RIP LaVell Edwards

LaVell Edwards died yesterday at age 86.  He is the one college football coach I always admired.  He was an excellent football coach but more importantly he was a wonderful man.

I will always remember BYU winning the national championship in 1984.  I daresay that was the beginning of my love of college football.  I remember my parents taking us to the BYU bookstore to pick out a national championship souvenir after the 1984 season.  I don't remember what I picked out but we all remember what Lisa chose.  A LaVell Edwards poster.  Excellent choice Lisa!  :-)

This quote from LaVell Edwards epitomizes why I looked up to him not only as a legendary college football coach but as an example of someone to emulate.

"all that has happened to me in my chosen profession is a mere drop in the bucket compared to the truly important things in my life.

"The testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ that I have, along with my wife and my family, are my most important possessions.” -- LaVell Edwards

LaVell Edwards had his priorities straight.  He was a giant on the field and off through his service to the young men he mentored as a coach and to all who knew him or knew of him.

RIP LaVell Edwards!

That's my two cents.

LaVell Edwards August 11,1984 

Misplaced Loyalty

Quite often I feel like an alien living here in mortality.  It reminds me of the line from the hymn, "something whispers you're a stranger here" (LDS hymn number 292).  I seriously feel like I'm living in the twilight zone sometimes.  Why?  Because of other people.  Other people's bad choices and bad behavior. And their messed up thinking and ideas.  I'm constantly quoting John McEnroe, "you cannot be serious... chalk flew".  But there is not enough chalk to fly.

What makes it even worse is that these people are my family members.  People who should know better.  I'm constantly being disappointed by my own.  It's quite embarrassing.  But the disappointment is really what hurts. Why?  Because I want my family members to have eternal life.  I want our family to all be together in the eternities.  At this rate, it's extremely unlikely.  Barring some serious lifestyle change and repentance.  There is always hope but at this point no one has a desire to make the necessary changes.

I just keep hearing more twilight zone-esque stories and keep quoting John McEnroe.

It all really comes down to one thing.  Misplaced loyalty.  Apparently most people don't realize this one simple concept.  And that is that our number one loyalty and priority in everything we do should be God. Yes, even above and before family. This is where most people's loyalties are misplaced.

Just to clarify this, I found several quotes and scriptures which will help educate you.

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."  -- Matthew 6:33

"I urge you to give your deepest loyalties to the highest causes in eternity—those contained in the life and mission and message of the Only Begotten Son of God. If we can remain true there, with an eye single to that standard, all other loyalties will fall naturally into place." -- Jeffrey R. Holland, 21 January 1986

“What is our ultimate priority?” Are we serving priorities or gods ahead of the God we profess to worship? Have we forgotten to follow the Savior who taught that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments? (see John 14:15). If so, our priorities have been turned upside down by the spiritual apathy and undisciplined appetites so common in our day." -- Dallin H. Oaks, "No Other Gods", October 2013

"We must put God in the forefront of everything else in our lives. He must come first, just as He declares in the first of His Ten Commandments: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3).

"When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities.

"We should put God ahead of everyone else in our lives."-- Teachings of Presidents of the Church; Ezra Taft Benson, Chapter 1

“Those who wholeheartedly turn their lives over to the Savior and serve God and fellowman discover a richness and fulness to life that the selfish and egotistic will never experience.”-- President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, April 2014

For me though the biggest disappointment is not the family members who have gone off the deep end.  It's those who defend them.  I will never understand defending wrong -- it's just not in my nature.  Sharing DNA with someone does not trump morality nor following God's commandments.

I hear stories of parents defending their rapist sons or harboring fugitives of the law and it truly baffles me.  Apparently these people don't understand enabling.  Enabling never helps anyone.  And unfortunately several members of my family are big-time enablers.

Here is the definition for those of you who don't understand it:

Enabler: one who enables another to persist in self-destructive behavior (as substance abuse) by providing excuses or by making it possible to avoid the consequences of such behavior.

I would love to give some examples here but I don't want to embarrass those guilty family members.  The sad thing about enablers is they actually think they are helping those they are enabling.  When in actuality they are harming them.

