22 March 2011

Poem by Mom

To Get Knowledge and Wisdom 

To get knowledge and wisdom
is suffering, which to mortality
seems a bitter cost
We have heard, and we believe,
the price is worthy
We have watched our Good Shepherd King
suffer for us and
we know He has arisen after all
mortality could combine
So we suspend our perceptions,
believing there is other than
what flesh can measure or comprehend,
what flesh can calculate,
and wait, flickering on the thin rim
of silence, sensing
all is well
 
Kim W Smith

18 March 2011

Party time!

Back in February we had a great time with my Dad's family!  We got together at a church, ate dinner and played BINGO.  Our beginnings with BINGO go way back!  My family has Thanksgiving with my Aunt Susan's family every year and we started the BINGO tradition I think about 23 years ago.  We load up on dollar store and DI prizes and have a great, great time playing.  I don't know if I look forward more to the food at Thanksgiving or the BINGO.  My Dad has been our traditional caller, but last year was the first time someone else (ended up being me) had to do it.  He used to buy tons of Kit-Kats and stack them up like a pyramind and throw them out during the rounds of BINGO.  It is such a fun memory! 

Anyway, here are a few of the pictures I have from that party.  My cousin Jane e-mailed them (thanks Jane!) and I was so sorry to realize I didn't bring my own camera. 

It is great to be around your family.  I always think of it as a gift to be with the people I love and to be together under happy (and delicious) circumstances.  Great food, great games, and great people!  It is the best!  I know when Heavenly Father set up the family unit He was giving us the best thing to be part of on this earth.  I am so thankful to belong to a family of people who all love each other.



13 March 2011

"Come Unto Me"

An excerpt from a talk given by Jeffrey R. Holland entitled "Come Unto Me"
 
Consider the Savior's benediction upon his disciples even as he moved toward the pain and agony of Gethsemane and Calvary. On that very night, the night of the greatest suffering the world has ever known or ever will know, he said, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. . . . Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27).
 
I submit to you that may be one of the Savior's commandments that is almost universally disobeyed; and yet I wonder whether our resistance to this invitation could be any more grievous to the Lord's merciful heart. I can tell you this as a parent: As concerned as I would be if somewhere in their lives one of my children were seriously troubled or unhappy or disobedient, nevertheless I would be infinitely more devastated if I felt that at such a time that child could not trust me to help, or should feel his or her interest were unimportant to me or unsafe in my care. In that same spirit, I am convinced that none of us can appreciate how deeply it wounds the loving heart of the Savior of the world when he finds that his people do not feel confident in his care or secure in his hands or trust in his commandments.

There is peace for troubled hearts

This is my Dad.  I feel so proud of him!  This man has been through so much! He was hit by a drunk driver about 21ish years ago and has suffered through permanent consuquences.  Two failed ablations, both of which resulted in more permanent health consequences.  He has gone through ARDS which again was brought on not by himself.  Then a massive hemorrhagic stroke. And epilepsy.  And----well that list is bad enough.  But tonight as I was visiting with my Dad, I was really struck by how incredible it is that even after all that, he can still sit and laugh at jokes, he will still go out and talk to people, he still does things!  I am amazed! 

We were talking tonight how believers in Christ will see something happen and hopefully will recognize it as a miracle while those who aren't believers will see a miracle and may only call it a coincedence.  I am so thankful to have a testimony of Jesus Christ and I am grateful for the daily miracles in all our lives!  I am thankful to belong to parents who recognize that He blesses us with those daily miracles.  I am absolutely certain it is impossible for me in my mortal state to recognize completely all He does, but I know and I testify of His involvement in our everyday lives.  I firmly believe there is eternal consuqeunce and relevance in our every-day lives.  I know the choices I make today are important for my future, but I also know that I am not expected to be perfect.  But our perfect Father in Heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ provided a perfect plan for each individual with the opportunity to repent. 

I know my Dad's life does matter to Heavenly Father and it certainly matters to me!  Even though my Dad can't do what he used to do I know there is purpose and happiness and joy to be felt in his life.  As I look at my blog and see the google search terms that lead some people to it, I feel a little like crying for some of them!  One person who visited several pages on my blog found it by typing "People who have watched loved ones suffer hemorrhagic stroke".  I don't know who that is, of course, but I pray for you!  I don't understand strokes, I don't understand why we can send rockets to Mars but we can't fix a brain.  I know that our Lord knows all the answers and does have the power to heal, and that we have to figure out how to get through each day, and hopefully with cheer, while we wait.

