What a Day!

This is my little brother, Ryan. Obviously, we look a little different from one another, but he's still my brother. My parents adopted Ryan when he was five years old in 1989, right before I graduated from high school. He has a pretty severe form of cerebral palsy where his muscles seize up and make most tasks extremely difficult for him. He has been in a wheelchair his entire life, and because of his limitations he has had to live with my parents that entire time as well. Last winter my parents moved here to be closer to us, and so Ryan got to move closer to us as well.

Today Ryan was baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

I have to admit that I would not have expected this if you asked me about it two or three or twenty years ago. But all on his own Ryan started asking Herman lots of questions about the church, and one day Herman spoke with the missionaries and suggested that they stop by and speak to Ryan. So they did. This was a few months ago, and from what I understand, Ryan told them that he was ready to be baptized right away. We decided that it would be best if he waited awhile to make sure that this was exactly what he wanted to do. When he saw JoJo's baptism last month he let Herman know that he was impatient to be baptized, and we decided that it had been long enough.

Ryan had a missionary who really worked with him a lot. This missionary was Elder Gregory. Elder Gregory worked with Ryan for a long time, but before Christmas he was transferred to the Tulsa area. Before Elder Gregory left the area Herman promised Ryan that we would find a way to get him back to the area to see Ryan baptized. And Herman made it happen. The mission president gave Elder Gregory permission to travel back to St. Robert to baptize Ryan, and he was finally able to come here tonight. As a bonus the mission president came along as well and brought several missionaries with him. That was super sweet!

Elder Gregory and Ryan

Because of Ryan's disability the baptism process had to be adapted. Normally there is one person in the water with the person being baptized, but because Ryan is unable to stand up on his own they actually had three guys in the water with him. Elder Staley and Elder Lee have been teaching Ryan most recently, and they were in the water holding him up while Elder Gregory performed the ordinance. 

Elders Gregory, Lee, and Staley with Ryan before the baptism.

The baptism was flawless. They had a good system set up, and there were no problems. I expected that it would take forever for Ryan to get changed back into regular clothes, so I had a whole bunch of excellent Mormon Message videos put together to show people as we waited, but Ryan was super speedy. 

I was able to speak about the Holy Ghost before Ryan received that gift, and I could really feel guided by the Spirit as I spoke. I really focused on the role of the Holy Ghost as a comforter. Because of His atoning sacrifice Jesus Christ also understands all of our weaknesses and our struggles, our sicknesses and our infirmities, our fears and our difficulties. Because He understands, He is uniquely qualified to offer comfort when no one else does. That comfort comes through the influence of the Holy Ghost. I thought that this is something that would be especially meaningful to Ryan. He has had so many struggles and difficulties in his life, and those struggles will not end today. They will continue throughout his life, but he now has the gift of a constant companion to offer him strength, comfort, and companionship in his most difficult moments. I hope he appreciated my words.

As quick as the evening began, it was over. I was so grateful to have it go as smoothly as it did. My mom did great! She has been struggling for the past several weeks with her bi-polar and stroke related issues. Her medications were not working as they needed to, so we just didn't know how she would act tonight. I hoped for the best but prepared for the worst. But it was great. I think that my parents really appreciated everything, and if Ryan is happy, they are happy.

Today as we left the church Herman turned to me as said, "For twenty-three years you have been the only member of the church in your family. You can't say that any more." Tender mercies of the Lord. I am so grateful for tender mercies. Life is good!

Elder Gregory and Ryan raising their hands to God.
I think it's an inside joke with them.

The Challenge

Right before Christmas break began I felt inspired to challenge my seminary class to take the break and commit to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover. We are studying this book in seminary this year, so they are already halfway through, but I thought that it would be nice for them to do a speed read of the entire book as they focused on Jesus Christ during the Christmas season. It wasn't going to be an easy challenge to accept. 531 pages in about 10 days, some of those days packed with Christmas seasonal activities. Yeah. It was going to be hard. But not impossible. I knew that they could do it if they put their minds to it. So I made the challenge. I didn't see any lights going off in anyone's eyes when I challenged them, but you never know. Sometimes I think that no one is accepting the challenges that I set out, and then one day in a testimony meeting I'll see one of my students get up and testify of the great blessings that came about because of their willingness to accept the challenge. So you never know.

