Sunday, June 30, 2013

Mae's 1st birthday!

This is Mae! She is the best dog I have EVER had! Today is her 1st birthday! She is fun to take on a walk. She is good "babysitter" and follows the kids everywhere.


Saturday, June 29, 2013

Here I go again...Rated PG18

I don't really know where to start with this post...I am a bit frustrated.  First of all, I am not intolerant, I am not a racist, I am not a homophobe, I don't hate people. I'm not misinformed.
I am concerned about what the future holds for our children.  I  am not an alarmist either. I just know that we need to know what is going on and what we can do to protect our families. I am a bit frustrated with the apathetic conservatives as well. The ones that just sit back and watch and let things happen, for several reasons: 1. They probably don't think there is anything that they can do. To that I say, Edith Windsor just made a change in our country. She is just ONE person.  2. They feel that they are on the Lord's side and things will work out in the end. To that I say how? It won't happen all on it's own. It will happen because their will be a minority of people that won't give up, or give in. There will be a minority of people still willing to live by the constitution. There will be a minority of people that will still be willing to teach correct principles and raise children with those principles.
According to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, there are at least 23 sexual "orientation." These behaviors don't have ANY rights.  None of them, it needs to stay that way.  We all have the same fundamental rights based on our color, sex, and race, these are fixed characteristics.  I really wish that everyone could understand what this could mean going forward. If we start giving rights to people based on their sexual orientation, that opens the door to others with different sexual orientations. Here is where it gets a little hard to read: I don't want to be offensive, but I want people to understand the severity of what is going on.  Polygamists are now hopeful that their rights will be granted, but they are not the only ones. There are 23 orientations on the books right now. 23! I will only give a few examples.  "Non-consensual" There are people that believe that their sexual orientation is to have sex with others that do not consent to having sex with them. That means rape. Pedophiles feel that their sexual orientation is young children. They will also demand to have rights. The list goes on and on...23 of them that are recognized and on the books. It is only a matter of time.  I don't want to even think about what the future holds for my children and grandchildren if there are rights given to all of the sexual orientations that exist. That will be a tough world to live in. Think about a child that you LOVE DEARLY. A daughter, a son, a niece, a nephew, cousin. A grandchild.  How will you protect them? How?
The schools aren't helping. They are forcing children to learn about homosexuality.  This is starting in kindergarten.  You send your children to school and they are forced to participate.  forced.  I don't want my children to be required to experiment sexually.  If you don't believe me, look it up, do your own research.  http://www.massresistance.org/docs/parker/main.html. He was told that if he was allowed to take his children out of school, then others would take their children out and the only ones left at school would be the children of homosexual parents, and they would feel discriminated against.  really?
I am so happy that there are gays/lesbians out there that are fighting to keep marriage between a man and a woman.  They understand the importance of that principle.  https://www.facebook.com/defendtradmarriage 

Here is one about the lies being told: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/29/lesbian-activists-surprisingly-candid-speech-gay-marriage-fight-is-a-lie-to-destroy-marriage/

So what can we do? We can be aware of what is going on. We can follow the Prophet. We can pray in our families, read together, eat together, work together, and serve together.

We can also be informed, know the laws that are being discussed and ruled on. Let our voices be heard. Let the people in office know what we believe in. And how we want them to vote.

Being tolerant doesn't mean that my values and my principles are ignored and completely run over. Being tolerant means kindness, treating everyone with respect regardless of their sexual orientation. Including me for mine.  The words that have been put into our society seem so one sided to me.  I am the one intolerant when I don't agree with others. I have the right to disagree.  I have the right to my opinion, and others do too. When those opinions clash that is where the problem is, name calling is never acceptable. 

It is good to know that the Lord will return one day, in Glory and Honor. I know that He lives, He loves us all and He died for each and everyone of us so that we could repent of our sins, be strengthened in our weaknesses, and learn to love everyone.


Monday, June 24, 2013

Sis. Marble leaving for Brazil!

 
We are getting ready to drop Sis. Marble off at the MTC!
All the girls at the Temple saying our last goodbyes for 1  1/2 years.
The boys, well, most of them, Andrew wouldn't play the take pictures game...
Andrew still didn't want to play, but we sort of made him...oops!