I want to tell you that you are not alone in your suffering.  Your Father in Heaven hears your prayers and He knows the thoughts and intents of your heart.  He sent His Son, Jesus Christ--the only Begotten!--to Atone for the pains of mortality.  It is hard and it is shattering sometimes, but it is worth it to press on and trust in the Lord.  The comfort available through trust on the Lord is incredible.  His yoke is easy, and His burden is light!  He calls "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest".  I believe that is true.  Please call on the name of Jesus Christ in your trials, in your suffering.  He will heal the wounded soul.  He truly can!
I am thankful I get to keep this blog.  Really even if it is only so that I will sit down once in a while and write out my testimony of the Savior then it is worth it for me.  I do love Jesus Christ, I am thankful to be a Christian and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I am thankful I was able to gain my testimony by sincerely praying and asking and that is the way for anyone who wants to know to find out for themselves.

Thanks for reading!  A lot of love to you all and good night!

08 March 2011

Great music

I am thankful for the hymns!  I love them so much.  I am not a real musician, I taught myself to play piano as a personal progress goal when I was young.  I am so thankful I did that because I learned all the hymns and really learned to love them.  There is so much comfort and solace offered to us through the words and music.  I know the Lord loves to hear us sing good songs!  This verse has been on my mind today from Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer.

Precious Savior, dear Redeemer, Thou wilt bind the broken heart.
Let not sorrow overwhelm us; Dry the bitter tears that start.
Curb the winds and calm the billows; Bid the angry tempest cease.
Precious Savior, dear Redeemer, Grant us everlasting peace.

I know that we can receive "everlasting peace" through Jesus Christ.  I am so thankful that His Atonement is for our burdens and sorrows as well as for our sins.  He is the matchless gift!

HDC & GBH

My Dad is tons of fun!  There are a couple of great traditional things he and I did together when I was growing up.  The first is Hot Dog Club!  About once a week, maybe more, in the spring and summer, and sometimes in the fall, and winter, I would take Trax downtown and meet him at the corner of 200 South and Main Street where we would "commence shoveling" on the most delicious hot dogs Salt Lake City has to offer.  We really both just loved the experience of a city hot dog, eaten in muggy outdoors of downtown while hundreds of cars passed by.  Mmmm.  I hope Hamza and his hot dog stand will be there this summer.

The other great thing my Dad and I did together for many summers was golf ball hunting!  We would head out on the old motorcycle and drive around the outskirts of the U of U golf course to check for stray balls.  We would find them down the hill and across the road in trees and up by the Olympic village and the hospitals.  It is amazing how far off some of those golfers were.  We had our own code and lingo for finding and picking up the balls.  We stored them on the back porch and in one summer collected a 6-gallon bucket of stray balls.  (Which mysteriously disappeared, we assumed due to some mischief of the boys in the family.)  We were golf ball picky, and never picked up a stray ball marked with three lines, signifying it belonged to the course.  We really had so, so, so much fun doing that!  We never came home without finding at least one ball.  After ARDS, my Dad put the bike away for good.  It was okay though, because they closed the golf course right around that time. We figure they must have closed the golf course because we stopped coming.

Dorktastic

My brother John says one of his favorite things is to watch my Dad walk into the kitchen every morning with his hat clipped under his head.  I think my Dad would die if he knew I was posting this picture!  He constantly asks me, and probably everyone, if his hat really is cool looking or if he looks like a dork.  I always tell him that it is cool, which is true because my Dad has always been the head dork.

For a while there was this greeting card at the grocery store.  It had these four super, super nerdy looking guys on the front.  Inside it said "The geek squad wishes their leader a Happy Birthday."  It really cracked me up, and so my Dad and I gave each other that birthday card for a couple years.  He's definitely a nerd!!!

01 March 2011

Dad and Chi

Today my Dad was playing with my daughter.  He would hide around a corner, jump out and scare her, and then throw her in the air.  She asked an obviously tired Poppy "Will you do it again?"  He answered "I will heebajunnatragahyemnilktra" or something like that and then walked off!  It was so funny and Charity was so confused by his answer.  When he started mumble jumbling, I was worried about what the slurred speech meant!  Then I realized what he was doing, and I laughed so hard I cried.

This is when I realized he can probably get out of anything he doesn't want to do for the rest of his life.  All he has to do is say "ahsumstrumalobatofytofee" and he's good!  :)  Well, if anyone deserves to do whatever they want, I'd easily say it's him.