Mere Christianity

Ohmigoodness. If you haven't noticed already, I am in love with Narnia.
I don't know what it is, but there are certain stories that grab me. My daddy used to read to me and Tashi every night before bed up until we were in 2nd grade. He read classic stories. Little Women. Anne of Green Gables. Narnia.
And I never really understood what he was reading to us. But I still liked it.
After he would read to us, he would go read the Jane Austen romances out loud to my mom.
And I've been able to read since I was 4 years old. I couldn't understand what I was reading, but I would do it anyways. I would find any book and get lost in it. For Christmas and my birthday, all I wanted was books.

Now I don't have as much time to read as I used to, but I still like it. And I am amazed by this man: C. S. Lewis. We all know he was an amazing religious writer, but I was doing some research on his life. I was very surprised.

His family were members of the Church of Ireland, but he declared he was an atheist when he was 15 years old. Because he was "very angry with God for not existing". And "Had God designed the world, it would not be a world so frail and faulty as we see." And the interesting thins part is, his best friend J. R. R. Tolkien helped him change his mind. Tolkien really wanted him to join the Catholics, but he joined the Church of England instead. "You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England....I came into Christianity kicking and screaming".

But after he became a Christian, he never stopped. The Narnia series are so much deeper than I thought. I'm so excited for the next movie to come out! Because in the next book, when Aslan is asked by Edmund whether or not Aslan exists in their world he replies:

"I am... but there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there."

And I'm excited to see if they'll say that in the movie or not. Probably not. But you never know, because Douglas Gresham is helping with the movies. Oooooh I'm so excited.

C.S. Lewis wrote the Narnia series while Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings series, as a contest to write the best fantasy series for children. Both of the series became some of the most famous ever.And both of them are so deep in Christianity symbolism.

C. S. Lewis believed that Jesus was NOT God. Which is surprising. And he talked about in one of his books he says that there is a common morality known throughout humanity. Lewis discusses the idea that people have a standard of behaviour to which they expect other people to adhere. This standard has been called Universal Morality or Natural Law. Lewis claims that people all over the earth know what this law is and when they break it. He goes on to claim that there must be someone or something behind such a universal set of principles.

"These then are the two points that I wanted to make. First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in."

Lewis also portrays Universal Morality in his works of fiction. In The Chronicles of Narnia he describes Universal Morality as the "Deep magic" which everyone knew.

I love his books. I think that Edmund and Eustace in the Narnia series are supposed to be himself. They don't want to believe in Narnia and cause trouble for everyone else. But once they meet Aslan, they become the truest to it and never forget Narnia.

I am I C. S. Lewis nerd. haha Anybody else?

A real summer has just begun! We're gonna hav efun in the sun!

Hooray. Today is a happy day.
It was my last day of work. And let me say, I hated it there.
Carl's Junior is gestapo/natzi headquarters. A brand new one opened up here in our little town back in February. Me and my friend, Gina both applied because we had both quit our last jobs, and we needed a little more money for our trip to Japan. It seemed like the perfect place to work.
But it was not so. They never gave me the raise they said they would (even though I was there from the beginning). They took our employee 50% discount off (even when we were working). I was over-worked one week and on the schedule only one day for the next week. I admit it was organized, but too strict. You couldn't sit down or have a drink unless you were on break. You got sent home early if you weren't doing something. So you were always running around. Especially if it got busy. And if it got too busy you never got to go on a break. There were about 10 cameras behind the counter. There was one everywhere you went. And the owner just sits and watches us. It's creepy. The only place that doesn't have cameras is the bathroom (thank goodness). You couldn't sit around and talk to your co-workers. If you were in charge of drive-thru, from the time the people pull up to the menu and start ordering until they drove away with the food had to be below 2 and a half minutes. Insane crazniess!!! That was impossible if the customer had a big order or you had a new cook in the back (having no idea what they were doing). And "Natzi woman from California" (I won't mention any names) would pop in at least once a week unannounced and yell at us for what we were doing wrong. Or the owner and his wife. Pure evilness. I mean, I don't mind having a job, but it was to high-stress. And considering I'm still a 16 year old in high school, and I'm not trying to support my family, (just trying to pay my cell phone bill and earn some spending money), it was definitely not worth it.

