Barnett Family Sharing Page

My family at mother's funeral May 2009

2010-06-11T09:19:00.001-07:00

2010-01-17T16:38:00.000-08:00

This is my sweet mother.

This is a picture of me and my sisters as we cared for our sister Nancy. My niece Brandy is here with her mom too!

I spoke today in Church and I have a strong feeling that I should share my talk. So I don't know who might read it but whoever would like to it is here.

Our Eternal Family

I am the product of a family of 8 girls and one boy. I am the 4th daughter, born within 4 ½ years and the five younger kids were born after a break of four years. My youngest sister was born 12 years after I was. From the first to the last there is a 16 year spread. There are a lot of things going on in a family with so many different ages! But if you looked at us today, you would not really know that. We are all very good friends with each other and have had some remarkable experiences to make those ties even stronger this year.

I have shared with you some of the events of my life this year as I have struggled with losing my mother in May, watching my sister quickly go down hill from cancer, spending a week tending her and then the week after I returned in October, having her pass away. Then just this past December my father was diagnosed with Brain cancer, had surgery and is in the process of trying to survive longer than a year…which is the longest prognosis of at least 50% of the people with Gioblastoma.
This has been a tough year. Some would look heavenward and wonder if there truly was someone there who cared what happened to us.

But I am not one of those. I know I am a Child of God. I know our families here on earth are just extensions of what we share as a heavenly family.

President Hinckley reminded us of our Heavenly Father in April of 2003 conference talk while addressing the primary children: I quote “You have an earthly father. He is your mother’s dear companion. I hope you love him and that you are obedient to him. But you have another father. That is your Father in Heaven. He is the Father of your spirit, just as your earthly father is the father of your body. And it is just as important to love and to obey your Father in Heaven as it is to love and obey your earthly father.

We speak with our earthly father. He is our dear friend, our protector, the one who usually supplies our food and clothing and home. But we also speak to our Father in Heaven. We do this with prayer. I hope that every night and every morning you get on your knees and speak with your Father in Heaven. I hope that in the morning you will express thanks for the night’s rest, for warmth and comfort and the love you feel in your home. I hope that you will ask Him to watch over you and bless and guide you throughout the day. I hope that you will pray for your father and mother and brothers and sisters, and that you will remember all who are sick and in need. I hope you will remember the missionaries of the Church as you pray.

In the evening before you go to sleep, I hope you will again get on your knees and thank Him for the blessings of the day. Thank Him again for your parents and for your teachers. Ask Him to bless you with good sleep and to bless all others, and particularly those in need and who do not have enough food or a good place to sleep.
It is not asking too much, is it, to take a few minutes of each day to speak with your Father in Heaven when you know that you are a child of God?

If you really know that you are a child of God, you will also know that He expects much of you, His child. He will expect you to follow His teachings and the teachings of His dear Son, Jesus. He will expect you to be generous and kind to others. He will be offended if you swear or use foul language. He will be offended if you are dishonest in any way, if you should cheat or steal in the slightest. He will be happy if you remember the less fortunate in your prayers to Him. He will watch over you and guide you and protect you. He will bless you in your schoolwork and in your Primary. He will bless you in your home, and you will be a better boy or girl, obedient to your parents, quarreling less with your brothers and sisters, helping about the home.

Never forget, my dear young friends, that you really are a child of God who has inherited something of His divine nature, one whom He loves and desires to help and bless. I pray that our Heavenly Father will bless you. May He smile with favor upon you. May you walk in His paths and follow His teachings. May you never speak the evil language that boys and girls are inclined to speak at school. May you ever be prayerful unto Him, praying always in the name of His Beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. May each of us resolve to always follow Him in faith. May life be kind to you, for you are indeed a child of God, worthy and deserving of His love and blessing.” Unquote.

I know I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and I have been blessed to receive some wonderful blessings to prove this to my family. These are spiritual blessings that have been given to my earthly family but I would like to relate some of these to you.

