Sharing Abundance

" Church Donates Fruit to U.S. Food Pantries"

“Our two orchards were tended by volunteers over the summer, and then people from our local Church congregations picked over one million pounds of peaches during August and September. Members canned the peaches at Church canneries in the southern Utah city of St. George and Lindon, in central Utah. This harvest greatly exceeded our expectations and will allow the Church to make a significant donation to food banks and assistance ministries around the country.”

The canned fruit was loaded into 18 semi-trucks and delivered to food pantries and Church storehouses in Georgia, Illinois, Colorado, Texas, Washington, Florida and Pennsylvania. Two semi-truck loads of peaches and apricots were also delivered to the Utah Food Bank.

Expressing Gratitude

"The Power of Thank You"

Research has proven that people who are grateful have higher levels of positive emotions like
love,
optimism,
joy,
enthusiasm, and
happiness.
“The practice of gratitude as a discipline protects a person from the destructive impulses of
envy,
resentment,
greed, and
bitterness,” Emmons says.
He also states that those who are grateful are able to
cope better with stress,
sleep better,
have more energy, and
even have more resilience toward illness and
have greater physical health.

You can find the article "The Power of Thank You" here.

Gratitude First

Thanks for dropping by. I wanted to share this short story with you. I bet you'll enjoy it. :)
Gratitude First

by Joseph Walker -Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - LDS Living Magazine

I’m not exactly sure why I gave the necklace to Kayla. I had an extra necklace. Kayla was sitting in front of me at church. It just seemed like the thing to do.
Now, keep in mind that I’m talking about a candy necklace here — nothing special at all. It was just a stringy loop of elastic with multi-colored candies strung around it. I had handed some of them to the ten-year-olds to whom I had been teaching Old Testament stories for the past year (what, you don’t see the connection between candy necklaces and the Old Testament?), and I had an extra one.
Kayla is quite special indeed. She has long dark hair. Gorgeous eyes. A beautiful smile. The sweetest voice you’ve ever heard. And she’s six. In all the world there is nothing so wonderfully adorable as a six-year-old girl.
Which is probably why I gave the necklace to her. I’m a sucker for that stuff.
When I slipped the necklace into her hand she smiled that beautiful smile of hers, and I considered myself adequately thanked. Then I settled back to enjoy the church meeting. As enthralling as church was that day, I did notice a couple of things about Kayla. For one thing, although she wore the candy necklace around her neck, I didn’t see her actually eating the candy. By way of comparison, my son Jon had his necklace consumed and was asking for more before we sang the final “Alleluia” in the opening hymn. The other thing I noticed was that she seemed quite intent on something she was drawing. I couldn’t see it, but whatever it was it certainly had her attention—so much so that she paid almost no attention to the candy strung around her neck.
When the service ended I stood to leave. Then I noticed something small and cute in the aisle beside me. It was Kayla. She didn’t say a word. She just handed a piece of paper to me. It was the picture that she had been working on throughout the meeting. It showed a tall stick figure man with glasses and most of his hair, holding a candy necklace in his hand. Next to him was a shorter stick figure girl with long dark hair, gorgeous eyes, and a beautiful smile. Over her head was a cartoon balloon with these words: “Thank you.”
It was a lovely gift and a marvelous work of art—far more valuable than the candy bauble I had presented to her. As I thanked her for her gift, I noticed that she was finally starting to eat the candy that I had given to her.
“It looks like your Daddy wouldn’t let you eat your candy until after church,” I observed.
She shook her head seriously. “I could eat it,” she said, shyly. “I just wanted to say ‘thank you’ first.”
I was touched by the gesture and inspired by her message. It was so important to her to say “thank you” that she couldn’t really enjoy the treat until she had expressed her gratitude.
That’s why there’s a new piece of art in the gallery that is beginning to fill the nooks and crannies of my office. Kayla’s picture is the first to be so enshrined that wasn’t created by one of my offspring. I’m including it as a way of reminding me to be grateful.
First.
from: Deseret Book, Look What Love Has Done

Breaking My Heart

I sincerely hope you will take the time to keep up-to-date on what is happening to our brother's, sister's and youth of the church in California. It is breaking my heart. Click here to read.

Truth and Gaining Experience

I've just added two more Family Home Evening lessons on my side bar: Truth and Gaining Experience. I know that FHE sidebar is a way down with all the do-dads I've added but hope you will search it out. I hope you are finding these lessons helpful as you teach, love and guide your/our children. Remember that most of the lessons also include a recipe for a treat and a 20% off coupon at a church bookstore on the last page. Enjoy.

