Great Trials Lie Ahead...Be Prepared - There is HOPE...

Our LIFE GUARD...

Come Judgment Day...

Nephi bound by his brothers

"When we are finally judged in terms of our performance in this 

second estate, we will see that God, indeed, is perfect in

his justice and mercy.  We will also see that when we fail here

it will not have been because we were truly tempted 

above that which we were able to bear.

There was always an escape hatch had we looked for it!

We will also see that our lives have been fully and fairly  measured.

In retrospect, we will even see that our most trying years

here will often have been our best years, producing large tree rings

on our soul, Gethsemanes of growth!

Mortality is moistened by much opportunity if our 

roots of RESOLVE can but take it in."

Quoted from: Elder Neal A. Maxwell

("Taking Up the Cross," Page 253)

 

I Was Blind...But, Now I See...

Our Testimonies Can Penetrate the Hearts of Others...

"We really don't know how much good we can do until we put forth the effort to achieve our objectives. Our testimonies can penetrate the hearts of others and can bring to them the blessings which will prevail in this troubled world and which will guide them to exaltation" (The Teachings of Thomas S. Monson, p. 311).

Characteristics that help us receive KNOWLEDGE...

What GREAT counsel from our Prophet Joseph Smith:

How does each of these characteristics prepare us to receive knowledge?

“… Let honesty, and sobriety, and candor, and solemnity, and virtue, and pureness, and meekness, and simplicity crown our heads in every place; and in fine, become as little children, without malice, guile or hypocrisy. And now, brethren, after your tribulations, if you do these things, and exercise fervent prayer and faith in the sight of God always, He shall give unto you knowledge by His Holy Spirit, yea by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost [see D&C 121:26].”

Mona Moved to Another Section of the Vineyard...

I don't know about you, but it is hard to separate

from those you come to know and love...

MOVING, I know, is a necessity 

most of the time...and is generally

in the best interest of the family...

BUT...

nevertheless...

leaving the rest of us behind...

there is a feeling of "loss"...

So, to handle the situation...we said our goodbyes

over ICE-CREAM! (smile)

We met at "Cold Stone" and simply enjoyed the

"moment"!

 (L to R) Ashley Buckwalter - Janie Toren - Julie Denney

and MONA OKELBERRY

(L to R) Heidi Stott, Amy Robinson, Jennifer Sherratt,

and Ashley Buckwalter

(L to R) (Left side) Julie - Mona - Diane Bartlett - Meridel Barden

(Right side of table) Back of Ashley's head

Amy and Heidi

Sniff...Sniff...Bye Mona!

Testimony Given By President David O. McKay

Missionary Work..."BECOMING a MISSIONARY"...

October 2010

Some of our Kalispell 3rd Ward 

Young Men

(Left to Right)

Tyler Beagley - Jacob Egley - Hryum Smith - Jared Beagley

Jacob Robison - Travis Beagley

TWO are now serving FULL-TIME missions:

Jared and Hyrum

Soon to go:

Jacob R.

Future:

Tyler, Jacob E., and Travis

Becoming A Missionary

by Elder David A. Bednar

Ensign, November 2005, Pg. 47

My beloved brethren, you and I, today and always, are to bless all peoples in all the nations of the earth. You and I, today and always, are to bear witness of Jesus Christ and declare the message of the Restoration. You and I, today and always, are to invite all to receive the ordinances of salvation. Proclaiming the gospel is not a part-time priesthood obligation. It is not simply an activity in which we engage for a limited time or an assignment we must complete as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Rather, missionary work is a manifestation of our spiritual identity and heritage. We were foreordained in the premortal existence and born into mortality to fulfill the covenant and promise God made to Abraham. We are here upon the earth at this time to magnify the priesthood and to preach the gospel. That is who we are, and that is why we are here--today and always.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Father's Witness - Bible and the Book of Mormon and In This Dispensation

1 AND after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

(New Testament | Matthew 17:1 - 5)

3 And it came to pass that while they were thus conversing one with another, they heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn.
4 And it came to pass that again they heard the voice, and they understood it not.
5 And again the third time they did hear the voice, and did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came.
6 And behold, the third time they did understand the voice which they heard; and it said unto them:
7 Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him.

(Book of Mormon | 3 Nephi 11:3 - 7)

1 While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
12 Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine.  It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart.  I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.
13 At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God.  I at length came to the determination to "ask of God," concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture.
14 So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt.  It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty.  It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.
15 After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God.  I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak.  Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.
16 But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.
17 It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound.  When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air.  One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son.  Hear Him!

(Pearl of Great Price | JS-History 1:11 - 17)

Peter's Witness

 

15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, 

the Son of the living God.

17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

(Matthew 16:15 - 17)

Popcorn and Apricot Trees...

The Words Which I Have Written....

…And the words which I have written in weakness will be made strong unto them; for it persuadeth them to do good; it maketh known unto them of their fathers; and it speaketh of Jesus, and persuadeth them to believe in him, and to endure to the end, which is life eternal. (2 Nephi 33:4)

Jehovah is My Strength

"Behold, God is my salvation;

I will trust, and not be afraid;

for the Lord JEHOVAH

IS MY STRENGTH

and my song;

he also has BECOME

my salvation."

Isaiah 12
2 Nephi 22:2

Organizing our Craft and other Stuff....

I hope you don't mind when I post my daughter's blog posts...but, she has such great IDEAS...that I know many of you sisters would love...Here is one on her ideas of "organizing" her craft stuff...and CHEAPLY!

