My friend Megan is fighting a really acute leukemia and has had difficult complications. She is an amazing person and a wonderful example of love and kindness.
Please keep her in your prayers and if you can fast for her, please join us. You can read her story at www.prayersformegan.com
Megan, we love you. Keep fighting this, thousands are joining in prayer each day to implore Heavenly Father to give you the miracle you need. Stay strong. We love you. You will beat this.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Sabbath Thoughts
Jen: Today was a wonderful Sabbath. Well, it's not over yet. I'm going to the Youth Standards Night tonight with my Young Women, they will be singing and I'm just so proud of them. It's only been a few weeks that I've been in Young Women, and despite my initial scare (I mean..come on..teenagers are scary!), I love it more and more every time. Those girls teach me so much and I'm so grateful. Today, I taught a lesson on "Wise Choices" and all I want to do is share this quote from President Spencer W. Kimball:
"Life gives to all the choice. You can satisfy yourself with mediocrity if you wish. You can be common, ordinary. dull, colorless; or you can channel your life so that it will be clean, vibrant, progressive, useful, colorful, rich. You can soil your record, defile your soul, trample underfoot virtue, honor, and goodness, and thus forfeit an exaltation in the kingdom of God. Or you be righteous, commanding the respect and admiration of your associates in all walks of life, and enjoying the love of the Lord. Your destiny is in your hands and your all-important decisions are your own to make." (The Miracle of Forgiveness)
We are all free to make our own choices and with that come the responsibility to accept and live the consequences that come with those choices. I hope I can always choose what will make me happy, bring me closer to my Savior and worthy of Eternal Life.
Chris: I am always excited when General Conference comes around. I know it is still a couple weeks away, but I am excited anyways. Today the Stake President was visiting and he talked a little about one of his experiences with General Conference. He had just had a child, and his wife was in the hospital, and he was going to General Conference. He explained that with everything going on in his life, and he being bishop (which takes up an enormous amount of time), he felt that maybe he should slow down a little on the church stuff. Not a testimony problem, but a problem of, "man, I'm really worn out from all this and I don't know if I have what it takes to put everything in there and have left over for everything else." He went on to explain that he went into General Conference with the attitude of, "if I don't get something that will really boost me, I'm cutting back." Well, he came out with over 25 pages of notes and plenty of steam to keep moving on. I have often felt a little tired and worn out, and I really connected with what he had to say. I love General Conference because it has always been a time to recharge my spiritual batteries. I know that as we go into General Conference time prepared to ask questions and seek answers for problems or situations in our lives, that the Lord will pour out His Spirit upon us and will inspire and teach us in ways that go beyond the already very inspired words that are being spoken. I know that my Savior lives and that He loves me. I know that I have a loving Heavenly Father who listens to my prayers and answers them exactly how and when I need it the most.
Happy Sabbath.
"Life gives to all the choice. You can satisfy yourself with mediocrity if you wish. You can be common, ordinary. dull, colorless; or you can channel your life so that it will be clean, vibrant, progressive, useful, colorful, rich. You can soil your record, defile your soul, trample underfoot virtue, honor, and goodness, and thus forfeit an exaltation in the kingdom of God. Or you be righteous, commanding the respect and admiration of your associates in all walks of life, and enjoying the love of the Lord. Your destiny is in your hands and your all-important decisions are your own to make." (The Miracle of Forgiveness)
We are all free to make our own choices and with that come the responsibility to accept and live the consequences that come with those choices. I hope I can always choose what will make me happy, bring me closer to my Savior and worthy of Eternal Life.
Chris: I am always excited when General Conference comes around. I know it is still a couple weeks away, but I am excited anyways. Today the Stake President was visiting and he talked a little about one of his experiences with General Conference. He had just had a child, and his wife was in the hospital, and he was going to General Conference. He explained that with everything going on in his life, and he being bishop (which takes up an enormous amount of time), he felt that maybe he should slow down a little on the church stuff. Not a testimony problem, but a problem of, "man, I'm really worn out from all this and I don't know if I have what it takes to put everything in there and have left over for everything else." He went on to explain that he went into General Conference with the attitude of, "if I don't get something that will really boost me, I'm cutting back." Well, he came out with over 25 pages of notes and plenty of steam to keep moving on. I have often felt a little tired and worn out, and I really connected with what he had to say. I love General Conference because it has always been a time to recharge my spiritual batteries. I know that as we go into General Conference time prepared to ask questions and seek answers for problems or situations in our lives, that the Lord will pour out His Spirit upon us and will inspire and teach us in ways that go beyond the already very inspired words that are being spoken. I know that my Savior lives and that He loves me. I know that I have a loving Heavenly Father who listens to my prayers and answers them exactly how and when I need it the most.
