OUR FAMILY

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Saturday, November 16th, 2019

Stockholm, Sweden

34th operating temple

Dedicated: 2-4 July 1985

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Head of Church

DC 119:2

For the building of mine house, and for the laying of the foundation of Zion and for the priesthood, and for the debts of the Presidency of my Church.

Book of Mormon

4 Nephi 1:1-22

New Testament

Hebrews 13; 10:32-36, 11, 12:2-12:5-11; SS: Questions about faith from chapter 11; The blessings of the Melchizedek Priesthood are available to all; "Cast not away therefore your confidence."

10/19 General Conference

"Beloved Daughters"

Sister Bonnie H. Cordon

At the heart of all we do in Young Women is our desire to help you gain unshakable faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and a sure knowledge of your divine identity as a daughter of God.

Tonight, I would like to announce a revision to the Young Women theme:

I am a beloved daughter of heavenly parents, with a divine nature and eternal destiny.

As a disciple of Jesus Christ, I strive to become like Him. I seek and act upon personal revelation and minister to others in His holy name.

I will stand as a witness of God at all times and in all things and in all places.

As I strive to qualify for exaltation, I cherish the gift of repentance and seek to improve each day. With faith, I will strengthen my home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, and receive the ordinances and blessings of the holy temple.

Notice the shift from 'we' to 'I.' These truths apply to you individually. You are a beloved daughter of Heavenly Parents."

Day 5: Generosity: 1 Timothy 6:18
Use money to do good. Rich in good works and generous to those in need, always ready to share.
We serve a generous God. His love gives us mercy and grace everyday. Teach children to be generous with their time, money, service and forgiveness.
Prayer: Dear Father, help me teach Max, and all of my children to be generous with their time, money, service and forgiveness. Help us to realize the great blessings that come to us from thee everyday. The blessings of love, mercy, grace, place, joy and forgiveness. Help us to always be ready to share with others and freely give of our blessings.

"If you judge people, you have no time

to love them." - Mother Teresa

"Success is found in following the Spirit."

- The Priesthood Power of Women

Barbara Morgan Gardner

James was busy today. He worked on the roof, refinished the back door, and split wood with Brian until the wood splitter ran out of hydraulic fluid. When James was refinishing the door so much sawdust was coming in that we taped up a sheet in front of the open door opening.

Kim worked on her puzzle today only to find that a brand new $17 puzzle came with a piece missing. This isn't the actual puzzle, it's the cover on the box.

The piece that is missing is from the candy cane sweater in the upper left part of the picture.

Brian went to Dollar General and Stanford store this morning to get some ear drops. He also got me some passion punch sherbet, my favorite!

Our friend Anthony came by this morning and brought us some bread, a sweet roll, and two muffins from the "Just Baked" bakery in Pinetop. He knows the owner and he gets lots of leftovers from the bakery. The sweet roll had almonds with almond flavoring and was delicious. The muffins were wonderful, one was cranberry orange, and the others was cinnamon sugar. The bread was parmesan sourdough and it was yummy too. It made me want to go to the bakery.

Kim and Brian put up our Christmas tree for us. Kim spent over three hours putting more lights on the tree. Many of the ones that came with the tree were burnt out. She and Brian also started decorating the tree. Here is what the finished product looked like.

Normally I put ribbon on the tree, but not this year.

Around 6:30 we were waiting for Jared, Kacey, and Charlie to arrive from Sedona. They left around noon and came over on the I-40 through Snowflake. They stopped to eat at "The Skillet" and then went to walk around the grounds of the Snowflake temple. They also stopped at the Walmart in Taylor to do a little shopping. They asked what they could get for the dinner. I had them get some lemons and oranges to put in the turkey and some rosemary. Jared also got some Bluebell pecan pralines ice cream. He didn't know that I had already bought some when I went shopping.

Anyway, just before Jared, Kacey, and Charlie arrived around 6:45, the electricity went off. Perfect timing to bring a baby into a new house, while it's dark. At first we thought maybe we had thrown a breaker because of the lights on the tree, but when Kathy Crane texted and asked me if our electricity was off, we knew it wasn't the tree.

We lit all of the kerosene lamps and candles we could find. We had wanted to watch a Hallmark Christmas movie but instead Charlie entertained us. She is such a fun, cute little girl with a great personality! The lights came back on around 8 o'clock. Brian cooked himself a pot pie and Charlie was in the kitchen. She won't look at Brian. We think it's either the beard or his hat.