I'm Asking For This. . .

. . . for Christmas from my kids. With money tight I told them they could all go in together. The Three Deceivers, by Richard Eyre. You can read this book review here.

Article VI

I've recently been following this blog, Article VI. Our U.S. Constitution-Article VI states:

"No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

This blog is written by two men, one an evangelical Christian, John Schroeder, the other a Mormon by the name of Lowell Brown. I think I'd like it if it stated Mormon Christian. Just me. I wanted to bring this blog to your attention and recommend it. Let me know your opinion of it if you check it out please.

Hoping you are counting your blessings on this beautiful Arizona November day or wherever you are. Even if it's being thankful that excedrin is also helping you through the day.

Feeling Grateful For Support

Yesterday while talking to a dear cousin in Oregon who is a member of a different church than I am, she told me how thankful she was for all the Mormon help in passing legislation to protect marriage and recognized how we were being slandered. That made me feel very good and thankful. Here's a video by another church "sticking up for us" also. And you might want to check out this to see what other's not of our faith are saying about us....don't brace yourselves, it's good.

The Site

I've been told that the new Phoenix Temple will be constructed at 51 Ave. and Pinnacle Peak Road. That's just a stone's throw from my daughter's home and we are so thrilled. Yesterday after a fun play day with those 4 grands at Anthem Park we drove by the temple site and took these photos. I can hardly wait for the ground breaking ceremonies etc. I hope we will all be very involved and especially involve our children.

Online Resources: Helping Families

I hope this can be helpful especially for families with young children still at home. I am so grateful for all the resources the church is providing us...helping us with our families.

Scripture Stories Online
Now available online in downloadable text, audio, and video formats, these colorfully illustrated scripture stories are written on a basic reading level for children and are also a valuable resource for others who may not yet be familiar with the standard works. You can also purchase the video recordings as a new DVD set.

Here is an example of what you'll find: http://www.lds.org/languages/childrenmaterials/scripturestories/CUR_2008_Stories_07_NT_5JesusChristIsBorn_36618_eng_.pdf

Bigotry Against Mormons

Catholic Bishop Decries Religious Bigotry Against Mormons

SACRAMENTO 7 November 2008 (This news release was issued by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento) The following statement was released today by Bishop William Weigand, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento and former Bishop of Salt Lake City, in response to attacks on (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) for supporting California’s Proposition 8, defending the traditional definition of marriage:
“Catholics stand in solidarity with our Mormon brothers and sisters in support of traditional marriage — the union of one man and one woman — that has been the major building block of Western Civilization for millennia.
“The ProtectMarriage coalition, which led the successful campaign to pass Proposition 8, was an historic alliance of people from every faith and ethnicity. LDS were included — but so were Catholics and Jews, Evangelicals and Orthodox, African-Americans and Latinos, Asians and Anglos.
“Bigoted attacks on Mormons for the part they played in our coalition are shameful and ignore the reality that Mormon voters were only a small part of the groundswell that supported Proposition 8.
“As the former bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, I can attest to the fact that followers of the Mormon faith are a good and generous people with a long history of commitment to family and giving to community causes.
“I personally decry the bigotry recently exhibited towards the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — coming from the opponents of Proposition 8, who ironically, have called those of us supporting traditional marriage intolerant.
“I call upon the supporters of same-sex marriage to live by their own words — and to refrain from discrimination against religion and to exercise tolerance for those who differ from them. I call upon them to accept the will of the people of California in the passage of Proposition 8.”
SOURCE: Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento

A Ward Talent Show

Laughter is such good medicine. Enjoy-I have soooo many times.

It's Just Amazing

what our church is doing around the world. I seriously doubt any of you will watch the entire 10 minute video but if you do, you will feel so happy to be a part of this great, great effort. Happy Sabbath.

Happy November

Can't you just feel the nip in the air!!! Yea Right!!! Hang in there friends, surely we will have some autumn soon. Don't get confused finding the November VT message. Call this a "girls choice".

November Visiting Teaching Message

Because the November issues of the Ensign and Liahona contain a report of general conference, the magazines do not contain a specific Visiting Teaching Message. Visiting teachers are encouraged to prayerfully select a conference address to share with those they teach.

Visit LDS.org's general conference archive for conference proceedings in several formats.