"Knowledge unshared dies."
-Karen Witemeyer

"Have you prayed about it? Don't stop." Colleen Coble

"If you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big." Donald Trump

The Atonement is not a one time thing :)

"I'm looking for someone to share in an adventure." Gandalf.

Me too bro, lol. Actually, I think I most identify with the hobbit.

"The beauty of finding yourself and knowing who you really are is that it allows others the possibility to know you as well." Ashley Greene in A Warrior's Heart

"Integrity simplifies our lives" M. Russell Ballard

"A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you." Elbert Hubbard

I'm currently reading a FREE e-book from Amazon called Kicking Eternity by Ann Lee Miller. One of the lines briefly caught me by surprise and I had to think about it a minute. It goes something like this:

"You need to have three friends, one who is more mature, one who's an equal, and one to mentor."

At first I thought, yeah that's cool. Then it bothered me so I asked Nahdia, "Do you have a friend who is more mature than you?" She was caught off guard, I mean, this is deep conversation to do over laundry. She kind of mumbled a response. I followed up with, "Do you have one who's an equal?" She said, "You." [I'm flattered! She is one of my most favorite people in this world and ever after] "Do you have one you mentor?" She didn't get to answer this one because I started laughing. She asked what brought on all the questions and I mentioned I read it in a book. I went on to explain my general feeling that a well rounded friendship wouldn't be stuck in neat little categories.

Exhibit "A":  There are times when Nahdia's wisdom reaches light-years farther than mine. In other instances we are equally matched. And then there are moments when I get to be the mentor.

Not convinced? Let's try another friendship.

Exhibit "B":  Rina is a friend from the last year and half. We've become very close in a short time, partly because we are very similar:  equals. In other aspects, Rina's maturity, kindness, homemaking abilities, desire to serve, etc. eclipse mine in a very marked way. Then there are sprinkled moments when I am able to step into the mentoring role.

Okay, here's one more. I feel like I'm writing a legal description.

Exhibit "C":  I've been friends with July for, phew, about nine years. We are so similar in temperament and cognition that it's difficult to even believe we don't spend much time in each others' company. We get together, spill our guts, receive counsel and leave feeling someone outside of the family or work, outside of the immediate situation understands how the other is feeling--all three "types of friends", on both sides, in one sitting. It's wonderful!

A well balanced friendship has to be pliable. A good friend is humble enough to receive and give counsel. A good friend is comfortable keeping you company and being on your level. The friendship evolves and roles change.

It's a new theory and I have to work out the kinks but it works for me.

----

In a totally unrelated matter, I wrote out assignment cards for my primary kids to do opening exercise next Sunday. I realized I may have misspelled a word and it's bugging me. Heterophones! English is the hardest language to learn, apparently.

I think I wrote:

______________ is sharing a testimony next Sunday blah, blah, blah.

I may have written:

______________ is bearing a testimony next Sunday blah, blah, blah.

If so, I should have written:

______________ is baring a testimony next Sunday blah, blah, blah.

Heterophones: two or more words that sound the same, but are spelled differently.

Serves me right after laughing over the use of 'minus', 'mind as' and 'mine as' in place of might as. As in I might as well go to sleep since it's getting late.

Confessions and friends.

Nothing exposes our true selves more than how we treat one another in the home.

-Joseph B. Wirthlin, April 2005, The Virtue of Kindness

When Crickets Cry

by Charles Martin

Did I mention I love audiobooks? About four years ago I was listening to a talk given by Elder Groberg, the one who served a mission in Tonga, in which excerpts from the movie, The Other Side of Heaven, were used to illustrate some of his talking points. I had previously seen the movie so listening to the dialogue and sound effects created a cinema type effect and I watched the movie in my mind's eye. It was around the tail end of the craze over the Twilight Saga books that I decided to give it a go in audiobook format and I've been hooked ever since. For some reason, reading a physical book with 300+ pages is still daunting to me, but listening to a 20+ hour audiobook is right up my alley.

My first audiobook was Twilight and the rest of the saga soon followed. I dabbled in YA fiction, Adventure, Romance, Self Improvement, Finance, Classical Literature and the like, but my favorite genre to date is Christian Fiction. I don't much appreciate adaptations from the Bible, but maybe I just haven't come across one that I like. I do love contemporary and historical Christian fiction, especially sprinkled with romance. 

I finished When Crickets Cry today. Here's the test of whether or not an author or narrator is appreciated:  How long did it take before you looked for another one of their works? It took me about six hours, but I was working part of that time. There was just enough back story for each character to get me invested. I've noticed that Oasis Audio mostly produces clean, Christian audiobooks and after having more misses lately in the choosing of audiobooks, I decided to play it safe with an OA book. Enter the crying crickets...

Read this book in a place you're comfortable crying, sobbing, waving your arms, covering eyes, laughing out loud; read this book in the privacy of your bedroom. The ending confused me at first, but I believe it was meant to surprise and prick you, to make you think. This book is about service, determination, loyalty, love and forgiveness. I would give it a 4.2 out of 5 Audible stars.

If I could go back and read this all over again for the first time, I would do it one sitting. Picking it up again (being on the waiting list for three or four weeks will do that to you) was slow at first, because it took me a little while before I remembered one of the minor characters. All in all, I wish I hadn't read it so I could read it again for the first time.

I've come across some of my favorite quotes while listening to audiobooks. Here are a few:

"No one's free, and those who think they are just haven't thought about it long enough." Ada in The Hope of Refuge by Cindy Woodsmall

"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known god." Cory ten Boom

"Either your faith in God is absolute or it's worthless." Song of Redemption by Lynn Austin

"Things can be cleaned and replaced. Great moments cannot afford to be lost." Cindy Woodsmall

"Blood isn't love." Cassandra Clare

"A woman without her history is a fool." Lani Wendt Young

"Fuzzy caterpillars change; snakes don't." Kara in The Harvest of Grace Cindy Woodsmall

This one is from a NUMB3RS episode, but it's still funny:

David to Colby S04E13

"You, my friend, are a prisoner of high standards and low social skills."

What he said.