I didn't hear anything from my class over the break. No one came up to me in church or sent me a text letting me know about their amazing spiritual experiences while reading the book over break. I didn't see Savannah or Spencer reading their scriptures like mad, trying to get their reading done on time. Frankly, I have little hope that anyone actually listened to me. It makes me a little sad. To be fair, I told them that they didn't have to do it. I wasn't going to come back when school began and cry a river of tears if I found out that no one read. But I hoped. I hoped a lot. I hoped that someone in my class would hear my challenge and the blessings I promised would come to them. I hoped that they would decide on their own that they wanted those promised blessings. I wanted for them to decide exactly how they would go about meeting the challenge. 

I wanted them to experience the power that comes from reading the Book of Mormon and following the wonderful principles found inside. I wanted for them to have a greater understanding of the importance of Jesus Christ in their lives. I wanted for them to see how they would feel stronger and better able to make good choices when they took the time to read this book. But I wanted for them to discover this ON THEIR OWN. It does no good for me to say it over and over and over again if they don't ever take the time to find out for themselves. We'll see how it went when we get back to school ... surely sometime this week. We've already missed today and tomorrow because of the snow and extreme cold.

Well, last Monday I woke up, and thought to myself that if I was going to make that challenge to my students I should probably take the challenge myself. At this point Christmas break was already halfway over. I would only have seven days to complete the challenge. That would require approximately eighty days of reading per day. Now I am a prolific reader. I read a lot. A lot. Last year I read 140 novels just for fun. I have no problem reading. But I am a slower reader. I'm a good reader, but my mind wanders a lot while I read. I'll read something, and that will get me thinking about something else, and before long I find that I've been sitting on the same paragraph for ten minutes. That happens A LOT while I'm reading the scriptures. There are so many hidden jewels of wisdom in the pages that I am constantly finding myself thinking of things outside the words of the pages. I could not afford to do that if I wanted to get the entire book read in one week. I had my doubts, but Herman just looked at me and said, "You can do it. I know you can." 

So I believed I could do it too.

I have been reading in every spare minute of free time over the last week. The house has kind of fallen apart, but I really wanted to make sure and finish this challenge. The house could wait. I read, and I read, and I read. And yesterday I finished. 

This is the fourth time that I have completed a Book of Mormon reading challenge. I made one for myself when I first joined the Church. I wanted to make sure I read it through all the way so that I didn't feel so lost around everyone who has spent their whole lives LDS. Then several years ago our bishop at the time encouraged us to read the book in two months. President Hinckley made a challenge several years ago as well. And now I read this week. Each time that I have accepted a challenge to read I have recognized great blessings in my own life. I have felt closer to the Lord and better able to hear the promptings of the Holy Ghost, letting me know things I could change in my life to make it even better. I have gained an even stronger appreciation for the power of the Book of Mormon to change lives, to improve them.

This time around I was reading it faster than I ever have before, so I didn't have the chance to recognize any sort of long term blessings from this reading ... at least not so far. But I did gain a greater appreciation for the prophet Joseph Smith and exactly what he accomplished by translating this book. I really thought about the amount of anger that is directed toward him even today because of what he did. There are people who dedicate their lives to disproving what he did. They malign him and disparage him and say all number of horrible things about him and his character. They go through this book with a fine toothed comb, looking for proof of some sort of great Joseph Smith fraud. Who would put themselves through such a thing? I know I couldn't have handled it. And as I read the book this time around I really appreciated the depth of the knowledge contained within its pages. So many wonderful truths are found inside this book. I just cannot believe that it is a fraud. I believe that it is true. I KNOW that it is. And I love it. As I read it this week I thought about all of the wonderful things that have happened in my life because of the knowledge I gained from the Book of Mormon. I really thought about the word REMEMBER. That is found so many times in the Book of Mormon, and I think that it is significant. As I read I remembered all of the eternal truths that have blessed my life in the past twenty-three years. I thought about all of the tender mercies of the Lord that I have been blessed to witness. And my faith was strengthened. What a blessing!

So I am grateful that I took the last week to speed read the Book of Mormon. Generally, I don't believe that reading the scriptures super fast like that is the best way to experience the blessings of scripture reading. I get so much more out of it when I take my time and study the scriptures a bit more carefully and deliberately. I am so grateful for the calling that I have and the fact that this calling pushes me to study the scriptures in depth each and every day. I am learning to read the scriptures more effectively. I hope that I can help my students to learn to read them similarly. I don't think it is totally sinking in. At least not yet. But maybe I am planting seeds for later. Maybe none of my students took the challenge over break. That's okay. Maybe it was only Heavenly Father's way of giving me an opportunity to recognize the blessings I have seen in the past week. Who know? I'm just grateful for quiet inspiration and the chance to meet the challenges that Heavenly Father places in my path. I love the Book of Mormon!

