Arizona Trip

Well, we went down to Arizona for Heather and Nic's wedding. All the sisters from Adrienne's family are married now. Alex is the only one of the siblings that is still single. Here's a picture of Nic and Heather Harenberg as they first came out of the Temple.
And here's Nic with his jump for joy. We flew down Thursday night and came back Monday night. Before the wedding events started we headed over to Chandler to have lunch with my cousin (Kim) and her family. My Aunt Pam came down from Glendale as well. I realized I hadn't seen Kim and her husband since Ade and I got married. Here is a picture of Eduardo, Annalise (Spelling?), Kim, and Aunt Pam. Their son, Ian, had just been put down for a nap.
Friday night was the reception with the wedding and wedding luncheon on Saturday. I'll include a few more pictures below for everyone to see. The first is all of the bride's maids with Helen and Liberty. From left to right: Heidi (sister), little Liberty (niece), Stephanie (sister), Helen (mom), Adrienne, and Mandy (Heather's best friend).
Heidi's husband, Trevor, likes to take pictures too.Stephanie's husband, Will, leaning against the Mesa Temple with Liberty.

MWC Tournament and Hike

Last week our friend Henry invited us down to the Mountain West Basketball tournament with him. We decided to head down and watch the BYU game on Friday and stayed the night at one of his other friend's homes. BYU lost that game, so we didn't really want to go to the Final on Saturday. Instead, we decided to go for a hike. This first photo is at the far end of the trail.

Adrienne was so excited to go that she climbed all over the place. You can see her better if you click on the photo and blow it up. I climbed around some too. This is on the way back.
Windows Live has a really neat feature with their photo gallery. You can take a large group of photos and it will make it into a panorama for you. It does a really good job as you can see below. The area to the left of the rock outcropping is Las Vegas. In the full size photo you can really zoom in. After the hike we headed back to Utah. Saturday night we watched a movie with Brent and Andrea and stayed up late talking. I wish we could hang out with them more often.

Sunday, we made it back for Church and had dinner with Sarah and Austin. They are just about finished with all the plans for their wedding next month. In fact, Tuesday they head down to get their bridal photos taken.

This week is going to be crazy. We are leaving Thursday to go to Arizona for Heather and Nic's wedding. I hope we get some good photos and get the chance to catch up with friends and relatives down there. We just don't seem to make it down more than once every couple of years. Flights have gone up in price, and it's a pretty long drive.

Snowmobile Fun!!!

There I go! Only my second time trying a snowmobile and it was a blast!!! We probably went 15 miles up into the woods from the parking lot through these amazing hills, mountains and trees.
This is James going up a very steep incline. The photo can't really do it justice. It was probably more than a 45 degree angle. You had to be cruising to have enough momentum to get to the top. I only made it up all the way once.

Draper Temple Open House and so much more

Talk about a packed week. We printed Heather's invitations and announcements, went to the Draper Temple Open House, played volleyball, cleaned, cooked, met with the bishop to renew his annual recommendation to LDS Family Services, shopped for shoes, played basketball, went snowmobiling, stuffed all the invitations, addressed all the invitations, exercised, and and and... Ok, so Adrienne didn't play basketball or go snowmobiling and I didn't clean as much as she did, but the rest of it was all packed into three or four days.

The Draper Temple is beautiful. It's on the side of the "Point of the Mountain" (people in Utah will know the location) and it overlooks the Salt Lake Valley. I'll try to take pictures sometime when the sun is out to share with everyone, although with the storm coming this week and weddings on the horizon...it might be a while.

My co-worker, James, took me up snowmobiling Saturday morning. I took a few pictures, but I'm afraid it won't do justice to the experience. I'll post them later tonight. It was gorgeous up in the Timberlake area just past Heber. White snow and the sky cleared up by the middle of the day. My legs were pretty tired by the time we headed back. It's amazing what some people can do on those machines.

Sunday I visited 3 wards to see how their young mens' programs were going, then went with our ward choir to sing at a care facility in our neighborhood. They had us sing in the Alzheimer's wing. The patients had bright smiling faces and even sang along to songs that they remembered.

