Happy Birthday Grandpa

Dance class

Rachelyn just started a dance class today with a friend. We have known her parents since the first apartment we lived at in Provo. It was fun to see how they reacted to the class. Here are a couple of videos and a few pictures.
I thought they looked so cute in their ballerina outfits. They had lots of fun.

Happy Birthday Grandma King

Happy 50th Birthday Grandma!!!

Keeping up...

So, I've already posted most of this to our new website, www.benandjonice.net, but I figured I would add it here. The past month has been really busy for us, and we have had some good news and some bad.

First, I found out about a month ago that BYU does not offer dual degrees. They will let us double major, but they will only award one of the degrees. Since I am a double major, this affects me seriously. I spent two years getting all of the work done so that I could have that second degree and sacrificed my grades in the process.

I went in to talk to the registrar about the policy, and his attitude was basically "tough." He told me that the policy is the way it is, and there was nothing I could do about it. When I asked him who I could talk to in order to try and get the policy changed, he told my sarcastically that I could write a letter to the prophet, but it wouldn't do any good because the policy was going to remain exactly how it stands. I sent a letter to the Assistant Academic Vice President of Undergraduate Studies, Jeffrey Keith, and his terse response basically told me to sit back down and do as I was told.

So, for the last month I have been contemplating what I should do. My aunt has connections, and I have thought about taking the registrar literally, I'm just not sure what it would accomplish. The thing that keeps me going is that the policy is unfair and it doesn't accomplish the stated goals of the university. Anyway, enough of my rant, if you want to see more of what I have said about it, you can go to our website.

Yesterday, when Jonice and I went to the mailbox, we got a pleasant surprise. The College of Life Sciences sent me a letter awarding me a half-tuition scholarship for the upcoming semester. The best thing about it is that I had not applied for the scholarship, I had missed the deadline by a couple of days, so I didn't expect anything this year. So, in addition to the scholarship that the English department awarded me (a much tougher accomplishment, believe me) I should have about 3/4 of my tuition paid for.

My little sister Kim got married over the 4th of July weekend, I'm pretty excited for her. She and David seem to fit each other really well. I have posted some of Kim's bridal pictures over at our website on the "pictures" page. I'll leave them up for a week or two, after that you'll have to ask her for a copy.

Rachel was the flower girl at the wedding, she was excited about her new "Cinderella dress." This morning when we were getting ready for church I asked her if she wanted to wear her new dress, and she said "No, it's not for church." After we told her that she could wear it for church, she decided that she really did want to wear it and be "a big Cinderella."

Here are a few pictures from wedding and the reception in Farmington.

Unbridled Generosity

Today I witnessed an act of such kindness that I had to get on here and post about it.
There is a girl, Jenna, who works for business support at my office who just started about a month ago. She came down today to ask us (I work as computer support for the BYU Physical Facilities) if there was anything we could do to help her out with her computer. Apparently a friend/roommate of hers had spilled some chemical on her laptop and fried the motherboard. She was hopeful that we might be able help her figure out how to repair it cheaply. There is really no hope for her laptop and we suggested that rather than drop $300-600 into repairing it, she ought to buy a cheap laptop from Dell to replace it. After she went upstairs, somewhat despondent, I called her to get her model number to do a little more searching for possible fixes. A minute later one of the women who works in my department, Diane, came down and asked me if there was a way to replace the laptop for under $500. There were a couple of options, so she asked me to hold on while she brought Jenna back down. Jenna came down and Diane told her that she would be replacing Jenna's laptop for her and Jenna needed to decide which she wanted. She did so, and Diane promptly paid for a new laptop.
Diane is the kind of person we should all try to be. I have noticed her constantly taking small opportunities to help others out or to lift their spirits in some way. She expects nothing in return. A great woman.

Too cold

Last night we had gotten home after dark and left the windows open and Jonice started complaining about how cold it was in our apartment, so I jokingly told her to go stand in the middle of the apartment because it is always warmer there. A minute later I walked past the bathroom, which is in the middle of the apartment and found Rachel sitting in the dark on the floor in the bathroom. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "Sitting in the middle Dad." Apparently she was cold as well.