My mother has always been a server. She could not sit and talk without doing something! The week she died (she passed away on a Saturday night) she worked at the Bountiful temple on Friday and Saturday morning, she mowed the lawn (they live on the top of a steep hill and have corresponding lawn to match the hills) she crocheted every time she sat down, she watered the yard, she weeded and picked produce from her bountiful garden…you get the picture. There was no one who was not surprised to see her leave her earthly life. My dad told her he was headed to bed, like he does most nights because she was always crocheting or sewing something and she said she would be up in a minute. She was fixing a mistake on a circle table skirt that she had decided she needed to make for me (she had asked me if I had a round table, and since I did she was sure I needed a crocheted table cloth!) and wanted to finish fixing it before going to bed. She was mad at herself for making a mistake, but hadn’t ever done this pattern before and so had to take out three rows to correct it. It was almost finished when dad went to bed. By her side on each side of her were infant blessing dresses she had started to crochet for my two new grandbabies that were born this past summer.

Dad woke up in the morning with lights still on which mother never left on and quickly went downstairs to find mom with crochet hook still in hand and a surprised look on her face. She had not been expecting it to be her time either! She had passed just a few minutes after my dad had gone to bed the night before.

This was a blessing in our family’s lives that we would not realize until later during the year. How could we rejoice because our mother had passed away? But Heavenly Father had a plan. We do not know the big picture, but he was setting some things in motion that proved his love for us.

My sister Nancy (she is the second daughter) was diagnosed in August of 2008 with Breast Cancer. She had very strong impressions that she was not supposed to have a radical mastectomy or chemotherapy. She felt as if she was instructed to find alternate things to see if she could get better. She researched every day trying to find another way. She probably had cancer in other places when she was first diagnosed and Heavenly Father knew that her time on earth was limited. She had an amazing year! We had a sisters reunion with my mother in March, all attending the temple with my parents, that was such a huge blessing and she was able to be there for my mother’s funeral and come in July for a sisters clean out of the house. We spent more time together this past year than any year since we were married. We became so close to each other. Love abounded and spiritual feasts were poured out upon us.

Then in September the cancer showed it ugly face in many other ways and she did not know how her husband could work and still take care of her. My sisters and I gathered around her and flew to Kansas and took care of her and her family until she passed away. What an amazing experience that was.

There were spiritual eyes opened that allowed us to see through the veil and know Heavenly Father had a plan and that he loved us and wanted us to know that!

We found out through this experience that Mother was taken to help Nancy through the last week of her life. She and my grandmother, my mother’s mother, were by Nancy’s bedside, Nancy having conversations with them, with a smile on her face, while the pain was so terrible. She was so happy to see them that the pain became secondary.

A few days before Nancy passed, my oldest sister was the one staying with her and my mom came to her as she was waking up, temple dress on, yes the one we buried her in, and looking much younger and handed my sister some papers. Across the top of the pages were the words “Mission Release, Transfer”. My sister quickly looked at Nancy to see if she had passed, but she was still there. Heavenly Father wanted us to know, not just through Nancy, but for all of us still left, that there was a place for her and my mother was a part of that place.

In (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith [1998], 335). I quote “Man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father, prior to coming upon the earth in a temporal [physical] body”. Heavenly Father loves us.

In D&C 76: 23-24 we read: 23 For we saw him, even on the bright hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—
24 That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.

He is our Father. He would not put us on this earth to flounder without some guidance. He, through our faith and spiritual worthiness, instructs us and helps us. It is his and our Savior Jesus’ work and glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of each one of us! Because he wants us to be with him forever, just like we want to always have our earthly families with us forever. We are brothers and sisters to each other and those connections help us to stay close as siblings and parents and through Jesus Christ our Father in Heaven has allowed us to progress to work to come home.

My mother did not come out of the womb knowing how to serve. But she developed those characteristics in heaven while we lived with our Heavenly Father. The talents she helped us develop as her children were part of us because our Heavenly Father helped us develop those before we came to earth.

We each possess different talents and abilities, and we were called to do different things on earth. Each of us have unique abilities and we have been for ordained, just as prophets and apostles have been foreordained, to do unique things on this earth. It is up to us. We have the agency to choose to pursue those gifts and talents and make whatever we want of ourselves.

My mother, and her mother before her, encouraged all of my siblings to use music as a heavenly tool. She helped us to build on what was given us by our Heavenly Father, but each of my siblings and I could choose whether or not we would continue to pursue music. Today, if you had my sisters here each of them could come and direct this ward choir just as I have. We can stand up and sing together pretty much anything you want to put in front of us and blend with almost identical voices. (My brother has as much talent but had 8 sisters who would do it for him and so developed at a different way!) My parents helped us to stay service oriented and we learned never to say no to any calling by both my mom and dad.

