Easter Goodies and Early Birthday Gifts

I haven't been very good at updating this blog regularly... sorry (not sure who I'm apologizing to, but all the same).

Things have turned up since last I wrote! I now have a new job with a company called Premier which creates school planners and calendars. I start work on the 24th, just two days after my 23rd birthday, which is of course on April 22nd. I'm excited and nervous and still a little in shock about the whole thing. It's a seasonal position but even if they don't decide to keep me on after summer, it will look pretty good on my resume!

But first I should talk a little about Easter!

I was anxious about spending another Easter away from my family, especially since this year it would just be me and Danielle celebrating together. It's been several years now since I was last home for Easter with my family, and it's one of my favorite holidays. My family has a tradition of doing a sunrise hike and sermon on Easter morning. My parents also write us each cards telling us how they appreciate the ways in which we've changed and grown in the past year... and then we have our Christian Passover Seder meal, full of symbolism and storytelling and singing. I miss it. Last year I was able to listen and participate a little bit over the phone, and that was nice.

This year we got invited to go on a hike with some acquaintances from school on Saturday. It turned out to be a gorgeously sunny weekend, and I loved it!

We hiked a trail near Larrabee State Park which is called the "oyster dome" trail. It was mostly uphill and pretty steep, but lots of trees, ferns, and views of the sound (puget sound or the salish sea) and we even crossed some streams along the way. It was pretty muddy in some places.

AND THEN we were silly enough to climb up on top of this big rock and almost couldn't get down... but we found a way in the end.

And of course, finally, we made it to the top of Oyster Dome.

Hiking has always felt like a very symbolic experience to me. It's a struggle to get to a higher place, a higher vantage point and perspective. Sometimes it seems like the trail just keeps getting steeper and our legs keep getting heavier and how could it possibly be worth it? But if it's a good hike and you're doing it right, it's half its own reward because you know each step is an accomplishment and you're in the middle of a beautiful wilderness. If you were to stop along the way, you could see beauty where you are, but still, you keep going because there's something amazing to see, and a great thrill of accomplishment to feel, when you reach the top. It's a great way to think about life. It makes me feel optimistic, like each heavy step is meaningful. Even the mud just makes it more memorable. And sometimes we stop and take detours to challenge ourselves for fun and then get stuck and maybe a little bit scared, but it all works out and soon enough we're on our way and glad we gave it a try.

There was no sunrise when we got to the top since the sun was already up, and no sermon. But I felt a similar sense of happiness and awe at the world and my tiny-but-real significance within it.

The next day we were so sore, but we dragged ourselves out of bed early to go to church together at Christ the Servant. Yes, I go to church with Danielle sometimes, and I love it. The front of the chapel was covered in flowers, the choir was amazing, and there was a small band/orchestra type group with horns and a clarinet and flute which made everything sound twice as majestic. The Easter hymns nearly made me cry and for the first time in weeks I felt the joy of what it really means to be Christian. Jesus lives and rose from the dead--his love and hope conquered every darkness imaginable, and that means there's always hope for us, no matter how dead we feel. We can make it to the top. We can see the view. And we can have joy in the struggle. We can overcome anything because of that spark of light inside us, which sometimes, in special moments, feels more like a sun.

So my Easter was wonderful!

Granted, I've had to be careful since then, because I've been having way too many sweets!

First of all, me and Danielle made vegan peanut-butter filled chocolate eggs. They're basically exactly like Reese's cups, except better because we used Trader Joe's Pounds Plus dark chocolate for the outside which is way tastier than Reese's chocolate. We are definitely going to have to make and eat more of these soon!

Then last weekend Danielle's parents came up and we had a sort of combined birthday thing because our birthdays are only 12 days apart. So I got a new blender (EXCELLENT because my old one broke)! And a singing bowl (FANTASTIC because it reminds me of the East West Bookstore in Seattle, which is a spiritual sanctuary I've had the privilege of stepping into a few times)! Also they brought home-made Raspberry Truffle Brownies and homemade vegan blueberry cheesecake (unfortunately I don't know what recipe Danielle's dad used, but it was sure good, and so sweet of him to make it for us). Oh and Oma gave us chocolate hemp ice cream too.

Yes I am stealing the PPK's picture.

Since then we've both been kind of lazy because we started watching Doctor Who on Easter and I'm low on grocery money. But we still manage our usual pots of lentils and curries and the other night I made a lovely barley stew with lots of herbs and veggies in it. We've also made two batches of super easy homemade biscuits with Earth Balance and jam.


