Graduation time!

Wow...it's amazing how fast time flies. The last time we posted here was during the October General Conference--about six months ago. I'm hoping to get on a schedule more regular than every General Conference, and we're one week short of the April Conference, so here goes. :)

As you can see from the pic, we're graduating from BYU Law School next month! It's been an amazing three years. And we have been together through most of that time. We started law school in August 2006, started dating in October 2006, and we've been inseparable ever since.

When I was a first-year law student, I kept a weekly journal and I wrote about an early experience that I had with Debbie, that we still laugh about:

“I believe this was the day that I put up pictures of George W. Bush at my carrel to see what kind of reactions I would get. Well, I got good reactions. Debbie, a really cute and top-notch girl in my carrel aisle came over and said, ‘I need to pick a fight with you over Bush.’ We started talking about Bush and politics.”

The students sitting all around us all turned around and everyone got in on it, and we all ended up talking politics for the next three hours. Deb and I became good friends after that (despite our political differences :) ) and things just went from there. They say that the first year of law school is the most difficult, but once Deb and I had started dating, it made the year, shall we say, more than bearable. :) We got married about halfway through the law school experience, which has been just great -- and our grades have vastly improved as well.

After we graduate, Debbie will return to work at the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office, where she has been clerking throughout this school year, and I will be working in downtown SLC at a law firm, Christensen & Jensen. We feel blessed to have these great jobs, especially with the economy the way it is right now.

Are we taking a graduation trip? Yep. Deb and I are planning on going to Yellowstone, Wyoming, with Debbie's family in the days after we take the Bar Exam at the end of July, and from there we will be taking a cross-country road trip, basically as far east as Ohio (where I served my mission) and then back. We're going hit Martin's Cove, possibly Winter Quarters, and Nauvoo along the way to Cincinnati. Once we're there, I'll show Debbie around my mission and introduce her to Cincinnati Chili and Graeter's Ice Cream. It's gonna be awesome.

October GC - Part I

General Conference has been great so far!

The announcement by Pres. Monson that we are building a temple in Rome was both funny and inspiring. I love that there was a pregnant pause after he announced Rome as the final new temple site, ensuring that there would be knowing laughter from the audience.

It's hard to pick a talk that I consider to be my favorite, but the ones by Elders Perry, Christofferson, and Bednar were the most inspiring. Last night, at Debbie's mission reunion, Pres. Hansen told us to not take notes during GC so much of everything that is said, but rather the things that we are counseled to do, so that our notes become something like a "To Do" list for the next 6 months. It has made GC even more meaningful because I'm constantly trying to pick out things that I can do instead of trying to jot down everything, or to jot down only things that I learn that's new.

For example, I'll share one thing I have made a goal to do in the coming months. For much of his message, Elder L. Tom Perry relied upon Henry David Thoreau's "simplicity" philosophy. It reminded me of this quote from Thoreau's Walden: "Our life is frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify, simplify." My life has become increasingly busy, and it's a good reminder to keep things in perspective. Last night, the mission president before Pres. Hansen (Pres. Slater) told us that we only take a few things with us into the next world, including our relationships, covenants, and memories. I want to simplify my life so that relationships, memories, and covenants become my focus.

It's been an awesome GC - I'm excited for Priesthood Session now.

I believe in Jesus Christ :)

I want to share a quick thought about Jesus Christ as my first blog entry.

Christ helps me move forward – through prayer, and faith, and repentance I can review the past and then move on. To me, this is the ultimate message behind the Atonement and the other teachings of Jesus Christ. I will release you from any baggage of your life -- sins, shame -- and you will be born again. I love a scripture from the Book of Mormon, in the Book of Mosiah 5: 7-8. It states, in pertinent part, "... [Y]our hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters. And under this head ye are made free, and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free. There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered in to the covenant with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives."

I am born anew in Christ each time I repent, and I am FREE. Free to change the bad and move forward with the good. I believe the message of Jesus – that I am free to choose the good, free to emulate Him, his prophets, my parents/ancestors for the good things and place the bad things in life firmly behind me. I love Him for this and for the HOPE I feel in Him.

Here's a resource for anyone who wants to learn more about why I believe these things about Jesus and his message: www.lds.org :)

TyDebBlog

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