Blessings and Miracles Week 3

I remember about 30 years ago I was jumping from bed to bed; now I knew this to be wrong yet I continued to do it with my older brother. Soon after the jumping commenced I missed the bed and landed on the corner of the bed frame with my leg. I started wailing at the top of my lungs as this hurt tremendously and then I did something I wish I hadn't, I looked at it. This sliced my leg wide open with the bone exposed and the muscle hanging out of a four inch cut (sorry for the graphic details) I screamed even louder as I thought I was going to die. My mom and dad came running up the stairs and immediately carried me down stairs; however we did not leave at this time we stopped in the family room, gathered the family around, and had family prayer. 22 stitches and a few weeks later I was fine, but the memory of that event has stuck with me my whole life. I try not to think of the disobedience, but the memory I have of my mom holding me while my father prayed is something I will forever be grateful. This part of my life is something I have greatly been blessed with and yet at times it has become one of my biggest weaknesses. The power of prayer and the ability to pray is something we have all been blessed with and given as a gift to help us through this life. My family instilled in me the importance of prayer at an early age and I remember family prayer every morning and every evening for as long as I can remember; what a blessing to know I can communicate with my father in Heaven at any time. Because I learned the value of prayer from an early age I was blessed with the miracle of prayer throughout my life. For example I wear contacts and have lost them on several occasions, yet because of prayer I have found them in the grass, under the seat in the car, and even in the snow. I firmly believe that when we prayed to be safe we were protected with a shield that watched over us; I was involved in two major accidents (almost head on) where each vehicle was totaled and even though I was not wearing my seat belt (I know right) I came away with out a scratch in one and stitches in my lip on the other. I had a water heater blow up in my face and had first and second degree burns on my face and hands and because of a blessing my father gave me I healed without a scar. On my mission I tracked into a lady because she prayed us there. Obviously I can go on and on with stories about my childhood and how prayer played an intrical part of my life; yet I would like to focus on what prayer has and continues to do for me today. My patriarchal blessing states to be prayerful unto your father in Heaven that he may know of what blessings I am in need of and pour them out to me. How great is that "ask and ye shall receive", yet even though I have been blessed with such amazing promises and have witnessed first hand the effects of daily prayer I have found myself sometimes too tired to pray or falling asleep as I pray and sometimes in too much of a hurry to pray. I was thinking about this today as I told Bekah I loved her and she did not respond; how often does our Heavenly Father tell us he loves us without us responding back. I know I can do better and I know I know better so I picked up a book called how to pray and stay awake, by Max Skousen. It is one of the greatest books I have read and I highly recommend picking it up and reading it. It talks about us having conversations with our Heavenly Father and not just talking, it also says we should pour out our whole souls as if our Father in Heaven is in the room with us because he is. It opened my eyes, because I know he listens and answers prayers yet how many times do we pray for help instead of praying for ways TO help. He is always there for us and wants us to succeed and be happy, but he is not opposed to us going through trials as this makes us stronger. He will not eliminate our trials, but he will give us the strength to push through and endure. He has blessed my life time and time again and has answered my prayers many times over; in fact some of the greatest prayers I have had answers to are the ones he simply said no. We are here on this earth to grow and to do that we must have trials, we must have opposition, and we must do this on our feet with out being carried through. Else why are we here? We are promised help, guidance, and strength if we but ask and it is not hard to ask; we knew this as a child when our faith was simple; we do not need to complicate things, simply swallow our pride and ask for He is always listening. Like the time my dog was missing for three days and I prayed for help to find him and then I went and searched; I put forth the effort and when I got home he was there. Heavenly Father answers our prayers and he knows what is best for us; sometimes the answer is no, sometimes the answer is yes, but we must always put forth our effort before he will put forth his. I know sometimes I forget that and reflecting this past week on prayer has helped me realize the miracle of this special gift.

