New Scriptures

I've had the same set of scriptures since I was 11 years old. They saw me through four years of seminary, college, holding small children on my lap during sacrament meeting, family home evening, family scripture study, and now a year of teaching early morning seminary. I think this year really did them in. They went from looking well-loved to, well, pretty junky.

So I finally gave in and ordered myself a beautiful new quad, with my name embossed on the cover. I've been looking forward to having new scriptures, but frankly, I'm almost afraid to touch them. They just arrived at my door about two minutes ago. Rather than dive into them immediately, and start the ominous task of marking them with the years of notes and markings in my old scriptures...well, you can guess what I decided to do instead. My new scriptures are back in their box and I'm hiding out here!

102 Top LDS Books

Here's a list of favorite LDS novels compiled by several LDS authors. The original post can be found at http://www.josikilpack.blogspot.com/.

I can't say that these are the top 102 LDS novels of all time, since it's not compiled from 20 years of sales data or a massive church-wide survey or anything like that. But these guys have picked some good ones. I'm sure that if a more scientifically compiled list existed, many if not all of these books would be on there.

I pride myself on the fact that I've heard of most of these, but unfortunately I haven't read nearly enough of them. I'm boldfacing the ones I have read. Feel free to copy this list to your own blog and indicate the ones you've read yourself. (And don't forget entry #103; see below.) If you're looking for some great LDS books to read, here's a bunch of 'em!

1) A Heartbeat Away—Rachel Ann Nunes
2) Almost Sisters—Nancy Anderson, Lael J. Littke
and Carroll H. Morris (I haven't read this one yet, but I bought it this weekend)
3) Angels Don't Knock—Dan Yates
4) An Old Fashioned Romance—Marcia Lynn McClure
5) A Question of Consequence—Gordon Ryan
6) Ariana: The Making of a Queen—Rachel Ann Nunes
7) As the Ward Turns—Joni Hilton
8) At the Journey’s End—Annette Lyon
9) Baptists at Our Barbecue—Robert Farrell Smith
10) Charly—Jack Weyland
11) Charley’s Monument—Blaine M. Yorgason
12) Chickens in the Headlights—Matthew Buckley
13) Children of the Promise, Vol 1: Rumors of War—
Dean Hughes
14) Children of the Promise, Vol 2: Since You Were Gone—
Dean Hughes
15) Come Armageddon—Anne Perry
16) Daughter of a King—Rachel Ann Nunes (picture book)
17) Dead on Arrival--Jeffrey Savage
18) Double Cross--Betsy Brannon Green
19) Dusty Britches—Marcia Lynn McClure
20) Emeralds and Espionage—Lynn Gardner
21) Escaping the Shadows—Lisa J. Peck
22) Fablehaven—Brandon Mull
23) False Pretenses—Carole Thayne
24) Faraway Child—Amy Maida Wadsworth (I really enjoyed this one)
25) Fire of the Covenant—Gerald Lund
26) First Love and Forever—Anita Stansfield
27) Flowers of the Winds--Dorothy Keddington
28) Ghost of a Chance—Kerry Blair
29) Gustavia Browne—Alene Roberts
30) Jimmy Fincher Saga Vol. 4: War of the Black Curtain—
James Dashner (my son LOVES the Jimmy Fincher books)
31) House on the Hill—Annette Lyon
32) House of Secrets—Jeff Savage
33) House on the Sound—Marilyn Brown
34) In a Dry Land—Elizabeth Petty Bentley
35) Lifted Up—Guy Morgan Galli
36) Love Beyond Time—Nancy Campbell Allen
37) Mary & Elisabeth—S. Kent Brown (Non-fiction)
38) MaCady—Jennie Hansen
39) Molly Mormon—Tamara Norton
40) Mummy's the Word—Kerry Blair
41) My Body Fell Off—BJ Rowley
42) My Not So Fairy Tale Life—Julie Wright (I really loved this one)
43) No Longer Strangers—Rachel Nunes
44) Nothing to Regret—Tristi Pinkston
45) On a Whim—Lisa McKendrick
46) On Second Thought—Robison Wells
47) On the Edge--Julie Coulter Bellon
48) One in Thine Hand—Gerald Lund
49) One Tattered Angel—Blaine M. Yorgason
50) Out of Jerusalem 1 (Of Goodly Parents)—H.B. Moore
51) Out of Jerusalem 2 (A Light in the Wilderness) —H. B. Moore
52) Out of Jerusalem 3 (Towards the Promised Land)—
H. B. Moore
53) The Peacegiver—James L. Ferrell
54) Pillar of Fire—David Woolley
55) Poison—Betsy Brannon Green
56) Prodigal Journey—Linda Paulson Adams (this is a good one)
57) Pursuit of Justice—Willard Boyd Gardner
58) Return to Red Castle—Dorothy Keddington
59) Race Against Time—Willard Boyd Gardner
60) Sarah—Orson Scott Card
61) Saints—Orson Scott Card
62) Sixteen In No Time—BJ Rowley
63) Spies, Lies and a Pair of Ties—Sheralyn Pratt
64) Standing on the Promises Vol 1: One More River to Cross
--Margaret Young and Darius Gray
65) Strength to Endure—Tristi Pinkston
66) Surprising Marcus—Donald S. Smurthwaite
67) Tathea—Anne Perry (actually I only read part of it--does that count?)
68) Tempest Tossed—Josi S. Kilpack (excellent)
69) Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites—Chris Heimerdinger
70) The Alliance—Gerald Lund (on my to-read list)
71) The Book of Mormon—Nephi thru Moroni (non-fiction)
72) The Believer—Stephanie Black
73) The Coming of Elijiah—Arianne Cope
74) The Counterfeit—Robison Wells
75) The Emerald--Jennie Hansen
76) The First year—Crystal Liechty (reading it right now; very fun)
77) The Fragrance of Her Name—Marcia Lynn McClure
78) The Killing of Greybird—Eric Swedin
79) The Last Days, Vol. 1: The Gathering Storm—
Kenneth R. Tarr
80) The Last Promise—Richard Paul Evans
81) The Looking Glass—Richard Paul Evans
82) The Miracle of Miss Willie—Alma J. Yates
83) The Single Heart—Melinda Jennings
84) The Visions of Ransom Lake—Marcia Lynn McClure
85) The Work and the Glory Vol 1—Gerald Lund
86) The Work and the Glory Vol 2—Gerald Lund
87) The Work and the Glory Vol 3—Gerald Lund
88) The Work and the Glory Vol 4—Gerald Lund
89) The Work and the Glory Vol 5—Gerald Lund
90) The Work and the Glory Vol 6—Gerald Lund
91) The Work and the Glory Vol 7—Gerald Lund
92) The Work and the Glory Vol 8—Gerald Lund
93) This Just In—Kerry Blair
94) Time Riders—Sierra St. James
95) Time Will Tell by Julie Coulter Bellon
96) To Echo the Past—Marcia Lynn McClure
97) To Have or To Hold—Josi S. Kilpack
98) Towers of Brierley, Anita Stansfield
99) Twelve Sisters—Leslie Hedley
100) Unsung Lullaby—Josi S. Kilpack
101) Wake Me When it’s over—Robison Wells
102) Winter Fire—Rachel Ann Nunes

