What a Relief

Proposition 8 passed in CA!!! So Marriage is now defined as between one man and one woman. Yippeee! 52.5% voted yes and 48.5% voted no. We won by 504,479 votes. It's not a huge win, but it's a win!!!

Many other churches have recognized the huge role that the LDS church has played in this victory and one group, The Ruth Youth, declared today "National Mormon Appreciation Day." What a sweet show of support! It would be great to let them know how much we appreciate it, especially in light of all the harassment we've had from other groups and individuals. Let's all leave comments on their blog here: http://www.ruthinstitute.org/

I am so humbled to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I'm sure this fight is not over, but with the Lord's help we and other Faiths have succeeded at standing our ground and I am very grateful. My heart goes out to those who are hurting over this, but we have to stand for truth in hopes that someday they will recognize it.

Here's my Emma helping out last week. (You can see the opposition came and stood right next to us. Fun times!)

Last night I was reading in Alma chapter 26 and had to smile at how much it relates to how I've felt.
". . . could we have supposed that when we started. . . that God would have granted unto us such great blessings? . . . we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work. Behold, thousands of them do rejoice. . . I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God. Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold many miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever. . . Who could have supposed that our God would have been so merciful as to have snatched us from our awful, sinful, and polluted state? . . . Now do ye remember, my brethren, that we said. . . to preach unto our brethren, and they laughed us to scorn? . . . we came into the wilderness not with the intent to destroy our brethren, but with the intent that perhaps we might save some few of their souls. Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us and said: Go amongst thy brethren, and bear with patience thine afflictions and I will give unto you success. . . we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world-- not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God. . . we have been cast out, and mocked, and spit upon, smote upon our cheeks. . . and through the power and wisdom of God we have been delivered again. . . . Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen."

HUH????

Well, most of you have probably seen the youtube video I made with the words to the Proclamation that I posted on my blog a couple weeks ago. Right now I am scratching my head at some of the comments I've received. I expected people to disagree, but I had no idea they would be this upset, especially because my intention was NOT to offend, but simply to express what I feel about families and marriage between a man and a woman. Here's a few of the comments to give you an idea. . .

"Not everyone believes in your God, so why make them follow the rules of your religion?"
(No one is making them follow any religion. Some of us are simply standing up for our own religious beliefs)

"You may think that you're being righteous for trying to keep marriage "the way it's supposed to be," but what you're doing is so hateful and so disgusting. You should be ashamed of yourselves."
(I later explained my position to this person about protecting children in public schools and religious freedom and they apologized)

"very un-christian of you, denying someones love for another"
(Yes on 8 doesn't mean I think gays should deny their love for each other)

"All Mormons are Fascists"
(Definition of Fascism: Oppressive, dictatorial control through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism... Ok. No connection there.)

"This is all fine and dandy, but man, do you hate gays that much? You know, Heavenly Father created them too? Why do you hate his creations?. . . Good luck with your hatred and evil. Every vote for Prop 8 is like another nail in his cross. May god have mercy on your soul."
(I never said I hated anyone. If anything, it sounds like this person hates me!)

And here's one from a member of the Church in Salt Lake:

". . .your video HURTS people. If you want to make a REAL difference. . . Create something beautiful that EVERYone can understand. . . instead of alienating people of your OWN group and then REALLY alienating everyone else. . . This is what makes people hate the church... You should really rethink your terrible video. And the message you're sending to single parents. I'm so disappointed."

I'll spare you from the truly nasty ones. I can't even repeat them, anyway! Gee whiz! Can't a gal just express herself without everyone freaking out? All I meant to say through the video was, "Hello, world! This is what my church and I think about the sacred nature of marriage, family, and procreation, and because of this, I will vote Yes on Prop 8."

So why all the fuss? The person from Salt Lake said the Proclamation is written in a context for members of the Church so I should not have used it. My Salt Lake friend, I'm sorry but you couldn't be more wrong. It is entitled "A Proclamation to the WORLD" because that is exactly what it is. The world needs to hear it-- not just members of the church. They may not like it or agree with it, and you may not like the way I presented it, but it is TRUTH nonetheless. Prop 8 has given us the PERFECT opportunity to share the Proclamation with the world on youtube or anywhere else, because the world is who it is meant for, and it addresses the very issues we are currently dealing with in CA.

I also just put a disclaimer on the video about how I am NOT making a statement about how single parents, infertile couples, or adoptions are inferior because I know they're not! All I'm saying is I think marriage should be between a man and a woman and as the Proclamation states, children should be raised by a mother and father whenever possible. Of course other situations arise in life. I am not saying people in those situations are lesser.

Can people just lighten up a tad? Gosh!
And thanks for all the positive things so many of you have said!

My DAD = Mr. BUBBLE

Right now you're probably be asking yourself, What is Jeff's sudden connection with bubble bath? To that question, my friends, I have the answer.

Yesterday morning when my dad was at work at the fire station, he started feeling strong chest pains. Unfortunately this would later be identified as a heart attack. (It still seems unreal to say that). He told Paul and Steve who he was working with about his symptoms and they began treating him immediately. They took him to the ER where tests were run on him. He was then sent to Kaiser in San Francisco where they found a blockage in one of the valves near his heart as well as a tear. They did surgery to put a stint in the valve to open up the blockage and he is now doing fine-- thank goodness! The doctor said his heart is strong and he expects a full recovery but he will need to make life style changes as far as diet and exercise to prevent further blockages like this one.

He and my mom stayed at Kaiser last night and they are there tonight as well. He should be able to come home tomorrow, as long as his enzyme levels are low enough. He keeps jokingly telling everyone, "It was only a mild cardiac infraction," or "I just had some gas bubbles." Because of that, the fire chief brought him some "Mr.Bubble" Bubble Bath, and I think the nickname just might stick.

