food, crochet, merriment
Brothers and sisters, you may already know, deep in your soul, that God lives. You may not know all about Him yet and do not understand all His ways, but the light of belief is within you, waiting to be awakened and intensified by the Spirit of God and the Light of Christ, which you are born with. ”
– Elder Robert D. Hales
—————————
Happy Birthday Sue!
for sure?
That question has become a favorite tagline in the Oprah Magazine–where each month she does a write up called–What I Know For Sure. Reading her top ten affirmations really got my head racing to come to at least one of my own. Of course, I agree for the most part, with what Miss Winfrey has to say, but my own, most heartfelt belief is blatantly missing from her list. It is this:
“Motherhood is the most important work you will ever do in this lifetime and it has potential to be the most rewarding accomplishment you’ll ever achieve.”
I am impressed with how motivating her words are to me. See what you think~
Oprah’s “What I know for sure” List
1. What you put out comes back all the time, no matter what.
2. You define your own life. Don’t let other people write your script.
3. Whatever someone did to you in the past has no power over the present. Only you give it power.
4. When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.
5. Worrying is wasted time. Use the same energy for doing something about whatever worries you.
6. What you believe has more power than what you dream, wish, or hope for. You become what you believe.
7. If the only prayer you ever say is “thank you,” that will be enough.
8. The happiness you feel is in direct proportion to the love you give.
9. Failure is a signpost to turn you in another direction.
10. If you make a choice that goes against what everyone else thinks, the world will not fall apart.
What do YOU know for sure?
By Norman D. Anderson
One Christmas, I was serving as a bishop in a Provo, Utah, ward. Because I had never had much success in selecting and buying clothes for my wife, I had, for the past several years, cut out a paper doll, wrapped a twenty-dollar bill around it like a dress, and hung it on the tree as a special gift for her. In those days, twenty dollars would buy a pretty nice dress.
But because of a tight budget this particular year, I had struggled for weeks to save the twenty dollars to hang on the tree.
The day before Christmas, my plans changed suddenly when a man needing help came by my office. I could not reach my financial clerk to obtain fast offering funds, so I gave the man five of my twenty dollars so he could go home for Christmas. I tucked the remaining fifteen dollars away in my wallet, hoping it would do for a dress.
A few minutes later, a man from my ward came into my office. He said, “Bishop, one of my home teaching families won’t have much for Christmas this year without help. I have fifteen dollars. If I could get a little more from somewhere, I could get a few things for them.”
I knew he needed his money as much as I needed mine, so I handed him my fifteen dollars and said a sad farewell to my wife’s Christmas dress.
My disappointment over the dress lightened when the children finally settled down on Christmas Eve and we had set out their gifts for them. But when my wife went to get ready for bed at midnight, I sat moping in a chair for a few minutes because my traditional gift hadn’t worked out.
Suddenly the thought came to me that I should look in my wallet again. There, where I had taken out the money to give to the home teacher, was fifteen dollars. I looked in another compartment and found another fifteen dollars. In the final compartment there was a twenty-dollar bill—making a total of fifty dollars that had not been there earlier!
I wept in gratitude as I cut out a paper doll and hung it on the tree.
Lighting the Menorah.
Telling the story of Hanukkah.
Preparing the feast.
Potato latkes–yum!
Family and friends.
Spinning the Dreidel.
The toy feast.
It was a lovely evening.
Thanks April and Jacob.
We love you Matt…“If only we could look beyond the horizon of mortality into what awaits us beyond this life. Is it possible to imagine a more glorious future than the one prepared for us by our Heavenly Father? Because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we need not fear, for we will live forever, never to taste of death again.”
Dieter F. Uchtdorf
