a joke:

You what the difference between home-teaching and pumpkin carving is?

...

You carve pumpkins on the second-to-last day of the month.

:)

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Love Jesus More

Jesus said that "if ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). Is it correct to interpret that if keeping commandments is a sign of our love for him, that is the only way to show love for him? If so, does that mean if we go beyond keeping the commandments then we love him more?

For example, one of the commandments is to not commit adultery. So, if I go even further and not even daydream about committing adultery, does that mean I love Jesus that much more?

Another commandment is to not take the lord's name in vain. If I go even further and not use any profanity, does that mean I love Jesus more?

Yet another commandment is to not drink coffee. If I go further and not eat mocha chocolate bars or drink caffeinated drinks, does that mean I love Jesus more?

Double Callings

We discussed this topic in ward council last week, come to think of it, it has been discussed many times, and we still are no nearer a final decision then we were a year ago. We were debating, for lack of a better term, whether or not the bishopric should issue 2nd and 3rd callings to "responsible" members to the work of the Lord gets completed or should they continue in seeing the work not done by members who choose to not do their callings for whatever reasons they have.

When we were living in good old Sask, at one point for nearly a year I was in the ward and stake primary presidency. Our stake at the time compassed the entire province and part of Manitoba. It meant a lot of travel. Hubby also had a ward and a stake calling at the same time as did a lot of members. With our membership numbers now so much greater then 20 years ago what is going on with the members that they either don't want callings, can't have callings, or choose to not to do their callings?

Another Primary President in another ward in our city called me last week desperately asking if their scouts could join up with our troop as they could not get 2 leaders called. Sad sad state of affairs.

Culture

Can someone explain to me how it is that the Church can create the Polynesian Culture Centre with which to preserve a culture, yet also institute the Indian Student Placement Program, which contributed to the erosion of another culture (or several cultures as it may be)?

Buying a House

We're buying a house! Ten years of marriage and we're finally buying a house.

It's a tiny little thing at 800 sq ft. The yard is about 3500 sq ft. The house has a living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms. It also has an unfinished basement, so the potential for other rooms also exists. The garage is too small for our Windstar, but that means I will finally have a workshop.

One of the exciting things is that there is a lot of potential for improvements to the property. As well, it looks like we will be saving roughly 200 dollars on housing and utility costs with this move. This move will also mean I won't have to transfer buses to get to work anymore.

We are very excited about this new stage in our life together.

Sell me on this LDS concept

Okay I've been told families can be forever. Repeatedly.

Now, I'm not sure if I'm the first and only man to disagree with his in-laws, but my idea of a perfect afterlife certainly does not include spending a considerable amount of time with my mother-in-law.

This sentiment also applies to my own parents.

I love them, and I can handle my parents in small doses - but an eternity of being with them sounds only less pleasant than repeatedly stabbing myself in the eye with a letter opener.

Now I'm not sure I can speak for my kids, my lord - I can barely speak to my kids, but I'm sure that they don't want me cramping their eternal styles any more than I want my parents around.

So all this leads to the crux of this posting.

Why, precisely, are forever-families a good thing?

Poll

A recent poll on Canada.com showed that more Canadians think moral values are a bigger concern than crime or poverty.



I wonder how many of those 26.67% equated "moral values" with same-sex marriage.

Follow the Profit

I was helping the primary chorister get ready for the musical interludes of singing time, some 3 years ago. Her husband, who was and still is, a non-member had helped her put together the activity for this particular Sunday. She had an envelope filled with little slips of paper, each bearing the name of a primary song the children were practising. One of the slips of paper read, in her husbands scrawly printing: Follow the profit.

It made me smile and a little sad, but also very curious regarding this interpretation of the word Prophet. I thought of how the world views and worships at the hip of monetary gain. How "following the profit" is a daily pursuit of tens of millions around the world. Yet change 2 or 3 letters in that phrase and it means something completely different. Suddenly there is more value, not in dollars, but in spirit and character and humility.

