And they wrought a mighty miriacle upon the land

So it would appear that the only time I seem to blog anymore is about once a month. The last one wasn't even a blog but just some picture of the chickens.

The quest we appear to be on these days lingers toward survival rather than living, with the economy in the so called toilet and with the Whitehouse in an uproar, and with politicians deciding our future on Earth, we really are living in a scary time. Some will say the end is near but that is always the comment . Some will say that we have started the apocalyptic era of time with wars and rumors of wars at our door step, but some will say isn't life great!

I currently know 4 woman who are expecting baby's in the near future, and honestly my hat is off to them. That is the kind of positive thinking we need around each of us. I know that in the lectures on the Prophet Joseph Smith, by Truman G. Madsen, he speaks of and quotes the Prophet when he says" and in the last days when things are ruff, it will only be the Latter-Day Saint woman whom are willing to give birth" What a wonderful message to the world these pillars of the world are sending for all to see! Give birth , breath life into what some would call dark or even death. My hat is truly off to you ladies.

In the ministry of the Apostle Paul, as he carried his message, the Savior's message, to each of the Church's and to the towns he explained to them that in there time of peril and hardship there was hope. Hope found through the ministry of Christ, and although Paul thought that he would see the return of Christ in his day, he never once sat upon his laurels and waited to do something. There was never an ounce of procrastination in his testimony or willingness to spread the good news, that Jesus is the Christ. Paul's counter part across the globe, Alma, too worked diligently with the same kind of admonishing to the people, " be ye ready for the great and dreadful day of the Lord". Never once thinking that Christ was not coming, but it was hope that drove these men, these great men on valor.

In the days that follow the stories of these great apostles there are many instances throughout history in which people think its time for Christ to return. I believe it will be soon myself, but I do not think its time to sit back on my laurels and wait for Christ, In stead I think its time to serve Christ, time to really live. For the things that are truly important. So I commend these woman who choose to have children and I say with all the fervor of my soul, that life is meant to be lived, and lived well. A sad glance at the issue that face us all don't solve any problems but instead cause more problems. I heard a motivational speaker once say that "the world doesn't need to hear another sermon as bad as it needs to see one" I could not agree more!

What a better way to say " World we are still here and we will continue to be here" than to have children. I know we all say we know this.... but think about it some more ......all things, yes every single thing is subject unto the Father, with that in mind be positive and have the faith that is instilled in each of us to believe that He know what He is doing.

The survivors

The mighty Solemn our Rooster, he's kinda mean. He jumped up and kicked Chase the other day!

Thats Barbie on the right, Easter on the left and Solemn again.

Hey that's not a chicken, but he sure is cute!

the newbies and the recoveries.

12 little babies altogether. 6 Road Island Reds and 6 Rockford's

Mable is the white one ( my chicken ) and the brown is Dog ( Alex's ) she wanted a dog and we told her no so when we were going to get the chickens at first she said " well can I name one Dog?" We said sure. LOL these are my two survivors and my egg layers, there both good chickens.

in a nut shell

So long I sat at the edge of our bed typing away at this computer, blogging to share my thoughts and feelings. The mishaps of everyday life have a way of getting in the way. So with a fire of a desire to start blogging again I will start with everyday living, the very thing that has seem to keep me from my task.

I have been very busy with work but more importantly , I have been busy emotionally and spiritually. I have been striving to better myself as a husband and man, and now the father and Priesthood holder. I have embarked upon the "Love Dare" to understand what true love is and have a greater appreciation and deeper love for my wife. The book and Idea is fantastic! All though, trying diligently to be rigorously honest with myself , I have had to redo a couple of the Dare's, however long it take I will get through the 40 days and turn it into forever. I can honestly say it has already changed our relationship to the better and I see a change in both myself and Hope, and she doesn't know I am doing it. On the back cover it says "Whether your marriage is hanging by a thread or healthy and strong, The Love Dare is a journey you need to take." I have made it to day 19 so far and It is tough if your trying but so far well worth it.

My chickens have made a mighty come back! The two that were sick on there very death bed have begun to lay eggs. How cool is that! The day that the attack took place, while devastated at not only the loss of our beloved chickens, but trying to subdue the pain the children faced because of the loss, we ordered from the local feed store 12 more baby chickens. With the thought in mind that we would only have 2 hens and 1 rooster, the idea of more sounded great, who knew that we would, with the help of God manage to save the other two. That is okay though because we are happy to have the pets, yes I said pets because we love them that way. They were never bought with the intent to kill so we have chose to name them and the kids are happy.

I am happy to have the opportunity to share a little being that I never seem to have time anymore. I hope you enjoy.