Happy Sabbath.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Chris' New Adventure and Blog
Chris has wanted for a while to get into cycling, triathloning and other endurance sports. Lack of money and time make it difficult to make such things come true. However, he decided that somehow he would make the time and find the funds to make his dreams come true (with my complete support).
He decided to top it all off to start blogging about it. It will help him stay motivated, keep a journal of his adventures and maybe get others interested along the way.
So here is his new blog!
Congratulations to him for signing up for this crazy event!
He is beyond thrilled and I can only keep on grinning...his excitement is priceless.
Love that man!
He decided to top it all off to start blogging about it. It will help him stay motivated, keep a journal of his adventures and maybe get others interested along the way.
So here is his new blog!
Congratulations to him for signing up for this crazy event!
He is beyond thrilled and I can only keep on grinning...his excitement is priceless.
Love that man!
VegFest!
Well, for all of you who say that it's boring being vegan, we have photographic proof that it is positively delicious! We had fun at the annual DC VegFest with our awesome friends, the Marshalls. There were tons of booths with lots of free samples, as well as speakers ranging from Oprah's chef to a vegan bodybuilder. It was a lot of fun, and very informative! Ready to go vegan with us?
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Sabbath Thoughts
Sunday is "Share a Spiritual Thought Day" at the Dean Home. We probably've got more than one thought to share, but we'd figure we'd start sharing one thing each of us learned on Sunday.
Chris: "In Sunday School we were talking about Job, and it reminded me about when we first moved here and I was riding my bike what seemed like a million miles every day, and it was really hard for Jen to find a job. Every morning at 3:00 AM I would leave the house in work clothes on my 1987 Peugeot and ride to UPS. The 12-mile ride gave me time to think about life, and often I found myself asking questions like, 'I wonder what I'm supposed to get out of this?' or 'Why is this happening to me?'. Two points that I was reminded about today that hit me: First, Elder Scott said that it's okay to ask questions during trials, but not all questions will get you somewhere. Second, the Lord is always protecting us, but sometimes allows us to pass through trials so that we can be refined and purified. I am grateful for the events, both good and bad, that the Lord allows to come my way, and I know that He is there to help me through them."
Jen: "I was called to Young Women a couple of months ago and it's been an adjustment. I've never taught Youth in Church, just nursery kiddos and new converts. I'm trying to find a way to adapt my teaching so it connects with the girls. Today's lesson was on self-mastery, I was so grateful for the manual to have simple activities to illustrate the principles being taught. I think it truly made a difference to show rather than simply explain. One of the things that stood out to me was this: "Decide what you're going to do, find the steps to accomplish it and then make yourself mind it so you can do it." Self-mastery doesn't come in one day and we sure need to take things one step at a time. We don't become perfect in one day. The important part is to choose one goal at a time, find how we can accomplish it and then do it. And build on from there.
This little exercise stuck to my mind: We sow our thoughts and reap our actions, sow our actions and reap our habits, sow our habits and reap character, and from our character we reap our destiny. What kind of destiny do I want? Exaltation and Eternal Life. With that in mind, I can't give up, I must keep trying. I love that Heavenly Father takes us as we are and refines us. We just need to trust in Him."
Happy Sabbath from both of us.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Food Inc - Official Trailer [HD]
If you haven't seen this movie, it's about time you do. Everyone should know this information. Educate yourself. If you have Netflix, it's available on instant play.
A Vegan Change...
About six weeks ago, Chris and I took a leap, we went vegan. Yes, for the past six weeks now, we haven't had any meat, dairy of any kind or even seafood. Veganism simply means plant-based. So we are now eating a plant-based diet. That's all.
I'm sure many of you are wondering why? Let me tell you why.
I had been researching it for the past month or so and really was fascinated, because it went along with my values: I want to be kind, compassionate in every way possible and I love animals. I went vegetarian a few years back but that didn't last long. Anyways, funny how things work out ( and I know who helps there..) but after a check up at the doctor and some blood test I was told my cholesterol levels were very high and let's just say, it scared me a bit. I was in the highest risk range. The doctor only told me go on a low fat, low cal diet...Yeah right! And at the same time said: don't lose any more weight! yeah doc! Anyways... after researching a bit more, I decided I would try a plant-based diet, simply because it removes all the crap from my diet and I wanted to see if it helped reduce my cholesterol. Chris said he would do it with me so I wouldn't be alone. He is such a good man. Well, we started a few days later and so far we have loved it. But the amazing part is not just the food, is that it opened our eyes and minds to things I woudn't have imagined. From knowing what's actually good and bad for your body (and trust me, there is a whole lot of things that are being smashed into your brain that aren't true...), to being compassionate in a true way, because not only do we eat gently but we hep the environment, help our country by buying local, help animals who are absolutely ill-treated and the people who are at the mercy of those companies too...I can't even begin to explain how much I've learned in the past 6 weeks, I feel like I was blind my whole life. Oh, go ahead tell me I'm stupid or mushy or whatever, it doesn't matter. I'm not raising my kids being part of free cruelty, I'm not endangering my own body even more by eating stuff that are actually not meant to be put in it. I'm a christian aspiring to be kind, compassionate and I feel that being on a plant based diet helps me achieve one more part of that.
