Thursday, July 5, 2012

The Fourth of July 2012

Yesterday was such a nice day. Matt and I were invited to go to Cindy and Byron's for a flag ceremony, a few patriotic thoughts and breakfast. They did everything in front of the barn and the morning weather was beautiful. It was nice to have a cool morning since we were outside for a couple hours. Grandma Naylor was there and she had the Watkins crew visiting from Arizona. It was so nice to see Marian's family because they have been living in Iowa for the last several years and they haven't made it to many family things lately.

After breakfast, Matt and I went back to Grandma's so we could continue visiting with the out-of-towners. We were there for a few hours and then determined that we should head home so I could make something to take to the BBQ we had later in the day.

I made fruit pizza for the BBQ and we headed over to Laurie and Jeremy's to hang out with the Severinsen family. There was lots of visiting, lots of tasty food and some fireworks. The boys (including Matt) played with all the little kids out back and some of the women (including me) pulled out Carcassone and played it in the backyard. It was the first time that I've ever played it, and I really enjoyed playing. I am thinking that Matt and I will have to add that one to our repertoire.

We stayed until about 9:30 and left just as they were starting the fireworks show. I know that we missed out on a great show, but we were going into a work day and get up around 4:30. We didn't want to be total zombies for the folowing day. (I actually would have stayed if Matt hadn't wanted to go, but he doesn't deal with a lack of sleep as well as I do. So, my love for him trumps watching fireworks.)

I am so very grateful to live in this amazing country where I can enjoy so many freedoms. I think I'm even more grateful for America after traveling to China and seeing such a difference. Happy Birthday America!! And a special thank you to all of our military men and women that fight for us to keep our freedoms. I am so grateful for your sacrifices.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

A Little Too Real

Have you ever had a dream that was just a little too real? I just woke up from one of those. I can't seem to shake the feeling from the dream either. Without going into a ton of detail about the dream, I died. I'm not even sure what caused it, but I was a dead spirit stuck between the world that I knew and the next life. I was stuck. I could, however, interact with a couple living people. I was trying to figure out how to join the spirit and body back together, but to no avail.

I have had dreams where I died before, but this one just seemed so real. It was taking place in the present of my life. We were still looking to buy a home, still working, still trying to adopt, and I was still planning to go to China. As I went through the dream, I was feeling so bad that my death would cause so much upset in the life of my sweet Matt. Was he going to still be able to get into the kind of house he wanted? Was he ever going to be a dad? Would he be able to get a refund on the China money(as if that would be his biggest concern)?

Funny how our dreams can reflect our fears and concerns sometimes. At other times they are linked to something that happened that day , something from what you watched before bed, or maybe even what you were reading. I'm not really sure which of those, if any, played into my dream. Maybe it had something to do with the book I was reading when I fell asleep. The Greek gods and demigods were battling the Titans. I guess this could play into it. But my dream wasn't a battle. I just died.

Who knows what triggered it. I am just so grateful to wake up this morning. Hopefully the way I feel eases up a bit so I can go on with my day more comfortably. I don't like those dreams that really shake you up.

I heard something recently about the dreaming that you do right before you wake and how that can be a learning opportunity from God. I can't remember if it was said in General Conference or if I heard it somewhere else. (So if you know, please tell me.) The gist of the message was that when you fill your mind with worldly things, you will dream about worldly things. Have you ever been playing a game on the computer and then gone to bed and still thought about the game? That's what he was talking about. I think he was saying that when we allow our minds to be filled with godly things, then we can have better opportunity to learn of godly things. It makes sense to me. I am not sure if I'm ready to give up reading before bed though. Maybe reading battle sequences right before bed isn't the best.......