The End of Fall Break

Well, today is the end of Fall Break.  I wish we could have another week of no school.  We did have a fun week off, aside from my accounting exam.  On Monday I canned 40 obs of chicken breast.  I love canning.  Food storage, or food hoarding as my sister calls it, is one of my favorite hobbies.  On Tuesday we made laundry soap.  Wednesday we went hiking.  Thursday we visited with cousins in town from Idaho.  Today we went to see the "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."  It was really cute and funny.  We rarely take our whole family out to the movies because it is pricey.  It was nice that Steve could take off the afternoon of work so that we could all go.  Also today, we found our third chicken egg.  Three in a month is horrible, but they are going through their molt so we are lucky to be finding any eggs.  The visiting cousins came over for a few minutes and saw and helped feed the chickens.  It was a great break.

Currently in the news there is a story about the Lincoln, Nebraska school district training its teaching gender inclusion training.  What this means is that the teachers are being trained not use gender specific terms, but more general terms.  They are not to say "boys and girls", they are to say something like "attention all readers" or "hey campers".  Or they are being asked to form groups such as "purple penguins".  They are instructed to teach the children that gender terminology is not something they should use, and that they should be told "some people like that, but not everybody does," when referring to the opposite gender.  This made me think of the lesson in my family religion class this week.  We are learning about the eternal nature of gender.  Gender is eternal, and not an accident.  Our genders were predetermined long before this earth was formed.  The male and female spirits, bodies, roles and purpose are very intentional.  The family is central to Heavenly Father's Plan of Happiness.  Because that is the case, our genders are necessary for procreation.  If gender didn't matter, we would all be one gender able to reproduce without a partner.  A partner would not be required.  Adam was alone, and Heavenly Father knew that it was not good for man to be alone.  Eve was given as his help meet to multiply and replenish the earth.  She was his partner, his other half, the only way he would be complete.  Man cannot be without woman and vice versa.  I love being a woman and all that goes with it.  I love my role as a wife and mother.  I love that the priesthood blesses my family.