Dear Sister Snow,

I know it's been, like, 100 years since you walked on this earth, but can we be friends anyway? I've always wanted to see a ghost angel. And, this is probably the best quote I've heard in years and years. You rock. Even though you are, ahem, dead.


"We want to be ladies in very deed, not according to the term of the word as the world judges, but fit companions of the Gods and holy ones. In an organized capacity, we can assist each other in not only doing good but in refining ourselves, and whether few or many come forward and help prosecute this great work, they will be those that will fill honorable positions in the kingdom of God.
Women should be women and not babies that need petting and correction all the time. I know we like to be appreciated, but if we do not get all the appreciation which we think is our due, what matters? We know that the Lord has laid high responsibility on us, and there is not a wish or desire that the Lord has planted in our hearts in righteousness but will be realized, and the greatest good we can do to ourselves and each other is to refine and cultivate ourselves in everything that is good and ennobling and qualifying for those responsibilities."

I'm pretty sure that if I embroidered (maybe you could teach me?) I'd be embroidering  this on a pillow. Or a blanket, cuz it's kind of long.

Your friend,

Erin

P.S. Sister Beck, you're pretty cool too. Loved your talk. Loved it. And you have  the distinct advantage of being alive, so maybe we could be friends? Think about it and let me know!

Dear Hanna Rosin,

Today, I was clicking through a variety of articles and came across your "discussion" of the HBO television show "Big Love" on the XX Factor blog. Having never seen the show, I was interested to read an explanation of what, exactly, some people find so appealing about it. Unfortunately, I did not get very far into your piece before I was so monumentally annoyed that I couldn't continue reading. Since I couldn't find a way to contact you directly, I thought I'd share my complaint with you in this forum.

It seems you are treating Big Love as a documentary. Watching Big Love in an attempt to understand the FDLS culture or, worse, Latter-day Saint (Mormon) culture is just absurd. The television program is FICTIONAL. The characters and story lines of this show reflect the imaginations of the writing team and nothing more.

You repeatedly refer to members of the FLDS sect and the characters on "Big Love" as "Mormons." You even state that Warren Jeffs is a "Mormon prophet." You repeatedly compare the experiences of the characters on the show to what you perceive to be the experiences of actual Mormons. Apparently, you must not know many, or any, actual Mormons because you even went so far as to compare the male lead of the program to Mitt Romney. While I understand you are writing a blog and not a "serious" news article, it would seem to me that you would want to ensure your facts are accurate before posting to a forum that hundreds, even thousands, of people read. Since you didn't validate your information before publishing your article, allow me to offer several corrections that you may consider publishing now:

1.Members of the FLDS faith are not Mormons.
2. Warren Jeffs is not a Mormon prophet. Nor has he ever been. Nor will he ever be. Thomas S. Monson is the prophet and leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
2.Mormons do not practice polygamy.
3.Mormons have not practiced polygamy for over 100 years. In fact, any member of the LDS Church (Mormon) who is found to be practicing polygamy is excommunicated.

If you would like to know more about what Latter-day Saints (Mormons) actually believe I invite you to visit mormon.org. If you would like to learn more about the lives of actual Latter-day Saint women, rather than assuming the fictitious lives of the characters on Big Love represent anything even approaching reality, I invite you to visit Mormon Mommy Blogs. There, you will find hundreds of blogs written by actual Mormon women that describe and discuss the reality of Latter-day Saint living and culture. I promise, you won't find a single polygamist in the bunch.

Thanks so much,
Erin

4 Years...

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you:

A Love Fest

Why this sudden change in direction? Well. Tomorrow is my 4th wedding anniversary and so I am subjecting you to the obligatory blog-o-sphere schmoopy-ness. In the last month or so, I have read no fewer than 15 "I'm so grateful for my husband/family/marriage" posts. Normally, this sweetness overload would get old, but in this case I am wholeheartedly supportive. Why, you ask? For a lot of reasons, really, but primarily because there is so much nonsense and negativity in this world about marriage and families that I feel like even the smallest efforts to paint marriage, family, monogamy and faith in a positive light are absolutely vital. And so, today, in my tiny corner of the internet and world, I am jumping on the bloggy bandwagon and declaring today officially "Love Fest" day.

Choosing to marry Isaac in the temple was the most important and best decision I have made so far in my life. Making the decision to marry was not easy. Getting married meant giving up some things that I, at the time, desperately wanted. I, being rather independently minded, really struggled with idea of going from "me" to "we". In my moments of extreme doubt, I am grateful for my dear little sister, who must have thought I was nuts for dragging her into my room in the middle of night and for making her listen to me, well, freak out. I am also grateful that she, in no uncertain terms, told me that I was being an idiot. Many people helped me to deal with my moments of uncertaintly and I am blessed to have them in my life. I hope you know who you are and that you know I am eternally grateful. Although actually making the choice and moving forward was difficult and a little scary, it is one of the only decisions I have made knowing 100% that it was the right thing to do. I am grateful everyday for inspiration and revelation that led to my decision.

