The Blue Sweater

"The Blue Sweater is the inspiring story of a woman who has spent her life on a quest to understand global poverty and to find powerful new ways of tackling it. From her first stumbling efforts as a young idealist venturing forth in Africa to the creation of the trailblazing organization she runs today, Jacqueline Novogratz brings us a series of insightful stories and unforgettable characters — from women dancing in a Nairobi slum, to unwed mothers starting a bakery, to courageous survivors of the Rwandan genocide, to entrepreneurs building services for the poor against impossible odds." So writes her own organization the Acumen Fund in describing this book - and they are not far off the mark.

Brigham read it over Christmas and I picked it up this past week. And though not a spell-binding narrative a compelling life story and quest to contribute. I found her story uplifting and would that my daughter would read it to expand her vision of contributions by women and all my family to read  to learn: to listen better and add more value what ere they might do.

My favorite quotes of the book tended to be her quoting someone else and here are a sampling:

• patient capital - as a concept of investor funding that allows a concept to perculate and take-hold while still holding it accountable
• "you should focus more on being interested than being interesting
• Be fully present - listen  
• Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. MLK

• the future is here, it is just not widely distributed yet" william gibson

• people usually tell you the truth if you listen hatd enough. If you don't, you'll hear what they think you want to hear
• there is no currency like trust and no catalyst like hope
• people need to believe that they can participate fully in the decisions that effect their lives and have a stake in the societies in which they live
• the world will not change with inspiration alone; rather, it requires systems, accountability and clear measures of what works and what  doesn't
• you need to build a vision as if you were building a temple
• it is that suffering that binds us
• if you walk though the world with only your intellect you walk on one leg; if you walk through the world with only compassion you walk on one leg; but if you move through with intellect and compassion then you have wisdom

as a side note I found it interesting that at the end of her book she crosses paths and connects emotional with Seth Godin author of the next book on the list Linch Pin

Inspiration, Revelation, or good thinking

Orson Card is not one of my favorite fiction writers; unlike many who truly enjoy The Ender's Game et al. He is, however, an essayist who I do enjoy and for the most part am piqued in thought by his musings. Recently he wrote an article on defining and delineating between Inspiration and Revelation.

"Let us take that as a hallmark of revelation: It brings an increase of truth and promotes right actions.
Inspiration, on the other hand, can come into our minds like any other idea, often indistinguishable from our own thoughts; indeed, they might well be our own thoughts, which are merely confirmed or encouraged by the Spirit.
Revelation comes when the Lord has urgent business, and he calls upon whichever of his servants are in a position (usually with authority) to carry out his will.
But if every decision in our lives came to us by revelation, where would our agency be? Every choice would be between obeying God or not; we would be like children whose parents were always present, telling them what to do.
I think of inspiration as coming into our minds along with all our other ideas, and indistinguishable from them. We follow the ideas the Spirit brings us, not out of obedience, but because we desire the path itself. Our choices then reveal who we are, and we are fully responsible for the life we chose to live"

Our pathway in life is one where we are to learn how to hear the voice of the Lord through the spoken word, the scriptures, revelation and inspiration. The more carefully we listen the more we can hear. The more we hearken the more we will listen. The more attuned we are the better our own decision making abilities become. Card presents an interesting dialogue concerning taking the Lord's counsel, pondering upon it and seeking all good inputs might well be part of the Lord's counsel in helping you decide.

Following the Spirit is an individual, personal, and interesting journey.

Famous Flakes

I am sure you have all seen it other places but it is only appropriate to re-post here given we are related to the cover girl of the Famous Flake's article. You go Jane.

350 days, five weddings, one family

Author: Whitney Butters;  Source: Mormon Times;  26 January 2011 6:30am 

 (Jane Wilson and Darl Flake, the first of the five Flake weddings in 2010, were married in the St Paul Minnesota Temple, January 2, 2010.)

