OUR FAMILY

Monday, January 14, 2019

Saturday, January 12th, 2018

Colonia Juarez, Chichuachua, Mexico

55th operating temple

Dedicated: 6 Mar 1999

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

2 Nephi 17:14

Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign - Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Book of Mormon

1 Nephi 10:11-11:11

*What do I think it means to "diligently seek"?

* How has the gift of the Holy Ghost blessed you in your life?

New Testament "Come Follow Me" #2

Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38 The faithful willingly submit to God's will.

Luke 1:37 - "With God nothing shall be impossible."

Luke 1:38 - "Be it unto me according to thy word."

General Conference

Believe, Love, Do

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"The scriptures teach us that 'without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is.

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. This is the promise to all who seek to believe."

I read an article today in the Ensign called, "The Purpose that Will Change Our Ministering." Here are some quotes from that article:

Our efforts should be guided by the desire to help others achieve a deeper individual conversion and become more liked the Savior." In DC 67:13 it says: "Ye are not able to abide the presence of God now, neither the ministering of angels; wherefore, continue in

patience until ye are perfected."

1.) Connect service with the Savior, 2.) Focus on the Covenant Path, 3.) Invite and encourage.

Six ways we can help others progress toward Christ: Share, Promise Blessings (DC 130:20-21), Invite, Plan together, Support, Follow-up.

We were scheduled to clean the church again today. The Allen's were there when we arrived a little before 9 a.m. The Gardner's came at 9 and brought their two sons, Dimitri and Liam.

Here are what our cars looked like parked in front of the church: Notice they are all supposed to be white cars:

Allen's

Lexy

Gardner's

They definitely win for dirtiest car.

Tina Allen and I cleaned the bathrooms. I got a kick out of this list I found:

The funny part is where it says to always were safety goggles.

Ha!

After we were finished at the church we went to the post office and mailed Anna's birthday card. I can't believe that she is going to be 17!

For lunch we had leftover beef steak and some venison. I believe I liked the venison better. James wanted to wash the car in the warmest part of the day, between 12 and 1, but I convinced him that we needed a nap before we started.

Once we got on our "gear" for using the power sprayer in the snow and mud we were ready to start. It was slow going at first. My assignment was to scrap as much mud out of the garage as possible while James worked on getting the power sprayer going. The first problem we had was that the hose had frozen water in it. I think frozen water is called ice. I got the heater from the bedroom and James slowly thawed the ice.

The next problem we had was getting it started. It is gas and has a pull rope. James tried a few times and then asked me to try. Nothing. He tried again and finally got it started. He wanted to clean out the garage first and then do the car.

I got to help do the car. It was fun. I like using the power sprayer and watching the caked on mud come off. Here is my man working:

It's so nice to have a clean car and garage!

I always want to have a clean car when I go to

church or to the temple. Remember,

cleanliness is next to Godliness.

I blogged and then tried to order an antenna for our Mifi from Verizon but it's not happening because we have a business account and no one seems to be able to help me.

James just ordered a book from a company called Bookholders for $46.99 and it sells on Amazon for $145.33. Hopefully ours will sell. So far we have sold one book for a profit.

We watched the new Hallmark movie tonight, "Winter Proposal" starring Taylor Cole, and Jack Turner. James has a little crush on Taylor.

Merry Christmas from the Dowdle's

I love our little "lamb" with her lamb

Such a sweetie!

Look how much she's grown!
Kacey's Bff

Sheri's Bff

I love this picture of Rowan snowboarding
about four years ago at Sunrise.

I don't think Addy liked it as much

as Rowan did.

What a doll!

Friday, January 11th, 2018

Anchorage, Alaska

54th operating temple

Dedicated: 9 Jan 1999

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

Isaiah 7:14

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Book of Mormon

1 Nephi 9:1-10:10

*Have you ever felt lie you were doing something the Lord asked you to do "for a wise purpose in Him, which purpose you knew not"?

New Testament "Come Follow Me"

Luke 1:5-25, 57-80 God's blessings come in His own time.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland promised, "Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don't come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come."