A veil covers our memories of our premortal life, but our Father in Heaven knows who we are and what we did before we came here. He has chosen the time and place for each of us to be born so we can learn the lessons we personally need and do the most good with our individual talents and personalities.

He didn’t give my family all these trials this year just to be mean! There are lessons that have been learned and spiritual boons that have been given. He KNOWS what we need. He is our Father.

In D&C 93:30–34 we read that Our Heavenly Father knew we could not progress beyond a certain point unless we left Him for a time. He is a God of order and knew the results of what we needed - to be able to be like him. He wanted us to develop the godlike qualities that He has. To do this, we needed to leave our premortal home to be tested and to gain experience. Our spirits needed to be clothed with physical bodies. We had many tests we had to experience so that our “intelligence could act for itself and independently make the choices to return to Him.” Then we would need to leave our physical bodies at death and reunite with them in the Resurrection. Then we would receive immortal bodies like that of our Heavenly Father. If we passed our tests, we would receive the fulness of joy that our Heavenly Father has received.
We all heard the plan, our spirits know the plan. But Heavenly Father knew we must be shielded so that “intelligence could act for itself” and the veil was placed. But he did not depart from us. He gave us so many helps, but we had to recognize them for what they were and come unto Him for his guidance. Thus we could obey Him because of our faith in Him, not because of our knowledge or memory of Him. In John 18:37 we are shown that He would help us recognize the truth when we heard it again on earth.

We learned that all of us would have trials in our lives: sickness, disappointment, pain, sorrow, and death. But we understood that these would be given to us for our experience and our good. In D&C 122:7 it reads: And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

This year has been very difficult. But it has been for my good and my families good. The experience that has been given us has brought us closer to God and helped us to be better siblings and learn to serve even through the sickness of heart.

Would I want to go thru it again, No. But I have been blessed with a firm testimony of the events of this year and how they have impacted my family. We aren’t perfect. We have plenty of faults, let me assure you. But we are children of our Father in Heaven who wants to return to Him. We are willing to survive trials and pain, hopefully gaining the necessary experience we were to obtain, to put us ready for the next test in our path back home.

My dad will still be struggling thru this next test this year. We are trying to stay positive and pray for the ability to be strong for him. But we trust in God and in our Savior Jesus Christ to make this test bearable and to strengthen us for the next test! We don’t discount that there will continue to be challenges, but along with the challenges come the miracles and the spiritual rewards that Heavenly Father will give us, based on our faith.

I pray that I will have the strength to bear it well. That I can prove my love to Him by my actions during the tests of my life.

I am so grateful to have the knowledge that we are a huge family, sent here to support and serve each other. No wonder we have such a great ward family. We ARE Family! I love you all and am so grateful to know you are in my corner when I need it and that I can be in yours as well.

I know Christ is the doorway that allows me to go home and I am so grateful to His sacrifices for me and for you.

I am so grateful for the chance to remember this and to write these things down. My family is my most prized possession!

more pics

2008-09-18T12:51:00.001-07:00

Brooklyn is figuring out how to smile! She is so cute and getting so roly-poly. Cayden loves the outside and he and Dolly chase the cat (the sweeper) all the time. They never seem to catch it though! Cayden took a dump into the pool, but his dad has been teaching him how to go under the water and close his mouth and to paddle, and he all but got himself out. Grandma helped save the day and he wailed pretty good, but you would never have known he was upset, for he went right back out today and chased the dog and the cat again!

Spiritual Impressions from reading the Book of Mormon

2008-09-10T20:33:00.001-07:00

I was reading in 2Nephi tonight and I read the last verse of Chapter 32...9 But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.... and it hit me very hard that I have not been praying enough.

Then as I was fixing dinner and reading another chapter as I was working, I kept thinking about that verse and some very strong impressions about our family came to me. I don't know what your praying habits are and I am not going to ask. But I felt impressed to invite you to join with Dad & I and Andi, Jennie, Cayden and Brooklyn to pray each night together as a family - at the same time whereever we are. Even if we are by ourselves...at the appointed time have a quick prayer whereever we are so that we are praying for each other together.

We want to make sure Cayden joins with us so we are going to pray at 8:00 pm each night. So in whatever time zone you are, please join us and think of each member of our family in your prayers. We all have issues and problems that only the Lord can help us solve. I think there will be great strength and power in a family prayer.

