Baton Rougue Week 18

Monday was a nice day. We had a few people over for dinner. I made red beans and rice. One couple brought salad. The other guest, a single sister and her older son, brought some bread. We had a nice chat with dinner, a brief lesson focused on the home teaching message, and then we played "Greed". It was nice to have some people over. We had cake and ice cream for dessert. We have a ton of red beans left over. I still cook for too many, but we are trying to eat moderately and freeze the rest. So, now we have red beans for tomorrow without having to do anything tomorrow evening except cook some rice.
We are still trying to plan out meals. We have enjoyed eating at home and are not eating out much. The kitchen has been great. We are trying to make things from scratch. We are trying to store what we eat and learn to have leftovers. For example, during the week we had couple of sausages left over from the red beans. I cooked a package of mixed colored pasta and then mixed in some onion, olives, a little celery, a little carrot. We used it as a side for the sausage and then we saved the rest. Two days later we opened a can of tuna put it in the pasta and added some salad dressing. It was great. Do you see how exciting our lives are?
I had lunch with a colleague in the English department last Wednesday. It is nice to get to know some people. He is also new here at LSU. He was at a small liberal arts college and is now here as an associate professor teaching Shakespeare. I am also meeting with a graduate student who teaches the Young Adult literature course this week.
We are working hard here. We have another paper almost done. We had a good week this week. At the faculty meeting they announced that there will be an opening in educational leadership. We need your support and prayers so that Dana can do her best and things will fall into place. Last Sunday afternoon we drove to Hammond, Louisiana. It is about 40 miles away and there is a college there Southeastern Louisiana. They have an opening in Ed leadership, so we drove over to check it out.
On the way back we stopped in at a state park that has cabin for rent. They are 90 dollars a night. They were pretty nice. We also found out that they have a large group cabin that sleeps 56 for 200 a night. I think lots of youth groups and family reunions use it. This opportunity is something to think about.
I am not pulling an Amelia here, but go vote. If you don't vote don't complain. I think there is a lot more to this vote than meets the eye. I hope that all of you continue to save money. I say this every time, but pay your tithing, invest in your retire plan, and save in a different source for your retirement. This means that you should save for the big things and have money that you don't touch. Over time it will build. Avoid debt for cars etc. People who do this will be ready for tough times and be ready to take advantage of opportunities that come along.
We were lucky enough to get tickets to the LSU & UGA game. They were pricey but it was worth it. We were able to sit with our neighbors. I really would like to see both teams do well. We were hoping that it would be a close game, but that Georgia would win. Georgia's early interception and an early establishment of a passing game really set LSU on its heels. I don't think it was as close as the score looked like. Both teams are in serious need of a better secondary defense. We hope that this bodes well for UGA against Florida (at least everyone around here hates Florida). We were also surprised how quickly so many fans left the stadium. Many left in the third quarter down two touchdowns. LSU even made a nice run late in the third and Georgia made some stupid mistakes down the stretch. We tried not to gloat. It does take awhile for the fans to get home. I think it took us about forty five minutes to walk to our car and then drive the five miles home. That doesn't count stopping to order a pizza and pick up milk at Albertsons. (Albertsons, it is still a little weird that Albertsons is one of the big grocery chains here.)
We are inviting some neighbors to the wards trunk or treat. The high priests are being against to bring chili to the event. I taught the lesson in Priesthood today. It was based on the talk "Ask in Faith" by Elder Bednar. I think it went well and I enjoyed reading Elder Bednar's talk in preparation for the talk. I noticed how consistently he begins his talks by inviting the spirit to assist both him and the audience to help them learn and/or reinforce the gospel lesson being taught. I think this is a great tactic. I think the key point is that we need to have meaningful prayer that involves asking and being prepared to act in accordance with the promptings of the spirit. Think of how Joseph Smith was prepared from the beginning to act, to join a church when given direction. Do we do this? It was certainly a good reminder for me. I am going to try to pray more purposefully this week. One goal, one week at a time.
We love you all and look forward to seeing those of you who live in Utah again soon.
Take care of each other.
Love Dad and Dana