Friday, November 25, 2016

The Christmas season is officially here!

Mormon 6:6-22

Mormon asks his people why they rejected the open arms of Christ.  Mormon taught that their reunion with the Savior would have been joyful.  We too must prepare ourselves to stand before the Lord at the Judgment.  President James E. Faust explained: "We long for the ultimate blessing of the Atonement - to become one with Him, to be in His divine presence, to be called individually by name as He warmly welcomes us home with a radiant smile, beckoning us with open arms to be enfolded in His boundless love.  How gloriously sublime this experience will be if we can feel worthy enough to be in His presence.  The free gift of His great atoning sacrifice for each of us is the only way we can be exalted enough to stand before Him and see Him face to face.  The overwhelming message of the Atonement is the perfect love the Savior has for each of us.  It is a love full of mercy, patience, grace, equity, long-suffering and, above all, forgiving.  The evil influence of Satan would destroy any hope we have in overcoming our mistakes.  He would have us feel that we are lost and that there is no hope.  In contrast, Jesus reaches down to us to lift us up.  Through our repentance and the gift of the Atonement, we can prepare to be worthy to stand in His presence. (CR, October 2001).

GC:      "The Righteous Judge" by Elder Lynn G. Robbins

In His mortal life, Jesus Christ was a loving judge, uncommonly wise and patient.  He is known in the scriptures as "the righteous judge," and His counsel to us is to also "judge righteous judgment" and "to put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good and to judge righteously."

 I just couldn't resist.

There were over 20 cows in our yard today and James had to chase them away twice. After the second time he said: "I need a dog.  I guess the Dobson's just opened the gates and let them go."

We spent a relaxing day at home eating leftovers, and watching Christmas movies.  I am sorry to say that I ate a little too much.

Kim and Brian went on a Razr ride.  Kim was happy because they got to see snow and she got to feel the wind in her face.

James wrapped up in his polar bear blanket on the couch

watching "An Old-Fashioned Christmas."

He is such a romantic at heart.

I am grateful to James for keeping the fire going all day, and for building us such a beautiful home,  and for his desire to make constant improvements.

Sheri, Max, and Evan went over to visit at Darrel and Trina's today.

Lola was upstairs but when she saw Evan she yelled:

"Evan, come here, I need you!"

 Better than shopping on Black Friday!

Lola takes Sheri for a ride.

Some sad news in this entertainment world today.  Florence Henderson, the mother on the "Brady Bunch" TV show passed away today. She was 82 years old.

The last time I saw her was in September on "DWTS"

when she paid a surprise visit to Maureen McCormick, who played her daughter Marcia Brady on the "Brady Bunch."

This evening while we were watching Christmas movies, James, Kim and I, Brian went upstairs to watch the annual ASU vs. UofA

game.  Sad to say there won't be much celebrating in Tempe tonight unless it is by the Wildcat fans.  

Here are the movies we watched today: "An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving," "An Old Fashioned Christmas," "Christmas Homestead," and "Christmas List."

Some photos of guys that I love:

Grandson James two years ago on Thanksgiving.

Rusty and Jackson from our ward.

These are two of the kindest, thoughtful,

and polite boys you will ever meet.

Rusty is a return missionary and Jackson is a state

wrestling champ from last year as a junior.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

"There exists today a great need for men and women to cultivate respect for each other across wide distances of belief and behavior and across deep canyons of conflicting agendas."

-Elder W. Craig Zwick

It was 59 degrees when I got up this morning.  I love sleeping with the windows open!  Two bunnies, one chasing the other, were playing outside the dining room window as I did my morning study.  

Max and Evan finally got to meet Lola.

Max loves babies!

Precious baby girl!

I cleaned upstairs today and found Ruby's 

pink elephant Peanut.

Trina says Ruby has been worried about Peanut

and that she will be so happy.

Just as I was leaving to go visiting teaching around 3:30

there was a downpour of rain.  I took pictures of some of the

runoff from the mountain on ACR3261.

This is why we did the sandbags.

By the time I got to Rosa Westbrook's at 4pm the rain had 

stopped.  I met my partner Rosie Lauritzen and we had a nice

visit with Rosa.  July 2nd was her birthday so I brought her a gift.

Rosa always gives us a report on her daughter Sadie who is serving a mission in Mexico.  Sadie has been promoted to a leadership position and on the funny side she was served ants to eat at a members home.  She said she ate one.  Luckily there were other things to eat too so she didn't go hungry.  

Linda Diewald was supposed to be our next visit but she had to cancel so we went to see Barbie Shumacher.  Barbie always has lemon water prepared for us to drink.  Her three dogs had to greet us and then they went outside to enjoy the nice weather.  I always smells so good after it rains!  

This evening I finally caught up on So You Think You Can Dance.  I pretty much like all of the contestants this year, even the tappers.  Stacy said Joshua just sobbed when he thought he wasn't going to get to come up this weekend.  She was supposed to come today but for some reason she changed her mind.  The reason he wants to come this week is because the Trezise boys will be here and he loves Max and Evan.  I told her to have him come with dad because she didn't want to ask Sheri.  It's all set, he's coming with James.

I got a call from Randa Covert asking me if I would teach the young women's lesson for her on Sunday because she has an exam to study for.  It's on the importance of temple ordinances.  

I finished the Continuous Conversion book by Brad Wilcox and I'm ready to start the Continuous Atonement.  

I love my new purple earbuds!