Two of our favorite people

We were able to travel south this week and spend a few days with Rick. He is not too terribly far away, just far enough to keep us from being together very often. But we had a great visit and I got a good dose of Rick hugs. He is definitely one of our favorite people!

with the Jeep

in his apartment

with his girlfriend

And here is a new picture of another person we spend a lot of time with, and we love it!

in his new favorite place

Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's day so I want to express my appreciation to my husband for the service he gave to our country. He saw much of the world and gained skills and perspective thanks to the time he spent in the USMC. I wish I had a picture of him in uniform that I could add, but the logo will have to do.

My dad is also a veteran. He served in World War II on a battleship in the Pacific. He was so young, yet willing to leave home and family to defend freedom. He taught me to love my country, and that freedom and liberty come at a high price.

It seems that many today have forgotten the sacrifices that have and are being made by so many to give us the freedom that we often take for granted. I am grateful to them and their families and pray that we will all do whatever is necessary to preserve the liberty of our nation that it might spread throughout the world.

the best of my journal

For the last year and a half I have been taking a small notebook to church with me and jotting down notes, thoughts, and ideas that come to mind during the meetings and classes I attend. Last Sunday I wrote on the last page. I am amazed at the insight and often profound thoughts I have been blessed with. Here are just a few of my favorites:

All I need to do to receive mercy is repent.

Remember that I am who I am because of the choices I have made.

Evil ALWAYS opposes good--but the Lord's strength is stronger than our weakness.

When we see, smell, and taste the real thing we more easily discriminate the real from the counterfeit, and are willing to sacrifice to obtain the real thing. Satan’s goal is to deceive us with counterfeits.

The Lord knows how to overcome my difficulties.

We don’t have the luxury of spending our time on anything that does not lead us back to our Father.

The gospel is not a spectator sport.

You are worth the best God could give.

The extent to which I think about Christ is the extent to which he is my God.

Obedience to law is the habit of free men.

Private behavior determines our happiness.

Sunday meetings are such a blessing in my life. Each week I marvel at the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the motivation it gives me to be a better person during the coming week.How grateful I am for the gift of the Holy Ghost, that he leads me to truth and helps me recognize and accept it, that he bears witness to all truth to all who humbly and sincerely ask.

Conservatives & Liberals

I have been reading a book I bought at Deseret Industries a few years ago called "Vindicating the Founders" written by Thomas G West. (Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. in 1997) It defends these great men against the accusations of racism, sexism, and elitism that are so pervasive in textbooks, our school system, and in our society at large. The author discusses the topics of 1) Slavery, 2) Property Rights, 3)Women and the Right to Vote, 4) Women and the Family, 5) The Property Requirement for Voting, 6) Poverty and Welfare, and 7) Immigration and the Moral Conditions for Citizenship.

I have not finished the book yet, but ran across an idea I want to share. For me, it explains the basic difference between conservatives and liberals; their perspective of mankind and the role of society/government.

John Dewey...was probably the most influential theorist of the New Liberalism... At the heart of Dewey’s liberalism was his belief in “historic relativity,” his conviction that there is no permanent human nature...the individual is always made by some historical context but is nothing in himself. “Social arrangements laws, institutions...are means of creating individuals.” Man is capable of being socially constructed in many ways. p 59
According to Dewey, man does hardly anything on his own; self-reliance and individuality are largely illusory. Qualities like “initiative, inventiveness, varied resourcefulness...are not gifts, but achievements.” Even intelligence is not “a ready-made possession of individuals.” That is because the social order, not nature, produces these qualities. “The state has the responsibility for creating institutions under which individuals can effectively realize the potentialities that are theirs.”
[That is to say] that man is essentially a victim or essentially disabled. For Dewey, it is precisely when people are left alone that they are the most vulnerable. p 60

[the Founders] saw in human nature qualities like reason, self-control, ambition, pride, and spirited self-assertion. They thought that if government protects lives and properties from being taken away by others, most people will be able to take care of themselves and their families. Lincoln’s remedy for slavery was not affirmative action or public welfare but opportunity for all people, white and black, to keep the bread they earn with their own hands. p 60
The presumption of the Founders is that normal human beings are capable of taking care of themselves, if only the artificial weight of legal privileges and restrictions is removed. “The political philosophy behind limited government,” writes Harvey Mansfield, “affirms that nature is more important than nurture: that humans have a fixed nature enabling them to overcome a background of poverty and deprivation.”
p 63

Heaven and Earth

About ten days ago my cousin's daughter was killed in a bus accident. She was the band director at a Utah high school and was returning with the band from a competition in Idaho. When the bus driver blacked out and the bus headed off the road, she tried to take control of the bus and was ejected. Several students were injured, Heather was the only one who died.
Just over two years ago our family went through a similar experience. Rick's friend and business partner was killed in a helicopter accident. Rick came to stay with us for several days; days filled with shock, grief, and heartbreak, it was probably the most difficult thing he had ever dealt with.
We spent a lot of time praying with him, relying on the mercy and love of the Savior to give comfort and understanding.

