Happy Birthday, dear Jessica...

I've probably said this before, but when I try to rhyme my poetry, it's not usually any good. Why do I do it, you ask? I don't know. Maybe I just have one of the most amazing, talented sisters in the whole freaking world, and wanted to let her know.

Here you go, Jess. :)

Dearest sister, it's your birthday.
One year older. Seventeen.
You've got skills, better than Monet.
Painting like I've never seen!
Here's to you, sis. Happy Birthday!
Don't work, that would be a crime.
Also you should have a partay!
Just, you know...get home on time. ;)

Love ya, sis!

Have a nice Birthday, eh?

-Bro.

It's been a while...

I haven't blogged for a while. Then again, who ever said that I had to blog regularly? Nobody. In fact, most people I know don't. At least...not daily, or even weekly. With the exception of my missionary friends that have their parents post their weekly emails on their blog. All the same, I like to keep everyone updated about my oh-so-exciting life (that is...if anyone even reads this blog). Yup.

So, I'm home. Kinda weird, kinda cool, kinda sweetawesome. It's weird to be living with a bunch of girls again, but it's nice not to have to pay for food, and it's really nice to be back with my family. :) If I didn't love my family as much as I do, I might not be so excited about moving back home. But with my family? Anyone would be glad to be home. :) Also, it's nice to be able to go for a walk or a run and not have to be worried about frostbite or hypothermia.

Today is Christmas Adam. I've never called it that before, but today I heard some people calling it that, and I thought it was pretty funny. I'm still not ready for Christmas. I have a couple of gifts I haven't bought, and a couple that I still need to wrap. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. Not because of the presents or the candy though (that's not to say I didn't enjoy those things...because I did). I always love Christmas because of the warm, fuzzy feeling of curling up with my family in front of the fire when it's freezing cold outside and reading a book, or reading Luke 2, or sipping hot chocolate, or whatever else we can think of doing as a family.

I love our family's Christmas traditions too. Like Shepherd's Night. Shepherd's Night usually happens on the family night before Christmas. We go and buy food that we think the shepherds would have eaten back when Christ was born. Things like unleavened bread, different meats and cheeses (we had lamb a couple of times...but that's kind of more money and work than it's worth. Most of the time it's ham or roast beef), and we usually have potatoes, olives, grapes, and honey butter for the bread. Also, we always eat with our fingers, and we use our wooden bowls. After dinner, we usually read Luke 2, and talk about different things like why the angels came to shepherds, or how the shepherds felt and how they reacted, etc. Then sometimes we'll watch the LDS Nativity video.

I love Christmas music too. My favorite CD is the one that we've listened to every year for as long as I can remember. I think it's called Come to the Manger. I think. It's by Orrin Hatch and Janice Kapp Perry. And you can listen to it at http://www.ldsaudio.com/shop/music.aspx?type=album&id=231. Actually, that's probably just 30 second previews. But you can buy it there. It's worth it, I promise. ;)

I feel like I'm using a lot of smiley's. I kind of go through phases. Sometimes I don't ever use them, and other times I want to use them after every sentence. :p

Besides being Christmas Adam, It's also someone's birthday. :) So, here's a poem for the birthday girl:

Today is Christmas Adam, it's your birthday.

You're older now, and maybe wiser too.

I bet you wish that you were even halfway 

to being done with school at BYU.

This poem doesn't really have much purpose,

Except to tell you "Happy birthday, dear."

My lamesauce rhyming skills and ADDness

make it hard for me to write a poem here.

So, happy birthday to you, Josefina.

I really wrote this poem just for you.

It's hard to rhyme with you're name, Josefina.

And...I think this poem's over anyway...

Happy Birthday?

Love ya!

-Joey

So, merry Christmas Adam, everyone! I'd better go wrap some presents now. They won't wrap themselves, unfortunately... :p

I love you all!

Have a nice day, eh?

-Moscas

I found a poem

Today is just a bloggy day. I dunno why. Anyway, I was doing homework (honestly, I was) and I found a poem in my Book of Mormon journal that I wrote during class. So...here it is:

Millennium.
One thousand years
of peace.
Under
the reign
of Christ
living
to the age
of a tree.
Satan is bound.
No temptation.
Still working
for exaltation.
100 years
and then
we are twinkled.
The morning
of the first
Resurrection.

There you go. :)

Have a nice day.

-Joey

There and back again...

Once upon a time, Bilbo Baggins wrote a book about his adventures. He called it 'There and Back Again'.


This is pretty much like that. Except...I didn't travel all the way to Smaug's lair and come home with trunks full of gold and silver...but I did have some adventures of my own.


