My Darling Baby Girl, Abbey

To my middle daughter Abbey,
Happy birthday my sweet. You have such a wonderful personality and such a beautiful smile. I love you more than life itself. I can't believe you are turning 7 years old today. It just seems like yesterday I was holding you in my arms and rocking you to sleep while singing "Take me out to the ballgame."

I know life can be hard as the middle child. You feel like mommy and daddy don't love you because we are busy discplining your older sister or wrestling with your twin sisters, but know this, mommy and daddy love you with all our hearts. You are as precious to us as the love of our Savior is precious to us.

I want to impart some wisdom unto you on this special day. Be Patient. Be patient with your sisters, your mother, your father, and most of all with your Father in heaven. I know that he answers prayers and he know the wantings of your heart. Be patient and he will answer those prayers. He answered mine when he gave me you for my daughter. I will forever be in debt to our Heavenly Father for such a precious gift.

I bear my testimony to you, my dear sweet daughter, that I know our Savior lives. I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is the true church of Christ. I love the savior with all my heart. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and that President Thomas Monson is our prophet today. I know that by following the principles set forth by Christ, we can all be much happier.

Please know how much I love you and I hope you have a wonderful day on this your Birthday.

Love always and forever,

Your Father

Love Letters to Sis. Mo. (Take Five)

My dearest Sis. Mo.
Sometimes we get blinded by the everyday grind and stresses. Sometimes we get offended by the other because of something that was said or something that was not done, or not done correctly. Sometimes we say things we don't mean or say things that come out wrong and are taken the wrong way.
All these things tend to make us lose sight of what is most important, each other, our marriage. I found these lyrics and wanted to share them with you. I know you go through a lot during the day. But as you read these lyrics by Garth Brooks, just picture us in the living room holding each other, its night time and all the kids are in bed, dancing slowly as this song plays on, and listen to me as I whisper these words in your ear:

"When the rain is blowing in your face
And the whole world is on your case
I would offer you a warm embrace
To make you feel my love
When the evening shadows and the stars appear
And there is no one to dry your tears
I could hold you for a million years
To make you feel my love....
....I'd go hungry, I'd go black and blue
I'd go crawling down the aisle for you
There ain't nothing that I wouldn't do
To make you feel my love....
....There ain't nothing that I wouldn't do
Go to the ends of the earth for you
Make you happy, make your dreams come true
To make you feel my love"

Bro. Mo.

Our 8 year old daughter was baptized recently. And one day after that she decided to throw a huge temper tantrum. I was able to take her aside and explain to her that even though she may be sorry to mommy and daddy, we are not the only ones she has to apologize to now. Now that she is baptised she needs to truly repent of what she had done wrong and basically apologize to heavenly father and promise not to do it again.
It was the perfect opportunity for me to teach about repentance in a loving and compassionate way. Too often we let emotions cloud our judgement when disciplining our children and consequently we are not led by the spirit. But I truly feel that the spirit guided me that day.

As I was pondering faith and repentance today I came across this quote by President Ezra Taft Benson:

"Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation upon which sincere and meaningful repentance must be built. If we truly seek to put away sin, we must first look to Him who is the Author of our salvation."
Ezra Taft Benson, "A Mighty Change of Heart," Ensign, Oct. 1989, 2

May we all strive to have more faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ and the plans that He has for each and everyone of us.

So yesterday I was home all day with the kids while Nora went to work and I didn't get the chance to get on the computer. So here I am now on and I have this to share.

Last night as we were saying our family prayer, Nora said something to the effect of "help our children to be chaste" or something to that effect. Right after the prayer Abbey gets up and asks, "What does chaste mean?"

Naturally, that caught us off guard for a second. So Nora decides to go ahead and try and explain the "birds and the bees" to our 8 year old and 6 year old. I know some parents are thinking, what are you doing? You don't bring that up to an 8 year old and a 6 year old. Unfortunately, in this day and age my 6 year old already knew some about sex. She learned it in school from her kindergarten classmates.

So I went searching, letting the spirit guide my search and came upon this article on lds.org titled "Teaching about Procreation and Chastity."

It is imperative that we teach our children these things early because we never know where or when they are going to hear it first. For any parent who feels that an 8 year old and a 6 year old are too young to start learning these things needs to read this article. I feel strongly that what my wife did by explaining further to them was completely correct and I know with a surety that she was being guided by the spirit last night. I hope that all who read this will read that article, but I also wanted to add this quote from that article.

Elder Mark E. Petersen explained:
“Sex education belongs in the home, where parents can teach chastity in a spiritual environment as they reveal the facts of life to their children. There, in all plainness, the youngsters can be taught that procreation is part of the creative work of God and that, therefore, the act of replenishing the earth must be kept on the high plane of personal purity that God provides, free from all form of perversion.

“Unskilled parents can learn to teach their children properly. In fact, God commands it, and who are we to disobey?” (In Conference Report, Apr. 1969, p. 64; or Improvement Era, June 1969, p. 78).

So for Sis. Mo., you did great babe. Keep it up.

In my defense I did have a campout with the Young Men this weekend so that was why I missed Friday and Saturday, but I have no excuse for the rest of the time. Anyway, instead of a scripture today I wanted to post a web gem that I get from lds.org on the Book of Mormon. This is a quote from Craig C. Christensen and it exemplifies all of my feelings about the Book of Mormon. Here it is:

"I express my solemn witness that the Book of Mormon is true. It is a book that has brought about a mighty change in my life. I know that God lives. Jesus is the Christ. His gospel has been restored to the earth. President Thomas S. Monson is His prophet and living oracle at this time. The Spirit I feel as I daily read, ponder, and pray about the Book of Mormon strengthens my understanding and testimony of these things and reaffirms to me that they are true."

Craig C. Christensen, "A Book with a Promise," Ensign, May 2008, 107

My Family and I read scriptures together at night and last night we were reading out of Chapt. 9 in 2 Nephi. We got to verse 27 adn stopped because of how long of a chapter it is and how late it was. But I read ahead a little and came across this verse and I made sure that I remembered it so that I could post it today.

Behold, my beloved brethren, remember the words of your God; pray unto him continually by day, and give thanks unto his holy name by night. Let your hearts rejoice.
(2 Nephi 9:52 Book of Mormon)

Love Letters to Sis. Mo. (Take Four)

My Dearest Love,
As you have noticed, I have changed my layout. Not only did I change it because I love Lighthouses, but because it represents everything that is important to me. My Savior, my Church, my Family, and most of all, My Wife.
Just like the Savior, Jesus Christ, is the Light and Life in our darkness, so are you My Light when I am darkened by everyday troubles that come up.
You are the Light of my Life. You brighten my day when I see that beautiful smile.
You light my heart with your everlasting love and bring unequaled joy to my soul. You bring everlasting peace to my being even when it seems there is no peace to be had.
The Savior is the Light and Life of this world, but you are the Light and Life of my world.
I love you.

Your Romeo

Found this while reading Alma this morning. It really made me think of how grateful and humble I am for a loving Heavenly Father, for the family that I have and the loving and supporting wife that I have. It makes me truly thankful for I have.

"....then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me."
(Alma 29:10)

I am going to freak out my wife

My wife is going to freak out because I am actually posting again. I thought I would do something different. I want to post a scripture, mostly from the Book of Mormon, everyday. This gets me to post everyday and I think it will help me get closer to the B of M as well. So my next post will be my first scripture.