what's been happening

RT's parents visited.

While they were here, we went to Hanging Rock State Park, watched General Conference, and watched K be cute. RT and I had schoolwork to do sometimes, so they also went to see the NC Botanical Gardens and the Arboretum without us--braving the free bus system by themselves. It was fun to have them here, and they were also a big help to me with K and housework. After they left, at first I kept thinking that it seemed like K wanted to be held much more than normal, but I think maybe it was just that there were other people there to hold him for a week. Thanks for coming and for all the fun and help!

I found out that I don't have to take another introductory English class.

When I transferred to NCSU, a lot of my credits became useless. I can't figure out why they don't want to apply my two Book of Mormon classes, my D&C class, and my Family History class to the religion requirement. : ) So that has set me back a little bit. I wasn't too happy to find out that I was going to have to take English 101. I took English 150 at BYU, but it was only 3 credits and the one at NCSU is 4, so they wouldn't use it as a replacement. I didn't get much out of English 150, and I was pretty sure I wouldn't learn anything new from English 101 at NCSU either. Fortunately, last summer I randomly found a page on the college website that said that I could put together a portfolio and if it passed they would waive the class, so I found out what was required for that and submitted it. Don't ask me why nobody told me about this when I was accepted in 2008--I blame most of the many problems I've had with this school on bureaucracy. This weekend I got the letter saying that the English 101 requirement will be waived. I'm so glad, because it was just one more class that is between me and graduating some time in the very distant future.

I wrote a paper.

I had to write a paper for my British Literature class, comparing two of the works that we have read so far in the class. I did procrastinate a little bit, but I still ended up writing the bulk of the paper a few days before it was due. I generally hate writing papers, but I actually almost enjoyed writing this one. Our teacher talked a little bit about how to make our papers have a logical progression that leads to proving the thesis, rather than having three unrelated points that are somewhat related to the thesis. He also talked about the difference between weak thesis statements and strong thesis statements--particularly about how to make a strong thesis statement by choosing to prove something that isn't obviously true or cliche. I felt like it was an invitation to break out of the bland five-paragraph essay form that I've always felt I was expected to follow. I still used an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion, because those are important, but I think the paper had some direction and I didn't feel like I had to give away the entire paper in my thesis statement. (This is sort of the form I was always taught to use for a thesis statement: [The main point of the thesis statement] because [main point of first body paragraph], [main point of second body paragraph], and [main point of third body paragraph].) It did take a little more thought to write this paper, but I felt like I was actually writing down thoughts about things I thought were interesting rather than putting an outline in paragraph form, so it flowed much better. It felt good to write something that might actually be interesting and thought-provoking for someone to read. I still feel like my writing has a lot of room for improvement, but I think I've moved up a level, and that's encouraging.

We had Stake Conference.

Bishop Burton (yes, the Bishop Burton) was there and gave a nice talk. I really enjoyed it. Some of the things that I learned from both sessions and want to remember:

• Spend individual time with each of your children. This provides opportunities to share testimonies with them, get to know them better, and talk wth them about their struggles and problems. Without this one-on-one time it's easy to not notice that they're having a hard time or to miss out on special experiences with them.
• Have the missionaries over for dinner often--they are great examples for your children!
• Make FHE, prayer, and scripture study a priority for your family.
• Show your children by your words and deeds that you enjoy having a calling in the church (including home and visiting teaching) and that you believe magnifying your calling is important.
• Trust is very important with the people who are most important (i.e. your family).