Seeds

First of all: Happy Fathers Day to all the dads!

I was thinking today about why I’m grateful to my dad. I think that  I’m just realizing how many seeds he planted in me that have grown to make my life more beautiful. Because of him, I love hiking in beautiful places, doing crossword puzzles, and playing complicated board games for hours on end. He persisted in teaching me to drive (even after me almost hitting a mailbox without hitting the gas pedal at all), got more excited about my science fair projects than I did, and is mostly responsible for my highly competitive streak.

More importantly, though, my dad taught me to love people and to love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. He has always been an example to me of scripture study and good works.

This week, I also saw the seeds my parents have planted sprouting like crazy in my brother, Erik. He came to Provo this week to enter the MTC (LDS missionary training center). It was really great to spend a day with him and talk to him some. We went to all the Provo hot spots: Tucanos, J-dawgs, BYU campus.  I could tell he was a little nervous, telling me all sorts of things he had heard about the MTC (apparently, there’s something weird about the orange juice?). I could tell, though, that he was prepared and excited to serve the Lord.

It’s kind of weird to know he’s living a couple blocks away but have it seem more like hundreds of miles. At least I know if I make treats, I can have them to him same day delivery

Yesterday, our Relief Society had an activity centered on the Law of the Harvest. This topic took me back to the unit in Marriage Prep where we were graded on how well we could grow a plant of our own. The project was supposed teach us that in order for our marriage to bloom (sorry for the dumb pun), we needed to put in the appropriate work daily.  My plant sprouted once, but then it died. I think I went through about 10 seeds to no avail. So far, I think marriage is way easier than growing a plant in the middle of a Provo winter.

We’re hoping that growing plants is easier during the summer. At the Relief Society activity, they gave us each a pot full of dirt and a few starter plants. I ended up with 2 peppers, a tomato, and a squash. Since 4 plants do not fit in one pot, Stephen and I ended up buying several more pots, some potting soil and some basil and rosemary seeds (always having fresh herbs is one of my dreams in life). Never mind that we’re going out of town next week or that we’re moving to Texas in two months. I’m quite excited about our makeshift garden. Stephen keeps catching me peeking at it out the window just to see how things are going.