Not Sure How To Word This.

I live in Salt Lake City now. Perhaps SLC is best known for being the home to the Chuch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. As home to the LDS church, SLC is home to many, many, many members of the LDS church.

I'm just a good ole Baptist girl and I certainly don't fit in here. Most of the people in the Baptist churches we've visited are former Mormons or have family who are Mormons. When the news is on, I have to listen carefully so that I can decipher the Mormon-speak in the news.

Mormon-speak is terminology that those within the LDS church would understand, but that outsiders wouldn't. Kinda like when a Baptist says "saved" we all know what that means.

Anyway... I've been reading on the beliefs of the LDS church. Don't worry, I'm not converting. I just like to know about other faiths and what they teach. If anything, reading about the LDS church has convinced me that I should stay Baptist (not that I was thinking of jumping ship).

I've only just scratched the surface in my reading and I have to say that I just get even more and more sad the more I read. While I've been assured that Mormons do believe in a literal Hell, I've also been assured that everyone makes it to at least the first level of Heaven. The more you do within the church, the more chance you have to be in the third level of Heaven with God. Not only that, but after you die, your family members can be baptized for you and can have you "sealed."

I'm sorry, I mean no disrespect, but I cannot, for the life of me, see how that jives with Scripture. When I mention Scripture, I mean the Bible, not the book of Mormon. The book of Revelation tells us that we are not to add one jot or one tittle to the Word of God, so I can't see how the Book of Mormon can be considered Scripture.

If salvation is by grace, then why would we need to do temple work or be sealed into the temple? If God is gracious and loving and kind, then why be legalistic about tithes? (It's my understanding that only those who are in good standing can enter the Temple, and to be in good standing, you have to pay a tithe.)

I'd hate to think that there were people out there trying to work for their salvation when really it's absolutely free. Working to earn salvation is fruitless.

Last night the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints passed away. How sad. Truly.

Here We Go Again

I guess I should back up a bit so you will understand the "again" part of the title.

Ed was deployed to SC until Sept. of this past year. He was forecasting the weather for Iraq from the States. Works for me. No terrorists coming at him with guns and no hidden explosive devices, only crazy SC drivers.

At the end of his deployment he was hired by a regional airline with offices in Salt Lake City. They set up a training date for the October 1. Keep in mind that I was hugely pregnant, but not yet due until Oct. 16. His training was to be 8 weeks long. AND, remember, I had been battling pre-term labor since August.

So, here I was a big, fat ball of hormones who had been fighting to stay pregnant and now I suddenly wanted to have the baby so Ed was there to take care of our 2 year old while I was in the hospital. I was terrified of having the baby when Ed was gone and I really only knew a few people in our Sunday School class there in SC. I was pretty much petrified.

Of course, as life would have it, even though I had been fighting to stay pregnant, once I wanted to have the baby and was safe to have the baby (after 37 weeks) and after the docs stopped all interventions (36 weeks), the baby would not come. Imagine that. I thought that was stinkin' hilarious. NOT!

Well, God was gracious and allowed me to deliver Andrew before Ed left for training. There was one catch though... Ed had to leave the very next day for his training. Hilarious, I tell ya.

So here I was, a big fat, post partum mess going home with a newborn and a 2 year old with my husband out of town for 8 long weeks. Thank God for our Sunday School class in Sumter, they were awesome to us. And thank God that Andrew did not have all the complications that Eddie had when he came home from the hospital. Otherwise, I would not have survived.

Wait though, this whole thing gets better. After I manage to survive 5 weeks or so by myself with two kids under the age of 2 while also battling post partum hormones, the job didn't work out and Ed came home.

So, if God knew that job wasn't going to work out, why in the WORLD did I have to deal with 2 kids by myself immediately post partum? Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?

Now, to the "again" part. Now that we've moved clear across the country to a rather "foreign" place, Ed's back in training for another airline and I am in Salt Lake. Alone. With two kids. We haven't found a church here (that's another post) and the only people I know are my father-in-law and his wife.

Hopefully by the end of March we'll be in Knoxville or Charlotte. For right now, I am still freezing my tushie off, but enjoying my boys.

Because They Are So Incredibly Cute

I reckon I need to fluff up the blog with some picts of my boys, huh?

Back From The Dead.

Yeah, yeah, I'm still alive. I am freezing my tushie off, but I am alive.

I think the last time I posted here, Andrew had just been born and Ed was training as a pilot for an airline in Utah.

Well, life happens and the airline in Utah didn't work out. Imagine that. See, we thought we had everything all figured out. Funny how things get all screwy when you think you know what's going on.

Anyway... we decided to move to Salt Lake City, Utah while Ed was continuiing his job search. Ed's dad and step-mom live here. Since my family sucks, I figured it would be nice for our boys to be near grandparetns for at least a small portion of their lives. Know what I mean?

As "luck" (and I use that term loosely) would have it, we moved out here at teh end of November and in the middle of December Ed was hired by a company back east. So, we will be moving again in March.

Salt Lake's not bad at all. I have a pediatrician who is supportive of my hippie parenting ways and there are tons of things to do here. Plus, Ed's dad and step-mom are really sweet.

I will say that there are a few downsides. There are no Krispy Kremes, Biscuitvilles or Kepleys around here. There is entirely too much snow and I can't seem to get sweet tea unless I make it myself. Those are serious problems ya'll. Especially the snow. Ick!

Eddie likes the snow though. He likes chasing grandpa's dogs around too. Andrew is still too young to care about any of that.

As far as this blog goes, I've been trying to decide if I want to keep it going or not. I haven't posted in forever. I am trying to do some freelance writing here and there and I do have two kiddos and a hubby to take care of. So, I dunno.

I reckon a good way to make that decision would be to determine which direction I want to take this blog. But, that's far too much for me to think about tonight.