Spiritual Sunday - The Plan of Salvation - For Someone

**heads up.  Long and very religous read.  I understand if you don't think you have the time or aren't interested, but I challenge you to at least try.  For me.  : )** 

Okay so with the new curriculum in teaching that I've mentioned before, each week a challenge is issued to the Young Women to do something with the lesson or discussion that we've had.  Since I'm part of the program as an advisor, considered a leader, it would only be fair if I also took the challenges.  Besides, I'm trying to like, you know, better myself and all that, so um, yeah - challenges have been accepted.

This week's was to bear our testimony to someone about the Plan of Salvation.  What better way, then to put it all out on the blog?  So, if this ain't your thang, feel free to move along and thanks for at least stopping by.

If you are interested in my feelings about it, please just remember that this is my OWN testimony and my OWN feelings of what I BELIEVE.  I am not speaking on behalf of the LDS church.  I am not speaking in any way of authority or am I presenting absolute true doctrine.  This is simply what I believe.  And it's for you.  Someone.

Here's a diagram (I tried to hand draw on using Paint, but that didn't work out so well so I googled the image)

You might have to make the image bigger to read the descriptions but at any rate, I am gonna outline what I know and believe.

Starting with Pre-Earth Life:  I believe that we are all sons and daughters created by a Heavenly Father and a Heavenly Mother.  We are all literally spirit brothers and sisters created by the same Heavenly Parents.  Our parents are Gods.  They love us, we love them.  Out of immeasurable respect for our Heavenly Mother, she is not referred to often.  Our Father didn't want her name taken in vain like He knew His would so often.  I love that thought.  Such love and respect for a woman.  Our Father in Heaven has a body and we wanted to become like Him.  We wanted to have all the glories and happiness that He has.  So similar to how we feel about our own children.  We want them to have everything we can possibly give them.  In order for us to become like Him, we needed to obtain bodies, experience earth life, be tested to prove our worthiness and obedience to eternal laws and doctrine.  He couldn't just hand it over, we had to prove ourselves worthy of it.  Think of it as when you make your kids earn money or earn a privilege (I know, very basic terms).
We were thrilled about the opportunity!  We were STOKED!  We saw how great things were for our Father and Mother and we wanted the same!  We wanted bodies.  We could feel His, we knew the happiness of having one, we desperately wanted the same thing.  So how to go about getting everyone to earth and then back again together?

A plan was presented.  Our two oldest brothers stepped forward.  One being Lucifer who thought he had the perfect plan.  We would each come in our time, have our experiences, but instead of risking the chance that we would make choices that wouldn't follow the necessary steps to get back to our Father, he thought it was a better idea to remove the agency and just have our experiences (sans opportunities to choose) and instead "force" everyone back the same route.  It seemed safe.  We would lose no one.  We wouldn't risk the chance that one of our friends or loved ones would come to earth, get distracted, not learn the gospel, not take the necessary ordinances to ensure them to return home again.  Collective salvation if you will.  He proposed getting every single one of Father's children home safe again, but he wanted the glory.

There were some of our brothers and sisters who agreed that seemed the best option.  I would think it felt safe.  That plan didn't go over so well with our Father because the whole point of coming to earth, gaining the body and being tested was in fact to PROVE that we would rely on the Spirit, make choices that would prove that without being forced, we would show our love and loyalty on our own.  The catch was, we were going to have mortal bodies and thus the odds of us making mistakes was 100%.  Risky.  We could lose some.  We could lose all since the very fact of being on earth and having bodies guaranteed we would at some point screw up.

Our other older brother Jesus came forward with a different proposal.  In light of the fact that we would make mistakes, He didn't think that should be the end all.  But, if there were a Savior who would take upon Himself all mankind's mistakes, poor choices, sins, and properly atoned for them, and then if the offender repented, those sins/mistakes could be forgiven and the progression back home could continue.  He offered to come to earth, live the mortal existence and then be that Savior for us.  He loved us THAT much to be willing to do it so that all of us could return home.  That kind of love is incomprehensible to me, but I KNOW it in my heart.  For all of this, Jesus proposed that the glory remain with the Father.

