Pen Pals!

My school aged kids have written letters to pen pals in Pellworm, Germany, thanks to my 4th grade teacher, Ms. Susanne Guthrie. She's over there right now, and has invited those she knows to send messages to her email, and she'll taking the letters to the kids at school tomorrow! How fun is that!?!

Dear Pen Pal,

My name is Jackson Steelman. I am 7 years old. I will be 8 on September 25th. I am in the second grade at Sanford Creek Elementary School in Rolesville, North Carolina, USA. I am the oldest kid in my family, and have two younger brothers, named Brady and Carter. My mom's name is Leah, and my dad's name is Rodney. Mom stays home with us during the day, and cooks and cleans. She was born and raised at Harkers Island, which is probably a lot like your hometown. My dad goes to work 5 days a week in an office where he is an analyst. I'm not really sure what that means! haha!

I have light brown hair and brown eyes. Right now, I am wearing braces on my teeth, and hope they will be removed by this summer! I like to fix my hair in a mohawk for fun.  My favorite food is anything Asian, like shrimp and lo mein noodles. I like to play with legos. I love to play basketball with my dad. In our back yard, we have a trampoline, swings, and a playset in the woods. We play out there a lot, especially in the spring, summer and fall. We had a lot of snow this past winter! It has just gotten warm enough here to go to the pool. Our family will probably go this weekend!

Please tell me a little about yourself, and your hometown. Do you have a big family? Do you like any sports? Do you play legos? What is your favorite food? 

Your friend,
Jackson

(I'm in the middle in the picture)

Dear Pen Pal, 

My name is Brady Steelman. I am 5 years old. I will be 6 in 6 days - May 23rd. I am in Kindergarten at Sanford Creek Elementary School in Rolesville, North Carolina, USA. I am the second of three boys in my family. My older brother is named Jackson and my younger brother is named Carter. My mom's name is Leah, and my dad's name is Rodney. Mom stays home with us during the day, and cooks and cleans. She was born and raised at Harkers Island, which is probably a lot like your hometown. My dad goes to work 5 days a week in an office where he is an analyst. I'm not really sure what that means! haha!

I have brown hair and brown eyes. My favorite food is pancakes with syrup, bananas, strawberries, and whipped cream. I really like dinosaurs and all outdoor creatures, like turtles, frogs, grasshoppers and butterflies. I want to be a paleontologist when I grow up. In our back yard, we have a trampoline, swings, and a playset in the woods. We play out there a lot, especially in the spring, summer and fall. We had a lot of snow this past winter! It has just gotten warm enough here to go to the pool. Our family will probably go this weekend!

Please tell me a little about yourself, and your hometown. Do you have a big family? Do you like outdoor creatures too? What is your favorite food? 

Your friend,
Brady

(I'm wearing the red and blue striped tie in the picture)

Being misunderstood

April 16th is a day most central and eastern North Carolina residents won't soon forget, as it was the day a terrible tornado outbreak passed through a great portion of our state. Fortunately, our home and our family was spared, but in Wake County alone, there were thousands of homes and families affected, and several even lost their lives.

On Rolesville Road, about a mile or two from our home

Also on Rolesville Road. The size of the downed trees is amazing!

Anyone who knows anything about the Mormons knows that we are a serving people. When there is a need, especially a natural disaster, we are notorious for being early on the scene, ready to take part, and even lead, in the relief efforts. Not only that, I feel inclined to tell that it is never on the premise of it being only Mormons that we serve. Quite the contrary. Serving someone in need is serving someone in need. Period. (Read a little about it here, if you'd like.)

On Sunday, April 17th, less than 24 hours after the tornado outbreak in Wake County, the boys and men of our church, county wide, were given instruction of where to be and what to do. They would meet up at the "such-and-such" church on "such-and-such" road, immediately following church. The were to come dressed for the occasion, bringing any and all tools that would be helpful in the cleanup and disaster relief effort. My guess (totally not worth citing as fact!) is that there were easily 200 boys and men who reported then and there, that day alone; two of which were Elder Tolman and Elder Garrard, Mormon missionaries who serve in my local congregation.

Last night, these two fine fellas joined my family over dinner and the subject of that day came up. I asked them, "Tell me about the tornado relief you were able to take part it - How was it?" Much to my surprise they told me that the were turned away by the managing organization at "such and such" church. Mormons weren't allowed.

