This morning (Dec 30), Eric and I went to the Candy Mountain Ward sacrament meeting to listen to Casey Garland's farewell talk before he leaves for his mission next week. Casey was a student of mine at Richland HS. He joined the church 3 years ago and has decided to serve a mission. He has been called to the Congo.
His talk was so powerful. His conversion story reminded me of my story 30 years ago. It was actually a lot like my conversion. He was 19 when he go baptized; I was 20. He got introduced to the church through a girl and friends. Me too. His family was mostly indifferent to his decision. Mine too. But, he knew the Church is true and couldn't deny it. Me too.
I spent most of the rest of the day reminiscing about those early days when I joined the Church. I had so many questions; some of them I still have. But through it all, I knew that the Holy Ghost had borne a deep and abiding witness to my heart and soul that I could not deny, and I knew that as long as I remembered that then everything would work out.
After Casey's talk, we attended our ward. Anthony Muai spoke about the Spirit of Elijah--basically the sealing power that binds families together for eternity. It's significant to note that I don't believe in coincidences. It's not a coincidence that I was reminded of my conversion by Casey and then 2 hours later I'm reminded by Anthony of the promise that families can be together forever. That's why I joined the church--the promise of an eternal family.
I wish I could say that my conversion was motivated by my intense desire to strengthen my relationship with my Heavenly Father. But it wasn't. I wanted an eternal family. That's what drew me to the church. Now I know that in order to have an eternal family, I need to build my relationship with God and accept His son Jesus Christ as my Savior. I understand and accept that the fulness of the Gospel was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Part of that includes temples and the sealing power. It all fits together.
How did God bless me yesterday? He reminded me of why I joined the Church in the first place--my eternal family.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Dec. 29, 2012
How has God blessed me today?
I worked on the flooring in Marlee's room. We ran out of material with about a 1 foot strip left to finish. The flooring has to be special ordered and will take a week to get her. Not so great. But Marlee is happy with what we've done. I decided to disassemble her bed and move it out of the room. It made things so much easier. Eric and I had a good time working on the flooring. It's fun to work together; we don't get many of those chances anymore. So that's my blessing for today.
For dinner tonight we took the kids to Bob's Burgers. The food was great and it was fun to be out. Afterwards we drove to Kennewick to see the Senske Christmas Light Show. The music was good; the choreographed lights were cool. When we got home, Shannon made warm eggnog chai tea with whipped cream and we played Yahtzee. The kids were in a playful mood. Lots of jokes and playing around.
Shannon mentioned that since she's leaving Tuesday for work, she only gets 2 more days with Eric. He won't be back home until probably June. I think we might plan a trip to Utah for Spring Break to see him.
My blessing today has been time with my family.
I worked on the flooring in Marlee's room. We ran out of material with about a 1 foot strip left to finish. The flooring has to be special ordered and will take a week to get her. Not so great. But Marlee is happy with what we've done. I decided to disassemble her bed and move it out of the room. It made things so much easier. Eric and I had a good time working on the flooring. It's fun to work together; we don't get many of those chances anymore. So that's my blessing for today.
For dinner tonight we took the kids to Bob's Burgers. The food was great and it was fun to be out. Afterwards we drove to Kennewick to see the Senske Christmas Light Show. The music was good; the choreographed lights were cool. When we got home, Shannon made warm eggnog chai tea with whipped cream and we played Yahtzee. The kids were in a playful mood. Lots of jokes and playing around.
Shannon mentioned that since she's leaving Tuesday for work, she only gets 2 more days with Eric. He won't be back home until probably June. I think we might plan a trip to Utah for Spring Break to see him.
My blessing today has been time with my family.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Dec. 28, 2012
Here is it almost the end of 2012. As previous entries will confirm, I suck at keeping a journal. But since the new year is always a time for resolutions, you guessed it.
This Christmas has been great. It's been so nice having Eric home. He spent the last two Christmases on his mission in Phoenix, so as I said, it's been nice having him home. Marlee and Shannon have enjoyed his presence too.