There was a group discussion.  We understood Lucifer's plan, we understood Jesus's plan.  We talked, we discussed, we debated, we argued.  As any family does.  The arguments grew heated.  So heated in fact that there was "war".  Now, I don't know if it was an actual war (not likely in my book because we didn't have bodies yet) but more a war of words and ideologies.  Eventually 2/3's of us chose Jesus' plan and the remaining 1/3 chose Lucifer's.  Because of the exchanges, the battles, the quite-frankly-I'm-not-sure-how-it-exactly-went-down, the war, Lucifer (or Satan) was cast out of heaven for rebellion and he took his 1/3 followers with him.  They were denied the opportunity to come to earth and progress with the plan of receiving a body and moving forward.  They.are.pissed.  And angry enough with the rest of us, that they will do anything to make sure that we don't succeed.  As they are still in  a spirit state, they (following their leader Satan) have the ability to test us and tempt us and try anything they can to cause us to fail.

The plan moved forward.  Earth was created, Adam and Eve were the first occupants and with the Old Testament you can read and understand the early years.  In the New Testament, Jesus' time on earth is learned.  We read about His life, His ministry, His atonement for our sins, His crucifixion, and His rise from the dead.  His resurrection.  He showed us the way for us to follow. How to live our lives.  He established His Priesthood.  His church.  And set up the plan for how we should live while we are on the earth and having these mortal experience.

As we each have our turn to come and receive our bodies we begin our journey of proving our faithfulness to our Father in Heaven and to His plan and gospel.  We have opportunities to show Him our love, our gratitude and our loyalty to our older brother Jesus who is our Savior and makes it all possible for us to still have our free agency, fix and repent of our inevitable sins and mistakes and still return to live with our Father.

Added to all of this.  I believe we knew each other in the premortal world.  I believe we may even have chosen our spouses, our children, our family units.  We could see the trials and challenges that we would face and we likely formed a plan and made promises to make sure we took care of each other and helped each other.  I believe Splenda Daddy and I knew one another before we came to earth.  I believe we knew that we were eternal partners and that we are working on that together here on earth.  With our sons, their wives and their children.  We saw our Father and Mother as a family unit in heaven it only makes sense that the same thing continue on earth and even after.

The line called Birth.  Pretty simple.  We are born with physical bodies on this earth.

The next circle titled Mortality.  This is the now.  Earth life.  Wouldn't it be so much easier if we could just remember the pre-existence?  If we could remember our Father and Mother distinctly?  We could remember what the whole plan was about?  It would make our choices so much easier wouldn't it?  Well that would have proved nothing, so with birth, a veil was drawn in our minds and we were blessed to forget.  I say blessed, because now comes the opportunity to prove.  Exactly what we wanted.  We knew it would be hard, we knew we would be tested.  We knew bad things would happen to good people.  We knew good people would make bad choices.  But in the grand scheme of things we knew it would be worth the chance.  We have our Savior who "paid" for those, so when we do screw it up (like daily if you're me), then we call upon our Savior, repent, ask for forgiveness and then move on working even harder to be better.  We also knew that sometimes our physical bodies would fail us.  There would be disease, sickness, pain, and other physical sufferings.  What is glorious to think about, is that the Savior also took upon Himself those same things so that when we had to experience them, He would know how to help up.  What a plan eh?  The hard part is the day to day living.  Trying to be a good person, follow the Savior's example and making sure we have the correct doctrine, principles and ordinances necessary to allow us to return home to our Father.  Families intact.  This is where I'm going to ADD-it for a minute and bring in my church.

Simply put.  Jesus established His doctrine, His church, His priesthood (the ability to act in God's name), His ordinances that are necessary for one to have to return home.  He did that while He was on the earth with his 12 disciples.  When Jesus was crucified, resurrected and then returned home, it was left up to the disciples to continue the church and the work.  Reading the New Testament, you can see that one by one they were killed, thus losing on the earth everything the Savior had originally established.  When the disciples died, the priesthood left the earth.  So how's anyone living since then supposed to have those blessings and ordinances?

Enter Joseph Smith.  I'll save my testimony of him as a prophet for another day, but you can read on LDS.ORG more information.  Through his own bible study and then simple and sincere prayer, events led to the Savior's original church, doctrine, priesthood and it's necessary ordinances being restored to the earth in preparation for the Savior's return.  Right now, we are lucky enough to be living in a time when we have everything we need.  I believe that when the war in heaven was going on, there many of us who were perhaps more vocal and stronger in our testimony's of what needed to happen and what plan was right.  We fought hard for the right to come, experience and progress.  Some of us might have fought VERY hard. I believe the most valiant of all of God's children were saved for the last days of the earth when so much wickedness was abound because they are the strongest to withstand it.  I mean our generation.  Our children's generations.

