Men, Women and the Priesthood

I don't have a lot of time, but I wanted to get this down before I forgot about it.

I have been thinking, off and on, about the roles of men and women. You hear about women and girls who feel like they get the short end of the stick in the Church because they aren't given the priesthood (meaning power and authority to act in God's name). Most women, when they truly understand women's roles and the Plan, don't have a problem with it and feel very blessed with their roles and privileges. However, I have been trying to figure out a way to explain it to people that don't understand, and it is difficult to do succinctly. But today I was thinking, and an analogy came to my head that I liked and would like to share...

Picture a box. A beautiful, intricately carved box of rare and precious wood. The wood is smooth, lustrous and rich in color. It is a piece of great value to be taken especial care of.
When you open the box, inside is a scarf made of extremely rare and precious silk. It is soft, with a beautiful rich color and the best quality available. Both of these things are extremely rare and valuable. In fact, they are actually valued at the exact same amount. But each has its own specific use and purpose.
The box is for holding and protecting things kept inside. The silk scarf is for valued for its beauty and softness. Would you use the box for a scarf? No. Would you use the silk to hold things or protect other things? No. Using them like that would be ridiculous, defeat the purpose of each, and ultimately ruin both the box and the silk.
I would compare the box to the role of men, and the silk to the role of women. Now, does the box have the same role as men, and the silk the same role of women? No. Work with me here--don't take this too literally! But, they DO have different purposes while both keep an identical intrinsic value.

Now the next step: What do you put on a piece of wood, especially a valuable box, to strengthen it and help it fulfill its own purpose? You would put a coat of varnish or something on it, so it would be better able to withstand wear and tear, dirt, grime or moisture, and therefore be better able to protect the silk in the box. Would you put the varnish on a scarf of precious silk? Of course not. That would ruin it. The varnish would spoil the inherent beauty and richness of the pure silk. Using the silk scarf to protect the box would also ruin it. The exposure to wear and tear, dirt, grime and moisture would make the silk unusable and worthless. And I don't think the box would be much protected, either. Trying to put varnish on the silk might make it waterproof (might being a key word there), but it would become hard and unsightly and not beautiful any longer. While the varnish enhances the abilities of the wood, it is unnecessary for the silk and would spoil its inherent beauty. The silk must rely on the box for protection and care. The box would be purposeless without holding the silk. It would just be an empty box. They both need each other to truly fulill their roles.

I believe that the priesthood for men acts much the same as the varnish for wood. The priesthood protects and strengthens the men of the Church to fulfill their roles. I believe that men are given specific, inherent qualities that, bolstered by the strength and guidance that the priesthood gives them, allows them to fulfill their duties as fathers and leaders; to preside over families and meetings and congregations in the best way possible. I believe that women would also be able to fulfill these roles to a degree--but their own specific, inherent, divine qualities would be ruined in the process. I personally think we as women would be overwhelmed, heartbroken and lost with the problems and decisions that the leadership of the Church has to face.
I believe that men, with their ability to compartmentalize, a general tendency to logic and problem-solve, and instinct to protect are the best ones for the roles they are given in the Church. I believe that women, with their instinct to help others, comfort, teach, create, and emotional (hence, spiritual) base are the best ones for the roles they are given in the Church. I believe that the best way to strive for Zion is for both to accept their own roles, appreciate the roles of the other, and work together with respect, patience, and understanding. Neither one can succeed without the other, as asserted by Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:11: "Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord." I believe that if we can come to understand this and put it into practice, great and miraculous things can happen as we strive to build up the kingdom of God.

So there's my two--or two hundred--cents on the subject.

Happy Birthday Kimmie!

Kimmie turned 5 last week, and I'm finally getting pictures up. We lucked out since preschool was at our house on her birthday, so we just had a party for half of it and it made it really easy. I made cupcakes for the girls, and then we had a Fancy Nancy party. It wasn't exceptionally organized, but I think they had fun...

I love how bashful Kimmie looks in this picture.

She really does secretly love the attention, even if she hides from it.

Fancy Nancies!! They had fun with nail polish, eye shadow, and dressing up,

and then a dance party!

Making Kimmie's cake later that day. Remember what I said in a previous post about Kimmie being a messy eater? Yeah.Kimmie's butterfly cake! This one came together a lot more neatly than Emily's did, thank goodness. However, a tip for the future:

don't use Pillsbury cream cheese frosting--it's disgusting. Good thing we had homemade chocolate frosting to make up for it.

The party attendees. Thanks for coming up, Mom and Gary!!

