Sisters

You And I Are Friends 

You and I are friends
You laugh, I laugh
You cry, I cry

You scream, I scream
You run, I run
You jump, I jump

You jump off a
bridge, I'm going to
miss you buddy:)

As a parent you hope that your children chose good friends. You teach and preach the concept but clearly it is something you can neither  do or force on your children. For Strength of Youth teaches: Choose your friends carefully. They will greatly influence how you think and act, and even help determine the person you will become. Choose friends who share your values so you can strengthen and encourage each other in living high standards. A true friend will encourage you to be your best self. And so we are grateful that Mackey has good friends here in Naperville and good friends in Minnesota. 


Erin took a road trip to Chicago with tickets to attend a club performance in Lincoln Park of Ten out of Tenn . She came with tickets for Mackey, and Rindy joined in. They drove downtown Chicago, found a great parking spot and went to the club. The driving reason was Andrew Belle. 

It surpassed expectations, justifying the trip. Back where we started.  Soul-mates are people who bring out the best in you.  They are not perfect but are always perfect for you.  Mackey has a friend who is  a soul-mate and parental approved.

Rolling Right Along

LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve was closing for the night when I arrived. The Park Ranger had just clicked the paddle lock barring the entrance road for the evening. Not exactly sure that I was at the right place, not anticipating it being closed, I pulled up , rolled down the window and asked if there was a campground nearby. His response: "oops, I forgot a group was coming tonight, I was just readying to leave". Yes thanks for the tender mercies of timing that found me there at just the right moment.

The Naperville Stake does what I think is a grand idea by sponsoring at least twice a year  a Stake Teacher's Quorum camp out. We normally have around 30 boys however with the conflict of fall football and home coming games our numbers were slightly smaller but it didn't lessen the experience. People set up camp, ate their meals and then we gathered around the camp fire for a sharing moment by President Bruce Duffield. He is one of my favorite speakers and he didn't disappoint as he spoke of people of courage and the need to be that way today.

Tent sleeping is tent sleeping - what can I say. The temperature was cool which is my favorite . Fall camping is the best with an added benefit of no bugs. Morning came quickly,  we ate breakfast, broke camp, and started a bike ride. The trail, The Great Western Trail runs 17 miles from St Charles to Sycamore is one so similar to the Luce Line or Sparta Elroy  or Root River - reclaimed railroad track, flat terrain, in and out of the woods, grass lands and corn fields - as to think you were in MN or WI. Thirty miles is more than I have biked for some time and probably farther than I should have but I set a 30 mile goal  and did it. As I biked I thought of the many miles I have biked and flashed backed to pre-mission 1000 miles in a month the highlights being hit by a truck and then running into a friend on the road thousands of miles away, to the Biking Merit badge with each of the boys, most memorable of which would clearly be the 700+ miles I have done on a tandem bike with Evan (a story for another time). 

I stopped more than most, and am aching now for sure, but totally enjoyed the activity. My timing was good once again as I finished in the rain but for less than a quarter mile. The trail's end greeted us with pizza and gator-ade. A nice note to end on.


(editor's note - the body has quickly recovered - thank you very much)

trained talent

B - Repair

What is a girl to do?

Most of us have precious possessions which are valued above most all other things and become long term companions. As opposed to the stuff we accumulate that takes up space but can be ignored for months on end and it rarely passes our thoughtful consciousness that it is missing - It is stuff. The precious is missed almost immediately and ongoing.  There are two possessions that fill that vital role early and almost universally - The Nuk and - The Blanket. When the latter falls into disarray frequently it is destroyed or lost depending on the communication code in the family. Eden's blanket, like many, has a name - B; and had fallen in disrepair of late. It is precious - B is not stuff.

What to do with a B that is falling apart - bring it to grandma's for loving care and restoration. Thursday and Friday found Julie and the kids visiting. Few things are more delightful than Dean and Eden running into the house , calling your name, and jumping into your arms for a hug. Such was the case Thursday when they came for a visit. ( as a side note Michael dropped by when the Metra left him short so he joined us for dinner, humble fare for the meal but fun company- Michael didn't run and jump either but he did say hi Tim) Back to the main discussion, the blanket. Julie ran errands and B was repaired - a successful trip for all. Eden was delighted by the restoration project and embraced the new look. We appreciate that they live so close and drop by.

Forgot to take the critical photos but caught the fireman.

Remember

Posted at 11:38 AM ET, 09/08/2011
9/11 destruction allowed us to spiritually rebuild
By Thomas S. Monson

The calamity of September 11th, 2001 has cast a long shadow. Ten years later, many of us are still haunted by its terrible tragedy of lost lives and broken hearts. It is an episode of anguish that has become a defining moment in the history of the American nation and the world. This week, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, along with Tom Brokaw, will pay its own homage to the unforgettable events of September 11, 2001.

There was, as many have noted, a remarkable surge of faith following the tragedy. People across the United States rediscovered the need for God and turned to Him for solace and understanding. Comfortable times were shattered. We felt the great unsteadiness of life and reached for the great steadiness of our Father in Heaven. And, as ever, we found it. Americans of all faiths came together in a remarkable way.

Sadly, it seems that much of that renewal of faith has waned in the years that have followed. Healing has come with time, but so has indifference. We forget how vulnerable and sorrowful we felt. Our sorrow moved us to remember the deep purposes of our lives. The darkness of our despair brought us a moment of enlightenment. But we are forgetful. When the depth of grief has passed, its lessons often pass from our minds and hearts as well.

