New Calling, New Responsibilities

Jason has been called to serve as the 2nd counselor in our ward bishopric. He was able to be ordained a High Priest by his dad. It was a neat experience to witness. Because of his new calling, I was asked to speak in church yesterday. So, I feel the need to post my talk here. I'm just going to write it how I gave it. ;D "I'd much rather sing than speak, but given my husbands new calling, I get to do the latter. I was given the topic of service and was told I could choose a talk from the October conference. When I was looking over the talks, Bishop Edgley's talk, "Enduring Together" leapt out at me. So he starts out by talking of a columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune relating what it means to live in a ward. "Being a go-to-church Mormon in Utah means living so close to fellow ward members that not much happens that the entire congregation doesn't know about in five minutes tops." He continues:"This kind of cheek-to-jowl living can be intrusive....It also happens to be one of our greatest strengths." The author goes on to say " At work on Tuesday, I caught the noon news broadcast on television. A van had been obliterated in a traffic crash. A young mother and two small children were being rushed to emergency rooms by helicopter and ambulance....Hours later I learned that the van belonged to the young couple living across the street from me in Herriman, Eric and Jeana Quigley." "Not only do I see the Quiqley's in church,...we ate dinner with them at a neighborhood party the night before the crash. Our grandkids played with daughters Bianca and Miranda....Fourteen-month-old Miranda suffered serious head injuries and died three days later at Primary Children's Hospital. " "Here's where all that nosiness...pays off. Although the accident occurred several miles from home, the dust literally had not settled before someone from the ward stopped and was pulling through the wreckage. The rest of the ward knew about it before the cops and paramedics showed up. Ward members went to all three hospitals, contacted Eric at work, and organized into labor squads. People who didn't get in on the immediate-need level were frantic for some way to help. In 48 hours, the Quigley yeard was moved, home cleaned, laundry done, refrigerator stocked, relatives fed and a trust fund set up at a local bank. We would have given their dog a bath if they had one." The auther concludes with this insightful comment: "There is a positive side to the congregational mircroscope my ward lives under....What happens to a few happens to all" (Robert Kirby, "Well-Being of Others Is Our Business," Salt Lake Tribune, July 30 2005, p. C1). Bishop Edgley goes on to give 5 lessons that we learn from bearing one another's burdens as ward members. 1. The Lord's organization is fully adequate to know and care for those with even the most dire emotional and spiritual needs. As some of you know, my brother was killed in a plane crash a year and a half ago. He left a pregnant wife with 3 kids under 3. At the time, my brother and his wife were living with my mom. For several years before this happened, my mom had been feeling like their ward didn't meet their needs. But with the death of my brother, it seemed to wake up the ward and they went to work. They had meals provided, young women came over to the house and cleaned, washing walls even, and even still today they come over once a week to clean the house and watch the kids and the kids have a place to go so she can attend the temple and run errands. It was amazing to see the difference. 2. Adversity can bring us closer to God, with a renewed and enlightened appreciation for prayer and the Atonement, which covers pain and suffering in all their manifestations. When my brother was killed, I was already going through my own personal hell. My testimony had been rocked as to whether I really believed in the atonement. The experiences that I had manifested to me that it IS real. My prayers intensfied greatly and I knew that the Lord was there for me, in ALL of my sufferings and sorrows. 3. Members who suffer tragedy firsthand often experience an increased capacity for love, compassion, and understanding. They become the first, last, and often the most effective repsonders in giving comfort and showing compassion to others. As I have gone through these trials, I have felt my heart expand and my personal capacity of compassion increase for those that struggle. My sister-in-law also shared with me an experience that she's had recently with another woman that recently lost her husband in a plane crash also and how Nicole has been able to be a strength and dear friend to this woman. 4. A ward, as well as a family, draws closer together as it endures together --what happens to one happens to all. Again going back to my mom's ward and how they came together. There is such a unity in that ward now. So much so that Nicole was talking to a friend about the housing project near our home but she didn't give it much thought because even though she wants her own home, she can't leave the support group that she has. They suffered with her, they were there and are still there for her. What a great thing. 5. And perhaps most important, we can each be more compassionate and caring because we have each had our own personal trials and experiences to draw from. We can endure together. The most Christ-like person I know is my husband. His compassion and forgiveness amaze me. I've never met anyone whose love is so unconditional. The experiences we've gone through over the last couple of years has prepared him to serve in this new capacity. He's got an incredibly big heart that's full of compassion. We get to know the Lord through our adversity...but let us do it together, lets endure together as brothers and sisters in our ward family. Let us lighten the burdens of each other. Let us not have to have a tradegy in order for our ward to come together. Lets do it now. I know the Savior, I testify that he lives. I know if we choose to let him-He changes us. He heals us. He heals our marriages, our broken hearts, our every pain. He is the Master Teacher. Let us pattern our hearts and actions after His example. Let us do our visiting teaching and home teaching out of love, not because we have to. I have experienced wonderful visiting teachers and it makes the biggest difference. When I was really struggling, Jill Ayala was assigned to be my visiting teacher and I don't think she knows what she did for me. Lets pull together as a ward so we can be one in Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Women: a Tribute

