Til We Meet Again...

Earth lost a good man, while Heaven gained an angel this week. We offer our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to Lori and her family with the passing of her beloved father.

Ezra Hadley

1926~2011

You may view the obituary here and offer your condolences to Lori and the family here...

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"And we too can anticipate that when the time comes for us to step through the veil of mortality, leaving our failing and pain-filled bodies behind, we will see the loving smile and feel the welcoming embrace, not only of our Heavenly Parents and of the Savior, but also of our loved ones who will greet us in full vigor, full remembrance, and full love." ~Chieko Okazaki

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Speak, He Is Listening...

Ardeth Kapp said: "There may be times when we want to pray and try to pray, but we're not sure what to pray for or even if we are getting through. We know the challenge we're faced with, but aren't even sure how to ask for help. At such times, perhaps more than any others, we can be greatly blessed by the comforting promise of Paul to the Romans. We read: "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." (Romans 8:26) "

There are many times when the pain and the challenges we are experiencing are more than we can put into words. We know that we cannot face them alone, we know that we need help, but it all feels so big and heavy that we don't even know where to begin to ask for that companionship and aid. In those moments of heartfelt prayer, in the moments of kneeling before the Lord with heavy hearts and tears streaming down our face, the moments when our broken hearts and emotions seem to consume us and the words just won't come...it is the moments like those, when the Spirit does the communicating for us. The Spirit offers up to our Father what we are feeling, and conveys what our broken and troubled hearts can't find the words for. He hears every one of our pleas, the spoken and the silent ones.

He is always listening. Go to Him often in prayer. He will hear you, and He will answer you. He longs to hear your voice, to ease your pain, and to encircle you in His peace and love.

Pioneer Day

Decades after the Pioneer Trek, the following story occurred in a Sunday School class in Cedar City, Utah. The following story was recalled by William Palmer about what he saw that day involving Francis Webster bearing an unforgettable testimony:

"Some sharp criticism of the Church and its leaders was being indulged in for permitting any company of converts to venture across the Plains with no more supplies or protection than a handcart caravan afforded.

"An old man in the corner sat silent and listened as long as he could stand it. Then he arose and said things that no person who heard him will ever forget. His face was white with emotion, yet he spoke calmly, deliberately, but with great earnestness and sincerity.

"He said in substance, 'I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here, for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. [Was it a] mistake to send the handcart company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company and my wife was in it and Sister Nellie Unthank, whom you have cited, was there too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine, and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Not one of that company ever apostatized or left the Church because every one of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives, for we became acquainted with Him in our extremities.

" 'I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it. I have gone to that sand, and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back so many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew that the angels of God were there.

" 'Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin handcart company.'

Cruisin' With Me'Chel...

Here we are in the full swing of Summer with all it's sun, fun, and opportunites for vacations. With that being, we thought we would share this little video of Me'Chel telling a true tale of one of her vacations. Here is her 'Cruise Story'...

More Than A Memory...

President Joseph F Smith assured us that we are not forgotten as he spoke of our loved ones beyond the veil:

"If we can see, by the enlightening influence of the Spirit of God and through the words that have been spoken by the holy prophets of God, beyond the veil that separates us from the spirit world, surely those who have passed beyond, can see more clearly through the veil back here to us than it is possible for us to see to them from our sphere of action. ...We are not separated from them...We cannot forget them: we do not cease to love them; we always hold them in our hearts, in memory, and thus we are associated and united to them by ties that we cannot break, that we cannot dissolve or free ourselves from. ...I claim that we live in their presence, they see us, they are solicitous for our welfare, they love us now more than ever. ... They see the temptations and the evils that beset us in life, and the proneness of mortal beings to yield to temptation and wrong doing; hence their solicitude for us and their love for us and their desire for our well being must be greater than that which we feel for ourselves."

Those we love who have gone Home before us, see us, love us, and are cheering us on. And so we must keep pressing forward knowing that though it may not be this day, but one day, one joyous day, we will be together forever, never to be parted again...

Happy Birthday Debbie!

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday!...

Love,

Lori and Me'Chel



Education Week 2011!

The booklets are out, and we are so humbled and equally happy to announce that we have the opportunity to present at this year's BYU Education Week!

Our first is class is from 9:50 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.

Music...a Conduit From Heaven to Heart
Tuesday: Small and Simple Things--"By Small Means the Lord Can Bring About Great Things" (1 Nephi 16:29)
Wednesday: "The Lord Is My Strength and [My] Song" (Exodus 15:2)
Thursday: "In The Arms of His Love" (2 Nephi 1:15)
Friday: Tender Mercies--"Great Are Thy Tender Mercies, O Lord" (Psalms 119:156)

Our second class is from 11:10 a.m. -12:05 p.m.

Help, My Life's On Fire!--Finding Peace in an Unpeaceful World (John 14:27)
Wednesday: This is a Test, Only a Test
Thursday: Stop, Drop, and Pray
Friday: From Heartache to Peace...How Do I Get There?