Imagine putting the two most stubborn people in the universe together and then, ask them to live together, make huge, life altering decisions on a regular basis and, at the end of the day, still like each other and you can imagine how some days are in our marriage. :-)(it's those days that make me remember my wise father's advice, "Do you want to be right, or do you want to be married?") Although things are not perfect,(nor should they be-how else do we learn?)I am still grateful, everyday, to be blessed with my marriage. In one of the many marriage posts I read recently, I came across this statement: "Life is hard, I am so grateful for my marriage" So. True. My marriage is a blessing. Not a burden or a trial. A blessing. And I am grateful for it.

Happy 4th Anniversary to Us! I look forward to many more to come<

Please don't be offended...

I work with extremely amusing people. I spend most of my day avoiding doing any real work (because my work is highly annoying) and instead laugh with my curriculum department co-workers. We are probably the most annoying pople in the office, but I don't care;it gets me through the day.
Some of the more entertaining moments have been as I respond to questions that begin, "Please don't be offended, but do Mormons...." You see, I am the only Latter-day Saint in the entire company (shocking, I know-after all this is ARIZONA!)and apparently word spread pretty quickly. So, now I am a living, breathing Encyclopedia of Mormonism. I am asked something that I find highly amusing("So, Mormons only attend their own schools right? That's what those buildings next to the high schools are? Right?")at least once a day but today was the BEST. The absolute BEST. I am still trying to figure out how I can write this in such a way that the Ensign will publish it, because the WORLD needs to experience this.
Now, do please remember that I live in Arizona. There are Latter-day Saints everywhere around here. So, imagine my surprise when, as I was talking with my fellow Social Studies Curriculum Specialist, she asked, "Please don't be offended but, I was curious...You know the show "Big Love"? Is your life anything like that? I mean, if anyone would know-you would."
It took me about 30 seconds to figure out what she was asking me. First, I couldn't remember what the show 'Big Love" was and second, I couldn't figure out why she thought I would "know". Turns out, "Big Love" is about polygamists. Not the scary, pedophile polygamists you see on the news, but polygamists who live in suburbia and lead, basically, normal lives. And, she figured I'd know, because SHE THOUGHT I WAS ONE. The entire time I have worked with this woman (MONTHS) she has thought I was living as a polygamist and she finally got up the courage to ask about my, assumed, 'alternative lifestyle'. I. about. died. I could not stop laughing. It was terrible; such a 'teaching' moment and I couldn't BREATHE because I was laughing so hard. She was so confused-she kept saying "I'm sorry!" and "What is so funny?!" When I finally got myself under control, I explained that A) I was not a polygamist, niether of the sort one sees on the news nor of the "Big Love" variety and B) No Latter-day Saints were. I explained about the various groups that have very similar names and call themselved "Fundamentalist Mormons" etc...She turned BRIGHT RED. I figured she was going to appologize for asking, but instead, she said "Oh NO! When I taught history and we talked about religions I ALWAYS taught that Mormons were polygamists!" She spent the rest of the day telling people in the office, "Did you know that Mormons AREN'T polygamists? Really! Ask Erin!" I think she was trying to make up for all the students she had inadvertently misled...
This is my life. Never a dull moment.

Church makes me tired...

Isaac and I teach the CTR 7 class at church. Apparently, as we were informed when we were asked to teach them, this class had the reputation of being one of 'those' classes. It's been a couple of weeks and I haven't seen any of the behaviors that would indicate that this class was any different than other six year olds. We even had a good lesson today. Until sharing time. During sharing time, I almost sat on a child. On purpose. It seemed to me to be a good way to get this child to stay put and to stop smacking the kid next to him, since I couldn't move between them because I was already sitting between two who could not handle sitting together. I spent all of singing and sharing time reminding the darlings that we had talked about making good choices and they were not making good choices by throwing things at the class behind us, or sliding out of their seats until the bottoms of their dresses were over their heads. This seems to be a favorite passtime of the six year old girls. I think we need to have a lesson about modesty. Isaac was literally holding onto a child's arm to prevent him from punching the arm of the boy sitting next to him. We moved the boy. The boy took this as an invitation to punch Isaac in the arm. One look from Isaac ended that. I wonder how he does that? As they prepared to leave, one of them looked at me and said "I'm sorry I didn't make good choices today." and then skipped out the door. Maybe they are learning something after all.