Poconos Winter Wonderland

We have been having a great time in the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania.  We got our timeshare here like many others, just kinda find something available and within striking distance.  But it's quite nice like the others and we had a very pretty hike yesterday.  We had quite the misadventure getting to the hike, for about an hour and a half, then on the way back got smarter and it was only about 10 minutes.  We had directions from the office but I am sure they did not check them and what they said.  It took us right past where we needed to be, down far past even where we went to church, then on to a toll road that we could not get off for some time, past where we wanted to be again, then ended right then and there on the toll freeway!  So we continued on, got off when we could, and backtracked around another way and found it.  It was quite the discussion about life as well.  Linking in all the analogies with God's plan for us, knowing our destination, listening to others voices, getting stuck with the consequences of our choices and having to work through them, knowing God's plan is the shortest distance back "home" etc.  It was fun while being frustrated.

When we were on the hike we saw the large bridge of the toll freeway as we hiked along.  It was really pretty to see the magnolia foliage all over the place.  We hiked to the falls, again getting lost on the way because this area has no clue how to make signs that tell you where you are going.  It took a .3 mile hike and made it into a 1.5 mile hike.  But it was way worth it.  As we found the falls we explored and found the main trail and where we "should have" veered off.  But without the extra we would not have seen the frozen river areas, and all that was beautiful with them.  

On the way back mom decided we should go on another trail.  Ty wanted to get to some other falls other hikers had said they went to, but when we passed a hunter and he smiled and said "bear season" mom was done right then and there.  Back we went!  It was a neat fall hike in the winter temperatures.

Church was fun at a small branch.  The lessons were all about being thankful for the circumstances we have.  To not find the negative but find the good in all we do.  We could have really been upset at the mis-adventure.  We could have whined about the cold.  But it was awesome.  We could have doubted our purpose instead of doubting the things that were distracting us form it, but we didn't, and it was all worth it. (Pres. Uchtdorf "doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith" came to my mind).

We will be in NYC Monday and Tuesday.  We hope to just have fun together.  And anything else is icing on the cake.  We will see Lissa and Trent and families and that will be really fun.  It's about 2 hour drive from here.

I loved Kieren and Gavin's letters this last week.  Totally fun to read and they got me laughing hard.  Your experiences are wonderful.  Keep sharing them.

Skjelse is taking care of the house and cat while we are gone and being so nice to do that.

Mom and I got invited by my boss to use company tickets to go to the UD season opener. It was a fun night and mom even used a sport analogy for her standards night talk!  Shocked us all. 

I got the best LOVE note in my lunch this week. I had to post it. It's me smile all day. 

Work your hardest in all you do.  And keep the right priorities which will bring you happiness.  Amidst the chaos of life, joy will be found when you center your life on the Savior.

Love you forever,

Dad

3 John 1:4

Mom is AWESOME

She did so well tonight for the standards night/community family values night.  They organized a wonderful night, with recognition of people in the community not of our faith that help youth uphold values.  It was neat to see.  And mom started it off with a short talk, using.....a sports analogy!  Pres. Valencia later said he was shocked and was not expecting that at all from mom.  It was really fun to see and listen to her.

Saturday I got up, go figure, before anyone else.  I thought I did well because it was after 7 before I got out of bed.  Mom and I loaded wood form the back pile to the house for a while.  I did about 1 1/2 hours, my app tracked I went almost 4 miles, and we have a huge pile at the house.  So we have had a fire since then.  Did we tell you Ty was making a fire a while back and when he closed the door a limb was in just the wrong place and the glass cracked from the tippy top corner.  It was sad we could not have a fire.  I found a place online to get glass for 1/2 what they wanted locally but it still was over $50 for the little piece of glass.  It is because it is a ceramic glass that can withstand the heat.  But its nice to have the fire again.

I went to a special training on Thursday night with a general authority who was visiting the mission.  They had a night meeting for bishops, ward mission leaders, stake presidents, and high councilors over missionary work.  It was really great.  I love hearing from them.    I like how he described that on your mission your time is not yours. You have consecrated it to Him. You don't have the right to use it as you want. You make that covenant of consecration. So you work your hardest and do all He wants of you, and then of course you see the blessings after you show your faith.

