Sunday, October 7, 2012

I sure miss them!

I have just finished watching inspired leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints speak to the world. There has been 8 wonderful hours of these talks in the last 2 days. Along with the words, there have been songs of joy and gladness to aid in taking the teachings directly into my heart. I love to listen to General Conference and always it ends with so much spirituality overflowing my heart.

These are the times that I miss my Uncle Stan and Aunt Madge Roberts! I miss them after conference like at no other time. Let me tell you why.

Sunday night after conference ended, they invited their children and grandchildren old enough to express their feelings (and any other odd bits of family that happened to be in the area), over to their home. The first time I went, I had no idea what to expect. What I found made my soul sing. People came in all states of dress—from Sunday best to lounging pajamas- it didn’t matter. All were welcomed with a warm smile and a warmer hug. We gathered in their largest room with some extra chairs set up to help fit everyone, but even then, a few always ended up sitting on the floor. It never worked that all of those invited could be there, but it was always full.

Someone was asked to say a prayer to open this simple, but most important, family gathering. Then Uncle Stan would begin by reminding us that we had just been blessed to listen to a Prophet of God and other inspired leaders. He then shared one or two of the things that he heard and felt the strongest feelings about. Then Aunt Madge would share one or two of the things that she felt were most important to her.

After they had set the example, we went around the room, one by one, and each was invited to share feelings if they desired to. Some did and some passed. No judgment was ever made on anyone. Some were touched by a story, some by a song; some found answers they had been looking for. A few times there were tears, occasionally someone was too emotional to speak and would just pass. There were times that got uncomfortable, some that were too emotional, but no one was stopped or directed or questioned. It was just a family sharing feelings. As it should be!

By the end of the time, everyone had had an opportunity to share feelings and insight. All of those there had been given the opportunity to share the spiritual feelings they had been having from listening to the Prophet of God. Each family member was able to hear what was important to every other family member there. All of them, young and old, knew that their feelings about spiritual things were important to express and that others wanted to hear them. No one had to prepare a talk, or make notes or stand up in front of the church. It was only a place to share those overflowing spiritual blessings that strengthen testimonies when shared and heard.

I have never seen another family do this kind of sharing of spiritual feelings. But the focus on listening to the leaders of the church, and then being able to share what your feeling were about the things said, is one of the most powerful teaching times for a family. No one was pressured, no one was assigned, no one was overlooked, and everyone was loved! Combining the Lord’s Living Prophet, the Family, and Testimonies, large and small—what better way to teach what is important.

After a closing prayer we were all eager to get to the dessert that Aunt Madge had ready for us. All family gatherings need to have food, don’t you think?

I sure miss Uncle Stan and Aunt Madge.

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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Heleman's Army


I learned the scripture story about the 2000 stripling warriors when I was very young and have always been impressed by it.   Sometimes it helps us to have a better understanding of the scriptures when we apply them to our lives now.

I came across this and found it so impressive!  To see how long it takes to view 2000 young men is amazing.  

The video of the Bountiful Handcart Days 2012 Parade of these young men below.


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Tuesday, July 3, 2012

10,340,879

To learn about Indexing and how to participate go to indexing.familysearch.org
We are indexing worldwide records to make them available FREE ONLINE to those who are seraching for their Family History.


History is a wonderful thing, especially when you get to be part of it! 
     FamilySearchIndexing set a goal to index and arbitrate 5 million names in 24 hours.  This was a worldwide goal and anyone was invited to participate.  Here in Arizona, it started at 5 pm on July 1, 2012
     Dear Daughter and I both paricipated and we watched Facebook for updated during the 24 hours.  We hit the 5 million names with about 5or 6 hours left to go.  Then the numbers just started to climb so fast!!  I had to check Facebook every hour for the next update.

This morning they gave us the total:
        Final Record Count:

        ■7,258,151 Indexed
        ■3,082,728 Arbitrated
        ■10,340,879 Total
            (46,091 indexers and arbitrators paticipating)

      It is such a great feeling to know I participated in this and helped set a historical marker!  They even created a trophy for us to print or share.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Ketchup Question

I just realized it was November that I last posted anything. Time to pay attention to my own life, I guess.

Of course, if anything has happened that was post-worthy, I would have posted it. That is a sad comment on my life. Just runs around on a circular track, passing the same things over and over; not noticing anything anymore. Summer in Arizona is not the best time of year for me. It tends to aggravate the health issues I have, just like with half the population here.

Got to put on my thinking cap and find something to post about:

School is out- daughter home all summer.
Got stuck in the Fiero when the engine stopped on the street—had enough movement to get into a parking lot—an hour of sitting in the car (under the sun roof) before we got it going again.
Crocheting—always crocheting.
Bad hair days—is there any other kind of day?
Living with no money—everyone is doing that.
Van is finally safe—that’s happy—let’s go with it….

For about 5 years now, we have had trouble with the side doors on the van. Because of having an angry child slam them open and closed, the center slider on each side broke. First one side, then the other. It got to where only one side would open and only Hubby could get it closed. So we just didn’t use the center doors. That’s find unless you want to give someone a ride, or have dear daughter be able to get out of the car in an emergency. But no money equals no repairs, so we lived with it, or without it.

I finally decided that my car, since I drive the van, needed to be looked at so we knew what the price damages would be. On the way home from a lot of errands to the other side of nowhere on a very hot day last week, we made our last stop at the KIA dealership to get everything looked at. We ended up making an appointment to come back last Thursday.

On the way home is when the Fiero decided to have a fever and leave us in the sun for an hour. But that is another story!

We couldn’t afford the repairs, so we were making arrangements to get a ride out to pick it up without the doors fixed and not knowing when we could get them fixed. Then we had a wonderful offer from someone to help pay for them to be repaired. I am not a fool. I do not pass up that kind of offer. So we called and told them to repair the doors. Big sigh, repeated many times!

When we went to pick up the repaired van, the first thing I did was open the center door. It slid so smoothly and easily! Wonderful! Wait, what is that? One of the huge bottles of ketchup was lying on the floor where I would not have ever seen it without the door open. I started laughing and got in the van to drive home. I laughed all the way!

Before I even went in the house I cleaned out the van and organized it again. It was so easy with the side doors open. I found some interesting things which I choose not to divulge!

The ketchup was not bulging, so I brought it in, along with a lot of other “stuff”, and set it on the counter. Once it cooled, it still wasn’t bulging.

So my question is this:
                 Would you eat the ketchup?

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