MaeLyn's Musings

Peter and Josh had a six day weekend. Yes, I wrote that right: six days, no school. It started on Wednesday. Hannah and John were still in school, so it was just the three of us hanging out at home when I got a phone call from Arlene, who is the office manager at our condo clubhouse. She had to go to the dentist and was wondering if I could go in and sub for her for a few hours that day. (This wasn't totally out of the blue; I've been subbing for her on Saturdays this year so she can attend her grandsons' basketball games.) So the three of us went to the clubhouse to hang out for about three hours. The boys managed to keep themselves entertained playing pool and experimenting with the equipment in the weight room while I answered the phone when it rang and took messages for Arlene. That afternoon we went to the library, and that evening the boys and I had scouts. On Thursday, we had parent teacher conferences. We started with Peter's teachers - Ms. Priola for readin...

Has your brain ever latched onto some random thing and refused to let go? This morning, I noticed that Joshua had a button pin on his school lanyard that I hadn't noticed before. (The lanyard has his school ID that he is supposed to wear to school every day.) On taking a closer look, I discovered that it had a picture of two adorable llamas on it. "Cute!" I exclaimed. "What's cute?" Peter asked. "He's got llamas on his lanyard!" I told him. And that's when it happened. My brain fell in love with that line. He's got llamas on his lanyard. He's got llamas on his lanyard. My brain started chanting it over and over again, relishing the alliteration.  Llamas on his lanyard.  Llamas on his lanyard. As we walked to school, my footsteps kept pace with the chant:  He's got llamas on his lanyard.  He's got llamas on his lanyard.  He's got llamas  llamas  llamas  llamas  llamas  on his lanyard. I'll admit, it wasn...

In our ward, the youth have been asked to give talks based on articles of faith . Here is the great talk that Hannah gave this past Sunday on the 10th Article of Faith: The tenth article of faith says, “We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the ten tribes, that Zion (the new Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth and that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisaical glory.” So, if we break that up into pieces, the first bit of that is ‘the literal gathering of Israel’. But why does Israel need to be gathered? Why was it scattered in the first place? The Israelites struggled with their own pride cycle, just like the Nephites, and during one of their low points, they were captured by the Assyrians and were dragged from their lands in order to be slaves, and haven’t returned since. In 2nd Nephi chapter 10, it says, “But behold, thus saith the Lord God: When the day cometh ...