Later Sunday afternoon, Adrienne and I met with the Bishop of our ward to renew his letter of recommendation for us to adopt. There are only 3 forms that have to be renewed annually and this was one of them.

Finally, Sunday night we had dinner with Heidi, Trevor, and Stephanie (and even little Liberty). Will was still up at Camp Williams with his Marine company. After we ate we spent the rest of the night stuffing invitations, printing labels and addressing them for Heather and Nic. They had less than two weeks until their wedding, so we needed to do it all here instead of shipping it to Arizona for them to do. I don't think any of us realized the size of the project we had undertaken. 4 hours later we deliriously said good night. All that's left is for Adrienne to buy stamps in order to mail them and I will ship the extras to Heather in Arizona.

Another week gone by

Our good friends Henry and Kay had us over for a picnic/party that they put together out at their new home. They are renting a house in Lake Shore that has 10 acres so they can keep their 2 horses with them instead of boarding the horses on another farm. There were probably 100 people with great food and even a live band. We couldn't stay for the whole party but we did get to stay long enough to see BYU beat Utah in the basketball game.

Sunday was spent at church, resting, and practicing with the choir.

My little sister's wedding invitations are printed now, but we have to wait on the envelopes to be delivered. I'm glad that my company was able to help them out.

We haven't heard anything new on the adoption front, but we have some additional paperwork to fill out now. There are just a few forms that have to be renewed once a year and our year is coming up soon.

The Good and the Bad...

I think I'll start with the bad. It's not really bad, but here you go. We found out the birth mom in Logan decided to place her baby with another couple. She gave birth a week ago and placed it on that day. Ade and I are disappointed it wasn't us, but we both believe that she was guided by Heavenly Father in her choice. We know everything will come together when the time is right.

Now for the good. Ade got a call from her neurologist's office. She recently had an MRI to check out her brain (see if the MS was causing any problems). The MRI was so good that she doesn't even need to go in and visit with the doctor. We're thinking of celebrating Friday with a good date night.

Life is full of ups and downs, but it is always humorous when they come on back-to-back days.

Forgiveness and Unity

I have compiled the Scriptures, Quotes, and Stories from my talk below. I didn't write out every word so I can't give you the whole talk, but you can probably get the idea from the information below.

"To forgive is a divine attribute. It is to pardon or excuse someone from blame for an offense or misdeed. The scriptures refer to forgiveness in two ways. The Lord commands us to repent of our sins and seek His forgiveness. He also commands us to forgive those who offend or hurt us." Church Website

Matthew 5: 44

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Doctrine and Covenants 64: 9-10

Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.

I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.

Samuel T. Whitman wrote: “The ice storm [that winter] wasn’t generally destructive. True, a few wires came down, and there was a sudden jump in accidents along the highway. … Normally, the big walnut tree could easily have borne the weight that formed on its spreading limbs. It was the iron wedge in its heart that caused the damage.

“The story of the iron wedge began years ago when the white-haired farmer [who now inhabited the property on which it stood] was a lad on his father’s homestead. The sawmill had then only recently been moved from the valley, and the settlers were still finding tools and odd pieces of equipment scattered about. …

“On this particular day, it was a faller’s wedge—wide, flat, and heavy, a foot or more long, and splayed from mighty poundings [—which the lad found] … in the south pasture. [A faller’s wedge, used to help fell a tree, is inserted in a cut made by a saw and then struck with a sledge hammer to widen the cut.] … Because he was already late for dinner, the lad laid the wedge … between the limbs of the young walnut tree his father had planted near the front gate. He would take the wedge to the shed right after dinner, or sometime when he was going that way.

“He truly meant to, but he never did. [The wedge] was there between the limbs, a little tight, when he attained his manhood. It was there, now firmly gripped, when he married and took over his father’s farm. It was half grown over on the day the threshing crew ate dinner under the tree. … Grown in and healed over, the wedge was still in the tree the winter the ice storm came.

