Paul's Down-Home Page

I had a rough day yesterday. Arlene and I got into a big argument; she admitted fault and apologized, but I was having a hard time letting go of some of the things she said. We eventually smoothed things over, then she left for a Relief Society meeting. I had the kids, and they were being, if not bad, then certainly not good– lots of fighting and arguing over whose turn it was to do what. I finally fled to my room for a few seconds of quiet, and in frustration I prayed to the Lord, asking Him to help me remember why I loved these people so much, and to help soften my heart and give me patience.
He did. He always does, so this probably shouldn’t be a big surprise. I calmed down, and so did the boys, so we had an enjoyable evening together instead of a running screamfest. I’m grateful to have seen such quick results, too.

I was thinking the other day about Jeremy’s one-year anniversary post, and about a recent news article I saw talking about people who are trying to make their blogs more popular. The article quoted Meg Hourihan as saying that blogs that are updated daily are more interesting to readers.
I’m a writer by profession. Now, I don’t know about the rest of y’all out there, but there are days when the last thing I want to do is spend more time on the job, writing. Some days I have lots of stuff to say, and you’ll see several entries. Other days, I am too fogged from work, tired, or busy to spend time writing something, even an off-the-cuff link to some bizarre site that I got from John.
The other day, though, I was thinking of an article I read in the <a href="http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign?fn=document-frame.htm$f=templates$3.0Ensign, the LDS church magazine. The article was about a lady who started writing spiritual things in her journal using a different-color paper. Over time, she found that it was awfully hard to fill those pink pages; over a longer time, as she focused more on the spiritual side of her life, she ended up with more pink pages than white.
I’m not going to subject you to anything pink here, but I am going to try to be more consistent about recording spiritual things about my life, my family, and my walk with our Savior. As the author said,

By negatively dwelling on the mundane or the crises in our lives, we may miss the spiritual promptings that can come. We can strive to appreciate our blessings and record in our journals how we have been enabled to conquer our afflictions with the Lord?s help.

At least on Sundays, I should be able to write something pink. Maybe over time the rest of my entries will take on a pinker tinge, too!

I couldn’t have asked for a better Fathers’ Day (well, except if Arlene, Matt, and Thomas weren’t all sick). Church was wonderful, with three excellent talks in sacrament meeting. The boys gave me all the essential gifts: fast cars, Halle Berry, lots of crashing cars, socks, and a bunch of country music. Oh, and some socks.
For the topper, we had a big turkey-and-fixins’ meal. Why? Because David left the freezer open on Friday and we had to either eat the turkey today or throw it away. Mom and Dad came over, we had a great dinner, and went out in the back yard to watch the kids play. That really made me realize how blessed I’ve been: I have a wonderful father who has always loved and supported me, and I have three terrific sons who have limitless potential. A great day, and so to bed.