Suicide Squirrel

Shelby and I went shopping for her first pair of walking shoes today. We found some at Payless Shoes for $9. Whoop! We also found a pair of boots that I loved but they were $45...so they stayed at the store...Boo!

First pair of walking shoes!

Soft sole but awesome little grippies so she doesn't slide around.

When we came home I noticed a super fluffy tail up in the corner of our sliding glass door. What the heck? I went over for a closer look and saw that it was a little squirrel sitting on the handle bars of my bike! (we have my bike hanging from our patio ceiling) It started to climb down the screen on the door and attempted to jump out of our patio. It didn't take me long to realize that this poor little thing just couldn't get out! After about 10 minutes of watching it I ran out there and stacked some boxes next to the ledge so it could use them as steps to jump out a little more easily...or so I thought. It wouldn't use them!

It would run over them like an obstacle but wouldn't use them as a step out. A little later I found it on top of our deep freeze. It was able to climb up the extra boards we had on the side of it and it was running around on top of the freezer like it was lost.

There was another squirrel that kept coming back for it but it didn't seem to be able to help it either. I think it was just too little to be able to jump out. After a few minutes of watching it on top of our freezer I started recording it on our camera. And that's when it happened....it JUMPED!!

Not just any old jump...but a run across the wall move that any parkour enthusiast would be proud of...until it missed the tree and fell 3 stories to the ground. My heart skipped a beat when I realized what had happened and that I had caught it all on video. I ran outside and looked for it but didn't see it on the ground. I did however see a little squirrel starting to climb up the tree...which I'm hoping was the one that decided to try and commit suicide! "Are you ok?" I asked...Yes...I spoke to the squirrel. No it didn't reply but after it started running up the tree I figured it was ok. Haha!

Here's the video I caught of the little fluff ball taking the plunge!

Epiphany

A while back Ryan and I attended our Sunday School class at church and I was lucky enough to have one of those "Ah hah!" moments. The lesson was on the Plan of Happiness and talked a lot about The Restoration. This new found piece of information has been stuck in my mind ever since then and I decided I would blog about it to have it in ink so I don't forget it. And perhaps maybe it'll be able to give someone else that "ah hah" moment.

We were reading in the Book of Mormon in Alma chapter 41. The moment of my epiphany came when we read verses 12-13. Those verses read:

12 - And now behold, is the meaning of the work restoration to take a thing of a natural state and place it in an unnatural state, or to place it in a state opposite to its nature?

13 - O, my son, this is not the case; but the meaning of the word restoration is to bring back again evil for evil, or carnal for carnal, or devilish for devilish - good for that which is good; righteous for that which is righteous; just for that which is just; merciful for that which is merciful. 

Ryan leaned over to me and said "Makes you realize the importance of being good doesn't it?" Then it clicked and I FINALLY truly understood the meaning of the word restoration. It is to restore something to its original form/condition. 

Those who know me well know that I am a HUGE car nut. (this is relevant, I promise) I LOVE cars; a classic muscle car will get me every time. I immediately thought of restoring a car and how, when you restore a car, you bring it back to its original glory. 

Ok, so maybe that wasn't the most relevant example I could have used...but that's what came to mind right after reading those scriptures. Ryan's comment made me realize that yes, it is extremely important to be good in this life so that we are restored to our "natural" good state when the restoration happens. 

You can't be bad and make bad choices all your life and expect to be restored to a good and righteous state. You have to work for what you want and I know I want to be able to be lifted up in the Second Coming as a righteous being in my best state. 

Ok, so there's my "ah hah" moment and my first "churchy" post. Hopefully it makes sense and hopefully I didn't make a mistake anywhere when it comes to quoting the scriptures.