I love all of you and would have your lives be simple and easy. But that is obviously not going to happen. Our lives...as reflected in my last spiritual thought here in the blog...must have ordeals and challenges so that we can grow and mature our spiritual selves. Let's help each other to make strong steps towards that goal.

Love Mom

More Pics of Brook & Cayden

2008-09-08T15:07:00.000-07:00

I am doing better at taking pics these days. Must be because I am around 2 kids. Who knows?Anyway, here are a few cute pics. Jennie had Cayden on her lap just chilling before bed last night and we included a cute shot of them with this pictoral story!

Brooklyn's learning to smile!

2008-09-04T15:34:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun pics as Brooklyn is figuring out how to smile! It is hard to get them because they are fleeting, but she loves to smile for her mom.

Visiting Teaching message hit me strong

2008-09-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share a moment of inspiration that happened to me on Friday and yesterday. I went visiting teaching on Friday and used the August Ensign message and then my VT's came to visit me yesterday and we talked about both August's and September's message. Let me share a couple of thoughts that were so impactful for me.

In August's message President Lorenzo Snow (1814-1901) said this: "We believe that we are the offspring of our Father in heaven, and that we possess in our spiritual organizations the same capabilities, powers and faculties that our Father possesses, although in an infantile state, requiring to pass through a certain course or ordeal by which they will be developed and improved according to the heed we give to the principles we have received”. I have known this concept but the thing that really hit me was that we must pass through ordeals in order to develop the powers that will allow us to become as our Father in Heaven is, while giving heed to the principles of the Gospel.

Then, in Romans 8:16-17 this scripture clarifies again the same concept in a little different fashion: "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”

To me this helps me see that in order for us to inherit the kingdom of God, we MUST SUFFER as Christ did, not necessarily as bad, so that we can be joint-heirs with Christ of our Father's kingdom.

So the ordeal or suffering, is an integral part of inheriting the Kingdom of God, while giving heed to the commandments. Not letting the trials and ordeals become so overwhelming in our lives that we cannot keep the big picture in mind.

I loved these concepts.

Then in September's message it further clarifies and adds to this concept:

President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency: “The purpose of God’s creations and of His giving us life is to allow us to have the learning experience necessary for us to come back to Him, to live with Him in eternal life. That is only possible if we have our natures changed through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, true repentance, and making and keeping the covenants He offers all of His Father’s children through His Church”.

Doctrine and Covenants 78:18: “Be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.”

What great promises! We cannot lose hope because of adversity. We must continue on, focusing on keeping the commandments and he will lead us along.

I love you all and know that through these trials and ordeals we will grow closer and be together forever.

Love Mom

2008-08-27T14:36:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share this experience with everyone cause I know that we are all struggling with different things right now. I went to the temple today and had a strong impression that I should share some of the things that I have learned in this last week.

As you all know, Doug has been in Pittsburgh the last 4 weeks. It has been an extremely tough time for Logan and I. Especially for Logan. I have felt like I was all alone and that I wasn't being the kind of mom I wanted to be. I wasn't feeling peace at all and that really bothered me.

On Sunday we had a lesson about the natural man. It was very interesting because the lady teaching brought up some different things that really hit home for me. In my patriarchal blessing it tells me to avoid the natural man 3 different times. Apparently Heavenly Father knew that I would struggle with this.

When I was in college I thought that it meant that I shouldn't covet worldly things like shoes or clothes. This is a true statement but it also means other things too. Since I have pretty much been a single mom for the last month my patience for Logan has gone down drastically. I have felt very drained and in need of time apart from him. Logan has regressed with potty training and he is having a very hard time being away from Doug. Something that our teacher said really hit home for me. She said that the natural man can also be me not having patience or being short with someone or showing anger towards them. For me it was with Logan. I realized that I was letting the natural man take over and that I needed to push that away and allow the spirit to help me.

Since then things have been a little easier. I have asked Heavenly Father that he bless me with the patience necessary to raise Logan in an environment pleasing to the Lord. I have found that even though he still has accidents or yells at me or even hits me that I have a choice. Once I have realized that I can teach him with the spirit. By the way, this lesson didn't fix things permanently for me. We still struggle. It has just helped me to make a conscious decision about how I am going to react.

The 2nd thing I wanted to mention was something I read in Nephi 3. It was a fantastic chapter and I read some great things out of it!

