Putting the Thanks back in Thanksgiving

It is so annoying when current-day television and radio announcers refer to Thanksgiving as "Turkey Day." 

A day of Thanksgiving was initiated back in 1789 by George Washington who was urged by both houses of Congress to issue a proclamation reminding us that "it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor...and recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness"
(http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/?dod-date=1123)

The fourth Thursday of November was proclaimed to be our national Thanksgiving day by Abraham Lincoln. He intended for Americans "to have a day in which to show their appreciation for the treasures of our land, value the principles of our founding, and to reverently seek to live with integrity and humility in the face of all that our nation and our people have been given and to recognize the source from which they come."

All that we have has come from God, even our very lives.  And we as an American people have been richly blessed. How ungrateful of us if we cannot take even one day to remember that Power on High which has given us so much.  How much worse if we can't even say the word "Thanks" when we mention the holiday.  

One thing I am thankful for this Thanksgiving is the many young men and women who are willing to volunteer 18 months to two years of their lives to leave their families, go abroad and share the joyous message of the gospel of Jesus Christ -- all at their own expense.  There are 80,000 of them serving this year, and that number continues to grow.  As some come home, others go out in their place.  And why do they do it?  Because they love God and they want all of His children to know the joy they have found in their lives.

In our family we have two nieces currently serving as missionaries.  A nephew just returned from his mission. Many other sons, nieces and nephews have already served and returned home again.  Their testimonies of God are strong and they have laid a great foundation for living lives of integrity and raising families to do the same.

My niece serving in Moscow and Nizhny Russia wrote:  

"This Thanksgiving, I am most grateful for God's hand in not only my life right now, but the lives of the people who I have come to love more than I thought was humanly possible and who I have given everything to serve over the past year. His love is incomprehensibly present in this work right now.. and I"m so grateful to be in Nizhny with an amazing companion and to be meeting people who I keep feeling like I have met before. I know God's plan is real, and bigger than we can know - we are doing things that we have been preparing to do in the time before we even came to Earth. We are meeting people whose lives we had promised to touch. He is trusting us to live up to a potential that we sometimes lose sight of- but it is great and significant.. because He is great and He is our Father."

My niece serving in Nicaragua wrote:
"We found a super awesome lady named Gloria this week! She and her family are Catholic, and when we first met her I was afraid it would go nowhere because most of the Catholics here are so stubborn about their faith, but she said she likes learning about other religions and wants to hear more of the word of God. We had another lesson with her this week and she said she had read the Restoration pamphlet that we gave her. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and explained what it is and she seemed super curious! She looked at every page in the front of the book and she said she felt good when we were telling her about it.  We explained that that was the influence of the Holy Ghost. She said she would read the Book of Mormon and we left her with a specific chapter to read. She said she's been having some problems with with her husband because he drinks and that she's been hoping someone would come to help her. Now here's the really cool part:  she told us that she had had two dreams in which she saw the image that's on the front of the Restoration pamphlet and had tried asking people what it meant but no one knew. She had forgotten about it, but when we gave her the pamphlet she remembered the dreams. Ah, she is chosen by God! I know she's prepared to hear our message! Her soul is hungering for the truth and we have the privilege of showing her where to find a spiritual feast. I'm so excited to see how our next lesson with her goes."

Thank you to all of these brave, unselfish, God-fearing young adults!  They are the "salt" of the earth.  May God bless them in their efforts to find "His sheep."

Receiving and Recognizing Answers to Prayer

Our son, Michael, who is the manager of a large feedlot in Kansas was offered a job as manager of an even larger feedlot for a different company in Washington state.  It would come with a $20,000 bonus and possibly the opportunity to move up to a corporate position sooner.  The Washington company was one our son had worked for before, and he and his wife had both liked living there, It would be closer for extended family to go visit.  He would have better working hours and more prestige.   But uprooting the family and changing companies was not a decision to take lightly. In fact, Michael and his wife had a lot of trepidation about it.

Our family knows that God lives and that He cares about us.  Through the power of the Holy Ghost, God can speak to our soul and gives us answer to our prayers.  We know that.  We also believe in fasting on occasion and for special purposes - which means going without food or water for at least 2 meals.  Doing so helps us to be more in tune with the spirit of the Holy Ghost.

So our son and his wife fasted and prayed together to seek the answer God wanted to give them.  And they both felt good about the decision to change jobs and move to Washington. Both received the same answer that they should accept the new job offer. The decision was made and plans set in place.

Michael gave notice to his current company and flew to Washington this week to get settled in as the new manager, organize his office, and find a home for his family to move into two weeks from now.