Enjoying the sun and rain which are beginning to happen in ALMOST equal measures. My plants are finally growing a little but they're still small. At least our houseplants are doing well.

reach toward the liiiight

Still anxious about the future. Life is a series of great contradictions and contrasts. I guess the best thing to do is to try to enjoy those contrasts and rejoice in the beauty of everyday life.

Ups and Downs

A lot has changed since I last wrote. I don't have many food pictures to share with you today so I'll just pick out the best of the springtime-y photos I've been taking and break up the monotony of my ramblings with them. Hopefully that makes this a little more interesting.

I honestly was excited to work at my new job, but since I was hired at the beginning of March, I've only worked 3 days and earned a little over 150 dollars. I wasn't able to get a hold of my bosses consistently, and because of family issues they didn't have time to train me, and I'm too slow to be put on a crew without my supervisor. It was a complicated situation and was only made worse by the fact that when I went to finally talk to them about it in person and get my paycheck (which was late) I ended up crying, and they ended up essentially saying that they were sorry I was having a hard time but they couldn't really change the way they were doing things. So now it's back to square one with the job search.

But at least the blossoms are pretty.

For a few days I was honestly, extremely down about this. I had a really hard time. Luckily, Danielle and I had decided to volunteer for Vegfest 2012 in Seattle, and that helped a little. Vegfest is put on by the Vegetarians of Washington, and was just a really awesome place to be. We volunteered with Field Roast, a Seattle-based company that makes amazing vegan sausages and other "meat" products out of grains, vegetables, and spices (no soy). We got to meet some of the people who run the company, and they were really nice--they even gave us about $40 worth of Field Roast products as thanks for volunteering! There were only a few of us volunteers at the booth and I was one of the ones running the grills. We were demonstrating their relatively new product: Frankfurters (aka delicious hot dogs).

Oh look a food picture!

They smell like bacon while they're cooking and taste really good. It's really an amazing product and it was so awesome to see everybody lining up at the table to get free samples and exclaiming over how good they were. I heard people telling their friends, and people came up to the table saying that someone they'd come with had said they had to try the hot dogs. It was really exciting, actually! And to know that all the people we were volunteering with were vegetarian, and to be in that environment where the death of animals is not a central part of the event (in the form of animal-derived foods) was honestly SO COOL.

It's like coming home to your own culture after being in a strange land, I guess. Around everyone who is not vegan there is always a part of me that is guarded because I know that they don't see animals the way I do, and I've come across so many nasty and thoughtless comments and jokes from people whenever they encounter a vegan. Actually just recently I commented on a thread on facebook and was sort of attacked by a fellow commenter. That was pretty frustrating. But at Vegfest I felt that part of me was able to relax--I was in a safe place. It was really nice.

Oh look, it's downtown Bellingham! IN THE SUN!

AND THERE WAS SO MUCH GOOD FOOD. So many tables with vegan yogurts, cheeses, burritos, jerky, frozen desserts, puddings, pies, cakes, mousse, smoothies, and health drinks. And it was packed full of people, too!

and the suuunlight was GLOORIOUSSss...

So that was the highlight of the last weekend. I still struggled with moments where I felt like I was in an unusual amount of emotional pain for some reason. I'm not sure why I felt so terrible about my job problem except that I really want to be able to be self-sufficient and contribute to other people instead of being a burden to them. I had to pray for strength a lot that weekend. But I am being helped by some wonderful, generous people. It's just frightening on the job market today, and even harder when you're vegan. Working at most food-related jobs is out of the question because it goes against my morals to profit from animal exploitation, so I can't just go work at a burger joint if all else fails, and that is not something I'm able to compromise on. The most I could do in food service is work at a grocery store stocking or cashiering, and maybe at a cafe as a dishwasher or something.

 Meanwhile, my best friend Danielle has been accepted to a Master's Program in Germany, meaning I probably won't be seeing her much for two years starting in the fall. Considering this, my future is even more uncertain, but if I can't find a job (and maybe even if I can) I'm considering looking at possible internships or volunteer work, hopefully with an organization that would benefit animals (like Mercy for Animals or the Humane Society or SOMETHING).

Look. It's a duck! Or something....

