Sunday Best!!

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John 14:21
21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
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“I am going to preach a hard doctrine to you now. The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar.
It is a hard doctrine, but it is true.
The many other things we give to God, however nice that may be of us, are actually things He has already given us, and He has loaned them to us. But when we begin to submit ourselves by letting our wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him. And that hard doctrine lies at the center of discipleship. There is a part of us that is ultimately sovereign, the mind and heart, where we really do decide which way to go and what to do. And when we submit to His will, then we’ve really given Him the one final thing He asks of us. It is the only possession we have that we can give, and there is no lessening of our agency as a result. Instead, what we see is a flowering of our talents and more and more surges of joy. Submission to Him is the only form of submission that is completely safe.”
-Neal A Maxwell
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I love this!!!
“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.” 
If we love Him, the way to show it,
 it to do what He has asked us to do. It’s something to think about, and do. Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): Love Spoons!

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One of my great, great grandmothers is from Wales. In researching Wales, I found a fun tradition that is celebrated there. The tradition of giving Love Spoons.
They are beautiful!
 A tradition that started in the 1600’s, I think. The man would carve the spoon to give to his intended. The designs are ornate and very symbolic of the love that the man felt for his future wife and his desires for blessings in the marriage. You will find them here! Take a few minutes and look at the beautiful designs and read about the meanings of the carvings.
Do research about the area your ancestors lived, you will find customs and traditions that were common where they lived. That means that they probably did some of them too! Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy
Update: December 21, 2023: I want to add to this post about the Love Spoon Tradition that when my little brother Larry got married I gave him and his sweet wife Lisa a Love Spoon. I also have a few love spoons in my home. I think it’s a great way to share with the rest of the family some of the traditions of our ancestors. It also helps us to have opportunities to tell our children and grandchildren about those who came before us. They were real people and lived lives just like us. I would say in some ways their lives where much harder than anything we have to go through. I know my ancestors who came from Wales were miners. It was a tough life. When I think of them and what their days must have been like I am filled with gratitude that they journeyed on and endured so that I could be born and have this wonderful opportunity to live on earth and learn and grow. If I have hard times I often think of them. Remember them, your ancestors. They are real!

Lessons: A True Friend!

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Riley and Taz -Dec 1999
It has been 4 days since our sweet Taz passed away. I had an idea that it would be hard when his passing came, but I really didn’t fathom it completely. Taz came to live with us as a puppy back in November of 1999. What a cute little ball of fur. He was mostly black, back then, with white patches here and there. The very first night we had him, I thought for sure he would cry all night. Nope, he hopped right in his bed, and slept till morning. He was potty trained in days and was always ready to greet people who came to visit.
Bear Lake 2008
 When he passed we were visiting friends in St. George. We usually took him with us when we traveled. He loved to ride in the car. He hadn’t been feeling well, and for a second, we thought about leaving him home.
Grandma would come and check on him often,
but he would be by himself.
We took a vote and decided to take him.
After all he is part of our family.
I stayed home from church on Sunday and kept him close, patting him and talking to him. Telling him how much we love him and telling him it will be okay. He was such a sweet dog. He didn’t eat at all on Sunday and drank very little. We had planned to take him to the vet, first thing in the morning. 
2009
I put him in bed, and told him to be a good boy and that I would see him in the morning. The next morning my darlinest got up before me, and went to check on Taz. He was gone. When my darlin’ came in to tell me, we both cried and cried. He said, “I asked Heavenly Father to take him in my prayers last night.” And I said, “Well, I asked Him to help Taz feel better.” We both laughed a little, and my sweetheart said, “Well, He answered both our prayers then. Taz is gone and he is feeling better.”
The lesson is this, when we take a chance and love something or even someone, we know that someday they may/will leave. It won’t hurt when they leave, if we don’t love them so much.  We have loved this little furry friend for almost 11 years. He has been such a blessing in our lives. He has followed me around the house and yard for 11 years. I couldn’t even go to the bathroom without him wanting to come in with me.
2009
He was always the first and sometimes the only one to greet me when I came home. His little tail would wag so hard his whole bottom end would wiggle. I knew I was his whole world. Now that we’re back home, I miss him more than ever.
 He was always here. He would sit by me on the couch. He would somehow get a hold of and chew on my quilts, only later would we discover his expensive chew toys. He would bark when people came to visit. Now the doorbell rings and nothing. ouch!
The thing is, I would never trade all the years of love and happiness with our little friend Taz, for not feeling lonesome and sad for him now. He has been such a blessing in our lives and we wouldn’t trade a second of it.