A path too often travelled

I have spent a great deal of my life back treading to get past prior mistakes in life and for me they just never seem to stop. While talking with a dear friend of mine on the phone last week, I spoke of how the hardest thing in my life to get past is the short temper and the anger that is in me. Now I don't know about the rest of you but I struggle. I have been blessed with the strength to get past every bad habit, including smoking , by the power of God, but I will be darned if I can't get past this anger of mine.

I have spent thousands of dollars and many waisted evenings sitting in some form of counseling or therapy over the course of my life and almost all of it has been because of some anger issue, now a reformed man (LOL I try) I strive to get over things that are not in conjunction with heavenly Fathers plans of how we should be. I have tried many things to get past this issue but am at a stand still most of the time.

So I speaking to my dear friend, I say to him that I always think it is funny how God seems to try and get us to see the err of our ways. I was given a set of C/D's from one of my co-workers to listen to entitled " Being a better you " as I am reading the books " Broken things to mend, by Jeffrey R. Holland" and also " 7 habits of highly effective people " I don't know, you think someone is trying to tell me something or am I just digging that hard.

Honestly and all joking aside....I hate getting angry I really do, nothing makes me feel smaller or less worthy of His grace then when I get mad and yell at my children or my spouse, and further more when they are hurt by it. I struggle so much and find that I am back in a position almost daily that I have to ask for forgiveness to them and God for my actions and words. Humbling for me aggravating to them. So I have been praying harder and more fervently that God will help me be a better Husband, Father, Priesthood holder, and man. The first Sunday of the month is coming up and that is what I am going to focus on for my fast , and all you that read this I ask that you would please throw my name into yours if you feel inspired to help me in my quest to be a better me.

If you haven't seen the movie "Fire Proof" You should. It is a spiritual movie of a man facing a problem like mine...the great thing is that the movie was inspired of a real book called " The Love Dare " I bought it a week ago and have secretly started the dare. I had to repeat day 1 three times before I got through but now I am onto day 3 so hopefully and with faith I can make it to day 40 and turn that into 40+ years.

Not often do I put myself out there for all to see, but I can't hide behind anger nor can I bottle up the feelings anymore. I want a good life for me and my family, that's why we joined the Church and devoted our lives to God. So I ask all who read this to keep us and me in your prayers and through that I know I will find strength.

Why we are here.

I had a sweet little sister from down in Findlay ask me today, "Jason..why are we here at this time in life?, Why couldn't we have been born when things were simpler?Don't you wish we could have been sent to another one of the world that God created?" My response was Sister...we have been set apart for this time to do a great work amongst our Father in Heavens people. I said that we were set apart before the foundation of the worlds and that we had been hand picked to be the righteous people to share the Gospel and the message that it has been restored so that others may find their way back home. She said" You know I never looked at it that way before."

I think it is safe to say that those of us here on this planet today have been chosen, hand picked if you will, to carry out very special deeds. The Prophet Joseph through the Prophet today surely are and were just enough to not to have had to come here, to Earth. If those that dwell on other planets are considered so righteous that they did not have to come to Earth to be tempted by Satan and his dominion, then surly The Prophets of old and new would have been listed among those. My theory is that God hand picked each of them to do his will and alot of us as well. We have been set apart for a mighty work and we must full fill that oath and obligation, even if we can't remember making it, deep down we know it is true.

Next time we ask our selves that ever dangerous question....WHY ......remember that we chose to follow and He always leads the way. The Master taught us all that he had a plan for each of us, I believe That is why we are here.

True Love

You have to read this if you haven't already. ( who-knew ) This is one of the greatest images of what Jesus taught us all in the beginning and in his mortal ministry as well. He taught that we should always be courteous to others and when ever we could to feed the hungry , cloth the naked , and pray for the sick. My dear friend and one of the best examples of a human and man has set a bar above the rest once again.

We as Christians , as Saints, should always be at this level of humanity , charity , and grace. How hard is to skip one meal if it means feeding someone who would probably appreciate a meal so much more than we do. I must admit it brought tears to my eyes to read the blog and how the light and love of Christ shown through the example of a great example.

Our Talks, His Message

Today I was blessed to give a talk in Sacrament meeting . I have not spoken since two stake conferences ago after Elder Kikuchi had asked me to speak, and then my great Branch President had asked if I would share the same message with those of our congregation, so need less to say it was my honor to be able to address the fine members of the Wauseon Branch.

I spoke on the import of Family history work, and how the work of building a family tree goes hand in hand with the work of the Temple. Those who are members of the great Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, know that you cannot do one without the other if you are trying at all to full fill our promises to the commandments of God. I felt my talk was bold today, perhaps a little demanding as I admonished the members to not only start their work, but also not to procrastinate. I also admonished them to be temple worthy and if they were not, then they needed to get there and to speak with President Allen and get things straightened out.