 I've been coping with the resurgence of emotional  rollercoastering by writing lots of Star Trek fanfiction, and trying to appreciate the few sunny days we've had when I can tear myself away from my computer. I'm also playing with the idea of putting together a small book of poetry, hopefully with some illustrations, that I could possibly sell to earn money--but I would be donating 50% of the profits to animal organizations. I think this would serve two purposes at once, making me feel like I was contributing to the causes I care about and still helping me toward my goal of financial independence. Every little step counts... at least I sure hope that's true.

Oh hi there. My hair's getting kind of long.

Meanwhile, my 23rd birthday is fast approaching and all I want is a new blender/food-processor.... My old one died while making that batch of Sunflower Mac. Cooking just isn't the same without it.

OH I JUST REMEMBERED. I finally planted some seeds in my pots from last year. I went to go buy some fertilizer at the local nursery and even though all the dry fertilizers had bone meal or some other animal product in it, I found a liquid fertilizer called Daniels Plant Food which is apparently soybean based and has no animal ingredients. So, a couple days ago I planted two pots of spinach, two pots of kale, a tiny bit of carrots, a pot of rainbow chard, a pot of peas, some dill, and some coriander. I hope they grow! I'll let you guys know how they do on the liquid fertilizer. I was really delighted to see that when I started loosening up the soil in the pots, all kinds of little creepy-crawlies were squirming around in the soil, including two nice fat earthworms. So hopefully that means the soil in the pots is nice and healthy, and will be good for the plants!

I just hope my seeds haven't drowned--right after I watered them, it rained and poured for a day and a half.

Lent and Other Spiritual Things

I love Lent! That may seem a bit odd, since it's not an LDS tradition. I was first introduced to it by Danielle, since she was raised Lutheran. Lent is when you give up something for the 40 days before Easter. Our second Lent was when we decided to give up meat together. It was the very first step in what would become our vegan spiritual journey.

Have a photo of crocuses - one of the first signs of spring!

This year I've decided to set aside more time for spiritual things. I recently tried meditating for the first time and I liked it so much that I'm trying to set aside 30-60 minutes every day for a sort of daily devotional, which includes time for journal writing, personal prayer, meditation, and the singing or writing of hymns. So far I have noticed a great improvement in my overall emotional state... I was semi-depressed before starting meditation and now I find it much easier to keep a positive attitude about things. It's odd, but taking a moment to just BE in the present moment and appreciate the fact of your own existence, the significance of each breath continuing your life, is really powerful and good for shifting one's perspective out of self-defeating thought processes. It can be very easy to get depressed when there is so much wrong with the world, and to feel like things will never get better and there's no point in trying. But there is never a moment in any of our lives where we have no significance or value. Veganism has already taught me that about animals, but sometimes I forget it about myself.

Granted, I'm also probably happier lately because I have finally got a job! I was hired by a small cleaning company which is run by a young Christian couple. They are extremely nice people and I feel privileged to work for them. I only had my third day of work yesterday, and I feel like I'm really slow at it compared to my boss and the more experienced cleaners, but everyone has been really encouraging and friendly, and I do take satisfaction in knowing I am thorough even if I'm not fast yet. It's a great feeling to step back after cleaning something thoroughly and say "I did that! I made that look beautiful." And my body will get stronger, too. It's quite a work out, cleaning all day long! Humans need to feel useful in order to be happy I think.

As a side note of news, Danielle and I are volunteering for Field Roast's booth at Seattle's Vegfest on the 24th! I'm super excited because that probably means free food samples! :D

Let's see... what else... I recently went to a Relief Society planning meeting where I suddenly got invited to teach a class on Vegan cooking, but that is getting rescheduled for another as yet undetermined time.

Here's an awesome quote I recently read related to veganism:
"But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh we deprive a soul of the sun and light, and of that proportion of life and time she had been born into the world to enjoy."
- Plutarch

I continue to search for answers about what God is really like. I recently took heart from reading this short article from the Christian Vegetarian Association's newsletter.
_______________

The Gospel According to John begins, “In the beginning was the Word [Greek: logos], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…” What is the logos?

Ancient sources use logos in a variety of ways, including to denote “word” or “speech.” The context of the writer of John’s Gospel suggests to me that this writer used logos in the sense that the Greek philosopher Heraclitus (ca. 535-475 BCE) used it. For Heraclitus, logos was a general concept – a principle of order and knowledge. Therefore, I think the writer of John was asserting that a logos/general principle has always guided the universe, and this principle was manifest in Jesus of Nazareth.