But oh, how I will miss the Captain Crunch Shake. Or the chocolate cake. Oh my, the chocolate cake. My sweet sugary goodness. Luckily it's only a dollar and a half...the cream cheese frosting, the moist moistness...um, I'd better stop now. Before something happens. But I will miss Hayden too. He looked exactly like Linguini from Ratatoullie when he wears his chef hat. I don't have a picture of that, dang it.

Now I feel like my summer has really started. Haha this video is how I feel.
(A real summer has just begun! We're gonna have fun in the sun! Now that all of the hard work, work is done!)


And what you've all been waiting for! The winner of the fabric drawing is...

Jeni from Our Safari !!!

I just want to thank everyone for commenting. They were all really nice, and made me feel happy. This turned out a lot better than I thought it would. Keep up the comments and I will do another drawing!!!

Little Bunny Foo-Foo

Oh my goodness, I love quilting. My mom taught me the old fashioned way. At first, I absolutely hated it. I was too impatient. But because of my mom's patience in teaching me, I quilt on my own now. I buy my own fabric, choose my own designs and fabric combinations, and I'm off. I really like hand piecing because I can do it anywhere. In the car, when I'm watching a movie, etc et...I love vintage repro fabric. I even have a real vintage fabric stash.
And this is the quilt block I'm working on right now (hand-pieced). It's a reproduction from the 30's. I love the shade of green. And look at the little bunnies!!!!























































This is the quilt top I'm working on right now. It takes so long just to make one block. But it makes me happy. I want to make it as big as I can even if it takes me until I'm a grandma haha. I will post more pictures as it progresses. And you have to love my grandparents blue carpet. Tell me what you think about quilting, or show me pictures of things you're working on. I love inspiration. Just comment about quilting!!!

And remember that I'm drawing the name on Monday so any comment I got from yesterday until Monday will be included :)

Families, Parents, and Divorce

Well, I've decided to write anyways.
Gina is finally back from all her trips. It's like the first time I've seen her in a month. And it's been weird that she's been hanging out with different people on her trips and making new friends, and I've been doing the same here at home. I've been hanging out with people I never have before. But I think it's a good thing. I'm learning new things from each person I'm with. That's what I love about friends.

But Gina's been having a really hard time with her family. Things I can't even begin to imagine or talk about. She's going through stress that nobody should have to go through at her age. And the sad thing is it hasn't always been like this for her. So she's having to adjust BIG time. And she's been pretty positive through the whole thing, and had to carry the burden of her parents. Even when she was going through this super hard time she helped another friend (let's call her Ariel) of ours out with Ariel's stress at that time. Dang, Gina. I wish I could be like you. I wish I could help you even though I know there's not much I can do. I hope you will have a turn for the better in your life when you move to St. George. Even though I will miss you, I think it's for the best. And I'm sorry that I'm moving just because my parents want to, but you're moving because of family problems. But you know it's not your fault, Heavenly Father knows what he's doing, and this will make you stronger and you will learn what you need to.

That was deep. But it is true when you say to that "someone else always has it worse than you". Looking at all my friends with divorced parents, it's really made me want to choose the RIGHT person to marry. Keep myself worthy until I do, not dive into a marriage, pray about who I'm supposed to marry, and even if the marriage goes through hard times, FIGHT to keep it together. Especially if you prayed and he was the right person to marry. A divorce isn't just about you and your spouse. It affects your whole family. Even extended family. Oh my, this makes me glad for temples and eternal marriages.

So on this deep note.
I have something fun.

