Smile

I love this so much that I just want to share it with everyone. <3

Everyone needs to be validated, especially those who seem like they are fine without it.

"Because you are great. You are amazing."

The Vital Art of Being Productive

The title of this is meant to be a ironic.
 Because I have recently been everything except productive. XD

This week we had a Teacher work day on Friday, which meant that we had a half-day on Thursday, and with Presidents Day on Monday that pretty much makes for a four-day weekend for us.

I am okay with this fact, and I actually intended on getting a lot done. But unexpected events mixed with exhaustion and, to be completely honest, a large wave of lazy coach-potato-ness resulted in nothing really getting done. :|

Okay, so I did my laundry.
Well, I washed it. 

And dried it.

The folding part might take some time, though. :|

And I went to the temple (and received a lot of answers to prayers, which means a lot of change on my part) and I got to spend time with my adorable nephew, so those count for something. :)

However, that still means that I will be doing "All the Things" on Monday. :)

But here is what I am intending on working on:

1. Finishing a commission for a friend of mine in Alaska. She and her students will be doing a fundraiser in late spring, and needed an image for that. I will also be working on a logo design for her family's non-profit organization. :) So far this is about 80% done.

I have all the parts illustrated and colored, but I have to combine everything together on the computer and make sure that it is a high enough quality to print off for banners as well as posters (I hate the "jaggies," where a digital image has rough, squared and blurred edges due to a low dpi level).

 
2. Starting a commission for my Uncle Tom. He wants me to create an illustration for a poem that he wrote. It involves animals and that's not my usual cup of tea, but I am going to give it a go. :)

3. I was also intending on working on another commission. We'll see how that plays out...

4. Lastly, I really wanted to finish Chapter 6 of my Zootopia fanfic, "Forks." I have this bad habit of not finishing the stories that I start (which is why I'm so good at writing one-shot fanfics. ;) ), but I really want to finish this one at the very least. Especially as the majority of it is already written! People shouldn't have to suffer just because I couldn't get the in-between parts typed up and everything edited. *shrugs*

Wish me luck! The end of the week will be pretty busy, too, so I'll let you know how that went next Sunday. :)

See you all later!

--Sherry1

Superbowl Sunday: Lamoni's Dad

Sometimes, in order to explain events occurring the scriptures, I like to summarize them in what I call, "The Gospel According to Maaike."

Essentially, it's the same as what's in Canon, except with more, "Dude! Seriously?" exclamations, plus "And Heavenly Father said, 'Stop That.'"-isms.

(My younger sister has seen and heard quite a bit of these over the years. XD Thanks for putting up with me.)

So in light of Superbowl Sunday, I want to share one of my favorite adaptations, making light of the event in an effort to emphasize why a certain person is so angry.

The background is this:

Ammon, a Nephite Missionary, traveled into enemy territory in order to preach the gospel to the Lamanites. And, miraculously, they totally accepted it! (And they become a pretty epic group of people.)

(Spoiler alert: no one dies in that last picture. God protects them because of how awesome they are. Moving on... )

King Lamoni, especially, became a hardcore convert. But the Lord tells Ammon that his brothers, who are also missionaries, weren't as successful as he was, and have been thrown in prison.

We pick up at the point where Lamoni says, "let's go save your brothers," only to run into his father on the road.

~~~

"“And it came to pass that as Ammon and Lamoni were driving down the road, they met the father of Lamoni, who was the most influential Politician and Businessman in the whole land.

 

And behold, the father of Lamoni said unto him: Why did you not come to my place on Superbowl Sunday when I made a huge party for all my family, and all of my friends?

And he also said: where art thou going with this Missionary, who is just trying to swindle you out of your money for their weird Mormon cult?

And it came to pass that Lamoni rehearsed unto him whither he was going, for he feared to offend him. (This line of scripture is word-for-word accurate and unaltered.)

And he also told him the reason of his going to church instead, that he did not go unto his father’s house for the party which he had prepared.

And now when Lamoni had rehearsed unto him all these things, behold, to his astonishment, his father was angry with him, and said: Lamoni, thou art going to have these Missionaries arrested, who are just trying to trick you. Behold, their ancestors robbed our ancestors; and now their descendants are walking amongst us that they may, by their cunning and their lying, deceive us, that they again may rob us of our property.

Now the father of Lamoni commanded him that he should have Ammon arrested. And he also commanded him that he should not go to the city of Middoni, but that he should return with him to his house uptown.

But Lamoni said unto him: I will not have Ammon arrested, neither will I go over to your place, but I go to the city of Middoni that as Ward Mission Leader I may bail the Elders out of jail, for I know that they are just men and holy prophets of the true God.”"

~~~

And who says that the scriptures aren't relatable? XD

Here's a link to the original scripture account: Alma 20:8-15