And, my personal addition to the list:

103) Just The Way You Are--Katie Parker :-) :-) :-)

Happy reading, everyone!

Vote for Nauvoo!

This link was forwarded to me, and I thought I'd pass it along to you all:

http://www.enjoyillinois.com/sevenwonders/western.html

Apparently the state of Illinois is designating "Seven Wonders" for their state, and if you go to this link you can vote for Nauvoo as one of them.

The restoration done at Nauvoo is truly a wonder, and people of all faiths should find the site and interesting and inspirational place to visit. It's a great slice of our pioneer heritage, and what the settlers accomplished here in a few short years is simply amazing. It would be great for the area to get some extra recognition and publicity.

Seminary: A Memorable Day

Early morning seminary teachers have certain responsibilities. One of these is to study the scriptures and prepare engaging lessons every single school day. Another is to drag themselves out of bed at 4:50 AM so they can get to church and set up before the students arrive at 5:50. And yet another would be to bring their keys to the church and unlock the doors so the students can all assemble inside.

I just started teaching early morning seminary in our ward this fall. So far I've done pretty well in carrying out these responsibilities, I think--well, except for a few days ago when somehow my alarm was set for 7:30 instead of 4:50. Mercifully, my eyes snapped open at 5:18 and I managed to be out the door about 15 minutes later. So that worked out okay. But today...well, today was a memorable day.

It all started this morning when I forgot my church keys. And, of course, I didn't figure out that I had done this until I arrived at church. (In case you're wondering, I did actually used to have all my keys on one chain. But because heavy keychains are not good for car ignitions, I divided mine up. Smart move.)

It is not a happy thing to be standing outside your car in the church parking lot in the middle of the night in subzero temperatures feeling really stupid that you left your church keys at home. You might spend several minutes searching every possible bag you brought, every coat pocket, and crevice in your car, just in case you really weren't that stupid--maybe you really did bring your keys and you only stuck them someplace stupid. Besides, you have nothing else to do while you stand in the parking lot in subzero weather. You can't get into the church.