The "perfect" planning timeline would spread out planning for a single wedding over approximately a year, according to nationally acclaimed wedding resources such as Brides magazine and WeddingChannel.com. The Flake family of Springville, Utah, threw those timelines out the window — they planned not one but five weddings in 350 days.
"It obviously was unique, and it certainly wasn't anything that was planned. It just happened to fall into place all at once," Forrest Flake, patriarch of the wedding-occupied family, said.
For the family of eight, the three oldest children were married within 11 years of each other, but several years had passed since the last marriage. When their son, Darl, married his wife, Jane, in the St. Paul Minnesota Temple on Jan. 2, 2010, the family had little to no idea the trend that had begun.
"The first (wedding) was really exciting since no one had been married in around four years. We were all dating people we really liked, so we thought the idea was fun," Elaine Flake Hyatt, the only daughter among the five Flake children to wed in 2010, said. "It just became crazier after each engagement."

The calendar for rest of the year quickly filled up as each sibling announced his or her engagement. The weddings fell in succession, with Ryan and Jessica Flake in April, and Clinton and Elaine Flake Hyatt in June, both in the Salt Lake Temple; Collin and Jessica Flake in September in the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple; and wrapping up with Carson and Samantha Flake in December in the Las Vegas Nevada Temple.
As they sent out wedding invitation after invitation, the Flakes could have easily resorted to producing cookie-cutter receptions to save on effort, but they chose to do them differently.
"We tried to make it feel like it was the first one that had happened," Jolynne Flake, mother of the Flake family, explained.
"We wanted to let each kid feel like they were really special and that this was their own wedding instead of saying, 'Oh yeah, here's another one. Let's grind this one out and get to the next one,'" Forrest Flake said.
In order to give each child the unique look and style they desired, as well as ease the financial burden of five weddings, Jolynne took on the majority of the planning, decorating and catering herself. She spent months decorating wedding cakes, making everything from heart-shaped Buckeye candies and cheese balls to strawberry shortcake and miniature cupcakes and shopping around for the best prices on various items to adorn the unique receptions.
"They weren't all like a bunch of weddings blended together. They were specific ones to each person, and my mom spent countless hours on each, of course," Carson Flake, the last of the children to get married, observed.
"My mom probably hasn't sat down for more than five minutes the whole year — seriously," Elaine Flake Hyatt commented.
Sibling rivalry often lives on past childhood, especially in high stress situations. The Flakes had plenty of opportunity to kindle such feelings as each sought for their perfect wedding day, but the opposite occurred.
"They’re not competitive. They've just drawn closer together. They've become closer as friends," Jolynne Flake said.
Even through all of the hustle and bustle of planning five weddings, the Flake family never lost sight of the true focus of celebration — temple marriage.
"You sit there with your kids, and from the day your child is born you pray that there is someone, somewhere, raising a spouse that they can take and marry in the temple, and there you are realizing it," Jolynne Flake stated.
The day Carson and Samantha Flake were married in the Las Vegas Temple held added significance as all eight of the Flake children and their spouses were all in the temple together for the first time.
"I could have just started sobbing. It was just so overwhelming to see all of those kids sitting there, married. It was just wonderful," Jolynne Flake said.
"It's the ultimate blessing. There's nothing better that I know of than to be in the temple with all of your kids," Forrest Flake remarked.
While some may look back and describe the Flake family's 2010 as busy, exciting or chaotic, it is undeniable that "memorable" is an adjective that captures the essence of the family's year. Jolynne Flake said, "It's something we can always look back on and say, 'Remember the year of the weddings?'"

Almost Empty Nesters

How could I forget to take a photo?

Anyhow, Monday night for FHE we had 5 additional similarly situated couples come over. They are all from families of 3 - 8 kids; and all have only one left at home. In common that lone child faces a high degree of scrutiny, two-on-one parenting and monologues, as well as FHEs that may be less engaging than those when the oldest child was home alone; and a shorter rotational chart of who has what assignment for the week.. So sprung the Almost Empty Nester FHE, complete with song, prayer, engaging lesson, tasty treats and family game time.

Its grand to have friends to share family with.

Oral History

Because we all love music of multiple genres
Beat box artist EKLIPS performs a one-take history of hip hop in four minutes for French channel Trace Urban.