So we go along this earth life, having earthly experiences all while also having a spiritual self.  We are dual beings in a sense.  Part of what makes earth so challenging.  So many of the physical attractions or physical aspects are in direct conflict with who we are as spiritual sons and daughters of God.  Things like: gossip, judgmental minds, physical appetites for potentially harmful things for our bodies both with food, drink and sex, low self esteem, depression, pride, the list could go on.  The challenge for us is to allow our Spiritual selves be strong enough to overcome the physical selves that want to dominate.  Make sense?  A daily challenge to be sure. Sometimes just to be a nice person for the day is a challenge.  Add in those who also suffer physical ailments and well, you can see that this earth life is not easy, nor was it meant to be.  And moreover, we knew it.  We knew it would be hard and yet, we chose it.  Every single person on this earth who has ever lived, or will ever live is part of that 2/3's of our brothers and sisters who chose this plan.  Sometimes thinking about that blows my mind.  Most times though, it softens my heart towards others.

The next line is death.
Death comes to every single one of us that has a body.  Pure and simple. No escaping it.  Sometimes it comes after a long and fruitful life, other times it strikes someone in their prime.  Oftentimes infants, young children, or at other completely unexpected times.  The physical body dies.  Our spiritual self lives on though.  So our body is put in to the ground, or in some cases, a vault, to sea, in ashes....... either way, the physical body is dead.   Our spirits then go to the next circle on the graph which is the Spirit world.

Let's talk the Spirit world.  Good time for me to remind you that I am not speaking doctrine on behalf of the LDS church, I am speaking my belief's and my testimony.  The Spirit world is divided in a sense into distinct places.  Spirit Paradise and Spirit Prison.  I believe that the Spirit world is really here on earth, but the veil divides us.  I believe those who have passed on are among us.  They are busy with things that need to be done for their own salvation and missionary work for others, but I also KNOW that there are times, when someone who has passed on, is very very close to us.  I have felt it myself and I have known it for others.  I find that a HUGE blessing and tender mercy from our Father who loves us more than we can comprehend.

Spirit Paradise is where most of us go.  It is a place of pure happiness and glory.  In fact, that it is such a place of such beauty and peace that most of us would take our own lives just to be there.  We are reunited with family members and friends who have passed on before us.  Any physical pains are gone.  We are free with our spirits and are happy beyond description.  Glenn Beck, while investigating many different religions, asked the question in an LDS Sunday School class. "Where would Ghandi be right now?"  The answer that he would be in Spirit Paradise rung true to him and he investigated more.  Spirit Paradise is where all good people, with good hearts, who lived lives of goodness and served others would be.  A place of rest and happiness.  A place for righteous people.

Spirit Prison would be those who chose to live lives of darkness, evil and harm to others. The one thing we take with us is our intelligence and our minds/thoughts.  If we lived lives of sin we carry over those same feelings, belief's and thoughts.  So I imagine that when we die, we go to that part of the Spirit world that feels comfortable to us.  Make sense?

Okay so what happens there?  We just float around as spirits, kickin with our ancestors and sleeping on clouds?  I think not.  If our Father in Heaven is anything, He is fair and just.  We've established that there is a doctrine and ordinances that need to happen in order for us to return to our Father in Heaven and become like Him, receiving all the same blessings and glories that He has.  So.....what about all those billions of his Spirit children who never get the opportunity to have those in this life?  Or even get the ability to choose for themselves?  I mean c'mon, there are third world countries populated with people (our spiritual brothers and sisters) whose day to day existence is simply getting water and food to eat.  No thought of a God or religion.  Would it be fair for them because their earthly experience didn't allow them the same opportunities and some of the rest of us to get those ordinances or learn the gospel and then prove our faithfulness by choosing it?

Nope.  Not fair.  Not just.  Enter in missionary work.  That is why my church is big on missionary work.  It's only fair and right that everyone gets the chance to hear the gospel and choose for themselves.  Those who have passed on already, are getting that chance in the Spirit world.  There is missionary work going on there just as there is here.  I doubt that we would see the young men in white shirts and ties knocking on clouds, but you get the idea.  Every single one of our Heavenly Parents children (our brothers and sisters) will get the chance to hear the gospel plan.  Accept it or they have the free agency to not accept it.  Either in this life, or in the Spirit world.  Everyone gets a chance.  Period.  Also, what about the necessary ordinances such as baptism, temple endowments, sealing of families?  That is why we do the work for those that have passed on.  They can't get the ordinances in the Spirit World because they require a physical body.  But they can accept the doctrine, and then we here on the earth must perform the ordinances for them.  They can then accept or reject those as well.  Isn't that the coolest thing ever?  FREE AGENCY!!  I had someone ask me once why we felt like we needed to do temple work for someone who clearly did NOT believe and even belonged to another religion when they were living.  My answer is , but what if they changed their mind? What if they were taught, accepted and desperately wanted to move forward?  I could at least do this for them since they can't for themselves.  If they accept it great, if they don't....no harm done.  It doesn't mean anything to them anyway.  Make sense?