Kimmie is such a great kid. She slays everyone with her gorgeous blue eyes and long lashes and dimples. She plays so well with both Emily and Calvin, depending on whose around. I think she enjoys being the boss when Emily is at school, but she also still plays well with Em and lets her dictate a lot of their play. She is super smart and loves to write words and letters. Preschool is great fun, she's getting more social, but I think she and I both wish the girls were more her age. Oh well. It's been good for her. She is very excited about kindergarten next year, especially after getting to go see Emily's class and what they get to do there. She loves princesses, Fancy Nancy, anything glittery, red, purple, or pink, or blue... She loves to dance, loves skirts, and loves chocolate. Is she a girl or what? She got an Ariel bath toy from Mom and Dad fixed her bike, and she was pretty happy with both of those. She's not exactly predictable, because while she loves girly things, she's not afraid to pick up worms and millipedes and ants, she plays in the dirt, and loves riding her bike. Which is why I took her to the store to pick out her birthday present. Not entirely the safest thing to do, and it felt like a cop-out, but I really had no idea what to get her. Fortunately she loved the Ariel bath doll the best, and not the $50 horses or dollhouses. Phew! So we avoided any drama, except for Calvin insisting it was his birthday and wanting to take home the Lightning McQueen racecar... but at least we know what to get him when his birthday comes. :)

Happy birthday Kimmie, we love you so much!!

March and April

March was a very strange month, weather-wise. We would have 60+ degree weather for multiple days, interspersed with snowstorms. Here are pictures from the heaviest one:

Our backyard--we got somewhere between 6 and 8 inches, I think.

Calvin and Dad had a great time playing in the snow.

Snow angels.

John loves having his little buddy who is game for anything, especially if it is outside.

But I think he's rather disappointed with us girls, who would rather watch from a window...

John did get all the kids out to build a snowman, which they loved. Obviously I wasn't home, because Kimmie is out in a skirt and shortsleeves, but it was warming up by then, and I probably would have been fighting a battle that wasn't worth the effort. Getting Kimmie to wear a coat is like pulling teeth. And I doubt she was out very long, her cold tolerance is similar to mine: non-existent.

Easter!! General Conference was the same day, so it was pretty busy but really nice. Conference was great as always, though the many talks on the importance of teaching kids early in the home made me sit back and take stock of how I'm doing...

Anyway, we had John's parents and brothers up for a ham dinner, cake, John's questionable jello/chocolate pudding creation, and of course lots of candy.
The kids were so excited for the Easter egg hunt, and we had fun watching Richard and Gary hunting for the eggs that John and I (tried) to be clever with.

Kimmie shows off her basket of eggs. How does she manage to look adorable all the time?

Richard and Calvin counting eggs. Calvin kept dropping them out of his basket because he was holding it crooked, but heaven help you if you tried to teach him how to hold it right...

Here's a video of the beginning of our egg hunt. Can I just say how fun it is to have family around now to do these things with? It's pretty dang fun.

On Saturday before Easter we went to Mom Butler's work and had an egg hunt there too. Needless to say, the kids were not wanting in the sweets department this year. Or any year, really... Mom somehow talked John into dressing in the Easter bunny costume and take pictures with the kids and some of the residents (she works at an assisted living center). Calvin wouldn't have anything to do with him at first, and neither would Kimmie. I think we eventually got pictures. I will have to get them from Mom so I can save them for a special occasion... like blackmailing John into getting my new floor or something.

Our coloring of eggs didn't happen until FHE the Monday night after Easter. It was a busy weekend, ok? We still had fun, and the kids wished we had another 2 dozen eggs to color. Don't eggs usually go on super sale around Easter? What happened to that??

Kimmie's favorite egg, smiley face and stickers. She turns five this month, can you believe how grown up she is?

Emily's special egg--purple, of course. Smiley face as well (I think it was her idea first).

Calvin thought egg coloring was the best. He loved the green and the stickers. It was kind of fun to have some boy stickers as well as the flowers and girlie stuff. Although he doesn't seem to mind most of the time.

The egg artists. John, as usual, is leading the kids in a funny faces.

Our treats after coloring eggs were chocolate nests. I will never understand how Kimmie eats chocolate so messily. She gets more messy with M&Ms than anyone I know.

John never ceases to surprise me. After eggs John decided to take the dye and make designs on the driveway. Sooo, there you have it. I made the kids (that term would include the big kid in the middle) pose with their design. And I love Calvin's pot belly, it cracks me up.

As far as after the holiday goes, things are plugging along. We are enjoying warmer weather and tackling some yard projects, and other things.

Here's the new book reader in the house, reading to her siblings. So cute, and so great.

Just for a laugh, here's what Calvin came downstairs in after I told him to go up and get some pajamas on. He has on a button up shirt, backwards, and khaki pants. No, he didn't button them up by himself, I'm still not exactly sure how he got the shirt on. He was so proud of himself and looked so funny I had to take a picture. At least the pants are on the right way, it's a toss-up each time he puts those on.

Somewhere in all this we went to Utah, John went to NM for work, I started teaching the girls a little piano playing, John's been super-busy at work, Emily's finishing up her first year of school, I'm teaching in Young Women, Kimmie's doing preschool, and Calvin keeps everything ten times harder than it should be but ten times happier as well. Oh and I've read at least 10 novels. But I won't tell you how the housecleaning has gone...

