Back to the Real World

 We had such a good time at the sibs reunion and visiting family on the way back.This has been a “getting back into the routine” week. All the things that piled up while we were gone, or we put off, were still waiting for us when we got back home.  We had tried to keep up with some things on our travels.

We called on the status of the septic system on one of our rental properties.  Still no word about the variance.  I’m a bit afraid to bug them.  If they deny the variance… I don’t know what we can do. Maybe I should find out… maybe I don’t want to know.

Tuesday I started in on my long sales letter for The Motley Fool UK.  I had a Skype meeting with them and went off to merrily write my headline, lead and outline.  Actually, I was a bit intimidated with the idea and procrastinated for a bit.  But I was going to be gone part of Thursday and all of Friday, so I HAD to work on it.  I finally got some blank paper and sat outside and just started writing.  I think I created a strong piece.

I sent it off Thursday and got feedback by Friday night.  There were lots of places they didn’t think would pass the regulator’s standards.  Sigh.  I really thought I had toned it down and put in all the qualifiers.  Some places I will just have to find proof to back up the statements.

Tuesday I also got my hair cut.  Tom had meetings that night.  Wednesday was mostly working on The Motley Fool Promo for me.  Tom had meetings that night.

Thursday I tried to get some of my Women’s Retreat for the stake on track.  There are still loose ends to clean up.  Tom and I left about two and drove to Branson to meet Jonathan and Kristy. They were celebrating their anniversary and invited us to come along and go to Branson with them.  We had a nice dinner out. 

On Friday we went to Silver Dollar City. There were some new shows this WorldFest and we saw most of them. We left about 5pm and let Jonathan and Kristy go on all the roller coaster rides they wanted to after that. We tried to head to bed early.

 

These were the fire dancers from Samoa.  The one on the right is a chief and the world champion fire dancer.

 

This was the African Acrobats

 

I found their costumes must less modest than anything I ever saw in Kenya.

Tom was up a little after 4am to get ready to go to a youth temple trip.  It was a good trip for them. The weather was nice for the drive… although it was pretty blustery here.  They had 13 youth go.  Saturday I did some work and then went to Marians to glaze my Ikebana vases.  Some had broken during the drying phase so Marian, bless her heart, made more for me and fired them all.  I choose glazes I thought would be interesting.

Here are the tops of the Ikebana vases when they were still greenware.

 

As Marian says, you never can tell how they will come out.  The glazes can vary due to the way they are applied, the kind of clay, how quickly the temperature rises, how long it stays hot, how slow or fast it cools and probably lots more things.  It’s all chemicals and chemical reactions.  I suppose that is part of the art and serendipity of pottery.  I had a fun afternoon there and got home soon after Tom arrived home.  I hope to have the vases finished before the Women’s Retreat and be able to give them to the teachers and my counselors as gifts.

Today was a fantastic day at church. Testimony meeting was wonderful as were both Sunday school and Relief Society.  Our lesson was on the Atonement and was taught by a sister in a wheelchair.  She’s young, but with a debilitating disease.  She said when she was in seminary her teacher asked her what the atonement meant to her.  She said, “I like it.  I think it’s good.” Later she realized he was referring to her limitations in the wheelchair. She said, “I think everyone has a wheelchair. Some are on the inside and some on the outside.”

In speaking of the atonement, she said that no one had ever done that before—taken on all the sins of the world.  What an impossible task that must have felt like.  But the Savior trusted in Heavenly Father and trusted in the attributes he had been given and went and atoned for us.

I believe that each one of us has a mission to fulfil here on earth.  Like the Savior, we agreed to it in the pre-earth life.  And it occurred to me that, like the Savior, we need to trust in Heavenly Father and in the attributes he has given us to go forth and do… even with the tasks seem impossible.