So, once that has happened, everyone has had the opportunity to be taught and choose, then comes the next line judgement and resurrection.

At this point, the Savior has returned to earth.  The earth has been cleansed and prepared to become the Celestial Kingdom (more later).  Each of us has the opportunity to meet with our Father in Heaven again, I imagine the Savior will be there too, and discuss our earthly existence.  We'll review our lives.  The good, the bad, the ugly and we'll have an opportunity to answer for ourselves.  Both in the good choices and the bad.  We'll be able to show whether or not we've been faithful to the plan to the best of our ability.  We'll show whether or not we have received the necessary ordinances.  I think of it as a one-on-one with my Father where He knows me better than anyone (He created me for pete's sake), He knows my thoughts, my heart's intents, my challenges, my everything.  We can talk it through and then I am given all that I have earned. He will give me every last iota that I have proved myself worthy of.  The resurrection is where we are reunited with our physical bodies.  The cool thing about this is, that our physical bodies will be perfected.  Any limitations, defects, imperfections we had on the earth with those bodies will be gone.  They will be perfect.  No physical deformities of any kind.  Think of how a person who has lived their life on the earth as blind, or bound to a wheelchair, or stricken with painful disease will feel to be completely whole again!  Oh, I LOVE that promise!  Judgement and resurrection.  Not a thing to fear, but an event to eagerly prepare and look forward to.

The final column has three circles and then a bottom area.  That bottom area is referred to as Outer Darkness.  It is where those who rebelled in heaven and followed Satan, as well as a very few who lived on the earth will exist for eternity.  They are not allowed the presence of our Heavenly Parents or the Savior Jesus Christ.  They will not be with their families nor allowed their presence.  They knew the plan, they chose to rebel.  As for those who lived on the earth.  My understanding is that Outer Darkness is reserved for the very few who have direct, absolute knowledge of the Holy Ghost and then deny it.  Rare.  I don't completely understand it, but I believe it.

The three circles represent the three kingdoms of glory that we can achieve.  I'm going to refer you to the official website for specifics as to who would achieve and receive what.  As children of our Heavenly Father, we wanted to be just like Him and have everything He has.  That is available only in the Celestial Kingdom.  Where we can live for eternity with our family units.  (doesn't that just seem right? we love our spouses and our children and wouldn't we want to be with them forever?)  Splenda Daddy and I of course will be our family unit in a long chain all connected together in families with our sons and their spouses and children etc.....kind of overwhelming if you think about it, but on the other hand, it just makes so much sense to me.  In my heart and soul - I feel it.  Because our Heavenly Parents are Gods and have the ability to create worlds and spirit children and all that I've already explained, we too are granted that same blessings if we have earned it.  So in short, we too can become Gods just like the God who created us.

And it's an eternal round.  Again and again and again and again, for all living souls.  Sometimes it is hard to wrap my head around.  But it always feels right and rings true in my heart and soul.

My testimony of this didn't happen over night.  It comes day by day.  Experience by experience.  And with work on my part.  I studied, I researched, I attended meetings and listened to speakers, I prayed.  And then I prayed some more.  And I continue praying each day that I will remember what I know.  That I won't let the day to day distractions of the physical life make me forget what my ultimate goal is and that truth that I know inside.

Again, I don't claim this to be complete doctrine of my church.  It is MY testimony of what I believe about the plan of salvation, or as we also call it, the plan of happiness.

If you've made it this far, you deserve some kind of award.  Like some skittles and a diet coke or something.  If you have questions, feel free to ask me but I'm not an authority, I will share what I know but will always refer you back to the official church website.  If you have something to add, please do so, but can ya not crush my self esteem by showing off how little I might know?  And finally, I would love to hear YOUR testimony on the same thing.  If you feel like sharing.

Finally,  this is my truth.  As I know it.   It might not include everything but it's real to me.  It's not up for debate to me.  My testimony is personal, close to my heart and all mine.

And I love it enough to take the hard challenge and share it with complete strangers who may stumble on this post.  Please accept it with the love that it was shared.

