Happiness on a 1/2 Acre

The last of 4 two hour sessions of General Conference just ended. I have to admit that it was nice having Kendal just a little on the immobile side!
I love my dad. He is a man that I truly adore. I think so much of his opinions and advice, that is one reason I married who I did. My dad has had so much influence unknowingly on the decisions I have made. I value his advice and what he thinks more than anyone else in my life besides Matt. But this afternoon I have found one thing for myself that is not my dad's opinion. My dad isn't a huge fan of Thomas S. Monson, the new president of our church. That opinion has been with me also for at least 15 years, not because my dad told me to think like him, but just because I did.
President Monson has been one of the counselors to the presidents in our church for years and years. I have never really enjoyed his talks because I conditioned myself not to. When my sweet President Hinckley passed away 2 months ago, I was so sad. He was such a good man, but I was also sad because I knew President Monson would move into his position as President of the church, and I knew my dad didn't really like him.
As I was listening to President Monson speak this afternoon about how he met his dear wife Francis, I knew right then that President Monson is a good man and he IS the President of our church and our Prophet not by accident, but for a reason, and that reason is that God wants him to be there. I felt that deep in my heart and tears rolled down my cheeks. Tears of relief that I could really listen to, follow, and come to love President Monson as the Prophet today like I loved President Hinkley.
So even though my dad is still the first person I think about when I make a big decision, I guess we will have to agree to disagree about President Monson. He is the Prophet of the Lord and I have learned that today.
I have enjoyed General Conference this spring. I love hearing President Uchtdorf's accent and I very much loved his talk about the faith of our fathers. He said that anyone striving to come closer to Christ and to follow him, like our fathers that came long before us as Protestants, Puritans, Presbyterians, or whatever religion they were, showed amazingly great faith and we should be grateful.
I also enjoyed a talk from one of yesterday's sessions, I can't remember if it was Elder Perry or Elder Scott that talked about recipes. Whoever it was told us of looking in a nice cookbook and seeing a beautiful picture of a delicious dish to make. He said the only way that your own dish would turn out like the one in the picture in the cookbook was if you followed the recipe exactly and had the correct ingredients. If you did, then yours would taste as good and look as good as the picture. He then said that if we could see a picture of Eternal Life, the greatest gift of God, then we would be perfectly precise about the recipe we are following. We would follow the directions of th recipe to the T and not leave out any ingredients in our lives. Wow.