Project Baby Jonas

The company I work for has an affiliated charity that helps children with illnesses.  The name of the charity is Reliance Foundation.  A particular family contacted the Foundation about helping them purchase a head stone for their 3 year old son, Jonas, who died of Spinal Muscular Atrophy.  The disease is a condition that weaknesses the muscles in a persons body.  Some of the first muscles to atrophy are the neck muscles.  This makes it so the baby can't swallow so they have to get a feeding tube.  This also makes it so they can't hold up their own head.  Eventually everything just shuts down.  The life expectancy, I believe is supposed to be two years.  I'm not 100 % sure about that.

As I heard the story of Baby Jonas I was so sad.  I was talking with the executive director of the Foundation one day and she was explaining the need to help raise the money for a headstone for Baby Jonas.  I told her I would love to help and offered to have a yard sale at my place.  The executive director's kids were so great to help organize, advertise and work at the yard sale.  We made all of the money we needed plus a little extra.

We asked people to make donations of items for the sale.  My garage was full of things people brought to donate.  People were also very generous with the cash they gave.  It was a great day to remember the words of the hymn... "Because I have been given much I too must give." I hope to have many more opportunities to help special people like sweet little Baby Jonas.

Cupcakes and General Conference

I was so happy to be able to watch General Conference last week. Colette had invited our family to her house to watch conference on Sunday and I had offered to provide dessert. I decided I wanted to make cupcakes for dessert so the baking started Saturday morning at 7:30.

I love to bake and try new recipes so it was a great day for me. However, being able to listen to general conference was the best part of the day. The talks that impacted me the most were Elder Holland and Elder Eyring. The way they express their love for the Savior and the humility they convey while testifying of Christ and sincerely committing to be better makes me humble and meek and submissive to the promptings of the spirit. If an apostle of the Lord dedicates himself to be a better more worthy more grateful saint, I too can make the commitment to be a better person. I hope that I will be able to do so.




I made 7 dozen cupcakes in the flavors of Pumpkin with Cream Cheese Frosting, Coconut with Almond/Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting and Chocolate with Chocolate Butter Cream frosting topped with miniature Snicker Bars. It took me until 4:00 to finish all of the cupcakes so, luckily I was able to listen to both sessions of Saturday conference while I baked.

Three Kings Found the Lord

I saw the Forgotten Carols on Friday with a friend. I can't help but be more excited for Christmas after seeing the play. Three Kings found the Lord and so can we. If we choose we can find Christ in our lives and follow him. I love the Lord and I am so happy for the Christmas season that reminds me of the love he has for us and the peace he can bring into our lives. Three Kings found the Lord and so can we.

Something Uplifting

The girl who taught our Relief Society Lesson today read a portion of President Uchtdorf's talk from General Conference. I really like what it said so, I am posting it on my blog. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

"As you live up to this mission, in whatever life circumstance you find yourself - as a wife, as a mother, as a single mother, as a divorced woman, as a widowed or a single woman - the Lord our God will open up responsibilities and blessings far beyond your ability to imagine.


May I invite you to rise to the great potential within you. But don't reach beyond your capacity. Don't set goals beyond your capacity to achieve. Don't feel guilty or dwell in thoughts of failure. Don't compare yourself to others. Do the best you can, and the Lord will provide the rest. Have faith and confidence in Him, and you will see miracles happen in your life and the lives of your loved ones. The virtue of your own life will be a light to those who sit in darkness, because you are a living witness of the fullness of the gospel. Wherever you have been planted on this beautiful but often troubled earth of ours, you can be the one to "succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.


My dear sisters, as you live your daily life with all its blessings and challenges, let me assure you that the Lord loves you. He know you. He listens to your prayers, and He answers those prayers, wherever on this world you may be. He wants you to succeed in this life and in eternity."

A Little Perspective

I thought this email I received from my friend the other day was great to put a little perspective into things. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee...You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make
it and wanted to give up, She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the
first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without
saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.' 'Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' she replied. Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, 'What does it mean , mother?'

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in
strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile.
Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The
ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

'Which are you?' she asked her daughter. 'When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it
releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy. The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The
brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches. When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

May we all be COFFEE!!!!!!!

To Love

In 2005 one of my cousins and his wife adopted a baby boy. That summer they went to the Temple as a family and were sealed for time and all eternity. Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone performed the sealing. Although my cousin and his wife had been married for over 10 years he wanted to take the opportunity to share some thoughts about marriage and how to love. I wrote down most of what he said in my journal. I love going back reading through my journal. Some of the entries are so funny. Sometimes I can be a crazy person. But anyway I read the other night about the things Elder Featherstone had said about love and I wanted to share them so here they are making their debut on my blog. He said....

Men should feel such a profound love for their wives that when they walk into a room and see their wife sleeping they get emotional just by looking at her and watching her sleep. Love is when a romantic song comes on the radio and you have the urge to dance with your wife around the Kitchen. Romance is when you are sitting next to your wife at church and you have your arm around her and you can't seem to get her close enough to you. There will be times or days in your marriage when your wife will need to talk. She will need her husband to listen. She will need him to listen well and hard. He doesn't need to have a speech or anything prepared to say he just needs to listen. He needs to listen like he's never listened before. And when she is done, he needs to hold her and hold her until everything in her world is okay.

He went on to say...

Wives need to be supportive of their husbands. They need to thank him for being a good provider for their family. They need to be thanked for being a good father and a good husband. Husbands have an enormous responsibility to provide for a family. There are 6 billion of us on this earth and everyone is trying to make it and to be on the top. Your husband goes out in it everyday and slays dragons. The world is more competitive now then it ever has been. You need to be grateful and supportive of your husband's work.

For those of you that are married I hope you will love a little better and a little stronger. For those of us who aren't married I hope we can realize the joy and enormous responsibility that lies ahead.

One Bright Shining Hope

You all know that I don't read a lot of books. But, when I find a good one I like to share it with everyone. "One Bright Shining Hope" is a great little book by President Gordon B. Hinckley. I don't know if it should truly be classified as a book. It is filled with quotes and stories about women and their goodness. It offers encouragement and direction to women and helps explain the importance of women in the eternal plan of happiness. It would make a great gift for Mother's Day! Pick one up and give it a read. I promise you won't be disappointed.