It's Done!!!

I am so relieved. We, my family and I, have been planning and trying to keep it a secret from my mom, planning her 70th birthday party, for a year now. It's not everyday that you turn 70 so we wanted to celebrate with her on this very special day.

We made several changes on venue and date trying to accommodate everyone, finally we just decided to do it at her home, I share the home with her so it was easier to prepare everything without her knowing.

Her birthday was the day before Thanksgiving so we ended up deciding to have her birthday celebration on Thanksgiving with dinner to follow. I told her we were inviting several people who had no place to go on Thanksgiving, she was ok with that thought, yea! now we could prepare for lots of people without her asking questions.

Well, to make a long story short Thanksgiving Day came and she had no idea of our surprise. Everyone slowly trickled in and she was surprised by every guest appearance. Finally my sister arrived, she lives farthest away so my mom never expected her to come. It was a great surprise for her. She loved her surprise birthday party and being surrounded by family. It was the best gift we could ever have given her.

However, we did have a couple more surprises for her. My son-in-law put together a slide show presentation with wonderful moving music and pictures of our past. It was so fun listening to everyone comment on the photos. It was awesome but it ended with those who have past on from our family and I couldn't control my emotions. I could feel our loved ones surrounding us, they are still very missed.

The last gift we gave her was a treasure chest of memories. Every family member wrote a letter to her sharing their favorite memories of her. We also contacted friends who did the same, my mother as so excited to read these treasured memories. I think she was very happy, I could hear a difference in her voice as the day past by. I know she will remember this day for the rest of her life. It was a few moments of stress that was worth it to see her have a day of memories.

Family and friends are the greatest treasures that God has given us and I am so happy to know that we can still have these treasured people in our lives when we pass on to live with our Heavenly Father. He made it so we could be eternal families, for that I am truly grateful.

I want to thank everyone for their help and pulling this all off to make it the best day ever for my mom. She is one of my greatest treasures and I want her life to be made happy for the rest of it. Thanks to God as well for all the help and also keeping my stress level as low as possible, LOL, but it's true. Ask and you shall receive, so I did.

It's done and time to restore life as we know it in my household. Funny, but I have already found myself saying "Shouldn't I be doing something?" I just can't seem to take it easy and relax, but I am going to try and relax, as the holidays approach us so I can enjoy the beauty of the season.  It's done!(deep sigh)

Hateful Feelings after the Election

Hello,

Well, half of us are disappointed in the outcome of the elections and the other half is walking on the clouds, or with their heads in them. But the election is over and we have to move on and prepare for what is coming next. I see so many negative comments even after the election is over, even more so on the side that won, why is that?

The problem, as I see it, is that we are so bombarded with tons of negative ads against all the politicians that it makes it hard to get behind the ones we did not vote for, that won. How do we support the President of the United States when we have been taught this past year to hate what he does and stands for? How do we return to being a strong nation again?

I will say that I did not vote for President Obama, because I don't like his policies. I truly believe he is leading us down the wrong path.  He might think he has good intentions but he's doing it wrong. Now, I have the problem of trying to stand united with my nation because all the negative ads has told me that he is doing it wrong. It is so easy to get caught up in these races and negative feelings.

I had to find a way to get through these negative feelings, and the fears that I feel about this administration, but not let my guard down, and get on with my life, if I can. I am probably not the only person who feels this way. How can we do this?

I think we have to turn our hearts to God and not worry so much. We have to turn our thoughts to the scriptures and have faith that God has everything under control. The good wins in the end, we are promised that; we just have to endure to the end. But we need to stand strong and united as a nation. We can see the evidence in the comments above; United We Stand, Divided We Fall. I think after the elections we are falling.

It doesn't mean that bad things won't happen but it does mean we have to continue to stand up for the right things. When Jesus comes again and his government is established we will see the truth. He is coming and we just have to continue to stand up for his Kingdom and get as many people prepared for it as possible.

If we read the life of Jesus Christ in the New Testament we will see our hearts soften and hopefully our eyes will be open to the things surrounding us. We have to make those who are elected accountable for their actions. Our President and others promised certain things in order to win votes well then lets hold them to it. I believe that is the one thing we can do at this time.

We should be electing people with good moral values who know God and his ways. Our Founding Fathers were not perfect men but they did have moral values and made good decisions because of that. We still need those kind of people in our government today. It shouldn't be about political parties but should be about good moral standing and righteous judgements. It's hard to see the good people when there are so many negative ads blocking our views.  Prayer is helpful in unblocking the view.

Its time to move on now and not continue these silly games of who's side won, as far as I can see, it was a tie because both had half the nation behind them. Lets think about our Savior and put our efforts behind him and doing good in this wonderful nation we live in. God gave it to us so lets work together to stand strong against the evils that want to destroy the good that we have been blessed with. I pray for our Saviors speedy return so we can live together in peace His way.

New Family Search Family Tree

I would like to put in a plug for the new Family Search website. One of my few passions is family history work. I can get so addicted to the work. I often do not want to start it because I know I won't want to stop it.

https://familysearch.org/

Yesterday, I went to my first family history conference, and I loved it!!! I learned so many things that were very helpful to my research. One of the things I learned was about the new Family Search program that is suppose to link every one's family into one big tree. I thought that was so cool.

One speaker told a story that proves how we are all related closer than we know. He said that 150 people at his work turned in several generations of genealogy to technician to analyze. He found that 148 of those people were related somehow within 9 generation. That was amazing. The other 2 were 2nd cousins and didn't know it. I thought that was awesome.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had two websites, familysearch.org and new.familysearch.org. The later was for members of this church. But now both have been combined into one. Anyone in the world will be able to get the same info and there is more info than Ancestry.com has, plus some clearer pictures.

In order to access and enter info from your genealogy you will have to set up an account then start adding your info under the tree tab, don't worry about the members of your family still living because that info won't be available for other to see, just you. There is so much information I would love to share with you about the new program but you will have to go and see for yourself. It is worth the time to read and see.

I think they said the tree would be available to everyone by next summer. But if you already have a Family Search account and you are LDS you can access it now and get started. I think they said you have to create a GED Com file in order to transfer info from other places, not sure about that one.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that little bit of info with you. Just remember that the person standing next to you in the grocery store or the rude driver who cut you off could be a distant cousin, so be nice.