Personal Update, and an Admonition to Blog!

First, I would like to joyously announce that as of Thursday, I have successfully completed a paralegal program! This is huge for me because it's the first ray of sunshine I've had in my path toward the bar. (The law kind, not the alcohol kind.) I'm now looking for a job in a law firm, so that I can quit my current dismal job. If everything goes according to plan, I should be able to go back to law school in the fall. Thank you to those of you who have kept me in your thoughts and prayers. I appreciate it.

I've been blogging now for a little over a year, but it's been sporadic. I'll go through periods where I'll be writing a lot, and I'll go through periods where I'll just read what other people have written. There's been talk around the Bloggernacle about whether the leadership of the church reads our blogs. Elder Ballard, in a talk given at the graduation for BYU-Hawaii, confirmed that they do. Students were admonished to start blogging about the church, because the conversation will happen whether or not we participate in it, and our voices need to be heard.

I would like to give a shout-out to Bookslinger. He's on a quest to flood the Earth with the Book of Mormon, and his blog was referenced in Elder Ballard's remarks. Keep up the awesome work!

I don't have much new to add. This talk is being discussed on several of the larger blogs in the 'nacle. It has renewed me with a desire to publish more often. I'm going to remember the theme scripture I chose for this blog, and I'm going to talk about the gospel throughout the day, and write it on The Posts of My House!

Give a Water Buffalo for Christmas

Janet over at Feminist Mormon Housewives has organized a donation drive for Heifer International. The Bloggernacle is teaming up to raise funds to help. The funds will be used to purchase livestock, which will be given to communities and individuals in need.

Wikipedia's entry on Heifer International reads:

Animals such as goats, water buffalo and camels are “seven M” animals: they provide meat, milk, muscle, manure, money, materials and motivation. Once its immediate needs have been met, a family is free to sell any excess at market. Heifer International provides a breeding animal along with the gift animal so that it can produce offspring. Participating families are required to “pass on the gift”, that is: they must give at least one of the female offspring to a neighbor who has undergone Heifer’s training. In time, that neighbor will pass along one of the offspring of its animal, and so on.

We're trying to raise $1,000 for the "Milk Menagerie". If you want to participate, you can join Team Bloggernacle by clicking here.