First off, a couple quick updates before I get to my lengthy post...
Caeden got his first teeth (O/P for all the dental geeks) this past week. He was a little fussy as most kids are, so we are glad they came in quickly. It will be frustrating to not easily pacify him with a finger in the mouth anymore. Those sharp teeth can hurt! The above pic is him sleeping on the beach after having too much fun for a six month old. Since he won't open his mouth very often to show his teeth we have the following, over-closed mouth picture.
This is crazy Bex jumping off of the playset, soda in-hand, without a spill. He loves to do it, and is...as I just said...crazy!
More crazy stuff. For the first time Caeden used his rolling skills to try and roll out of the swing. Luckily Marisa noticed before he did it and watched him while I grabbed the camera for a quick pic.
Now to my soap box...we had a couple of big decisions to make this past week. One of which was to seriously consider moving to a different house in our neighborhood to get off of our street that has become too busy w/ speeding cars going into the development. Anyway, we decided no, but the process made us take a serious look at our last few years deciding to live where we now live, and how we get spiritual answers to big decisions. I have come to learn that my original assumptions were backwards as to how the Lord helps guide us. The term Laissez Faire came to mind. My new theory is that the Lord is more "hands off" on things like big decisions and more non-laissez faire on our day to day activities than I originally thought. For example...in dental school we spent a lot of time thinking about where we could possibly live to satisfy the many things we wanted in a ward/neighborhood/economy/school system/outdoor activities/temple/family/etc... Eventually we settled on Maple Valley, Washington and more specifically the Maple Woods development. We felt good about the decision when we made it. Two years later we look back on the past few years and the decision process for this major choice we made in our lives. Hind sight is definitely 20/20 because I can see various points along the path that we received a little nudge here and a little guidance there to help us make the correct decision. We feel very strongly that this was the perfect location for us to be, for many reasons.
I used to think...or maybe just hoped so much that I mostly thought...that big/important decisions deserved a larger spiritual guidance due to their large importance. I guess they still do recieve a larger portion, but not a direct hit-you-in-the-face answer like I wanted. Listening to my new favorite podcast today, I heard a great reference to this. The interviewed guest said that revelation (this was for Pres. David O. McKay and the priesthood to all worthy males issue) is a process with events along the way, not a specific event in most instances. Too true.
Speaking of this podcast and spiritual guidance on difficult questions...
I heard a great episode that answered some questions that have bothered Marisa and me for a long time. We know of a few people who have sadly left the church lately. Most of them for issues that we ourselves have questioned in the past. I guess the main difference is that no matter how disturbing some questionable new information may be, I KNOW that at one time I received a spiritual manifestation through the Holy Spirit that the Book of Mormon IS the word of God...no question. That being said, I didn't see an angel or feel fire in my veins...I have experienced emotions/feelings that were soft, peaceful, satisfaction and love on many instances reaffirming this to me. THEREFORE, I know that despite how bizzare some issue may seem, I know that with more information and explanation in the future I will come to understand it. Difficult things roll of my back rather than knocking me off the tracks, or in Mormon lingo...away from the Iron Rod.
So, for both Marisa and me the biggest problem that we have dealt with is the awkwardness of the temple ceremony. I won't speak of anything that is sacred so don't worry. The clothing...we've always wondered...will we really wear that in the Celestial Kingdom? The ceremony, is that really what happened in ancient temple ceremonies (like in the time of Adam)? Why is it so very similar to the Masonic ceremony? Etc, etc. Well, this well done podcast had an episode on just this issue. It answered every question I ever had on the subject and as the podcast author (interviewer) said, "this is now a non-issue for me." We both very much enjoyed it and thought we would post about it here for those of you that may have had similar questions. There isn't a very good organized place for direct, honest, non-biased answers to questions like this. A few people associated with things like this podcast, bloggernacle.com, ldsblogs.com and my long time personal favorite fairlds.org are trying to make a localized, easy to use place for just that. As many of you know, if you google an lds subject trying to get info for a talk or personal research, the majority of what you find is information on anti-lds websites. I guess the saying is true too often..."you can leave the church, but you can't leave it alone!"
Now, I'll get down from my soapbox.