Well, I was reading the scriptures the other night and had this feeling like I needed to start reading the book of mormon again. So I turned to chapter 1 and started reading. When I got to Chapter 3 I knew why I had that prompting. So, I just wanted to share a few things with everyone that stood out to me when I was reading chapter 3.

I have wondered over and over why certain things happen to certain people and also why those same things or a similar trial keep happening over and over. As I was reading chapter 3 it was talking about how Nephi and his brothers were commanded to go and get the plates from Laban. It was very interesting to me how many times they had to try before they got the plates. I have a tendency to assume that if Heavenly Father commands it that it will happen with ease. Turns out that i am wrong. He does make a promise to us though and that is if we will follow his commandments (no matter how many times we are required to try) he will provide a way. In chapter 3 Nephi talks about how he was able to get the plates. The Lord provided a way. It wasn't the way that you would think, but it was a way. Nephi was blessed so much for following the Lords commandments.

As for why things happen over and over I have learned that it is because WE are not learning the lesson that He wants us to learn. Once I submit to His will it seems that I learn a very important lesson.

So, the question that i asked myself after reading this was "Do I have the faith necessary to follow and endure the things that the Lord asks of me?"

I hope that everything is well with everyone! Love you tons!
Brandy

More Pictures of Baby Brooklyn!

2008-08-12T13:39:00.001-07:00

New Brooklynn pics at home

2008-08-12T13:37:00.001-07:00

Brooklynn has arrived!

2008-08-09T12:40:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of a beautiful 4 hour old baby and her big brother and mommy and daddy. We are so happy that Brooklynn has been added to our family. Her big brother Cayden can't put her down and we will definately have to keep eagle eyes out on him to keep her healthy and SAFE! But such love is a wonder to behold.

I have not forgotten!!

2008-08-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

So, I just wanted to let everyone know that I have not given up on the blogging world! Our life has been so crazy the last 3 weeks! I spent a wonderful week in Lake Powell with my best buddy Krista (pics coming soon) and so much more!!! I have tons of really fun stories to tell everyone as well as fun pics so be patcient!!! Love you all!!

Our adventures with painting prayer rocks!

2008-07-14T18:43:00.000-07:00

For FHE tonight we had a lesson about prayer and then we painted prayer rocks (thanks elaine for the idea). I knew that I wanted to have the kids paint some rocks but I didn't know why they should paint rocks until I talked to Elaine! HAHAHA! It was funny. We sat down and I gave them a quick lesson about praying and how we talk to our Heavenly Father. Cayden had his arms folded almost the whole time! It was funny. After the lesson we got them undressed and took them outside to let them paint some rocks! It was awesome!!!! They even kept themselves exceptionally clean!! What cool kids! They each got to paint 2 rocks and then they came inside for Popsicles. Yum!

This is Logan's rock. So colorful!!
This is Cayden's rock. He liked red and orange!!

Another Family Night And Other Thoughts

2008-06-30T22:09:00.000-07:00

For family night tonight I decided that I wanted to include the boys in the cooking so we decided to make home-made pizzas!!! We let the boys decorate the pizzas however they wanted. As you can see Cayden loved to put the cheese in one spot and the olives in another. Logan was just throwing toppings all over the pizza! Anyway, Andi helped even out the cheese and then we threw it in the oven. I don't want to lie and say that it tasted good cause it didn't. I accidentally bought Imitation cheese instead of real cheese. I know, i need to pay more attention. So, I went back to the store and got real cheese for the 2nd pizza. It was much better!

After we made the pizza we sat the boys down with a bowl of ice cream and I gave a lesson on Temper Tantrums. They seemed to really like the story but we had to remind them not more than 3 minutes later to stop throwing a temper tantrum! HAHAHA! I guess that we will have to repeat this lesson a few more times! :)

I love to have family home evening! I never had it growing up but I really love to spend that special time with Logan. Logan will talk about the story for days and ask me to tell it to him again. I hope that he will like it when he gets older.

I am not sure why having fhe is so hard sometimes but it is. I have made it a priority to have fhe every week. I feel that it is so important to our family and I can feel the blessings of being obedient. When it comes to things like this (temple attendance, scripture reading, tithing, praying , etc) we can easily forget to do them. I know that my life has been blessed because I am making an effort daily to do these simple things. I have felt much more peace in my life as well as our marriage. It is hard to have a fight or get mad when you are constantly filling your day up with things that uplifting and spiritual.

