Fall, We bid you Adieu

This week we had a big wind storm, and the leaves started to fall.  It's a good thing we had the Cider Festival when we did, because now all the beautiful red leaves are on the ground!

In years past, the leaves falling to the ground has given me and unbelievably sad feeling.  This year, I didn't feel that.  I wondered why?  And the answer was pretty clear.  There is so much to be happy about!

Reason #1 to be happy this week:

This book of scripture, which is indeed "Another Testament of Jesus Christ", as the title proclaims it to be, I was able to give away this week to a client that has come twice to see me, Randy.  As we finished the treatment this week, I said, "Now I am not charging any more, because I want to talk to you about some of my religious feelings."  And began by explaining that we have a Father in Heaven that loves us, and that we lived with him before we came here.  I shared with him that our Heavenly Father prepared a plan for us to come to earth to gain experience and progress, a plan which included a Savior.  After sharing about the Savior's role and the Atonement, I handed him a Book of Mormon, and read to him from 1 Nephi 8, about Lehi being in a dark and dreary waste (which is a similar description to what he saw last week), and how Lehi found the tree and partook of the fruit that brought him joy.  I testified that the Book of Mormon contained the word of God, which would bring that joy.  When I was turning pages, the book fell open to Moroni 10:3-5, because I had placed a mormon.org card there.  So I showed him those verses that I had marked.  I started to read them, and my voice caught, and I couldn't go on.  I was too emotional.  So after a few attempts he said, "Do you want me to read them?", and I said yes.  He read them through, twice.  "Wow", he said, "that is powerful."  Interestingly enough, another friend of his had given him a Book of Mormon only a few weeks ago.  He said, "He gave me this Book, and now here you are giving it to me.  I'm open."  I have been praying for him since then, that he will be honest and genuine in seeking to find answers, because if he does, he surely will find them.  I left with sharing with him what a wonderful, honest and gentle spirit he has.  "Do you really think so?" was his reply.  I assured him that I did.

What a great experience to share the gospel, the light of Christ, hope, and faith.  There is joy to be found, there is the tree and the fruit, amidst the dark and dreary waste!

Reason #2 to be happy this week:

At the end of October, I had 101 active distributors in my Young Living Downline!  Yeah!  This shows 108, because that's how many we've added in the last two days.  The reason this makes me happy is because I think of 108 people who have Young Living essential oils in their home, many of them using them on a daily basis and finding as great of benefit from them as we do.  This makes me fell good all over.  :)

Reason #3 to be happy this week:
Peter had a choir concert this week!

 He did great.  Mary and I both agreed that their 7th grade choir sounded better than any we've heard in a long time, if ever.  Peter's choir teacher said that sometimes he had to tell Peter to tone it down, because he has such a strong voice and can sing out.  This is not an easy thing to do when you're 13!  Way to go Peter!

Reason #4 to be happy this week:
Happiness comes from something as simple as having a prayer answered to find a part to a Halloween costume.  This may not sound like a big deal to someone else, but it is to me!  And Heavenly Father knows that, and helps me in countless ways.  So we had these two cute costumes going on this week.

 To be sure, this is not a costume for Peter - it's pretty much what he'd rather be wearing all the time.

 Grandma and Grandpa came over and got the pumpkin carving started.  Mary, Peter and Libby had fun with that.

 We went over to our Ward Trunk-or-Treat.  You can see Mary off to the side in her 80's costume (which she pulled out of my drawers).

 This is one way to light the Jack-o-Lanterns!  Most people just use a lighter or matches.  But when you have a torch, why not use it?

 Libby went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood with Hayden and Ragen, and afterwards they had a "candy swap" over at their house.

 Jesse went on a date with Brennan.  His uncle loves Halloween, so he has a big spook alley event every year, which they went to.  They are dressed as the music major nerds that they are!  ha ha

Bruce and I went on a date with our friends and neighbors, Randy and Lori.  They made a fabulous dinner for us and then we played Masterpiece.  It was a lot of fun.  We have been going on some double-dates with friends lately and look forward to it all week.

On Saturday afternoon, I rode up to a town about two hours north of here with my friends Karen and Krissi, and we did a Young Living introductory meeting.  There was a great turn-out and we had some excellent results. This is one of the reasons that I love doing the business so much - the fact that I get to meet new people all the time.  I thrive on that.  And also because I am constantly learning new things (and teaching them), and working with health at the same time - I just can't imagine anything else that would be more fun and fulfilling (besides being a wife and mother).

We had the missionaries over for dinner last night.  We ended up with the usual round of having them try NingXia Red and chia seed, and I gave each of them a Foot Zone.  We didn't give them kefir - we'll have to wait for another night on that.  ha ha

So that's why I am happy, even though we are settling down into winter once again - not my favorite time of year.  But I am actually looking forward to evenings around the fire, playing games and enjoying holidays.  Bring it on!

Welcome 2013!

Happy New Year!