So hopefully this post will make up for the last couple pictureless ones.

Now go out and enjoy the sun!

recap

The last week of March I decided to drive with my kids to visit family 8 hours away. I was very blessed to have my mother-in-law with me to help drive and handle kids, so it went very well. The trip there was one of the best road trips we've ever had with kids. We only had to stop once and made extremely good time. We were fortunate to be racing the weather both ways and timed it well.
We went out to surprise my sister by showing up and helping with her baby shower. It is their first child and they are now moved far away so it was really fun to go. We came up the stairs into the kitchen and there was Melissa standing there talking. She looked over and saw the kids and said, "What the heck?!?!" and started to cry. It was great. :) So fun to be there for the shower and see them before they left for more temperate climates. My aunt Connie was an absolute gem in letting us stay with her and get in the way of their busy schedule. Emily and Kimmie were absolutely enthralled with Connie's kids (my cousins) and played with them as much as they could. It was so fun to see my Kimmie play with Connie's Kimmi (my Kimberly's named after her--because she's so dang amazing), and the way all the girls were so great with my kids in pulling out the Barbies and playing animals with them and everything else.
Saturday night we went to a park for a while, met up with Melissa's husband and played for a bit, and then went to the Creamery on 9th to meet up with Steve for some dinner and ice cream. It was so fun to be there together. Steve and Calvin had some epic straw wars, Kimmie made "puzzles" out of the fries holders for Ammon (sorry, still don't know how to do the accent thing) and Emily was so excited to buy some ice cream she could hardly sit still. I'll have to get the pictures from Laura to post up sometime. I was a total loser and didn't even touch my camera the whole trip. Fortunately Laura is our family photographer by default, so hopefully she will save my documentation efforts yet again. I will beg an excuse out of being a single parent of three small children for 5 days and I was very busy and very tired.
Sunday we went to church with Connie's family, but only made it through sacrament mtg because we had gotten to bed so late the night before. So we came back and crashed for the afternoon--just getting up in time to head to Grandma and Grandpa Durrans' for a dinner with John's family. I got to talk with Angela and David, Grandmas and Grandpa entertained kids, as well as John's second cousin (?) Gabe who actually hit it off with my girls and talked with them for a good while--training them in all the things he got in trouble for as a kid... Thanks Gabe. :) We got back late again to Connie's (I'm so sorry, Connie!!!), and crashed in bed again. Monday we drove up to see Laura and Jason's house and spent the day with them, playing balloon wars and distracting Jason from his paper (sorry again!) and watching Kung Fu Panda and making dinner. Then we headed back down to Provo for FHE with Melissa, Ammon and Steve, which Melissa and Ammon did an awesome job on, and I got to show off my kids' gospel knowledge. :) Melissa had scrambled up letters in plastic eggs for the kids to find and then put into order. Emily guessed the word "Prophet" after only seeing the "p" and the "t"! I was amazed. After a fun time with them and some yummy peach cobbler, we said good-bye and headed back up to Connie's for the night. Then we headed off home in the morning! The trip home was a little bit more tedious as the treats were old news and I didn't pull out John's laptop to do a movie for fear I would throw the thing out the window (it is old and slow and touchy and extremely frustrating to set up), and we were all very tired. Mom Butler was a saint a drove most of the way since I was in a fog--so tired but unable to sleep in the car. I think we were all very happy to get home. Thanks for driving with us Mom!! You are a life saver.
When we got home, John was still gone on his work trip so I still had another day as a single parents. But it was good to be home and collapse and do nothing for a while. We had a great time with family there--a solid vacation: see lots of family, do lots of things, and be so exhausted we were ready to go home by the end.
Wednesday was tough for Emily waiting for Daddy to get home. Tuesday night she was so tired but she couldn't sleep because she missed her dad. We called him on the phone and after talking with him for a while she was ok again and went happily and quickly to sleep. John, if you ever doubt how much these kids love and need you, just rememer that!! We were all happy to see John home the next night and have our family back together again.
Now is it back to regular life and everything else.

General Conference last week was awesome and wonderful and a bit overwhelming! There were so many messages about the importance of teaching children in the home and when they are young, I definitely had to take a step back and evaluate how I am doing in my role as a mother of small children. I actually had a really good talk with my girls Saturday night about Easter and Christ and His Resurrection. I believe I need to be better about recognizing those teaching moments and taking advantage of them. Strong families are so important and these years before the kids go out in the world are so precious. I think those messages on teaching our children were dead on and that we really do need to focus on helping our children develop testimonies of the Savior and learn to feel the Holy Spirit in these tender years. Which is why I am overwhelmed with that responsibility--but I also believe that being a mother is the most important calling and role that I have, and that the Lord will qualify me for the things He asks of me. So, onward we go.

Easter pictures I will have to post next time, and give a synopsis of the fun there. Happy Spring!