Is there evidence for such a guiding principle? A look at nature, where animals routinely kill each other, suggests that if there is such a principle, it is not benign. However, in nature creatures also delight in life and even showing kindness and compassion for each other. Indeed, nonhumans will care for friends and even strangers, and sometimes even members of other species. Similarly, humans manifest both extremes of cruelty and callousness as well as love and altruism.

Christian scripture and tradition teaches that the logos was made incarnate in Jesus. To understand the logos from a Christian perspective, we need to explore the life and teachings of Jesus. Here, we find a person who repeatedly showed love, compassion, and concern. He taught that “the greatest commandment” was love, and this accords with 1 John 4:8, which reads, “He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.”

I think that belief that there is a logos is similar to a belief that God exists. We find evidence for both in our lives and in the world around us, though we are also challenged in our faith by evidence to the contrary. Ultimately, we have no choice but organize our lives around principles, whether those principles involve love on one extreme or narcissistic self-interest on the other, and whether or not those principles include God or other metaphysical dimensions. As a person of faith, I choose to try to align my life with a notion of the logos in which the creator God (however clouded in mystery God might be) is loving and caring. I think seeing God as aligned with a single principle is crucial for monotheism, which I will explore next week.

Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.

Sunny Days and Signs of Life

It's only February but I'm already looking for signs of spring, or at least some kind of life in the otherwise barren winter. Especially on sunny days, I love hearing snatches of birdsong or seeing the splashes of green grass. Even the moss on the rooftops makes me kind of happy.

I tromped around in the park by my apartment complex today and saw these trees budding. They were the only ones. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but the best part was when I was crossing the little bridge and realized there were two ducks in the creek. Or rather, a drake and a (female) duck.

I snuck around carefully to try and give them space. They were very timid, and moved into the shadows when I got too close, but otherwise seemed to be simply enjoying themselves in the water. The drake circled the duck protectively. He was very beautiful.

Can you find her?

The duck had such perfect camouflage too.

As I stepped a little closer to get another picture of her, she was startled at how close I was and burst into nervous flight. Her movement alerted a large yellow lab dog who had been wandering around in the bushes by the creek, and he pounced into sight, which made the drake also take off. For a split second I thought what if somebody were to shoot those ducks right now, right in front of me? Right out of the sky. It seemed so odd, and kind of tragic, to me, that anyone would rather shoot a duck than watch one as I had been doing. I felt bad for scaring them, and I hoped that they would be able to find another peaceful place to spend their day. They seemed so contented in their little corner of the creek, and I had thought, what a shame that they were afraid of me, but how are they supposed to tell I'm no danger to them, when for so many decades they have been hunted by humans?

I was so pleased to see them, swimming so peacefully. I can only hope that someday the whole world is a safe place, for them, for the other animals, and for humans too.

Short Post: Stew and Snow-cream!

Today we tried THIS beautiful recipe from The Post Punk Kitchen: Dilly Stew with Rosemary Dumplings. It was delicious and actually not that hard to make... the biggest problem was I had to separate it into two pots at one point because our big pot wasn't big enough. Also ... the dumplings... they grew to be humongous ... ! Next time I will take "spoonful" to mean a small spoonful rather than a heaping one.

Yes, I braved the icy frozen outdoors to go get fresh herbs and such from the Co-Op. It was worth it.

Lovely icicles outside my bedroom window

Snow mounds by Trader Joe's

And what else delicious is there to eat when you don't want to go too far from home? Well you can always try to find some clean snow (we found ours on the roof) and using this recipe (well, we used almond milk instead of cow's milk) we made something that wasn't quite ice cream but was more like a really really good snow cone in a bowl ("Shave ice" as they call it in Hawaii). I would recommend adding the sugar and milk in gradually though, because we didn't need all that sugar actually... putting it all in might make it too sweet. I ate two bowls even though I was shivering, 'cause it was oddly good. And it was just really fun taking a chair outside and spooning snow off the neighboring apartment roofs xD

Looks a bit like mashed potatoes doesn't it?

SNOW! And Life's Pleasures

So today I walked back from my job interview. In the snow. It was beautiful and probably one of my happiest moments in the last week.

No, I don't know yet if I got the job.

check out this crazy snowman!

Yeah, my toes were a bit cold, and my fingers and nose too, but it sure beat sitting around at home. Everything was beautiful, and I was enjoying it so much, in fact, that when I got home I decided to go walk around the park because I wasn't ready to be inside yet. There were too many awesome things to see.

