Soul Carving

       Some of you may recall my appointment to serve in the young women organization of my church. Well, one really cool part of this assignment is the annual Girls Camp. All the young women (ages 12-17) in our area come together at a camp specifically designed for this purpose. This was my first time at Heber Valley Camp , and I hope and pray I get to go back! It's all run by volunteers, mostly senior couples referred to as "service missionaries". They provide their own equipment and stay at the camp to help out the hundreds of youth groups that come through.               While I was very excited to go, I was also concerned for my young family. I'd never spent the night away from my children before, and my baby was still nursing 3 times a day. Lucky for me, I have the greatest husband in the world who decided that he'd simply pack the 5 kids into the car and make the hour drive up to visit me everyday ...

   Buying your first home is a lot like getting married. There are the headaches of particulars to work out: packing, organizing, closing costs and interest rates may be analogous to arranging for the reception, paying for the ring and addressing all those invitations. Yet, in the end, it's still tremendously exciting and so devastatingly romantic! Our preparations for moving into our first home reminded me a lot of the dreamy anticipation that preceded our wedding. Some of our goals were quite lofty and would require a good amount of time to be realized. Others were simpler pleasures that required little more effort on our part than to just be enjoyed.    One dream I held, nestled deep in my heart. So small and simple, I hadn't even realized it was there until the tentative Spring sunshine began to thaw Winter's frosty grasp. Driving along a pasture road, or strolling past a neighbor's garden, I'd feel it: a strangely familiar longing. The fragrant breeze would en...

WHITE by Bethany Campbell White is new and clean.  A fresh canvas,  still and hopeful,  awaiting the brushstrokes  of memory and inspiration  to provide color and meaning. White is the color of anticipation,  of whispered plans and secret surprises. Imagination suspended in time; gradually shifting, taking shape  beneath a shimmering blanket of dreams.  White is empty, motionless, quiet. The culmination of preparation and labor not completed yet,  but forming steadily, silently, diligently. White is open, boundless,  eternal. Brimming with possibilities, with endless potential. White is calm.  White is content. White is a promise, awaiting fulfillment. But white is fleeting, enveloping the world for only a brief moment.  White is a sign, a flag, Not of surrender, but of peace.  The herald of new life,...