(Both of our classes will be held in the Madsen of the Harris Fine Arts Center)

Education Week is a wonderful opportunity to get away from the world for a little bit and wrap yourself up in the goodness of the Gospel. There are a wide variety of classes with over 200 different presenters! Click here and it will take you to the Education Week home page where you can learn more about the program, have your questions answered, or register to attend!

We hope to see you there!

Happy Independence Day

David O McKay said: "As precious as life itself is our heritage of individual freedom, for man's free agency is a God-given gift. In sensing our responsibility to preserve it for ourselves and our posterity, let students and patriotic people ever keep in mind the warning voice of James Russell Lowell proclaiming: "Our American republic will endure only as long as the ideas of the men who founded it continue dominant." He concluded his remarks by saying, "To live in a land in which each individual has the right to life and liberty is a glorious privilege."

We thank all of those who have served and continue to serve this great country...We offer our deepest gratitude for the service you give and the sacrifices you make that allows us to enjoy safety and freedom.

Happy Father's Day

Wishing our own fathers, husbands, sons, and son-in-laws, as well as the rest of you good fathers out there, a very Happy Father's Day!

We can all take great comfort and confidence in the knowledge that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us unconditionally and eternally. President Hinckley said, "God is our father. We are His children. We sing, "I am a child of God." We do not think very much of what that means. It means so very much, that you and I, my dear brothers and sisters, have a divine birthright. There is something of divinity in each of us that is eternal and everlasting, and in the expression of that divinity we ought to stand tall..."

Nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of our Father in Heaven. No matter where we have been, or where we may find ourselves now, whether it be on the path or far from it...don't ever forget that He has prepared a way for you to return to Him. For He wants nothing more than to hold you in His arms again. May we want nothing more than to be held in those arms...

Happy Birthday Lori!

Wishing you the happiest of birthdays!...

Love,
Debbie and Me'Chel

Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing a Happy Mother's Day to our mothers and daughters, and to all of you who have children, those of you who someday will, and for those who bless the lives of children through your example and love...

We share the following humorous quote from Sister Marjorie Hinckley with you, as we are sure that many will be able to relate...

"The rewards of mothering are not immediate. There are times when you are less than appreciated. I took from the oven one day what I thought was a beautiful casserole, only to have my six-year-old son say, "Mom, how come you baked the garbage?"

Motherhood is a difficult job, but it's blessings are priceless. Elder Jeffrey R Holland so beautifully spoke of the joys, challenges, and promises of motherhood:

"...it is clear that some...Rhode Island–sized shadows come not just from diapers and carpooling but from at least a few sleepless nights spent searching the soul, seeking earnestly for the capacity to raise these children to be what God wants them to be. Moved by that kind of devotion and determination, may I say to mothers collectively, in the name of the Lord, you are magnificent. You are doing terrifically well. The very fact that you have been given such a responsibility is everlasting evidence of the trust your Father in Heaven has in you. He knows that your giving birth to a child does not immediately propel you into the circle of the omniscient. If you and your husband will strive to love God and live the gospel yourselves; if you will plead for that guidance and comfort of the Holy Spirit promised to the faithful; if you will go to the temple to both make and claim the promises of the most sacred covenants a woman or man can make in this world; if you will show others, including your children, the same caring, compassionate, forgiving heart you want heaven to show you; if you try your best to be the best parent you can be, you will have done all that a human being can do and all that God expects you to do.

"Sometimes the decision of a child or a grandchild will break your heart. Sometimes expectations won’t immediately be met. Every mother and father worries about that. Even that beloved and wonderfully successful parent President Joseph F. Smith pled, “Oh! God, let me not lose my own.” That is every parent’s cry, and in it is something of every parent’s fear. But no one has failed who keeps trying and keeps praying. You have every right to receive encouragement and to know in the end your children will call your name blessed, just like those generations of foremothers before you who hoped your same hopes and felt your same fears."

He concludes by saying, "Rely on Him. Rely on Him heavily. Rely on Him forever. And “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope.” You are doing God’s work. You are doing it wonderfully well. He is blessing you and He will bless you, even—no, especially—when your days and your nights may be the most challenging. Like the woman who anonymously, meekly, perhaps even with hesitation and some embarrassment, fought her way through the crowd just to touch the hem of the Master’s garment, so Christ will say to the women who worry and wonder and sometimes weep over their responsibility as mothers, “Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.” And it will make your children whole as well."

May our Heavenly Father bless each of us as we strive to be the best mothers, grandmothers, and women of influence, we can be.

We Are America

Once again our country has been unified. Together we unite and say that we are proud to be Americans and thankful to be living in the land of the free and the home of the brave, and offer deep heartfelt gratitude to those who sacrifice to maintain that liberty.

We offer this song and video to you, and desire to stand with you and proudly say "We Are America!"

May God bless America today and always...