Here's to the ninety-and-nine!

The Ensign this month has an inspiring article about a young mother who had dreamed of a career as a CEO. She had worked hard through college and had an opportunity to begin work at a great company with a high salary and a career track that seemed to offer everything she had dreamed of. She prayed to ask her Heavenly Father if it was the right thing for her to do, and received a prompting to stay home and raise her children.

I can imagine that this would be a hard decision to make, and this sister should be applauded for making it. At the same time, the story makes me think about how many women in the church have made this same decision, but under less dramatic circumstances?

I know that my wife Christina has many talents, hopes, and dreams. When we were dating, I asked her what she wanted to do with her life- what where her goals and ambitions? I am grateful that she made the decision at an early age that her desire was to be a mother first. Many of the decisions that she made as a young girl have blessed our family, and I am thankful to her for her example of doing what is right.

In the church I think sometimes we give the glory to the Almas and Zeezroms. The ones who strayed a little (or a lot!) and then came back to the fold as strong witnesses for the power of the atonement. And in a way, we all have strayed and can identify with the lost sheep.

Yet while the stragglers deserve our love and celebration, so do the ones who have never strayed. So here's to Christina! To Nephi, Moroni, and Helaman! And to pay tribute to Michael McClean- to the ninety-and-nine!!

On term papers

I'm supposed to be writing my term paper right now, but I need a break. Being a writer has been on my list of career possibilities since high school, but with every term paper I write, I find that it slips farther down that list.

With assigned papers I find that I have to squeeze out every line. It's an effort to compose each thought, relate it to the topic and find appropriate citation to self-validify. Its a laborious process.

Writing is a commitment of time. Investments are to pay dividends, but often the only other person to read my term paper is my professor. Most times, I don't even receive a marked-up copy. Just a final grade and some credits to add to my slowly-growing collection. I don't feel much satisfaction about what I write, just relief that it is over and a vague hope that all of my studies will "pay off in the end."

One more term paper, a thesis, and it's all over.