there is so much to learn and most people are very uneducated about what a plant based diet entails.
I have seen amazing changes in our bodies since we have been on a plant-based diet. No more bloating,or other digestive issues, no more itchy eyes, more energy and more peace, we are not as nervous in our ways. I haven't had a headache once, which is a miracle, I always get weird headaches. It's truly changing me inside out. Chris doesn't mind it, I think for now he is more going along with it than anything else, I don't know he would have to share but we are definitely way more aware of the impact of what we eat.
Anyways, it's a very long post and I'm sorry. If you'd like to educate yourself a little, check out " The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone or "The China Study" and many other books and websites. And no, don't believe that just because there is a campaign "Got milk?" it means it's good for you!
By eating a plant-based diet, you can save 100 animal lives a year, that's huge and you'd be kind to the planet,the environment and your body!
Thanks for reading and taking it all in...
Jen
I'm sure many of you are wondering why? Let me tell you why.
I had been researching it for the past month or so and really was fascinated, because it went along with my values: I want to be kind, compassionate in every way possible and I love animals. I went vegetarian a few years back but that didn't last long. Anyways, funny how things work out ( and I know who helps there..) but after a check up at the doctor and some blood test I was told my cholesterol levels were very high and let's just say, it scared me a bit. I was in the highest risk range. The doctor only told me go on a low fat, low cal diet...Yeah right! And at the same time said: don't lose any more weight! yeah doc! Anyways... after researching a bit more, I decided I would try a plant-based diet, simply because it removes all the crap from my diet and I wanted to see if it helped reduce my cholesterol. Chris said he would do it with me so I wouldn't be alone. He is such a good man. Well, we started a few days later and so far we have loved it. But the amazing part is not just the food, is that it opened our eyes and minds to things I woudn't have imagined. From knowing what's actually good and bad for your body (and trust me, there is a whole lot of things that are being smashed into your brain that aren't true...), to being compassionate in a true way, because not only do we eat gently but we hep the environment, help our country by buying local, help animals who are absolutely ill-treated and the people who are at the mercy of those companies too...I can't even begin to explain how much I've learned in the past 6 weeks, I feel like I was blind my whole life. Oh, go ahead tell me I'm stupid or mushy or whatever, it doesn't matter. I'm not raising my kids being part of free cruelty, I'm not endangering my own body even more by eating stuff that are actually not meant to be put in it. I'm a christian aspiring to be kind, compassionate and I feel that being on a plant based diet helps me achieve one more part of that.
there is so much to learn and most people are very uneducated about what a plant based diet entails.
I have seen amazing changes in our bodies since we have been on a plant-based diet. No more bloating,or other digestive issues, no more itchy eyes, more energy and more peace, we are not as nervous in our ways. I haven't had a headache once, which is a miracle, I always get weird headaches. It's truly changing me inside out. Chris doesn't mind it, I think for now he is more going along with it than anything else, I don't know he would have to share but we are definitely way more aware of the impact of what we eat.
Anyways, it's a very long post and I'm sorry. If you'd like to educate yourself a little, check out " The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone or "The China Study" and many other books and websites. And no, don't believe that just because there is a campaign "Got milk?" it means it's good for you!
By eating a plant-based diet, you can save 100 animal lives a year, that's huge and you'd be kind to the planet,the environment and your body!
Thanks for reading and taking it all in...
Jen
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Cherry Blossoms
Yesterday, Chris came to pick me up from work. We left the car in the garage of the building where I work and walked to the Tidal Bassin to see the beautiful cherry blossoms. It was over 80 degrees yesterday and so it was nice to walk around at the end of an afternoon. Everyone was out, the tourists were everywhere...I was so annoyed with them, but who isn't? And I guess, they need to see the sites too, after they came for a vacation and to see stuff. It was crowded but beautiful. We enjoyed our time and can't wait to see the blossoms again next year.
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