I love this statement by Elder John H Groberg ~

There is a connection between heaven and earth -
Finding it makes everything meaningful, including death.
Missing it makes everything meaningless, including life.

I am so grateful to know that life goes on after death, that this life is just one part of our loving Father's plan for our happiness. Although death always brings unbelievable sorrow and heartbreak, it is tempered by the peace and love of Jesus Christ who stands waiting for us to turn to him in our times of need. He is the one sure source of comfort, understanding, and peace. Rarely does our problem disappear when we turn to him, but always he offers to bear it with us.

The Book of Mormon

A few days ago I finished the reading the Book of Mormon again. This time it took about a year and a half; I looked up cross references and the meaning of words, and wrote thoughts and impressions I had.

I love the Book of Mormon ~ the more I read and study it, the more precious it is to me. I love the witness it is for my Savior, the many testimonies it contains about his gospel, his plan for our happiness. I love the way I feel when I read, when I think about those people who lived so long ago, yet loved and obeyed the same God I love and try to obey. I learn from their struggles and am encouraged by their victories and successes.
Here are just some of my favorite parts of this amazing book.

King Benjamin and his people lived about 125 BC, he taught his people about the coming of Christ. (Mosiah 3 is beautiful). I especially love the part where the people respond to the king's teachings of the coming of Christ and his mission, Mosiah 4:1-3, and 5:1-5.

Abinadi was called to preach repentance to a wicked people. He was taken before King Noah and questioned. He bore a powerful testimony of Jesus Christ; he was then threatened with death unless he would recall his words. When he refused to deny his words, he was beaten and burned at the stake. Mosiah 13:1-7; 14; 17:5-10,13-20.

Ammon who had at one time been an enemy to the church, became a great missionary, much like Paul in the New Testament. He labored among the Lamanites, the enemy of his people, for 14 years (Alma 17-26). In Alma 26 he expresses his feelings about being an instrument in the hands of the Lord to bring others to Christ.

Captain Moroni was a righteous military leader who loved freedom, and ‘did not delight in bloodshed’. He reminded his people that some things are worth dying for, ‘...our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children’ (Alma 46:12). Two of my favorite passages about him are Alma 46:10-13, and 48:10-13.

Mormon and Moroni ~ These two men, father and son, are examples of enduring, being true to our testimony of the Savior under all circumstances. They witnessed the fulfilling of prophecy, much wickedness and hard heartedness, and finally the total destruction of their society. Some very poignant and touching passages are Mormon 8:1-7, and Moroni 1.
And I love that Moroni was the one who was chosen to tell Joseph Smith about the ancient record he had buried in the hill so many years before, about 420 AD.

I can’t leave out a few of my favorite verses from the book.
2 Nephi 25:26 we talk of Christ...
Jacob 7:10-12 three sources of truth identified
Ether 12:27 seek this Jesus
3 Nephi 9-28 the Savior visits the Book of Mormon people
1 Nephi 18:3 Nephi prays often and receives divine knowledge
Alma 32:28 the gospel is delicious
Alma 36:6-22 the mighty change

I invite you to read these passages, and share your favorites with me.

I share with you my witness that the Book of Mormon is true, it contains the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is another witness that living according to the teachings of our Savior brings blessings and happiness, and that salvation in available to all of us only through his name.

what we have been doing lately

Last week Dave and I were invited to have dinner with several couples we know from our Provo ward. It was a fun evening, so good to reconnect with such great friends.

This is Dave's mom's cousin Linda. We met her one morning on our daily walk as we wandered through the city cemetary. She was parked by Dave's mom's families graves so we asked about her family and made the connection. She visited at our house and we compared genealogy information and family pictures.
Who knew we would meet family here when we moved to Spanish Fork?

Mostly we spend time with Cache. He is so much fun, and he gets all our hugs and kisses, in place of all the other grandbabies who are so far away.