Our Father’s commitment to us, His children, is unwavering. Indeed He softens the winters of our lives, but He also brightens our summers. Whether it is the best of times or the worst, He is with us. He has promised us that this will never change.

But we are less faithful than He is. By nature we are vain, frail, and foolish. We sometimes neglect God. Sometimes we fail to keep the commandments that He gives us to make us happy. Sometimes we fail to commune with Him in prayer. Sometimes we forget to succor the poor and the downtrodden who are also His children. And our forgetfulness is very much to our detriment.

If there is a spiritual lesson to be learned from our experience of that fateful day, it may be that we owe to God the same faithfulness that He gives to us. We should strive for steadiness, and for a commitment to God that does not ebb and flow with the years or the crises of our lives. It should not require tragedy for us to remember Him, and we should not be compelled to humility before giving Him our faith and trust. We too should be with Him in every season.

The way to be with God in every season is to strive to be near Him every week and each day. We truly “need Him every hour,” not just in hours of devastation. We must speak to Him, listen to Him, and serve Him. If we wish to serve Him, we should serve our fellow men. We will mourn the lives we lose, but we should also fix the lives that can be mended and heal the hearts that may yet be healed.

It is constancy that God would have from us. Tragedies are not merely opportunities to give Him a fleeting thought, or for momentary insight to His plan for our happiness. Destruction allows us to rebuild our lives in the way He teaches us, and to become something different than we were. We can make Him the center of our thoughts and His Son, Jesus Christ, the pattern for our behavior. We may not only find faith in God in our sorrow. We may also become faithful to Him in times of calm.

Thomas S. Monson is president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

A Day in September

Mom and Blair sharing a few hours together


Oh - I desperately hurt my thumb

inside driving

what should go in a storage bucket ... my sister, a few toys, and me

its ok to tip the dad - june is straight on - growing up fast at 5 weeks old

cruisin'

Those who have ears let them hear

an archival letter re-discovered

I'm pretty sure I know the author

Labor Day

So what comprises a lovely Labor Day?

it should start with sleeping in - check

A few kids around - eight checks

Then a parade would be nice - check

Sitting with friends - double check

Putting up some peaches - check

Cousins visiting for dinner  - check
games  and  - check
chatting - and double check

it helps to have beautiful sun-shining day

Suuhi, Sushi

Sushi is an odd food. Many love it and many will never touch it.
Check out the two images shown

the one is sushi and the other a platter full of wrap sandwiches. Identical NO - but close enough sometimes given the right wrap and the right sushi maybe they could be confused.

The other day we were at my

cousins for the air show and Evan saw the plate of food being served and  he knows that it is sushi. he knows that I 

love sushi, offers me to join in the sushi and I said no it just looks like it but those are just sandwich wraps. It 

is good to know Evan has great taste and high 

expectations for any meal. Sushi it is for another day.

Stones

In Minnesota we left several stones in our garden, of significant size, as we  moved to illinois. They came from Spain, Costa Rica, hawaii .....Once such stone , new to the family, was a gift of parker and Brigham from a trip to Zions, as seen below.

Last Sunday Mackey and three other girls sang in Sacrament meeting. They performed well and the song did what it should do in a sacrament meeting - bring the Spirit. I am honoring a request by not broadcasting it publicly, but trust me they did  well. The song was as  follows:

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing


Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I'm come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.

The one phrase interestingly enough derives from a scripture:
1 Samuel 7:12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.”


There are several examples of stones used as memorials of God's work, or as promises to follow God, in the Old Testament. Including:

Genesis 27:22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.” (All scripture is ESV. Jacob is speaking in this verse.)

Genesis 31:45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.

Genesis 35:14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.

Exodus 28:12 And you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance.

Joshua 4 includes the story of how the Israelites brought twelve stones from the bottom of the Jordan River, and also set up twelve stones on the river bottom.

In Joshua 24, Joshua re-establishes the covenant with the Israelites, and sets up a stone as a memorial.

1 Samuel 7:12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.”

The Martin Luther King jr commemorative in DC has an element labelled the  "Stone of hope ".  The line is from King's "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered in Washington on Aug. 28, 1963. It apparently was based on an image from the second book of Daniel, in which the prophet interprets one of King Nebuchadnezzar's dreams. Nebuchadnezzar envisioned not a mountain, but a massive idol, or image, with a head of gold, arms of silver and thighs of brass. "As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces," says Daniel, prophesying the downfall of the old order. We believe in that stone of hope, but we call it the gospel.

The weight of memory
There is at tines the challenge to eliminate  bad memories, for many extremely difficult to do but for all of us needful. The best cleanser of bad memories is to partake in the  cleansing part of the atonement to move forward. The lord is clear in his  promise In D&C 58:42 Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is  forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more. We need to allow him to help. 

I recently read "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien; and clearly with 
everything they carried the heaviest were those in their minds. We can obsess 
with memory and be consumed by it. 

Getting beyond things we wish we could forget- We all do things to help us 
remember  - tie a string on a finger, dog-ear a page, highlight a phrase, recite 
by memory , use prayer beads, put it to music, memory mapping, journal, blog, or 
even erect a stone. We have collected some small stones to remember trips by. They are not as significant as Ebeneezer.

What are worth building milestones along the way to mark the way should you 
return that way again or have another follow in your steps?
The thing about remembering is you don't forget -what do you chose to carry with 
you?
What  merits a stone in your life?

What should you remember?