Speaking of Brian and his hat. We have named the "upstairs ghost" Orson. Kim thinks she heard him this morning. I think she probably heard "Woody" the woodpecker who is trying to drill a hole in our roof, or siding.

Instead of watching a Hallmark movie we turned on the ASU game. They lost to the Oregon Beavers 35-34.

James and I went to bed around 10.

"Come Follow Me" lesson

Charlie in Sedona and at the Snowflake temple

James refinishing the door

#TBM (Throwback Memory)

Now they are doing baptisms for the dead together

Friday, November 22, 2019

Friday, November 15th, 2019

Frieberg, Germany

33rd operating temple

Dedicated: 29-30 June 1985

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Head of Church

DC 115:3

And also unto my faithful servants who are of the high council of my church in Zion, for thus it shall be called, and unto all the elders and people of my Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, scattered abroad in all the world;

Book of Mormon

3 Nephi 29:1-30:2

New Testament

Hebrews 12; Questions about faith from Hebrews 11.

10/19 General Conference

"Honoring His Name"

Lisa L. Harkness
As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 'we first pledged our willingness to take upon us the name of Christ ... by the ordinance of baptism.' Through this covenant, we promised to always remember Him, keep His commandments, and serve others. Our willingness to keep this covenant is renewed each Sabbath day when we partake of the sacrament and rejoice once again in the blessing of walking in newness of life.'"

Day 4: Wisdom: Proverbs 2:2-4

"Incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart unto understanding; Cry for insight and ask for understanding. Seek them like hidden treasures."

"Seek wisdom and impart it to our children. Wisdom begins as we reverence and worship God. Take time to teach our children. Show them by example. Be patient with them.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I pray Max would tune his ears to your wisdom. Please give him the wisdom to make good choices. Please help me to teach him by my example. Help me to be patient with him as he struggles to learn of thee and thy Son.

I tried to work on my blog this morning but I was having technical difficulties. My internet doesn't work very well at Darrel and Trina's and their's doesn't work in the room we are staying in very well.

Ruby and Darrel are going on a field trip today. They are going to Schnepf Farm to see a Revolutionary War enactment. I love that Darrel took off work so he could go with Ruby.

Trina took Lola to school and then went to the gym.

Jared, Kacey, and Charlie left for Sedona this morning. Jared is going to try to go to some meetings today so they can leave for the cabin by noon tomorrow.

We left for home around 9:30. I told James I wanted to go the Globe way because I had told Kacey and Jared I would get them green mixed burros from Burger House. The road is only closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-1 to allow them to work on the Pinto Creek bridge.

We made two stops at McDonald's, one in Apache Junction and one in Globe. James wanted chicken nuggets. When we stopped in Apache Junction they were still serving breakfast and so he had to wait until Globe to get his nuggets.

We stopped at Walmart in Show Low so I could buy food for our Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. I also took them a written prescription from my doctor for my Tramadol. I called it in several days ago but they needed a written prescription with a seal on it. My prescription was filled before I was finished shopping.

James finished his shopping at Home Depot and helped me to the "scan and go" checkout. I had a big order.

Joel Robertson passed away today. He has had several strokes recently. Marie, his wife, was my visiting teaching companion for awhile.

After putting the groceries away and all of my stuff from the trip I sat down and watched "The Talk."

Kim and Brian got here around 7 p.m. We watched one of the new Hallmark movies, "A Christmas Miracle."

I got my steps before going to bed.

The Umphress kids and Jolee, Bailey's friend

Provo City Center Temple

Sedona and Charlie

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Thursday, November 14th, 2019

Guatemala City, Guatemala

32nd operating temple

Dedicated: 14-15 Dec 1984

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Head of Church

DC 104:1

Verily I say unto you, my friends I give unto you counsel, and a commandment, concerning all the properties which belong to the order which I commanded to be organized and established, to be a united order, and an everlasting order for the benefit of my church, and for the salvation of men until I come -

Book of Mormon

3 Nephi 28:25-40

New Testament

Hebrews 11; I/F: Faith requires trusting in God's promises.

SS: Questions about faith from Hebrews 11.

10/19 General Conference

"Thru Cloud and Sunshine, Lord, Abide with Me!"