Orcs and Subalterns

So last week I got a note from the chapter of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society here on campus in response to a paper I submitted for their annual undergrad paper competition. I have received an honorable mention for my paper, "Orc-Talk and the Subaltern: Cultural Relations in Film and Text" which I wrote for my senior capstone course in English. This was pretty exciting for me, especially as I am currently working on getting this paper published in the Journal of Modern Fiction with the help of my professor, Steve Walker. If you'd like to read the paper, I'd love to share it. Just email me and I will send it to you.

2 Nephi 7:10-11

I was doing my personal reading tonight in the Book of Mormon, I am in 2 Nephi, and I came across an interesting scripture that I have never considered in this light before. Chapter 7 is mostly a quote from Isaiah 50, as with most of the Isaiah chapters it is pretty much word for word. Anyway this chapter talks, messianically, about the Lord (or Isaiah himself) giving his back to the smiter etc. Skipping down to the last verses, 10-11, the prophet asks,

10. Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth
the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no
light?
11. Behold all ye that kindle fire, that compass
yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of your fire and in the
sparks which ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand—ye
shall lie down in sorrow.

The key for me lies in the last couple of lines and the repetition of the words "light" and "fire." There is the obvious reference to idolatrous sacrifice, those who kindle fire are those who perform the profane rites, adherents of such like Molech and Ashtaroth. However, if we cross reference to 1 Ne. 1:6-8, Ezekiel 1:4, Alma 38:9, 3 Nephi 17:24, Deuteronomy 4:12,24, and D&C 88:63,67-68, we see that fire and light are associated with the presence and revelations, in short the knowledge, of God.

So, we have an interesting image then, of someone who walks in darkness surrounded by the sputtering flames of their own fire--with all of its representative associations. At once the image incorporates two antithetical ideas, the sputtering flame of idolatry--in this case pride and self-worship--with the Light of Christ. If we accept that the knowledge of God is truth, the knowledge of things as they really are (Jacob 4:13), then this scripture is a commentary on those who seek knowledge of themselves without the influence of Christ, they find "burning instead of beauty" (2 Nephi 13:24, compare with 3 Nephi 17).

So there's the rub. A person who seeks or expounds knowledge without the Light of Christ (I know, I run the risk of including myself here), may find bits of "truth," at least in some abstract sense. It is so easy for us to get caught up in the heady fumes of discovery and enlightenment that we fail to realize that of themselves they give us truth which is ultimately of no use. This sort of truth is like sputtering flames which are without value because the light of their knowledge serves only to emphasize the totality of the darkness surrounding it.

Too smart for her own britches

So tonight as we were trying to get Rachel to go to bed she ran out to the living room and grabbed her little VTech computer that she has. Jonice came out of her bedroom and told her to get to bed, quick smart. A little incensed at being told to go to bed, Rachel replied, "Wait Mom, I gotta check my email!" She's a little booger, and she knows it. After a little more squawking, we got her in bed, but not until after she declared, "I need my Cinderella book, Mama!"

Our First Post

After the swarm of new blogs being set up by all our friends and family, Jonice and I have decided to follow the crowd and put ours up. Seeing as neither of us are particularly apt to write in our journals, this might be the last post we ever put up, but we'll see where it goes.

For all of you who don't keep in regular contact with us, I am about halfway through my second to last undergraduate semester here at the Y. I am scheduled, barring any unforeseen F's, to graduate this December with a BA in English and a BS in Genetics. I am about to start an LSAT prep course, and I will take the LSAT in June. Hopefully by this time next year I will have my acceptance letter to the University of Pennsylvania Law School and we will be counting down the days until we move back East.

Jonice and Rachel are keeping busy at home. Rachel is quickly learning to speak better, she is forming full sentences and learning how to count. Jonice, as usual, has a hundred different projects she is involved in aside from Rachel. They both enjoy visiting with our friends here in the ward, particularly with Melynda (who Rachel still calls "Nana"). It gets kind of hard sometimes trying to decide whether she is talking about Ana her cousin or Nana her friend.

Jonice has begun practicing the piano again, she is determined to learn to play. She is getting better, the progress is slow but she is working hard and has definitely improved over the last few months. She has also begun reading the classics, starting with Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters. After she gets done with those I will start introducing her to some of the others like Keats, Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Milton.

So, come back soon and we may have something more posted. If you post a comment, it's far more likely that we will continue, so let us know how you are doing as well.

Ben and Jonice