I will be giving away in a drawing

10, 2x2 inch squares out of my favorite fabric

If you comment on this post, your lovely name will have a chance to be drawn. I'll pick the name on Monday, the winner can pick whether they'd like a colorful 30's repro set, pastel repros, or a brown, pink, blue, and green set. You could use it for a charm quilt, scrapbooking, or cards. Hope the rest of your week is good. I can't wait to see who the winner is!!! If it goes well, I'll do it again.
So COMMENT AWAY!!!

Tribute to Bro. R.

This post is a tribute to Brother R., my seminary teacher this past school year. He was in seminary with my mom his senior year and my mom's freshman year. They sat next to each other and he slept the whole time - his dad was the seminary teacher. Haha he got bachi! (He got what he deserved in Japanese) He's signing yearbooks in the picture above, me and Gina were the first students to ask him to sign ours)

And having seminary for an hour every Sunday and having it in Japanese and having Maika and her sister Mana being the only other active seminary students...ya I didn't have a good experience. There's nothing wrong with it being in Japanese, it's just not my native language. And our teacher had just been called that year and had no idea what she was doing.

But I'd just like to say that Brother R. knew what he was doing. I was always so excited for each class, and wished that I could have it everyday instead of every other day. You could tell that he always was prepared for each lesson. Being a seminary teacher is hard work. You always have to be spiritually prepared. And be motivational all the time. And be a good listener.

He was always there for us. Me, Gina, and Tashi would go over to seminary almost everyday after school to just talk and hang out. He probably got tired of listening to all these silly teenage girls. He helped me learn a lot of spiritual stuff that I needed to. I like all the stories he would tell that wouldn't really have anything to do with the lesson (but they were good). Like the story of Joseph Smith talking to John the Beloved. My ancestor was with him when they were talking!!! I just thought that was cool because that's a story that's been told in our family.

He taught 3 of my aunts - My dad's baby sisters Gina and Emily at B. High, and my mom's baby sister Micaela here at this school. I don't know why exactly we moved here to F. Town for only a year, but I know that Brother R. has a lot to do with it. He taught me to talk to my Heavenly Father about everything, because He knows EXACTLY what I'm going through. And He can give me the perfect guidance and comfort that I need.

Things I learned from Brother R.:

1. Can you be "mostly" honest? No, just like you can't be "mostly pregnant"
2. Don't steady the ark like Uzzah, that's like trying to steady the Lord
3. Remember the "Rule of Ought" - Be where you ought to when you ought to being with who you ought to, doing what you ought to
4. The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion, it needs to be the keystone of our testimonies
5. Your testimony can die, you need to nourish it
6. Real fasting take work
7. If we don't pay fast offerings, we don't get the full affect of the fast
8. Spiritual food is sweet, nourishing, and free of money
9. A priesthood holder is an agent of the Lord, you're doing the Lord's errand
10. How's your cistern? Is it full, or is it like the Jews' in the days of Jeremiah
11. If you violate the Strength of Youth, the Lord's safety net will disappear
12. True prophets are called by God, teach righteousness as the only true security, prophesy the truth (even when it's painful), preach against sin, condemn false prophets, and their prophecies come true
13. False prophets say what they want to say, what the people want to hear, offer false promises, don't preach against sin, prophecies don't come true
14. Prophetic counsel changes the very ground you stand upon
15. What drives you? What are the intents of your heart?
16. How's your watchtower? Is Pres. Monsen your watchman? If you don't have a watchman, the enemy comes by night
17. The power of your testimony affects your posterity
18. The Word of Wisdom is more than just a health code, it may be more valueable to you spiritually
19. You need to stay in the condition to receive revelation
20. If you bow down to Christ instead of idols, you'll walk with Christ
21. If we can't submit ourselves to God, we can't become like Him
22. Don't be Gomer and break your covenants
23. Light and truth come from God, light can't be hidden

etc etc...I took so many notes. I'm a seminary nerd/prep haha
I will miss Brother R. very much!