Kyra Moon

(posted on Facebook too) Eli, eli, lama sabachthani Over the past few years, I've come across several stories about those whose prayers have been met with silence. Mother Teresa's long struggle with spiritual darkness was re-visited as her canonization approached. Michael McLean spoke openly about his decade-long faith crisis. Professors, motivational speakers, and many others have described similar journeys through darkness, despite countless prayers and tears begging for some kind of reassurance. "In me ye shall have peace," the Savior promised (John 16:33), but what if that peace doesn't come when it's needed? What then? One of my favorite tellings of the Adam and Eve story describes a scene shortly after they have left the Garden of Eden. Adam prays, and prays, and prays, desperate for guidance from the God he once knew well -- and instead Satan shows up. Adam had already repented of partaking of the fruit, and forgiveness had already been granted. He and ...

Every night after reading scriptures, we recite a few verses from memory. The one we always choose first is "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:25) Over the past few years, I've learned more about just how big a fall from heaven that was, and it's been overwhelming. In the past, I've generally thought of sin as an isolated, individual event, as are its effects. Sin might hurt you and the people closest to you, but that would be the end of it. A little bit of repenting would fix things up just fine. But for whatever reason, I see things differently now. Selfishness is always at the heart of evil, but it can be perpetuated a variety of ways, and sometimes it is taught as much as it is chosen. People do have agency, but it is often hampered by a variety of environmental and cultural factors. Although a terrible person occasionally has a wonderful upbringing, most people who choose wickedness seem to slide into it in one way...

Today, I visited the school Jim is mostly likely going to go to if the odds work out in our favor. I felt pretty reassured by my visit -- it seems like a cute place with reasonable policies (a whole half hour for recess after a half hour lunch, for example). As we saw the halls filled with 100th day of school pictures and Dr. Seuss birthday decorations and Valentines and shamrocks, I got really, really excited about him going there. (If the lottery works out :D) This whole process has given me lots of flashbacks from my kindergarten days. As far as I can remember, it was just 180 days of nonstop fun with my energetic teacher, Mrs. Cooley. As I recall snippets about Thanksgiving plays and Valentine teas and chicks in incubators, I think, "Oh, I hope my kids get to do this fun stuff too!" My kindergarten picture. Still not sure where it falls on the spectrum between darling and creepy doll.  Although I can't remember all the specifics (I couldn't say, for exam...

For all you history buffs out there, today marks 160 years since Almanzo Wilder was born. Since we just finished reading Farmer Boy  we thought this was another day worth commemorating. We never got around to drawing horses to celebrate, but we can do that tomorrow. As I've mentioned before, it's certainly been enlightening reading the Little House books this winter. We just started On the Banks of Plum Creek  and right there in chapter 1 they find out they have to live in a dugout. They live in the dirt! Poor Caroline! In thinking about it, though, I think we have life way harder nowadays. Here are some examples: They never ran out of their favorite crackers. They never had to flip the circuit breaker when it tripped thanks to running two appliances at the same time. They never went 3 days with a broken water heater during a snowstorm. They never had electric baseboard heaters in a state where you pay roughly 22 cents per kWh for electricity. They never felt gui...

Today, I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting. After providing a brief intro about our family, here's what I had to say: Before I get too far into the talk, I want to speak to the kids and toddlers first. Let me explain why. Last year I counted how many kids were in the ward and discovered 70 were ages 3 and younger. 70! And then 50 more in Junior Primary! Numbers might have changed, but probably not a ton. So, I think you Primary and nursery kids deserve a good chunk of attention since you make up a good chunk of the ward. So, Jim, and all of Jim's friends, I just want to let you know that I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are real, and they love you so much. And we can share their love with everybody, too! I also want you to know that your parents and grandparents and teachers love you so much too. Sometimes you might get mad at your mom or dad. Sometimes they might get mad at you. But because Jesus Christ died for us, we all can change our minds and be kind again! ...

I don't have much to say about Britain's exit from the EU. To me it looks like chaos and recession, but I have done so little research and know so little about international trade that I really don't know what to think. But I just want to talk about the word "Brexit" for a moment because it reminded me of a word I made up once upon a time for a poem when I was 14. Here is the poem: Radio's on with lot's of static There just might be a door ajar Smoothness of the road's erratic When we're driving in the   Cargo's piled up to the ceiling Battle lines are set and crossed "Who cares one bit what sister's feeling?" Peace and love seem to be    Lost again maneuvering exits Nausea threatens to prevail No longer hungry for good ol' MexIts My digestors start to   Failure finding decent rest stops Angry murmur starts to build "Seat belts on! Here come the cops! Quick! Slow down! Or we'll be"    Ki...

Last Friday, Kevin and I put our kids to bed and then headed off to the temple. We were going because it had been a little while, but we were also going to decide for sure about Kevin's postdoc. To tell the truth, I've known in my heart for a long time that we were going to move, so I wasn't going to ask about that. Instead, I went with this question: "What more do we need to do in Ann Arbor?" I wasn't expecting a big, life-changing answer -- for instance, it's hard to start a nonprofit in just three months. And I didn't really get one. Instead, the impression that has stuck with me is to "be a friend." Although that should be an obvious thing to do, in some ways it was sort of hard to do this week. Kevin had a paper due today that he didn't have all the theory worked out for, so he spent most of the week working on it til past 1 or 2 in the morning. It usually took John somewhere between 1-3 hours to actually fall asleep for naps o...