General Conference

All Must Take Upon Them the Name Give of the Father

Elder Paul B. Pieper

"Another meaning of the word take is to accept a person in a particular role or embrace the truthfulness of an idea or principle. When we take upon us the name of Christ, we accept Him as our Savior and continually embrace His teachings as the guide for our lives. In every meaningful decision we make, we can take His gospel to be true and obediently live it with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength."

Today would have been my grandpa Strickland's 130th birthday. Happy Birthday grandpa Al.

I read two articles from the Ensign, "Symbols in the New Testament," and "Phan Phon-Phnom Penk, Cambodia.

For lunch I had some of the leftover macaroni and cheese that Sheri made when she was here. It's actually Kim's recipe and uses several different kinds of cheeses, bread crumbs and bacon. He boys love it and so do I.

James fell asleep by the fire. His back and hip are hurting. He has no Lyrica unless he wants to spend $406.00.

Cathi's daughter Wendy posted on Facebook today that she does not have to have chemo therapy. That is such great news!

I am finding out that the Amazon fulfillment fees are higher that I thought. I had to go through all of our books and re-price them. I accidentally deleted two books and because they have already shipped I don't know how to get them back into inventory with the right SKU's. Our last shipment of books is still inactive and I am concerned about that too. Running a business is stressful!

James met Anthony at the post office today and took him some of the elk roast and vegetables that he cooked all night in the crockpot. Brian brought the roast up when he came. I made some biscuits to go with it and Anthony said it was one of the most delicious meals he has had in a long time.

James bought more textbooks today because this is "textbook" season.

We finished watching "Becoming Jane" this evening. It was a little sad that someone who writes about relationships never got married. It made me want to go back and read all of Jane Austen's books again.

I will never be great or successful if I can't focus and if I lack self-control. I'm 70 years old and I'm running out of time.

She's practicing her pucker.

Someone's got to change the lightbulbs.

It's either a crippled man or an arthritic old

lady.

Do you think zoodles are zucchini?

Sunday, January 13, 2019

Thursday, January 10th, 2019

Monticello, Utah

53rd operating temple

Dedicated: 26 July 1998

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

Hebrews 1:5

For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

Book of Mormon

1 Nephi 8:16-38

*What can we do to 'continually hold fast' to the word of God?

* How can we choose to partake of the fruit Lehi saw in his dream in our lives today?

New Testament "Come Follow Me"

Luke 1:5-25, 57-80 God's blessings come in His own time.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland promised, "Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don't come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come."

General Conference

Our Campfire of Faith

Elder Gerrit W. Gong

" A third campfire of faith encouragement: creative gospel joy and blessings come when we seek to love the Lord and others with all our hearts and souls. In the New Testament, our Savior states the two great commandments: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, ...and thy neighbor as thyself."

I read on Instagram today what makes a public speaker good:

1. They must somehow touch your heart, 2. You must learn something from them, 3. They must be memorable.

At 9 am James and I listened to the Book Arbitrage webinar. We listened on my phone while I worked on book inventory and James did something else. It was quite good and we learned a few things.

Later we went to the Vernon library and bought 36 hardback books for $20. We bought around 10 for a dollar a piece and the rest were ten cents each. How fun! I'm excited to get this books into our inventory. We stopped at the post office and got another one of the children's books, "Letters to Miss LaRue." We dropped off our book box at the UPS store and then went shopping at Walmart.

On the way home we stopped at the China Wok buffet and got two quarts of hot and sour soup. It was sooooo good that I ate one quart on the way home. It's a good thing that I keep spoons in my car.

We also stopped at the Show Low post office. We want to see how much it costs to ship our books merchant fulfilled instead of Amazon fulfilled because Amazon's fees are so high. James went in and came back out saying that it costs around $3.00 a book. It's probably going to cost us just a little less than Amazon fulfilled and we can't price the books as high as we can when they are Prime.

I got a text from Michael today. He wants to volunteer at St. Luke's Behavioral Health Center and wants to put grandpa down for a reference. He needs our physical address. It just changed so I gave him the new one. #16 County Road N3469. Michael told me a story while he was here about a party that he went to where some of the people were drinking. He left and those friends who stayed were raided by the police and got in trouble. Good decision Michael. He also told me about his plans for graduate school. One of the places he is considering in the University of Utah.