He then shared the story of Gideon.  How we got 52,000 to fight an innumerable host of Middionites.  Then that was too may so God had Gideon have them go home if they were afraid.  32,000 went home.  But he still had too many, so they drank when thirsty as a test.  Those that scooped it up were worthy to be in Jehovah's army.  There were only 300.  Then he used them to defeat the Middionites.  He then related that to God does not need many, He just need faithful, obedient, committed followers.  He has all power in heaven and earth, he doesn't "need" our power, He has that and will support us.  "I will be in your midst" He has told us.  He just needs us to be faithful and his work will be accomplished through us, with His power.

And interesting news.  The missionaries can now go with new converts to the temple to do baptisms at any time.  As long as they new convert has family file names.  That is a blessing for the new convert to have that continued support, and for the missionaries to go to the temple more often.  Is this the same in your missions? (Skjelse, no need to answer that one:))

Our gospel principles class today was wonderful.  It was on temple and family history work.  One new convert had all sorts of honest, good questions, another investigator getting baptized this week was so pumped about all this because she sees how great it can be, and another recent convert testified of his first visit to the temple and how moving it was for him.  He talked about one ancestor name where he just felt something he could not describe.  All in all it was amazing to listen to the call discussion.  The teacher did very little and just guided the discussion.  It was just perfect.

It was a really fantastic weekend.  I love being with family.  I just wish any and all of you could have been here for part of it, that would have made it better.  But in reality Skjelse is the only one that could have even possibly stopped by.  But I do love all of you and am so pleased with the good things you do.

Love you forever,

Dad

3 John 1:4

Christmas Week

Ty put up Christmas lights this week!  We did the string lights streaming down like a star again.  He did it from the tree out front and it looks great.  I thought he wanted to do lots of Christmas lights so I asked him what else I needed to buy.  He did the Ty thing and about as succinct as can be done said "I'm done!"  That's all folks.  But we have some lights.  He did put up the triangle of colored lights we have had.  So we are festive, and early!

Skjelse came by Saturday and it was fun to have her and Jeff over.  She was a huge help in looking at NYC and where things are for us.  We plan on going for one night when we are at the time share in Pennsylvania.  It will be a weird Thanksgiving but we will do the traditional on Sunday after we are back.

I had a stake missionary fireside tonight and did the I'm a Mormon theme again in Middletown/Springboro.  The people did great.  Kaitlin Nall played the piano and she just got back a couple weeks ago from.... drum roll, ......Brazil!.  And Brailee did one of the talks and she leaves in a little over a week to Mexico MTC then Ecuador.   Caleb got his call this week, to Finland!  Your uncle Bryce would be proud.

I learned a great comment form President Porter of the Ohio Cincinnati mission.  The day you leave your comfort zone and start to do things that make you uncomfortable is the day you really start your mission.  Because that is when you begin to develop real faith and learn to rely upon the Savior.

I really enjoyed Priesthood meeting this week.  Bro. Spencer led the discussion and we had tons of comments.  It was a great spirit as we discussed the need to lead the way in coming back to Heavenly Father but ensuring we love everyone and accept them as children of God.  Steve, the new convert asked a good question about how we can judge so much when the scriptures say to judge not that ye be not judged.

How would you answer that?  The JST translation came out and that is really helpful.  Look it up!

Work is nutso for the next few weeks.  Lots of major meetings and annual reviews and yet there are accelerating things going on with the regular work.  I am not sure how to keep up.  But whenever things go wrong, I step up my prayers and the calm returns, the things fall into place better, and it turns out better than I could have done it myself.

Kieren, does this make you smile?!

I sent this to Gavin, but it makes me smile so much I thought I should send it to all of you.

​

Enjoy the smile.  Look it up in the scriptures!  SMILE.  in 2 Nep I believe.  

Love you forever,

Dad

3 John 1:4

Just Another Week

Its been fairly normal around the homestead this week. I took off Friday which ended up being about a half day since I had some calls for work. But I was able to do some car repairs, get the lawn raked and mowed for hopefully the last time, and other miscellaneous small jobs. Then Saturday we went over to Carter's and split wood for them. They had lent us the splitter so we tried to be nice back. It took longer than we thought because they make WAY smaller pieces than we do, but we got it done and made a huge new stack for them. Likely 2 1/2 cords. It was so cold but when working it was not too bad. Mom and Lys went back home and brought over a great lunch and hot chocolate to warm us up. It was good to help them. They have always been so kind to us. Read your patriarchal blessing you received through him. I know you all had amazing things prepared for you if you will live up to them. 

