Remember

In our FHE tonight out at the Leishmans we took turns telling about times when the Lord has blessed our lives. It seems in every experience prayer was involved. The Leishmans reminded us of Elder Eyring's advice to record these experiences so you'll remember them and so your posterity will be reminded of the Lord's influence in our lives.

So here's my story:

One time when we were living in Bozeman, Montana and Eldon didn't have his doctorate yet, he was told that in order to get promoted or tenured he needed to get his doctorate. So he decided he wanted to go to OSU to get it. I didn't want to go. He was Bishop and had only served for a few months and I thought we should stay there until he was released. 

So we discussed it quite a bit and couldn't agree. I prayed about it a lot too and didn't get an answer. Then finally one day we were hiking and I was praying about it as we were hiking. The voice I heard was not audible and yet it had a disgusted tone to it. It said, "Janeil, he's not indispensable!" 

So we moved and everything worked out fine.

I think I'll tell the story Dad told too. This was a time when Ken and Neil were in their early teens and the Scouts were up at Silver Creek Falls. Dee Smith was the Scoutmaster and Dad was along to help out. 

The boys got to rough housing and Eldon told Ken to knock it off. He got mad and took off running. Dee and Eldon went up and down the trails calling for him. It got dark. Finally Dee took the other boys home. Eldon still looked and looked and drove up and down the highway. 

He finally called me to say our son was lost. I prayed (and I'm sure Eldon had been praying all along) and not 5 minutes later the police station in Silverton called and said they had our son. He had been trying to run home but had run in the wrong direction. They kept him until Eldon could get there for him. 

Both Ken and his Dad were relieved to see each other.

Now it's your turn. Write about a time when the Lord blessed your life and answered a heartfelt prayer.

A day with the Dodge boys

The Dodge boys came for a day. Trevor showed us his videos he's been making. Curtis and Grandpa went to shoot hoops and to see the ducks. I played Chinese checkers with Jason and Grandpa taught him to play backgammon. They watched the Disney movie, "The Paper Brigade." Trevor built some lego things. Jason and Curtis did puzzles. But mostly they wanted to eat.

Battle of the Books

At Berkeley's school there were 40 Battle of the Books teams. They all read 16 books and then there was a tournament to see which team could answers trivial questions about the books. Berkeley's team won! Four guys and one girl.

So last night they competed with nine teams who were best in the region. It was held at Powells Book Store. Three of the authors were there. The questions were really hard. Although on the ones about Fablehaven Maia and Sydney knew the answers. This was a warm up tournament and the official one will be on the 14th. But now they see the competition they'll be up against.

Go Berkeley's team!

Here are the 16 books if Zachary or Rachel or Jason or anybody else wants a list of good books to read:

Alphabet of Dreams by Susan Fletcher, historical fiction

Ark Angel by Anthony Horowitz, adventure/mystery

Atherton: House of Power by Patrick Carman, science fiction

Bat 6 by Virginia Wolff, historical fiction

Call Me Hope by Gretchen Olson, realistic

Eyes of the Emperor by Graham Salisbury, historical fiction

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull, fantasy

Fire on the Wind by linda Crew, historical fiction about the Tilamook Burn

Girl from Yamhill by Beverly Cleary, biography

Half-Moon Investigations by Eloin Colfer, adverture/mystery

Minerva Clark Gets a Clue by Karen Karbo, mystery/humor

Peak by Roland Smith, adventure

The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Jones, fantasy

Sea Otter REscue: the Aftermath of an Oil Spill by Roland Smith, non-fiction

Stout-hearted Seven by Neta Frazier, historical fiction

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin, fantasy

AnnMarie turns 7!

Rachel made a beautiful chocolate cake decorated with cherries for AnnMarie's birthday dinner.

Ken has started a neat tradition. He takes a day off from work and does whatever the birthday girls want to do. For AnnMarie today it was go to MacDonald's for lunch, feed the ducks, and go to the movie, Coraline in 3D. What an exiting day for a sweet little girl.

Never Suppress a Generous Thought

A story was told at our FHE tonight that I would like to share with you.

There was this lady in Salt Lake in whose ward President McKay lived. One Sunday she saw he had a new suit. She had a piece of silk she thought would make a nice tie to go with his suit, so she made the tie and took it over. As she was walking up to the porch she thought, "This is silly. He probably doesn't need a tie." And she turned to leave. But just then Sister McKay opened the door. When Sister McKay heard the sister's story she said, "Never suppress a generous thought."

And I might add, never suppress another person's generous thought.