I considered driving home and getting my keys, but the students would arrive before I could come back. Since I didn't have a good way of leaving a note for them, they'd wonder whether I was even coming, or if they were supposed to stay, or leave, or what. So this wasn't a good option (even though I suspected that several of them would just take the opportunity to leave). So I just waited for the students to arrive; a couple of them had valiant parents who drove them to seminary every morning and would hopefully arrive complete with church keys.

Sure enough, the students arrived, and we were in. But that was only the first hurdle. We were in the church, all right, but the only people who had keys to the seminary closet were me and the home study teacher. And the home study teacher wasn't there. To top it all off, in a stroke of brilliance, yesterday I had left the supplies for today's lesson in the closet and locked the door. So....

Well, to make a long story short, it's amazing how you can spend hours studying and preparing perfect lessons, but that doesn't impact your students the way a day like today did. I couldn't get into the seminary closet, but I could get into the library. So I pulled out the TV and VCR and--at the suggestion of the students--we watched "Johnny Lingo." It's so old and cheesy and delightfully quotable. ("Mahana! You ugly!") Despite this, it still has a great message regarding the worth of souls and how treating people kindly helps them reach their potentials.

I am not sure the students cared much about the message, even though after the video they were going around talking about how many cows they were worth. But ten years from now, like it or not, what seminary lessons are they going to remember? Are they going to remember our endless discussions on the law of consecration or the importance of building up Zion? They may vaguely remember some of the concepts, but I doubt they'll remember the specific lessons. (For that matter, even I don't remember too many specific lessons we've had.)

What they'll remember is the day that Sister Parker forgot her church keys so she let them watch "Johnny Lingo" instead of having the lesson she'd prepared because it was locked in the closet. I'll remember how they paid remarkably close attention--probably watching for cheesy lines to laugh at, but they paid attention just the same. I hope they'll remember something of the message of the film. But they're most likely to remember the disorganization of the day, and the fun and (dare I say it) bonding that ensued as we made the best of things. That can't be all bad.

Explaining What I Didn't Explain Last Time

I've been informed that I need to explain a few things--namely, what's this "Tag, You're It" business? (If you don't understand this, you probably didn't understand much of my last entry. Sorry.) Well, about a week ago, a member of LDStorymakers wrote a blog entry that "tagged" several people. These people, also bloggers, then had to tell five things about themselves in their own blogs that no one knew, and then "tag" five more people to write in their blogs. And these people had to tag five more people, and so on, and so on... I don't know who started it, but things got pretty crazy among many of your favorite LDS authors for a few days there as they were all busily "tagging" each other.

I haven't gotten around to issuing any of my "tags" yet, though. But you know what? Things calm down a lot when you put an end to them...;-)

In case you want to read some of the other LDStorymaker blog entries, here are some links:

http://sixldswriters.blogspot.com/--"Six LDS Writers and a Frog"
http://www.annettelyon.blogspot.com/--Annette Lyon
http://janette-rallison.blogspot.com/--Janette Rallison
http://mywriterslair.blogspot.com/--H.B. Moore
http://a-bad-hair-life.livejournal.com/--Tamra Norton
http://www.juliewright.com/blog.html--Julie Wright

These are only a few of them; I'll try to post more later. In the meantime, enjoy!

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged! My friend and fellow LDStorymaker Annette Lyon tagged me on her blog. (See http://www.annettelyon.blogspot.com/.) This was after she got tagged by a couple of other LDStorymakers on *their* blogs, and...well, unfortunately I think we're about out of LDStorymakers with blogs, so I'm going to have to branch out a little if I'm going to tag anyone.

But first, I have to tell five things about myself that most people don't know. This could be tricky. There are things about me that even I don't know.

Here goes...

1) I don't know how to ride a bike. Not really. My parents never got me one when I was little. When I was older, they bought me a junky unappealing bike at a yard sale that I wasn't too interested in riding. Then they didn't show me how to ride it. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Oh, yeah, and there might be that little part in there about me being uncoordinated as all get-out. I have tried a few times through the years to learn how--I tried to teach myself when I was in grade school, but wouldn't let go of the side of the house. My little sister tried to teach me after I graduated from high school. My boyfriend tried to teach me in college. (His assessment of the situation was, "You have no sense of balance.") A few years later, after I married him anyway, I tried practicing late at night when we were living in student housing. Enough people talked to me about it later ("I saw you trying to ride a bike last night") that I didn't do it again.

