Somebody Said

Somebody Said It Couldn’t Be Done

Somebody said it couldn’t be done,

But he with a chuckle replied

That maybe it couldn’t, but he would be one

Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.

He waded right in with a trace of a grin

On his face-if he worried he hid it.

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

That couldn’t be done – and he did it.

Somebody said, “Oh, you’ll never do that,

At least no one ever has done it.”

But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,

And the first thing we knew, he’d begun it.

With a lift of the chin and a bit of a grin

Without any doubting or “quit it”,

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

That couldn’t be done – and he did it.

by wisdom or sorrow

We are in week four of the second semester.  I have two sons attending Williamsburg (academy and intermediate).  They are amazing online accredited schools that are interactive, fun, challenging and fuel the desire for education.  They also require a lot, at least a lot more than my sons are use to doing.  They are not lazy or slow but reading and composition continue to be things we all wish we were much better at.  As last semester came to a frenzied and very stressful end we were all very grateful.  With high hopes of keeping on task, on schedule, we began another semester.

So here we are in week four and the excitement is wearing.  They are both doing better but are already beginning to slip a little and wish for more free time.  I understand.  Isaac is new at all this and gets so distracted easily by a read aloud with the younger kids or someone at the door.  By 3:00 he wants to be done and thinks he is but when we review the day he still has some things to finish up.  It seems that if you are not actively pressing forward in getting things done then you are falling behind.  Not fair maybe but still a fact.

Today I was reading Act as an Agent, Not an Object from our stake presidency.  Dane had just explained why it was so hard to keep up in Chemistry when I read this sentence.

We can either learn by wisdom or learn by sorrow.

Ah ha.
That is what we had to choose between.  We can learn by wisdom by being agents and choosing to stay on track or even get ahead. We could learn by wisdom when we are the ones motivating and choosing to act.  When we simply wait for the deadline and then have marathon homework days we are learning by sorrow.  It goes on to say:

Learning by wisdom means yielding to the spirit of God and acting with obedience Learning by sorrow means accepting the role of an object and choosing the enticings of Satan and experiencing the consequences that always follow, until we learn to shun sin and choose obedience.

I'm quite sure that the answer is that simple.  We can choose obedience and reap the blessings or we can procrastinate, give in to the current desires and receive those consequences.

Grateful:
587 Healing = Courage +Action + Grace  a talk by Jonathan G. Sandberg.  I seem go be finding many sources for the truth that action must be part of a joyful life.
588    “Let us have the courage to defy the consensus, the courage to stand for principle. Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of God’s approval. Courage becomes a living and an attractive virtue when it is regarded not only as a willingness to die manfully, but as the determination to live decently. A moral coward is one who is afraid to do what he thinks is right because others will disapprove or laugh. Remember that all men have their fears, but those who face their fears with dignity have courage as well.”^{11  Thomas Monson}
589 We received snow all day long.  It is so beautiful and needed.
590 face book is helping my family plan a celebration for my parents 50th wedding anniversary.
591 the young men in our ward are each assigned a widow or elderly couple to handle snow removel for the walks and driveways.  It is a great responsibility and opportunity for my sons.  Hoping they still get to my walks and driveway.

A glimpse of our trip

Though not very many people want to see my family standing in front on famous places, there are a few that do.  This post is for them and for me to remember all the great places we shared together.

We began our cross country drive on Saturday with a stop for church in Illinois on Sunday arriving late that night in Williamsburg, Virginia.

 We enjoyed getting to know colonial America in Williamsburg.

This bridge is above the water and then dives below the water. 

 Dane took time to explain a little about the WW II in the pacific

 My crazy sister hosted us in her home in Maryland and showed us a great time including joining us for some of the touring of great sites in her area.

 One of the best things we did to see the various monuments and war memorials was to rent these bikes.

We also got to try our hand at crabbing.  A little early in the season we didn't catch anything but still fun.

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Thank you so much Amber and all your family.  You kept us well fed, rested, happy, hopping and building great memories with your family.  We love you even more having spent so much time together.  Now you need to come visit us!

A bit of nature

1. We found some milkweeds
2. We found a catapillar
3. We brought both home and put them together in a jar.
4.  We waited.  (It didn't take long until we had a chrysalis)
5.  More waiting until that special Sunday when we came home and found this!

We actually brought home 2 catepillars.  Love this picture when we got both the chrysalis and the butterfly.

Grateful:
235 miracles of the butterfly that we get to watch
236 little girls in pretty Sunday dresses.
237 white shirts for Sunday on boys
238 Family dinner and grandparents house
239 longest, warmest Autumn I ever remember in this state

looking up and going up

We have been going up and looking up with lots of fun activities.  First it was a hike up to Timpanogas Cave.  Great hike, fun cousins, and an amazing cave to learn about

Then we had our local scoutarama which is always a lot of fun for the whole family.  The kids loved the rock climbing and this year they had hot air balloon rides.  That is one thing I have never done but now my children have.

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Tall One climbed it in cowboy boots and only used one color of grips(?)

 Last week we also had an interesting evening of cloud cover.  Mr. O and I enjoyed laying on the trampoline and watching the interesting shapes and changes they made.  I don't remember ever seeing the sky look quite like this.

 Sunday evening we had received our solar shades and enjoyed watching the eclipse.  I'm not an accomplished photographer for that kind of picture but with our shade is looked just like the pictures now on the internet.  We wandered our neighborhood sharing our glasses and oohing and aahing.  Ike noticed the interesting shadowing of the trees that looked crescent shaped.  I do wish I had taken a picture of that.