Crime and Punishment

Have you read Tolstoy's Crime and Punishment?  I read about a quarter of it on my Kindle (thank you, mystery family and friends!), but I don't expect to finish it.  I take no pleasure in it. (The Kindle, yes, the novel, no) I have read my small share of classical literature and my share of slow to get into books, but I don't care to read this.  If you have read it and found benefit therein, please share – but not in a superior and judgmental manner, if you don't mind.

Now about another crime and punishment.  I committed the crime. 

It was during an evening of Reading Club -  The Ranger's Apprentice: The Emperor of Nihon-ja.  I was tired and nature was calling.  Partly because of the large glass of chocolate milk which I held, not quite empty, in my hand.  As I rose to hand off the book and leave briefly to utilize some of my favorite wonders of modern life, something went wrong.  I am not sure how I managed it, but I got chocolate splattered all over the front room floor and some on the book.  Anna, devoted canine companion, volunteered to start cleaning the floor.  Joseph and Andrew, dear diligent sons, did their best to clean up the book.  I answered the aforementioned call.

After the young men's ministrations, the book looked to my eye much as it did when Joseph brought it home from the library.  It looked like a lot of young people had read it and not always in pristine conditions. Nonetheless, Joseph took the book to the library, showed it to the librarian, and was charged to replace the book.  He had expected to pay a small damage fine.  Ridiculous.  We had little affected its appearance and not at all affected its readability.  He paid. He did get to keep the book.

When back home he made to fasten his receipt to the book and saw that the receipt said “lost book” which was not true.  What is it with false documents, anyway??!

Joseph looked on Amazon and found that he paid more for the used book than it costs new!

Joseph returned to the library and discussed the situation with the librarian.  I think he wanted to know if they would refund his payment if he gave them a new book.  Nope.

I do not think the punishment fit the crime.  (I did pay him most of the fine he paid as it was my crime, but I admit, I would have just turned the book in as it was without saying anything. 

At least we enjoyed the book.  But it is book 10 of a series.  I don't like having one book of a series.  I enjoyed the books, but had not considered owning the series.  ($$!)

A) Keep the book?  B) donate it to DI?  C) try to sell it on eBay?  D) complete the set?

Purrs and Clicks

From the Life of George Albert Smith

To teach about the importance of revelation to guide the Church, George Albert Smith told of an experience he had on an airplane flight from Los Angeles, California, to Salt Lake City, Utah:

“Near Milford, Utah, we suddenly flew into one of the worst fogs I have ever seen. I tried to look out of the window of the plane but could not see anything through the fog. Not a thing could be seen in any direction outside the plane.

“I knew that we were approaching the mountains at the approximate rate of three miles a minute, that we were compelled to pass over them to get into the Salt Lake Valley. I was worried and asked myself, ‘How can the pilot find the way when he cannot see a thing?’ He had his compass but the plane might drift off its course. He had instruments indicating our distance above sea level but he had no way of knowing how far we were from the ground. I thought he might fly high enough to clear the mountains between us and the Salt Lake Valley and try to find the landing field by the flash of the beacons if we got close enough, but I chilled when I thought of the danger of losing our way and missing the beacons and the airport.

“In my anxiety I went up into the space that was occupied by the pilot and the co-pilot to see how they knew where we were going. I could not tell whether we were a hundred feet, a thousand feet or ten thousand feet above the ground and I did not know how they could tell, except approximately. I noticed that the pilot had a little device over his ear like operators in telephone offices use to receive with. I inquired of the co-pilot how they could tell whether we were flying in the right direction or know if we were off course. He replied, ‘When we cannot see we are guided by the radio beam.’

“‘What is that?’ I asked. He explained that the beam might be likened to an electric highway between two points, and in our case the points were Milford and Salt Lake City. He said that the device over the pilot’s ear operated so that when the plane was in the beam a low, purring sound continued to be heard, but if the plane goes to the right or left the sound changes and the pilot is warned by clicking as of a telegraph key. If he … pulls back to the beam or highway, on to the path of safety, the clicking ceases and the purring resumes. If we continue on the beam we will arrive at our destination in safety.

“I returned to my seat greatly comforted to know that notwithstanding we were enveloped in fog and darkness and could neither see nor feel where we were, the pilot was receiving information constantly that we were on the highway and he knew that we would soon arrive at our destination. A few minutes later I felt the plane descending. We had passed over the mountain tops and were nearing the airport. When we were nearly down we could see the powerful lights of the field indicating where to land and the plane with its precious cargo touched the ground gently as a seagull lights on water, slowly came to a stop and we stepped from our conveyance to the ground, happy to be at home again. …

“I have thought many times of the lesson I learned on the plane and have applied it to experience in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. …

“Not only has the Lord given us the advice already recorded in the scriptures to guide us but he has placed a leader in this Church, one of his sons who has been chosen and ordained and set apart to be the President. He is our pilot and he will be directed by a voice that will enable him to lead us where we should go. If we are wise we will not set up our judgment against him but will be happy to honor him in his place as long as the Lord sustains him.”