Now isn't that just something!? Samaritan's Purse, "a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world" (quoted from their website which I linked to) turns away those who are willing and able to help, on the premise of religious differences.



Quoting from their description on Wikipedia, "The organization’s president is Franklin Graham, son of Christian evangelist Billy Graham. The name of the organization is based on the New Testament Parable of the Good Samaritan, in which Jesus uses a parable to teach people the Great Commandment - how to "love thy neighbor as thyself".

Isn't it ironic that in the story of the Good Samaritan, found in Luke 10:29-37, Jesus teaches about the Samaritan who was helping someone who wasn't of the same faith as he, as the wounded man was a Jew?

Curious for a reason why, the missionaries were told that they had to sign the following faith contract in order to be affiliated with their outreach. The contract is found here. In case it doesn't jump out to you like it does me, bullet point one is the offense of those who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, because we not only revere the Holy Bible to be scripture, but also the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine & Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, all found in our scripture tote bag or quad.

Said "statement of faith" reads: We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God. II Timothy 3:15-17.

So, I've been pondering on this conversation since last night, and basically am writing this down for my posterity. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of ridicule Mormons face in our day to day lives. It was so when my great-grandmother Bertha was the first one of her family to unite with the faith, with a backdrop of the Mormon church on Harkers Island being burned by angry mobs. It was so when my mother was chastised by her family choosing to marry my father, a Mormon. It was so when I was young and was misunderstood for not being able to join friends at the beach on Sunday, as we observe it as a day more for worship, and not recreation. And it is so today. It will be for a long time, for generations to come, I'm sure.

I was about to close with the sentence "Being misunderstood sucks," but I won't do that. That would be immature... And tacky. ;)

Sweet times Infinininity

(That means very, very sweet)

I just wanted to record my favorite Mother's Day gift ever. Rodney really outdid himself with this little number. I am so blessed to have him for eternity. And those three little buggers ain't so bad either. ;)


First is the youtube video 1 of 2 (The first 10:00) and then below it, is video 2 of 2 (The last 4:50).

Hiding in the Book of Matthew

Heaven knows I love a parable. Recently, I was glancing over Matthew, Chapter 13, wherein lies a number of them, including the wheat and the tares, the grain of mustard seed,  the treasure hidden in the field, and the pearl of great price.

Read with me, the final few verses of this chapter:

53  And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.

54  And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?

55  Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?

56  And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?

57  And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.

58  And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

  

(Can you tell I wanted to bring special attention to that final verse? I was going to share my thoughts on this here, but instead, I'll let you ponder on those words, and draw your own conclusions.)

 

My mossy "S"

Recently, I stumbled upon a craft online that I really wanted to try. Today, I did just that. Here are the step by step instructions for my mossy "S." All you will need is a piece of foam (mine was $7 at Walmart for a piece that was about 14" x 20" x 2"), real moss (Walmart, $2 per bag, and I used about a bag and a half), knife, hot glue gun & lots of glue. I went through about 12 - 15 mini glue sticks... (Each mini stick is probably the equivalent of about 1/2 of a regular glue stick, so if you have regular sticks, about 7 should be enough.)

1. Start by using a marker or pen to draw your letter or shape. Freehand works. However, if you're a perfectionist (which I am not), you may also like to use a stencil.

2. Cut. You'll want to be outside for this step, for sure. I used a kitchen knife, and just sawed at it, standing at the rail of my back porch. I'd recommend you use some sort of electic kitchen knife though, if you have it. It was tough. Took me about 20 minutes.

Oops! BUT, not to worry, if you do the same thing. Hot glue saved the day.

3. Time to apply the moss! This part was so much fun. I used hot glue, and it worked perfectly. My regret is that I didn't have some sort of "pressing" helper, though... like an old plastic credit card or something - just something that can stand between your fingers and the hot glue. I don't know - that might not be the best example of  a "presser" but something kind of like that would help you not end up with burned fingertips. Also, I forgot to take a picture of the back, but there is no moss on the back side.

All done! Total project time was about 90 minutes. I'm too impatient (and excited!) to prepare a better hanging method today... Eventually, I'd very much like to hang it from ribbon. The clear plastic door hanger thingy will have to do for now. :)