Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I've decided to do a gratitude post, because I have so much to be thankful for. I was pondering on one of my favorite scriptures, found in 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

A lot of times it's easy to give thanks for the things we enjoy, but it's more difficult to give thanks for our trials. In Corrie Ten Boom's book The Hiding Place, Corrie and her sister were in a concentration camp, and they were living in a flea-infested barracks. Corrie was complaining about this, but her sister reminded her that we should be grateful for everything. Corrie decided that she was going to thank God for the fleas. What she didn't find out until later is that because of the fleas, the guards left the barracks alone, leaving them free to hold Bible study groups without interference.

In the spirit of Thessalonians and The Hiding Place, I'm going to list some things I'm thankful for.

I'm thankful for my extremely stressful job caring for developmentally disabled individuals, because it is helping me gain patience and charity.

I'm thankful that I had a chance to step back from law school and experience other things. This has helped me to know that law is really what I want to do, not just some default I picked because I can't do other things.

I'm thankful that my experience of being treated unjustly by my law school has given me compassion for others who have experienced injustice, and a greater desire to help them.

I'm also thankful for the traditional things that people are thankful for. I have a wonderful family, food on the table, a roof over my head, gas in my car, freedom to do as I please, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am truly blessed indeed.

What are you thankful for?

I'm Still Here...Really!

Once again, I have neglected blogging in favor of real life. Shame on me. ;-)

It's been a busy month. I got my LSAT score back, and I did better than before. Now I just have to get my applications in. I'm a few weeks away from graduating from a paralegal program, which should make me employable while I'm waiting to get back into law school. I don't really have the time or mental energy for a proper post, so I'm going to re-post a lengthy comment I placed on Mormon Mentality this evening.

It was an introductory getting-to-know-you thread with a bunch of questions for everyone to answer. So, without further ado, I present to you the life and times of Keri Brooks.

1) How did you find the bloggernacle, what drew you to blogging?

I don’t remember why, but one evening a little over a year ago, I was googling Christian Feminism, and I happened upon Feminist Mormon Housewives. I liked the lively conversations, and I started reading some of the other blogs, too.

2) Where were you born, are you LDS, were you raised in the church, how do you characterize yourself?
I grew up in San Jose, CA. I am LDS. I was not raised in the church, but I was baptized shortly before I turned 13. I characterize myself as a Christian, libertarian, feminist, sci-fi fan, head-in-the-clouds type, I guess.

3) Do you have a college degree?
Yes. BS in political science. I am doggedly pursuing a JD, but it’s taking longer than I thought.

4) Are you married? Kids?
No, and no. I am currently one of the rare breeds of YSAs insistent on attending a family ward despite great cultural pressure to attend a singles’ ward instead.

5) Where do you live?
Fremont, CA

6) Favorites:

1. Food- Burritos
2. Color- Blue
3. Movie- A Civil Action
4. Book- Atlas Shrugged
5. TV show- Bones
6. Blog- This is a tough call. I’m partial to both BCC and M*.

7) What is your most embarrassing moment?
I wasn’t raised in the church, but my grandparents are highly active members. When I was about 5 years old, they took me to primary one day. During sharing time, the primary president was trying to elicit answers from the kids. She asked, “What is the really big word we talked about last week?” Nobody said anything. I, of course, wasn’t there the previous week, so I didn’t know the answer. However, that has never stopped me from saying things. When it became clear to me that nobody was going to respond, I piped up with the biggest word I knew at the time: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

8 ) What’s your pet peeve?
When my roommate uses my dishes and then leaves them in the sink without washing them.