I did go to a seminar on Wednesday at Ohio State. It was on product development and making the process more efficient. That's what I do all day so it was relevant. And then I went to Akron to the Goodyear tire and rubber corporate headquarters. We had a tour of their product development process and things they have done to make it more efficient. I have lots of notes to try and help our company make good changes. You certainly can learn from anyone around you if you will look and consider how you can transfer what you see. 

We had the annual high priests quorum meeting last night. The high priests in each ward are a "group" and the quorum is actually at the stake level. So it is not often but we did get to meet as a quorum. Pres.  Valencia is amazing. He did share how we really need to work to build our family history. I know many of our ancestors have been identified, but we certainly can add pictures, stories, recordings etc to make them come to life. And now it is kept in the cloud so it will always be there and be available to all. 

I thought you would enjoy the pumpkin the elders carved when they came by as we were doing our carving for the year. 

Love you forever. 

Dad

3 John 1:4

Did I Mention...?

Work is awesome but painful?  We spent all day, read my kind of all day, splitting and stacking wood. I went from 8-8:30PM working and my body is screaming at me. But hey, a 11+ hour workout in aerobic, weight lifting, bending and flexibility. I now have wood warrior pose down flat. Everyone really helped amazing even though I was the only one all day long. But it was a huge family event. Alysia even learned how to split the wood and use the hydraulic splitter. She did that as a personal progress goal. See the pictures and we now have 12 cords of wood. We won't need more until well after Lys graduates. Even the Elders came over after dinner and helped for an hour and a half. They helped split the very last parts as well as clean up the two stump grinding areas in Audrey's yard. So Gavin, we finally finished the job all the way. 

Church was amazing today. We had 5 investigators that were with us today, and some others that had last minute conflicts. The talks were great and Bro. Stevens had a great analogy to the Alamo and drawing a line in the sand. Leading to where do you draw your line that you won't cross. Things you will never do. Or crossing the line with full knowledge of what choice you are making regardless of the circumstances and that you do so willingly. Like wearing the name of the Savior on your chest. 

We went to Harper's for dinner and as always they made great food but tons and tons of it. This time they had baby back ribs that were amazing. Their own home made rub and topped with their own recipe barbecue sauce. Plus tons of other great things. And mom had an amazing cherry chocolate cake for dessert. 

My boss told me again this week that she is planning on working my promotion this coming year, so that will be nice in the way it will provide a bit more income so we can pay off the house faster. We were supposed to have my annual performance discussion but conflict took the time so we have to reschedule a few weeks away since she is traveling until then. I do look forward to it so I can get feedback on where I can improve, what I need to work on, and how I can become better in the future. 

Always keep learning and improving who you are. It will bring you greater success if you constantly strive plus it is the eternal pattern of things. In the end it will always bring you joy if you will humbly accept inputs that can help you be better than you are today. And who is the master teacher?  Christ of course and if we will listen to what He has to teach us we will be better every day. 

I love you forever. You are amazing and I am pleased to be your dad. 

3 John 1:4

#sharegoodness #personalprogress

Hyper-productive and the value of work

I have noticed more and more the influence of the principles of work and self reliance in being fulfilled and feeling aligned with our Father in Heaven. When we work to sustain ourselves and to care for that which we have been entrusted we begin to see the self worth that develops and we see the eternal light that can be in our lives. 

I think more and more the pattern the Gospel sets in welfare matters is a law that if employed in the world would alleviate a significant amount of suffering and sadness. The goal to help each make their own plan to become self reliant, and then supporting them in their plan and helping with temporary support while they work their plan. 

I guess this has come more into focus as we have had our experience over the last handful of years. As the business went further and further south, it became more and more difficult to support our family. We had dropped our income by 75% just to start, and then that became more and more squeezed. In the end we lost all we had worked decades to achieve and had to begin again. But this is all mitigated by the knowledge that I could work, I had skills, and could find more ways to support my family. And while our plans were shot down, we regrouped and have new plans. And through it all we have that eternal principle of work in front of us and the knowledge of a loving God active in our lives. We have seen more now than ever before His hand in our lives. I really have. 