Through all of this, my innermost inklings have become realized-- He truly is the smartest man alive.
Why? Because if you're going to have a heart attack, you should do it when a trained paramedic is there with you and you have access to your own ambulance! :)

But in all seriousness, we are so thankful for your thoughts and prayers and well wishes during this time. It was truly a tender mercy of the Lord that he was where he was when it happened, and not hunting in the woods with his buddies which is where he had been planning to go tomorrow.

I talked to him tonight and he sounds good. He said he's bored out of his mind. Gee, dad-- don't you think that's part of how you got here in the first place? Cause you can't relax?! :) I'm the same way, though. I have a feeling I'll be making him smoothies and trying to get him to eat more of my organic Trader Joe's food now. Maybe I can even get him to do Yoga with me?

He said, "I can't die at 50. That would just be embarrassing!"

Pumpkin Patch

Here we are on Friday at Adobe Pumpkin Farm for Emma's class field trip.

Emma has such a hard time making decisions. Alan finally had to give her two pumpkins to choose from.

I love the light in this one of the girls in the corn maze!

My Testimony on You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L83NF58VUEo

I've put my testimony on You Tube! Check it out!

My Discussion of Gay Marriage on Facebook

Last week the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints held a fireside wherein Elder Ballard asked members in California to continue our efforts in supporting Prop 8. He asked for the young people who are computer savvy to spread the word through blogs, social networking sites, etc. and to join the conversations happening on this issue. So I joined the Facebook Group "Protect Marriage: One Man One Woman." Here is the reaction of a few friends I went to high school with, and my responses.

Friend 1: I believe gay marriage should be legalized in the United States. It is not right to deny people the opportunity to marry the person they love because they are of the same gender. Gay couples are denied significant rights when they are not allowed to marry. The arguments against legalizing same sex marriage do no merit the legal support of the state since the state's job is not to promote popular morality or opinion, but the rights of it's citizens.

Me: I totally respect your opinion. Thank you for sharing with me. As I understand it, in California, the law provides for marriage-related benefits to be given to civil unions and domestic partnerships. Prop 8 does not diminish these benefits.

Friend 2: DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS and MARRIAGE AREN’T THE SAME.

CALIFORNIA STATUTES CLEARLY IDENTIFY NINE REAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MARRIAGE AND DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS. Only marriage provides the security that spouses provide one another—it’s why people get married in the first place!

Think about it. Married couples depend on spouses when they’re sick, hurt, or aging. They accompany them into ambulances or hospital rooms, and help make life-and-death decisions, with no questions asked. ONLY MARRIAGE ENDS THE CONFUSION AND GUARANTEES THE CERTAINTY COUPLES CAN COUNT ON IN TIMES OF GREATEST NEED.

Regardless of how you feel about this issue, we should guarantee the same fundamental freedoms to every Californian.
Source: noonprop8.com

Me: California Family Code
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=fam&group=00001-01000&file=297-297.5 (a) "Registered domestic partners shall have the same rights, protections, and benefits, and shall be subject to the same responsibilities, obligations, and duties under law, whether they derive from statutes, administrative regulations, court rules, government policies, common law, or any other provisions or sources of law, as are granted to and imposed upon spouses." The only right same sex unions don't have is to call their union a "marriage." See http://www.calchannel.com/MEDIA/0304A.asx where both sides make their oral arguments before the CA Supreme Court wherein the advocates for gay rights admit that there are no substantial differences between marriage and domestic partnerships. They are fighting to have the constitutional definition of marriage changed to include a man/ man & a woman/ woman which will have serious consequences on schools, churches & the family.

Friend 1: As a very close and smart friend said to me today, this isn't so much about marriage, but about equal rights for all people. Every person should have the right to marry. What right do you have to take that away from someone? What if the roles were reversed? How would you feel? You talk of serious consequences on schools, churches and families, what are you so scared of? Because I really think that's what it comes down to. Open your eyes. By voting yes on prop 8 your taking peoples rights away from them, no one should be able to do that.

Me: I understand where you're coming from & I don't want to offend. I respect the agency people have to choose whomever they want to be with & I do not antagonize anyone based on their sexual orientation. Still I believe my concerns about the consequences of changing the constitutional definition of marriage are legitimate. If it is changed, public schools may be required to teach same sex marriage to children which will confuse. Churches may be sued for choosing not to perform same sex marriages. Freedom of Religion or Freedom of Speech may be at risk. I believe God ordained marriage to be between a man and a woman since the beginning with Adam & Eve, and His plan is for us to come to earth in families with a father & mother. I support Prop 8, NOT to discriminate or because I want to take away rights (it doesn't take away rights), but to stand up for these things. That's what's so great about America- we both get to stand up for what we believe! :) I've learned a lot!

Last night I couldn't sleep because I was up wondering if my responses were good enough, and I only had a limited amount of space. I worry about being misunderstood and if I conveyed my testimony well enough without offending. It's so hard when people know nothing of Christian teachings and the sanctity of marriage. But I'm doing my best-- I hope that it's good enough.

Here's another conversation I joined:

Friend A: "yes on 8" signs popped up around our new neighborhood while we were away this weekend. Should I be afraid?

Friend B: I think you should engage in friendly neighborly conversation about why their opinions suck.

Friend C: I would be worried.... In LA the signs are "no on 8," I guess we'll see in November what California is made up of.

Me: No need to be afraid, especially cause I'm one of them! :) (for religious reasons, not to discriminate.)

I guess it makes me feel better to know I'm trying! I just REALLY do not want my children taught about homosexual behavior in elementary school. And I REALLY wish everyone could understand the Plan of Happiness!