In Case of A Zombie Apocalypse ... I'll Be In BIG Trouble

I hate guns. I really do. Yes, I understand the need for them, and I would suppose that I can appreciate the fact that the people around me have them. I do support the right for people to own guns. I just don't personally like to handle them. I did not grow up with guns in my home, and people might be surprised to know that I still managed to always feel safe. But Herman does like guns. He isn't a hunter, but he does like to go shooting whenever he gets the chance. Even though I am a nervous nelly when it comes to having guns in the house, we do have them safely locked away in a safe, ready if we ever need them. Herman likes to say that we are preparing ourselves for the zombie apocalypse. But we don't really live in an area where Herman has the chance to go shooting very often. Technically we are out of city limits, and the sheriff's department has said that it is okay for us to target shoot on our property, but our neighbor's are close enough to us that they don't always appreciate it if Herman is outside shooting things.

Mindful of that, I was a little excited to see that a new shooting range was being built over by my parents' house. As soon as I realized what that big structure was going to be I knew what I would be getting Herman for Christmas this year.

A week before Christmas I walked into this new business and purchased a six month family membership at the Bow and Barrel Sportsmen Center. Boy, did I feel like a fish out of water in that place! They have quite a setup, and if I was a gun enthusiast I would have probably felt like I had died and gone to heaven. So many guns. So many things to do with guns. I had no idea what I was doing, but the nice uniformed workers there walked me through the process. 

Christmas came, and Herman was super excited to use his new membership. Things were crazy for a few days, but then he headed over there for target shooting on his own one day. After that he was excited to have me come along with him on a date. Even though I am not a gun person I was not opposed to this for a date. In fact, I really have felt like I needed to take more time to familiarize myself with shooting. My dislike of guns has more to do with my own discomfort around them than anything else. I figured that I needed to take some time to practice shooting so that I wouldn't be so nervous. I'll sign up for a class one of these days, but for now I was willing to do some informal target shooting with the love of my life.

Last Friday night we headed over to the center for a date night of shooting the tar out of our set of paper targets. Herman brought one of his handguns and a .22 rifle. We started with the handgun. I did horribly. So. So. Bad. The gun had a huge kickback after it fired, and it made me a bit nervous. I tried to channel my inner Charlie's Angel, but it just wasn't working out. I kept missing the target, even when Herman brought it up closer to me. There was another yahoo there shooting his target way far back who kept hitting the bullseye every single time. Not me. I would feel good when I managed to hit the silly board. It didn't take too long for me to realize that the eye I thought was dominant was actually not. That made a huge difference as I shot, and soon I was able to get closer to the target. Herman was still doing ten thousand times better than I was. I just didn't like the feel of that particular handgun. Things got easier when we switched to the .22. That felt a bit better to handle. After a few attempts to get a feel for the thing I was able to do pretty well. By the end of the night Herman and I had a friendly competition, and I managed not to get destroyed by him. I think I could figure things out eventually.

Still ...

In the event of a zombie apocalypse, I'll be in BIG trouble.

It's the Little Things

It doesn't take much to excite me. Little things will do the job. Tonight I am raving because finally, FINALLY, I have found my perfect biscuit recipe. My biscuits have been okay in the past ... not too hard, not too tasteless. But they've been lacking something, that certain je ne sais quoi. I was piddling around on allrecipes.com the other day, and I decided to try out a new biscuit recipe ... and I am in LOVE. These biscuits are soooooo delicious. They are light and fluffy and flavorful. They are perfect. I don't often spend my dinners getting all fan-girly over something I've made, but I really, really liked this recipe.

So I'm sharing it.

Enjoy.

Chef John's Buttermilk Biscuits

Rated: Submitted By: Chef John Photo By: Kahla Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cook Time: 15 Minutes Ready In: 35 Minutes Servings: 12

"Flaky, buttery buttermilk biscuits are perfect any time of day."

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled in freezer and cut into thin slices 3/4 cup cold buttermilk 2 tablespoons buttermilk for brushing

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2.	Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
3.	Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together in a large bowl.
4.	Cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about 5 minutes.
5.	Make a well in the center of butter and flour mixture. Pour in 3/4 cup buttermilk; stir until just combined.
6.	Turn dough onto a floured work surface, pat together into a rectangle.
7.	Fold the rectangle in thirds. Turn dough a half turn, gather any crumbs, and flatten back into a rectangle. Repeat twice more, folding and pressing dough a total of three times.
8.	Roll dough on a floured surface to about 1/2 inch thick.
9.	Cut out 12 biscuits using a 2 1/2-inch round biscuit cutter.
10.	Transfer biscuits to the prepared baking sheet. Press an indent into the top of each biscuit with your thumb.
11.	Brush the tops of biscuits with 2 tablespoons buttermilk.
12.	Bake in the preheated oven until browned, about 15 minutes.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2014 Allrecipes.com