OTHER THOUGHTS.......

This week in Relief Society we had a lesson about remembering our spiritual experiences and how we felt. It was amazing. The lady teaching the lesson asked us if any of us had ever met an apostle or a prophet and how we felt. Before I could even think about what I was doing my hand flew up! Right as she called on me I remembered a time when I met all 12 apostles.

Pat had just come home from his mission and wanted to go to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to watch one of the shows there. I didn't want to go cause it was cold, I had a 6 week old baby, and I was tired. Doug talked me into going so off we went. Once we got there we found out that you had to buy tickets in advance so that idea was shot. I was mad. I was mad that I had come all this way with a newborn just for nothing. I wanted to go home. Well, Logan started to get hungry so then I got even madder. I had no idea where I was going to nurse him! So, I went to the 3rd floor and we found a secluded area with a chair in it. I fed him and then took him to the bathroom to change his diaper. I was still in a really fowl mood as I was walking back. Then I turned the corner and saw all 12 apostles talking with Doug and Pat! I couldn't believe it! I got to shake all of their hands and they all said that Logan was cute. I felt so much better and it was just because the spirit that they have with them on a daily basis. It was the weirdest thing to go from this fowl mood to the wonderful feelings that I could feel while we were around them.

I instantly felt guilty for being in such a bad mood. I was being so selfish and that is not how the savior would act. Seeing and being able to talk to the apostles was a very neat experience for me personally. I am grateful that I was able to experience something so powerful.

So, I told this to the whole relief society and I now know why my hand flew up before I could remember. It was so that I would remember. I needed to remember the feelings that I had that day. I need to remember all of the spiritual experiences that I have cause that is where your testimony comes from.

Anyway, this was just suppose to be a picture post with a few comments but it turned into a book! Sorry about that! Hope everyone is doing well!

ps. Erin, Isaac, and Bryce - We miss you guys SOOOOOOOO much!!! We wish you were here with us! Love you tons!

Logan Pregnant??????

2008-06-18T20:17:00.001-07:00

Andi had me take a picture of her belly today so that she could update some friends with new pictures. Well Logan thought that he would imitate her. So, he promptly pulled up his shirt and said cheese so that I could take a pic. I figured that everyone would enjoy this and you could all see how cute Logan looks pretending he is pregnant and how adorable Andi looks pregnant!

A Happy Moment Between Cousins

2008-06-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

I came across this picture while I was uploading pictures to my apple and thought that I would share it with everyone. I thought that the grandparents would like it best!

Logan and Cayden have gone from fighting with each other constantly to happily playing with each other. It has taken several weeks for both of them to adjust to the new place and the new people, but they are getting along better and better everyday. They play very cute together. They even hug each other willingly all the time now!

They like to play a game that they call "chase". They both start at one end of the house and then chase each other to the other end. The whole time Logan is telling Cayden, "I'm going to get you". I think Logan says this because that is what Grandpa says to Logan when he visits! Anyway, Cayden loves it! He runs and he screams. Then when they stop Logan will walk up to Cayden and say, "tickle, tickle, tickle"!

It has been so much fun for these 2 to be around each other! I can tell that Logan loves Cayden as much as Cayden has always loved Logan!

God is the Gardener

2008-05-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

This is that talk that Doug found that is amazing. I have listened to it and it is very good. It has an amazing message. Go to this link and listen from about 17 mins on. The name of the talk is God is the Gardener by Hugh B. Brown

http://odeo.com/audio/81467/view

Other miscellaneous pics to share

2008-05-20T19:04:00.000-07:00

I have a couple more pics to share. I have some of Tag and Logan on my camera but I loaned my download cord and it got lost. So Tag & Logan will have to wait until I get another.

Isaac & Erin's Visit

2008-05-19T22:59:00.000-07:00

We loved having Isaac & Erin visit us. We celebrated his birthday (2 weeks early) and had fun just hanging. Isaac has continued the fascination that the grandbabies have with Jennie - they all connect on some otherworldly connection. They LOVE HER!!!!!

We welcome any and all grandbabies anytime (and will put up with anyone else who deems to show up with them).

Hatch Patch Creations

2008-05-14T12:42:00.000-07:00

So, I know that Brad and Elaine can't really use this but I thought it would be cool for Erin and Andi to see it.