Super Saturday

Super Saturday launching the new theme for 2011 was held from 4- 9 pm. We have not had one for awhile and today we did. We had pretty good attendance - around 160 youth,  with all but the seniors being well represented. The planning and running of the program is entirely by the Stake with no Ward leaders in attendance so no additional strain on them. The kids were involved, engaged, interactive, fed, and lifted up. I thought it was great. The flow was as follows:

• Opening where we watched the YM/YW New Theme introduction a great DVD go to the link I couldn't get it to embed
• Then we broke up into three groups
• Human Fusbol in the gym ( a much too structured version shown here but it gives you the idea. Think PVC pipe held onto by 4-6 kids squared off like in fusbol, in a gym with beach balls as the ball.)
• Carnival games and a group game of Love your neighbor
• Group games of Flying Nija and Dip, Dip, Dip
• (A really fun game that involves any number of people standing in a circle. One person says "dip, dip, dip" and on the third dip has the option of pointing at anyone in the circle. That person must now say "dip, dip, dip", and the cycle continues. In addition, the people to the left and right of the "dip" must face the "dip" and say "dippity dippity doo" in the goofiest way possible. The person with the "dip" may also say "dip dip doo", and point their hands up to the sky, which means everyone in the circle has to spin around once and say "dippity dippity doo". After spinning, the "dip" stays the same and everyone must continue their role as it was before. A person is out if they forget to either "dip" or "dippity dippity doo" at any time.)
• (One ninja version here) 
• Next came all the pizza, bread sticks and oranges they could eat - limitless food always a key to success
• Three rotations of Seminars one by each couple of the Stake Presidency breaking down the 13th Article of Faith, great teachers and great presentation
• Believe , Hope, Endure - ending in the very personal story of one sister's dealing with a brain tumor
• Seeking  the good - 
• Being - leaving New York behind referring to church history experiences, and capped by one of my favorite stories from Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Eustace transforming from a boy to a dragon and then losing his dragon self
• The evening was capped by a quick summary and ice cream sundaes

A great day. A great activity

MLK

Life's most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others? Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. MLK

Today at work on the over-sized screens we were greeted by historic speeches of Martin Luther King. He is one of a handful of orators to whom I could listen repeatedly. He has content that seems ageless and continually relevant even in an ever changing world. Whether speaking on character, race relations, freedom, values, community or education he encapsulates many a core message that resonates:

• “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically... Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.”

• “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

• “In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

• “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

• “Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.”

• “We must use time creatively.”

One More Birthday

Speaking of birthdays. Today is Julie's Birthday, our wonderful daughter-in-law. As a parent you really don’t control or have much say in the expansion of your family beyond your direct descendants. Clearly, one has influence along the way but no direct influence or vote. As such, it is truly a delight when your family grows and expands with people that you would choose to be with. Julie is just that! She brings out the best in our son. She adds to the family as a daughter-in-law, as a wife and a mother. We are grateful to have her be a part of our family and appreciate her tolerance of our idiosyncratic behavior, quirks, and family oddities. She brightens the family and improves the gene pool.

The Birthday

Evan turned 23 today. 

 A significant life, with significant achievement, and with significant impact.

It is interesting to recall the fear and trepidation of those first uncharted days, not knowing what we could dream or what even we should dream. He has surpassed and altered our expectations all along the road. For that we have many to thank. Thanks to doctors and nurses, to teachers and aides, to friends and neighbors, to classmates and teammates, to brothers and sisters, to angels and God, and an incredibly tenacious and visionary mother. Twenty three years ago who would of thought that during his birthday week in 2011 he would: attend classes at BYU, work in the Athletic department, attend and work in the Temple, live 1,300 miles away from his parents, be roommates with Stuart, have 50+ people attend his birthday party, go skiing at Park City. None of that was on our radar. All of that happened this week.

Grateful for a great birthday of a great guy.

Love that Evan!

Happy Birthday

I must admit I was surprised to read the birthday notice in the New York Times; but there it was on the Sunday Opinion page. " It’s barely possible to overstate the significance of this Bible." What a very true statement. America needs to reconstruct the chain of memory that brings us back to Bible literacy. Early Americans learn to reead from the Bible, then evolved to the Sears Catalog, then TV guide. Our shared values have eroded as our bible litereacy has eroded.

