Happy Thanksgiving!

Hard to believe another Thanksgiving has already come and gone. It seems that holidays take forever to get here, and then just like that, they're over. Well, they are good while they last, and who says family, friends, good food, nice gifts, giving thanks, and overall love should be limited to just a few days in the year?

My Thanksgiving this year was pretty low-key, but I kind of prefer it that way. Fancy parties are nice, but it's also nice to take it easy at home, surrounded by family and good food. I got the day off from work (my hours have been bumped up this week, so things are starting to look up for me...I hope), and my older sister did join us for dessert, bringing some of her kids with her; my niece is spending the night with us. (Lizzie is always looking for an opportunity for a sleepover.)

We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on my laptop, and of course I helped Mom out with the preparations for dinner. I'm usually in charge of cutting the vegetables, and yesterday, I took part in cutting the grapes for our famous cranberry salad; Mom had bought grapes with seeds by mistake, so I spent at least an hour cutting the grapes and gently scraping out the seeds, one grape half at a time. It was actually kind of relaxing (and oddly fun, like that gross fascination you get from picking a scab or popping a pimple or pulling a blackhead), and I played music on my phone for entertainment, although I had to give my hands a good wash afterwards.

Fun fact: I only learned to like my family's cranberry salad when I was a teenager. As a little kid, the fluffy pink stuff didn't appeal to me at all, but when I finally tried it, I realized it wasn't half-bad.

When the meal was ready, I was more than ready to tuck in. The food was excellent and I reached that perfect level of fullness. I even supplied the beverage; my work had a pre-Thanksgiving potluck, and one of my contributions was a liter of soda, but since nobody touched it, I decided to take it home.

We're not big fans of pumpkin pie; I tried it a few times but never developed a taste for it. So for Thanksgiving dessert, we usually have Jello or cake. This year, we decided: let them eat cake! I decorated it myself, and it tasted every bit as good as it looked.

The rest of the day was low-key. As I said, my sister and some of her kids joined us for the dessert, and we watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. For me, it's not Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas until I've seen the "Peanuts" special at least once.

That's about all I have to say for this blog. So, one last time for the road: Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

NaNoWriMo 2018 - Mission Accomplished!

I did it!!!!

Okay, so my novel still needs a TON of work. All of my novels do, for that matter...but tonight, I won National Novel Writing Month for the fifth year in a row!

Book of Mormon Progress - 1 Nephi (9-17)

I've been reading about Nephi's troubles in the wilderness, from the breaking of his bow to his goal to build a ship (that's the part I'm on now), and the sheer grief he gets from his brothers through it all.

I always felt bad for Nephi due to how nasty Laman and Lemuel always were to him. It's easy to resent Laman and Lemuel to no end, but are we much different from them? Sure, we may not threaten our little brothers' lives on an almost daily basis (dark joke), but how are we when times get hard? 

How quick are we to complain and how slow to remember the Lord? 

I've actually been going through a rough patch myself lately. Work has been less than ideal, and I've been trying to find a new job with no luck thus far. Besides that, I've been feeling insecure about the fact that I'm 30 years old and don't have much to show for it. I'm not married, I have no kids, I'm not dating, I have a college degree but a load of college debt as well, I can't drive, I don't have anything published (or anything that's anywhere near ready to publish), I have very few friends (a couple of them have even cut ties with me recently), and I often wonder if anyone really notices or needs me, if I'm really good for anything. Even in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I feel like little more than excessive baggage. Of course, I have no cause to question the Church itself, but now and then I question the contribution I make.

On top of that, my dad is gone, my relationship with my siblings is less than ideal, and several good people I knew have died, like one of my Institute teachers, and my favorite high school teacher. And it's getting ever harder to maintain the Lord's standards in an ever-growing world of sin.

These days, I find myself fluctuating between Laman and Lemuel and Nephi. On one hand, I ask, "Why me? Why is this happening to me? When will it all end? When will things start looking up for me?"

And on the other hand, I ask Nephi's questions, "What can I learn from this? What will the Lord have me do?"

No doubt Nephi had his struggles despite his remarkable show of faith. Even Lehi's complaining indicates that he had his breaking point, too. Sometimes all we can do is be patient, even if being patient is easier said than done.

It's not a matter of whether the Lord will keep His promises and distribute our rightful rewards. It's all a matter of how well we will endure the wait.