Rose hips

There was a family sledding down the tiny little hill in the park... the happy squeals made everything twice as cheerful. It reminded me of the old Lionel Barrymore recording of "A Christmas Carol" that my mom plays every Christmas Eve... the part where Scrooge wakes up on Christmas morning and goes to stroll around town in the snow, greeting his neighbors. "He had never imagined that any walk, that anything, could give him so much happiness."

In a world where happiness seems so elusive, isn't it great that sometimes we can get so much pleasure out of something as simple as walking in the snow, which takes no money, no fancy technology or anything like that? The greatest joys in life are out there for us to grasp if we can open our hearts and our eyes a little. The world is beautiful. People, animals, plants, the forces of nature, the stars in the sky. Science. Art. After spending a morning talking with the daycare director about how children love to explore everything, I know that deep down we all want to keep being amazed at this world and this life God gave us. All the little things. That doesn't mean that life isn't hard. Snow is cold and wet and people get sick in the winter and the clouds block out the sunlight and make us lethargic and traffic gets delayed and the list of woes goes on.

But that doesn't mean that the world is any less beautiful.

Excuse my squinting and pokey curl xD

To bring this full circle back to veganism, thinking of all of life's little pleasures reminded me of a conversation I had with a teacher at BYU Hawaii, when I was finishing up my big 20+ page paper on LDS values and Animal Rights. I don't remember all that was said, though I think most of it was positive... but near the end of the conversation my teacher said, in reference to giving up animal products:

"But life has so few pleasures already."

I didn't know what to say to him at the time (curse my tendency to become passive when I can't immediately think of the right response!) but later that day, and many times since then, I have thought to myself, "how sad." How sad first of all that people believe there are so few pleasures in life, when there are so many, even if at times they are hard to see. How sad that the irony of that statement was lost to both of us in that moment--the irony being that if there are few moments of pleasure for us human beings, we think it is justifiable to take away the even fewer pleasures and joys the animals in our charge might have, such as the joy of parenthood and other relationships, the joy of freedom, open air, and room to play, and most of all the joy of life itself. And as time has gone on, how sad it is that people believe that our pleasure in food will disappear if we decide to take a stand against cruelty. I can honestly say that the pleasure I take in food has tripled. I enjoy grocery shopping, cooking, and eating so much, not just because I love food, but because it gives me a wholesome feeling being constantly reminded of the peaceful world I am dreaming of and trying to live toward ("live toward"--I just coined a new phrase!). I feel peaceful, yes, and that is one of the most important aspects of true joy.

And joy is even better than pleasure, isn't it? 

Christmas Summary and Happy New Year!

Hi all, it's been a while since I've posted. Holidays make it hard to keep up with this kind of thing.

Well, I've had several food adventures, one being that I tried making Creamy Red Pepper Lentil Lasagna. It turned out fine, except that the only nondairy milk we had in the house was vanilla soy milk, and I made the ghastly mistake of using that to make the cheesy sauce for the top. The sauce tasted like vanilla frosting or something... it was really ... odd. But everybody seemed to like it anyway, so no worries I guess. Just don't try that at home; your family might not be as chill with it as mine.

So on Christmas Eve I stayed up baking so I'd have some nummies for the next day that I could eat. I tried Marbled Banana Bread which has mild chocolateyness in it, and also made an Old Fashioned Chocolate Pudding Pie, but the only problem was I scalded the chocolate pudding stuff and so I thought it turned out kind of gross. However, my sister, who is not LDS, says that it just tasted like a mocha pie and she liked it a lot. So apparently mocha = scalded chocolate?? I found that a little amusing. But my mom also liked it once she had put crumbled mint Oreos on top (Oreos are generally vegan btw). The banana bread turned out awesome.

Also the graham cracker crust I made was pretty crumbly...

My family always has a big Christmas Breakfast. At my house, normal breakfast is fruit and toast, and always has been, maybe with a little bit of cereal. But on Christmas day we have waffles or pancakes, hash browns, eggs, bacon and/or ham, etc. The works. It's also a tradition that we drink eggnog with ginger ale in it. So Dad was wondering what I could eat and drink for Christmas breakfast. Bisquick actually seems to be vegan if you just mix it with water and no eggs or milk, so the waffles were no problem. Hash browns were no problem once fried in olive oil or Earth Balance. I also got some Tofurkey Italian Sausage and cut them up and fried them too. I didn't have any vegan eggnog (the stuff I've tried isn't very good... anybody have recommendations?) but I had some cranberry and black cherry juice with ginger ale instead. All in all I was stuffed by the end of it, especially since I had some banana bread too.