Peace and blessing yo
xoxox
mCat

**ps - other than a quick spell check, I am late getting into the shower to get ready for church, so if there are grammer errors or otherwise, please ignore and don't beat me up to harshly in your comments**

Arizona - highway, hijinks, heartache, hope

I mentioned a quick road trip to Arizona to attend the funeral of a friend's husband.  First off - I have to just put this out there, I understand that I am incredibly blessed to be in my life position right now.  Minimal work obligations, no children to tend to and a husband that is generous, supportive and makes things happen.  A few years ago, a last minute road trip could have never happened.  Different life stages.  I love the one I'm in now that's for sure!

When a few of us Utah girls proposed heading to AZ it was a rushed decision.  Flights were looked at (incredibly expensive), hotel room booked, who was going/not going, and finally it came down to me driving the Cooper, Karie riding shotgun and Sheila flying and meeting us there.

Early Friday morning, I picked up Karie and off we went.  She has the smart talkie box thingie that takes good pictures so she was our camera's eye as well.

The garmin calculated 11 hours so once we got a Monster and some snacks on board, we were ready to hunker down for the drive.

I may or may not have talked Karie's ear off.  Somehow, my mouth just runs and runs and runs.  She is a patient woman!

There was a moment of panic.  The route was taking us through Highway 89 and it has small towns interspersed along the way, so the speed limit was up and down constantly.  I would set cruise and then when I saw the new speed sign posted, hit my down button on the cruise to slow down to the posted speed.

Near Lake Powell, about 5 miles from the AZ/UT border, I saw the 55mph sign, started hitting the button to slow it down and passed a cop.  Who immediately flipped his lights on and turned around!

NOOOOOO!!!!!!  Are you freaking serious?  You know that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you see those lights and realize they want YOU to pull over?  Yeah, that one?  I wanted to throw up!

I pulled over, started pulling my license out and Karie started digging in my glove box for my registration.  I started to pull my CCP permit since I had been instructed to always tell an officer whether or not you are "carrying" BEFORE he runs your license.  It was halfway out of my wallet, but not entirely exposed.

I roll down my window and Officer SouthernUtahDrawal approaches.

OSUD: "Good afternoon ladies"
Me: "Hi, I'm so sorry! IsawthesignandwaspressingmyslowdownbuttonbutIguessIwasntfastenoughI'msosorry" (rambled all together in a ball of nerves and jitters)
OSUD:  "Where's your gun ma'am"
*heart stops*
Me: (hand to my chest right between the two lady parts that help to make me a lady) "Right here" (I thought he wanted me to show him so I started to lift my sweatshirt to pull it out)
OSUD: "That's okay ma'am. No.  Leave it.  That's okay"

He then proceeded to tell me that I had apparently missed an earlier sign telling me to slow down.  I apologized again, told how I had never been this way before, on our way to a funeral (yes I played that card), so sorry.........
He warned me that once I cross over to AZ, the fines would double.  I asked him how far we were from the state line (again showing my complete ignorance of where the hell I was).

He looked in the car at Karie and me and said, "You two don't appear to be dangerous or wanted criminals.  Are you?"
Us: "Uh, nope..... *more blabbering from me about funeral, new road to me, never been to Arizona.......*

OSUD: "Well drive safe and have a good day"
He raps on my hood, hands me my license and registration and saunters back to his vehicle.
I prayed and thanked Heavenly Father for acknowledging my tithing payment and sparing me the ticket.
(there is a pic of me praying but somehow I can't find it anymore, and I'm gonna take that as a sign that I have already tested Heavenly Father's patience so it's not getting posted)


You can bet that we were eagle eyes on the signs from there on out.  I was NOT gonna miss another one!

(Lake Powell behind us.  If you can imagine, I grew up in Utah and have NEVER been here)

Once we got to Arizona and made a quick potty stop, it was quite clear that we were a little out of our element.  Did you know that everyone who is old goes to Arizona for the winter?  We walked into a little diner to pee and you would have thought we had horns on our heads for the looks that we got!  I think we were, on average, 20 years younger than the regular patron. (And I SO want to be like them!)

(okay so this wasn't the potty stop, but at breakfast the next morning.  But you get the idea.  I so, SO want to retire here)

We made it to the hotel only to discover that while I THOUGHT I had it booked for two nights, it was really only booked for one.  And huh. There is a PGA tour of some kind or another in town and there are no available rooms.

Well.  Now I'm a little embarrassed.  Ask clerk to hold a room if one opens up, she gives us a lead on where to find one for the next night and then we get oriented and settled.  AFTER I clear the room and declare it bed bug free.