Printed from Allrecipes.com 1/5/2014

Snowpocalypse 2014

I love snow! Well ... I love snow for a little bit. Give me one great big snowfall, and then I'm ready for spring. We don't get really great monster snows here in Waynesville. It always seems like when there is a winter storm it usually bypasses us for the most part ... at least that has been the case for the past several years. I probably remember things wrong from my youth, but it seems like we got so much bigger storms when I was growing up in north Missouri. I remember these gigantic snow mountains that would be around our town square because the city needed somewhere to deposit all the snow that was plowed off the roads. I haven't seen conditions like that around here for awhile. I miss that a little bit. I love the feeling of a good snow storm when you just hunker down inside with your family, grab some hot cocoa, turn on a great movie, and enjoy time inside with the family. One of my favorite episodes of Little House on the Prairie was when Pa had to put on his snow shoes and walk across the snow to get to the barn to get Christmas presents for the family. I loved that. Staying inside, enjoying family ... the best!

So when I woke up this morning I was excited to have a quiet morning inside, watching the snow blowing around outside and enjoying time at home with the family. Since Herman has been stake president it has been rare that he has been home with us on Sundays at all because of his travel around the stake, so I was kind of looking forward to him being here as well. Herman believes that church should only be cancelled in rare circumstances. He believes that people should make wise choices for themselves and their families, so if they feel it is unsafe to come, they need to exercise extreme caution and stay at home. But he thinks that if it is possible, someone should be at the building to provide the opportunity for those who desire to come to be able to come and partake of the sacrament and worship. That was the plan today. Members were urged to stay safe, but if anyone wanted to come, the church was open. We weren't sure what we would find when we woke up this morning. There was a bit of snow on the ground, but it was still coming down with more to come. Most people would not be able to come to church, especially with all the hills of our area. Still, Herman headed over to church at 9 am to be there for the 1st ward meeting. I stayed home with the kids, fully expecting to stay home as well. I had NO desire to drive in this stuff. And frankly, Herman gets goofy when there is snow. He likes to prove his manly bravery by driving in icy conditions that keep me inside. When he says things are fine, I take it with a grain of salt. But we are lucky to be on a flat area of the county. No hills to make things difficult. They never plow our road because we are outside city limits, but we only have to drive a quarter mile before we hit the main road, and it is always plowed. So the drive really wasn't all that bad. 

The main road right outside our neighborhood.

After the 1st ward meeting ended Herman called me. He encouraged all of us to get ready and come to church for our ward meeting time at 11 am. There had only been 10 people for the 9 am meeting, but he said that it was such a special meeting. The feeling there was wonderful, and he thought that we should get the chance to experience that ourselves. He drove home to drive us since I was not so excited about heading out. In fact, I was a bit hesitant about it. I had already wrapped my head around staying home, so I had to rewrap my head around getting out in this and coming to church today. Luckily, my years as an early morning seminary teacher have made me an excellent quick change artist. I can get showered, dressed, with makeup on in about 20 minutes, fifteen if I really push it ... every extra second of sleep helps when you are trying to wake up at 4:30 in the morning. So when Herman called we were ready to kick things in gear and head out super fast.

The Blau kids loaded up and headed to church today. We clean up FAST.

When we got to church things were super relaxing. There ended up being 22 of us in the meeting. Not a lot. We had both sets of our younger missionaries there along with our senior couple missionaries. Then there were a few others from our ward who braved the weather to come out. The parking lot was not plowed, so we had to trudge through a lot of snow before we made it inside. They had scraped a path for everyone who came at 9 am, but that path was already snowed over by the time we got there. Crazily, Savannah and Katie came today wearing flats instead of boots. I didn't notice that before we headed out the door, or I would have made them change.

Poor Savannah and her cold little toes!

The meeting was such an interesting one. We didn't have any leadership there from our ward, so Herman asked Bishop Ashton from 1st ward to stay and conduct the meeting. Herman was there to preside as the stake president, but he sat out with our family since there were so few of us. I liked that. It's been a long while since I have been able to sit with him in church. President Bogle who is the president of the serviceman's branch on Fort Leonard Wood, got to bless the sacrament with Austin. That was neat to see. And Herman passed the sacrament with Spencer. That was also pretty cool to see. You don't often see that, but it was super nice for him to get the chance to serve alongside Spencer today.