I like my hash browns crispy.

Then recently, my mom and I made some impromptu pizza, using bisquick to make the crust. We baked the crust before putting the stuff on it. So we had three rectangular pizzas, and she made the smallest one with real cheese on it for the picky young'uns, and I made the middle one an alfredo-y pizza and the largest one had tomato sauce with globs of leftover alfredo-y sauce. Both the middle and largest also had crumbled tofu, and all the pizzas had sauteed red onion, yellow squash, and red bell peppers on them. I used one red onion, one small yellow squash, and four red bell peppers. Oh and a can of olives.

For the tomato sauce we just used some canned Hunts sauce, one of the ones without meat or cheese in it. I think it was garlic and herb? And for the alfredo, we bought a carton of MimicCreme which is vegan and made from cashews and almonds etc. I put 3 tablespoons of earth balance in a deep pan and melted it on medium-low heat, then put in two tablespoons of flour and whisked until it made a paste, then poured in a cup of MimicCreme and put in a ton of chopped garlic, probably around 6 big cloves... then whisked it until it was thick (the creme was already pretty thick!) and then added another cup and stirred again on low heat. Just kinda let it sit there on low heat for a little while, stirring occasionally, and added garlic salt until it tasted right. Also a little bit of No Chicken Better than Bouillon, which gave it more flavor.

Pretty awesome. We baked them each at about 400 or 450 F, just until they looked and felt done... kind of a vague recipe, I'm sorry. But maybe I can perfect it later.

In general, it's been a pretty good Christmas, food-wise. The kids still don't like the stuff I make half the time, and there were still a lot of uncomfortable moments of going caroling to someone's house and getting smacked in the face with the bleghy smell of a roasting turkey, and watching my family eat meat, especially my dad's family up in northern Utah at their annual get-together, and listening to my uncles joke about hunting. There will always be hard moments like that. But it has meant a lot to me that my parents are supportive of my choices and willing to try the food I make or even help me make it.

And it has been a good Christmas in other ways too. I have been completely spoiled this year. I asked people not to get me presents, because I was too poor to get presents other than cards for anyone but my mom and one of my brothers (and I wasn't even spending my own money) but by various twists of fate I have ended up with almost an entire wardrobe of clothes both new and used, an e-reader, a fantasy book, a used graphics tablet, a cute winnie-the-pooh mug, and a beautiful necklace. I'm sure I'm forgetting some things....

We always watch a movie on Christmas Eve and this year it was Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Aslan is an important symbol for me, and I went to bed hoping I could learn to see God more like how I see and adore Aslan. Lo and behold, the necklace I got the next day.

In general Christmas was very spiritually filling and emotionally draining. This whole trip has required me to reevaluate a lot of things.There have been miniature crises and long talks and crying spells. It's always hard going out of your comfort zone, but I'm grateful for the chance I've had to spend time with my family and my friends, especially to get to know one of my sisters better and her two precious kids.

Life is so precious....

And this world is so beautiful....

From the drive up north (I drove part of the way!)

And all the beautiful music from/with my family and the choirs they've been in, it really helped me to think again about what Christ's life really meant and what kind of person he really was and is. Something I'd like to share is parts of the 2nd and 3rd verses of O Holy Night, because most people don't sing those, but they are really beautiful especially when sung by a choir.

 The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friends.
He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

So... I would always get emotional listening to these lyrics, especially "He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger" and "in his name all oppression shall cease". I would really like for that to be true. As much as we sing peace on earth and good will to men, it is easy to see that the world is not at peace. But God still loves us anyway and would like for us to get there someday. I guess all we can do is trust that Jesus will be there with us to lead us toward that better world, that little child who was born among the animals of the field and grew up to heal all people and give up his life out of love. And we can try to be that kind of person to those around us who are not at peace, and who are suffering either emotionally or physically.
This post has been pretty long and rambly and I probably should have divided it into two, but whatever. To round it all off, here's a tentative list of new year's resolutions.

-Draw more (one finished picture a month)
-Pray more, and with greater sincerity
-GET A JOB.
-Do some kind of garden again
-Publish at least one article (I already submitted one to Sunstone Magazine just yesterday!)
-Stay in touch with my family and friends
-Write to Alma (my brother on a mission in Korea) weekly
-Do better at my blog

I hope 2012 is an awesome year for everyone! And don't believe those silly people who totally misinterpreted the Mayan calendar. If you ask the Mayans they'll tell you it's a load of bullhonky (not sure if that's a real word).