Independence Day

12 And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.
13 And it came to pass that I beheld the Spirit of God, that it wrought upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters.
14 And it came to pass that I beheld many multitudes of the Gentiles upon the land of promise . . .
15 And I beheld the Spirit of the Lord, that it was upon the Gentiles, and they did prosper and obtain the land for their inheritance . . .
16 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them.
17 And I beheld that their mother Gentiles were gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against them.
18 And I beheld that the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together against them to battle.
19 And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations. (1 Nephi 13)

I love these verses, written by a man who lived in the Americas 600 years B.C., close to 2000 years before Columbus was inspired to come to the Americas, and a few hundred more before the pilgrims came. I love the United States of America - I love the principles it was founded upon. I love those who fought for independence, and I love the Founding Fathers for all that they did, like writing the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Today we live in a time of apology for who we are and what we mean, which is absurd to me. Those who came before us tried a new and exciting - an inspired and well-thought-out and debated - experiment. It was an experiment that succeeded and brought hope to other people throughout the world. It gave a Dream to the world - a dream that I'm so grateful to be a part of. All of the success comes from the Lord and is really a part of His work. Our danger today is in forgetting - forgetting Him and forgetting what history teaches us; that this experiment really works. It works better than any other imperfect system I know of. God bless America, and may we put in the effort that we each need to in order to preserve this great experiment.

Grandpa Christensen

My dad sent me this picture of my grandpa (and my grandma) - tears! He was a great man, and I'm excited to see him again someday. I would have included this in my Father's Day post if I'd had it then.

Good Bye

This weekend my sister, brother-in-law, and niece moved to a different city. My parents came to town and a bunch of us helped the family move. When I said "helped" I use the term in regards to myself loosely. I don't know if I have shared on here before, but I HATE moving. I LOATHE it. So I kind of did the easy things, like watch my niece or pick up food for people. Anyway, I'm sad! My sister is the one who put the idea of moving to my current city in my head. She and I lived together until she got married. I still saw her often after that. And then, once she had my niece, I saw both my niece and her at least weekly, for the most part. My sister knows that I am absolutely crazy about my niece - well, I guess you know that, too, as many of my posts have been about the little cabbage. I got to hold her outside the car before the family left last night. I cried. I don't have a spouse or kids, so this little one is so very important to me. And now she's removed from my regular life - me no likey!

My sister knows how important my niece is to me. She may not realize how important she is to me. We didn't get along well growing up, but I'd say we're pretty close these days. I really like going to her place and talking - and we sure can talk - just ask her husband or our dad. How I will miss her!

And, I've had some good times with my brother-in-law, as well. It's sad to see the family go, although I know it's good for them, and I wish them luck.

Happy Father's Day!

Here a some pictures of a few great dads I know. I wish I had a picture of my grandpa Christensen to include here, too. Happy Father's Day, you wonderful fathers you!

I Couldn't Have Danced All Night

Whoever wrote the real lyrics to that song must have actually known how to dance, or they didn't know and never tried to do it for an extended length of time, because after finally getting to go tonight, I know that I could not have done it all night. Even though I couldn't have hacked an all-nighter, I had a great time, though, and I danced a lot - I have the battle wounds on my feet to prove it. I had a wonderful, patient, energetic partner - did I mention he was patient? When we arrived, they were teaching fox trot, which is one of a very few dances that I don't feel like a total ignoramus about. However, they certainly played a lot of dances that I don't feel so great about - Rumba, West Coast Swing, East Coast Swing, Tango, etc. And the Boy also requested the Viennese Waltz a couple of times. That one was pretty fun because it's fast, so I don't think you have as much time, as the girl, to try to take over.
At the beginning of the evening, Boy requested that I close my eyes a couple of times so that I had to rely on him and couldn't try to be in charge. He was really good about trying to explain things to me; sometimes he audibly counted, I think to try to help me stay on, and it really did help. I wish I had more natural talent at picking up the steps, but I guess I just need to practice a lot more and maybe I will improve? Besides my klutziness, I also got kind of dizzy - dang motion sickness! I didn't want to tell Boy that I was feeling a little sick, so I just tried to press on. After a couple of hours when he checked the clock and asked if I wanted to leave soon, I was so ready. I just ran out of steam, which is weird to me because if I'm at a normal-by-today's-standards dance, I can go, go, go. I think I can do the same when I salsa. Maybe having someone to dance with me the whole time, combined with my lack of experience/know-how, which means that I had to exert myself not only physically, but mentally, too, added into a tiring experience.
However, like I said before, I had a blast and would love to say to the Boy, "Well, Friend, when are we going again?" I suppose I should let my feet forgive me first.

Cliques and Hypocrisy

Someone I know has semi-recently become friends with a group of people comprised of acquaintances of mine. They used to just be acquaintances to both of us, but she seems to be merging into their circle. Since this friend and I do most of our socializing together, when she is invited to do something with them, I am pretty aware of it because I am not invited. Don't get me wrong - it's not like I feel like they are on purpose not inviting me. I just have not made that effort to become buddies with them. And, even though I feel a little sad when I'm not invited along to something, the less prideful side of me doesn't really mind it - maybe because it's a bit exclusive.

I would label these people as well-educated, intellectual type people. I like to think of myself as one of those people (conceited, I know). Some people like to think and talk about "smart" things and be smart - and I don't mean it's in an in-your-face sort of way. It just has to do with things that people are interested in. I went through a period in college where I dabbled in not being smart. I had fun not talking about smart things - not thinking politically or sociologically, etc. My grades from that year and a half would prove my change in interests. When I went back to school after my mission, though, and decided to try to get good enough grades to be able to get into a masters program, I realized that I really did like learning - I'm a nerd! Then I graduated, moved, and ended up living with someone who helped spark that interest in thinking about things.

Back to this group of folks, though. As much as some people want to not think they're part of a clique, we all have the desire to be accepted by others, and we tend to gravitate to those who have similar interests. Thus, my friend has been moving into this circle that is probably full of really cool - to her - people because they're of a more intellectual, academic bend, and she values that. And although I also value intelligence, I think I stay kind of aloof from it because I don't want to totally throw myself into that. There's some kind of warmth lacking from some of these people - although they're friendly to talk to and not purposefully snotty or anything.

On to the second part of the post's title. In writing this, I am a total hypocrite. I also am thinking about that. In fact, last night I told my roommate that I was having an Emma evening. In case you haven't read or seen it (or seen Clueless), it's about a rich, upper-class woman who decides to take a lower-class woman under her wing. The lower-class girl is like her little good-will project. I won't continue on with the details, but although I'm not rich, I think I feel like the better-educated, more socially acceptable Emma trying to "help" another. Isn't that awful?! Sorry to expose you to some of my ugly hypocrisy, but it's true. I feel like every Christian should know better than to put one's self above - or below - another because we are all God's children and therefore brothers and sisters, and yet we do it. I guess it's one of those natural tendencies that we have to fight. I don't know how to tie my thoughts together tonight, but to me, they're connected.

I Went on a Date

Isn't that nice? We ate homemade chili, bread, and other stuff. Then we went to a different house and played games.

And can I just say that gentlemen are appreciated? He complimented me, he opened the car door for me; it was nice. I hope I was a lady, although I feel less clear on what that means than I do on what it means to be a gentleman. Chivalry dictates all kinds of specifics for guys, but what does being a lady entail? Just smiling and saying thank you when they take care of you? At any rate, it was a pleasant evening and a great way to end the week.