We celebrated the New Year with our friends Norm and Sharon, and Jay and Leah.  Joseph, Peter and Libby came home from having fun over at our neighbors to be here at midnight.  Jesse and Mary had a great time at the Youth Dance.  I was released from my calling as the Stake Dance Director, so I was at that Youth Dance for three years before this one.  I kind of missed being there in the big party!

 Joseph and Peter started out the New Year right by going snowboarding.

They said it was beautiful up there.  The valley was under all these clouds.

Joseph went snowboarding again with his friend Devin on Friday night.  Although he loves snowboarding, he said that it's not a great environment up there.  He said that even though it's up in the mountains, that there's not a good feeling up there, like there usually is in the mountains.  Interesting, huh?

 Joseph and Peter have been milking every night when the temperature is under 10 degrees F.  Yikes!  That is SO cold.  Thanks for being manly men!

I have to add this picture of Mary and her friend Nathan at our swing dance class.  They were spinning and twirling - and getting all tangled up learning new moves!

The big news of this week is that we finished the Book of Mormon.

Bruce, Joseph, Jesse, Peter and I read the whole book, including reading 3 Nephi twice - in 2 weeks! 

There are a few insights that I came away with from this reading that I want to share.

First of all, the Book of Mormon truly is Another Testament of Jesus Christ.  I payed special attention to how many times it talks about prophets coming into the land and testifying of Christ and crying repentance to the people, and it was constantly happening.  Repentance!

Second of all, there is no grey area in the Book of Mormon - it's black and white.  And the prophets emphasized the need to repent in this life.  They preach and teach and exhort the people to repent and come unto Christ so that they will not die in their sins.  It is clear in the text that if you die in your sins, you will be miserable for eternity.  I know we don't like to think about that, and I don't see it emphasized in our modern way of thinking, but in the Book of Mormon - it is very clear.  That's why the prophets worked so hard to get people to repent - especially people who knew the gospel, and willfully rebelled.  It was not a pretty scene for them, if they died in their sins.  But even those who didn't have a full knowledge, such as the father of King Lamoni, even he was subject to some accountability, as Ammon notes in Alma 20:17, "But Ammon stood forth and said unto him: Behold, thou shalt not slay thy son; nevertheless, it were better that he should fall than thee, for behold, he has repented of his sins; but if thou shouldst fall at this time, in thine anger, thy soul could not be saved."  The key words here are "in thine anger".

Please don't misunderstand me here.  I have no doubt that when it comes to mercy, the Savior will be as merciful as possible, and when it comes to punishment, he will mete out the least punishment possible.  But the problem is that our choices have a great impact, and when we willfully turn away from his extended hand in this life, we will continue to do so in the next life.  He that is filthy shall be filthy still.

So what that means to me is that I want to focus on repenting in my own life - now, and working out my salvation - in this life.  This scripture sums it up:

"Yea, I would that you would come forth and harden not your hearts any longer; for behold, now is the time and the day of your salvation; and therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great  plan of redemption be brought about unto you.

For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors."   (Alma 34:31-32)

Third, I was struck with how Moroni and Mormon beg us to "rend that veil of unbelief" and plead with us to "seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written." (Ether 4, 12).  I want to look them in the eye at "the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah" and be able to tell them that I did that, that I sought for it all the days of my life, and I lived for it and obtained it.

Jesse and I agreed yesterday that we almost want to start reading it the same way all over again, because we loved it so much.  I have to put a shout-out for Jesse here:  She kept on task the best of anyone in the family.  She only got behind by five chapters on one day, and most days she had her reading done by ten in the morning.  She was amazing!  Good job Jesse!  And another one for Peter - his first time reading the Book of Mormon.  Well done, son!

And finally, I have to tell you what I did last night.  I was on familysearch.org, which is now the new Family Tree website, and I was clicking around, going back on my line, and I kept going and going, and got all the way back to Adam and Eve!!!  It was so exciting!  I have heard of other people doing that, but I've never it found it myself.  I actually found it back three different ways.  I wrote down what they were.  Here is a brief overview:

From me back through my my Dad, and his grandmother Agnes Belzora Savage, there are 63 generations back to Matthat (LZCR-RRJ is his ID number on the website).  He is the father of Joseph the Carpenter, husband to Mary.  From Matthat, there are 43 generations back to David, and from David there are 33 generations back to Abraham, and from Abraham there are 20 generations back to Peleg, and from Peleg, there are 15 generations back to Adam.

In all there are 174 generations back from me to Adam.  Interesting!!  If you average 30 years per generation, that is 5,220 years.  So add on a few years for the generations immediately following Adam, and that fits the picture nicely with what we know from Biblical history.  Now, I'm sure there are some mistakes in the line - I could see some discrepancies just going through it, but it was fun to see it nonetheless.

So I happily announced to my children this morning that I had found that they were descended from Adam!  Ha ha!

Happy New Year!