December 1, 2012

It's that time of year -- officially now, since it's December! Today we had our ward's Christmas party, and we were involved with some of the preparation in terms of cooking. Becky volunteered (or at least got asked and didn't say no) to make deviled eggs and sugar cookies. Unfortunately, last night our two boys were coming down with colds and didn't sleep well -- we finally got them to sleep around 4AM. Naturally, they still woke up way earlier than we would have liked, so we started the day tired and the hours flew by. In the end, I helped finish up the deviled eggs by making the filling portion, and I have to say it turned out nicely.

With all the prep work done, we headed over to the church for the party: One Night in Bethlehem. It actually came together really well, with a bunch of "bazaar stalls" set up in the gym with a variety of food stuffs and games for the kids. There was flat bread, figs, some other traditional Jewish food that they have at the Passover, stew, fruits, and of course the deviled eggs and cookies. We ate and were filled, and it was a fun time. Then we finished the evening with a live nativity, and I sang "We Three Kings" -- with a group of seven men. Ha!

Reading had to wait for the end of the day, and I missed exercising, but after finally getting the kids to bed I sat down and read my 15 pages -- and I tore through over half of the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi! There were a bunch of good quotes, but I'll go with the one from Handel's Messiah.

2 Nephi 19: 6 (Isaiah 9: 6): "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." (The Book of Mormon, pp. 89)

Actually, I like this second one too much to skip it -- it was on my missionary plaque back when I was serving in Denmark! 2 Nephi 12: 3: "Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths." (The Book of Mormon, pp. 81)

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: "By centering our lives on correct principles, we create a solid foundation for development of the four life-support factors. Principles are deep, fundamental truths, classic truths, generic common denominators. They are tightly interwoven threads running with exactness, consistency  beauty, and strength through the fabric of life." (Pp. 122: Begin with the End in Mind)

Daily Check Up:
1) Scripture study: Yes (15 pages per day through the end of the year: 2 Nephi 10 - 2 Nephi 19, pp. 78-90)
2) Morning and evening prayers: Yes
3) 15+ minutes good book: Yes (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, chapter 4, pp. 122-135)
4) 15 minutes of parenting/relationships/children book: Yes (Discussed TSHOHEP and visualization with Becky in regards to parenting)
5) Exercise for 30 minutes or more: No
6) One doTERRA blog post: Yes (Two)
7) Use doTERRA oils for something: Yes
8) doTERRA Leadership and Mentor calls (Mon-Fri): Yes
9) Talk to two people about doTERRA: Yes (several people at Christmas party)
10) 15 minutes organizing office area: No
11) Solid 8 hours (M-F) working at my job: N/A
12) Early to bed, early to rise: No (4AM to 9:30AM)
13) One AnandTech pipeline or article: N/A