Whether your family member is an addict of any kind, a law breaker, immoral, or a commandment breaker which includes all of the above, or does anything which is self-destructive -- making excuses for their bad choices and bad behavior, sympathizing with them, and doing anything to help them avoid the consequences of their choices is doing them a disservice.  And, the fallout almost always  affects many other people--negatively.

I'm really just sick and tired of family members who should know better defending wrong and even praising it all because they share DNA with the perpetrators.  It makes me sick.  Your loyalties are completely misplaced.  I guarantee you if the perpetrator was not your baby son or nephew or brother or cousin, your tune would certainly change.

One thing I can say about myself is my tune doesn't change.  I don't care who is in the wrong.  I don't care how much DNA I share with anyone.  I will always defend truth and righteousness no matter what.  You can call me holier than thou, judgmental, hypocrite, or whatever other name you can come up with.  But I will always put God first and defend truth.  I will never enable destructive behavior.

I wish others in my family would stop enabling.  I wish others were not moral cowards who care more about what their family members think about them than what God thinks about them.  I wish more people were courageous and not panseric cowards defending wrong.

“Let us have the courage to defy the consensus, the courage to stand for principle. Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of God’s approval. Courage becomes a living and an attractive virtue when it is regarded not only as a willingness to die manfully, but as the determination to live decently. A moral coward is one who is afraid to do what he thinks is right because others will disapprove or laugh. Remember that all men have their fears, but those who face their fears with dignity have courage as well.”-- Thomas S. Monson, October 1986

I am not a moral coward. I'm not a pansy.  With courage and dignity I stand for principle and never compromise.  My loyalties are not misplaced.  I will always stand for truth and righteousness.

Think of me what you will, laugh at me, mock me, persecute me, but I will unashamedly stand before my God on judgment day with honor, power, glory, loyalty, courage, and dignity.

That's my two cents.

College Football Picks 2016 Final Results

Here are the final results of the 2016 college football season picks.  Congratulations to Rex for taking first place this year.  I thought I had a chance at it again but did really bad a couple of weeks which knocked me down.  :-(

The way it was tallied was your place each week was added together for all 14/15 weeks.  Lowest number winning.  If you didn't participate one week you received a last-place tally for that week. Special thanks to Lisa for tallying up the results.

1. Rex =  37
2. Tammy = 41
3.  Lisa  = 67
4.  Dad = 69
5.  Mercedes = 79
6.  Juliet  =  98
7.  Kingston = 109
8.  Derrinda = 112
9.  Chanelle =  114
10.  Brandon  = 137
11.  Elijah  = 138
12.  Mom =  139
13.  Cody = 146

Others participating not listed: uncle Ron participated two weeks.  Fourth and seventh place.  Ferreira family participated one week coming in seventh that week.

Thanks to all who participated this year.  It was a fun competition.

The pizza/award party is pending and will be in January sometime.  I'll let you all know the details when the party is finalized.

Get ready for next year's competition.  Only eight or nine more months to go.  :-)

Good job everybody.  See you at the party.

Merry Christmas 2016

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." -- Luke 2:11

Merry Christmas everybody!

"At this time of Christmas, this season when gifts are given, let us not forget that God gave His Son, and His Son gave His life, that each of us might have the gift of eternal life."

—Gordon B. Hinckley, "The Son of God", Ensign, December 1992

Eternity

While watching Walker Texas Ranger I heard a really good quote.  So I thought I would post it on my blog for all of you to see.

"I would not trade my eternity for his."

I echo the sentiment of the character on Walker.  I would not want to trade my eternity for anyone else's.

We each control our own destiny through our agency and choices.  This is why we fought so hard in the pre-mortal existence (pre-earth life) for agency.  Satan wanted to take away our agency.  Agency is a necessary part of our Heavenly Father's plan.  Without it we could not progress.

Thankfully we all made the right choice in choosing to follow Heavenly Father's plan in the pre-mortal existence.  Therefore we were given the opportunity to come to earth, receive a body, and exercise our agency.

Unfortunately many people exercise their agency unwisely and make terrible choices which affect their eternity.  Every choice has a consequence.  Good or bad.

You can't force people to heaven.  Our choices in life determine our eternal destiny.  People must choose to go to heaven. Based on how they choose to live their life and who they choose to follow.

