Darcie's Getting Married!

This blog post has nothing to do with that. It was just a ploy to get her to read my blog and a thought I was having at the moment. July has been busy. If I hear someone bug me one more time to write a blog, he will have to bring me a substantial amount of rainbow cookies and flowers to get out of the dog house he will be in. I am sad I have not been keeping up with this thing like I should. I have had so many good ideas about what to write, and not enough hours in the day to write them all down. But in an attempt to not write a novel this post, I will get to business.
Last weekend, CDENNEKD^2 all got to go up to Palmyra, New York to see AB. (I have short handed the names in traditional style... if you don't get it... don't worry about it :p ) Ash Bash was in the Hill Cumorah pageant in Palmyra, and seeing as she was playing Mary, we felt it appropriate to make the 9+ hour trip to see her. The pageant was awesome, but I really loved going around to all the different LDS church history sites. I went to the Sacred Grove, Joseph Smith's home, Hill Cumorah, and the Palmyra temple. It was an awesome experience to say the least. For those of you not up to par on LDS church history, we believe God and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Joseph Smith in the patch of woods now called the Sacred Grove. I can't imagine what it would be like to walk through Jerusalem, because going to the Sacred Grove you could just feel the importance of the place. A short distance away was Joseph Smith's frame and log home. To REALLY condense a lot of facts, there were two houses on the site. A home that they built when they had first arrived in Palmyra so they could begin their farm, and a bigger house that they could actually all fit in. After much sacrifice and struggle, they had built a decent home, and were kicked out of it due to some shady dealings and a poor growing season. There is a quote outside of their nice home that they were only able to live in for a short time. When I read it, it hit me hard. Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph Smith's mother said this as they left behind essentially everything they had put their sweat and tears into:
"I now give this up for the sake of Christ and salvation and I pray God to help me do so without one murmur or tear... I will not cast one longing look upon anything which I leave behind me."
WOW! I hope I will become that person one day. What determination! No more "what if's" or wishing I could go back. Its comes so natural to want to go back to a place in life we knew and were comfortable in. Its easy to long for the past or obsess about the future, but I applaud those who know how to live in the moment. I think I am slowly learning to do this. To close my eyes for a moment and put a strand in the Pensieve (thank you Harry Potter... I am awaiting your two part arrival with anticipation). I guess the muggle world would call it meditating. Lately I have the need to close my eyes, take a deep breath, and feel the calm, happiness. For me it is to feel at one with God. For others, perhaps it is the universe or yourself. But there is a definite need to become grounded again in something. Whatever you believe in or whatever you do, you have to find that inner peace. A refuge from the chaos of life. That's what writing helps me to do...work through and find the inner peace. Chocolate lava cake helps me do that too. I will go get some now and stop this blog. Good Day.