Okay, so my adventures on the way to Rexburg, Idaho weren't anything compared to Bilbo's. Pretty much all that happened was that we drove to McCammon, stayed the night, started out for Rexburg the next morning, got lost trying to find Highway 20, remembered that we had an atlas in the trunk of our car, found Highway 20, and then finally got to Rexburg. 




So...is anyone else bored out of their mind?




I am.




Usually blogging is pretty entertaining for me. Today I'm just kind of feeling...bleh. meh. eh...


I've had a tummy ache all day. Maybe that's why...


Oh well. 


I'll say a poem. Ready?




GOD says to me with a kind 
of smile, "Hey how would you like 
to be God awhile And steer the world?"
"Okay," says I, "I'll give it a try.

Where do I set?
How much do I get?
What time is lunch?
When can I quit?"

"Gimme back that wheel," says GOD.
"I don't think you're quite ready YET."




There you go. 


I'm going to go play now.


Have a nice day!


-joey

Cove

Walking all day
in the frigid cold
not stopping,
for fear of never starting again.
Mother sick,
but walking anyway.
Father barely hanging on
to life, or
what's left of it.
 
Sister crying,
wanting to stop
and build a fire
to warm her hands 
and feet.
Brother saying
how much he misses
our home back east.
There, we had so much
that we don't have
any more.
 
Pulling, and pulling,
never resting,
always pulling.
 
Thinking
about life
about family
Singing
under my breath
Searching
for the strength 
to continue on.
Pulling,
and pulling.
 
Talk of rescue.
Wonderful news that lights
a fire in my heart.
The warmth spreads, it seems,
to my fingers and toes.
A place of refuge
from the wind and snow.
There could be nothing better.
 
Tired and hungry,
we reach the cove.
Fires already burning,
Men take the cart
from my hands,
and help set up our tent.
Life has entered
back into the hearts
of the saints.
We have survived
another day.
We have the strength
and the will
to press on.
 
Whether or not
we reach the valley,
We will give our All
to this Cause
that we Know
to be True.
We will give our All
to the Lord.

Plan of Happiness. :D

So, today is Sunday, and I'm not usually on the computer on Sunday, but it was a special day, so I thought that I would post. Also, I'm going to be gone on trek until Thursday, so I wanted to get it up here before I forgot it.


Today is Fast Sunday. Not because it goes faster, because...it usually doesn't. Fast Sunday is a happy day. It's a day that we can use to strengthen our testimony in so many different ways. You can bear your testimony in sacrament meeting, you can fast and strengthen it that way, and you can give fast offerings and see the blessings that come from doing so. Fast and testimony meeting in my singles ward goes a little bit like this: Bishopric member: "We'll go until about 5 after the hour" (sits down, and 10 people go up to bear their testimonies). So...pretty much you have to get up there fast, and then we never stop at 5 after the hour. :p I think we ended at 15 after the hour once. Today it was about 20 after. Anyway, long story short, I didn't take the opportunity to bear my testimony in fast and testimony meeting. 


Afterward was Mission Prep. Well, it just so happened that we were talking about testimonies in Mission Prep, so I stood and bore my testimony there. Brother Vanchierrie (our teacher...probably misspelled...you say it Van-cherry.) Anyway, he came up and thanked me for my testimony, and told me that he knew, somehow, that I would get up and bear my testimony. Maybe he can read minds. Or maybe I was just sad that I didn't bear it in sacrament meeting, so I really wanted to when we started talking about the blessings that come from bearing testimony? I don't know. Maybe (most likely :D) he had the spirit, and just could feel that I needed/wanted to. :) I was glad for the second chance I had. Blessings really do come from bearing your testimony. Namely, a stronger testimony. In the Preach My Gospel manual, pg. 198 there is a quote by President Monson that says this: "Regarding one's testimony, remember, that which one willingly shares he keeps, while that which he selfishly keeps he loses..." So, there you go. I would encourage you to bear your testimony as often as you can. It really does help to strengthen your testimony, as well as helping others strengthen theirs.


The title of this post is Plan of Happiness. It's not really an outline or a description of that plan in any way, it's just a manifestation that the name holds true. The Plan of Happiness brings happiness. I am happy today because of that plan. That's why it's the title. I'm happy. :)


I wrote a poem the other day, and I'm going to post it now. It applies, I'm pretty sure. This isn't completely an ADD tangent... :p Okay, here it is:




Home

Familiar, smiling faces
fill the space around me.
Giving peace and comfort
in a world of chaos.

          Holiness to the Lord

Redeeming the dead,
a third of our goal.
Dressed in spotless white,
Baptizing by water and fire.
hands laid on my head,
words spoken, lives changed.

