Stargazing?

Yesterday we had regional conference where Elder Oaks spoke. The majority of his talk was on the Lord’s timing. One aspect that I loved was a quote of an Ensign article from about 10 years ago. The analogy is comparing stargazing jackets to singles in the church. I thought it was brilliant and needed to be shared.

The situation of a Church member who is single can be illustrated by a simple analogy. Imagine that your favorite hobby is stargazing and you’ve just joined a stargazing club. You come to your first club activity eager to participate. It’s a cold night, but you’re not concerned: most of the club members are wearing club jackets, and you’ve been told you should be able to get one as well. But there is no jacket for you. You ask about it, and you are told to keep looking and that if you do your best, you will find a jacket when the time is right.

Meanwhile, you are getting pretty cold and a little worried. And you notice that most of the other club members are talking about how nice and warm their jackets are. In fact, throughout the evening the topic surfaces continually in various forms: how to wash and dry your jacket, how to add extra pockets, how to mend it, and so forth. Some of the club members notice you don’t have a jacket. “You really need a jacket for these activities,” they tell you. “Why don’t you have one yet?” (Singles in the Ward Family, Ensign, June 2002)

The Marriott Center (where the broadcast originated) was filled with laughing young single adults. Laughing because we know just how true this analogy is. We are all searching for that jacket. Not only is it hard to find that jacket but trying to find a jacket that fits is difficult! It doesn't help much when everyone is always talking about their amazing jackets and telling you that you need to find yours as soon as possible. It was a simple and humorous way to explain so perfectly the way many singles feel in the church.

44. The Smell of Rain

What a beautiful, refreshing and clean smell rain brings. It is such a cleansing scent. I LOVE IT!

43. Thunder and Lightening

GAH!! I love the power of the thunder and the Majesty of the lightening.

42. Jumping in the rain in rainboots

I might have done this last night. LOVED IT! Totally felt like a kid again. :)

How Do I Answer This Question?

Why are you still single?

I get asked this question more often than I'd like to share. It is a question I have yet to find a good answer to.  I was asked this very recently once again and I had no way to answer it. I always stumble over my words and make up something dumb. This time I wrangled in a good guy friend to answer this question for me. He gave a very lovely answer that may be true. He said that I was still single because I was so pretty and all the boys are intimidated by my beauty. Very kind. I appreciated it. However, this question still bugs me. I hate being asked.

Why am I still single?

Here is my version of my answer. It is not complete by any means, but it is the best I can come up with at the moment and hopefully next time a guy asks me this question I will remember and share this answer.

I have every desire to get married and begin the next chapter of my progression to eternal life. I have been blessed with still being independent (that word sounds better than alone).

I am still single for several reasons:

• God has something greater planned for me that I know at this point.
• I have more things to learn about myself and the world around me and experiences to have that will benefit my future spouse and family that I couldn't have gained any other way.
• My future spouse has more things to learn before we progress further together.
• I am picky. I am. It is a wonderful thing and I am not ashamed of it. I'd rather be single and content than in a relationship that is miserable. 
• I expect and demand a lot. I want someone worth fighting for and someone that is willing to fight for me.
• Like my friend mentioned, I am probably intimidating. I have a career. I am beautiful. I am successful. I am a leader-type personality. I don't take crap from people.
• Boys don't ask girls (aka me and my amazing friends) out (a dumb reason to explain why I'm still single, but man is it true).

Reasons I am really grateful that I have not yet gotten married (really I am):

• I am a college graduate.
• I have a career and know how to work (and it is a job I could do from home that isn't like everyone else's over saturated photography and crafts).
• I have money that is currently being saved up for my future spouse and home.
• I have traveled the world and seen things most may never see.
• I have learned so much about myself that would have been more difficult to learn if I was taking care of someone else's needs.
• I have developed myself. I have more confidence in who I am and my confidence doesn't come from others. I have learned lessons I would have never been able to learn any other way.

Elevator Pitch

Elevator Pitch - a short summary used to quickly and simply define a product, service or organization and its value proposition, usually between thirty seconds and two minutes. 

I'm a genealogist. Surprise! One of the biggest issues we face in our company is unhappy clients. Don't get me wrong, most of our clients are very happy with their product. However, we do have clients that are not very well pleased with our work. Feeling we didn't spend their money well and that we should have found more. The question was brought up - how can we make people understand exactly what we do and really how difficult and AMAZING it truly is. How do you make someone truly understand who has never tried? How do you make someone understand?

I don't have a perfect answer at the moment. I'm hoping this blog post will help me wrangle in my thoughts and come up with a valid, concise and understandable answer. (I will take any advice and ideas so please share).

One thought or comparison that was discussed is the New York City comparison.

Finding an ancestor is like finding a specific individual in New York City with nothing other than their name. In case you didn't know, there are about 9 million people in New York City. Oh and on top of that, pick a name that is VERY common. Similarly, finding your ancestor in billions of records and names is very difficult. 

 This next comparison might be a bit exaggerated, but it is pretty much the same idea.

Needle in a haystack! It is in there! Promise. It looks like every other piece of hay, but you gotta find it. Or at least try as hard as you can. You may not be able to find it.

Alright, now my creative juices are going crazy. Probably just because it has been a long day so I apologize if this sounds stupid.

You cut up several hundred carrots (or some other veggie of your choice) and throw them all in a massive bowl. Then someone tells you that you must reassemble each piece with the correct carrot. Oh, and remember that there are several slices of carrots that might have been eaten (genealogical records destroyed by fire) or rolled away (genealogical records that are lost or never created). It is usually possible to reassemble the veggies, but it is often very difficult.

I'd love to get feedback on this Elevator Pitch. Let me know if this helps you understand what a genealogists really does and how difficult and rewarding the research is.

Practice

I saw a photo on Pinterest the other day that included steps on how to become a better writer. One of those steps included writing more. Practice. Now, FYI writing has NEVER been one of my talents. I've had several people say that I'm a great writer... I don't believe them. Probably cause I detest writing. I don't enjoy it.

Another reason I don't care for writing is I don't feel like anyone would care or is interested in what I have to say. Unless something was really awesome that I need to share, why write it. Totally the wrong frame of mind. 

However, my job is all about writing. Alright, not ALL about writing but a good portion of it is writing. I write reports that should express what research was done and also be interesting. People are spending thousands of dollars and the report tells them what we did. As I grow as a genealogists, I need to become a better writer. I need to write in a way that flows and is easy to follow as well as being interesting and personable.

AND as a genealogists, my line of work is all about stories.

The point is, I obviously need to practice more. So here is to practicing and becoming better.

Disease vs. Symptom

Disease vs. Symptom

"You're treating a symptom while the disease rages on, consumes the human race. The fish rots from the head, so they say." - NPH, Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog

If you just treat the symptom what good is that going to do? It makes things feel better for a little while. But eventually the symptoms will resurface again. It is so much better to just fix the disease. Figure out what the real problem is and start the repairs at the base.

This thought has come up in several aspects of my life. Some have been simple. Others are a bit more complex. Some circumstances I am the doctor and am in charge of finding and fixing the disease. Others I am merely an invested onlooker with little to no say in what the doctors do. It is so hard to be an invested onlooker hoping and praying the doctors can find the root of the disease before you are called up to participate.