This website has FHE packets that are adorable. They have a subject for everything! You can order them colored or you can color them yourselves. Then you cut them out and laminate them so that they stay nice. Logan loves it when I use these packets for FHE. Some of the stuff is a little too advanced for him, like the games, but I tell him the story using the cutouts. When he is older we will be able to do the games! They really are adorable and they help me cause sometimes I don't know what I can teach a 2 year old! I even let him play with them after we are done with FHE. He will sit and try to re-tell the story I just told him about being nice, or being honest, or whatever it is. I put tape on the back of them and I let Logan stick them to the wall while I tell him the story. He loves it!

Anyway, here is the website for them. If we order them as a group we get a discount. Happy Looking!!

http://www.hatchpatchcreations.com/

Pebble Beach

2008-05-07T15:54:00.001-07:00

I know to most of us this would not be a spiritual experience but to Brad....well what can I say. Although that picture of the 18th green at sunset is pretty spiritual. So I decided we will let it speak for itself. Don't be too jeolous boys. Love Mom

My Experience with the BoM

2008-05-07T13:40:00.000-07:00

I have finally finished the BoM this last week! I am soooooo excited that I actually did it. I cannot tell you all how many times I have tried to read theBoM but could never get through it. I think that I have only gotten through it one other time and I was 12. The only thing that I remember about theBoM from that time was that Nephi was born of goodly parents. :~).

So, let me tell you how reading this and enjoying it all came about. My wonderful Mother-in-law sent me an email about the Hinckley Challenge soon after President Hinckley died. When I first read through the email I thought that that would be fun to do. I didn't look at it again for another 3 or 4 days. During those 3 or 4 days every time I walked into my bedroom or office my BoM would be staring me in the face. I started to feel a little guilty so I decided to give it a try.

I haven't had much luck in the past with reading the BoM cover to cover so I was pretty sure that this would be the same thing. I usually get half way through 1st Nephi and then get distracted or can't understand what or who they are talking about. So, this time through the BoM I decided to pray even before I started to read. I asked Heavenly Father that I might be able to understand, enjoy, and learn things as I read the BoM. I asked that he would help me to finish it this time and that i might know for myself that this is the only true church.

Well, as you can see, prays are answered. I have never enjoyed another book as much as the BoM. It was so cool to read it and understand who they were talking about and what was going on! While I was reading it I was amazed at the trials and tribulations that the people went through! I sometimes think that life is so hard and that I have it pretty bad, but as I read this, I was so grateful to those men and women for their sacrifice. Most lost husbands and children. They went without food and dealt with ragging wars. There was famine and disease in the land. They had to hunt for their food........... I am blessed. I have my family here with me. I have food on my table and shelter over my head. I have the wonderful ability to go to the store and get my meat already cut and ready for me to cook. I have the blessings of modern medicine. I have it very easy in comparison.

The thing that I am most grateful for is the peace that reading the BoM has brought into my life. My family has been through some trying times these last few months and I have felt great despair at times. It has been so nice to know that I can turn to the scriptures and to my Heavenly Father to find peace and comfort as well as direction.

I know that by reading the scriptures and asking of God that he will answer your prayers. I know that this church is true and that our prophets have been guided by the hand of God. I know that Heavenly Father loves each of us and will answer our prayers if we will just ask. I want all of you to know that I love each of you and I feel blessed to have you all in my life!

I Finished!

2008-05-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

Yes I finished the Book of Mormon (3 days early). So I guess that is 94 days instead of 97. But I had a marvelous spiritual experience doing it and so I will embark again. Since I have developed this good habit (one the Prophets have told us to do) I will continue. Probably not quite as fast (I would really like to study some of the passages and use some of the lesson materials available like in MeridianMagazine.com and LDSliving.com) but will continue on this great journey to continue to learn more about myself and about God. Anyone want to join me? We can have gospel discussions on the blog~cool. Love Mom

Let's Start From NOW

2008-05-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

Here is the first entry to our Sharing Page. I hope that this will provide a place to let us share our special thoughts and feelings - about God - about family - and the impressions we have to improve our lives. Also we can use this to share with each other our blessings and challenges. It is a place to feel love and compassion for each other. We can use it to detail family activites that we want to share with each other (maybe duplicate what you do on your own blogs so that the family can keep current as well as your friends) and pictures of the kids. I am sure it will take some time to figure out exactly how we want this to be used and how we can keep it updated, but I think it will become a great journal-writing tool for our family. Love Mom