We had a super nice testimony meeting. Because there were so few of us it was such an intimate setting. It seemed so personal and cozy as we stood up and shared our feelings about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Normally when we have testimony meetings we are standing before more than a hundred people. That setting can be intimidating for some people, so that prevents them from coming forward. Other times it seems as if there are so many people who wish to speak that it seems better to just stay seated. In this atmosphere today it felt comfortable and right to stand up and share some of the deepest feelings of my heart. I admit that it is easier for me to stand in front of a crowd of a thousand people and speak than it is to stand up in front of a group of twenty, but I did. It felt wonderful to share my feelings. But I enjoyed hearing others even more. The Bogle family, Bro. Housekeeper, Bro. Bradbury, Bro. Graves, Bro. Knowles, Elder and Sister Smith, Bishop Ashton ... loved all their words!!! There were people who I don't generally hear who stood up and shared their thoughts today. I could feel the Spirit as they spoke, and I could feel of their love for the gospel. It is comforting to know that there are others out there who have such strong testimonies and desires to live righteously. Each of our six children still at home shared their testimonies as well. I loved hearing Savannah's testimony. You know, Savannah is probably a bit underestimated when it comes to church things. Laney has always been so demonstrative and outgoing about her testimony and her love of the gospel, but Savannah is a bit quieter about her feelings. She has a strong testimony, but she doesn't feel as much of a need to declare it in the same way that Laney does. So it is always a treat for me as a mom to hear Savannah stand up and share the things she believes. I think I would drive through a lot of snow any day if it meant that I could have the chance to hear Savannah say the things that she shared with our little group this morning. Spencer's testimony was great as well. He has always been such a squirrel about things. I never could have guessed that he would mature into the good young man that he has become. He makes me smile. With such a small group we even gave Minsy the chance to say something. She's not much of a speaker, but she sure was happy to stand in front of the group and say a few things. And JoJo. My sweet JoJo stood up and only said, "I know the church is true. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." That was all. But it was the first time that he has ever born his testimony, and I sure that he could only find the courage to do that because there were so few there today. That was definitely a treat to hear.

It was good that we chose to come and open the building for a meeting because right toward the end of the meeting a man walked in. It was his last Sunday here, and he had decided that he was coming to church no matter what. He hadn't gotten the message that he should stay home if it looked too hard to come out. He just assumed there would be church like usual. I am glad that he was able to come and take the sacrament and enjoy a bit of a meeting after he made all the effort to come out today. Situations like that are the reason that Herman feels like there needs to be someone at the building just in case if it is at all possible.

So I am glad that we braved the weather to come to church today. The feelings that I felt there were just beautiful, and I needed that today. All church services for all denominations on post were cancelled for today, but our senior missionary couple went by the chapel there and found nine soldiers there ready to have church. They were in basic training, and normally their drill sergeants take them to church, bur because of the church closings they didn't offer that service today. Still, the soldiers decided that they wanted to come anyway. So these nine soldiers walked 2.5 miles in blowing snow and extreme temperatures in order to come to church. Luckily, the missionaries had a key to the building and let them inside. It sounded like they had a super special meeting with these soldiers. Four were members, and five had come out to go to the protestant church service. Since that had been cancelled they just sat in with our service. So cool! I loved hearing that story today.

Even the music at at church today was different. Well, we sang normal hymns, but for the closing song Elder Smith wanted us to sing it the same way that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang it, so he gave us some direction before we started singing. He even leaned back and told Savannah to slow the song down a bit as she accompanied on the piano. Needless to say, we did not end up sounding much like the Tabernacle Choir. But it was a nice effort.

Bro. Bogle playing with the snow blower after church, making a little
dent in the parking lot snow accumulation.

Sure, this isn't probably that much of a snow event when you compare it to the things that those in more northern areas experience, but it was an adventure for us today. We are definitely staying in for awhile now. The temperatures are plummeting as we speak, and it is going to be brutally cold for the next two days. School has already been cancelled for tomorrow, and I'd bet that it'll be cancelled on Tuesday as well. I have no desire to head out again anytime soon. I'll just sit by the fire, grab a hot chocolate topped with a GENEROUS serving of marshmallows, and read for a bit. Have I mentioned before how much I love snow?

Austin braving the weather and
heading out to shovel walks
with the missionaries.

Elder Lee having WAY too much
fun shoveling snow
(in a suit, no less!)

Elder Staley and Elder Lee
Every little bit of shoveling helps.

Sister Wilson and Sister Goodman shoveled a bit too.
Snow shoveling in a dress ... that's a superstar move.

Minsy wanted to stay at church all day.
She thought that if she just covered her face
we'd let her stick around.

Braving the elements for an awesome day at church!