John E would like this

My brother John E (age 8) has recently been reading the "Star Wars" books. He loves them and has been trying to persuade me of their coolness. Come on! How long have those movies been big? I'll admit that the original Trilogy was pretty good, but the newer movies have only ruined the subject for me. Anyway, I wasn't convinced, but this morning as I was driving, I saw something that made me think that maybe I'm supposed to join the Star Wars bandwagon after all.




Not joking. I saw this face (minus the storm trooper in the back) walking across University Parkway in Provo. Is it a sign?

The Rough Spots Along the Road

I ran a marathon once. It was one of the hardest experiences of my life. I trained for months and months--running day after day, mile after mile. Finally, the anticipated day arrived. I now had the chance to prove that all my preparation and hard work had been worth it. I started running and felt great. Then, at around 18 miles, my body gave up on me. My many months of struggling had been for nothing. It was too hard. I had to give up.
Then, something inside me reminded me that I was ready for this race, and that I could do it despite what my brain was telling me. I started off once again, and finished the race--tired, but triumphant.
Our personal capacities are often more than we know, and many times, we don't find out until they are tried and tested, and then we see if we are enough for the challenges that face us.
Maybe the biggest thing that we learn is that we don't have to carry ourselves through those hard times.

I like the song "Stand" by Rascal Flatts.

"Slow down, you move too fast"

Have you ever been in a grocery store, searching for the shortest line when you think you've finally found it? Then, you end up standing behind a woman who is sorting through her coupons and trying to get her total to add up to an exact amount by having the cashier add and subtract items, then add another until she's satisfied and can dig through her wallet some more to find exact change. We were in this predicament for what seemed like hours (but it was probably closer to 30 minutes--still, that's a long time to be second in line!) at Target the other night. I was feeling more and more impatient to be moving on to our other activities. Luckily, I have an awesome husband who reminded me that we didn't have anywhere we needed to be, and we could afford to be patient. I was especially grateful for his advise today, when the same thing happened at Macey's. It just goes to show that no matter how well you plan and schedule, life always happens and we need to learn how to roll with it.