ON PETS – by Daddy

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On Pets

My adult daughter called her mother the other day,
crying, to tell her that her family dog, Taz, had passed away. Later that day I was with my wife and she told me of the sad event. Taz had not been feeling well for several days and that night they had put him in his bed and the next morning they found him dead. We, too, had known Taz for some 12 years, since he was a puppy. As we talked about the event and how bad our daughter’s family felt about it, we, too, commenced to shed tears. Our family has always had pets and with only one or two exceptions they all died of old age. They have been, and are, important members of our family. They each have their own individual personalities, whether the pet be a cat or a dog. Dogs are always affectionate and cats are when they feel like it. They say a family owns a dog but a cat owns a family. I well remember my first dog, I brought a stray mongrel home when I was about eleven years old. I started feeding it scraps from our table and he stayed with me. He was about half grown at the time. It was during my fifth year in school and I remember that the war was still going on. Every once in a while a military convoy would be seen going through the streets of our city. I had a fascination with the Army jeep. I spent a great deal of time in class drawing pictures of jeeps and airplanes. Maybe at this point you can guess what I named my first and very own pet. You are right, his name became ‘Jeep’. Jeep slept on
my bed, ate my food (I don’t believe they even sold dogfood in 1945) and he went every where I went. When school was out Jeep would be waiting for me at the school house door. He would run alongside my bike as I rode all over the neighborhood. He provided a certain amount of humor for me and my friends. One time we were riding our bikes along a tree lined avenue in Spokane, Washington with jeep running along side. It so happened that two men were standing on the side walk talking and Jeep ran up on the sidewalk and stopped where the two men were and lifted his leg on one of the men. We talked and laughed about that for years. Wherever I was, there was Jeep, my constant companion. Jeep had one bad habit that I could never break him of, he loved to chase cars and sometimes bite at their tires if they were going slow enough. I mentally rationalized one time thinking that Jeep may have thought that cars coming toward us on the street may possibly be a threat to me. One day a car came along and true to form Jeep took out
after it, only this time, the thing that I was always afraid of
happened. Jeep was run over and killed. I remember running to the street and picking him up in my arms and with tears streaming down my face I carried him home. I was actually mad at him and I cursed him with every swear word that I could bring to mind. All that I could think of was that he did a stupid thing, now he was dead and he wouldn’t be with me any more. My sorrow could not have been more deep if the dead body in my arms had been my little brother. After all,they were both members of my family. I missed Jeep so much, I missed his licking my face, jumping up on me with muddy paws and being there for me 24-7, as they say today. I missed his being curled up in the bend of my knees as we slept through the night. We were pals, he loved me as only a dog can love and I loved him as only a boy could love. I don’t believe I feel much different about every pet that we have had as a family since that time. When our kids have brought home a new pet I have hesitated letting them keep them. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to start a new relationship with a new pet because I knew how much it hurt when they go away. I don’t believe that our children ever
understood my hesitancy, a hesitancy that was rooted in the loss of a little dog named Jeep.
-Emil

Sunday Best!

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“Most men worry about succeeding in their life’s work and spend much time and effort at their profession. But I’ve learned that the way to put one’s professional life in order is to put one’s personal life in order. How can we be adequate at anything professionally without being adequate as men, husbands, and fathers first?”

James E. Faust, “Brethren, Love Your Wives,”
Ensign, July 1981, 3
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What a great thought!
The same goes for women.
To be adequate women, wifes, and mothers first!!
Hope your Sunday is the Best!! Love, Joy

Beautiful Places!

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The Cloisters!
 New York City
You can read and see more here!
I LOVE, love, LOVE this place!
If you are at all interested in medieval art and history, you will love this place. I could have spent days looking at everything, but my kids were done shortly after we got there. Amazing!!
 
Definitions of cloister on the Web:
  • surround with a cloister, as of a garden
  • religious residence: residence that is a place of religious seclusion (such as a monastery)
  • seclude from the world in or as if in a cloister; “She cloistered herself in the office”
  • a courtyard with covered walks (as in religious institutions)
 
Gorgeous!!
Beautiful!!
Look at the natural lattice, I want some!!

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The woven trellis is to die for!!
Fuschia!! so delicate!
Notice how the animal lies at it’s master’s feet,
even in death. I love it!
What a great trip, if you get a chance, go!!!

Family History Friday (FHF): Lost and Found!

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When my maternal grandma
Norma,
was a little girl. She lived quite far from the nearest town. They were farmers and lived a distance from the neighbors as well. At one point in her young life, the telephone lines were being strung across the open land in southern Idaho. Before they could hang the lines, they had to dig deep holes for the telephone poles to be anchored into. One day my grandma turned up missing. She had been gone for hours. She was just a small child, maybe five years old. Great grandma was frantically trying to find her. She would call and call. Now, where they lived was quite flat and you could see for a good distance in every direction, but they could not find her. Finally, after a tough time searching and worrying, they found her. She had fallen into one of the holes that the men had dug for the telephone poles. She wasn’t real close to home. She had wandered off and was a distance away. The holes were not even visible until you got right up to them. She was at the bottom of the hole crying and crying. She had called out for help, but no one could hear her. She was so happy to be rescued, but was very exhausted from trying to climb out. What a scary thing. She knew they could not see or hear her. Can you imagine how scary for a five year old child.
The moral of the story?
Well, maybe it is this-
be careful when playing near large deep holes,
they may just swallow you up!!!
 also- that
those who love you
will always look for you, until they find you!
Look for your ancestors! Find them!
 Get to know them. You’ll be glad you did!!
Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Sunday Best!!

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Mark 10:13–16
13 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. 15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. 16 And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
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The disciples didn’t understand how important children are to Jesus. Even though He was busy teaching the adults, He was happy to take time to love and bless the children. Jesus said “of such is the kingdom of God”. To be with Him in the kingdom of God, they (those who are not children) would have to have faith, unconditional love and trust.
 Watch a small child.
See what is the difference between them and you. We need to become more like them in order to be able to be received into the kingdom of God.
 My little grandbaby, has so much love. 
Natasha
Every once in a while she acts a little cheeky, but I can always tell that she has heard someone else say or do it first. Her first actions are always sweet and innocent. Her love is so pure. I need to be more like that!
I also feel so loved by Jesus!  It makes me want to show my love for Him. What can I do? He said, “Come follow me”. I can do what He did, when He was here. Love everyone, be kind, and do right. “Come unto to me”. I can be like a child, so He would want me close to Him.  “Let your light so shine”. I can be an example. I can live the kind of life that says,
I love God.
Hope your Sunday is the best!! Love, Joy