OUR FAMILY: Lola's birthday

Sunday, July 5, 2020

Saturday, July 4th, 2020

Houston, Texas

97th operating temple

Dedicated: 26 Aug 2000

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Lamb of God

Revelation 22:3

And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me"

Alma 28-29 with James and Anthony; BM Study Guide

April General Conference

"An Especially Noble Calling"

Joy D. Jones

"The Lord instructed Emma Smith to 'receive the Holy Ghost,' learn much, 'lay aside the things of this world, ... seek for the things of a better,' and 'cleave unto her covenants' with God. Learning is integral to progression, especially as the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost teaches us what is needful for each of us to lay aside - meaning that which could distract us or delay our progression."

Happy sixth birthday to Lola! What a girl! We are so grateful to have her as a part of our eternal family!

More Lola pictures to come

James and Anthony started on the fence around 5:30 this morning. They are setting posts with bags of concrete. There have been ten posts set and a total of 20 bags of concrete, all hand mixed by James himself. At 8:30 they came in for breakfast and scriptures and prayer. I made scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, hashbrowns, and toast and herbal tea for breakfast. Anthony read scriptures with us. I let him use my new Book of Mormon and he loved it. After this break Anthony went home to take a nap with his Cat. James worked on the fence a little longer then he came in and we went to town. He got paint for the basement where he had to fix the water line. He went in to Walmart and came back with shakes, a watermelon, his raspberry dark chocolate bars and some ice cream for me. While he was in Home Depot I went over to Aliberto's and got an Arizona burrito. Delicious but quite greasy. Probably a 1,000 calories. I read a chapter of two from "Aunt Dimity and the Buried Treasure."

After nap James went out and worked on the road putting more gravel in the low spots. He went for a ride on Luna and then came in and worked on the basement. He painted the wall and hopes the paint will match when it dries.

I got instructions from Amazon regarding my stranded 16 books. I have to delete them all and then re-enter them using the same SKU and ISBN numbers. The only thing I can figure is when I changed the setting for shipment that messed everything up. I can't re-enter the books for 24 hours so that means it won't be until Monday.

I walked, worked on my blog and studied from the Book of Mormon this evening before going to bed.

Fasting for missionary work and for the riots to stop in our country.

Congratulations Trenda and Emery!

Sunday, July 8, 2018

Wednesday, July 4th, 2018

Nuku'alofa, Tonga

23rd operating temple

Dedicated: 9-11 Aug 1983

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Creator

Job 38:4

Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

Alma 27:1-15

*How much faith did the king have in the Lord? (see verse 8).

Elder M. Russell Ballard explains:

"Learning to recognize and follow the Lord's voice is vital for spiritual progression. God expects us to hear and know His voice in this life, but He also expects us to act." ("Responding to the Promptings of the Spirit", Jan. 1988).

Old Testament

2 Chronicles 5-6

5 The temple is finished, and the ark of the covenant is placed in the holy of holies - The glory of the Lord fill the temple.

6 Solomon blesses the congregation of Israel - He offers the dedicatory prayer for the temple - He prays for mercy and blessings for penitent Israel.

General Conference

Until Seventy Times Seven

Elder Lynn G. Robbins

" No one is more on our side than the Savior. He allows us to take and keep retaking His exams. To become like Him will require countless second chances in our day-to-day struggles with the natural man, such as controlling appetites, learning patience and forgiveness, overcoming slothfulness, and avoiding sins of omission, just to name a few. If to err is human nature, how many failures will it take us until our nature is no longer human but divine? Thousands? More likely a million."

Before I left for the valley this morning I put sheets on two of the beds upstairs, wrapped Lola's four presents, made myself a green smoothie did scriptures and prayers, listened to a general conference talk and three articles from the Ensign, including an article by Elder Rasband about his ancestors who were handcart pioneers.

I listened to President Eyring's biography all the way to the valley. I left about an hour late, at 11. When I got to Show Low I washed the car, again. I am glad I wasn't here an hour ago because I would have been in the middle of the 4th of July parade which is a serious thing in Show Low. At the other end of town in front of Licano's there were several police cars flashing their lights. As I approached I saw a smashed black and white police car in the middle of the road.

I stopped at the Fry's in Globe. Listening to President Eyring's book has inspired me to write more and I realized I didn't bring a notebook to write in with me so I stopped and got a couple of notebooks and some new pens. I also bought a diet Coke to help me stay awake and to go with my bag of Booma Chika popcorn.

I arrived at Darrel and Trina's around 3. I guess that Trina and the kids must still be swimming and Darrel is at work. James arrived about 5 minutes after I did. He helped me unload my car. Trina had Lola's party all set up with balloons halfway up the stairs and all the gifts wrapped. I added my four little gifts to the stash.

Happy Birthday Lola!

A little while after we arrived Trina and the kids returned from their swim. They all got ready for the party and soon Bob, Suzy, Tristyn, Ria, and Case arrived. Tristyn is here from Hawaii with her kids because she is going to California with the family. They all go every summer to spend a week on the beach.

Bob and Suzy brought Barro's pizza and some chicken wings to share before the birthday cake and ice cream. Soon Darrel was home and we could all gather around and sing Happy Birthday to Lola.