Joseph Hon-Fu Sin

   This is old news for some of you, probably most of you, but... I met someone. And I'm going to rave about him for approximately the next five minutes. I'll try not to gush for those of you who have sensitive stomachs (or witty minds to mock me with later... Janna...)

Toronto airport

Anyway, he's absolutely wonderful. 

He's brilliant. I tend to go to him with all of my questions- 

medical, spiritual, common sense, familial, friend, doctrinal, academic, etc.

He's musical. I've always felt buckets of peace when listening to the piano.

And he's impressive- as in sight-reading-difficult-classical-music-beautifully impressive.

He's athletic. Way more than me. Not that it takes a whole lot most of the time. 

He's genuine and kind. They're the first things that drew me to him. 

He's loving. For some reason he seems to love me dearly and think I'm something incredible. I'm all about keeping that little exaggeration perfectly in tact. 

He's happy and peaceful. And a bit of that gets radiated out to me.

Especially on those days when I want to strangle students 

or when I'm stressed about some dumb little thing. 

He loves the Gospel. He has such strength and testimony that brightens my life.

I love talking to him about it and sharing experiences and beliefs.

Bored at the Toronto airport, waiting for our flight, which was cancelled...

   So, yes, Lindsay is in love. As trite and ridiculous as that sounds and as much as I NEVER thought I would write that in a blog... well... the time has come to tackle my pride and say it out loud for my family and friends. I realize love has different levels and I know I'm only starting, but I'm starting nonetheless. 

Isn't that lovely?

(I'm done gushing/raving now... see, that really wasn't that bad, was it?)

An 18 Year Old Poet

   First of all, I realize there are some dashes in 18-year-old, but it looked weird in the title, so I'm omitting them. (Poets can take certain grammatical liberties that 7th grade English teachers cannot.)

   If you read my entry about the bookcase, you know that I've been cleaning. Part of that cleaning made me get rid of my filing cabinet which has steadily been with me since I first moved to college. It's pretty organized, but I haven't sorted through any of it for a very long time. Well, when I was emptying it out I found something- sketchbook papers with poetry on them.

   Now, the first time I ever wrote poetry (not for a class assignment) was on the Church History Tour after high school graduation (June 2003). Every so often in the last 7 1/2 years I've wondered what happened to those poems, but figured I probably threw them out long ago or that they were in some box somewhere full of 'memory things' as I like to label them. Surprise! Some were with me all along! Now, I'm definitely not saying I'm a brilliant poet now (definitely not), and I definitely wasn't a brilliant poet then (most have the exact same meter). However, I am saying that it's really fun to have these to look at and remember. I know I had more because I remember vaguely writing some others, but these must have been the ones I deemed good enough to make 'final drafts' of. (They have decorative borders and are written in what I guess would have been my best handwriting at the time.) I also found a song I'd written. I didn't remember I'd ever written a song, and I didn't remember it even was a song until about halfway through the second verse when it hit me what those little marks were by each line- since I can't write music, I'd just put little dashes to indicate that the pitch went up or down relative to the last note.  haha Believe me, we should all be happy I didn't pursue a career as a songwriter. I'll happily leave that up to Ry in the family.

This is one right after I went to the Sacred Grove.

I went to where the prophet stood

I walked his very steps

And in my heart I knew the good

Brought by the Lord’s concepts

I seemed to feel his very soul

It merged intent with mine

The tempests ‘round me seemed to lull

Through sacred peace divine

I felt assured of love and grace

As well as knowledge learned,

I did not see His very face

But my heart no longer yearned

 The Holy Spirit’s loving arms

Were wrapped around so tight 

That all the worldly wealth and charms

Couldn’t touch with their fake might

This Gospel means so much to me

Faith growing each new day

That though Christ lived across the sea

He forged for me the way

My heart’s been touched by Holy Hands

The tender seed caressed

 When I walk through this sacred land

I know I have been blessed.

His Holy House

     Last night I went to the Salt Lake temple with Sara and Laura. As I was there I began thinking about the beauty of the earth and all the blessings we are each given. And, most importantly, about the Holy Ghost and the humbling promise to always have Him with us if we so choose. The greatest and most needed blessings poured through me- peace, hope, steadiness, strength, reassurance, love. Who wouldn't want to enter a place that reminds us of those dearly held blessings we already have access to? So often I forget and go about my life without paying much attention to, and not leaning on, those hallowed gifts from God. 
   There are many things I love about the temple, but one of them is how it helps me to see clearly and in perspective. Priorities are no longer upside-down and topsy-turvy, expectations and rules are centered in the Gospel instead of ten different places that I'm trying to remember and figure out when they contradict. Life can be so much simpler than I allow it to be. The most important things in life are simple and all-encompassing and that is the majesty of the Heavens. Yes, life can be difficult and complicated and confusing, but the things that truly matter never will be, and they will be a guide to help us through those things that seemingly are. 

   I'm still so new at being in the temple, but the beauty is that it doesn't matter whether you've been twice or six hundred times... the Lord is there, waiting to speak to you, and teach you at whatever level you may be at. Each time I learn more, and though I often feel like I'm only grasping the basics, I feel peace that I'm at the level I need to be at. It's okay to work to understand the basics. The Lord has promised that we will understand all that we need in order to make the decisions that are in front of us. 

   As I was reading a Church article before I went, it asked a few questions: What does this decision do for me? and What does this decision do to me? As I sat in the temple and pondered these things, I realized that I have been given light sufficient for my needs. I have received strength sufficient to move forward. I have been blessed. I am being blessed. I am a daughter of God. And He loves me. And now I must "fresh courage take, [for] our God will never us forsake". 

A Bookcase and the Excitement of My Life

Have you ever noticed that the busier you become, the more excited you get over doing the little, mundane things? For example- finally getting new watch batteries or new soles on shoes or picking up something more than necessities at the grocery store and actually planning a decent meal...? Or, in my case, rearranging and cleaning my room and adding a new bookcase.

Now, we all know that I'm not really a cleaner at heart. Never been my forte. However, it's been a disaster since before Christmas break. And I've been craving a change for a while, so when my parents gave me a bookcase for Christmas (woohoo!) I decided to rearrange everything. Cleaning, though, has been intense. There was the typical amount of clothes discarded after being tried on, a few stacks of papers I promised I'd "sort through as soon as I could", bobby pins in every corner, and books, books, books... on the floor stacked vertically, horizontally set against the wall, scattered on the dresser, piled on my nightstand, even a few that had permanent homes on my bed that I just avoided while sleeping (or tried to avoid- occasionally I would wake up to the thud of a book hitting the floor at 3 a.m. after I'd pulled the covers wrong). Point being- the new bookcase is the best Christmas present I could have ever received and is now packed with all the books that are no longer flooding my room.

In addition, everything else is clean too, baseboards included. Well, except that stubborn stack of papers that I still don't know what to do with even though I've sorted through them twice. Why on earth does filing take so long?

Oh, and you may ask, "Lindsay, is your life really so mundane that cleaning and a new bookcase are the best things you can post about?" Well, my answer to you is that bookcases are simple and easy to understand and are therefore much more conducive to being written about than anything and everything else. I'm starting a blogging streak though (I can feel it in my blood), so don't worry (as I know you are), I'll try to be less shallow in the future. :)