.... 

You are entitled to the inspiration of the Spirit, and the knowledge that He is your Father, and when I say “you” I speak of all those who have obeyed the commandments of our Father, and have partaken of the sweet influence of the Spirit of the Lord in the Church of Christ. … Each of us is entitled to the inspiration of the Lord in proportion to the manner in which we live a godly life

Pearls

Many pearls of wisdom in church today which strung together lead to life, peace and happiness (as usual, of course)

Unedited because I should do my personal scriptures and GET TO SLEEP, but glean from them what you will:

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Bishop Adair: (head of our ward or congregation)

Things we need to know:

We have a Heavenly Father who loves us

Pres Uchtdorf Oct 2009: He loves us. We are important to God... because we are His children

We are of worth. We have already made some wonderful correct decisions.

Jesus Christ is our Savior. The Atonement is real. We have the option of repentance.

Families were designed to be together forever.

The temple is safe haven for our spirits.

We have agency, one of the greatest gifts that could be given. The first war was fought over agency.

Not “free” agency – there are always consequences, wonderful or otherwise

Things that we need to be doing

Satan is intelligent and experienced

Satan gets at us with little things “I'm too busy” “I am not important” I am unworthy I will do it neck

t time I worry about what others will think

God did not give us selfish commandments Every commandment is for our benefit. Life will be more fulfilling, our challenges easier to bear.

We have a living prophet. Know what he has told us – and follow his counsel

Pray. Why throw away a phone call t the most intelligent, caring person that you know? He is interested in everything that is important to you, that you are working on. Every aspect of our life is worthy of prayer.

Read the scriptures frequently.

Be faithful to our spouse and family

Treat our spouse as the most important person on the earth

Be good home and Visiting Teachers. An opportunity to be like Christ

Attend temple frequently

immerse ourselves in temple covenants

Share the gospel in a natural way

Have FHE – teach your family the Gospel and show them you love them

Exercise your agency to do many good things of your own free will

Endure to the end. Life by the yard is hard, by the inch, it's a cinch.

Don't ever make a decision without asking yourself, “How will I explain this to the Savior when I meet him?”

Relief Society (women's organization)

Lord to President Fisher, Stake (collection of congregations) President re Sister Godfrey who was called to be our Stake Relief Society  president and who is deaf)

“She hears me just fine. She listens to me and obeys. Do you?”

Mary, mother of Jesus – rare direct quotes which we would do well to heed

Be it unto me according to your word.

Whatever he saith unto you, do it.

Barbara, in search of self

I learned that school records follow the pupil. The school district where I first started school no longer has any record of me. I called my graduating high school. They purge the grade school records, but Lori, the gal I talked to, was very sympathetic. She is sending me an official high school record in the hopes that it will help and also a copy for me to have.

I am really putting a lot of hope in church records. My Bishop and Stake President had no idea of what, if anything, could be done. My ward clerk has not responded - I am beginning to suspect my e-address is wrong. I called church headquarters, who said they can get my "original" records, but my Bishop or ward clerk has to request them. I passed the information on to the Bishop and he said that he would work on it Monday when the HQ office is open. I hope I was blessed, as Mormon babies traditionally are. That should be good for establishing me as a baby. My parents were baptized just before my 1st birthday. The next record would be my baptism - traditionally at 8, but I was almost 9.

I don't know how much documentation I need. My aunt filled out an affidavit and had it notarized. She was about 9 when I was born. That and church records may be all I have about my childhood. Pretty meager.

Not a lot here. I still think parent citizenship should count. I have not applied for my mother's birth certificate yet. I am trying to figure out if there are other certificates I want to apply for at the same time. I will need to send a notarized statement of relationship with the request. One notarized affidavit will do for several document requests.

Also, the 1940 census has just been released and volunteers (myself among them) have been indexing them to make them digitally searchable. California is completely indexed, but not searchable yet. I think it should be soon. So I can soon find my mother as a child in the census. I hope that will help.

I emailed my great-uncle (my mother's mother's baby brother), but they are not on-line much. If I don't hear from them soon, I will have to go over there. Not sure when. Life is very full.

I just asked my aunt if she has any idea what kind of work Rolf (my birth father) did when I was born or whom he worked for. Long shot, I know. And what high school my parents attended. Can you think of any other clues/trails that I can follow?

If none of this works, it looks like Grand Circle has some great tours within the States, which I would love. : ) Would my aunt go for that?