Blessings and Miracles Week 2

The great thing about posting a blessing a week is it gives you an opportunity to reflect through the week on the many blessings you have. I knew what blessing to write about early this week because of this wonderful Mother's Day holiday; because of this I had the opportunity to think and ponder over how this blessing has affected and brought joy to my life. This week is a special tribute to mothers everywhere, especially the mothers in my family including sisters, sisters in law, grand parents, aunts, and recently a niece. I would like to focus however on the three mothers in my life that I think are tremendous and have brought an abundance of joy not only to my life, but to the lives they influence daily. While it seems the world is out to get the mother in law and most people do not fully appreciate their mother in law, I have an amazing mother in law that has overcome many of life's obstacles and continues daily to defeat the odds. When I think over her life it amazes me that she worked several full time jobs while attending school and raising four young children. She has proven time and time again that you can do anything you set your mind to and do it with a heart full of gratitude and cheer. Next is the mother of my life that raised me, nurtured me, healed the hurt, earned every Eagle Scout in the family (there were six), accepted everyone, and holds an abundance of love for every child she has ever encountered. The love of her life passed away just over ten years ago and despite the pain in her heart she managed to get a job (she hadn't had a job in over 30 years) to support herself, and continually manages to watch every grand child and great grand child on a weekly or monthly basis (there are 30). Besides all this I know she still goes to the cemetery and brings flowers and sits and chats with my dad on a weekly basis. She pushes forward and finds the joy and peace in her family even though she doesn't think she deserves it or is even worthy of it. This is my mother ever giving, and not wanting to receive. To these two women I wish a lifetime full of happiness, joy, and love and I say Happy Mothers Day!!! The third mother in my life is the love of my life and the mother of my children. While she is not "MY" mother she loves, cares for, and teaches our children. One of the great things about this woman is her ability to love and care; I have two children from a previous marriage which she took in as her own and loved and cared for them despite the challenge it posed for her. Tiff married into a family which a lot of people cannot do; she did and with love in her heart. We now have two beautiful children of our own with the third on his way and she is such a natural mother who cares so deeply and loves so freely I just watch her at times and smile. Tiffany has given up so much by putting up with my wanderings and searchings for a career and life lessons; yet she does it with a smile and a genuine care. I want to be better because of her and I want to succeed for her. She truly is my inspiration and the love of my life. She is one of the greatest miracles and blessings I could ever hope for. Happy Mothers Day my love...

Blessings and Miracles Week 1

I thought in this post I would list a few of the blessings I have had in my life and perhaps through the next several postings I could have them all down. I could put down my obvious blessings in this post (my wife and children) but most of you know them and what they mean to me; I will save that post for the end of this series. Years ago my grandmother told me I should write down the many miracles I have witnessed so that my children may know how I have been blessed. This is 20 years late, but I think the message will still be the same. Grandmother you are the inspiration for the next several posts. This first set of blessings in my life will be early in my youth and while I had a hand in (witnessed and notified a parent) rescuing a drowning child (younger than me) and prevented my father from sitting on a rattlesnake; these are not hero stories, but merely humbling and faith promoting stories. I have always been blessed with a closeness (belief) in the gospel; meaning I never questioned, doubted, or resisted the gospel. I think this is because of the belief of my parents and their unwavering faith. In 1978 President Kimball told my father to take his wife and kids and move from Hawaii back to Utah to be with their family. In 1979 my father sold his business told us we were moving and with tears and defiance from all of us we moved to Utah. You may wonder how this is a blessing; in fact I never thought of this as a blessing until I got married had a family and realized the sacrifice (financially) my father and mother went through to follow a prophet of God. In Hawaii we were living a comfortable life with a new home on the hillside and not a care in the world (or so I thought). Perhaps Hawaii wasn't the best place to raise children or there wasn't a lot of good influences; however that is not the point of this story. I never thought of us struggling as a child and my family never wanted for anything yet I never realized how hard my dad had to work to support his family until after he passed away. Money seemed to come easily to my dad and we lived a pretty comfortable life; after we moved to Utah the sale of his business fell through and my dad never did receive any of the money from that business. After that business deals fell through and people took advantage of him and his good nature. My dad worked hard for everything he had and he made us work hard as well. He taught us the value of hard work and what it means to raise a family. Following the prophet did not mean a comfortable life filled with riches and possessions, but it did mean a strengthening of the spirit and a closeness of the family unit which today continues strong. From this blessing I learned the value of doing what was right is more important then doing what is easy. Through hardship and struggle we find our greatest strengths and education.

