only by taking such risk- some of which seemed greater even than this one- that he has become the able climber that he is; his very virtues have led him into a death trap. It was inevitable that his courage and enterprise should someday lead him to overreach himself and turn to his destruction. ....because the 'hero' does not sit at home and vegetate, because he has godlike aspiratins, he is doomed to death. His very virtues emcompass his destruction, for he has one fatal weakness--he is human.
History has taught us....that man is simply not up to the task of assuring himself a good life on earth, let alone in eternity. And so after all our planning and toil we find ourselves clinging exhausted to the face of the cliff, forced to admit at last in one terrible flash of insight and despair that our strength is hopelessly inadequate to getting us home again.
Then at this moment a helping hand is reached down to us. Now the question is, should we refuse the hand for fear of weakening our character? Will we still, in spite of what we know, insist that we can go it alone- that our own intelligence will be enough to save us? Should we protest that the appearance of the hand at such a time and place is illogical and highly improbable, or debate whether the owner of the hand has strength enough to give us aid? Take the advice of the Greeks, who knew far more about the problems and ambitions of men than we ever will: man can never save himself. Grasp the helping hand while you have the chance, and ask questions afterwards.

"Wherefore, all mankind were in a lost and in a fallen
state, and ever would be save they should rely on this
Redeemer. Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for
sin, to answer the ends of the law; and unto none else
can the ends of the law be answered." `1 Nephi 10:6

Our elder brother, Jesus Christ, has proposed that he should help us to rise above ourselves, and this does not weaken our characters since our part of the bargain requires that we take no credit for the achievement, standing upon new heights not as haughty conquerors but with broken hearts and contrite spirits. We claim no unearned glory for ourselves, but we are the richer for the part we have been allowed to play in our own salvation.

No man knows a thousand years of pain. As soon as one realizes his position fully, he is ready to be saved from it. As soon as our climber grasps the seriousness of his situation, in one clear-sighted instant and repents of his rashness and folly, then he is ready to receive the proferred hand- his pride gives way to himility, and he joyfully accepts salvation. No need to have him clinging to the rock indefinitely; he has learned his lesson!! God does not play cat and mouse with us; our sufferings are not drawn out; they are but for a little moment, says the scriptures, to those who are ready to accept deliverance.

Amen and amen!!
*exerpt from: THe WOrld and the PRophets by Hugh Nibley

20 Fortnights Plus 3 Days....

The more I examine the universe and study

the details of its architecture the more

evidence I find that the universe in some

sense must have known we were coming.

from: A Short History of Nearly Everything

quote by: Freeman Dyson

by: Bill Bryson

Watching ankles swell and recede.
Applying pressure on key spots...fingers and feet...more specifically...thumbs and arches.
Brisk walk up Old Main hill.
Sewing curtains for the nursery...three trips to Joann's
Experimenting with an old and rusty skill to knit.
Eating!! and Eating....at least three trips to Smiths
Home made ice cream...or Bull Tracks from Cashe Valley Creamery...a favorite evening treat.
Constant chatter on rabbit food.
Much sighing..."they bring 10% more oxygen to the brain mom."
Zoey....at home enjoying the company of my folks...wondering if she's wearing out her welcome.
Snow, rain, sunshine, COLD!!!
Intermittent fits of energy...raising our hopes...then nothing.
13 episodes of Drop Dead Diva. So fun!!! So sad that its almost over. Thank you Netflix!
Phone calls from family and friends and curious well wishers.
My Builder threatening to head home for a few days.
1 and a 1/2 tons of rabbit food milled, reserved and ready for pick-up.
198 emails sent to rabbit rescues!
Packed and repacked and ready to rumble.
Sleeping on the nursery floor, on a cozy piece of memory foam.

COME ON BABY BEN!!!

I don't know how you feel about old age...

but in my case I didn't even see it coming.

It hit me from the rear. ~Phyllis Diller

Happy, Happy Birthday Scott!!
Love you!!!

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is for Knowledge.....

"It seems hard to sneak a look at God's cards.