I found this on my cousins blog and it is how I feel about women, especially for my mom and my wonderful wife. She is definitely not invisible, for she is a builder of something greater than any cathedral! May we each recognize what our better halves do for each of us and remember that they truly are builders of the next wonders in the world.

The Invisible Woman By Nicole Johnson
It started to happen gradually. One day I was walking my son Jake to school. I was holding his hand and we were about to cross the street when the crossing guard said to him, "Who is that with you, young fella?" "Nobody," he shrugged. "Nobody?" The crossing guard and I laughed.My son is only 5, but as we crossed the street I thought, "Oh my goodness, nobody?" I would walk into a room and no one would notice. I would say something to my family - like "Turn the TV down, please" - and nothing would happen. Nobody would get up, or even make a move for the remote. I would stand there for a minute, and then I would say again, a little louder, "Would someone turn the TV down?" Nothing.Just the other night my husband and I were out at a party. We'd been there for about three hours and I was ready to leave. I noticed he was talking to a friend from work. So I walked over, and when there was a break in the conversation, I whispered, "I'm ready to go when you are." He just kept right on talking. That's when I started to put all the pieces together. I don't think he can see me. I don't think anyone can see me.I'm invisible.It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, "Can't you see I'm on the phone?" Obviously not! No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, "What time is it?" I'm a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the Disney channel?" I'm a car to order, "Right around 5:30, please."I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated sum ma cum laud-but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going she's going she's gone!One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, "I brought you this." It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: "To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees." In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:* No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.* These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.* They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.* The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, "Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it." And the workman replied, "Because God sees."I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become."At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table." That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, "You're gonna love it there."As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

My Joy....Josh

Because I was at the temple for a while I hadn't spent any quality time with Josh. So, when I put him down for his nap, I had the thought to tell him the stories about Jesus. I think I take for granted that just because I've studied His life and know the stories, Josh isn't going to automatically know them. So I started with the little girl that He raised from the dead and then the woman that had the issue of blood and then the man that was blind and his daughter brought him to Jesus. Every time I would get done with a story, Josh wanted to hear another one. So I told him the story of the 10 lepers. (First explaining a little bit what leprosy is) I told him how all 10 were so excited to be healed, but only 1 turned back to the Lord and thanked Him. I told him about how important it is to be grateful for the blessings that Jesus and Heavenly Father give us. By the look on his face it seemed to sink in, then he said."Jesus says 'Peace' all the time. And He can help me if I see a scary... (I can't remember what he said, I think it was like a bug or something like that) and if I fall down and get a big scrape he can help it feel better. He has power." I said "Yes, Josh he does." Then Josh told me, "I love you Mommy." "I love you too Sweetheart."
I'm so lucky to be a mom. In this, I see a part of my patriarchal blessing being fulfilled, "no accomplishment on this earth will equal the joys that you will find in your home teaching your children in righteousness." Josh truly is my joy! -but it does say childREN meaning plural....I do have hope for more. :D

Uplifting Enlightenment

I've had a really hard week. I've really been struggling with depression. I think it's mainly hormonally based but none the less it's been very difficult having a dark cloud over me and not having the energy to do something about it. I really feel sorry for those that deal with this on a continual basis. Satan really uses this as a tool to make me feel like everything I've done wrong in my life still hangs over my head and that even though I've repented it doesn't matter. Even though in my head I know he's lying, its really hard to not feel the weight of it. So today, I got a babysitter and went to the temple.
The session was wonderful. I felt the spirit throughout it, but there was a point where I felt that weight again, and I felt myself doubting His power to make my sins as if they never happened. In my head its a battle of belief and doubt. So as I went into the celestial room, I sat down and began to pray. After praying I looked up to the picture of Christ. My heart was full with gratitude for what He's done for me. Then the phrase that you hear just before entering the celestial room came to my mind. I felt a rush of the spirit and knew that I indeed was in the presence of my Savior. I knew that I could not be in His presence if I wasn't pure. I knew that it was because of Him that I am pure. Because He loves me. ME. I'm so grateful for His tender mercies. I'm grateful for the way He teaches and shows me of His plan for me. I'm so grateful to be blessed with the gospel in my life. I'm grateful for the beautiful people that I call my friends and my wonderful family. Thank you Heavenly Father!