I finished my blog post for January 4th. I am gradually catching up because I try to do 2 posts a day. I also walked for 40 more minutes this evening before James and put on a movie. This time we are watching "Becoming Jane" the story of Jane Austen's life starring Anne Hathaway. I wanted to watch a Doris Day, Rock Hudson movie but I couldn't get the DVD to work.

I had some shortness of breath when I was walking this evening. I think I'm going to go off the ibruprofen and hydrocodone and just take my tramadol from now on.

I love the way she looks at things!

Wednesday, January 9th, 2018

Preston, England

52nd operating temple

Dedicated: 7 June 1998

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

Acts 13:33

God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

Book of Mormon

1 Nephi 7:16-8:15

After being beaten, mocked, and persecuted by his brothers, Nephi did "frankly forgive them." How can we find it in ourselves to forgive those who have hurt us?

New Testament "Come Follow Me"

Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:28-35

Why did the Savior need to be born of a mortal mother and an immortal Father?

President Russell M. Nelson explained that the Atonement of Jesus Christ "required a personal sacrifice by an immortal being not subject to death. Yet He must die and take up His own body again. The Savior was the only one who could accomplish this. From His mother He inherited power to die. From His Father He obtained power over death."

General Conference

One in Christ

Elder Ulisses Soares

"We have long been taught how we can help our new friends to feel welcome and loved in the restored Church of Jesus Christ. They need three things so they may remain strong and faithful throughout their lives: First, the need brothers and sisters in the Church who are sincerely interested in them, true and loyal friends to whom they can constantly turn, who will walk beside them, and who will answer their questions. As members, we should always be attentive and look for new faces when attending Church activities and meetings, regardless of the responsibilities, assignments, or concerns we may have. We can do simple things to help these new friends feel embraced and welcome in the Church, such as giving a warm greeting, smiling sincerely at them, sitting together to sing and worship, introducing them to other members, and so forth. As we open our hearts to our new friends in some of these ways, we are acting in the spirit of ministering. When we minister to them like the Savior did, they won't feel like 'strangers within our gates.' They will feel like they can fit in and make new friends, and most importantly, they will feel the Savior's love through our genuine care."

My life consists right now of remembering when to take what pill and finding soft foods to eat. I am taking amoxicillin as my antibiotic, and 600 mg of ibrupropen and 5 mg of hydrocodone for pain. I've stopped taking my tramadol for the time being.

These are some of the foods I ate today: yogurt, applesauce, pudding, refried beans with sour cream, a shake, tomato soup, and chocolate milk. I don't think I am going to starve.

James and I are reading "The Captain's Daughter" by Jennifer Delamere. The chapters are quite long so I am holding it down to two chapters a day although James asks for more.

James and I both made calls to Amazon sellers help line today. One of the books I ordered is not sellable on Amazon and I wanted to know why. I never got a straight answer. I also wanted to know why the last shipment of books I sent in was still labeled out-of-stock on our inventory page. The man I spoke to said they just received it and when they get them all processed that will change to active. I hope so. When James called about something they referred to the seller page where he could send an email. I don't think we are any longer going to be able to speak to an actual person to get sellers help. This is frustrating to me because half the time I can't figure out how to communicate in the help section.

Our next box of books is now ready to go.

Chuck came over and took our garbage to the dump for us today. We didn't have much but it sure is nice to have such a thoughtful neighbor looking out for us.

Did I mention that I am not supposed to sneeze or blow my nose because my implant is very close to my sinuses. That is a very hard thing to do and I have had a couple of "accidents." At least I don't have a sinus infection like James does.

I spoke to my friend Tamara who is the librarian at the Vernon library. I asked her if they ever have book sales. She says all the time. They have $1.00 books and a room full of books for ten cents. I told her we would be coming by to check it out and that our goal was to put 100 books a month online to sell.

This evening we watched one of the movies we have owned for awhile and never watched. It's called, "The Longest Ride." Scott Eastwood, Clint's son is one of the stars. He is a bull rider. Alan Alda is also in the moving and plays an older man who tells about his "long ride" with the love of his life, his wife Ruth. There was one risque part, that was totally unnecessary because otherwise it would have been a very enjoyable movie. I guess that's why I like Hallmark movies because you know they are not going to be risque. You are excited when the couple finally has their first kiss!