But that He plays dice and uses 'telepathic' methods

....is something that I cannot believe for a single moment."

quote by: Albert Einstein

from: A Short History of Nearly Everything

by: Bill Bryson

You know you've found a good book when you find yourself talking to people about it. Not just in recommending it...but sharing what you've learned!!!
Here is a book that succeeds marvelously in explaining complicated sciences in fairly easy and interesting ways. Bill Bryon is a clever and talented writer. He's written many books...and Im going to go find them and read them!!! I think its saying something when a writer can grab your attention when hes writing about quirky scientists and their discoveries. My imagination was peeked when he wrote about and explained the vastness of space and the in numerable universe out there. Bryson has a wonderful sense of humor and a great writing style. Learning new things is great fun with Bill Bryson!!!
The book begins with the birth of our universe and the creation of the Earth. He touches on evolution and the discovery of the elements on the periodic table. We speculate along with the many bright scientific minds of the 1800's who were trying to determine the age of the Earth. And who knew how many atoms can sit on a pin head or what a super-nova is? You will after reading A Short History of Nearly Everything!

Just a Very Few Things I Learned From Reading this Book:
-dimes have a half-life of 30 yrs.
-God is DEFINITELY in the details!!!
-lead and chlorofluorocarbons --BAD, Nasty stuff!!
- the Earth is 4,550 million years old...plus or minus 70 million years.
-an accelerator can whip particles into "such a state of liveliness that a single electron can do 47 thousand laps around a 4 mile tunnel in a second." GASP!!
-there are 15 million, yes I said million...hogs in Iowa.
-the Earth is 8000 miles in diameter...for some reason I thought it was a bigger number.
- Yellowstone is due to blow....and I mean BLOW!!! (its sitting on top of a super volcano)

I truly cant recall a text book or any other book for that matter that has caught my imagination and that has been more comprehensive about this world we live in. Why cant textbook writers take a lesson from Bill Bryson and add some personality, wit and the wisdom to throw in lesser known facts of our history to make it all the more interesting...its beyond me!!!???
This book should be required reading in high school. To heck with The Yearling and the other drivel that is required these days. Every kid, young or old, should read these 478 pages!!! If such a thing were to happen...who knows how many kids might "turn on" to one of the many sciences, or at least have their eyes opened to wonder and magnificence of this planet on which we live. There are unspoken lessons in this book on WHY to be green without the dry, whining lecturing on recycling or ozone etc, etc....you'll find the logical reasoning here without the preaching. Here is a book that can spark a real interest in paleontology, meteorology, chemistry, biology, astronomy, geology or even physics without causing one to sweat or break out in hives.

Five Stars for me!!! *****

What is the eternal and ultimate problem of a free society? It is the problem of the individual who thinks that one man cannot possibly make a difference in the destiny of that society.
It is the problem of the individual who doesnt really understand the nature of a free society or what is required to make it work.
It is the problem of the individual who has no comprehension of the multiplying power of single but sovereign units.
It is the problem of the individual who regards the act of pulling a single lever in a voting booth in numerical terms rather than historical terms.
It is the problem of the individual who has not real awareness of the millions of bricks that had to be put into place, one by one, over may centuries, in order for him to dwell in the penthouse of freedom. Nor does he see any special obligation to those who continue building the structure or to those who will have to live in it after him, for better or worse.
It is the problem of the individual who recognizes no direct relationship between himself and the decisions made by government in his name. Therefore, he feels no special obligation to dig hard for the information necessary to an understanding of the issues leading to those decisions.
In short, freedom's main problem is the problem of the individual who takes himself lightly historically.
-Norman Cousins

-Work of Ukrainian artist Pavel Guzenko.

May You Have an Impossibly Cool Weekend Friends!!!

“Through the thick and the thin of this, and through

the occasional tears of it all, I know deep down

inside I am doing God’s work. I know that my

motherhood is an eternal partnership with Him.”

Happy Happy Birthday dear Christy!!

Love You and Im so proud of you and all you are accomplishing with that darling gaggle of girls you've been blessed with!!! May you have a wonderful day celebrating with your good family!!!

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