A few years later, our son took me to the church parking lot and tried to give me pointers. But hey--last summer I even made it all the way down the block and around the corner. I was so proud of myself that I quit right then.

2) The last thing was so long, I think it should count for #2 also.

3) And #3.

4) I don't like tomatoes much. Actually, they're great in salsa, and really I can tolerate them just fine otherwise, but I still don't particularly appreciate them in my salads or on hamburgers.

When I was a kid I refused to eat them at all. My mom, apparently distressed about this, told me that sometimes little girls liked to eat tomatoes with sugar on them. I agreed to give it a try. So, next time we had tomatoes, Mom cut some up special just for me. As she brought them to me, she said, "I've got some tomatoes and sugar with your name on them."

Well, I looked and looked, and I did not see my name anywhere on those tomatoes. I couldn't eat them, of course, because I might eat the part with my name. Finally I gave up and asked my mom where my name was. Of course she thought this was very funny, and she explained that she just meant that the tomatoes were for me, not that my name was really on them.

After that, those stupid tomatoes just didn't taste very good anyway.

5) I still keep track of the University of Utah women's gymnastics team, even though we've moved to Wisconsin and I've completely missed attending any meets for the last two seasons. Go Utes!

Okay, now for my victims...

Well, now I'm supposed to tag five people with blogs. But most of my friends with blogs (mostly LDStorymakers) have already been tagged, darn it! I have a couple of other friends I'd like to tag, but since their blogs are geared towards close friends and family, I'll ask them before I link to their sites here for the world to see. Meanwhile, if you'd like to be tagged, hey, leave a comment and I'll add your site to my "tagged list" here! TAG! YOU'RE IT!!

Drivers License Part 2

Well, I know you all are dying to find out how my driver's license crisis turned out. The first thing I did after returning from the DMV was call up our electric company and ask if they could pretty please put my name on the next bill after my husband's. Sure, it's kind of an odd request, but if it would convince the state of Wisconsin that I live here, it would be worth doing. (Strangely, the first person I talked to at the electric company wanted to talk to my husband first to make sure this was okay with him. Like it matters...like I couldn't have just gotten the next door neighbor to come make the call instead...)

Next I made a phone call to the state DMV the next day to find out what I could do--I mean, I've lived in the state of Wisconsin for nearly two years and it's illegal for me not to have a Wisconsin driver's license. Yet they wouldn't give me one because I didn't have any of their required proofs of residency.

The first thing the lady on the other end did was laugh. (I am not making this up.) She explained that Wisconsin has been experiencing a lot of residency fraud and they had to tighten their requirements, but she thought it was pretty silly when there were honest residents out there who couldn't qualify. (I agree.) She suggested that I gather up every document and piece of mail I could possibly think of that would have my name and address on it, and she gave me the name of a supervisor at the local DMV I could talk to. "I know these things aren't all on the document list," she said, "but hopefully if you bring the right information, reason will prevail and they'll give you your license."

So I did just that. After our electric bill arrived, I pulled out all kinds of stuff and loaded it into a folder--insurance statements, magazine bills, thank-you-notes--and headed off to the DMV. Theoretically the electric bill is supposed to be thirty days old before it proves residency. So I wasn't quite out of the woods yet. But frankly, I wanted to see if they'd continue to be so ridiculous about the whole thing. Plus I have to send the part of the bill with my name on it in with my payment. So I can't keep it for thirty days.

Well, I got there, and all the personnel there were standing at the little booths helping people who were waiting in line. I didn't see a good way I could just jump in and say, "Excuse me, but could you stop what you're doing and get me in to see Mr. Supervisor? Since I'm more important than all the other customers, of course." So I took a number like everyone else and waited.

Then someone important-looking walked in the door. He was tall and dressed in a suit, and was immediately hounded by several people. This, I guessed, must be Mr. Supervisor.

Then I got a good look at him. He was the same guy who had served me at the window two weeks before and told me he wouldn't give me a license! Somehow I doubted that any kind of reason would prevail with this gentleman. He was clearly a to-the-letter kind of person.

I thought about leaving right then, but I went ahead and waited out the lines. (I abandoned my previous ambitions of getting in to speak with the supervisor, and just hoped I'd get to talk to someone less picky instead.) Sure enough, after a nice DMV wait time, I got up to the window and got to speak with a different gentleman. He looked at my electric bill, said that was all he needed, and--guess what? I now have a Wisconsin driver's license!!!!

I'm not sure that's me in the picture, though. The person in the picture needs to lose some weight.