But things did not go well. It didn't feel right from the very first day. He said sitting in the manager's office made him feel like he was "sitting in someone else's office" and the employees "felt like someone else's employees."  He couldn't find any homes they wanted to move into and he was feeling really discouraged because he had gotten such a strong reassurance from the Spirit that he should accept the job offer, but now it didn't seem right and he couldn't understand why.  Everything he thought of doing for the new company just left him in a "stupor of thought." 

 

He knew that if he decided against the offer at this point, the new company would never come asking for him again and that he would be letting a lot of people down, but suddenly thinking of his old job and the place he currently lived in Kansas filled him with excitement. His job there was still secure if he wanted to go back; in fact, his employers were thrilled that he would do so.  And then he knew what his choice had to be.  

Just as strongly as he had felt he should take the new job, he now felt as strongly about not taking it.  

So WHY would God have told them to take the new job? and then have it turn out to be so obviously wrong?  We couldn't understand.  Then a friend sent us the link to this video clip by Elder Jeffrey R Holland.  

 

Watch it....it's just the answer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNQC-_srxH8

Giving our new grandchild a name and a blessing...

We were able to travel to Kansas for a quick visit this past weekend.  It's a 14-hour drive.  I was able to take some time off work so we left early Thursday afternoon, drove to Laramie to spend the night then finished our trip the next day.  On Saturday we enjoyed doing things with our son and his family, helped them box things up for their coming move to Washington, and played with the new baby.  Later we had a nice family dinner, then the bishop and his wife came to the house where my husband, our son, and the bishop, with the authority of the priesthood they hold, gave our grandson his official name and a blessing for his coming life.  I was so proud of all of them!

Babies are such sweet spirits.  They have just come from our pre-earthly home in God's presence.  And they have so much potential.  How blessed when they are born into homes where the parents will teach them to love God, to have integrity and character, to live a moral life and to work hard.  It's also a training ground for us as parents and grandparents.  We develop patience, the ability to see things through someone else's eyes, and we learn a lot about teaching, disciplining with love and forgiveness.  In short, we are all growing and learning from the experiences God gives us in life.

Early Sunday morning -- 3:00 a.m. to be exact -- we left and drove to Berthoud, Colorado where we attended Sacrament meeting with my sister's family and listened as her son reported on his 2-year church mission,  He did a great job and came home with an even stronger testimony that this is God's work.

There was a winter storm in Utah while we were gone.  We left just before the snows hit, and returned just after the storm had subsided and the sun had come out to dry the roads.  Meanwhile we enjoyed 67 degree weather in Kansas.  

We did hit high winds between Fort Collins, Colorado and Rawlins, Wyoming.  Driving required using two hands to grip the steering wheel tightly, and we passed three overturned semi trucks and a pickup truck with a camp shell.  Other than that it was a safe drive home.  We heard later that tornadoes had been spawned by the storm, wiping out communities in three neighboring states and killing almost a dozen people.

How thankful I am that we don't get tornadoes (or seldom ever) where we live...and my heart goes out to those who lose their homes, lives and family members.

Perfect timing

This fall our 33-year old son's doctor told him he had a heart arrhythmia which could cause sudden death. Surgery was scheduled to do an oblation (zap the nerves that are causing the misfire in his heart), with preparations made to insert a pacemaker/defibrillator if needed.  Our son has a family of 3 young children, his wife was 8 months pregnant with their fourth child AND they are living several states away from any extended family. On top of that, they were preparing to move to another state in just six weeks for his job.  I was feeling so sorry and desperate for him and his wife because if he got the defibrillator, he wouldn't be able to drive for many months.  I just didn't know how his wife could handle having a new baby, driving her husband to work, packing up and unpacking boxes to move.  It was TOO much!

The whole family fasted and prayed for them.  I was torn on exactly what to pray for, because if his heart was deteriorating to the point where a defibrillator would be needed to save his life, I didn't want him moving hundreds of miles away from his doctor and not getting the help he needed in time.

We anxiously awaited the outcome of the surgery.  What a relief it was when the doctor came out and said the oblation had been 90%+ effective and that they had NOT given him a pacemaker defibrillator because, even though the surgeons tried to get the heart to stop, they couldn't -- his heart was too strong.  There is a good chance he may need a defibrillator down the road, but not right now.  At least it didn't happen at the worst possible time!

We are so thankful for God's kindness in this.

Early snow on the Wellsvilles

I am thankful for the seasons, and the beauty of each.  Yes, there is evil, tragedy, and places that are truly "ugly" -- all caused by men's bad choices.  But the world God gave has so much beauty...and there are so many GOOD people.  I like this thought someone posted at work:
                                    Believe
                              There is
                              Good in
                              the World

Prophets on the earth today

We had a regional conference today, in which we were able to hear from a prophet L. Tom Perry.  He spoke with such energy and excitement for the hastening of the Lord's work in these last days.  We really are blessed to have prophets among us today; men who speak for God and help to direct His work here on the earth.