Pumpkins

I really like October. The air gets a little cooler but the sun is warm, honeycrisp apples can be found in the stores, some trees begin to change colors. Fall is one of my favorite seasons. October always reminds me of pumpkins. And pumpkins are actually kind of cool. Did you know that there were so many different kinds? I did not!

Some of the kids decorated pumpkins like characters from different books they have been reading...

 Flounder from the Little Mermaid, Nemo, Tinkerbell...

 Thing 2...

Clifford, Papa Smurf...

 Kung-Fu Panda, Lightning McQueen, Jack Skeltington, some giant bat-thing?...

Hello Kitty, a cool Shark, and my favorite ninja turtle... Michelangelo!

Some of these kids are so cool!

A Knowlton Knight knows what's right.

This school year I am working at 4 different campuses. Each is unique and has its own special things. One of the schools is called Knowlton Elementary.

And a Knowlton Knight knows what's right. In the office there is a mural with knights on either side of the drawbridge.  Very cool. The picture doesn't really do it justice.

Knowlton is a fun little place.

Librarians

This past week I was sitting in the library to use a printer (I still don't have a computer and I really need one!) and two children came in to return their books and check out some new ones. Sounds like a great idea! Only the librarian didn't think so. She immediately chastised them for being in the library and told them that they needed to get harder books. She didn't want to see them in there every day! She told them to get books that would take them at least a week to read.

As I sat there I wondered if their parents ever took them to the city library to check out book. I thought about myself as a 9 or 10 year old. It never took me a week to read any book. But I don't recall any school librarian telling me she didn't want to see me everyday. Maybe I didn't go to the library at school since I'd already read everything. I thought about the librarian at Hamilton high school and how she was a Nazi about her library. No students! was kind of her motto. I don't think I ever checked out a book from her anyway. Thank goodness for other people (Mrs. Jones) who continued to encourage reading and thinking.

I really loved to read as a kid. I remember my book collection that I kept in this wicker shelf my mother gave me. I remember around 7 or 8 years old I really liked to read those Goosebump books and the Babysitter Club series. I had a lot of those. My mom introduced me to a lot of books. She always loved to read. She introduced me to the Box Car Children, Ralph S. Mouse, Henry Higgins and his friends, Anastasia and her little brother Sam, and Fudge.

I wanted to be a writer once.... well a couple of times actually. Sometimes it was highly encouraged but other times it wasn't. I remember talking about wanting to be a writer when I had this interview for a big 4 year scholarship. It was the Terry Scholarship, and is given to students wanting to attend UT or A&M. They pay for your trip to go to the interview and everything. We had to drive to Temple I think for the interview and I had to sit on one side of a long table with about 5 adults on the other side. It was kind of intimidating.  They asked me a lot of questions, one of which was about what I wanted to do with my life. I talked about writing, why I liked it, how it made me feel. We had to have 3 reference letters to apply for the scholarship. I chose teachers from each of the three high schools I had attended. They were all my English teachers actually. They all wrote very nice things about me, about my zest for life, love of learning, and skill at writing. They were the kinds of influence that made me want to be a writer. They loved all the things I wrote about. But I remember sitting there across the table from these grown ups who hadn't ever met me and them asking me,what I wanted to be when I grew up and then responding with a disappointed "Oh".

Either way, I didn't become a writer. That influence just wasn't there when I was in college. I dabbled in journalism but A&M was closing their program so I switched to speech communication and then dabbled in telecom and radio, and found a niche in rhetoric and communication theory. I liked to learn about how and why people interact with each other. I really liked linguistics and took a health communication class from my adviser in the comm department who was actually a speech-language pathologist. She suggested I shadow at a clinic to see if I liked speech-language pathology. So my path went down that way.

But I think there is a part of me that would still like to write.

Things always work out

This past weekend was General Conference. I really love conference time. I went to my friend Jess' home to watch it, despite her warning about her kids. I'm really glad I was able to watch it with her and family.

For some time now (consciously since late July) I have been actively seeking to feel the Lord's love and see His hand in my life. Knowing of my Savior's and my Heavenly Father's love for me isn't something innately there for me. For whatever reason it is a spiritual gift that I have to learn to cultivate here... and sometimes have to work very hard at if I want to feel it. Those who seem to feel it so abundantly and frequently don't know what a beautiful blessing it is to have feelings of His love with such ease. And of course anytime one attempts to put forth conscious effort in spiritual matters that's when things get harder. At least that is what happens to me it seems.

His love is a beautiful thing. When I feel it I feel empowered. I feel hopeful and bright, I am confident in who I am and what I do. I want very much to teach my own children about His love so that they can face the future with optimism and confidence. I don't want them to lose trust in God's love because it really does "sustain and motivate one along the path of righteousness."

Being with kids this weekend was a lot of fun, but a lot of work too. My friend really is a super woman. I don't know how she does it. But somehow she does. And she does well too. Perhaps it is that love of God that sustains and motivates her.

Tonight I had to teach the family home evening lesson. Discipleship kept coming to my mind as I thought on what to teach about. There was a lot in the Sunday afternoon session that made me think about discipleship, what that means and what that looks like. We watched some highlights from some of the talks and talked about being disciples of Christ.

"Ultimately it is by submission to His will that helps us become as our Savior is. Again, becoming like Him and being one with Him is the ultimate goal and objective, and essentially the true definition of true discipleship".
~Daniel L. Johnson

I know the Savior went through the wine press alone but sometimes I feel in a wine press of sorts at times. I wonder if others ever feel that way. I'm sure someone does. Maybe we all do at one point or another. In fact, I'm sure we do because President Eyring said, "The great test of life is to see whether we will hearten to and obey God's commands in the midst of the storms of life. It is not to endure storms but to choose the right while they rage... It will take unshakable faith in The Lord Jesus Christ to choose the way to eternal life. It is by using that faith we can know the will of God. It is by acting on that faith we build the strength to do the will of God. And then it is by exercising that faith in Jesus Christ that we can resist temptation and gain forgiveness through the Atonement".

Who knows, maybe there is something really great right around the corner. But if not... things always work out.

Oh great God, be small enough to hear me now.

There were times when I was crying from the dark of Daniels den.
And I have asked you once or twice if you would part the sea again.
But tonight I do not need a firey pillar in the sky.
Just want to know your gonna hold me, if I start to cry.

Oh great God, be small enough to hear me now.

Oh great God, be close enough to feel you now.

There have been moments, when I could not face Goliath on my own.
And how could I forget, we marched around our share of Jericho.
But I will not be setting out a fleece for you tonight.
Just want to know that everything will be alright.

Oh great God, be close enough to feel you now.

All praise and all the honor be, to the God of ancient mysteries.
Who’s every side and wonder, turned the pages of our history.
But tonight my heart is heavy, and I cannot keep from whispering this prayer,
“Are you there?”

And I know you could leave writing on the wall that’s just for me,
or some wisdom when I sleeping like in Solomon's sweet dreams.
But I don’t need the strength of Sampson, or a chariot in the air.
Just want to know, that you still know how many hairs are on my head.

Oh great God, are you small enough, be small enough to hear me now.