He Knows Us

It was quite a good day at church today.  I was extremely tired though and had a hard time staying awake during Sacrament.  It's a good thing it was Fast Sunday and the speakers were those bearing their testimonies.  It changed it up every couple of minutes so it held my interest enough to keep me awake even though my eyes were heavy and drooping.

As I was heading for Gospel Doctrine class, I stopped in at the Family History class to see how they liked my "plug" for the class in the bulletin and I ended up staying for the class instead of going into Gospel Doctrine.  The computer for the class wasn't working though and so we never really got to do any research.  Bummer.  But, we had a nice time talking and trying to get it to work.  They're going to work on it this week to get it ready for next week's class.  It's been quite a while since I did any family history work and I truly feel the spirit of Elijah knocking at my door lately for some reason.  All of my family history is backed up to zip disk though and I no longer have a zip drive to transfer it to flash drive so I can put it on my new computer.  I'm going to have to dig out the old computer again and transfer it, I guess.  Ugh.

After Family History class, I went to Relief Society.  The lesson was really good.  Lori always does a great job.  She really prepares and has a lot to share.  After the lesson there was time for testimonies.  A very sweet sister bore her sweet testimony of Priesthood blessings and knowing that God knows her.  She had been struggling with some health issues and another sister asked her if she'd had a blessing yet.  She told her no and something about not feeling like she could ask for a blessing or such.  Darn, I wish I could remember the whole story because it was so moving.  Anyhow, the other lady's husband is the bishop.  She told him how this first lady was feeling and he came over to talk to her.  He asked her if she knew that God loves her.  She said she didn't feel like he did.  He then told her that God KNOWS her and he KNOWS her struggles - but that she needs to KNOW that He KNOWS her.  He gave her a blessing and during the blessing, she thought she would hear that this or that would be fixed in her life, etc., etc.  (like we all hope for during a blessing).  But, instead, it was a blessing of comfort and it helped her see that our Heavenly Father REALLY does KNOW us.  It was what she needed at that time.  I was weeping.  The way she told the story was so beautiful.  I know I just mangled it, but it truly was touching.

This reminds me of a time when I was struggling with something.  I asked Melon Man for a blessing - again, hoping that the words that came from God through him would tell me everything would be okay and fixed and what not.  But, I was not in tune during my blessing and was actually a little upset afterwards because I had felt that he had not listened to the spirit and had just told me what he could come up with at the time.  He kept saying "Be happy" along with a few other things.  I was like, huh?  Be happy?  That's all?  Well, a few days went by and we happened to be over at Auntie's house for something.  It turned into a very special evening.  Someone, I think it was Lisa, asked for a blessing so Uncle Ward gave her one.  Then, Meredith wanted one.  Then I think Auntie had one, then Janae, and finally, I asked for one.  The spirit was so strong in the room.  Uncle Ward asked me if I wanted Melon Man to do it.  After the last blessing, I was still feeling so "irritated" that I thought if Uncle Ward would do it, it would be more "spiritual" and more of what I was needing.  When he began to speak, I felt the power of the Spirit come through his hands, onto my head, and down through my body.  He said almost the exact same thing Melon Man had said a few days before - Be Happy - a number of times.  Now, how would he know to say something exactly the same as Melon Man had said?  He wouldn't!  That's the thing.  This was all through the Spirit - through the power of the Priesthood.  They hadn't conversed ahead of time.  Our Heavenly Father KNEW me.  He KNEW what I needed.  He KNEW that those two simple words were exactly what I needed at that time in my life.  Whatever it was that I was struggling with at that time, those were the words I needed to hear and heed to make things better for me.  It was such a testimony of the power of the Priesthood and of God's love for me.  Priesthood blessings are such a wonderful gift.  I am so glad to have the Priesthood in my home and that it is honored and utilized on a daily basis.

After we were done at church, we came home and I made a bowl of my Loaded Baked Potato Salad to take to Lisa's today for our little Super Bowl party.  It was just us, Dog, Lisa and Tile Guy, and Auntie and Uncle, but it was still fun.  Neither Melon Man or I follow the NFL much, so we didn't really have a devotion to either team.  I went with the Colts though, along with everyone else EXCEPT Melon Man.  He decided to rebel and side with the Saints.  Good job cheering honey...I guess snoring helped them win!  Dog played with Maxine in the pool - sort of - it's still a little too cold for Dog, although Maxine really liked it.  They just ran around and around in the back yard having fun together.  Dog loves getting the balls out of the pool - especially the red one.

Chase me, chase me!!  These two just ran around and around the pool!

Dog looks like he's terrified of Maxine - like she just pushed him in.  But, he's not scared of her - he just wasn't too sure of the cold water - he never got all the way in again!  Look at that water though...doesn't it just look refreshing?!?!  It's so blue and clear!

Maxine enjoyed being in the freezing cold pool.  Look at that face!

Tile Guy, Melon Man, and I were outside watching the dogs play when I caught this video of Dog trying to get the red ball.  Normally, in the summer, he would just jump right in the pool, swim around, and get it.  But, like I said, the water was just too cold...probably only about 50 degrees....so he found another way to get it.

Inside, however, we were cooking up a storm.  We had huge cold shrimp with cocktail sauce, bean dip and chips, chips and fresh salsa, brats and italian sausages, sliders, loaded baked potato salad, egg rolls, and chicken wings.  It was all fab.  Lisa bought this little deep fryer and she loves it.  She was a whiz.  The chicken wings were crunchy and perfect.  I could have eaten them all!  Yummy!

The first batch of wings are in. The oil just is a bubblin' away. Check out that steam! Ooh...hurry! Yummy! Yummy! Yummy!

To make proper buffalo chicken wings, you MUST use Frank's Red Hot Wings sauce. It's simply the best.

Mr. Melon Man is helping take the wings out of the fryer.  He'll do a downright good job with the fries and nuggets at McDonald's someday.

Melon Man and Tile Guy were in charge of barbecuing the brats and italian sausages.  Notice Melon Man's "smile"?  Yeah, it's one of those fake ones - the kind where he's not smiling until I tell him to and then he grinds his teeth together and forces an "Ari" smile...you know the one - where little kids are just learning "how to smile" for the camera and they do "that fake smile"?  Yep, that's the one.

Auntie started to get her food.  I took this first picture and decided that she wouldn't like it if I posted that one on my blog so I took this second one and it turned out much better.  The first one looks like she's been dipping into some spirited football beverage or such!

Uncle Ward getting his food.  His pictures always come out well.

Some more of the deliciousness...slider burgers and the little bun rolls to put them on along with deep fried egg rolls...oh, and pickles for the sliders for those who like pickles on their burgers - not me.

 

Look at all this fantastic football food!  ALL of it was SO GOOD!  I couldn't resist the slider before taking the picture!

While the game was finishing up, Lisa tried to give Dog some dog food.  He wouldn't eat it though for some reason.  Maybe because she put beef broth on it and he's not used to that...I don't know.  But, once she handfed him, he finally ate.  You spoiled dog.  What's up with that?

Once the game was over, we headed home.  Tomorrow is a new day and promises to be full of "fun," so we came home and are off to bed to get some rest.