So with this in mind I woke up yesterday and had a hyper productive day. We started in the yard and raked up all the leaves over the entire yard. We then mowed the lawn, trimmed, edged, and blew off the walks. I cleaned off the lower patio and bridge and then cleaned out the clogged gutters around the whole house. I took the blower up on the roof and that helped make it easier by blowing out the gutters. While up there I trimmed back the tree over the roof so it will be better. I cleaned the garage and arranged so we can get a car back in it. We then split wood for quite a while and in the end split about 2 cords of wood. I winterized 4 of the engines so the gas will not gum up the engines. I then edged more on the patios as I discovered the ground cover had encroached over 8 inches. Mom cleaned out the Mountaineer, then we cleaned the bathrooms (I got the main one with the tub since mom likes me to do that), and then I swept all the floors, cracks, under things, and edges. Then back out for more wood splitting until the rain stopped us. I cut the rebar that was stuck out of the tree in front that has bothered me for years (safety) by grinding it off, then used it to repair the anchor on the rose of Sharon by the mailbox. It was a great day. 

Ty was funny as he wanted someone to go to the dance with him. He tried texting a few people but they either were already with people or not going. Then he called Sam and when done exclaimed "I am glad you taught us verbal persuasive skills". He had convinced Sam to go who he found later had just finally convinced his brother he was NOT going and would not ride with him. 

I had a major hard week at work. So many major things going on with not enough time to really go after it the way I am comfortable with. I had to really work carefully on the most important things because I kept leaving early before Gavin left. 

Highlight of the week was being able to have our last days with Gavin and then taking him to the airport. He looks so good and happy. We heard such great comments from Michelle and Grandma Ward as they dropped him at the MTC. Gavin, I hope you will take in the remarkable spirit the MTC has and let it be an experience you will never forget. You will learn things you never have known. 

I love you all eternally. I am grateful for the binding covenants that allow us to be together forever, through our faithfulness. 

Dad

3 John 1:4

Wasted Effort

Have you ever gone to great extents and massive preparation only to have things fall flat or the thing you were preparing for get cancelled last minute?  

I really saw, felt and know this week about the scripture that the hearts of the children will be turned to their fathers ...or the earth would be utterly wasted. How disappointing it would be for our Father if the whole pulse of this earth was wasted?  That of binding families together for eternity. 

We had a marvelous session with Gavin at the temple doing sealings. We witnessed and participated an a remarkable opportunity to seal 6 children to their parents. In the same ordinance. It was for an ancestor of one of the Amish families that was there with us. I really am blessed to have been there and to reflect upon the sealing power of the temple and how it is "based upon our faithfulness". I hope each of you is doing your part. Mom and I try to do our best daily. 

I continue to lean heavily on the covenants and promises that come through the ordinances of the temple. I have been awestruck since the day I first heard them so many years ago. 

Gavin heard it today but I shared my testimony relating how I repeated basketball refereeing class at BYU 4-5 times and enjoyed it and learned more each time. I have been now repeating the temple class for 28 years and I keep learning new things as I go, ponder, and pray. 

One day I really hope to be in the temple with mom and all of you. It will bring great joy that lasts eternally. 

The camping trip was really fun with everyone. Kieren, you were carried in our hearts with us. It was a great final event with Gavin. The views were wonderful and the waterfalls amazing. I loved it. I am not a fan of rain while camping but everyone made it very reasonable and pitched whenever needed. 

It was cute to see Jeff and Skjelse walking down the mountain. Just see the picture. 

Work is very nuts right now. Too many significant deadlines and not enough time. And I have been trying to be home a lot to be with or help Gavin. 

I am so excited for Gavin to be at the MTC this week. It is such an amazing place and experience. I will always remember the things I learned and felt while there. Life changing for the better. 

Do the right things for the right eternal reason and think of the comment from Pres. Monson. "Shall I falter or shall I finish?"

Love you forever. 

Dad

3 John 1:4

#sharegoodness #temples #family