![\"Plan](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/01\/purposeoflife.jpg\")
<\/a>A while back, I read an interesting book by Sarah Hinze that bears the title The Announcing Dream: Dreams and Visions of Children Waiting to Be Born<\/em> (Mesa, AZ: Three Orchard Productions, 2016)<\/a>. \u00a0Sarah Hinze is, by the way, the same person who was behind a 2022 documentary featuring accounts of parents and families who claim to have met the souls of their children before they were born. \u00a0I believe that it can be watched online: Remembering Heaven<\/em><\/a>. \u00a0Anyway, here is one of the passages that I marked during my reading of The Announcing Dream. \u00a0<\/em>It\u2019s told by someone called \u201cJoann B.\u201d who required surgery to undo a problem in her reproductive system:<\/p>\n I was scheduled for my first surgery. \u00a0It was a very delicate surgery that was to last seven hours. \u00a0But during this experience, I stopped breathing. \u00a0Instantly, I found myself suspended in the air above my body. \u00a0I could look down and see everything the doctors and nurses were doing. \u00a0I saw the heart monitor flat and the nurses stirring about. \u00a0My doctor moved away from me to allow another doctor to come in. \u00a0I couldn\u2019t understand why everyone appeared to be so worried.<\/p>\n I found myself in a place where there was a brilliant white light all around me. \u00a0As my senses became alert, I heard a beautiful sound \u2014 it was the sound of peace. \u00a0I cannot describe it with mortal, only that a powerful feeling of peace permeated my very being. \u00a0I could hear spiritual beings moving around behind me in a very calm and orderly manner. \u00a0I don\u2019t know where it came from, but all of a sudden I was holding an infant. \u00a0There was a personage behind me and he said to me, \u201cThis is your daughter, Virginia.\u201d<\/p>\n I looked at her and I was so thrilled. \u00a0Ever since I was a child I had always wanted a blond-haired, blue-eyed little girl. \u00a0These were the features of the beautiful baby girl I was holding. \u00a0My fianc\u00e9, Wade, had blond hair and blue eyes.<\/p>\n I looked at her and asked, \u201cHer name is Virginia?\u201d \u00a0The personage behind me said, \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n I turned around to thank him, and all of a sudden, the heart monitor started going again and I was immediately returned to my body. \u00a0I knew I had been summoned back. \u00a0I was really sad, and my arms hurt because I wasn\u2019t holding that beautiful baby. . . .<\/p>\n I told one nurse exactly what I had seen her do while I was clinically dead. \u00a0She was so startled she dropped the tray she was holding at the time. \u00a0(43-44)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As you might have expected by this point, \u201cJoann B.\u201d married \u201cWade\u201d and soon became pregnant. \u00a0Her firstborn child received the name \u201cVirginia Rose\u201d and was blue-eyed and blond.<\/p>\n And here is a story told by \u201cLois B.\u201d:<\/p>\n I was putting three-year-old Johnny to bed when he asked for a bedtime story. \u00a0For the past few weeks, I had been telling him of the adventures of his great-great-grandfather, a colonizer, a soldier, a community leader. \u00a0As I started another story, Johnny stopped me and said, \u201cNo, tell me of Grandpa Robert.\u201d \u00a0I was surprised. \u00a0This was my grandpa. \u00a0I had not told stories of him, and I could not imagine where he had heard his name. \u00a0He had died before I had even married.<\/p>\n \u201cHow do you know about Grandpa Robert?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, Momma,\u201d he said with reverence, \u201che\u2019s the one who brought me to earth.\u201d \u00a0(35)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Last night (Friday night), we attended a performance by Joshua Henry<\/a> in the main concert hall at the BYU Music Building. \u00a0Not really my favorite musical style, but he\u2019s a wonderful showman with a powerful voice. \u00a0I was very impressed, too, by a couple of passages from his guitarist, Jordan Peters<\/a>.<\/p>\n One of the great blessings of our lives has been residing so close to Brigham Young University, which has provided us with years and years of concerts, lectures, films, dramatic performances, and athletic events. \u00a0To a lesser but still not insignificant extent, we\u2019ve enjoyed offerings from Utah Valley University, which is even closer<\/em> to our home.<\/p>\n The board of directors of the Interpreter Foundation convened for one of the Foundation\u2019s quarterly meetings this morning (Saturday morning). \u00a0We had a number of important issues to discuss, and it was good to have Jeff Bradshaw there, as he is just freshly back from a filming trip to Africa.<\/p>\n Yesterday, I think, my anonymous but dedicated Malevolent Stalker revealed to his online devotees that the principal if not the sole reason for my involvement with the Interpreter Foundation is my desire to travel and to gorge myself at the expense of the Foundation\u2019s donors (of whom I\u2019m one, which makes my thought processes just a bit confusing). \u00a0Anyway, realizing that my mercenary cat is out of the bag, I\u2019ve decided to share the painting above, which was created by a visiting courtroom artist during a pause in today\u2019s meeting. \u00a0Our proceedings today were actually a bit more restrained and spartan than usual, but the photo gives you a pretty good idea of the general atmosphere.<\/p>\n This item, from a CBS affiliate in Texas, was retrieved from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u2122. \u00a0It represents yet more evidence \u2014 as if any additional evidence were really needed! \u2014 of how theists and theism blight our communities: \u00a0\u201cEast Texas Food Bank receives 42,000 pounds of food from Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>