Lovely Sunday!

1. Mom was up before 6 this morning. I asked her why so early and she said she had to practice the organ. She also noted that she reads her scriptures every other morning of the week, and always seems to miss on Sunday. I told her not to worry....that we had it covered. I only read mine on Sunday. She may be contributing 6/7 of what is needed to get into "The Kingdom", but I do contribute my small part.

It is tough being married to a saint!


2. I was detained in the office, early last week, and wandered into one of my classes a little bit late. They were behaving well, but nothing productive was happening. We discussed the need for them to take some responsibility for their own education, and talked about all of the things they might have started to do, while waiting for me.

At the beginning of the next class that day, I simply sat there until they all quieted down and looked at me. I then asked what should be happening. It was interesting to see who took leadership roles in getting the class underway.

Over the course of the week, I discussed my new expectations with all of the classes. My modus operandi has been to wander in and out a bit during the first moments of class, and watch what they do to get things underway. The results have been exciting. Naturally, I need to present the new material, but they are very good at setting up review exercises, running some of our drills, and starting the oral book reports. Joseph Smith once said, "I teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves". That seems to work well, even with 13 year olds.

3. Betty's brother Lloyd and his wife Judy left at the end of this week. They had been living in our back yard, in their motor home, for the last 7 weeks. They stayed with us last year also, as it is a chance for Lloyd to work for our neighbor, Raymond Parks, to put away some extra money before they head down to Arizona for the winter.

It is interesting how my opinion of Lloyd has changed over the past couple of years. He was Annes' first child, born when she was very young. She lost custody of him to the parents of her irresponsible first husband, and thereafter saw very little of him. Her other children really knew nothing about him until they were in their teens, and then found his existence hard to accept.

He grew up as something of a roughneck...hard drinking and hard living...taking all of the toughest jobs. He is famous in the family as the eccentric who went out into the woods outside Kalispell, Montana, and lived without running water or other amenities for years. We all concluded that he was (is) a bit crazy, and perhaps that is (was) true.

Just the same, as I have come to know him, I have found a great deal to admire. He gave up drinking, cold turkey, about 15 years ago, and has never come back to it. He knows how to do anything mechanical in a near expert fashion. His work ethic is above reproach. Ray Parks absolutely swears by him, and feels that he is one of the best temporary workers he has ever hired over the years. Although he is very blue- collar and does not have the vocabulary of an educated man, he keeps himself well informed about the world around him.

Betty's brothers and sisters seem to want little to do with him, and, although he won't acknowledge it, this hurts him. He feels a bit like the black sheep of the clan. I once shared their point of view, and have come to realize that I was wrong. He is in many ways a true eccentric, but he is a good man.

MUSIC AND ALZHEIMERS:

Betty and I went to see Kathy Mattea perform tonight. She is a country/folk singer who was well known in the 90's for songs like "Where've You Been" and "18 wheels and a dozen roses".

She told a story about visiting her mother, who had Alzheimers. She said she took out her guitar to tune it one day, struck a chord, and her mother launched right into the first verse of one of Kathy's songs. The amazing thing was that her mother had never sung in front of Kathy before. She had always been tone-deaf and too embarrassed to sing. Now, however, she had forgotten that she couldn't sing, and it came out perfectly on pitch. Kathy said that long after her mother had ceased to recognize her, they could still sing "You are my sunshine" together. It was their last real connection.

How deep and powerful music must be, that when all else is forgotten we may still remember a simple tune. How wonderful that all of my grandchildren are growing up with parents who value music.

CONFERENCE RATING SYSTEM?

Betty was showing me today how any conference talk is now available on the internet for immediate viewing. We enjoyed watching the reaction when Thomas Monson announced a new temple for Rome. How fun!

It occurred to me that since the talks are available in this format, we now have a desperate need for a rating service that could tell us which conference talks would be most beneficial and entertaining to watch. A highly inspirational talk would receive a rating of 10. If you found your mind wandering, the talk might be a 5. If you fell asleep, well.......

I would sort of like to put together a team of experts to rate the next conference, and I thought my own beloved family might be the right place to start. Please contact me to reserve your spot on the team.

OK! Ok! I'm kidding!!.......sort of.


CHAD AND DILBERT:

Chad's rather amazing story of how the use of written affirmations has had such a tremendous effect on his business has been a great inspiration to me. It is his story to tell, not mine, but I recommend you talk to him sometime soon.

"According to your faith, so be it unto you". "If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believeth". These biblical quotes may not be exact, (they are off the top of my lightly religious head), but they are only two among a great many that teach us that we are responsible for creating our own reality.

That which we give thought to, we begin to attract. That which we give thought to that brings forth strong emotion, we attract more quickly.

Chad success is a result of tapping into natural laws. All of us are capable of amazing things.

Now, if I could only figure out what I really want.

FAVORITE RECENT GRANDCHILD QUOTES:

Alexis: "Grandpa, tell me the truth!

Lainie: "'ell no, mommy"

So what am I supposed to write?

1. Vacationing with Jared and Courtney was fun, but we learned a sad truth. We are olllllllldddd!! We would come back after a full day, have some dinner, and Courtney would say, " Ok, we are off to Wonderworks! It's open until midnight!" Off we would go, and we would stay until, (you guessed it), midnight. Then we would be up bright and early for the morning events of the next day. I had to spend three days back at work before I felt that I had recovered.



2. No, I did no get up to go to the 7AM session at the temple on my VACATION!! Do I look crazy to you? I will sign up to be a temple worker when they finally set up 8PM to midnight sessions for those of us, (normal people), not disposed to watch the sunrise.

Also, the actual story of our Sunday drive to church involved Courtney yelling "This is your turn!!!", me obeying her and turning, and then me calmly saving our lives with some spectacular, skillful driving. Actually, the last part is exaggerated. We were never in any danger. (Love you darling Courtney!)



3. Ok, I am voting for McCain, but I have to express my reservations. He is not the same man who I supported in 2000, as he has opted to change many of his core principals to satisfy the Republican base. He has also made an irresponsible decision by chosing a completely unqualified running mate. Nevertheless, I fear what an overwhelmingly Democratic congress could do with no president willing to cast a veto. I think we proved between 2001 and 2006, that it is bad for the country to have both the presidency and the congress controlled by the same party. Nevertheless, I know that many in our family will probably vote for Mr. Obama, and I don't blame them. Something does need to change.



4. Mom and I are down significantly in our 403-B, (401-K for teachers), plans over the last year. Who wants to let us live in their basement? Actually, we are not too concerned. We are going to leave our money in the market, since we don't think we will need it immediately, even after we retire. If history is any indicator, the market will come back. If it doesn't, we will be a little thriftier. Unless things become significantly more dire, we plan to retire in June of 2010.

5. My grandchildren absolutely rock!!