Warrior

Dad went to his first doctor appointment since the heart attack on Monday where they told him how limited his diet has to be now. He was a little shocked to hear that he can only have limited dairy products, limited sugar, limited sodium, no red meat, etc. He drew this picture of a heart with wings that says "Warrior" to keep himself motivated, along with a list of the things he can and can't eat and put it on the fridge.

He used to make fun of me for buying so much organic Trader Joe's food, but this is ALL Trader Joe's food my mom bought for him. Hee hee dad! Love you! You're our Warrior!

Prophetic Words

In light of recent politics, I have to share this quotation from Elder Neal A Maxwell. He gave this 30 years ago and he nailed our day.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell, "Meeting the Challenges of Today" BYU Devotional, October 10, 1978.

"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters -- in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life.'

"This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . . Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions.

"Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as un-trendy and unenlightened....Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some Skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself.

Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, summer is nigh. Thus, warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat." (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, "Meeting the Challenges of Today" BYU Devotional, October 10, 1978.)

Minnie Mouse and Tinkerbell

These pics are a bit late, but here's our Halloween fun. . .

Alan's family tradition is to make Halloween cookies and decorate them with an assortment of candies.




What a cute dad, eh?


Brooke was terrified by some of the scary costumes. This picture captured it quite well.

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!"