“In the chill silence of that wintry night … one of the three major limbs split away from the trunk and crashed to the ground. This so unbalanced the remainder of the top that it, too, split apart and went down. When the storm was over, not a twig of the once-proud tree remained.

“Early the next morning, the farmer went out to mourn his loss. …

“Then, his eyes caught sight of something in the splintered ruin. ‘The wedge,’ he muttered reproachfully. ‘The wedge I found in the south pasture.’ A glance told him why the tree had fallen. Growing, edge-up in the trunk, the wedge had prevented the limb fibers from knitting together as they should.”

Dallin H. Oaks

“Don’t treasure up past wrongs, reprocessing them again and again...festering is destructive; forgiving is divine (see D&C 64:9–10). Plead for the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord to forgive wrongs . . . , to overcome faults, and to strengthen relationships.”

James E. Faust

"What can we all learn from such experiences as these? We need to recognize and acknowledge angry feelings. It will take humility to do this, but if we will get on our knees and ask Heavenly Father for a feeling of forgiveness, He will help us. The Lord requires us 'to forgive all men' for our own good because 'hatred retards spiritual growth'. (Orson F. Whitney, Gospel Themes)"

"Most of us need time to work through pain and loss. We can find all manner of reasons for postponing forgiveness. One of these reasons is waiting for the wrongdoers to repent before we forgive them. Yet such a delay causes us to forfeit the peace and happiness that could be ours. The folly of rehashing long-past hurts does not bring happiness.

"Some hold grudges for a lifetime, unaware that courageously forgiving those who have wronged us is wholesome and therapeutic."

Dr. Sidney Simon, a recognized authority on values realization, has provided an excellent definition of forgiveness as it applies to human relationships:

"Forgiveness is freeing up and putting to better use the energy once consumed by holding grudges, harboring resentments, and nursing unhealed wounds. It is rediscovering the strengths we always had and relocating our limitless capacity to understand and accept other people and ourselves."

Counsel from a wise Church Leader

"Keep a place in your heart for forgiveness, and when it comes, welcome it in."

“To err is human; to forgive, divine.” Alexander Pope

Moroni 7: 46-48

…Charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.

Doctrine and Covenants 38: 24, 25, 27

And let every man esteem his brother as himself, and practise virtue and holiness before me.

And again I say unto you, let every man esteem his brother as himself.

Behold, this I have given unto you as a parable, and it is even as I am. I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.

Moses 7: 18

And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.

Catching Up

Last weekend was a lot of fun. Friday we had a ward party that included a service auction and chili cook off. There were probably 20-25 different chili entries. All the ones I tried were great. My favorite was a white chili with chicken. It was really different, but had tons of great flavor.

Most of the day Saturday I spent working on a talk for sacrament meeting. Kevin (the Bishopric member who asked me) gave some ideas and scriptures to help get me started. The focus was "Forgiveness" and as I prepared and prayed I ended up talking about unity as well. I'll include some notes, scriptures and stories from my talk in a later post.

We went to dinner at Red Robin with our friends Dan and Kim (and 2 of their 3 kids). Then we went to play volleyball with some friends.

Sunday mostly consisted of church, choir and dinner with my sister Sarah and her fiance Austin. We had fajitas and played Rummikub (reminded me of family vacations at Uncle Larry's).

Jazz Pictures - Halftime

Jazz Game and Adoption Update

I think Adrienne and I have some of the best friends that you could ever find. One friend has season tickets to the Jazz. He couldn't make it to last nights game so he just gave them to me. Ade had some things at home she wanted to get done, so I took Dan with me and we had a blast. It was a close game until the 4th quarter, then the Jazz just took over. So we got both the thrill of a tight game and the satisfaction of a dominant finish.

I know many of our friends and family want updates on adoption. Right now everything comes down to waiting. The young lady we met with is due any day, but she hasn't decided what she will do once that day comes. I know she is praying for guidance and I know that she will have her prayers answered. I just don't know what that answer will be. She is part of a wonderful family, and has the love and support of her whole congregation. Ade and I are at peace just waiting to see what she decides.