The Awful Truth About Cars

So if you live in the type of home that I grew up in you hate Ford, and you respect and love GM, Chevy, and as the years grew on Honda, and Toyota. If you marry the way I did (meaning loads of money in my bank account lol) ... you end up almost accepting whatever you can get your hands on for cheap. So over the years Melanie and I have had a few cars:

1. '85 Chevy Z28 Camaro
2. 91 Ford Tempo
3. 89 Chevy Corsica
4. 88 Buick LeSabre
5. 97 BMW 740iL
6. 02 Honda Accord
7. 98 Saturn L
8. 89 Honda Accord (borrowed for 6 months)
9. 94 For Taurus (Borrowed for two months)
10. 93 Subaru Legacy Wagon
11. 90 Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra
12. 96 Honda Accord (Borrowed for two months)

Thank goodness for some really good family and friends because they let us borrow their cars graciously.

So you may be asking what the point of this blog is, well I am getting there. So in the first blog that I posted, I mentioned that I replaced the engine in our Subaru. There was one problem that I wasn't sure it would fix or not. That was; The car just doesn't like to be out in the rain without it's raincoat on. And seeing as we don't yet have the raincoat fitted properly, the car gave out on Friday. It worked really strongly until Melanie pulled up to a stop sign, then it gave up the ghost. So we towed it to the shop and it is currently getting worked on right now. We should be able to get it back today later on...I hope.

We have had the opportunity to drive many cars through this experience and no matter what I drive I somehow remain devoted to Chevy and GMC, which is funny, because in this group of cars I have had several of them that have nickel and dimed me where every nickel is $500 and every dime is $1000. So I rented a vehicle the other day so that I could get around anyway, and it happened to be a Ford Taurus, the brand new one. I was quite impressed, now mind you I haven't driven anything newer than 14 yrs old that I own for a really long time. So even though it was a Ford I have to admit it was a nice drive with good power in spite being front wheel drive. So the moral of the story is that maybe we should look at buying a new car because we have been through quite a few, though in all we have spent thousands of dollars less, by doing what we have done, except for the BMW. doh! But there is something to be said about the peace of mind that you can get in spite of the monthly payment for years. We do cherish our experiences though and appreciate all that we have learned.

A wonderful weekend with family

This past weekend we decided to visit lots of family. It all started when Melanies grandma died about a month ago. She has been able to think of her and her grandpa quite a bit. And really has grown more fond of Grandpa Junior. She went up there to Bear Lake, St. Charles to sing for grandma the same night that she died. She was comforted by the wonderful angelic singing of her two grand daughters Melanie and Corinne. So since grandma is now gone and she was quite the cook, Melanie wanted to go up and serve him. So we found a convenient time to go up and spend a day with him. We arrived Sunday and Melanie cooked his favorite meal of roast, potatos, creamed peas, and lemon meringue pie. It was so good. We actually wen up Thursday night to my parents home and spent the night there to visit with them, and it was a great visit. Then Friday we went to my cousins wedding, lunch, and reception. Her gown was gorgeous, as was she, she looked like a princess. We also were able to visit my sister who lives up in Logan. Then we spent Friday night and Saturday with Kenny and Teresa. What a really enjoyable time we had with them. You know it is nice to just visit family. Kenny took me to where he works as a designer for corrugated fiber (card board) making boxes of all sorts, sizes, shapes, and stuffs. It was kind of fun to do so. He actually designed part of one of the gifts that I will be giving to Joshua for Christmas. He really wanted a cage for the one dinosaur that he has, so I will make him a cage using cardboard and popsicle craft sticks. Family is the bestest.

Joshua

You know I love him so much because he adds a totally new dimension to my life that I have never know before. He brings such ultimate joy, it really is beyond comprehension. Anyone who says that we must limit the world population either has no children, could have as many as they want, or has no clue in life. Joshua is my Joy! Wow I never knew that I didn't know. Children. What a wonderful blessing for Melanie & I to be able to have at least Josh. Hopefully more will come as that is what we pray for and hope for.

