You Know the World's In Trouble When...

...people start thinking like this.

the narrow road

Some of you may know that I've been going through a "divine tutorial" for the past few years. That's Neal A. Maxwell's term for adversity. It's been an uphill, downhill ride, and I am just now starting to learn that I can't do it alone. Isn't it crazy how we think we are so invincible and so...well, for lack of a better word, capable? We need the Lord's help! Oh, how we need it. The ironic part is that we often don't realize that He is waiting to answer our prayers, waiting to give us direction, waiting to bless us. We just have to take that leap of faith. Sometimes I look down at the steep drop down below, and I think, "Are you really going to catch me? Am I going to make it?" But I always do! Always.

I've been reading and studying up on what could be wrong with me, what I could improve upon, what I could change about myself. I've been praying, too. Prayer is one of the greatest gifts the Lord blessed us with. I'm sure that after the Fall, Adam and Eve weren't the only ones saddened by the loss of immediate relations with Heavenly Father. But there's still a way to remain close to Him, and that's through prayer. So I'm grateful for that. I've been receiving little "nuggets" as answers to prayers. In Institute, in church meetings, at Preach My Gospel class, at work (I know!), in my nightly dreams, from one of my younger siblings. The answers are slowly but surely coming, and I've learned that I need to be more patient with them. We can't ask for the truth and then refuse to act on it once we've received it.

So here it goes again...another test. Another final exam, another all-night study session, another trial. This time I am armed with a better sense of who I am, and what I can accomplish. Last week at Institute, we talked about repentance and becoming. Our teacher reminded us that at the final judgment, it will not be about the good and bad we have done. It will be about what we have become in the end! The trick is to try and be good all the time. You've got to be on the right side of the line all the time, not just when it's easy. By the way, when has the right way ever been easy? To add to that, when has the hard stuff not been worth it?

To the next challenge, I say bring it on. I'm not going to be alone, and I'm not going to give up until He tells me I have "fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." (2nd Timothy 4:7)

decided & found out

Meet my new camera. Pictures (taken by this camera) soon to follow. My college experience will no longer be un-chronicled.



p.s. I didn't tear my ACL. :) Have a rock 'n' roll weekend!

everyone vote, or i'll shoot

I've come to the conclusion that it's time. Time to buy a camera. And I need my fellow readers to help! So vote on which one you like the best...and if you happen to have a favorite camera in this price range that's not on the list, shout it out to me! I would much appreciate it.

the basic digital

the snazzy cam

the one with the funny name

the quirky camera with class (and I just might buy this one anyway cuz its cheap!)

then perhaps I will finally be able to take some photos like these:

frozen butter, frozen grapes, gimpy kenz tries to escape

Okay, so my rhyming skills have gone south....but this is a pretty good story.

Lately I've been working out hard with a certain Jillian Michaels. The only word I need to describe these kinds of workouts is pain. And that's not even an adjective!! Okay, so back to my story. Yesterday, after a very lovely temple visit, I came home to work out. I was trying to be cool and do a complicated move involving weights and lunging. I've done it before. But you know me, always trying to push it. Boy did I ever.

The end of the story involves a rather unappetizing twist/crunch/ripping sound, followed by me writhing on the ground and realizing I've done it again--I've twisted my dadgum knee! This has happened to me lots of times with my right knee, but not my left. I really did a number on it this time. I tried to walk up the stairs and ended up slithering. Mom got me the knee brace, but it cut off the circulation in my leg and turned my calf purple. I think somebody's trying to humble me.... I came home last night and my leg had gotten quite a bit larger, so I threw some ice on it insted of the frozen grapes I'd been using earlier. For now, I am self-confined to the couch, armed with a list of things I can do from this laptop. And I've got a nice slab of frozen butter on my knee. This prison might actually be the most freeing thing that's happened to me in awhile.

I also have newfound respect for Uncle Scotty; at least I have the use of one of my legs. I remembered everything that he does despite being in a wheelchair; that helped me when I had to go to work because I couldn't find anyone to cover for me...and I don't think that was very good for my leg. But I was determined to be positive, despite being in some pretty intense pain anytime I walked on it (which ended up being most of the night). I realize that other people suffer much worse than I do--much, much worse. All of my family is alive and well, we have a house, food, clothing, heat, a piano, I go to school, we have the true church, I live by a temple and the mountains, I have a car, I have a job. Gimpy Kenz is still blessed. I will be updating this with a picture later...if you guys would like to see a swollen knee with frozen food on it. Yum! I'll call it "Patella Pie."

look before you leap... a few thousand miles

Here goes nothing, people. Or maybe everything. I have prayed and studied and gone to the temple and prayed some more. And I have thought and thought some more, and it has all come down to this.



Could go here. Or I could go here. Either way, it's from January to June. Whew! That's a long time to be away from the whiteness of Utah and Idaho.

Other summer plans: I could be counseling teenagers on how to be better soldiers...in the army of Helaman that is. That's right. I could be doing this. My life is nuts! But the good kind of nuts...like almonds and cashews and such. Yum.