Educated

I have such a wonderful husband. He let me go to Education Week this year. Well, I guess I shouldn't say let me like he is controlling or something, it's just that he was fine with me being gone every night for an entire week and putting the girls down by himself. So for this, and all the other nights I am out and about, I love him, he is such a wonderful husband and awesome father. Thank you Kirk!

I want to write a little about Ed Week. I had such a wonderful time. Next year, I want Kirk to go with me, it would be a lot of fun to go to classes together so that we would have so much to discuss, other than the kids and fixing up the house! So, I would recommend it to EVERYONE!

I went to a lot of different classes, some spiritual, some financial, some parenting, some marriage related, and one fun organizational class. The organizational class was very encouraging. It was taught by Marie Ricks, author and professional home-organizer. www.houseoforder.com I really enjoyed her classes, I actually only got to go to two of them, for they fill up fast. But I bought her book, House of Order Handbook, and have read it cover to cover already. So I am now going back and starting over and this time going to try putting it into practice. I really want our new house to be an organized one, this is why I still haven't put everything away yet, because I am scared of putting it where it shouldn't go, and then having to move it all again, so therefore I just leave it all in the garage packed up still. Yes, I sometimes have to go down searching for things, like last week the blender, so now I think I might have the courage to start unpacking! We will see!

I am actually taking her classes again at a stake center down the road in PG on Thursday nights, it's an 8 week course, free which is good, because I didn't get to see all of it at Ed Week. Some of the things I have learned though are:
*keep only half of what you already own. Like if you have 3 staplers, only keep 2 (she says to round up), or if you own multiple pots (like 10 or 20... I don't have that many) you really only need 4, max of 5, because your stove only has 4 elements on it.
*keep quality, and buy quality. Don't spend your money on junk products because they are cheap, save up a little more and buy something you will use more often and that will last longer. Her example was with kitchen utensils, don't buy dollar store plastic tongs, splurge and buy $10 metal ones that won't rust and will last years and years.
*File, don't pile. I love this saying! She talked about the counter top next to the fridge, how almost every single house has a "pile" of paper next to the fridge. So, she said when you come into the house with paper, like mail, don't set it down, set it in it's file (bills to pay, insurances to file away, etc.) She also said that 90% of the paper in your current Pile you will never look at again if you file it away, so she said have a pending file that you put things into, and then file them 30 days later, and with that 30 day buffer, you will have forgotten why you wanted to keep it anyways, so you don't file only to move them around forever but to never look at them again.

Another speaker that I loved, I mean absolutely loved, is H. Wallace Goddard. I went to both his marriage class, titled Inviting Heaven into Your Marriage, and his parenting class, Bringing up our Children in Light and Truth. He is also a columnist for Meridian Magazine. I just can't say enough about his lectures, except that if you ever have a chance to listen to him, it would be well worth your time. My favorite except from his class is as follows, from the marriage class:
*You want to build a house, but you have two favorite architects. So you ask each of them to build half a house. They both ask what specs you want, and you tell each of them to just build what they think is best. You then have your halves delivered and go to put them together so you will have the best house ever, from your two favorite architects. Problem is, they don't fit together. One may be a rambler, 3 bdrm, 2 bathroom style with a basement, but the other half is a two story, 6 bdrm, 3 bathroom, with a balcony. You can try to do the remodeling your self, to build a second story onto the rambler, dig a basement underneath the two story, but your chances of actually making a functioning, non-leaking, going to last a lifetime home are slim. What you need is a carpenter, someone that can come in a build a structure to unite these two homes into one. Someone that has experience, someone that knows what they are doing, someone that will make sure there are no leaks and gaps. That someone is the Lord.

If we let the lord unite our halves, then we will last the test of time. Our marriage is never just between husband and wife, but also between Heavenly Father because he is there to help us and keep us strengthened.

I love analogies, and this one takes the cake in my opinion. I just loved it and wanted to share it with you. I hope it can help you to take a look at your marriage and see what needs some "updating" or "home repairs" that Jesus can do for you.

The other time I went to this class, the night was titled, Looking on Your Spouse with Compassion. I was expecting something about changing ourselves and being humble, but what he spent almost the entire time on was the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). He totally went in depth on it, and pointed out how it applies to our marriage. Fabulous class.

Anyways, there where lots and lots of other great classes, but maybe I will give recap of those at another time. So really, if you can make time for it, Education Week is awesome!!!