You can give someone a home teaching or visiting teaching list -- or any calling -- and they can choose whether to accept it or not.  They can choose whether they will magnify their calling or not.  Or they can choose to completely leave the Church for whatever reason or not.  Or they may choose to never join the Church for whatever reason. But what they can't choose are the consequences of those choices. Those choices will affect their eternity.

I will close with a quote from our beloved prophet:

"I can’t stress too strongly that decisions determine destiny. You can’t make eternal decisions without eternal consequences." -- Thomas S. Monson, Decisions Determine Destiny, November 6, 2005

I'm grateful I am in control of my own destiny, my eternity. I am grateful for the blessing of agency. And like the character in Walker, I would not trade my eternity for anyone's.

That's my two cents.

Scripture of the Day

Alma 44:3-4

3 But now, ye behold that the Lord is with us; and ye behold that he has delivered you into our hands. And now I would that ye should understand that this is done unto us because of our religion and our faith in Christ. And now ye see that ye cannot destroy this our faith.

4 Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith.

Bawl Baby Barack

"Michael Moore is out there offering to pay electors. He's offering to pay them and pay their fines if they will vote for Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump. It's deranged. We are witnessing unhinged, deranged lunacy."...

"... [In Pennsylvania] One elector, Ash Khare, said he and all of the 19 others have been assigned a plainclothes state police trooper for protection. 'I'm a big boy,' said Khare... "But this is stupid. Nobody is standing up and telling these people, "Enough, knock it off."'"

"And that's exactly right. And I'll tell you who ought to be telling them to knock it off: Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. That's where, "Knock it off, grow up, we lost and get ready for the next one." That's where that ought to be coming from, Obama and Hillary. But they are encouraging this business."...

"Obama is not only going to reside in Washington and be on call, essentially, with the Drive-By Media, he's setting up what essentially is going to be a shadow government. 

"Now, I don't know how that's gonna manifest itself, or how it will appear, what it's gonna be, but it's not just going to be Obama.  There is going to be -- and this Electoral College business is the model. It's the blueprint.  This stuff isn't gonna end.  The subject matter is just going to change. After Trump wins the Electoral College today, they're gonna move on to whatever Trump does in his agenda, and they'll not stop here even before the inauguration. 

"And it's gonna be bought and paid for by George Soros and other Democrat donors, and Barack Obama is going to be the intellectual leader of this movement."...

"I have never in my life seen a more petty, childish, bitter, soon-to-be ex-president of the United States. Barack Obama is in fact participating in this effort to undermine the Trump transition, the Trump election, and the Trump presidency. And it's unprecedented in U.S. history. Ex-presidents have never engaged in the kind of behavior Obama is engaging in. 

"And this is accompanied by these tear-jerker stories, one after another about how they're all gonna miss him. He's so smart. He's so cool. He's so calm. He's so measured. He's so reverential. He's so what we want to be like ourselves. This man is unflappable. He's a brilliant intellectual...."

"And in fact, Obama is none of that. He's a street corner community organizer who is using the office of the presidency here to virtually undermine it."-- Rush Limbaugh.com, December 19, 2016

Well said, Rush!  

Bawl Baby Barack and Hillary and all of their leftist cohorts can't seem to face reality.  They live in their own little la la land where they think everybody is as deranged as they are.  They can't face the fact that they lost and that there are actually some people who don't like them and don't agree with their demented ideas.

Today is Electoral College day -- which is merely a formality -- so when Trump emerges victorious, get ready for more sheer lunacy from the deranged left and their leader, Bawl Baby Barack.

That's my two cents.

Safe Harbor

"Draw close to the Lord Jesus Christ. Be of good cheer. Keep the faith. Doubt not. The storms will one day be stilled.... In our own storms in life the Savior is our solace and our sanctuary. If we seek peace, we must come unto Him."

—Joseph B. Wirthlin, "Finding a Safe Harbor"

Scripture of the Day

"And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had never known these things." --Alma 24:30 

CFP 2016 Weeks 14 and 15

1. Rex -5 tie breaker 54
2. Mercedes -5 tiebreaker 62
3. Dad -6 tiebreaker 46
4. Mom -7 tie breaker 49
5. Lisa -7 tiebreaker 44
6. Tammy -7 tie breaker 43
7. Kingston-8 Tiebreaker: 42
8. Cody -8 tie breaker 82
9. Elijah -8 tie breaker 83
10. Derrinda -9 tiebreaker 32
11. Brandon -9 record 27
12. Juliet-10 tiebreaker: 48

actual tiebreaker 51

Relief Society Lesson -- No Less Serviceable

 My handout:

Light of Christ

"Every child of Heavenly Father born in the world is given at birth, as a free gift, the Light of Christ. You have felt that. It is the sense of what is right and what is wrong and what is true and what is false. That has been with you since your journey in life began." 

