An interesting article in the Deseret News covering a recent Gallup poll showed that Mormons give President Obama the lowest approval rating amongst religious groups. Gallup interviewed 275,000+ people across the US including about 4,700 Mormons. Mormons gave Obama a 24% approval rating vs 78% from Muslims (highest rating). I wondered three things:

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I attended my new ward’s High Priest group for the first time yesterday. We have lived in the ward for two months but I have been in Nursery during the third hour helping our daughter transition. First, I was the youngest by 25 years or so which is always a bit unsettling. Second, the teacher gave us a long list of reasons why he was qualified and an expert in this area (former Bishop, High Councilor, etc.).

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I saw this article that said the US has spent $1 Trillion more than it took in so far this Fiscal year. Wow. This article then speaks to what you could do with $1 Trillion. It is amazing how much one could do with that money, it is also frightening to think what the Government did with that money… It is also astounding to consider that none of us can outspend ourselves like that every year without dire consequences – is the Government any different??? Read the full article below.

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A few weeks ago in Gospel Doctrine, we were talking about David and Bathsheba. The teacher was trying to compare the temptation that David underwent with today/s world. Two comments really struck me (in more ways than one). First, someone commented that he wanted to defend David as Bathsheba was up on her roof bathing in the nude without a curtain or anything. His wife would never bathe on their roof without some kind of curtain shielding her. His wife piped up that Bathsheba should have used a curtain unless Bathsheba was really trying to tempt David. Second, we then talked about how we can avoid adultery. One guy said “we can avoid it if we only call each other Brother and Sister, that way we don’t know each other’s first names and we don’t get too familiar.” I began thinking how glad I was that none of my co-workers could see where I was that day or they would think I was crazy… So Brothers & Sisters, what have you heard in Sunday School that really struck you?

Iread this article from the AP entitled “Most Americans can’t name one Supreme Court justice”. I always find these interesting (there are always articles about how dumb we are around geography, civics, etc.). Anyway, the article (pasted below) says that 2/3 of Americans couldn’t name a single Supreme Court Justice. At the end of the article, there is a series of other questions that people were asked about US History and the responses were sobering. Anyway, how many Supreme Court Justices can you name?

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“Bless the people in Haiti that they can have dollars to build houses”

My four year old says the sweetest prayers. He is probably one of the few people left in this country who prays daily for the Haitian people – see above. He was really bothered by the earthquake and the fact that people died and those that survived have nowhere to live and little to eat. He wanted to donate all of his dollars he had saved from doing extra work around the house to the Haitian people and we let him donate half. What are some of your most memorable prayers from your kids (or other kids)?

I love Spring. It is such a beautiful time of year, the flowers are wonderful, the trees can be amazing and life is renewed. I feel a rebirth every Spring after the long, cold, dark winter. Last week in Church we sang “All Creatures Of Our God And King”. I love that song in the Spring – it is reminiscent of the season with its wonderful lyrics and upbeat music. I always sing that song a little louder as I feel the need to lift up my voice and sing praises to God for giving us Spring. What are your favorite Spring songs? Why?

I finished my taxes as usual – late on the 14th or I should say early on the morning of the 15th. I felt like I was back at the BYU Testing Center when it was time to hit “file”. I had that uncertain feeling in my gut that I had somehow, somewhere made an error. It felt like I was back at BYU in the Testing Center – tired from staying up late cramming for the exam, then stumbling in there to take the exam, then hopefully submitting the test and then the hopeful waiting… I am now in the hopeful waiting stage on my taxes and still recovering from staying up too late. So happy late tax day!

Don’t forget to make your vote count!

I was thinking about a particular subject today while sitting in Sacrament Meeting listening to some great talks. My wife gave one of those great talks. After her talk a couple of members came up to talk to her and were very complimentary of her talk. One guy acted upset because he disagreed with the investment strategy she used as an example in her talk. He was older and thought he knew the perfect way to invest which was different from the way my wife’s company does it. Anyway this caused me to think about the “unorthodox” among us, including myself. Many times these members are set aside by all of us. I wondered how valuable these members could be if we actually gave them a chance and let them serve. I know of a few example of folks who were wonderful teachers and counselors once they were given the opportunity to serve when someone thought they had something to offer. In addition, I think that we are all a bit unorthodox in our own ways. When I use the term unorthodox it could be someone who is a little socially odd to someone who is doctrinally too left or too right…

I have followed the events associated with the Nutty Putty Cave over the last week and a half with a sad heart. While at BYU in the 1990′s I went to the Cave multiple times with various groups. We always had a great time, although occassionally I would start to feel a little panicky when I was in a really tight spot. I was saddened to hear about the death that occurred in the cave. I hope his family is brought some measure of peace.