 Sheila made it in, and after some chitchat,  a treat for Pedaling, we nestled in for sleeping the best you can possibly try in a hotel.

Saturday was the day of the funeral.

So many thoughts and feelings about this special and really, quite frankly, sacred event.  It was perhaps one of the best (if that's okay to say) funeral's I have ever attended.  Tammy was amazing.  Her Bishop (pastor) on point with all of his comments and thoughts.  The graveside was beautiful even though it was raining and I will never hear the coo of a dove without thinking of love and peace and remembering the Spirit I felt that day.  For more on that, with some pictures you can click here.

My heart still hurts for Tammy and the boys.  Yet, how grateful I am for the knowledge of where we go when we die.  I already shared some thoughts on that and if you are interested you can click here.  I have also been challenged to share my testimony regarding the Plan of Salvation so be watching for that one.  Quite simply, the gospel of Jesus Christ and the grand master plan that we are all playing a part in, gives people hope and comfort when lives are filled with sadness and despair.  For that I am grateful.

A side blessing of being in Arizona was meeting a fellow blogging friend IN REAL LIFE!  I've long admired Soloman for his political writings and observations.  I had small glimpses into him but mostly just from the virtual side.  Sitting next to him throughout the service and then sharing a dining table and noshing on fake Mexican with the other girls for the entire afternoon was absolutely delightful!  You know how you kind of have an image of someone in your head and you think when you meet them they will likely not even be close to what you imagined?  I can honestly say Sol did not disappoint.  The man is intelligent, articulate, funny and easy to chat it up with.  He didn't seem to mind sharing a table with 3 gabby women and believe you me, we made the Utah jokes abound!  Stand up guy and on point!  If you aren't already reading him, you should.  And then when he comes to Utah and crashes at the mCat's house with Splenda and the babies, you can bet your sweet bitties, we'll been partying and documenting the heck out of it!  I might even let him bring one of his own babies.  MAYBE.....

As it began to get dark, Sol needed to get on the road back home, and I was exhausted and wanted to decompress.  We dropped Sheila off at a family member's home, Karie and I headed to the new hotel (I declared the room clean and free of bed bugs), and then while Karie wandered over to the mall to stretch her legs, I called Splenda Daddy and poured my little heart out about the entire day and everything I had felt and experienced.  It was one of those days that I really, REALLY wish he could have shared with me.  It might not have meant the same to him - if for no other reason than these were people that I communicate with fairly regularly and he only hears about them, but the Spirit of the day had been one I would have liked to have shared with him.  Another time I suppose.  I Am glad for the friends I was with.  A reminder that everything happens for a reason.

Early Sunday morning, Karie and I loaded the Cooper back up, got our caffeine fixes and headed home.  It was pouring rain most of the way, with a few bursts of brilliant sun.

(this frozen waterfall was cool)

(heading into the jaws of the storm)

I missed the turn off to Flagstaff and went an extra 30 miles one way, OUT OF THE WAY, and then hit the massive snow storm at about Nephi.

It was quite clear that there was a problem with my tires and during a quick potty stop, I got out to check them and discovered that my rear tires were completely bald.  Bad news during a slippery, snowy, wet storm.  We basically crawled the rest of the way home and once I dropped off Karie, I called Splenda to let him know that I would be ice skating the rest of the way and to watch for me to come sliding in.

The weekend was one of adventure, laughs, tears, spiritual nourishment, personal reflection, sharing, prayers, and most of all filled with people who have added greatly to my own life experience.  It was a sad circumstance to bring it all about, however, from the time I pulled out of my garage Friday morning until the time I parked back in it Sunday night, I was a changed and hopefully better person.  I feel blessed to rub shoulders with some pretty awesome people.

Thanks to all the people who made it special for me.  Karie, Sheila, Tammy, Soloman, Jamie, Darlene, Jen,  Connor, Taylor, Tammy's Bishop, Justin and last but not least OSUD.

**special thanks to Karie for all the pics!!**

Because I love her - and I don't even know her IRL

Okay, so yeah.  Sadly lacking on original material - although I have several things swirling in my head and there will be some "stellar" posts coming (mostly once I get the pic's I need) but until then.....

I found Namaste through a mutual blog friend *coughpedalingcough* and have enjoyed her political and even NON political posts.

This one just happens to be my favorite of late and makes a nice, personal, insightful and interesting read.

Click here and read of one woman's journey to happiness......