GG and Gpa
At the MTC. The look on her face rips my heart open. I realize it is a side view of her, but I know that look. She is amazing, she will touch many people in Brazil. I am so happy and excited for her.  I will and do miss her TERRIBLY!  I know she is doing exactly what the Lord wants her to be doing right now. I love her SO, SO, SO much!! You go girl, we've got your back!
GROUP HUG-see, we've got you!! :)




 

Sunday, June 2, 2013

This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased...

So it's 2:00 in the morning and I can't sleep. I have been putting off this post for months now and well, now I can't sleep. So here it goes...
Matthew 3:17 And lo voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Mark 1:11 And there came a voice from heaven saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Luke 3:22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him,  and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
2 Peter 1:17  For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
This is Heavenly Father speaking about his Son, Jesus Christ. This is how He introduces the Son, His Son.
We can learn a lot from this sentence. I went to a fireside (a meeting where there is a speaker about religious things) I don't remember his name, but I think it was Bro. Nelson. I will look it up in the morning..anyway...
This is my beloved Son.  We can all put our names after this sentence. This is my Child, who I love dearly, insert your name here. We are all Sons and Daughters of a Heavenly Father who love us dearly. We are all brothers and sisters. Our worth NEVER changes. Our worth doesn't have any conditions on it. We are all EQUAL in our Father's eyes.  WORTH is given automatically, it doesn't change. We aren't worthy of something because of the things we do or don't do. People that we talk to, have relationships with, or that we simply meet on the street are all Sons and Daughters of God, with the exact same value as you and I. 
The next part of that introduction: In whom I am well pleased.  This is different for each of us.  This is based on our actions. Does Heavenly Father's love for us change? NO it doesn't. Can His happiness or pleasure for us change. Yes, it can.  Some of us would get introduced like this, This is my child, insert your name here, who I am sort of pleased with, or sometimes pleased with. Some of us would get introduced like this, this is my child, insert your name here, who I am not pleased with at all.  This one is up to us.  Our worth is not our decision, although the adversary would try to link the two together, if our Father in Heaven is unpleased with us, then we are no longer worthy of His love and affection, that is not the case.  OUR WORTH never changes and is not something that we control.
We have a loving Heavenly Father, he has told us about the things that pleases Him and the things that don't. The Ten Commandments for example: I will write them briefly as I know them from memory, this is not exactly from the scriptures. It's 2:00 and I am tired and lazy and don't want to get out of bed to look them up, so here it goes:
1. Thou shalt have no other God before me. 
     Pretty easy and straight forward...
2. Thou shalt have no graven images.
     Worship God, not our money, TV's, toys,...whatever you would put before God.
3. Thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain.
     This is saying Oh Lord, or OMG  (I really hate that) It is so frustrating how frequently those terms are used in TV or in the movies...it goes against the things that God has asked us to do. It is "on the list" if you will.
4.  Keep the Sabbath day holy.
    Go to church, worship God. Spend it different then other days of the week.  Visit the sick, help those in need. 
5. Honour thy Father and Mother.
     This one is pretty self explanatory as well, show resect.  It doesn't mean that they are always right, but it does mean that you will honour them.
6. Thou shall not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness.
     It amazes me that this "made the list." Remember my earlier post about words and thoughts and how they effect people. I think this commandment proves that talking and thinking bad about people really does hurt them.  Why would it make the list if it weren't really important?
10. Thou shalt not covet.
    This is a good one. Don't want or try to take something that belongs to someone else.

Anyway, the things we do or don't do does effect our relationship with our Heavenly Father. It will NEVER change His love.
The good thing is, we get to choose the things we do and the way we act and we get to decide and show Him that He matters to us by the things that we do.  It is personal, it is between me and my God, and between you and yours.
So, we should always treat each other kindly and show others that we know their worth. AND act in a way that would please our Father in Heaven.

I hope that when I am introduced by my Heavenly Father, it goes something like this, This is my daughter, Sorena, whom I love dearly, in whom I am mostly pleased.

Now, I am going to sleep. I will reread this in the morning and see if it makes sense...until then, goodnight.