—Henry B. Eyring, "Walk in the Light", Ensign, May 2008

Christmas Trees

I have always been a fan of artificial Christmas trees.  Even as a kid I preferred them to real (dead) trees.  Let me tell you why.

First of all, artificial trees are always perfect.  Perfectly shaped, perfect color, and sometimes even pre-lit and partly decorated.

Artificial trees don't drop their needles, dry out, and are not a fire hazard. I mean seriously, isn't it a little insane to put a dead tree in your house for several weeks?

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for using God's creations that were put on this earth for our use.  I have no problem with cutting trees down to use for lumber or even firewood.  But I don't agree with cutting a perfectly good healthy tree down just to put in your house and stare at for two or three weeks and then throw away in the landfill.  To me that is wasting God's creation. It's akin to killing an animal just for the sport.  And not utilizing it for food or raiment.  Trees are living things with spirits just like animals.

 "5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth...." 

"8 And I, the Lord God, planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there I put the man whom I had formed.  

"9 And out of the ground made I, the Lord God, to grow every tree, naturally, that is pleasant to the sight of man; and man could behold it. And it became also a living soul. For it was spiritual in the day that I created it;..." -- Moses 3: 5, 8-9

Artificial trees are reusable ever year.  Not only do they always look good, but I can't see paying money every Christmas to kill a tree when you already have a perfectly beautiful artificial tree sitting in a box in your storage room that will look better and not cost anything.

And last but certainly not least, how ironic is it that the very symbol of everlasting life -- the Christmas tree -- is something that was killed so you can put it in your house to represent everlasting life? Seems a bit hypocritical to me.

I have always been and always will be an artificial Christmas tree lover and a despiser of killing perfectly good evergreen trees for no good reason.

That's my two cents.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy birthday to me!

Another year older, another year wiser.

This picture is from the mid-90s.  I Photoshopped a pretty frame on it. It's the next best thing to a crown.  :-)

Christmas

This Christmas season hasn't really felt much like Christmas to me.  I'll spare you all the reasons why.

This year the day we celebrate Christmas, December 25, falls on a Sunday.  To me, it is a blessing to celebrate the birth of our Savior on the day of the week we set aside to worship him.  Church will be Sacrament meeting only, so to be able to attend Sacrament meeting and worship our Savior and partake of the sacrament on Christmas is a wonderful blessing.  Especially in this commercialized world we live in.  Where most people think of Santa Claus instead of Christ when they think of Christmas.  Of all the days to attend church, it would be Christmas.

 It makes me sad when Christmas is reduced to Santa Claus and presents -- where people are more concerned with what they will get on Christmas morning rather than what they can give.  And especially with Christmas falling on a Sunday -- how many people will skip church because it interferes with opening presents?  When the entire reason for Christmas is to celebrate Christ's birth and worship him. The saddest part of Christmas though is people who don't even believe in Christ.  Especially those who once believed and now don't. It breaks my heart.

A few weeks ago I started listening again to "Jesus the Christ" by James E. Talmage. It is an inspired work by one of the Lord's chosen apostles published 100 years ago, in 1915. It is a very thorough book written about Jesus Christ.  Not many people know the actual birthdate of our Savior.  So I took the time to locate this excerpt from Chapter 8 of "Jesus the Christ":

"As to the season of the year in which Christ was born, there is among the learned as great a diversity of opinion as that relating to the year itself. It is claimed by many Biblical scholars that December 25th, the day celebrated in Christendom as Christmas, cannot be the correct date. We believe April 6th to be the birthday of Jesus Christ as indicated in a revelation of the present dispensation already cited, in which that day is made without qualification the completion of the one thousand eight hundred and thirtieth year since the coming of the Lord in the flesh. This acceptance is admittedly based on faith in modern revelation, and in no wise is set forth as the result of chronological research or analysis. We believe that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea, April 6, B.C. 1."

