Did everyone have a nice Easter weekend? I LOVED it! I love that Easter isn't as all-encompassing and commercial as Christmas. Now, I love Christmas. I love the celebrating and the comradery, the magical quality that lights take on at night.
But it was lovely to have a holiday purely devoted to family and God. (With a very little hoopla thrown in to make the kids' eyes sparkle :)
Our church has General Conference twice a year- always the first weekends of April and October. It's broadcast from a large conference center in Salt Lake City to every LDS church building in the world, and picked up on a few radio stations and TV stations as well. (Locally, we can get it on BYUTV, I'm not sure how extensive that channel is.) In addition, it's live broadcast on the internet in 90 languages, plus more are available when it's published in text format. WHEW! To say it's a big deal is an understatement. The prophet speaks, the apostles speak, general church leaders speak... and no one speaker knows what the other will say. They receive the invitation to speak, pray for guidance, and write a message. It's submitted for approval, and to be typed up for the teleprompters. It's always fascinating to watch themes come out. There are four sessions of conference (two Saturday, two Sunday), plus a session for the men/priesthood (men and boys ages 12 and up) on Saturday night, a session especially for the young women of the church (12-18) the week before, and a broadcast especially for the women of the church (18 and older) around the same time as well.
This time there were MANY people reminding us to teach our children to have faith and strength. Many messages reminding us that life happens to everybody- death is the heritage of mortality, and it's what we DO with what happens to us that matters.
archives are available here in a LOT of languages. I've never heard of a lot of them!
I didn't do much for Easter morning this year, which was nice. We had some treats for the girls, the bunny brought some enormous bouncy balls. We spent the day watching conference, then getting ready for a family dinner I hosted. I LOVE HOSTING FAMILY DINNERS! If it means my kids get their naps, can get ready for bed when the last guest leaves, and our schedules are not completely destroyed, I love hosting dinners :) Plus, I think it's fun to get the tables a little fancied up, get everything ready. We had my own family, my parents and little sister, my brother-in-law (can you believe the NERVE of that guy, coming to town for business and not bringing Aunt Lolo? :), and my husband's grandparents who very recently returned from an 18-month-long mission to the Family History Center in Salt Lake City. (A little aside- Mormons like genealogy. A LOT. We like researching our own, we like sharing what we find, we like helping other people find their own families. Many presidents of the United States have been gifted a bound copy of their own family history when they come to visit the Prophet. Did you know that the Presidents of the United States go around and visit the major church leaders in the world/country? Kind of cool! Anyway, if you've ever been even a little curious about your family, I can point you towards information and people who would be happy to help!)
Where was I? Dinner was lovely, the weekend was lovely, and life is lovely. Remember that.
Toodles!
-Myrnie
6 comments:
Lovely, lovely, lovely. :-)
I was really amazed at how strong the theme was of this general conference. My personal to-do list just grew by a lot!
I enjoyed conference too....even with the little one running around. =) {we watched with our Son and family}
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Happy Day
Glad Easter was so great!
Glad you had such a fruitful Easter! We came out of Lent renewed and a bit changed(for the better). God is good. In this every changing world it is so important to anchor your faith...it's a gift we give our children.
My mother-in-law took me to the genealogy library here - she's really into it! I was amazed at how extensive their collection is. On micro-film I found a copy of a document where my ancestor signed for a marriage license. That was pretty cool!
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