Another year has come and gone. I've reached the double nickel mark. Happy birthday to me. I just wanted to thank everybody who made my day so special today. Thank you for all of the email birthday wishes, phone calls, flowers, cards, and gifts.
That's my two cents.
The other day in my Book of Mormon study, the following Scripture stood out to me:
Alma 5:60
"And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed."
This Scripture reminds me of a talk given by one of the 12 apostles, Elder Patrick Kearon, when he said that the Lord is in relentless pursuit of us. I love that! If I felt better, I would find some quotes from that talk to post here. But I don't have the energy.
I just wanted to post this Scripture really quick and share it with you. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He calls after us. He wants us to come into His fold. We are His sheep.
How do we come into His fold? We obey His commandments. We follow Him.
I love this time of year when we focus more on Christ and perhaps try to be a little more like Him. I love that He is in relentless pursuit of us. But it is up to us to choose to follow Him. If we follow the Good Shepherd, no ravenous wolf will destroy us.
May we all choose to follow our Savior, Jesus Christ. May we all heed His call to join His fold. Maybe all try to be a little more like Him.
That's my two cents.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody! It's hard to believe that another Thanksgiving has come and gone. I just want to express my gratitude for all the blessings that God has bestowed upon me. Including all of you. I am so incredibly blessed.
No matter what we do we will always be indebted to God for all of our blessings. I don't have the words to express how thankful I am for the wonderful life I have had. Especially for the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful to belong to His Church. And I'm so grateful for loved ones who care for me and have blessed my life so deeply.
We would all be wise to ponder on all our many blessings and give thanks daily to God for them.
That's my two cents.
Today would have been my parents' 56th wedding anniversary. Dad died three months shy of their 50th wedding anniversary. Dad was always very proud of every anniversary and was very much looking forward to their 50th. Six years later I'm sure they're celebrating together on the other side of the veil.
It's crazy how people are picking the same tiebreaker score. So we actually have a tie today. I came so close to picking the tiebreaker in the upper forties, but I didn't. Oh well, a tie it is. Michael and Clint even picked the same tiebreaker score. It was a fun week.
Our beloved prophet of 7+ years died on Saturday night, September 27, 2025. President Russell M. Nelson became our Prophet and President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint on January 14, 2018 after the passing of President Thomas S Monson.
Shortly after he was ordained Prophet and sustained as President of the Church, President Nelson went on a stadium tour to meet and speak with members of the Church. In the fall of 2018 he came to Safeco Field in Seattle. One of my fondest memories is going up to Seattle to see President Nelson along with President Henry B Eyring (Dad's favorite apostle) who happened to be President Nelson's speaking partner that day. This was only months before Dad died. It was a very special event.
President Nelson was a world-renowned cardiothoracic surgeon who, in the 1950s, pioneered the heart-lung bypass machine which made open-heart surgery possible.
Present Nelson was called as an apostle and sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on April 7, 1984. Where he served until he was ordained as Prophet on January 14, 2018.
President Nelson also announced 200 temples to be built, during his seven years as Prophet and President of the Church.
President Russell M. Nelson was born on September 9, 1924 and had just celebrated his 101st birthday. He is the longest living prophet since the restoration of the Church. He was 93 when he became prophet. Interestingly, that's how old President Oaks is, who will be our next prophet.
President Nelson and his wife Dantzel are the parents of 10 children. He has 57 grandchildren, 167 great-grandchildren, and one great great grandchild.
President Nelson was the 17th President of the Church.
I love President Nelson. He lived an exemplary life of service to the Lord, and to his fellow man.
"Well done thou good and faithful servant… enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." – Matthew 25:21
RIP President Russell M. Nelson
September 9, 1924 - September 27, 2025
That's my two cents.
