My Great Grandfather

I remember my mother telling me that her grandfather (her mother's father) was a Brethren minister.  As a child I always thought that was a neat bit of family history information... MY great grandfather the preacher!  This past Saturday as I was cleaning out Dad's computer desk my brother Mike continued going through the filing cabinet.  He yelled into me, "Here's something someone will want to keep!"  I went into other room to see what he had found.

It was my great grandfather's license to preach the Gospel!  Neat!  Looks like it was something he had to renew each year.  Mike also informed me on Saturday that the entire bottom drawer of the filing cabinet is full of family history information!  Sweet!

Fall activities

This weekend Kaden and I found a bargain on pumpkins and couldn't resist buying the biggest ones they had left!  (We miss picking out pumpkins from Pappy's garden!)

Friday evening I entered my chili into our ward's annual chili cook off.  I got the award for the "Most Home style" chili.  I thoroughly enjoyed tasting all those delicious chilies!

I spent my Saturday morning at Dad's house, (more on that later).  Saturday evening Kaden was invited to a friend's Halloween birthday party.  I dropped him off before heading to the church to help chaperone the youth "Hoedown" activity.

At the Hoedown I was to oversee the eyeball toss game.  See Kassie's eyeball in the air?

Here is Kassie's attempt at branding the bull!

Although the face painting was to be a fall theme, Kassie could resist having a narwhal instead!

Ally gives Ashton a pumpkin.

Kassie gave her the spider web.

This was Ashton's first church dance.  (Our youth must be 14 before they may attend a church dance.)  Saturday was three days before Ashton's fourteenth birthday, but she was given permission from our Bishop to attend.

People are constantly confusing Kassie and Ashton for each other.  They are often told how much they look alike.  Kassie and Ashton completely disagree!  It happens so often that we just laugh about it now!

My father, a hero?

I suppose every daddy is a hero in the eyes of his daughter.  It wasn't until after my father's death that I learned he was a hero in the eyes of many!

One of my college professors wrote a book on Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS).  Dr. Kreider served in BVS, and so did my mother, father and myself.  He writes about himself and other early Brethren volunteers in his book A Cup of Cold Water.  I came across the book while cleaning off my parent's bookshelf this past Saturday morning.  Dr. Kreider also gave guided bus tours related to Brethren history as they would travel in groups to The Church of the Brethren Annual Conference.  My parents participated in several of these tours.  I believe it must have been during one of these conference bus trips that my parents bought the book in which Dr. Kreider autographed personally to my parents.

In the book Dr. Kreider writes about my parents, a story I had never heard before.  There is one mistake:  my mother is from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, not Gettysburg, Ohio.

  Some how my father saved a man from being stabbed by a grape cutting knife.  I wish there were more details.  Looks like I'll have to wait until Dad and I meet again to hear the rest of the story.  One thing I do know:  Yes, my father was a hero, and always will be.

Spiritual weekend

Last Wednesday night for our Young Women's activity the girls and I "kidnapped" another young woman and took her out for ice cream!  Holly is so busy with Seminary, school, the school musical and band that Wednesday nights have been her only time to catch up on school work, which means she misses our Wednesday night activities.  She was in the middle of dinner, and didn't know we were coming, when we arrived at her door and insisted she was coming with us!  Holly later said it was a  nice break.

Holly in the middle holding her ice cream cone.

Dale and I had been talking for months about going to the Temple, but never made the time to get there.  This time we actually wrote it on the calendar and went this past Friday night.  As always it was a Spiritual experience.  We plan on attending again next month with a couple that Dale home teaches.  We already have it marked on the calendar!

 This past weekend was General Conference.  I was able to attend all four sessions at our ward building.  Kassie went with me for the final two sessions, which took away from her reading time.  As soon as we got home she went to the couch with her book, and Kaden joined her there!

Here are a few of my notes from General Conference that stood out to me:

1.  Immerse yourself in the scriptures.

2.  Act on Spiritual promptings; do not postpone them.

3.  Forgo some goods things in order to have the BEST things -- those things which bring us closer to our Father in Heaven.

4.  Make home a holy place.

5.  Choose faith over doubt, fear and the unknown.

6.  Faith is a choice.  It must be sought after.

7.  Perfection does not come in this life.

8.  You get what you pay for in obedience.

9. Get out of debt.

10.  We should never do something that we wouldn't want our children to do.

11.  Remember to give thanks.  It unlocks the doors of heaven.

12.  Parents are responsible for the protection of their children, both physically and spiritually.

13.  Our thoughts, feelings and actions determine what happens in our life now and in the life to come.

14.  Small choices can lead to big consequences.

15.  If Jesus was standing next to you, would you think it?  Would you say it?  Would you do it?

16.  Gaming and texting can be just as much of an addiction as gambling, pornography or alcohol.

17.  If you love me (Heavenly Father), keep my commandments.

18.  Make Jesus Christ and His teachings the center of our lives.