Sunday, July 26, 2009

I love this kid.

We did laundry yesterday and decided to see how Joshua would look in his daddy's white Sunday shirt. What do you think?

Friday, July 17, 2009

All is well

Thank you so much for your prayers. Shelly and Kaitlyn came out of surgery yesterday morning and are doing well (Kaitlyn more so than Shelly, it seems...you can read about the fun Shelly got to have here). Now we get to wait until Kaitlyn is actually born, I guess!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

It's happening tomorrow!

I wrote a few days ago about my brother Kendall and sister-in-law Shelly, who are expecting a little baby who has spina bifida. Well, we just found out today that they have been selected for surgery, so tomorrow morning, Shelly and little baby Kaitlyn will go through intrauterine surgery in San Francisco. We are hoping and praying for the best and would appreciate your faith, prayers, good thoughts, or whatever on behalf of their family. Thank you!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Carina, a la Google

My friend Shara did this on her blog, and I thought it was cute so I decided to follow suit. Hope you don't mind!

Google Searches

Q: Type in "[your name] needs" in the Google search.
A: "Carina needs Sarah help to steal a diamond from a house in Malibu from a guy named Peyman who is involved with an opium cartel" (from an episode of "Chuck"--how did I not know there was a character on this show with my name? Oh, right, because I don't watch it...)

Q: Type in "[your name] looks like" in Google search.
A: "Carina looks like a lil cute lobster because she went suntanning during the holidays :p like WOAH" (some random blog)

Q: Type in "[your name] says" in Google search.
A: "Carina says: I love Vanessa" (from myspace...I can't see the context because myspace is blocked on BYU campus, but suffice it to say that I don't even know anyone named Vanessa)

Q: Type in "[your name] wants" in Google search.
A: "Carina wants the pound cake, berries, and lemon curd off her desk. Come and get yours if you're in the building." (someone's Twitter update)

Q:Type in "[your name] does" in Google search.
A: "Carina does not come with HEPA filtration and the wand is at the lower end of Miele standards" (apparently there's a vacuum cleaner out there called "the Carina")

Q: Type in "[your name] hates" in Google search.
A: "Carina hates all cheese and cheeselike things" (another myspace thing...and this is SO not true)

Q: Type in "[your name] asks" in Google search.
A: "Carina asks for money from Herta." (who is Herta? and does he/she really have money to give me?)

Q: Type in "[your name] likes " in Google search.
A: "Carina likes to pretend." (someone's family blog, about a small child, I think)

Q: Type in "[your name] eats " in Google search.
A: "Carina eats a tissue" (a video on YouTube...obviously, this is not actually me)

Q: Type in "[your name] wears " in Google search.
A: "Carina wears a toilet seat on her head in the bath tub because she 'wants to.'" (um...what?)

Q: Type in "[your name] was arrested for" in Google Search.
A: "Carina was arrested for nothing! YAY!" (this was actually from a message board of someone else who was playing this same game...thus giving me the impression that Carinas are never arrested because we're just too cool for that)

Q: Type in "[your name] loves" in Google Search.
A: "Carina loves 'The Sound Of Music' Movie so much she's learned all the songs and even memorized a lot of the dialogue." (someone's 6-year-old daughter's YouTube video)

Interesting stuff, I tell ya.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Say a little prayer

Just in case some of you don't already know, my brother Kendall and his wife Shelly are expecting their third child. They found out a couple of weeks ago that their unborn daughter has a myelomeningocele, meaning that she will be born with spina bifida. They've been through a whirlwind of tests and doctor appointments, trying to figure out how best they can help her. You can read about their journey so far at their blog here, but I'll summarize the latest.

They just found out yesterday that Shelly has qualified to participate in MOMS (Management of Myelomeningocele Study), which means that this Sunday, they will fly to San Francisco. Doctors at UCSF will perform tests on Monday and Tuesday, and then on Wednesday, they will be put in one of two groups: pre-natal or post-natal surgery.