All of which does not solve the Social Security benefits problem, but it's going to collapse soon, anyway, right?

Social inSecurity

Beating my head against the wall trying to figure out how to prove my citizenship to the satisfaction of the Department of State, I came across this cheery statement:
Proof of U.S. citizenship must be established when dealing with all levels of U.S. government. Documents proving citizenship must be provided when applying for Social Security benefits and when applying for a U.S. passport.
The exciting thing here is that even if I give up on getting a passport and give up any opportunity to travel, I still have a problem:  I will not be able to collect Social Security Benefits.  (Meager though they may be because of my short work history and If Social Security has not completely collapsed by then, anyway)


It appears that the only way for me to get my California records is by petitioning the County Superior Court.  I will need to figure out which county(ies). 

I am trying to figure out what that will need.  Also, I need to figure out how to get records on my 2nd adoption in Oregon.

I wonder if my aunt's travel company does great tours in the US and if she would be interested. I would love an Early American History tour the best.

My Birth Certificate is a LIE !

I think that I have figured out why my passport application was not accepted.  Now I have to figure out what to do about it.

I was born September 10, 1951 in the little hospital on the hill in Willits, Mendocino County, California.  

True.  So far, so good.  But! That’s not the problem   (I think.  Despite what the letter from the Passport Center says) 

My parents were Louise Marie McGinness (maiden name) and Rolf Siegfried Mijjares.

Subsequently, my parents were divorced.  My mother remarried and I was adopted by her new husband Harold Reed.   Harry and mother also divorced.  My mother later married Gordon Dale Owes who also adopted me.  They later divorced, but by the time my mother married her 4^th husband I was married and had a child of my own, so Don did not adopt me.  We hardly ever even saw each other.  

My legal maiden name is Barbara Louise Owes and I believe that is what is on my birth certificate.  I really need to get another copy!!  (Working on it.)  I wonder what it says about place of birth and how I can get this cleared up.  

“Birth certificates” do not show the record of birth, they show the now fictionalized account as the latest legal couple and government entity choose to portray it.  

Which can get pretty interesting as the various parties were all living active lives before they got together that really do not mesh.  Multiple children can be “born” to the same couple in impossible time frames and geographic locations.  

Do birth records exist for me as Barbara Louise Mijares and if so, how do I prove that is me? or using my legal birth certificate, how do I prove that I was born a citizen?

Wandering wonders -   What do the birth certificates of children adopted by both parents say?  If the “birth certificate” shows the legal parents, is there any actual birth record?? What if the child was adopted from another country? Or, If a person was born a US citizen, but adopted by non-US citizens, would (s)he lose his/her citizenship?  How would (s)he prove citizenship if the birth certificate showed non-citizens who were living somewhere else at the time of birth?

My Birth Certificate is a LIE ! and so are a lot of others apparently.  What good is that?

I no longer trust birth certificates.

I still have to figure out how to get a passport. I am going to get a new certified copy of my legal birth certificate.  I am going to try to contact the hospital and see what records they have and will give me.  I called the Passport Center who said someone from some department will probably call me sometime on one of the numbers I gave them.  If  they do not get hold of me, they will probably not leave a message and they will probably not call back.  Nice. Our tax dollars working to serve the US citizen. So, if I don't hear from them in a week or two, I can try again.
 

Temple Ben

A week ago today, my youngest, Benjamin, went to the temple for the first time.  My oldest, Sariah, came down from Washington.  His endowed siblings came, too.  Although attending the temple is a very personal thing, there is something special about attending with loved ones.  It is especially joyous to quietly greet each other in the Celestial Room at the end of the endowment session.

Sariah has been doing a lot of family history work and brought several family names to have their proxy work done.  We believe that certain sacred ordinances are necessary for exaltation.  Very few people have had the opportunity to receive these ordinances in this life.  When we visit the temple, we do the work for those who have died without the work being done.  They are free to accept or reject these ordinances.  We do not believe they are bound by our actions.  Some people are upset that we do this work as if we were forcing Mormonism on poor innocent dead people.  1) If the gospel as taught in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is not true and we do not have authority from God, it really doesn't matter what we do or think we are doing because we don't have the power.  2) If it is true and we are doing God's work, we are doing people a great service.  and 3) Each individual has the right to choose for themselves whether to accept of reject this work.

Doing temple work not only serves those who have gone before, but allows us to review and reflect on the covenants we have made.  I think our dead are doing us a big favor!

After going through the 10 am session - Benjamin for himself, and the rest of us as proxy for dead relatives, we had a quick bite in the parking lot and many of us went back in. 