The word profit implies benefit...but not necessarly the benefit of financial gain. Here lies the similarity between the word profit and prophet. It is the advantage of all of us, whether we know it or are oblivious to the fact, that we have a living prophet. Even the fellas screaming on wall street this very minute reap some small benefit because we have a living Prophet. They have and all of us have the potential to profit through the modern day directions of a Prophet of God.

Who knew we could follow the profit by truly following the Prophet.

The Evolution of My Name

Most people take their current name for granted. These same people have probably never had their name changed. Many probably have assumed the same about my name: Kim Jason Joseph Benoit Siever. After all, if I, the holder of my name, can assume it, why shouldn't others?

In reality, it's not the case. While I may go by that name, legally it's not my name. In fact, the earliest documentation I have of this name being recorded was when I was ordained an elder a month before my mission.

I first realised something was odd when I received my birth certificate in 1987 and saw that not only was "Benoit" not on it, but the other two middle names were in the other's place.

Recently, I've been reviewing old documents and discovered that my name has gone through quite the roller coaster ride. Come share the ride.



That's the inside front page of my baby book and it reads "Kim, Joe, Jason, Ben". I am not sure of the date it was written, but it possible predates my baptism certificate (dated five days after my birth). If so, it is the earliest documentation I have for my name. The roller coaster starts there.



That's from my Catholic baptism certificate. The baptism took place five days after I was born. Here my name is "Kim Joseph Jason Ben Siever".



Here's my birth certificate. It's based on my baptismal certificate, and now every other legal identification is based off it. It reads "Kim Joseph Jason Siever". For whatever reason, "Ben" was not included. My birth was registered the day after the baptism.



When I was five, my parents joined the Mormon church. I was blessed in the church nine months later. This is my blessing certificate and here my name is "Kim Jason Joseph Ben Siever". This may be the first occurrence when "Jason" is put at the front, a precursor to my current name.



Within seven years, I took the last name of my step-father (who for all intents and purposes I consider my dad). I don't recall when I started going by "Haysom", but I believe I was around eight. Anyhow, that's my deacon ordination certificate. I'm not sure where the "Benjamin" came from, but it's the only occurrence I've seen of it.



Here's my priest ordination certificate, where I am listed as "Kim Jason Joseph Ben Siever". By the time I was sixteen, I needed to get a job. I couldn't get a social insurance number under Haysom, since it was never legally changed. I started going by Siever again.



This is my certificate for when I was ordained an elder. I received it in October 1992, a month before my misison. It was the earliest official occurrence I have found where my name is as I use it now.

There you go. The roller coaster that is now my name. Legally, my name is Kim Joseph Jason Siever. That's what's on my birth certificate, my SIN, my driver's license and so forth. Sometimes I bug Mary that we're not even legally married since the name on our marriage certificate is different from that on my birth certificate.

Flickr

Is it just me, or does anyone else find Flickr more mesmerising than reading a bunch of blogs? Or that uploading to Flickr and organising on Flickr is funner than posting on a blog?

Word Verification

In an effort to prevent comment spam on blogs, Blogger released a new feature called "word verification". The idea is some seemingly random letters are shown as an image and they can only be verified by a real person. In order for a comment to be valid, the user has to verify the letters in the picture. Theoretically, software that spam blogs is unable to verify these letters.

We do not use word verification on Our Thoughts. It is unfair that our visitors be forced through an extra step because of the efforts of spammers. It should be the spammers who are punished, not our legitimate visitors. That being said, I am willing to keep deleting each spam comment by hand rather than make it more difficult for visitors to comment.

On that note, if the spam becomes to intense, then we may switch to our own web space (perhaps on HotPepper.ca). That switch would be transparent to our visitors, and it will be easier for administering spam (especially spam that is automatically deleted). However, it is not as simple to post as it is with Blogger, so there would be a learning curve for our less technically-minded team members.

Rest assured that at this point, we are remaining on Blogger. I've pestered Blogger for a moderated comment feature, but we'll see if they will listen.

Returned Missionaries

The other day we ran into an old friend who was talking about her daughter. The daughter had stopped going to church at one point. The friend explained to us how she came around, started coming back to church and was married in the temple. At the apex of her excitement at her daughter's renewed faith, she mentioned that not only did she marry in the temple, but she married a returned missionary.