If they are in the pre-natal group, Shelly will have surgery the very next day, where doctors will do all they can to close the lesion on the baby's back, then keep Shelly in SF until she would deliver by C-section around 37 weeks (she's around 22 or so now, I think). If they are in the post-natal group, they will go back to Houston and Shelly will deliver by C-section at 37 weeks, whereupon surgery will be performed as soon as the baby is born to close the lesion. The advantage to being in the pre-natal surgery group is that there is a high risk of the baby developing hydrocephalus in later pregnancy, and the surgery may help decrease that risk. (I hope I got all that right!)

Basically, they just really need prayers right now. If Shelly has the pre-natal surgery, she'll be away from her kids for three months, so that makes it even harder--but this surgery could really help their unborn daughter, so we hope it's worth it. Please say a little prayer for Shelly, Kendall, and their daughter. They could use all your prayers and faith right now. Thanks.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

We believe the Bible to be the Word of God

I'm gonna go a little out of the norm of my usual posts today. Things have been on my mind lately and I felt this was a good outlet for them.

Lately, I've been blog-hopping, and I've found some interesting blogs frequented by those who are LDS (Mormons) and those who consider themselves Evangelicals or born-again Christians. A lot of these blogs are forums for open dialogue, seeking to truly understand one another. Of course, though, the dialogue always reaches an impasse, as both sides believe that their way is the correct way to be truly "saved."

I noticed in my perusal of these blogs that a lot of the mainstream Christian justification of dismissing the LDS religion as non-Christian stems from our 8th Article of Faith, which is that we, as Latter-day Saints, "believe the Bible to be the Word of God, as far as it is translated correctly"--the latter part being the focus. They argue that Mormons simply cannot be Christian because we do not believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. True Christians, they claim, believe the Bible to be the Absolute Truth, that it was written under the Spirit of the Lord and as such contains no errors. As Mormons, we see that there are contradictions in the Bible, and we know that any writings by man will contain some errors due to the fallibility of humankind and so we rely on latter-day revelation to help us understand and clarify some of the Bible teachings.

In light of all of this, I read an article on CNN's website last night that I found highly intriguing. It is entitled "Oldest known Bible goes online." Basically, a Bible was discovered in 1844 and is the oldest one known in existence, dating back 1,600 years. It's now going to be put online for the general public to see. For a full text of the article, click here.

The parts I would like to emphasize are as follows: "...the handwritten Codex Sinaiticus includes two books that are not part of the official New Testament and at least seven books that are not in the Old Testament. The New Testament books are in a different order, and include numerous handwritten corrections -- some made as much as 800 years after the texts were written...The changes range from the alteration of a single letter to the insertion of whole sentences...Juan Garces, the British Library project curator, said it should be no surprise that the ancient text is not quite the same as the modern one, since the Bible has developed and changed over the years."

Interesting, is it not? The Bible has changed over the years! The books are in a different order (I wonder where Revelation is placed)! There are whole sentences added! I'm really interested to see this Bible when it is actually put online. What is the nature of these changes and alterations, and who made them? This, to me, is yet another bit of support for our beliefs that the Bible is not inerrant and that we need continuing revelation to understand and know God's will. I'd be interested to see what others, both inside and outside the Church, will make of this as well.

Let me make perfectly clear: the Bible is one of my favorite books. I'm so grateful that we have it--it is the only written record we have of the Savior's mortal ministry. Without the Bible, Joseph Smith would probably not have gone into that grove and prayed almost 200 years ago. I am currently reading the Old Testament with my husband and am enjoying it immensely. I have a great love for the Bible. It's just humbling to know that things can have errors and still be from God. Look at us--we are God's greatest creations, and we sin all the time. That doesn't change the fact that He made us and that we are His children. It's comforting to know that God has not left us alone, that we are not forced to rely solely on a book written 2,000 years ago (and then some), and that He speaks to us today.

Monday, July 6, 2009

The blah days

I just had to take the time to thank my dear sweet husband for being so sweet and kind to me the past few days. I had a really bad backache yesterday and a headache tonight, and he's been incredibly helpful and patient with me, making dinner, helping with Joshua, and just being sweet.

I texted him the following just before I came home after work: "I'm just sorry I keep having blah days and you end up doing all the work." His response? "It's fine, my love...I signed on for the blah days too ;)" Just what I needed to hear at that moment--thank you, my love!