Today has been a "work" day. Shannon decided it's time to do new flooring in Marlee's bedroom. When we had her new closet done last year, we did bamboo flooring. But it stopped at the threshold of the closet. Ever since then, we've promised her that we would extend it into her whole room. Problem, there's already 70-year-old oak flooring in her room. So, we're having to pull up the existing oak flooring, clean and prep the subfloor and then re-install the new bamboo flooring. Problem. We can't take her bed and giant desk out of the room because they're too big to fit through the door without disassembling them. So, we have to pull up the old and lay the new flooring with stuff in the room. Lots of shifting and adjusting and moving and angling. To be honest, it's pretty brutal. We worked for about 5 hours today and maybe got a third of the floor down. To further complicate the process, Shannon goes into a coughing and gagging fit if the dust gets stirred up, so I have to do all of the cuts outside. So, every piece of flooring I have to cut requires me to measure it, walk downstairs and out to the driveway where the chop saw is set up. Cut it and then walk back into the house and upstairs. Of course, Shannon always seems to think these little jobs will only take a couple of hours.
--------------------------------
I don't think my ancestors will care that much about my struggles with home repair and maintenance. The reason I want to do a better job of keeping a journal goes back to a talk by Pres. Eyring in General Conference of Oct 2007. The talk was called "O Remember, Remember" and it was about keeping a journal. This passage has stuck with me ever since I first heard it:
"I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done."
This is why I need to keep a journal--so my children and grandchildren will know that I am always aware of the blessings God grants me every day. I know my words sometimes fall on deaf ears. Sometimes my words are grumpy. But if they can read my journal (perhaps after I'm dead and gone), they can know my thoughts and feelings.
So how has God blessed me today?
Well, I have an income that allows me to be able to purchase the supplies I need to lay the flooring. I have the knowledge and the ability to be able to do the work. I'm not the greatest carpenter in the world, but dad and my father-in-law taught me enough to be able to simple carpentry. I'm also keeping a promise to Marlee. I want her to know that I'm willing to sacrifice my time and (minimal) talents to make her happy.
This Christmas has been great. It's been so nice having Eric home. He spent the last two Christmases on his mission in Phoenix, so as I said, it's been nice having him home. Marlee and Shannon have enjoyed his presence too.
Today has been a "work" day. Shannon decided it's time to do new flooring in Marlee's bedroom. When we had her new closet done last year, we did bamboo flooring. But it stopped at the threshold of the closet. Ever since then, we've promised her that we would extend it into her whole room. Problem, there's already 70-year-old oak flooring in her room. So, we're having to pull up the existing oak flooring, clean and prep the subfloor and then re-install the new bamboo flooring. Problem. We can't take her bed and giant desk out of the room because they're too big to fit through the door without disassembling them. So, we have to pull up the old and lay the new flooring with stuff in the room. Lots of shifting and adjusting and moving and angling. To be honest, it's pretty brutal. We worked for about 5 hours today and maybe got a third of the floor down. To further complicate the process, Shannon goes into a coughing and gagging fit if the dust gets stirred up, so I have to do all of the cuts outside. So, every piece of flooring I have to cut requires me to measure it, walk downstairs and out to the driveway where the chop saw is set up. Cut it and then walk back into the house and upstairs. Of course, Shannon always seems to think these little jobs will only take a couple of hours.
--------------------------------
I don't think my ancestors will care that much about my struggles with home repair and maintenance. The reason I want to do a better job of keeping a journal goes back to a talk by Pres. Eyring in General Conference of Oct 2007. The talk was called "O Remember, Remember" and it was about keeping a journal. This passage has stuck with me ever since I first heard it:
"I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done."
This is why I need to keep a journal--so my children and grandchildren will know that I am always aware of the blessings God grants me every day. I know my words sometimes fall on deaf ears. Sometimes my words are grumpy. But if they can read my journal (perhaps after I'm dead and gone), they can know my thoughts and feelings.
So how has God blessed me today?
Well, I have an income that allows me to be able to purchase the supplies I need to lay the flooring. I have the knowledge and the ability to be able to do the work. I'm not the greatest carpenter in the world, but dad and my father-in-law taught me enough to be able to simple carpentry. I'm also keeping a promise to Marlee. I want her to know that I'm willing to sacrifice my time and (minimal) talents to make her happy.
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