And Straight on 'Till Morning

  I can't wait for school to start!!!  I'm really excited to start a new semester. I've always liked the feeling of being able to start over fresh, but this time is even better. I got three A's and two A-'s this last semester and it has left me feeling like I really can do anything. I've become a better student, and I understand better how important it really is to put lots of time into all of my classes in order to get good grades in them. I've also realized that in truth, time is the important thing. It's never that I'm not smart enough or not cut out for such and such, it's that I have to be willing to put in the time and effort to really excel. I can do things that are hard or that I'm not good at. I just have to be willing to work. And once I put in the time and effort and work I often realize that it's really not that hard. My father once accused me of being a hypochondriac. Although I resented that accusation I have come to real...

And the summary continues . . . Christmas morning I woke up and heard Mom, Dad, and Jackson talking. Jackson got in bed with Mom and Dad to keep warm, then Carli woke up and went to join them. I could hear them talking about me so I spoke up and said I was warm where I was. However, eventually I got up and went to join them in their bed. It was a king size bed, but it was still a bit of a squeeze to fit all five of us under the covers at once. My dad read us Luke 2 and then we all got up and ready to go do stockings. In my stocking I found an apron that said “Queen of Everything” on it (that was as close as they could find to Princess of the World), a beautiful scarf that I jokingly fashioned as a burka (reminiscent of the domestic violence lecture), an oven mitt with a pattern of snowflakes, medicated lip balm for extremely dry lips, and fingernail clippers and files. After stockings were done, we sang some songs, and my dad played his guitar, for a Christmas program that my sist...

So as you may or may not know my family spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in a yurt on Tamarak resort. I don't like traveling and I would have much rathered stay home for Christmas but we went anyway and I did have fun. The following is a summary of key events. On the way to Donnelly we listened to a lecture on domestic violence. The speaker told all kinds of stories from women in the US pushed around by their husbands to women in Muslim countries who get sprayed with sulfuric acid if they allow their faces to be seen. Then my mom and dad proceeded to give us the same lecture that my mom has given several times. “If your boyfriend tries to control you, frightens you, intimidates you, or hurts you in any way; that is the end of the relationship and you never speak to him again. If your husband does any of those things you take your kids and all the money in your accounts and leave him. The first time.” I absolutely agree. Finally, just outside of Donnelly, we go to the hot sp...

So, I just saw this really cool video on BYU's home page, and I thought I'd share it with you. If you want you can also check out the article at . Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo .

I've been studying MCom (mass communications) all morning, and I need a break. So, let me tell you about my scripture study this morning. Since yesterday I've been trying to study the principle of faith. Monday morning I started my study by reading about faith in the Bible dictionary. That day was mostly an overview of the principles I already knew. This morning I went over it again and a few things jumped out at me. The first thing was the definition of faith. The "seminary answer" to that is, "to hope for things that are not seen, but which are true." However, the part that jumped out at me this morning was a little bit different; "To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone . . . to place confidence in Him without reservation." The second thing was in concert with the principle "faith without works is dead." I switched the order of a few phrases in the third paragraph to emphasize their meaning. "[True faith]...

So I have a crazy amount of stuff to do in the next three weeks. Today is the 1st of December, and by the 16th or 17th I'm going to be completely done with finals. Before the reading days starting on the 10th I have to complete the following:  Nativity World Lit Analysis Paper Grammar Test Re-take Biology Stewardship Paper ISys HTML Project ISys HTML Exam MCom Business Evaluation Report (part of final) All other general class work (mostly reading) This is going to be an interesting few weeks and I probably won't post again until it's over unless something really big happens.