DI (Deseret Industries)

What a great store to go to. If you read my last post you would know that I have recently purchased weights from them. I also got a really exciting (to me, not to Melanine (at all)) gift for Joshua from there. I bought a candy machine, the kind that you stick a quarter in and rotate the knob and candy or stickers come out. It is not one of the cheap kinde either. It is the kind that you go to any store and find, I got it for $10. So not bad. I think that he will be so excited about it, and it will be a great way to get his friends to pay for his mission too... ;)

Better than before

I can tell you that making up my mind to start exercising has been a great decision for me. And I think that Melanie would agree with me as well. She has told me that I seem to think more clearly, quickly and positively. So it has now been two weeks and I can tell you that I have been meeting my goal of 4 - 5 times a week for 20 minutes a day. I even went out and bought about 60 lbs of weights and 3 barbells for $7 dollars from DI. I love DI. I used the weights last night for the first time, I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER!!! I just have to go to a sporting goods store and get some clamps for the ends of the barbells to keep the weights tight.

Josh's Dismay

I took the car into the shop today to have the emissions tested. As we were sitting in the car just after we had parked the car at the shop, there was a really nice Tahoe that pulled out of the garage. It had really nice wheels and Josh commented about it saying how cool it looked. Yes he's 3 and already has an afinity to cars. He's his father's son! So when our car came out of the shop after the inspection, we walked out to it and Josh looked at it checking out the wheels and said..."Its not styled. Its NOT styled! The wheels are ugly. (then starting to cry as he got in the car...) Mom, this car isn't cool....its not a cool car." He cried for about 5 mins. I couldn't help but laugh. I was thinking..."You've got to be kidding me. My 3 year old is crying because we don't have a cool car. What's it going to be like when he's 16." LOL

Decisions

Have you ever needed to make a decision and then realized you weren't really sure what to choose. Well that is the area of luke-warmness, the position in which God starts to spew! So I decided the other day that I needed to loose some weight. On the web under bmi or (body mass index), it says that I should weigh 175lbs at the most. Well that seems to be a load of garbage because that is where I sit when I am in great shape. Right now I am in shape...round is a shape. So I decided that I would start running daily and see what happens if I do that. So far my calves are sore and there are no other benefits that I can really see yet.

Decision is what world class people do that differentiates them from the rest of everyone else. I will continue to run until I am prepared to run at least a half marathon, maybe even a full marathon.

Have you every wondered?

Why it is that the Lord blesses us more than we can take in?
What can I do to bless the lives of others, the way that I have been blessed?
Why we have so much freedom when others have very little?
What can I do to really make a difference in the world? Not just in my family or community or city, but the world!
What can I do to decide to really make that difference?
Am I willing to trust Him who inspires me, to do His will?
Will I go forward, listening to the things that I hear, and Do them?
Can I/will I shake the fear that I must to accomplish all of these things?
Will I prove to myself and to the Lord that I love him above everyhing else?
Will I be His disciple?

If you have answers to these questions that you would like to post, please feel free, this is a moment to share without inhibition what is really on your mind. No one that reads this would laugh at your answers. There is a time to become open and vulnerable, now might just be that time for you. Maybe you wouldn't like to share your answers but would like to comment on whether or not you have ever wondered about these or similar questions and you could share that with us. I am working on my own answers, some I know and some I do not. But the point is to grow and find those answers and then make a difference in others' lives.

True Gratitude

There are a multitude of things that I am grateful for. This is just a small list of some of them, way out of order:

• my Savior
• my sweet little princess Melanie (my wife)
• my buddy Joshie (my son)
• my home
• my knowledge & testimony of the gospel
• my talents - hard working, mechanically minded, common sense minded, social, great friend, so-so listener, confident, dad, posess integrity
• great books
• pilot license
• friends
• trials
• family
• food

Yeah we have a blog now!

So we can start posting to our blog now, but we honestly don't have a digital camera to take pictures with so it will start out without them. Life is pretty exciting for us. I just replaced the engine in our Subaru. When I say "I just," I really mean me and a couple of my really good friends. The only problem is that once we got it together, I couldn't get the stupid thing to start. We worked and worked on it. I have done the timing on the car before and was 95%-98% sure that it was right. I had two other guys there that were also fairly competent and they were sure that the timing was right as well. So I did what any smart guy would and took it in to the experts, a subaru shop. He found that the timing was indeed off. So I paid him to fix it and now the car runs really great.