A place of happiness.
A plan of happiness,
In this life and the next.
Standing back and
looking through heaven's eyes.
Seeing the world
the way my Father sees.
A beautiful view 
from the Mountain top.

To stand in holy places
Is to stay close
to the truth. To my family.
To Heavenly Father
and His Son.
To be safe
from the influences
of worldly snares.
Safe
In the arms of His love.

          The House of the Lord

Home.




So, there you go. Hope you liked it. If you didn't, just know that this is a plan of happiness, and that this poem was an attempt to illustrate the happiness, kind of like this post was supposed to do. Did it work? I hope so.


I love the Provo Temple. This last week was the first time in a long time that I had been to that temple. They were doing renovations or some such thing, so it was closed. Every time I go there, it just feels like I'm coming home. I guess that's what inspired my poem. I love the Provo Temple. <3 Like that, see?


This was a happy week.

Today was a happy day.


I hope that y'alls lives are happy, and that maybe I helped to make them more so. I love you all. I am so grateful to have such amazing friends and family. You have all helped me so much in my spiritual progression. This gospel is true. I felt its truthfulness today, as I have many times in the past. The power of the priesthood is real. I had the wonderful opportunity to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood today, and I'm so excited to start using that priesthood to serve and bless those around me. I know that my Savior lives. I am so grateful for his willingness to sacrifice his life for me, and I know that as we strive to keep his commandments and endure to the end, he will have a place for us when we pass from this life to the next. I love the Lord, and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.


I love you all. Thank you for all you do. :)


-Joseph Morris Cannon

Clouds

Friends give inspiration

late at night

When the only sound

is the clicking of the keys.

Twelve is a big number,

but with friends

it doesn't seem so big.

The clouds followed twelve.

Big and fluffy white.

There they were,

so surreal.

A painting 

in the sky.

Things happened

that I don't quite understand.

White, Yellow, Pink, Orange.

Some call it science,

to others, it's a miracle.

And to me?

It doesn't matter, really.

It's a place to fly.

A place for escape.

A place where there is

nothing but clouds and sky.

Whatever it is,

I'm grateful.

To be able to escape

every night.

Never wondering how

Or where or when,

just,

Flying.

me...

if I will be

who I can be,

and I could be

who I should be,

then the only

who I would be

is the should be

who I could be.

-me

Poetry. I think...

So, I really like poetry. I used to write it, but I've never really written a lot of poetry...not unless I was assigned in an english class or something. In which case, I did okay I guess.

My favorite kind of poetry is the kind that someone else wrote. That someone else being a friend, or relative, or...Shel Silverstein. Okay, I read poetry other than his...but his just makes me smile. :) Like that, see?

Anyway, I was reading his book "Falling Up" and thought that I would put up some of my favorites.

The Voice

There is a voice inside of you

That whispers all day long,

I feel that this is right for me,

I know that this is wrong.

No teacher, preacher, parent, friend

Or wise man can decide

What's right for you - Just listen to

The voice that speaks inside.

That was one that I don't think I had ever heard before today, but it's a wonderful poem. It's...serious, and profound. I haven't read a lot of Silverstein like that. :) I like it.

Writer Wating

Oh this shiny new computer-
There just isn't nothin' cuter.
It knows everything the world ever knew.
And with this great computer
I don't need no writin' tutor,
'Cause there ain't a single thing that it can't do.
It can sort and it can spell,
It can punctuate as well.
It can find and file and underline and type.
It can edit and select,
It can copy and correct,
So I'll have a whole book written by tonight
(Just as soon as it can think of what to write).

Yay for writer's block! That's me. All the way. Well, almost. I'd get an assignment to write an essay during english or some other class, and I'd be all excited about it, and then go to write, and nothing would come. So I would usually spend the last 5 or 10 minutes of class just...getting down as much as I possibly could, regardless of whether or not it actually fit with the paper...

Then there's now. I come to post on this blog because I want to write about something, and then I get here, and either I've forgotten what it was I wanted to write, or I just can't find the right words...

There are times when it works. I've had some...pretty okay posts I think. Some that actually made sense at least. :-/

Here's another one. This one is just...well, read it for yourself. ;)

Gardener

We gave you a chance

To water the plants.

We didn't mean that way--

Now zip up your pants.

That's more like Silverstein. :)

So, there's my poetry for the day. And now that you've seen how deep and profound a person I am...I'm gonna go water the plants. Kidding, kidding. I watered them this morning, and I used a hose and a sprinkler. There's this patch of brown grass in my lawn that won't grow, now matter what I do. Maybe it just needs a little love. Hmm. I might have to go read it a story or something... Sing it a song maybe? Hmm...

Goodbye for now, I'll be out singing to some dead grass.

Have a nice day.

-Joscas