There are actually several ordinances that are performed in the temple for those who have gone before - baptism, confirmation, anointing, the endowment, and sealing to family members.  Several of us did baptisms.  Four of us each held on to one relative's name and took it all the way through from baptism to family sealings.  Some ordinances, like baptism, we can do several one after another in a short time.  The endowment, however takes over an hour to do for one person.  So while we did several ordinances for several deceased relatives, we each held on to one person that we did everything for.  This was the first time that I have gone all the way through "with" one person and it was a very special feeling. Also, there were times during various ordinances when I had the distinct impression that someone was very glad that their work was being done. 

It was a glorious day.

Benjamin really has the spirit of the temple and has been back to the temple every day this week (except Sunday and Monday when it is closed)  He has gone with our Bishop, me, his brother David and sister-in-law Teresa, alone, and with a friend.  He is determined to enjoy the blessings of the temple and learn as much as he can before he goes.  When he is in Korea, he will not have many opportunities to attend the temple.  The closest temple is in Seoul, which is not part of his Mission. 

What do I have in common with Barack Obama?

What do I have in common with Barack Obama?

There seems to be some question of my birth and citizenship.

My passport application was not accepted.  They say I was a non-institutional birth.  

I think Benjamin still has my birth certificate from the day we applied.  I need to look at it again. 
Benjamin went to work before 6 this morning and is not home yet. 3:30 pm  Still at work or with his friends??
oh! Here he is, but he says they kept the birth certificates with our applications.  I thought they had looked at the originals and kept copies,but not so.  I am so frustrated!!!

 They gave me two long forms to fill out and said I need to come up with "a combination of early public documents created at the time of your birth."  "All documents submitted to our office must be original or certified."  If they do not have the information within 90 days of May 23 2012, my application will be denied and they will return my evidence AND KEEP MY MONEY. 

My understanding was that I was born in the little hospital on the hill by the highway going through Willits, Mendocino County, CA.  What does the birth certificate say anyway??!  -

They let Barack be President and travel out of the country.  Does he has a passport?

T/7/2012

Children, friends, pets, and duties all feel neglected by me and it's true.

I have 8 children, 3 children-in-law and 5 grandchildren as well as other relatives and dear friends none of whom get the time and attention from me that they should.

I have a house to clean, groceries to buy, laundry to do, bills to pay as well as a full-time tied to my desk job. I am suprised that that I haven't had complaints on my yard. and a neglected dog and other pets who are lucky just to get fed and get very little attention.  I am suprised that that I haven't had complaints on my yard.

My children are divided into factions I am trying to get to work towards reconciliation but it is no where in sight. In the meantime I constantly torn, worried and trying to figure out how to juggle.

Some of those nearest and dearest to me are going through personal private trials that I only partly understand but need to try to support their struggle.

I have a friend dealing with a kidney stone, another with severe depression plus other health problems -we had to call the police to find out if she was even alive because no one could reach her in person, by phone, internet, no matter what we tried, a couple of friends with bad baby blues, another with severe headaches. The list goes on.

Everyone and everything needs at least a bit of sympathy from me, many need help I cannot give, and a lot I do need to help take care of. No matter what I do, it is not enough.

I am tired, tired, tired, emotionally and physically. When I am not tired, I am exhausted. I have too much to take care of and no one but the Lord to help care for Me.

I cannot be everywhere for everyone. That doesn't mean I am angry or don't care. I am only one, insufficient, incapable tired old woman.

a bit of hope

My heart is so much lighter!  I found a shop that will look at Sophie.  In Sacramento within biking distance and open until 8 and on Saturdays.  I cannot go tonight as I am donating my life’s platelets at BloodSource late this afternoon (and bringing “We Bought a Zoo” to watch).  Maybe tomorrow if Benjamin has the car and I cannot go to the temple.  Soon I will find out if Sophie can be brought out of her coma!  I miss my computer!

Benjamin worked 10 hours for doing door-to-door for the pest control company.  All he got was a bit of a sunburn.  He is thinking that this might not be for him.  Tonight he works the 10pm - 6am shift at Raley Field.  But at least it is a real job with pay. After this door thing, he appreciates the clean up crew even more.  5 or 6 of them worked all day without a bite.  maybe one nibble.

Andrew will be riding his bike to Elk Grove today (probably has by now) to try his hand at this door-to-door gig.  I admire their willingness to try.

I think Andrew should look into food server jobs.  I actually think he would enjoy serving and I hear that is one of the areas where there may actually be jobs. 

Joseph and Andrew are beginning to consider Accounting as a bread and butter line of work.  I am encouraging it.   Andrew wants to be a writer.  Joseph doesn't really know what he wants to do.  Until then, Accounting is a pretty good area to get work and is  portable.  

Glad to have a job.  Sad breaks are so short!  I hope Sophie gets fixed.