Direction

Wow it has been awhile since I have posted and I don't want to upset my fans (Tiffany) who support me. I thought I would mention what is happening to me and my family in the next few months and also take a stroll down memory lane to give a little look at what the next few months mean to us. The year is 1991 I am graduating from American Fork High School with the intention of never going back to school... EVER! I tell everyone I am going to take a break and go to school when I get off my mission. The year is 1994 I am home from my mission and I still do not have a desire to return to school. Everyone (parents, friends, friends parents) tells me I need to go to school and my mind is too smart to let it go to waste. I am working for an auto parts store making minuscule profits and spending it all on ????? I do not know. Lets fast forward 11 years; it is 2005 I still have not gone to school, I have worked for over ten different company's and still I do not know what I want to be when I grow up. My wife and I decide to move to Oregon to be closer to her mother and I decided it would be good for me to go to school (go figure, I don't know where that came from). The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result; this was me and my life, I thought I had direction, but I was mistaken. Tiff's mom found some information of schools and I called the University of Phoenix and talked to a great councilor who helped me step by step get enrolled. If it wasn't for him and the easiness of enrolling I probably would have backed out. I decided to enter Accounting because it pays well and I love math and have been blessed with the joy of numbers. Fast forward two years; it is now 2007 I graduate with an associates in Accounting, I have a great job with a great product and I am meeting wonderful people; however my life is still missing something. I continue my education and pursue a Bachelor's degree in business and finance things appear to be falling into place and we are offered an apartment managing job making more money. We take the job and move in Jan. 2008. This is where things started to change; for the better? I think so. I heard a saying once that said whether you decide to do something and make a change or not the time is going to pass and where you are at the end of that time period is the difference of if you made that choice. When you look at an education it seems 4 years, wow that is a long time, but deciding not to go to school kept me doing the same non fulfilling jobs, and making barely enough to scrape by even though the 4 years came and came again and again. These last three months have been more eye opening and life directing then any other time period in my life. Three months ago I stepped away from Myomed as the Northwest is not growing as fast as they would like; however I still do the occasional show. This plus the new apartment job, and going to school set the stage for our direction. I couldn't find a job in accounting; at least not one that paid enough to live off of and I realized I really didn't want to be an accountant anyway. I looked at management positions, even auto body (it is an interest, perhaps a later hobby) however nothing seemed right. One day I am with my wife at the Dr's office and she is having an ultrasound and I had an epiphany "this is what I want to do" it felt right I was excited and I realized I finally know what I want to be when I grow up. Now all I have to do is find a school that teaches this. At first I thought I could take a course that lasted 6 months (there again with the hurry up and get it done attitude) but realized it was a two year course. Next was finding a school in Oregon and we couldn't find any; plenty in California and even Utah, but none here. We decided I would finish my bachelors and then move back to Utah and go to school out there. This is where perspiration turned to inspiration and divine intervention took place. 18 years ago I received my patriarchal blessing and was told to pursue my education that I may gain the truths of the earth and be able to find a vocation that would be meaningful to me. This was it I was not meant to sit behind a desk or to work a job I didn't enjoy, but to help people; this was what I wanted to do. All I had to do was go to school and I would have figured it out (put forth the effort) exercise faith by doing the work and then you will be shown (HELLO). Well through a series of small events we found a school in Southern Oregon, the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) and it turns out it is one of the top ten schools in the country for Sonography, wow have we been strategically placed or what. We went to Klamath Falls and walked around the school last weekend and spoke with a counselor. We applied and are awaiting news of whether we got accepted or not. The program is four years; first year is prerequisites, the next two are the course, and the final year is the externship which sends you wherever (your name is pulled out of a hat). I could go to Washington, Alaska, Montana, even the east coast; most of the schools are in Oregon however. Getting into the school shouldn't be hard, but once the prerequisites are done it is tough to get into the course which is why I am taking the prerequisites at OIT (better chances). Because the course is hard to get into you have two choices and I am applying for Diagnostic Medical Sonography, and Nuclear Medicine. I am excited for either and can't wait to start in the Fall. If all goes well we are looking to move the first of June and get to know our town and find a job that can help pay the bills. In four years I will have a degree with experience in my field and the school has 100% job placement within six months which is excellent. The time will pass whether I make this choice or not and I like the end results of where I will be after going to school. This is a big step for us and throws us out of our comfort zone; other than this move the only other time we stepped out of our comfort zone was when we moved to Oregon. This was a great experience for us and by stepping out again, we look forward to many more great experiences and blessings, but that of course is another story.

