Traela

The songs in the Primary songbook have all these tricky accompaniments, plus duets and such. In some ways, they're more difficult than the hymns. Probably Priesthood opening exercises or RS would be the easiest to play for, because you could get away with just playing one hand.

gvr, I think we all understand how the Church works and the covenants we made at baptism to serve, and we all understand that we are often blessed by accepting a calling that we would not have chosen ourselves. But that is in no way (IMO, at least) inconsistant with having preferences. I would prefer not to be Primary teacher, but when asked to do so I accept the calling and do my best to magnify it. That being said, I think I would enjoy working with the youth, either in YW or Sunday School. YW simply isn't going to happen until dh gets out of the bishopric because we both can't be gone on Tuesday nights. I also really enjoyed Activity Days and wouldn't mind doing that again. RS teacher, Enrichment board, and Activities committee are also things I would gladly try IF the bishop was taking my preferences into consideration.

bjw, I'm glad you've worked things out with the bishop. But, I feel I need to point out something in your original post that bothered me: I'd just like to suggest that MAYBE the reason the bishop and his wife were snarky (besides sickness disabling his brain/mouth tone regulateor) was that you may have been the 10th person that evening to bug him at home about a non-critical matter when he was sick. EVERYONE, PLEASE! Don't call your bishop at his home unless it's a dire emergency that truly can't wait and can't be handled by Home Teachers or Quorum leaders. Please, please, make an appointment through his secretary after you've considered whether someone else could solve the problem. Sorry, rant over.

I'd have to say, RS President and Bishop's Wife are the two I fear most. After that comes Nursery (not real good with little kids, plus I'd be following in the footsteps of our current AMAZING nursery leaders) or any Primary calling except Activity Days leader- which gives you some idea about my feelings on my current calling of Primary President.

I've heard of the raw food diet, and to some extent it sounds good. However, I can't help wondering how much of its success is from what you eat, rather than how it's prepared. Or maybe that's just my justification for not trying it.

There is a book available (Deseretbook.com carries it) called A Convert's Guide to Mormon Life by Clark L. and Kathryn Kidd. I've scanned through it, and it looks pretty comprehensive. And welcome! Like most Mormons, I love converts!

Searcher, I know what you're going through. It was agonizing as a teenager to read all those New Era stories about kids getting burnings in the bosom or feeling wrapped in God's love, while I got nothing. The one bright spot was when an elderly lady got up in testimony meeting and said, "I don't know that the Church is true, and I probably won't know in this life. But I believe it with all my heart." So I decided that I could just believe, and be ok. But it really wasn't enough. I finally gathered my wisps of faith and decided to make a leap of faith. The fact was, I couldn't hear God. We could speculate why until the cows come home, but that wouldn't change the reality. So my thought process went like this: I choose to believe that there is a God, and that He loves me. If there is a God, then He knows that I can't hear or feel him, except perhaps in the mildest, most indirect way. If He loves me, then He wants to communicate with me in spite of my limitations. Therefore, He will answer my prayers indirectly, in a manner that I can perceive. So I started looking outside of myself for answers to my prayers. And you know what? I found them. And my wisps of faith grew thicker. I now have to courage to pray with the hope that my prayers will be answered, one way or another. I occasionally even get impressions that I think come from God, so I act on them accordingly.

I finally found some fashion dolls for my 7-year-old that are appropriate for little girls! (No Bratz in our house ) They're called "Only Hearts Club" and I just got my order for Christmas this week. The dolls are so CUTE, and look like real little girls! If you're looking for Christmas presents, here's the link (I hope): OnlyHeartsClub

Morningstar, you said your son has been complaining about his socks alot. Have you had him checked for a sensory processing disorder? An occupational therapist (the school district might have one) can do an evaluation. My younger son is under-responsive to to some stimuli, and over-responsive to others, which makes his behaviour somewhat erratic. He is absolutely not allowed to wear sweatpants to school, because he gets so twitchy. When my oldest was little, it seemed like she was angry almost all the time. Multiple temper tantrums a day, and it was years before we got through church without a meltdown. It was exhausting. When she was four, I remember thinking one day, "Wow, dd only had one tantrum today!" Now she's an amazingly nice kid, although still something of a drama queen!

Ok, here's a thread to announce all the happy news that doesn't necessarily warrent an entire thread. Here's mine: After too many years of compromising, I now have 2 pairs of CUTE shoes that fit my wide-width feet!

Have you looked in the YM/YW section? I believe that's where I saw an object lessons book just a couple weeks ago. Some are probably too juvenile, but I'm sure there's a lot you could use.

Wow! Your RS sounds like so much fun! We're lucky to have one activity a month. A few small groups have formed at various times, but soon dwindle to nothing. How does yours do it? If someone wants a new group, do they run it through the RS pres. first? Do they announce the new groups in RS (and Primary-Important! )? Do you have a list anywhere of the various groups and contact info for new people?

Inspired by MorningStar, I went to Fred Meyer's yesterday ready to do battle. Lo and behold, the cosmopolitan magazines were covered up for the first time in I don't know how long. Go MorningStar!

Our ward has done this too. We actually got the idea from another ward in our stake. Some questions are on the order of, "In the past week have you opened the door for someone/returned a shopping cart to the cart corral/let someone go in front of you in line?"

Hello, all! I'm another immigrant from Ma&db. I joined the Church in Pennsylvania, when I was 12. I now live in Idaho with my husband (who teaches high school history) and 5 children, ages 15, 13, 10, 7, and 1. We live on a portion of his family's farm with a bunch of goats, where we have a small Christmas tree farm. We also recently took over the pick-it-yourself raspberries and asparagus business started by dh's uncle. I'm a sahm. I mostly like to read, but I also knit and garden. This year I finally started a small herb garden. I like to cook, especially if it involves chocolate.