Another Awesome Weekend!

It has been a beautiful weekend! The weather was perfect! Friday we got much needed rain and the Camden/Lugoff-Elgin football was postponed until Saturday. Addison had to work Friday night and I had a date with Joey and his two children, Abby and Alex. We had dinner at San Jose then some shopping at Lowe's. I had ordered some quotes from Ginger's party a few weeks back and they came in so I was off to buy ceramic tiles and wood to start my projects. The finished ones are at the top and I'll be selling them (if anyone's interested) and some are holiday gifts. I so enjoy crafts and stayed up wayyyyyyy too late Friday and Saturday nights painting and crafting...but it was fun.

Saturday was a very productive day. Addison and I slept in some (to me 8 am is sleeping in really late--Addi "Sleeping Beauty" got up around 10:45'ish--must be nice!), got the housework and laundry done, did grocery shopping at the commissary, then home to get ready for the eveing activities. Addi had to work again -- by this time she's feeling more like Cinderella -- she had to miss the game (LUGOFF WON!! YAY!!) and the pig-pickin' at the Osteen's. However, she had a good night at work and Joey, Abby, Alex, and I had fun at the pig-pickin'. Bishop Joyner knows how to cook a pig! Darla liked the caramel cake I made--I'll make you one for your birthday next month, Darla! The food, fun, friendship & fellowship, and the music was wonderful. Thanks, David and Ruth for your warm hospitality --great party!

Today was perfect, too. I absolutely LOVE Sundays! Church was everything one could hope it could be. The talks in Sacrament Meeting were so good and Brother Adams always gives such a spiritual lesson in Sunday School. Our Relief Lesson today was from the May Ensign, the conference edition. It was entitled "The Tongue of Angels" by Jeffery R. Holland. The message was such a profound reminder to me that it is so important to watch very closely not only what we say but also and especially how we say things. In the address Elder Holland says, "There is a line from the Apocrypha which puts the seriousness of this issue better than I can. It reads, "The stroke of the whip maketh marks in the flesh: but the stroke of the tongue breaketh the bones." With that stinging image in mind, I was particularly impressed to read in the book of James that there was a way I could be "a perfect man."
Said James: "For in many things we offend all. [But] if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body."
Continuing the imagery of the bridle, he writes: "Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.
"Behold also . . . ships, which though they be . . . great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm."

This was powerful to me, then later in the address he added, "So, brothers and sisters, in this long eternal quest to be more like our Savior, may we try to be "perfect" men and women in at least this one way now—by offending not in word, or more positively put, by speaking with a new tongue, the tongue of angels. Our words, like our deeds, should be filled with faith and hope and charity, the three great Christian imperatives so desperately needed in the world today. With such words, spoken under the influence of the Spirit, tears can be dried, hearts can be healed, lives can be elevated, hope can return, confidence can prevail." Great lesson! And, Channel, you're an awesome teacher!

One last thought on that topic--when I was a very young girl my daddy who is so kind and so full of wisdom told me : Think before you speak. Just imagine holding a birdcage filled with lots of little wild birds and you're standing out in a wide open field. Once you say something it's like opening the cage and letting go all those little birds into the big world--you can NEVER catch them all and get them back into the cage again. And so it is with the words we say--once they're out we can never fully take them all back. Maybe it's good things and other times it may be words we wished we'd never said and then it's too late and the damage is done. I know that I will try a little harder to be mindful of the words I say and the expression...My kids are quick even at their ages now to say, "Mom, don't look that way, please." They say my eyes reveal my mood whether mad or glad and they can always tell if they're in trouble by the look and shape of my eyes. (Maybe not a bad thing all the time!)

And lastly, what could be better on a beautiful Sabbath afternoon with gorgeous weather than spending time at Grandmother & Grandaddy's house?! Also posted are some photos taken at Mom's this afternoon. Lunch was delicious, Mom, you always out-do yourself! Thank you for all you and Daddy do for so many--ya'll are amazing!

Hope everyone has a great week!