Cookie Thoughts

Tonight I was making cookies because...well...fine, I have no reason. (They are so good, though. I'm noticing that WAY too much of my eating happens after dark! Anyway...) But while I was making them I had a thought: Even though the dough could have been mixed a little better before I started putting dollops of dough on the cookie sheet, every cookie STILL had a chocolate chip in it. In fact, they all had a least a few. That's just like us, isn't it? Particularly during our teenage years, we start to think that we don't have any defining qualities, or unique characteristics, or worthy traits. The truth is, we ALL have chocolate chips inside of us.

It's 10:30pm. What did you expect?

On Sunday at church, I was walking down the hall with Helena, on our way to meet Dan and Hunter, and she noticed a picture of Jesus on the wall and said, "Mom, he's what we pray about!" Indeed.

Here's another Deep Thought for you: When we were painting Helena's room, we decided to make it a two-tone purple rather than just one deeper shade. We decided to just take the darker shade and mix it with some white paint until it was exactly the right (slightly lighter) shade that would be complementary. While this was going on, Dan said (and this is probably obvious, but since he's an art major and I am kind of art-phobic, it was news to me): "No matter how small the amount of color we add to this white paint, once we add it, we can never make it white again. It will always have a slight tint." Get ready for Analogy Time now: Isn't that just like our lives? Once we sin, WE can never make our lives perfectly white again. No amount of apologizing or good works or even childbearing can make up for the sins we commit. That's why it's such an incredible miracle that the Savior CAN and DOES and HAS made up for all of our sins, shortcomings, and mistakes. Isn't that exciting?

Some good books I've read lately:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Purd'homme


Good books I'm going to read:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. Hallelujah!!! (Except when I finish it I'll likely be crying over it, and additionally depressed that there's no more to look forward to.)

And thanks for all the birthday wishes yesterday! I had a pretty good day, and a fun family birthday party that evening featuring cake decorated by Helena. (It was very symmetrical: princess crowns and wands all lined up, candles standing straight as soldiers.)