Isn't modern revelation wonderful?  I feel so blessed to belong to the Lord's true church and have access to continuing revelation through prophets and apostles.

The fact that Christ's birth is not celebrated on his actual birthday is irrelevant to me.  But the fact that it is celebrated at all is.  Fittingly, Christmas and Easter are my favorite holidays.  Both centered on Christ.  My favorite part about Christmas and Easter are the songs about Christ's birth and resurrection.

Even though Christmas is commercialized, the fact that many nonbelievers still celebrate Christmas is a good thing.  Even if it is only for tradition or to fit in.  People still think more about Christ during this season as they sing and listen to songs about His birth and reflect on the reason we celebrate Christmas. That's always a good thing.

So, regardless of your level of faith in Christ, here's wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

That's my two cents.

Stop Embarrassing Me!

As any of you know, who follow my blog, I am into DNA.  Especially figuring out relationships by percentage of DNA shared.

Well, there are several people with whom I share a lot of DNA -- I could tell you the percentage shared with each -- who are an embarrassment to me and to the family name.  I understand making occasional mistakes and bad choices but this is becoming ridiculous. Absurdly, preposterously, ludicrously, ridiculous.

I won't divulge any details lest I embarrass those who embarrass me.  Suffice it to say, that sadly, I have a lot of extremely weak DNA relatives who disappoint and embarrass, not only me but other family members, by their continual bad choices. Bad choices that not only affect them but many others including close family.

I hope and pray that they get their lives in order and stop the downward spiral they are on.  Soon.  In the meantime, stop embarrassing me!

That's my two cents.

Nice try, Lucy

We had quite the Sabbath day adventure today.  It started out with our van battery being dead.  It's not like we could just take another car because the van is the only vehicle that can transport me.  So dad had to jump it.  The first machine he used was dead.  So he got another one out of the other car and come to find out he had left it on so it was also dead.  :-( Therefore we had to jump it using Juliet's truck.  Thankfully the third time was the charm.  We went the shortcut and were only about five minutes late to church.

Then, third hour sitting in Relief Society the teacher had just started a beautiful lesson on Christmas.  Just a couple minutes into her lesson the fire alarm goes off and we all had to evacuate the building.  It was a chilly day today and everyone was getting cold standing outside.  Firetrucks came to disarm the alarms and I guess check the building out for possible fire.  At this point there was only about 15 minutes left of church and we didn't figure we would be going back to finish the lesson so we just left.

I don't know the outcome but two Wards were affected.  The other ward in our building was not even halfway through Sacrament meeting.  It will be interesting to find out more details on what happened and what may have caused the alarm to go off.  Speculation was a child.  But who knows. In all my years of attending church weekly, I don't recall a fire alarm ever going off and having to evacuate. There's a first time for everything.

So, Lucy (Lucifer) really tried hard to thwart my Sabbath day today.  But despite his best efforts, I made it to church and was able to partake of the sacrament.  Went to Sunday school and part of Relief Society.  :-)  And the van started right up to bring us home after church.

Now let's hope we don't have any problems with our Family Home Evening/family dinner tonight.  We are planning on watching the First Presidency devotional tonight at five o'clock as our family home evening lesson.  I wouldn't put it past ol' Lucy to throw another wrench into our Sabbath day activities.  We'll see.

Despite whatever Lucy throws at me, I know I am stronger than him and will always emerge victorious!  He may win the battle sometimes but he will never win the fight! Not against this tough gal!  :-)

That's my two cents.

Primary T-shirts

Several months ago Lisa asked me if I would help her design and make T-shirts for her ward's Primary Book of Mormon challenge.  I agreed.

It ended up being much more laborious than we originally thought but I think the final result is exceptional.  :-) If I do say so myself.

Here are the fruits of our labor.  This is the front of the shirt:

This is the back of the shirt:

 Everyone in the Primary who completed reading The Book of Mormon in the allotted time frame will receive a T-shirt, candy bar, and poster of their favorite Book of Mormon character.  We put each of their names on a footprint on the back design.

Lisa pressed them all and they turned out awesome!  I hope the kids (and leaders) like their shirts.