Of hammers, fans, and furniture

On a scale of 1-10 describing the amount of work that was needed on our new home we originally thought we were moving into a 2 (not much at all). Carpet was new, walls looked freshly painted, roof was only a year old, yard is fenced. Of course the list started as soon as we moved in that pushed it to a 4 or 5, not things that made the house uninhabitable and not luxury improvements either....the master bathroom had no vent fan which made it smell damp and stinky all the time, there were flea and ant problems, trees and bushes needed trimming badly, the swingset was in need of some safety maintenance. It was a bunch of little things that added up.

Mom and Dad W were kind enough to drive up for a visit and assist with these repairs. I know it was a lot of hard work, but I can't help but think that Kirk and his dad enjoyed their time together making trips to Home Depot and Lowes, raking insulation and crawling in the attic so they could install a vent fan, putting together shelving to organize our garage and make it look awesome, and trim our unruly trees and bushes among a lot of other minor repairs.

Not to be outdone, Mom and I hit the furniture stores in search of a big boy bed for the boy before baby #2 arrives. It took some searching and finally a trip to KC's furniture superstore, but we found a great set that can be used for a long time.

And the new house, we're loving it!

Up

During Family Home Evening tonight we are discussing the Aaronic Priesthood. Bruce is struggling, we're making him sit with us and not get into the computer cords and breaker box...poor kid. Anyway, I ask him "Where does the authority for the Aaronic Priesthood come from?" His response, "Up." The boy is a genius. Not even two years old and he knows where it's at.

Now for a thought from our lesson...we were discussing the ministering of angels and what it means that the Aaronic Priesthood holds the keys of the ministering of angels. In additiona to a physical appearance of an angel, there is the unseen ministering of angels. Dallin H. Oaks ("The Aaronic Priesthood and the Sacrament,” Ensign, Nov 1998, 37) explained it quite well in this article. He explained that Aaronic Priesthood holders administer the ordinances of baptism and the sacrament. These allow us to be cleansed from our sins and have the Holy Ghost to be our constant companion. Anyway here's what he says and it is much clearer than any explanation I can give.

"In general, the blessings of spiritual companionship and communication are only available to those who are clean. As explained earlier, through the Aaronic Priesthood ordinances of baptism and the sacrament, we are cleansed of our sins and promised that if we keep our covenants we will always have His Spirit to be with us. I believe that promise not only refers to the Holy Ghost but also to the ministering of angels, for “angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ” (2 Ne. 32:3). So it is that those who hold the Aaronic Priesthood open the door for all Church members who worthily partake of the sacrament to enjoy the companionship of the Spirit of the Lord and the ministering of angels."