February 3, 2012

Have a Thank You with a Topping of Crafting Accomplishments

Ah... you guys are fabulous. Your comments on my post yesterday were kind, uplifting, thoughtful, insightful, honest, and informative. I appreciate each and every one of them. Seriously, you guys have no idea.

I was fascinated by all your different perceptions about this little cubby space of mine in the big wide world of the blogosphere, and feel honored that you enjoy reading.

I feel worlds better today. Your kind comments combined with the fact that Hubby and I are good again, makes me feel like warm chocolate drizzled over a half-baked brownie.

My friend Gina has this strange opinion that I'm incapable of writing a post without mentioning chocolate.

Pish, I don't know where she gets that idea from.

And don't worry Amanda, I promise you I am so NOT cheerful my every waking moment and hardly have it together all the time. You should have seen me this morning when I was trying to get my kids out the door in time to catch the bus.

Heh........

Anyway, at the risk of giving you all some serious bloggy whiplash, I'm totally shifting gears here to show you some of the great and marvelous feats that I have accomplished this week.

If you're not a crafty person, take comfort in the fact that I'm super ghetto and also, when I showed Hubby my newest creation, he looked, blinked, then said, "Oh great. The 60's are invading my house!"  Haha!

Thanks to Pinterest, I have been feeling inspired to get some of the deep dark corners of my house organized.

I decided to start off with my jewelry. I know, weird right? But I confess to you here and know that I LOVE earrings. I'm not a huge necklace or bracelet fan, although sure, they are nice to wear now and then, but earrings are my real love, even if most of the ones I own are from the clearance rack.

Sssshhhhh...... don't tell.

Welcome to my bathroom drawer.

And now you know what kind of deodorant I wear and you've seen my toothbrush.

This feels strangely intimate, and a little awkward.

Does this make us BFF's?

I'm not quick sure where this leaves us. Ah hem....

Anyway, I decided I needed to do something about that mess, so I made these!

Ha! Hence my Hubby's comment about the 60's.

Frames: Pulled out of a storage bucket where they've been sitting for years.
Paint: Had since the dawn of time.
Lace: Given to me ages ago from my mother.
Flower: Had stuffed in the back of my closet for a long time.

Total: FREE

So what do ya think?

Well, besides that fact that I have a lot of earrings.

Hmmm... now that I look at these pictures, I'm thinking there's a few colors I'm in need of. Anyone up for a shopping trip?

I've also been organizing my little crafty space that Hubby had built for me in the storage room.

I wish I had a "before" picture because let me tell you, wow. It was bad. No.... seriously. Imagine in the following pictures there was nothing but piles and piles, and more piles of stuff just piled in here.

Did I mention that everything was in piles? Because wow, it was a lot of piles.

The thing about organizing is, despite all the pretty spaces people take pictures of that we drool over and wish we had, I'm sorry. But I can't just run out and blow oodles of money on all the fancy organizing gadgets that are out there amd I am not going to buy pieces of cardboard with a fancy name just so I can wrap stuff around it! So I decided I was going to do the best I could without spending a penny.

This is what I have so far.

Glass jar filled with buttons - Old candle jar that I just scraped and washed all the wax out of.
Shelves - Scrap pieces of sheet rock from when Hubby was working on the family room, stacked on top of some old, small clay flowerpots.

Beads - Baby food jars with spray-painted lids.
Headband holder - Old formula can covered in paper

Boxes - Diaper boxes covered in paper - inside are craft supplies and some items, like the lace, are wrapped around cut up diaper box flaps.
Ribbon Holder - An old dowel rod resting on pinned-up ribbon

Fabric holders - Toilet paper rolls. I know you're thinking that's a whole lot of toilet paper rolls! But I save them for my kids because they like to make stuff out of them.

So I had a few to spare.

It still needs a lot of work, and sure, it's probably a little ghetto. It's certainly not the fancy shmancy craft spaces floating around the web.

But hey, I think it's great for now!

Especially because it comes complete with one of these.

I've sort of put a hold on making hairbows since I've been going crazy making all these up-cycled t-shirt scarves. You should check them out... and like my FB page if you feel so inclined.

How's that for subtle? *sheepish grin*

Although, I do have shelves and shelves of stuff on the other side of the room that you can't see in the pictures and Hubby wants me to move so he can build a rotating can shelf along that wall.

Oh dear. Where in tarnation am I going to put it? 

We have a UNIQUE GOSPEL CULTURE...

There is a unique gospel culture, a set of values and expectations and practices common to all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This gospel way of life comes from the plan of salvation, the commandments of God, and the teachings of the living prophets. It is given expression in the way we raise our families and live our individual lives. The principles stated in the family proclamation are a beautiful expression of our gospel culture.
Those who are baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ make covenants. In modern revelation the Lord declared, “When men are called unto mine everlasting gospel, and covenant with an everlasting covenant, they are accounted as the salt of the earth and the savor of men” (D&C 101:39). To perform our covenant duty as the salt of the earth, we must be different from those around us. . . .
This requires us to make some changes from our family culture, our ethnic culture, or our national culture. We must change all elements of our behavior that are in conflict with gospel commandments, covenants, and culture.
Dallin H. Oaks
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
October 2003 General Conference

Repentance and Change

www.lds.org

Mothers Mission IMPOSSIBLE

This is for all you Mothers...

This should bring you your

chuckle for the day!

(smile)