This is a great year to read the Bible. Start with something easy and read the New Testament. if not read a good book about the Bible in God's Secretaries. Reading it will inspire you to read the King James Version of the bible whose 400th birthday we celebrate . Happy Birthday/

Go Month.

It’s GO MONTH… Get Organized Month. So since I'm not the paragon of organizational virtue, and yet I so aspire I thought I'd share the musings of others on the subject. Perhaps you may even seek professional guidance.


What better time to get organized than now?  It’s the start of a new year and the weather outside isn’t as inviting as it used to be.  So, make a list of all the ways that you want to get organized and get cracking.
You might be thinking, what is GO Month?  GO Month, or Get Organized Month, is a month dedicated to getting organized and was started by the National Association of Professional Organizers, or NAPO.
How can you get yourself organized this month to start 2011 fresh? Here are some things that you can do:

• Clean out your records.  I’m sure … you have all of your important records (bank statements, bills marked as paid, insurance information, tax documents and more) neatly filed away– color-coded and alphabetical of course.  But when was the last time that you went through those documents?  Even though they may be nicely tucked away in your office and out of sight, you still may not need to keep them anymore.  Refer to this document from Good Housekeeping on how long you need to keep documents.  You might be able to clean out those old papers and free up some space. Rindy did an awesome catch up job just today.
• Clean out your closet. Since it is the start of the new year, you can clean out your closet to start off the year off with a nice neat closet.  Take a look at the clothes that are your closet and think about the last time that you wore it.  If you can’t remember wearing it within the last year you should really think about whether or not you need to keep it.  If you aren’t sure, try this trick: put the item of clothing on a hanger and hang it up backwards in your closet. Once you wear the item, when you put it back in the closet put the hanger back normally. Revisit your closet every 3-6 months and the hangers that are still flipped backwards are the items that you don’t wear and should be able to get rid of.  Here are some things that you can do with those clothes that you no longer need:

1. Donate your gently used clothes to a homeless shelter.
2. Donate your clothes to Amvets (will pick up your clothes if you schedule a pickup) or Goodwill.
3. Donate your professional work clothes to any of the following locations: Suited for Change, Dress for Success, or Career Gear.  I’m sure there are many others around if these are not in your area.

• Clean out your garage/attic. You never know what types of treasures are waiting in your garage or attic. Make this a family activity. Spend a weekend going through boxes and piles to see what you can find.  You may realize that most of the things that you pile up in the garage/attic are no longer needed, something you have been looking for, or even worse, something that you have never even used yet.  For either of the situations you can benefit.  If it’s something that you have been looking for, then you have found it.  If it’s something really old, it could be worth something–check on ebay to see if it is selling anywhere or google it.  If it is worth something and you don’t want to (or don’t know how) to sell it on ebay, you can take it to a “sell it on ebay” type store where they can sell it for you.  If it’s something that is brand new and never used, you can either sell it, donate it, or ask a friend or family member if they need it.  If you have a large amount of trash or things to donate you can call a truck to come and pick things up for you.  If you’re looking for some options of places or ways to get your junk removed, check out this article. 
• Call a professional organizer.  If all else fails and you find yourself standing in your garage, attic, living room or yard and you are overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, think about calling a professioanl organizer.  Cleaning and organizing isn’t everyone’s strenghts, so work with someone with whom that is their strenght.  Professional organizers can help you create a plan of attack, keep you on track to your goals, or even do the work for you.  Depending on your needs, an organizer is there to help you out.  With services ranging from $30-$100/hour you can find an organizer that will work with you.  Check out the National Association of Professional Organizers to find a certified professional organizer in your area. Ok, so I really don't believe in this but it is what the pros say to self promote and maybe someone is so desperate for help that you'll pay for it. "You can get anything you want ....."

However you decide to start your organization this month, make sure that it works for you.  Starting the year off with a nice organized space can really set the tone for how successful you can be throughout the year. Even me, I'll make an effort.