Making a Little Christmas Magic

While decking the halls and making the yule tide gay may not have similar meanings as originally intended there are some traditions that have survived, many that have changed, and many that have improved. As far back as I can remember there has been a tree that much I am certain. The tree has always been a pine tree; including several species of pine (Douglas Fir, Blue Spruce, Grand, Noble, etc) as well as appearance of said tree; short, tall, thin, fat, real, or live was a matter of preference. For my family when I was younger it was always a tall noble not too thin, and not too thick (gaps were acceptable). Today not much has changed for my own family; not too tall of a noble, not too thin, and not too thick (gaps are still acceptable). The change is in how the tree is harvested for years it was a tree lot; today in Oregon there are many U-cut lots and so we have started a new tradition in cutting our own tree. Next we move on to the lights; another grand tradition that has been around for as long as I can remember. A Christmas Tree was always covered in as many colored jeweled lights as possible in my earlier years. Lighting the tree always presented a challenge as hours were spent plugging in and trying to find the one bulb that caused the whole strand not to work; this of course was my job that I found exciting, challenging, and rewarding. Today our tree poses with a single color of white lights, and if a strand does not work it is thrown out and a new strand is bought; simplicity. After the lights the younger years showed strands and strands of tinsel in colors of red, green, silver, and gold. Today our tree is bare of such propaganda and poses no such garland. The decorations of years past were bulbs of glass or silk with larger bulbs adorning the bottom; as they ascended up the tree the size of the bulbs shrunk. Today there are but few bulbs on the tree and each ornament is a representation of our family and Christmases past. Finally the star on Christmas past was a spherical pointer that in no way resembled a star. Today our tree gracefully displays a simple five point star on top that is not lit. While the Christmas of years past have not changed much in the way of decorations; it was something I had to learn to accept. I think the hardest thing I had to come to accept was the loss of the tinsel and many colored lights. This was one my dads and therefore one of my favorite things. Our tree was so heavy laden with tinsel our tree could have shown without the lights. When I was first married to my beloved wife I was soon made aware that colored lights were out and tinsel was so 70's that it will never fly in this home. This was hard for me because tinsel and lights had become so much of Christmas that I did not realize what Christmas really was. Christmas is what you make of it for those you love; and this I mistook for tinsel and lights. Christmas to my dad was the happiest time of the year and he shared it with his family with bright lights and brighter tinsel. In many ways I am sure it was a small reflection of his childhood days. Christmas is about giving and taking, sharing and loving. Together with my wife we have created a Christmas that is a reflection of both of our childhoods as well as a reflection of us together. We have created some new traditions and have enjoyed many old traditions as well; we hope one day these will pass on through our children a reflection of us and what Christmas was in our home. I have come to know Christmas is so much more than tinsel and lights; as the true meaning rests in the birth of a humble child. This my father knew well and passed on to his children of which is now my responsibility to pass on to my children. Making Christmas fun helps to bring out the wonderful and true spirit of Christmas of giving and receiving love; taking a page from the one whose life we celebrate every December 25. I look with happiness at my green tree with white lights and no garland because I know that it is not the lights and the tinsel that makes the Christmas; but in the light of the eyes of your children that shines the true meaning.

We Choose Everyday whether or not to Live...

The word "live" reminds me of a conversation I had with my now beautiful wife Tiffany. We stayed up talking for hours on the responsibility of the partnership between a man and a woman. At one point in the conversation it turned to the ultimate show of love between two people; it was suggested that dying for someone has been the pinnacle of love for ages. After much thought on the matter we decided living for someone took more courage and showed more love than even dying. While it takes a lot of courage to die for someone and it does prove an ultimate sacrifice; living can be more difficult and harder to face at times. This became our theme and it was no surprise the "I will live for you" slogan surfaced on her wedding ring. To live is a choice we make every morning when we arise and every evening when we turn in. I now look at dying as not just the end of our physical life, but of our mental as well as our emotional life. Quiting or letting life control you is a means of dying and letting go. How we face life's challenges, whether to pursue or hold back on dreams, and the decisions that influence our lives brings us to the position of where we stand today. Every choice we have made in our life has put us exactly where we are currently. Continuing to make the same choices over and over will put us in an eternal circle which will spiral until we are no longer in control of our character. Shake things up a bit by choosing to live life to its fullest; look for the good life has to offer and reach for it. Take the challenges head on and let them teach and inspire you to improve daily; this will lead you to dream bigger, experience more, and overcome anything. Life is not about being led around and drifting aimlessly like a raft at sea. Life is about creating waves, changing your sails when the wind changes, and causing a little turbulence in your life. Life was meant to be experienced; it was not meant to be endured. Make a choice, decide where you want to go and find a way to do it. When given a choice between living and dying I choose to live every time...

If I could eat lunch with one

As I reflect on this subject I wonder how I could possibly fit just one person into my life that has more and means more to me than any other that I would consider them over another. The worldly side of me chooses the usual people I think most would want to invite; famous people and people with power such as Jessica Alba, Angelina Jolie, Brad Paisley, Bill Gates, the President, etc. Then of course there is the religious side of me that chooses people such as the savior, prophets past and present, etc. While all of these are great ideas and would make for some great (and interesting) conversation I don't think I would follow this generalized pattern (even if Jessica Alba would have lunch with me). Some of the greatest people I know I am related to and some have even passed on; it is within this group I would make my choice. My dad passed away 10 years ago this December; I have missed him and his guidance tremendously and lunch with him would be both wonderful and welcomed. My mother lives over 800 miles away and lunch with her would be pleasant and delightful. My brothers are always fun to be around and make for a great time. My sisters are sweet and the company couldn't be better. With all of these choices however I must choose one and every time I am given a choice I choose my wonderful, beautiful wife. I know I get to go out with her all the time and I am with her everyday. We even have a special day (Thursday) we go out on a date once a week. She is my eternal companion who I love and who I want to be with forever. She completes me and my life and I put her above all others. Given a choice I will choose her always; this doesn't mean I would not love an opportunity to have lunch with the aforementioned people it just means if I have but one choice I choose her in my life every time.