I propose a (belated) Alisha day

Happy birthday Alisha! We Love you!

A car for Dad

Here is the car that I have picked out for dad. I think that he would look SMASHING driving down the road to his meetings. It's probably going to be a REALLY great deal though- with 110,000 miles and a good body! Their does appear to be some damage to the front, very bottom bumper- like they hit the parking cement block...something I have done...and actually driven over...and got high centered...humiliating- but I digress. If interested, Randy or Carol is who to contact. I have talked w/ each of them at different times and they are really super-dooper nice! Let me know if you need more info! Love you!

Twice Two

"I admit that twice two makes four is an excellent thing, but if we are to give everything its due, twice two makes five is sometimes a very charming thing, too.

--Fyodor Dostoevsky, "Notes from the Underground"

It's funny to see this older pictures of Brant- it's amazing how much he has changed in a couple of years. Thought I would post a newer one of him, not that you all don't already know what he looks like! :) Also, not that anyone should feel like they have to come, but Brant is getting baptized on Sat. Feb 13th at 4:00 here in Missoula. We tried to plan it over a three day weekend so if people have to travel it won't be quite so stressful. We have a couple of places people can say. Love you all!

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I propose a brant day

Happy birthday Brant!

Last night for FHE we were learning about prayer. We talked about things we were thankful for, then went on to talk about things that we could bless in our prayers. The obvious things were named, our food, our family, bless that someone we know could feel better, etc. I wanted to bring the concerns of others to my kids mind, so I told them about the earthquake in Haiti. We talked about how there are a lot of primary babies that don't have homes anymore- some of them don't have a mom or a dad any more either. We listened to the news and heard a little 6 year old girl say that she hadn't eaten in 5 days. After counting back we realized that was last Thursday! My kids learned the lesson well and decided that they wanted to pack up all of the snacks in the kitchen to send to them, along with a bunch of clothes and toys. We talked about all the things the church is doing, and brainstormed ways to collect at their school for the orphans (can you tell that we went really off task at this point?). Brooke decided to take it a step further. "Mom, we need to adopt a couple of orphans from Haiti," she informs me. CHEERS ALL AROUND. I tried to explain to them that we don't have enough room, and it costs lots of money, and it's not as easy as they think. Simple faith of Brooke prevailed every discussion. "We need to adopt at least two, because there are going to be brothers and sisters who need to stay together, and not everyone will want to adopt two. Heavenly Father will make sure we have all that we need. AND I can share my room with another sister." This is a huge thing for Brooke, since she has been telling us that when she turns 12 she really needs her own room. I pointed out that she would have to share a room for the rest of her life and she promptly replies that she didn't care, we needed to do this. It's interesting how thoughtful kids can be. Don't be surprised if someday we show up with a couple more kids!

I propose a Dad day

To the man who is always cheery: We love you dearly and wish you a happy birthday! 61 years of pure delight!

I propose a Dane Day

I don't have a picture, but it would probably be too big for this post anyway.

Happy 1st Birthday to Dane! It was so fun to see you for the first time and I can't wait to see much much more of you. Have a great day!

Pacifism . . . or something similar

"Renounce war and proclaim peace." Doctrine and Covenants 98:16

I read this the other day and it peaked my interest. Continuing my reading, I read how the Lord instructs that, if our families are "smitten" and "ye bear it patiently and revile not, . . . neither seek revenge, ye shall be rewarded" (v. 23). God says to do this three times. On the fourth time, God has "delivered thine enemy into thine hands" (v. 29). BUT, "if thou wilt spare him, thou shalt be rewarded for thy righteousness" (v. 30). God continues by applying this to Governments: "If any nation . . proclaim war against [you], . . . first lift a standard of peace unto that people" (v. 34). God says to do this until the third time, then you are justified in going out to war.

So, what do you all think of this? I have been developing a theory of pacifism (Dad doesn't think it should be called that but I can't think of a better word) where we never attack other countries under any circumstance, but instead pour our resources into developing ways to better protect our homeland and prevent attacks. In other words, wars like Afghanistan and Iraq would be unjustified. Protecting innocent peoples from being invaded by others is okay (we defend those countries and drive the invaders out). So, wars like Kosovo would be justified.

What do you think?