Another Scripture Formula

I love to find "formulas" in the scriptures. This week I discovered another one in Alma 58. Helaman is writing his epistle to Moroni telling him of their adventures in warfare with his 2060 stripling warriors. They were upset and confused that they had not received more provisions and reinforcements to their army as they were trying to stave off an "enemy which was innumerable."

v. 9 " . . . the cause why they did not send more strength unto us we knew not; therefore, we were grieved and also filled with fear . . ." (sometimes we just don't know why things are as they are, or we just don't know the answer and that can be scary)

v. 10 "Therefore, we did pour out our souls in prayer to God, that he would strengthen us and deliver us out of the hands of our enemies." (the thing to do when we don't know and we're afraid is to pray for strength and deliverance)

v. 11 "Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him." (following prayer we will receive assurances, peace, faith and hope from God)

v. 12 & 13 & 33 "And we did take courage with our small force which we had received, and were fixed with a determination to conquer our enemies, . . . And thus we did go forth with all our might . . . we trust in our God . . ." (after we receive these gifts from God, we must choose to go forth courageously, with determination and with all our might and trust in God)

I love the scriptures!

And so does my dear husband

Thanksgiving 2009

It was our "off" year for Thanksgiving, which means that Mary, Jenny and Karrissa spent the holiday with their in-laws. With my parents in Texas and Todd spending the day with Michelle's family, and of course, the Buchanans were in NY, we were a small group of nine for dinner. We did have a lovely adult dinner though. Jill went all out with the table setting, including cloth napkins, napkin rings, two goblets for water and sparkling cider and a beautiful Thanksgiving centerpiece.




It was a delicious meal and with so few people, we have a lot of yummy leftovers for tomorrow!

The evidence of the resulting tryptophan coma:






We also enjoyed seeing Disney's A Christmas Carol in 3D, complete with the goofy glasses. It was really good and fun to get into the Christmas spirit.

We have so much to be grateful for. One of my favorite moments of the day was going around the table before dinner and telling what we're grateful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Note: to prove that "great minds think alike" or "we've been married so long we think the same way" go here.

SLC Trip

Tuesday I got to take my parents to the airport at 6 am for their flight to Texas to spend Thanksgiving with my sister's family. Since I was up early and in Salt Lake County I took the opportunity to attend the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

Timpanogos before sunrise from the temple

Since I was so far west and south in Salt Lake County I drove by our first home in West Jordan. We bought this home brand new in February 1983. Originally the white siding was trimmed in black; it has since been changed to gray. Rich planted the grass with seed in the front yard. Nanna bought the three trees in the front as a gift to us. Those are the front steps that Rich slipped down when they were icy and broke his ankle. It's the home we brought our baby son Brian home to. Laura (she was Annie then) learned to ride a bike in that driveway. I remember rocking Mary to sleep for her nap everyday in the livingroom; the rocking chair was in the bay window. I usually fell asleep while rocking her and Laura would wake me up to say Mary was asleep and now we could have our "school time." We had all our family for Thanksgiving dinner on a makeshift table in the livingroom in 1983. Then in 1984 we moved to Seoul, Korea. We only lived in this house for a little over a year, but I enjoyed a little walk down memory lane on Tuesday.

Mary's Birthday Sunday Dinner

We celebrated Mary's birthday at Sunday dinner following her actual birthday (she was busy that day anyway with New Moon - THREE times)

Sophie and Ayden helping Mary blow out candles on her birthday ice cream pie

We all love the Sundays when the Hammers join us. Sophie and Ayden really liven up the party and everyone enjoys playing with them.

Gram and Sophie playing with the doll house

Uncle Brian ~ the human horse

These crazy people got ahold of my camera:




Maybe they'll think twice about sneaking my camera when the pictures appear on the internet, but then again, maybe not . . .

Brian's Project

Brian spent more than a week on a labor of love refinishing this table:

the "before" picture

The table belonged to Rich's great Aunt Earleen who lived in Eureka. It's a beautiful dark walnut table with amazing features. It has drop leaves on both sides so when it's at its smallest its just a couple of feet wide and fits nicely against the wall. It has five leaves so when it's stretched to its full length it could seat 12. Rich's Mom always commented on what a beautiful table it is whenever we visited Aunt Earleen's house. When Earleen died, Gloria inherited her home in Eureka and all the furnishings inside. Then when Gloria died, we inherited everything. I just know that Gloria and Earleen would be happy that we are taking good care of and using this beautiful table. Brian took a lot of pride in doing a great job and thinking about how it would make his Nanna happy.

Sanded down to the bare wood

Adding the dark walnut stain to match the legs, followed by 5 coats of clear topcoat, with sanding between each coat.

And the beautiful finished product:

Back in its spot against the wall until the next big family dinner

Mormon Messages

I've noticed that many of the blogs I follow occasionally will link to a you-tube Mormon Message. I always enjoy a little "spiritual enlightenment" (as NieNie calls it) added to my day.

Upon research I discovered the Mormon Messages channel on youtube and I subscribed to it.



It's so awesome that these wonderfully produced messages of hope and inspiration are available. Makes me proud to be a Mormon!

Moroni

I've been reading the latter half of Alma lately. I love Moroni! What a great man, leader, prophet, captain. He is passionate about being righteous. He's anxiously engaged in preparing his people, both spiritually and temporally, for the inevitable fight with their enemies.

Alma 48
11 And Moroni was a ^astrong and a mighty man; he was a man of a perfect ^bunderstanding; yea, a man that did not delight in bloodshed; a man whose soul did joy in the liberty and the freedom of his country, and his brethren from bondage and slavery;

12 Yea, a man whose heart did swell with thanksgiving to his God, for the many privileges and blessings which he bestowed upon his people; a man who did labor exceedingly for the ^awelfare and safety of his people.

13 Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ, and he had ^asworn with an oath to defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his religion, even to the loss of his blood.

14 Now the Nephites were taught to defend themselves against their enemies, even to the shedding of blood if it were necessary; yea, and they were also taught ^anever to give an offense, yea, and never to raise the sword except it were against an enemy, except it were to preserve their lives.

15 And this was their ^afaith, that by so doing God would ^bprosper them in the land, or in other words, if they were faithful in keeping the commandments of God that he would prosper them in the land; yea, warn them to flee, or to prepare for war, according to their danger;

16 And also, that God would make it known unto them ^awhither they should go to defend themselves against their enemies, and by so doing, the Lord would deliver them; and this was the faith of Moroni, and his heart did glory in it; not in the ^bshedding of blood but in doing good, in preserving his people, yea, in keeping the commandments of God, yea, and resisting iniquity.

17 Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto ^aMoroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the ^bdevil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.

As I received the November Ensign this month with the talks from General Conference I was impressed that we have our own Moronis ~ prophets and apostles who have given us the directions and guidance we need to prepare spiritually and temporally for our own battles with the enemy.



I'm grateful for to have the words of prophets, from other ages, and from our own time, to guide me in my life.