I pined over that talk after I wrote it, I read it again and again and thought I hope this sound right when I deliver it. You know, it takes a molecule of faith to say a simple prayer, it takes a bucket full to understand that it is not your message but His that you are about to share with the beloved members. I sat on that stand and listened to the first speaker and thought to myself..."I hope my talk is long enough...I hope I am not to nerveous.....I pray that the Spirit will guide me", and bam like a ton of brick being lifted from me I felt relief that He was in control.

You see He inspired it from the beginning, helped me write it, told me where to look , and there I sat worried about me. When I asked for His guidance, when I said I needed His help, He was right there and with the love only He can give, I heard that small still voice say "It's okay, I'm right here, I never left you, but thanks for asking " With a peace in mind that He was going to lead I had no worries, and the message was shared the way He intended for it to spoken. I had several people after say how much they enjoyed it and one woman said "You made me cry" I responded "that's because it must have been for you".

I have always felt that each talk , whether given in general conference in Salt Lake...or in the smallest Branches across the plains, they are inspired to inspire , they are talks from God himself for someone who has their listening ears on that day, personal messages if you will , directed towards those in need or with a struggle. Whether mine was or not, I can't say 100%, I feel it was, but we shall see.

My dear friend said to me at baptism yesterday, " I haven't seen any blogs lately?" the only thing I could say was " do you miss them " her answer was yes. Thanks Jenny for the nudge I needed it.

Hospitible or Hostile? You choose.

I spoke with a dear member of the leadership in our Stake today and he indicated to me that he had a rather unfortunate argument with his neighbor this past week, the sad part of it was that it could not just be a mix of words based solely upon the problem at hand, no instead it turned into a bash on Mormonism for him. His and his families values were at stake and he stood for what he believed, even in the face of adversity.

I shared with him my own past couple of weeks with my brother and also how I got something out of this past conference that , to me , sent a message that we really need to be getting more prepared for the second coming. Here we have a story of neighbor against neighbor , brother against brother, persons contenting one with another over discrepancies, usually doctrinal based.

As we get closer to the last days, the scriptures have told all that will listen with an open mind that we will see these very days come to pass. That Satan will sift us a wheat , that even the most valiant will fall, and we will content one with another. I stand to tell you and all those that can read my blog, it is time to stand for that which we believe, not that most of us don't but maybe we need to step it up a notch. How many of us let Satan tell us how much we don't deserve something? Forgiveness, a promotion at work, a chance at love or a relationship. How many times have we gotten to a point where we are in the good grace's of what we think God would have for us, only to think that we know better than He to what we deserve. We are all worthy of His mercy , grace, and love. We must go forth more boldly and declare the good news that Jesus is the Christ and that the Gospel has been restored, even at the cost of being hated for it.

If we as Latter-Day Saints are going to do what we have been asked to do, then there are going to be ugly times ahead of us. I know that we can avoid confrontation with those around us, but to me it seems worth the risk if I can plant a seed, even one as small as a mustard seed.

Stepping Stones

This past few weeks have been a bit rough for me , not Spiritually at all but some what stressful if you will. I received a bit of relief last week when I got word from my attorney and the courts that my custody battle for my daughter is now over and she is officially in my custody, hooray! I have also, as some may know, been having a bit of struggles with my brother, Tom. Despite the fact that he feels he is always correct , no matter the answer he has given, he made it ever difficult to speak with him. I found myself getting to a place where my feelings were not quite leaning the way they should have and there towards the end of a solid week of standing up for what I believe in , I found myself rather punchy in some of my responses. I felt after re-reading some of them that I could have handled them with a little more finesse and showed more kindness instead of being consumed with getting the point across. Either way I have rested at the endeavor. I wrote him an email tonight after receiving an additional four from him yesterday, stating that I no longer wish to engage in trying to answer the ever tiring anti-Mormon questions, I stated that, if they were sincere questions from him to understand what it is I truly believe, I will be happy to answer with the best of my ability but no longer will I answer the anti questions that he is trying to show me where I am wrong at.

I had posted a comment for my blog stating that I will no longer support his blog and have removed it from my site, I feel impressed still to stand with that decision. Not for the sake that I can't get along with members of my family , but more so because I can't promote someone that condemns the very thing that I would die to uphold. He has a very good grasp on the Bible as he sees it and I feel comfortable that he has made some correct choices in his life, but more so than anything , I am grateful to our Father in Heaven for His infinite mercy, that will allow those that don't truly understand an opportunity to decide for themselves and that He bases things on people individual understanding of the Gospel and does not condemn them for their ignorance. (not a nice word but hey if it fits)

Sometimes these things are so hard to deal with, but there is strength to be had in all struggles. I have said before and it is something that I try to live by, adversity can either be a stepping stone or a stumbling block, it is how you perceive the problem that makes it either of the two. I pray that my Brother Tom may have an opened mind and a softened heart, and that he will come to a point in his life where the things that I have shared with him will begin to make sense.