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I feel like the last 6 months or so, I have had a complete stupor of thought when it comes to blogging. I have really struggled to think of new, interesting things to blog about. In addition, I feel like the entire bloggernacle has had a down year after the exciting political issues of the last couple of years. Anyone else feeling it?

I have a 16 month old who is completely attached to her Teddy Bear. She has loved it since she was about 9 months old. It is the ultimate soother for her. She can hurt herself or be sad and just holding Teddy makes her feel so much better. I was thinking about what are the things that soothe me when I am in need of comfort. I think that first is my family – getting a big hug or kiss from my wife or kids is the best and can brighten any day. Beyond that, I have found that nice music, beautiful weather, and special landscapes are equally soothing. Finally, there are those spiritual soothers when my Spirit is down. The best for me is hearing others personal stories. There is something uplifting about hearing about another’s spiritual journey through life. That is some good medicine! What are your “teddy bears”?

What is your favorite Halloween memory when you were still able to Trick or Treat? Mine was my last year of Trick or Treating – I was in Sixth Grade – 11 years old. Ok, maybe a bit old, but we had so much fun. I went with two of my best friends at the time. We started at 4 or so and went until 8 at night. We filled two pillow cases with Candy – it was an amazing haul. We must have visited hundreds of houses – just running in between houses to get to the next one. You would have thought we were collecting gold given our zeal. Our course, every year with my own kids is my favorite. I love watching their enthusiasm. Last night, our 17 month old loved to go to each door and get her candy. It was so much fun to watch. So overall, what a wonderful and strange holiday even if one could get shot if you dressed up and knocked on perfect strangers doors and asked for candy any other night of the year!

One thing that is important to us as we have moved is the need for a “good” ward. I am not sure what that means exactly, but there were a few criteria that were important to us? Large Primary, Strong Youth Program, Minimal Students, etc. There are two wards in our new area. We have attended both as we are looking for homes in both areas. We have finally settled on the ward which covers the boundaries of our rental house. The ward meets most of our criteria, but I think what really closed the deal was our first week attending the new ward.

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This is the third post (part one and part two) about my recent move after 14 years in the Boston area. You are probably thinking that my loneliest day at Church was my family’s first week in the new ward. Actually our loneliest week was the last Sunday in our old ward – the ward we were in for 14 years. Here is the story:

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In Part 1, we made the decision to move. Once we knew we were moving, we had a month to find a rental property that was furnished. We looked at some nasty spots and went into one house and said yes and signed a lease on the spot. It looked nice enough – everything had been redone (or so we thought). We have been in the place for a month and here is a short list of things that have broken – it is a bit of a money pit (at least for the landlords):

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We have been in the process of moving from one state to another due to a job change. It has been quite an experience. I thought it should be broken into a series of posts given there have been some interesting and challenging experiences in this move. The first big challenge was making the decision to change jobs.

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I will admit to being a hymn snob, although I am a complete music novice, I only know how to play the piano with one hand. My hymn snobbery comes from being a lifetime member who is really comfortable with the traditional hymns of Mormonism. I love General Conference because of the music as I know that they usually sing the same 3-4 hymns every time and it is one of the few times during the year that I get to sing these hymns in a congregational setting. I guess it depends on the Chorister or Organist or whoever is the hymn picker, but we always seem to sing the new songs, most of which people don’t know and most of which I don’t care for (being the non-music expert). What are my top three?

1. We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet
2. How Firm A Foundation
3. High On The Mountain Top
3. Come, Come Ye Saints (Ok, I could not decide between these two)

My least favorite are some of the hymns that recent Church leaders wrote (I won’t name names), but the music and words are not particularly interesting or enjoyable to me. I also really don’t like the War Hymns like Onward Christian Soldiers and We Are All Enlisted – I feel silly singing about killing people during Church.

Call me a traditionalist… What are your favorite? What are your least favorite?

I have enjoyed reading some of the posts associated with the recent five year anniversary of Nine Moons and was surprised with the controversy surrounding the recent Niblets voting. Whenever some phenomenon experiences explosive growth and change, there is bound to be old timer vs new timer fighting for turf (at least that is my interpretation).

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