She has the cutest laugh!

Peek-a-boo

I love this quilt!

Books, books, books everywhere!

So many views of the Idaho Falls temple

Tuesday, January 8th, 2019

Vernal, Utah

51st operating temple

Dedicated: 2 Nov 1997

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

Psalms 2:7

I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

Book of Mormon

1 Nephi 7:1-15

* The Lord softened Ishmael's heart so much that he and his family left their home to join Lehi. Has the Lord ever changed your heart to make something difficult more achievable?

New Testament

Matthew 1; Luke 1; Who were Matthew and Luke?

General Conference

Firm and Steadfast in the Faith of Christ

Elder D. Todd Christofferson

"A husband and wife who have consistently and happily followed the counsel of the Brethren in their lives were grieved by the difficulty they experienced in having children. They expended substantial funds working with competent medical professionals, and, after a time, they were blessed with a son. Tragically, however, after only about a year, the baby was the victim of an accident that we no one's fault but that left him semicomatose, with significant brain damage. He has received the best of care, but doctors cannot predict how things will unfold going forward. The child this couple worked and prayed so hard to bring into the world has in a sense been taken away, and they don't know if he will be returned to them. They struggle now to care for the baby's critical needs while meeting their other responsibilities. In this supremely difficult moment, they have turned to the Lord. They rely on the daily bread they receive from Him. They are aided by compassionate friends and family and strengthened by priesthood blessings. They have drawn closer to one another, their union perhaps now deeper and more complete than might otherwise have been possible."

Come, Listen to a Prophet's Voice

Bishop Dean M. Davies

" As with the early Saints, so it is with us today: the Lord has revealed and continues to reveal to the President of the Church the patterns by which the kingdom of God is to be directed in our day. And, at a personal level, he provides guidance as to how each of us should direct our lives, such that our conduct may likewise be acceptable to the Lord."

Nothing to eat or drink since midnight, not even an Icebreaker.

Trina was juicing celery this morning in the kitchen for Darrel to take to work with him. I told the story of how when I first got arthritis a friend convinced me that if I drank fresh carrot juice it would help my arthritis. I drank so much carrot juice I turned orange. I told Ruby if she turned green like the Grinch I would know it was because she drank too much celery juice.

We arrived at Dr. Shah's office right on time at 8:50. The first thing the receptionist asked me was for payment. I told her I had registered for Care Credit and was accepted so she ask for my card. I went out to the car and got the information I had but there was no card. This is becoming an embarrassing situation. The girl behind Dr. Shah's desk got Care credit on the line. I guess they had tried to send my card but they sent it to our physical address instead of our mailing address. They took the block off my account and everything was okay.

My surgery was over before I knew it. I remember them taking me back and hooking me up to everything and Dr. Shah and the girls talking about snow because I told them there was two foot of snow where I live. The next thing I heard was, "Karen, we're all done." One of the girls took me back for an x-ray and then I was leaving with James. On the way out the doctors says, we got close to your sinus so no sneezing or blowing your nose until you two week appointment. I laughed and he said, no, I am serious.

We got back to Trina's and I realized my glass case had fallen out of my purse. James turned around and went back to get them, about 30 miles round trip. He also bought me mashed potatoes from Boston Market. I am supposed to be eating soft foods. I also had some yogurt, ice cream, a shake, and some pudding.

I accidentally sneezed and it started some bleeding at the sight. Trina gave me some gauze and told me to bite down on it for 30 minutes which I did, and the bleeding stopped.

James took a nap and we were on our way home. We stopped at McDonald's in Globe for ice cream but their ice cream machine is still broken.

We stopped to pick up Lyrica at the CVS in Show Low for James. The clerk said $406.27 and James handed him the credit card. I said, you do know what he said don't you? He says yes, $4.27. No, the clerk said, "$406.27. James says, "Oh, never mind."

I sure hope he is ok without it.

So much of the snow has melted. Now we have mud and big puddles. Two bull elk run in front of us just before we turn to go up our hill.

Once we get everything unloaded and put away James works on the book business while I work on my blog. We picked up a book James had ordered from the post office. Our goal is to post 100 books a month.