Weekly Recap: with the priesthood, the pioneer, the chickens, and the rain

Over the past couple weeks I've hinted at a pretty big event that was going to happen in our home... my son's new suit, his birthday, pictures... well it happened last Sunday! My son received the Aaronic priesthood and was ordained a deacon! But hang on, we realized that even here in Utah (the state where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints headquarters are) the term deacon needs explanation.

Please ignore his shoes, I've already talked to myself enough about forgetting that detail.

The Aaronic priesthood is the preparatory priesthood that worthy men receive, and a deacon is the first office in that priesthood. This allows them to participate in sacred priesthood ordinances, one of which is passing the sacrament at church each Sunday. They also fellowship other church members, and assist the bishop (leader of our congregation) as needed in providing service and support to members. This is the priesthood that John the Baptist used the keys of. Here are a couple of links that you can read:

• Aaronic Priesthood
• Your Aaronic Priesthood Duties

After church we hosted a dinner for family and friends. It was such a wonderful day! The spirit was so strong in the church and at our home that day and I know that my son is doing what Heavenly Father wants him to do. I know my son knows it too, it's been neat to see the changes in him. He is still my boy, but he is more mature in many ways and more of a peacemaker.

During our family dinner we discovered that N is no longer afraid of our chickens! She was recently given the responsibility of collecting eggs daily, and she was all too happy to show the chickens off to our guests, picking them up for others to pet and hold.

M attended and participated in a small reenactment of the pioneers crossing the plains to Utah, we call it Trek. The youth in our church get organized into "families", and pull a handcart along a trail for two and a half days. They camp along the trail and experience many of the hardships that the pioneers did. Trek got all too real for them though, it was so rainy that the leaders took them back down the mountain to a dryer, safer place for a day and a half. Some kids even got sick from less than 24 hours in the cold, rain, and mud. It all turned out okay, there were many great discussions about how many pioneers would have (DID) suffered even more and even given their lives in situations such as the one they experienced.

She came home pretty clean despite all the mud!

We have had a family of ducks living in the canal behind the houses on our street, and it seems there is another family with newly hatched ducklings wandering the neighborhood! They spent an afternoon in our backyard.

Another big event was that my son also received his first temple recommend! J and M had used an app, Take A Name, and found around 15 names each to take to the temple. At their age they can do baptisms and confirmations for people who didn't have the opportunity to be baptized when they were alive on the earth (just like in the New Testament!). My husband participated and baptized and confirmed J, M, and me, while E and N spent the afternoon with grandma. We treated J and M to lunch at the temple cafeteria. It was a wonderful day! (By the way, to avoid confusion, all but my youngest has been baptized and confirmed for ourselves, my youngest will be when she reaches the age of accountability.)

J also got to go camping, thankfully when it was more dry. He and my husband went on a scout overnight campout at a remote location we've never camped at before! There was mud on some of the roads, and they were excited to show me the mud that had splattered all over the van - even on top - when they came home! They also washed and vacuumed it after that.

I've had focus issues with my camera for a couple of years now, but I've been noticing it's really bad with one of my lenses. I'm hoping it's not my eyes, or maybe it's that I'm really out of practice! I played with my dad's camera and my lens, and my camera and his lens to see where the issue lies, and I think I know what is going on now.

I brought the files home to process in Lightroom (that a friend graciously gifted to me long ago!) and discovered that my version wouldn't read them... my dad's camera (7Dmii) is too new for my old software (2.7). Yikes... that presents a huge problem because I'm getting a new camera in a couple of months (that doesn't even exist yet, so let's hope the rumors are true!). Anyway, after all of that I decided to finally buy the Lightroom 6 upgrade. Woohoo! It's been a lot of fun to play with that, I've been wishing for the upgrade since version 4!

Here's to a calmer week!

Further Reading:

• The Salvation of Little Children
• Why Do We Baptize for the Dead?