Have returned missionaries been reduced to nothing more than prizes for young women who stay faithful? Is marrying a returned missionary a sign of a woman's righteousness? Was I completely oblivious to all that?

I know teenage member girls always fawned over my companions and I, but I dealt with that before my mission from member and non-member girls alike. I assumed it was simply an extension of that.

All I know is the last thing I wanted to do was marry a returned missionary.

Superhero

Apparently, if I were a superhero, I would be Terse Subject Line Man. I'm just happy to have a superhero name.

Types

While reading my scriptures last night, I came across something interesting that Jacob said (imagine that; Jacob saying something interesting):

Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him. (2 Ne. 11:4)

Here, he's saying that everything we have ever received from God is a type of Christ. I can see how things like the sun or the priesthood or mountains are types of Christ, but trees and animals and mosquitoes? I wish Jacob had been a little more detailed in this declaration.

Reconcile

There is a belief among some Mormons that we are responsible for our salvation. That is we do the best that we can, then Jesus picks up the slack. To support this idea, it is common to use the following scriptures (among others):

And now, my beloved brethren, I desire that ye should remember these things, and that ye should work out your salvation with fear before God, and that ye should no more deny the coming of Christ... (Alma 34:37)

For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. (2 Ne 25:23)

While reading in the Book of Mormon (which incidentally I started in the spring) last night, I came across another verse that made me ponder this idea.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved. (2 Ne 10:24)

The key here (and to which Nephi briefly pointed in the twenty-fifth chapter) is that we need to be reconciled to God. I have to admit that I am not an expert on the usage of the term 'reconcile' in the early nineteenth century, but today it has the meaning of "reestablishing a close relationship between", "settling", "resolving", "bringing oneself to accept" and "making compatible or consistent".

If the usage of the term is similar today as to what it was around 1830, perhaps the meaning of the first two verses I mentioned is not what many make them out to be. Perhaps "working out our salvation" has more to do with our heart than our actions. Perhaps "all we can do" isn't actually a reference to physical doings after all.

Good Baby

I've had enough people ask me if Aisling is a good baby, that I thought I'd post my answer once and for all in hopes of nipping the repetition of the question in the bud.

She's not lying, stealing or killing, so, yeah, I guess she is a good baby.

I also added it to her FAQ page.

Capitalism

In chapter 19 of Teachings of Presidents of the Church: David O. McKay, President McKay said, in part, the following:

The law of pure nature, survival of the fittest, is self-preservation at the sacrifice of all else; but in contrast to this the law of true spiritual life is, deny self for the good of others.

If they are in such contrast, why would the gospel be restored in a capitalist society, the epitome of "pure nature"?

He also said

The greatest spiritual blessing comes from helping another.

What is "the greatest spiritual blessing"?

Dove and Real Women

This past year or so Dove has been promoting their "get real for women" campaign where they are trying to get across to women and more importantly to young girls that the real woman image is not one of a skinny minny walking down a runway but a healthy female with a healthy self esteem. Their commercials are showing women of all ages, all sizes and all races.

Today I was watching a tv news program where men were up in arms trying to get other men to sign petitions to have these ads removed off the media because this is not what real women look like. Unbeknownst to some of these men the camera men showed their wives, their mothers, their sisters and daughters and how funny it was to see their faces when the news show showed them that the female members of their families were indeed "real" and not anything like the women they felt they wanted to see portrayed. There was some crow pie being swallowed at that point.

I had to wonder how many men met their womenfolk that night with a chagrined and apologetic look on their faces. I had to also wonder how many of these women met their men with the proverbial rolling pin in their hands.

The other day I asked my husband why it was when we first met and I was toothpick thin he said he loved me that way then years later when I had gained a substantial amount of weight he still said he loved me that way...now I am in between and he still says the same thing.. I asked which time was it that he had lied to me.. at the beginning, in the middle or at the end (now) and he said don't you get it yet? It's you I love not the size you are.

Guess he won't be facing a rolling pin anytime soon. Do any of you think Dove is being untrue to their portrayal of what a real woman looks like?