Sister Reyna I. Aburto

"Black clouds may form in our lives, which can blind us to God's light and even cause us to question if that light exists for us anymore. Some of those clouds are of depression, anxiety, and other forms of mental and emotional affliction. They can distort the way we perceive ourselves, others, and even God. They affect women and men of all ages in all corners of the world."

We called Quicken loan, a.k.a. Rocket mortgage, to see if we needed to pay our property taxes which were due on November 1st. We kept thinking they were going to be in our loan but it is taking so long for it to go through we were afraid that we would be charged big penalties. James called them today and they said to go ahead and pay the taxes, which I did.

RWC: The miracle of God's work is that weak things are divinely empowered to accomplish great things. (See DC 35:13)

Day 4: Wisdom: Proverbs 2:2-4

Incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart unto understanding; Cry for insight and ask for understanding. Seek them like hidden treasures.

Seek wisdom and impart it to our children. Wisdom begins as we reverence and worship God. Take time to teach our children. Show them by example. Be patient with them.

We left for the valley this morning around 10:30, going the Payson way. There is construction on the Pinto Creek bridge between Miami and Superior on Tuesdays and Thursday between 9-1.

We stopped at Culver's in Payson. I got a pot roast sandwich. James kept telling me that we needed to hurry because we were going to be late. I have an appointment with Dr. Shah at 2 p.m.

As we came into Chandler via the 101 we realized that the Ray exist was closed. We had to go down to Chandler Blvd. and turn back around and go up the access road to Ray. I walked in a few minutes late but they were very understanding.

It took Dr. Shah about five minutes to check where my tooth was extracted. He said that it looked fine and he said, "See you in three months."

James had left to mail my book shipment and to get gas. I told him I was out but he was at the gas station so I began walking down Ray towards Dobson. He picked me up just before I got to Dobson.

We had to hurry out to east Mesa to pick up Ruby from school for Darrel. Ruby had passed us up but when I got out to look for her she saw me and came running.

It was great to see Jared, Kacey, and Charlie at Darrel and Trina's. We gave them all hugs. James brought our stuff in, changed his clothes, and went to pick up Rowan at school. We are going to the Gilbert temple at 4:30 to do baptisms with Rowan, Joshua, Evan, and Stacy, Kacey and Jared.

Rowan came in, took a shower, and off we went with Jared, Kacey and Charlie right behind us. We hadn't gone too far when James asked Rowan if he had his temple recommend. When he said no, we turned around and went back home. We told Jared what we were doing and he went ahead without us.

We got to the temple around 4:30, meeting Stacy, Joshua, Sheri, and Evan. Sheri took Charlie with her. She had to take Max to his weekly seminary class and played outside with Charlie while Max was in seminary. She said Charlie would walk around and then would say, "mama, Kacey"!

There were no other youth groups when we arrived at the temple. Several people came in after us though. The sister in charge said we were only supposed to do 4 names a piece but since it was a slow time she allowed us 5. Kacey had her own names. I gave 5 of Maxine's names to Stacy, Joshua, Evan, and Rowan.

James baptized Evan, Joshua, and Rowan. Jared baptized Kacey and Stacey. We traded off as witnesses. I was a witness a couple of times. When it came time to do the confirmations James confirmed Joshua, and Stacy. Jared did Kacey, Rowan, and Evan. It felt good to have our family participating together in doing these temple ordinances. We need to do this more often.

After we were finished we headed over to "The Thirsty Lion" at the San Tan Mall. Charlie had been crying but Sheri said she was happy except for after dropping Max off at home and she was in the backseat of the car by herself in the dark. Kim and Brian also met us at the restaurant as well as Darrel. Darrel was worried because he didn't get a chance to take dinner to his kids at home. He called Addy and she said she had dinner taken care of. She made pancakes. Trina did not come to dinner because she was at work.

I had the same thing Kacey did. I asked her what she had gotten when she went here before and she said the Asian ribs with rice. That's what I got. It was delicious only I could only eat about half of it. I took the rest home. James had salmon and rice and brussel sprouts.

After dinner we said our goodbyes and went back to Darrel and Trina's where Jared, Kacey and Charlie are staying too. Charlie has a fan club consisting of Lola, Ruby, and Addy.

James and I went outside to walk because neither of us had our 10,000 steps yet. Jared, Kacey, and Charlie are staying in Rowan's room and we are staying in Trina's sewing room where we normally stay.

Jared, Kacey, and Charlie visited

James's mom and Rebecca