MaeLyn's Musings

(Steven wrote this and gave me permission to post it here.) I have heard many arguments from people who question the existence of God. Some things they say are: “I don’t think God would want to have so much suffering in the world,” “If there was a God, I don’t think he would want there to be wars fought over religion,” “I think God would not want there to be so much confusion about Him. He would reveal Himself more so that people would know He was real.” These are all fair statements and other similar comments have been expressed by many people throughout the ages.They are thoughts that try to rationally and logically understand the world around them and how God and religion fit into the picture. The basic logic of most of these thoughts can be summed up as follows:      A) If there was a God, he would [fill in the blank]      B) The conditions of the world do not agree with (A)      C) Therefore, there is no God There is a certain logic in...

Dear Hannah and John, One of you asked for pictures, so here you go: Josh recently made himself a coat rack that he can hang his coats and hats on. Josh and Dad fixed the outlet that the lamp is plugged into in Josh's room. You know how the lamp plug was always loose in the outlet? Apparently that is a fire hazard and not good. So we finally managed to get it fixed. After it was fixed, Josh decided he wanted to rearrange the furniture in his room. Here is the other side of Josh's room... He's standing in front of the little fridge he has in there. Here's a picture of Lala, just in case you forgot what he looks like... I finished the tie that I've been knitting. Peter wore it to church today, but decided it was too hot or something. Muffins doesn't seem to mind wearing it. Last month there was a "free day" at the dump. We disposed of the swamp cooler and the couch and some other things that were in the playroom. Here is a glimpse of what it ...

Photo by  eberhard grossgasteiger  from  Pexels A little while ago I came across the question, "If God is the Heavenly Father of every person on earth, why would he have a chosen people?" By chosen people, I mean, of course, the House of Israel. How many times do the scriptures refer to the "God of Israel", or to Israel as the Lord's chosen people? If God is supposed to love all his children, why would he be so focused on this one family? Does he love the Israelites more than he loves his other children? This morning I was reading Jacob 5, the allegory of the olive tree, but I also had this question in the back of my mind. There must have been many other trees in the vineyard besides this one. Why was he so focused on this particular tree? When I finished reading the chapter, I picked up my notebook and started writing the thoughts that had come to my mind relative to this question as I had been reading. Here are those thoughts, with others I've had th...

(Excerpts from a letter to the missionaries...) First of all, John's wall plaque arrived so now one side of the ward's missionary map is the "Hiatt side". Steven took pictures of it: Sorry, this picture is a little blurry... But that is Hannah's plaque on top and John's on the bottom. On Monday, I took the boys to the orthodontist. Peter had his expander taken out (It was a contraption that widened his upper jaw, and we had to turn it with a key every day for several days.) Peter was very relieved to get that off. However, that also means that in a few weeks he will get to have braces put on the rest of his teeth, instead of just on the front top teeth that he has now. So this week was parent teacher conferences which meant that elementary schoolers didn't have school Wednesday through Friday, and high schoolers didn't have school on Friday. So on Wednesday I got to babysit little Josh (a boy in our ward.) He was dropped off a little after 7am, an...

So this happened today at my boys' school. At 11:30 this morning I received the following email: Dear Northglenn High School Families, In our ongoing effort to keep you informed of issues at our school, we want to let you know about a current safety situation at the school. The school is currently in a hold and lockout due to a safety situation in the building. During a hold all students remain in their current class and do not travel to other parts of the building. During a lockout all exterior doors are secured and no one is allowed in or out of the building.  Administration received a tip that someone in the school might have a weapon. Northglenn Police immediately made contact with the student in their class and confirmed that the student did in fact have a weapon. The student was immediately taken into custody.  At this time all students and staff are safe. Additional police officers responded to the school to assist with this matter. The situation is ongoing...

I loved our flower garden this year!  It's a strip of soil along the fence that faces the road. Last spring, Steven dug up the tired stuff that had been planted there, replaced the edging around the flowerbed and improved the soil. Then we bought an assortment of colorful flowers to fill the space. Through the summer, I've watched the various plants bloom in their season and every day I've loved the flurry of bright colors that greet us when we come home!  This was the garden a month or so ago. A couple days ago, I went out and took some closeup photos of some of the flowers so I can enjoy them as background screens on my desktop computer in the years to come.  I also took a few pictures of some of my fall decorations... I think they're kind of pretty too: