tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65867282843644381752024-03-05T09:17:20.839-07:00Carole's BlogCarolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-2837604518755162512014-12-24T11:07:00.001-07:002014-12-24T11:07:11.040-07:00He is the true gift for all mankind.He is the Gift – Christmas Video – #ShareTheGift: http://youtu.be/uzjFEMmM0XsCarolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-16754886271452264532012-09-25T21:55:00.001-06:002012-09-25T22:01:18.809-06:00Lord, save me.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm teaching Early Morning Seminary now and tomorrow we will discuss, among other passages of scripture, the following. I like to look for a variety of artists' renderings of a scripture story, to see what they see. They all have something special that they focus on as you can see above. It helps me to imagine the experience for myself and to think of how Peter must have felt. </div>
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<span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Matthew 14:22 ¶And straightway <u>Jesus
constrained his disciples to get into a ship</u>, and to go before him unto the
other side, while <u>he sent the multitudes away</u>. </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6586728284364438175" name="23"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #486fae; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; padding: 0cm;"> </span></a><span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a
mountain apart to <sup><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">a</span></sup></span><a href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/14?lang=eng"><span style="color: #486fae; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">pray</span></a><span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">: and when the
evening was come, <u>he was there alone</u>. </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6586728284364438175" name="24"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #486fae; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; padding: 0cm;"> </span></a><span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">24 But <u>the ship</u> was <u>now in the midst of the sea, tossed
with waves</u>: for the wind was contrary. </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6586728284364438175" name="25"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #486fae; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; padding: 0cm;"> </span></a><span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">25 And <sup><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">a</span></sup></span><a href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/14?lang=eng"><span style="color: #486fae; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">in</span></a><u><span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;"> the fourth watch</span></u><span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;"> of the night <u>Jesus went unto
them, walking on the sea</u>.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6586728284364438175" name="26"> </a></span><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #486fae; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">26 And <u>when the disciples saw him</u> walking on the sea, <u>they
were troubled</u>, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6586728284364438175" name="27"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #486fae; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; padding: 0cm;"> </span></a><span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good<sup><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">a</span></sup></span><a href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/14?lang=eng"><span style="color: #486fae; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">cheer</span></a><span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">; <u>it is I; be not afraid</u>. </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6586728284364438175" name="28"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #486fae; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; padding: 0cm;"> </span></a><span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">28 And <u>Peter answered</u> him and said, Lord, if it be thou, <u>bid
me come unto thee on the water</u>. </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6586728284364438175" name="29"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #486fae; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; padding: 0cm;"> </span></a><span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">29 And <u>he said, Come</u>. And
when Peter was <u>come down out of the ship</u>, he <u><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">walked on the water</span></u>, to go to Jesus. </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6586728284364438175" name="30"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #486fae; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; padding: 0cm;"> </span></a><span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, <u>he was <sup><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">a</span></sup><a href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/14?lang=eng"><span style="color: #486fae;">afraid</span></a></u>; and <u><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">beginning to sink</span></u>, he cried, saying,
Lord, <u>save me</u>. </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6586728284364438175" name="31"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #486fae; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; padding: 0cm;"> </span></a><span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">31 And <u>immediately</u> Jesus <u>stretched forth <i>his</i> hand</u>,
and <u>caught him</u>, and said unto him, O thou of little <sup><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">a</span></sup></span><a href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/14?lang=eng"><span style="color: #486fae; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">faith</span></a><span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">, <u>wherefore didst thou<sup><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">b</span></sup></u></span><a href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/14?lang=eng"><span style="color: #486fae; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">doubt</span></a><span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">?</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6586728284364438175" name="32"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #486fae; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; padding: 0cm;"> </span></a><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #486fae; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">32 And when they were <u>come into the ship</u>, the wind ceased.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6586728284364438175" name="33"> </a></span><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #486fae; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">33 Then they that were in the
ship <u>came and worshipped him</u>, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of
God.</span> <span style="background: silver; mso-highlight: silver;">[</span><span style="background: silver; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-highlight: silver; mso-shading: white;">The fourth or final watch is that time just before dawn, in
the darkest hours.]</span></div>
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Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-30559238322175048242011-09-27T22:08:00.000-06:002011-09-27T22:28:24.653-06:00Forget-Me-Not, Dear LordI'm still basking in the glow of the messages I heard at the Relief Society Broadcast last Saturday night. And now I've been able to get a better view of my own Forget-Me-Nots by the front door, in daylight this time. I noticed a Lady Bug visiting as well and though I don't have a fancy camera I managed to get a pretty neat photo of the combination. I'm sure I will be in and out over the next few days trying to best that!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6yebGaD27-HNSlq8hrnvnmL9lZhv6AmoXMNhAkpZZgpKvVSA5cil4e_XDzgRS9iD6y5EE13hXCW5HR9E7AaKLVAtSbqIcBcbtvrbHX-SqqZCOrH3j5tso9NqNcB4jXpYMFZQd6jsz85I/s1600/Forget+Me+Not+-less+bright.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6yebGaD27-HNSlq8hrnvnmL9lZhv6AmoXMNhAkpZZgpKvVSA5cil4e_XDzgRS9iD6y5EE13hXCW5HR9E7AaKLVAtSbqIcBcbtvrbHX-SqqZCOrH3j5tso9NqNcB4jXpYMFZQd6jsz85I/s400/Forget+Me+Not+-less+bright.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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This new week has had it's moments already and I'm struggling to get back on course with things that need doing. But that's how it goes, downs mixed in with the ups. Which reminds me - I loved the movie "Up". I love any movie that leaves me feeling uplifted, no pun intended.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6a9Th_osvnuUHPVvMewoFzxeR6pi3jP_6ROgrj2fNIJYtgG32j5SsfiedS6sFq4bH8SPPolIZnyPZOqdYNNGjmtjfsMGONgqXSlGFjhtYGbNSO1BesuDciXa612s6_TktMCw3N9DR6yM/s1600/HPIM8832.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6a9Th_osvnuUHPVvMewoFzxeR6pi3jP_6ROgrj2fNIJYtgG32j5SsfiedS6sFq4bH8SPPolIZnyPZOqdYNNGjmtjfsMGONgqXSlGFjhtYGbNSO1BesuDciXa612s6_TktMCw3N9DR6yM/s320/HPIM8832.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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It's been three years since we traveled down to Salt Lake for October General Conference with Amber (our oldest) and Karren and Jami (our two youngest). Only Linda (our middle child) stayed home because Brenda (our second oldest) drove down with some of her friends.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmIivQS3hwOZCR5pZ9w4ULfIUw8XQs7fggayPd6UTMIXMz87l9PWWbmyTGDL9q2TO2XgsSohuuYelp21zYlO7nEoI4-lYC-m2p4S01q-cGkB0lQBjBvhr18y0e-IP0-GMtCO0WqauwCzk/s1600/IMG_2711.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmIivQS3hwOZCR5pZ9w4ULfIUw8XQs7fggayPd6UTMIXMz87l9PWWbmyTGDL9q2TO2XgsSohuuYelp21zYlO7nEoI4-lYC-m2p4S01q-cGkB0lQBjBvhr18y0e-IP0-GMtCO0WqauwCzk/s200/IMG_2711.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
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It was perfect that we were able to meet up with her in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building on Temple Square. When you consider how many members travel to Utah, hopefully with a ticket to get into one of the five sessions in the Conference Center, it was perfect timing to find her among the throng.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2l6_GTLqgdN4zJMcQnMiDcefH7bI3yefWLSKKXRqLT4sAhfEfqoSRCnzmT4NNk4hsfRmKPMUJKskExGiRa5QHD04vCiEic4j5Noi6HMXg6HI68Vu-EzZFgsT88Bq8AbKmt8qtVOb9PE4/s1600/HPIM8820.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2l6_GTLqgdN4zJMcQnMiDcefH7bI3yefWLSKKXRqLT4sAhfEfqoSRCnzmT4NNk4hsfRmKPMUJKskExGiRa5QHD04vCiEic4j5Noi6HMXg6HI68Vu-EzZFgsT88Bq8AbKmt8qtVOb9PE4/s200/HPIM8820.JPG" width="150" /></a>This weekend is an exciting event for Latter-day Saints worldwide. I'm looking forward to the messages we will hear from the Prophet of the Lord, President Thomas S. Monson, and many of the other General Authorities. Their counsel provides us with comfort and direction that focuses on our time and the challenges we face.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcRx2bpDqKx0yVIcl32a-BGsrcIEE7r6TRh3yUtdLZ_aLXKgpsaGfQXxBpwQSHQmQbUButtYle71D9EmSs_4pQ9fpZIlHC6EeYmSaqPsmQdK93LBE9p9HfxoMqIe7Dyq2_6wpMio_dPi4/s1600/HPIM8823.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcRx2bpDqKx0yVIcl32a-BGsrcIEE7r6TRh3yUtdLZ_aLXKgpsaGfQXxBpwQSHQmQbUButtYle71D9EmSs_4pQ9fpZIlHC6EeYmSaqPsmQdK93LBE9p9HfxoMqIe7Dyq2_6wpMio_dPi4/s200/HPIM8823.JPG" width="200" /></a>I am truly grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life and for my many, many blessings. I know I am not forgotten.Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-38283937275604713522011-09-25T00:51:00.000-06:002011-09-25T00:51:29.044-06:00RELIEF SOCIETY BROADCASTLast night I attended the Relief Society Broadcast for the women of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the Millwoods Stake this began with a display of the various talents of sisters in our stake and a scrumptious meal. My friend Jennifer and I were hanging out together and we got to visit with several good friends also in attendance. <div>
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The satellite broadcast was to start at 6 pm and to help us prepare we had a special trio perform a beautiful musical number. Just as they concluded we could see on the screen at the front of the chapel that President Monson and others had just arrived in the Conference Center and were taking their seats before the meeting started. </div>
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Two of the hymns that we we heard were sung by a 300 + women's choir who were part of the program in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The two other hymns were sung by sisters in all the worldwide congregations that were participating. This took place in over 175 countries and in more than 80 languages. In our Stake Center our voices were so strong and beautiful as we joined in with the voices of the choir in Salt Lake - it was amazing to hear!</div>
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Each member of the General Relief Society Presidency spoke. Sr. Beck spoke on the Pattern of Discipleship, Sr. Allred on the Greatest of all Gifts - Charity and Sr. Thompson spoke on Covenants Made and Kept. The final speaker was President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counsellor in the First Presidency of the church. It was very inspirational, as expected. </div>
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I have found his talk on YouTube in two files if you would like to hear it. </div>
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Part 1 - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIznS4FJCL0">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIznS4FJCL0</a></div>
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Part 2 - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cug4tFqGp5M">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cug4tFqGp5M</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrs-sqviZs6JOHn51jmFH_86MLjVAmmdU2wkqAoNZa_mng4ayfK_1HhGglW8E8XEUdDXBWoDgwg7IZRBxSGB5Mwf4dLCeNEepmFWO6Wim_lKcoD9CnTzwzQtITy7K7F7b7N4i-2mNjf1I/s1600/Forget-Me-Not.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrs-sqviZs6JOHn51jmFH_86MLjVAmmdU2wkqAoNZa_mng4ayfK_1HhGglW8E8XEUdDXBWoDgwg7IZRBxSGB5Mwf4dLCeNEepmFWO6Wim_lKcoD9CnTzwzQtITy7K7F7b7N4i-2mNjf1I/s200/Forget-Me-Not.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="200" /></a></div>
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Here is a picture of my own Forget-Me-Nots that I took when I got home. I will add a daylight photo tomorrow :-)</div>
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Just this year my Mom suggested I plant it in the flower bed by my front step. I'm so glad I did. It now it represents the 5 points of President Uchtdorf's talk tonight and an encouraging message to all women worldwide. </div>
Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-89766675560255264082011-09-13T23:21:00.002-06:002011-09-13T23:35:34.116-06:00GOOD NEWS TONIGHT!Tonight was a long one if you were at Beaumont's Town Council meeting. But it was so worth it to be there and hear council decide in favour of saving the St. Jacques house. All seven members of council voted unanimously to allow the home to be moved to Parc Beacon Park. What a relief.<br />
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Even though there was someone to challenge the idea it became obvious to me that council was well aware that Beau Val residents were contacted several times despite what they were being told. It was nice to have Amanda to speak for residents who were in favour. She was able to make it very clear how hard we tried to get comments from the residents. All in all I'm grinning from ear to ear on this one.<br />
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We have a lot of work ahead of us still. We need to raise $61,873 more as soon as possible. So far pledges now total at $3,127.<br />
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Wow, it's still hard to believe.Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-47378337965043527412011-09-11T23:27:00.001-06:002011-09-11T23:38:32.735-06:00SUNDAY - The Great Family Get TogetherI've missed writing on my blog for a few days now because things keep getting busier around here. Today after church we had the whole family over. All five girls with two son-in-laws plus my Mom makes for a busy kitchen at dinner time. Loved it. We chose to wait for Glen to get home first so we weren't eating until 7 pm. Good food too as my Mom was in her element.<br />
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Afterwards we broke up into smaller groups - my job was to help Jacob learn the best way to do research on his French ancestors in Quebec. We found out several things just by going to my favorite online websites. It felt so good getting back into it. The funny thing was to watch five of our gang pack into Tom & Amber's car at the end of the evening for their ride back home into the city.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxaHkO5B3vc-vs14EWxcaRzJMOSnYx3XSagpJT-auRDZEoYVFJYgLFCrYwD0ZLNSR-8QtwKKvUAkcVDJHdJQq-SwU8p-pWmfOUaLAT2vsCRvL02dXgOTjp_629AsVZNTij3g0TlLoRWo/s1600/My+Girls+June+23-2011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxaHkO5B3vc-vs14EWxcaRzJMOSnYx3XSagpJT-auRDZEoYVFJYgLFCrYwD0ZLNSR-8QtwKKvUAkcVDJHdJQq-SwU8p-pWmfOUaLAT2vsCRvL02dXgOTjp_629AsVZNTij3g0TlLoRWo/s400/My+Girls+June+23-2011.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Jami (#5), Karren (#4), Brenda (#2), Linda (#3), Amber (#1)</div><br />
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Amber fills her seat well now. She's expecting their first child, a boy, in October. Roughly six weeks to go! Woohoo! I'm gonna be a Grandma! Brenda's husband Jacob is rather tall and had to squeeze into the back seat with Brenda and Linda. Yesterday we had knocked down most of our fence so we were able to see right through what used to be a solid wall and into their car as they smiled and waved to us. Everything became much quieter in the house once they were gone :-(<br />
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Which reminds me, Glen and I talked with a friend of ours (yesterday, Saturday) to see about having our fence replaced. He starts tomorrow! I hadn't expected it to be that fast but once the decision was made we had some cleaning up to do. We cut the raspberries down to the ground and moved things away from the fence. Knocking the boards off was very therapeutic. I was still steamed about this letter I had read that is included in the upcoming town council agenda.<br />
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Which brings me to the letter. There is a fellow in town who is entirely opposed to our efforts to save a heritage home/ provide a museum in Beaumont. He implied some things I certainly disagreed with and he wasn't very nice about it. This coming Tuesday will be very busy as council has a number of topics to cover. But the most important one to me will be whether or not the town will finally decide to allow us to move the St. Jacques house to the Beau Val location. This fellow's argument is that no one in town really wants a museum. Well, he should have seen how well we did at Fall Awareness last week in garnering even more support for the project. So there!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg575bA0aAWCE1td3ZoGy2lphC0O_aL8oJspoFK9YBesa5pZtgxQ9VIkbbL6-f1yC3LRDmW9yUSUUWOGc8Ax1JD_NvbYglKAI8sfuiReg9SS0G1vwFlz9uUEHiwi4UNtCVLYuMEQflKGVs/s1600/Photo0065.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg575bA0aAWCE1td3ZoGy2lphC0O_aL8oJspoFK9YBesa5pZtgxQ9VIkbbL6-f1yC3LRDmW9yUSUUWOGc8Ax1JD_NvbYglKAI8sfuiReg9SS0G1vwFlz9uUEHiwi4UNtCVLYuMEQflKGVs/s400/Photo0065.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Here is a view of the park that is currently being used by dog owners, I guess they think it should be a doggie park. We want to make this corner beautiful. So in my opinion Tuesday night is going to be the most important night of the entire week. It will even surpass my excitement about starting Cubs on Thursday.Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-8516507442335614152011-09-09T00:18:00.006-06:002011-09-11T23:34:49.973-06:00Thursday, Sept 8/2011 - Making lots of friends today(By the time I finished typing this report it was Friday, just past midnight).<br />
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First thing today I decided I should take pictures of my growing sequoia trees. I asked my Mom for ideas of names that I could give them. Unforgettable ones. Bonnie and Clyde were the best.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Bonnie is the smaller one, she is about two weeks younger. That leaves Clyde as the bigger of the two. Someone teased me about planting one of them in the back yard of our future (I'm hoping) museum. Ha, if I did that they would outlast everything in town, right? Their lifespan is 3,000 years and they grow 325 ft tall. Talk about having a history!</div><br />
Next, after stopping by a couple of places to arrange for future meetings with potential sponsors, I found myself making a new friend. This person has lived in Beaumont for quite a while and was very interested in the topic of saving the St. Jacques home for a museum. We chatted so long that I was late for my next appointment. I asked my new contact to write down her name and number for me so that I can meet with her again. She has not only memories of Beaumont in the past but photos too. Gotta see them!<br />
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I called Eleanor to say I was just leaving and she was fine with me being about a half hour late. When I arrived and showed my house model she was quite delighted to see it at last. I noticed she had clipped a photo out of last week's Beaumont paper, the one of the aerial photo of the town back in 1948. We visited for much longer than I had planned and we had a great time doing it. She was even able to identify almost every building in the photo. Exactly what I needed! Hugs and kisses on the cheek later (French tradition you know) I was headed back home for a delicious supper. Thanks Mom, I was starving .<br />
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Tonight was Fall Awareness in Beaumont. Mom and I packed up our stuff and headed to the curling rink to set up. We had lots of info on what help we need for fundraising but I focused on showing the house model to everyone willing to come over. Both adults and kids were quite curious so we kept pretty busy. The kids were definitely interested in what the museum would be like. I got quite animated in explaining things and so my voice started to become a little hoarse as I tried to talk over the noise in the curling rink. Everyone I asked (we guessed it was about 40 people) expressed their support for us saving the house. We have to save this home, the people want it!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh296O-U5oHaqgi8wiWe4cxWLVbY6I7llnWlbHw_XuclCzQjWlKeNzyRaNzpRRD0Hua1TyiuPv1UFdleaH4NSmONt9ZCwasDCoU5mYWlwacHxVu8zcxxgD4ELqj2hyphenhyphenBI2qXps4ntW27rmI/s1600/DSCF3484.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh296O-U5oHaqgi8wiWe4cxWLVbY6I7llnWlbHw_XuclCzQjWlKeNzyRaNzpRRD0Hua1TyiuPv1UFdleaH4NSmONt9ZCwasDCoU5mYWlwacHxVu8zcxxgD4ELqj2hyphenhyphenBI2qXps4ntW27rmI/s320/DSCF3484.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-46200707206847125802011-09-08T02:37:00.003-06:002011-09-11T23:34:03.498-06:00MY DAY - Trying to accomplish somethingI had a lot of good intentions for today (yesterday really, Wednesday - I'm writing this way past bed time:-). If I was to go out and set up fundraising appointments I needed to have some handouts to leave behind. Trouble with our two printers lasted all day though. Too bad we have become so dependent on technology that when it doesn't work we lose control of our day. At least supper was sort of on time.<br />
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The highlight of my day was a meeting I attended with probably 35 of my lady friends from church. The topic was "Stress, Anxiety and Depression". I've experienced all three.<br />
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It was an opportunity to learn some of the things that researchers have concluded or are working on. Basically, our thoughts affect our feelings that are also connected to our physical well being and how we behave. A network of friends, taking care of our body, doing things that help us increase our feelings of self worth, being willing to see ourselves in a positive light and more supportive of others - it all helps.<br />
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The bottom line is that we are daughters of our Heavenly Father and he loves us and wants what is best. Struggles with day to day living is part of this earthly experience that we all jumped for joy about in our pre-earth life. I know I learn more about becoming a better person through my challenges than I ever would living a life of ease and comfort.<br />
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Life is good, even today with my plans not going where I wanted them to. As for tomorrow, I've done my research. I've picked out the new laser printer I'm hoping to buy. I LOVE shopping.Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-7322691482695048522011-09-06T22:35:00.000-06:002011-09-06T22:35:00.265-06:00MY DAY - FundraisingWell, today I started contacting some of the developers we have in Beaumont. I'm arranging times to meet with each of them so that we can discuss the possibility of them becoming a sponsor to help save the St. Jacques house for a museum.<br />
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So far I have one appointment confirmed for Friday and I'm waiting to hear back from two others. It was interesting being downtown because I walked right by Rosedale Estates and Rosedale Villa, this large seniors complex. My aunt lives there now but I wasn't able to find her name on the list. Hmmm. I will have to look into this further. Mom wants to visit her sister at her new place so I've just got to find it.<br />
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I bought myself a new toy. It's a bluetooth headset for my cell phone. This should be fun, I love electronic gadgets. Anyone who knows me knows this is true. I'm still trying to find out where I can buy a roku box:-)Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-37835796592771708282011-09-05T14:06:00.003-06:002011-09-05T14:30:44.811-06:00MY DAY - Summer is OverI've decided to follow my friend Jennifer's example by making my blog entries shorter and certainly more frequent than they have been. I will try to keep up with all the things I find myself involved in. But before I do that here's a short recap of our summer:<br />
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Our second daughter Brenda was married June 23rd in the Edmonton Temple and her reception was three weeks later. We had a Dr. Who theme so now I own a homemade 7 foot Tardis. Google it if you're puzzled.<br />
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At the end of July our family participated in a Denton family reunion out in Darwell, Alberta. Then mid-August Glen and I took the girls (K and J) camping in Banff for four days where they decided to film another of their "Flock and Tran" episodes.<br />
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We stopped by to see the Calgary Temple which is currently under construction and then headed south to Cardston to see our nephew in two plays, "Spelling Bee" and "Happy Days" at the Carriage House Theatre.<br />
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Thank goodness the mosquitos didn't bother us while we were camping. But up here in the Edmonton area they were so bad (numerous) that they totally ruined my interest in spending any time in our backyard.<br />
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The girls are back in school and I'm getting things ready to start up Cubs on the 15th. I love the new uniforms. I'm also very busy working on serious fundraising to help save a heritage home here in Beaumont so that it can serve as a hands on museum for children and families. It's long overdue. September 13th is the date we've been told that town council will make it's final decision on whether or not they will support it.<br />
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Oh, yes, I've also been watching the daily news on Libya, mostly through my twitter account. It all started on February 17th. I have learned a lot about the people and their traditions and I admire them very much. I look forward to Moamar Gaddafi and his sons being rounded up and jailed. The Arab Spring of 2011 is a great moment in history for sure.<br />
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My next blogs should be shorter and hopefully more frequent :-)Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-77110747722594397702011-02-11T17:12:00.001-07:002011-02-11T17:14:20.281-07:00RANDOM THOUGHTS - February 11, 2011I have been watching the news for 18 days now. And checking my tweets on twitter quite regularly. Last night I was disgusted by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's broadcast to his people. After almost three weeks of peaceful protest (for the most part, and we know who started the killing!) everyone in Tahrir Square, Cairo was being misled by government media outlets that their president was finally preparing to leave.<br />
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Instead, halfway into his speech he mentioned he was staying until September and that's when the celebratory mood went sour. Very sour. The ultimate insult, peaceful protesters began to wave their shoes in the air. Not a good sign.<br />
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The girls have no school today so I slept in. The first thing I did was check my iPod for any news on what was happening. I couldn't believe my eyes. Mubarek had FINALLY announced that he was stepping down as president. WOW!<br />
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At first I was skeptical. I checked more messages and kept reading them as they came in. I went onto my laptop to get updates from the internet. IT WAS TRUE!<br />
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It all started with a 28 year old young man by the name of Khaled Said who was brutally murdered by Egyptian police. They lied about him, saying he had swallowed a bag of drugs when they found him. Instead he was brutally beaten and murdered. This became apparent when photos of his body began to leak out.<br />
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So a Google exec by the name of Wael Ghonim began a Facebook page and began posting information of other individuals being tortured and/or killed by the Egyptian Police. An English version of the page was created with a different person serving as administrator. The goal was to have a peaceful protest on January 25th, what is called Police Day in Egypt. The people came and the rest is now history. Hosni Mubarak is no longer President. Woohoo!Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-12787734413423974182011-02-04T10:33:00.006-07:002011-02-04T13:39:00.295-07:00BEAUMONT BUZZ - Visit to a Radio StationLast night our 2nd Beaumont Wolf Cub Pack visited the radio station for 630CHED/Cool 880/CISN COUNTRY/Joe FM as part of a requirement to earn the Blue Star. We had a tour of the whole facility and the boys even got to go on live with Mike McGuire for a small portion of the CISN COUNTRY broadcast last night. I have proof! He made a CD recording of that portion and gave it to me to share with the boys.<br />
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We also got to record our voices and see what they looked like on the computer when being played back. Our host explained how such files can be edited to cut out the umms an ahs to make news reports sound better. All in all we had a great time and learned a lot about how radio serves the community.Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-60991800074002218782011-01-27T02:02:00.002-07:002011-02-04T10:35:55.679-07:00BEAUMONT BUZZ - Seeking Support of Town CouncilHere's an update on how the new Beaumont & District Heritage Society is doing. Right now we are preparing to make a presentation to Town Council at their next official meeting on Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 at 7 p.m. in council chambers. I say that just in case you might like to be there to show your support.<br />
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We are a registered delegation so we will be speaking somewhere at the beginning of the meeting. This is the only time that members of the public can speak to council. It is our intention to ask that the town officially agrees to collaborate with our society to save the home of Marie St. Jacques from demolition. We would like to use this home for a creative year-round program that promotes and shares the town's French heritage and flair, as referred to in the Town Strategic Plan for 2010-2015.<br />
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In order for this to happen we would like the town to donate a portion of park land that we can move the home onto. The developer is willing to give us the house for free but only if we move it. We are asking members of the public to consider writing and/or signing letters of support and delivering them to the town office.<br />
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If council chooses to become an official partner with the society our next task will be fundraising. We estimate that the cost of arranging for utilities to be connected to the home could be as much as $25,000 and it will cost another $25,000 to build a full basement. Moving the home will run between $20 to $25,000. So we may as well set our goal at raising $100,000. We have less than a year to do that.<br />
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A number of years ago the former historical society tried to purchase/save the Napoleon Berube home, across the street from St. Vital Church. They had raised about $100,000, I suspect through provincial grant money, but it was not enough to buy the home. The new owner of the property offered to give the home to the society for free if they could find a place to move it. They were unsuccessful, the home was destroyed and the grant money was gone. <br />
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In 2005 the town was hoping to built an amphitheater in Four Seasons park for a centennial project. The town and province had agreed to pay a total of $450,000 to build it but unfortunately the tenders for the construction came in significantly higher and so the project was abandoned. Once again the grant money was not used.<br />
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Perhaps this third attempt will be more successful. If anyone is interested in writing a letter to council showing your support we encourage you to do so. It should be handed in to the town office by Wednesday, February 2nd so that we can be sure it will be included in the agenda.<br />
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Who knows, if all goes well we may have something historical to celebrate in the year 2012 - the hundredth birthday of the oldest building still standing in Beaumont. The Marie St. Jacques House.Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-57341032739881369942010-12-04T14:53:00.002-07:002011-01-27T00:48:04.190-07:00TIME FOR FAMILY - Christmas Letters<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I used to write Christmas letters at the beginning of December each year and mail them out to family, friends and former missionary companions. Somewhere along the line I strayed from this ritual and would get letters from my companions Nancy and Becky long before I found the time to write my response. So this year I decided to go back to the way things were. As I print my letters and prepare them for delivery my husband suggested I post a copy online. What a great idea! We didn't have blogs back then. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">By the way, while visiting my Facebook account I have visited a couple of inspirational Christmas theme YouTube videos. I am going to post links for them here on my blog. I get tears in my eyes every time I see them. I know they are spreading quickly but I want to make sure I am helping. One is a clip of the Hallelujah chorus being sung in a Canadian Shopping Mall: </span><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE</span></a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">and the other is a song about lining up for Jesus, like kids do for Santa: </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OExXItDyWEY">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OExXItDyWEY</a></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">SOUTH EDMONTON TREK 2010</span></span><br />
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<h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0eZuaQpvbri0iTYYWmB_O8UlZ6JsITD9ErahCKwalG2s_1zBSRPwv5PEVhcPxDveUGo5aXgS8EkmR-SMiOBmR0LuGGztqGub8uPSb1xmJvOg26L9wZk_4HEIYrTZqvNBR8FRW_f262Y/s1600/Ma+%2526+Pa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0eZuaQpvbri0iTYYWmB_O8UlZ6JsITD9ErahCKwalG2s_1zBSRPwv5PEVhcPxDveUGo5aXgS8EkmR-SMiOBmR0LuGGztqGub8uPSb1xmJvOg26L9wZk_4HEIYrTZqvNBR8FRW_f262Y/s320/Ma+%2526+Pa.jpg" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;">We spent spring time this year getting ready for the Edmonton Millwoods Stake’s first ever attempt at Trek. Our ward (Beaumont) joined with the Devon, Wainwright, Wetaskiwin and Camrose wards/branches, so only youth from half our Stake were involved. Karren and Jami participated as youth in other families while Glen and I served as Ma and Pa to 4 boys and 2 girls that were assigned to us. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;">We called ourselves the Willie Wonka Handcart family. For the first time ever Karren had 3 brothers (w/2 sisters) and Jami had 6 brothers (w/1 sister). It required a lot of preparation, some serious pulling and pushing of the handcarts, and learning how to deal with heat in the day and rain at night. It was AWESOME and yes we would all do it again. We learned so much about early pioneer life even though we know we had it easy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;">CAROLE'S MOM VISITS FROM QUEBEC</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;">For Mother’s Day we told my Mom we would pay for her to fly out west to visit with us. She arrived a few days after Trek was over and stayed for about 5 weeks. We did work around the house, planted a new Russian Olive tree in the front yard, picked lots of raspberries and apples but our vegetable garden didn’t do so well this year. We went camping up in the Cold Lake area so that Mom could see my brother Danny and his family as well as Annick (my brother Jeff’s daughter) and her little ones, also living at the military base in Cold Lake. So this was a great time for a family reunion of sorts. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaYylCKugyiT5fjplMRWQTLa9dxPuR9jgjLxByj-xw28sBP7MTCMIw42MIEXUcj4iFlpl95ZnSdg63gSt_2750iLeYikgUcIXXS6HbP4rhKLPBtlTh-d3zemZQ5gdLkI1GIXavdqXfU4k/s1600/Geocaching.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaYylCKugyiT5fjplMRWQTLa9dxPuR9jgjLxByj-xw28sBP7MTCMIw42MIEXUcj4iFlpl95ZnSdg63gSt_2750iLeYikgUcIXXS6HbP4rhKLPBtlTh-d3zemZQ5gdLkI1GIXavdqXfU4k/s400/Geocaching.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;"> We introduced my Mom to geocaching and hunting for diamond willow. We had several neat geocache finds up in Cold Lake and when we came back home we found an excellent place to set up one of our own. Mom and I were driving up and down the country roads looking for willow that had a disease that causes the diamonds to grow on their limbs. We found a willow patch that others had already cut most of the branches with diamonds off. But we did get a small piece for Mom to take home with her. And the location was just perfect to hide an old ammo container as our own geocache. I posted it as “Mom’s Willow”. So far we have had 14 people find this cache and report it online. Way cool.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Ifc1fOJ7CUkl3GgUsr2Bi5HiEr-uaog7OOtSw-MxDjWvqZnlJrsO599wRXMuiHUTXsKUB1HgSywFBAu1VUFk1Wd2K-dtVWv1zN3Tpmt7qw9nq_gTmXgE9_KrMCsoTp3TQy_-XBcMxmA/s1600/Johny+Lake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Ifc1fOJ7CUkl3GgUsr2Bi5HiEr-uaog7OOtSw-MxDjWvqZnlJrsO599wRXMuiHUTXsKUB1HgSywFBAu1VUFk1Wd2K-dtVWv1zN3Tpmt7qw9nq_gTmXgE9_KrMCsoTp3TQy_-XBcMxmA/s320/Johny+Lake.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;">We also took a trip to see Mom’s sister Evelyn a couple of times and</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 110%;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;">even go visit Uncle Dave and Aunt Masie in Wabamun. After a nice lunch together at their home they showed us where the Denton land used to be. Mom and Uncle Dave reminisced about the farm and where thought their house had been located. Next year there will be a Denton reunion at Johnny Lake nearby. I look forward to this event and learning more about the past. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;">School had already resumed a few days before Mom took her flight back home to Quebec. A couple days after her departure Glen and I were on our own flight to California. (Some day I will get around to adding the details of our vacation).<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;">Below is an update on our girls. The pictures come from two different photo sessions with local photographer Allison Cahoon. I snipped copies of some of the ones she posted online on her blog. You can see all of them a lot better by clicking on this link: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><a href="http://www.urbanalli.com/blog/?p=723">http://www.urbanalli.com/blog/?p=723</a> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">JAMI, KARREN AND LINDA </span></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgpO8Ry2XQjKN3ZU8b76s0qsQblZ7Cs-GOGFqNIjjl0ECrOOOJHPwigzzr-HS7VpDwUYu4mECx2aY-gAJlCjMtZVfqIHfLUWXVKFfIZCYai9u_VP4gTF5FwGNqTy4MJc4-9RJL3Wc6k9w/s1600/Jami.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgpO8Ry2XQjKN3ZU8b76s0qsQblZ7Cs-GOGFqNIjjl0ECrOOOJHPwigzzr-HS7VpDwUYu4mECx2aY-gAJlCjMtZVfqIHfLUWXVKFfIZCYai9u_VP4gTF5FwGNqTy4MJc4-9RJL3Wc6k9w/s200/Jami.jpg" width="199" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;">Jami (13+) is now attending early morning seminary (scripture study before school) with her sister and she has grown up so much. She is now the same height as Karren but three years ago the difference used to be 6 inches. She is adjusting well to High School life. Ever since Kindergarten her classmates have usually been the same children year after year because she too has gone through the local French Immersion program that her older sisters have. With the high school combining these students from both of the middle schools here in town she is getting to make new friends. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqVBO5oMNSXDq9G8N89uJ3coZWnFYr04mui8tadZRV7njQZw-ReJxrSizsQ_FhZAeWbAXyWaaZFZjOU3es7PthVYUwLdDnXhcC5mvVLF6lajCCI-GmUitE817ezC7xZBIFxNhiZqIdk0g/s1600/Karren.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqVBO5oMNSXDq9G8N89uJ3coZWnFYr04mui8tadZRV7njQZw-ReJxrSizsQ_FhZAeWbAXyWaaZFZjOU3es7PthVYUwLdDnXhcC5mvVLF6lajCCI-GmUitE817ezC7xZBIFxNhiZqIdk0g/s200/Karren.jpg" width="199" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;"> When we returned home from California we were delighted to attend the High School Awards night where Karren (16) was recognized 4 times! She was in the group of top grade ten students, also top four students and finally as the top student overall. She also received the Science and Technology Award. Right now she is practicing hard and hopes to get her driver’s license soon. Both girls also enjoy participating in and hanging out with friends in the church’s Young Women’s program. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYI97KeDLSADSNa2nfgNDKawl20aQpZPiLWnTnK5nEwRIFusxAQHhHQFsGJiJgnAHb3dlvY5-3DhLFI3PmVjX_x34c-x1Z5YjK_yhejqg_tw9eyX-20JuhL6ZJ0JaqmEOnU30bhD-QXaM/s1600/Linda.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYI97KeDLSADSNa2nfgNDKawl20aQpZPiLWnTnK5nEwRIFusxAQHhHQFsGJiJgnAHb3dlvY5-3DhLFI3PmVjX_x34c-x1Z5YjK_yhejqg_tw9eyX-20JuhL6ZJ0JaqmEOnU30bhD-QXaM/s200/Linda.JPG" width="196" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Linda (19+) is attending her second year of music (flute) study at the University of Alberta. She lives with her boyfriend in an apartment in Edmonton. She is very independent and often likes to learn things the hard way. Our relationship with her has improved over the last couple of years for which we are very grateful. She loves hanging out with her sisters and Caleb our dog, which is why he joins us in the family photo. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCCjxFoq8LX6UN_SWUQzJeDkS2WRSBExgRqqf-7TkrhE8HEXl5wGmQpY_aerPEl3rYhdWoI9XuvPFp_aE7HjDdkBn5HmHCKE2gdvEsJ7JnGmGEc5GXM2JyDlLV6SqnXxlb6zvZp56p6lA/s1600/Brenda.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCCjxFoq8LX6UN_SWUQzJeDkS2WRSBExgRqqf-7TkrhE8HEXl5wGmQpY_aerPEl3rYhdWoI9XuvPFp_aE7HjDdkBn5HmHCKE2gdvEsJ7JnGmGEc5GXM2JyDlLV6SqnXxlb6zvZp56p6lA/s200/Brenda.JPG" width="182" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">BRENDA, AMBER & TOM</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;">Brenda (22) continues to work at the Running Room head office in the advertising department. She got a small raise a few months back and continues to work hard creating pamphlets and such on what she calls outdated computers. She is second councilor in her Single’s Ward Relief Society and is dating a fellow that we met over the Thanksgiving Holiday. (For my American readers – In Canada we celebrate this in October). </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 110%;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 110%;">Tom and Amber (24) moved into their own home in June. They bought it in August 2009 but were waiting for Tom’s parents to come back from their Mission in Hong Kong.They were taking care of their home while they were away. Brenda had been living in the home with three roommates and this way they were able to collect rent for a little while to help pay their mortgage.The </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px;">roommates</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 110%;"> have moved out but Brenda stayed. The house has lots of room and it works well for Brenda. Tom is now officially a Chartered Accountant and Amber has recently changed jobs to work in a government office. No more lab work for now.</span><span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 110%;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 110%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMBMkHIrf2kDZ6i42mUiZz6hr4LX_YEPf43R89pMrhPXXGVn5BI0YYmjqrSkJsYUbcTKQeIyIb-MkP5KAHfCtHTN2n3lVDmJlrKLSwTDagyCdNDPccNy6vmjqlDtksbFCx9030pwe172U/s1600/Amber+%2526+Tom.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMBMkHIrf2kDZ6i42mUiZz6hr4LX_YEPf43R89pMrhPXXGVn5BI0YYmjqrSkJsYUbcTKQeIyIb-MkP5KAHfCtHTN2n3lVDmJlrKLSwTDagyCdNDPccNy6vmjqlDtksbFCx9030pwe172U/s320/Amber+%2526+Tom.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;"><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><div></div></span></div>Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-54659903100723803462010-10-23T23:13:00.001-06:002010-12-08T11:21:34.703-07:00Temple Details for Rome Italy<a href="http://tempiodiroma.chiesadigesucristo.it/en/rome-temple-details.html">Temple Details - tempiodiroma.chiesadigesucristo.it</a>Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-38880174357083110092010-10-15T11:30:00.012-06:002010-10-18T13:42:45.879-06:00BEAUMONT BUZZ - Food Bank Drive<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ivc0T6u9QcrHUYWnBPqUOH0Yb9CLNp6O_jWY6yF4dWMr0Z17clq9aT22bvROWnEdjYVgkl0R01yy61b9UoYBrr2zOGQDfB2Ow5GsMjvtHeUxmOLcEhI8uSRxWQBbNADF090ozb1hFzE/s1600/DSCF2772.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
<img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ivc0T6u9QcrHUYWnBPqUOH0Yb9CLNp6O_jWY6yF4dWMr0Z17clq9aT22bvROWnEdjYVgkl0R01yy61b9UoYBrr2zOGQDfB2Ow5GsMjvtHeUxmOLcEhI8uSRxWQBbNADF090ozb1hFzE/s200/DSCF2772.JPG" width="200" /></a>Last Saturday our church ward members were involved in a Food Bank Drive. We delivered flyers during the week to let residents know about it. Glen was the Captain for our northeast quadrant. We thought it would take longer to pick up food from each house but it went quite quickly actually. I had Sarah and Jami with me and I could tell they were having a lot of fun together.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuGOj0hCRDM9EkUMK7_tM7bWxmvFgaXQCp09sVs-aHjs9-sj7tJDUyk3BmbvJV34DsVHCjmorPIxGXuw5MeLvnpUfF5wF-AgRQRJogx5ZtvMSvLUKLiAI_oo3mzh-8hcAv12f0l2EnWUw/s1600/DSCF2779.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuGOj0hCRDM9EkUMK7_tM7bWxmvFgaXQCp09sVs-aHjs9-sj7tJDUyk3BmbvJV34DsVHCjmorPIxGXuw5MeLvnpUfF5wF-AgRQRJogx5ZtvMSvLUKLiAI_oo3mzh-8hcAv12f0l2EnWUw/s200/DSCF2779.JPG" width="200" /></a>Over the past few months I have noticed there are a number of places worldwide where church members are involved in service projects like this. They get to wear these special bright yellow vests that read "Mormon Helping Hands". One reason for that is so that the public know the activity is a legitimate one. I'm so excited that we have some of these vests for our activity too. Here you can see Jami wearing one.<br />
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We were surprised at how fast it went. We definitely would have liked to have had more donations but this is our first year doing this. We are already talking about how we can improve it for next year. We have learned we can assign bigger routes so that we are sure to get flyers out to all the homes in Beaumont next time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ZPn61MowOVqvL5xnpAEsCVPq3fbZOXq5BR-aEoufPhRtNkbvOjGNDhyphenhyphenYRfMFsPo0nrDQqn5naNuykGcvuyzSldck7Gfcu1Y3sEb4Oa_teWiMfTQxRbMBiAFCz0HvZbkQJvzdGhXnNtw/s1600/DSCF2780.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ZPn61MowOVqvL5xnpAEsCVPq3fbZOXq5BR-aEoufPhRtNkbvOjGNDhyphenhyphenYRfMFsPo0nrDQqn5naNuykGcvuyzSldck7Gfcu1Y3sEb4Oa_teWiMfTQxRbMBiAFCz0HvZbkQJvzdGhXnNtw/s200/DSCF2780.JPG" width="200" /></a>All told we collected 5,000 pounds of food and I'm told that Shaw cable and Campbell's Canada will both match what we brought in. So that means we have 15,000 pounds of food going in to the Food Bank. I like the timing, right after Canadian Thanksgiving and apparently it was also World Day of Hunger.<br />
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I can't wait to do this again next year!Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-28225922337823343242010-10-13T00:11:00.002-06:002010-10-13T10:32:47.521-06:00RANDOM THOUGHTS -The Great EscapeI've been watching the news tonight and I have to say that the most exciting thing happening right now is the ongoing rescue of the Chilean miners. All eyes were on the first successful return of the Fenix, the rescue pod that travels over 700 meters through the belly of the earth with one rescued miner at a time. So far the first miners coming up appear to be surprisingly healthy.<br />
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I am amazed at all the hard work, planning, safety and dietary precautions that have been made to ensure that every miner survives this 69 day ordeal. The entire country of Chile is cheering them on and church bells are peeling across the countryside as each man is returned to us.<br />
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All I can say is: Wow! What a day for the history books.I will fondly call October 12-13, 2010 the date of the real Great Escape!Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-36623819212939048902010-10-10T19:59:00.003-06:002010-10-10T21:01:44.784-06:00TIME FOR FAMILY - ThanksgivingTomorrow our family will be celebrating Thanksgiving. It's going to be a noisy house once again and I am so looking forward to it. We have much to be grateful for this year. Linda completed her first year of University and is already immersed in another year of study. Amber and Tom visited family in China and moved into their first home right after their return. Glen, Karren, Jami and I participated in Trek 2010. What a memorable experience that was!!!<br />
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Karren was able to go to EFY this summer and my Mom came to visit with us for five weeks. Her visit included a camping trip all the way up to Cold Lake where we could visit with family. I also introduced my Mom to diamond willow and we were able to find a piece for her to take home. We concluded her stay with us by making a special trip out to the old homestead with Uncle Dave and Aunt Masie as our guides. <br />
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Then came our much anticipated vacation in California, just Glen and I. This year we wanted to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary and I had suggested California. We had to wait until September for him to find the time to get away from work. We stayed in fancy accommodations in San Francisco, Yosemite National Park, Los Angeles and finally San Diego. We had a GREAT TIME! It was so worth it. I hope to sort through all the photos soon so that I can post some. Karren and Jami did just fine on their own at home. They had lots of friends and families looking out for them too. <br />
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Brenda traveled to Salt Lake once again to attend October General Conference and on the way down the van she was travelling in had an encounter with a deer. Fortunately a rental vehicle was available and they completed their trip anyways. The only one who suffered was the deer. And just yesterday someone rear-ended Tom and Amber after they had done some grocery shopping - thank goodness they weren't hurt either. That's two accidents in the family in 8 days.<br />
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I have left a lot out but you get the idea. I am very thankful for my many blessings. I am grateful for the love and direction I receive from my Lord and Saviour. He gave me this wonderful opportunity to experience life. <br />
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Now that I have revamped my blog and changed how it looks I am hoping to keep it more up to date. And that's because I'm sure there are many more blessings and experiences coming my way. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-37609157551014550472010-04-01T00:00:00.006-06:002010-04-01T00:08:01.434-06:00RANDOM THOUGHTS - Runaway HamsterThe girls had the hamster out for a walk in the upstairs bathroom. Crummy cabinets posed a major problem and we had some serious tears and heartbreak building up. Poor Jami thought she would never see her hamster alive again.<br /> <br />The cabinets have this gap so she got in under the floor of the cabinets and down some hole for the plumbing and into the downstairs basement walls. We emptied out the cabinet and managed to lift the cheap flimsy floor of it to peer under and try to locate her but she was long gone. <br /> <br />We were trying to find her for a while and so frustrated and weapy (Jami especially). I said my own silent prayer while in Karren's room. Jami had done plenty of that prior, she said. Then, 5 minutes later, with the dishwasher turned off, I heard a pit pat on the family room drop-ceiling panels. We pushed a couple up, Glen was tall enough on top of the couch to spot her running freely up and down and heading into Karren's room.<br /> <br />We were trying to figure out which panel to open to get the hamster bus in the hole, baited with fresh fruit. Then Glen noticed she had somehow raced around to where he was, to check him out from behind. We handed him the bus, I got my own stool to help hold it and shut the door after she walked right in. <br /> <br />Well, it was much easier to laugh about the whole incident and get back to our evening, once the escapee was back in her cage. She's making quite a racket running in her wheel right now. How boring life would be without a hamster.Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-32903476985550235732010-01-31T22:14:00.003-07:002010-01-31T22:50:00.973-07:00RANDOM THOUGHTS - Being Friendly<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia9Tpbz_-FKSq2VC76TtkUZLe431dUNlV7ZXIcGJhwNOP0z_D6ZN2C1LSv7HHVHbGZEXcDP3yqENVX-MBUpD3O_Amr4-tS1kQ06yzxV99Olza0cgq0EvsXkzNay-xECGRBx8cSezX5X68/s1600-h/jesus_2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 298px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia9Tpbz_-FKSq2VC76TtkUZLe431dUNlV7ZXIcGJhwNOP0z_D6ZN2C1LSv7HHVHbGZEXcDP3yqENVX-MBUpD3O_Amr4-tS1kQ06yzxV99Olza0cgq0EvsXkzNay-xECGRBx8cSezX5X68/s400/jesus_2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433146918664432242" /></a><br />I value good friends. Not because they agree with me all the time but because they know how to share their differences without getting all huffy and unreasonable. They know how to celebrate with me when times are good or help console me when times get rough. <br /><br />My best friend is my husband. He knows how animated I can get if I am excited about something. He doesn't need to say much. He knows my heart, what matters most to me. He loves me and cares for me. I value this far above the price of rubies. <br /><br />I have lots of friends. So many that I don't remember all their names. I admit, most of them are members of my church. It happens. When you move to different communities and you go to your new church building, you make new friends. I have moved a lot. Let's see, I have been a member of 2 branches and 17 wards, if I add my mission experience in Arizona.<br /><br />I have taught countless children in various Primaries. I am now serving my third time as a Cub leader. I love to teach the children. They look up to you, count on you, and teach you right back! I understand why the Saviour said "Suffer the little children to come unto me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven". <br /><br />Yes, children can be naughty. But they are much more teachable than us adults. They know right from wrong quite clearly. I tested my class on that today and they passed with flying colours. It was part of today's lesson actually. It's too bad that in growing up they face such a changing world, one that is full of un-Christlike behaviour. <br /><br />Our kids need to be strong if they are to withstand the pressures of our day and remain the good people they really wanted to grow up into. Their best defense is provided by parents who take the time to be a postive role model, spend time with them collectively and individually, and provide for their basic needs.<br /><br />I have friends that are amazing role models to their teenage counterparts. I love their youthful exuberance. Last week the young women in our ward held a mock pep rally. It was so much fun to be there as a parent to my youngest daughters, young teenagers themselves now. They know that they are daughters of a Heavenly Father who loves them. This knowledge strengthens them when they are challenged in making right choices.<br /><br />I love my friends. They come in all ages and sizes. We support each other, we grow in wisdom and knowledge together. What more could I ask of my friends.Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-57472278647961117102010-01-28T13:57:00.004-07:002010-02-04T00:37:52.553-07:00BEAUMONT BUZZ - Museum updateIn order to save the St. Jacques family home and turn it into a museum/visitor's center we will need to do some serious fundraising. We need to be able to pay for:<br /><br />1. Moving the house<br />2. Construction costs for the foundation<br />3. Costs to bring utility services to the home<br />4. Costs for any necessary upgrades to the home<br /><br />Anyone interested in making a financial donation to the project or providing in-kind services, please let us know. You can reach me at 780-929-8031.Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-47674038692973971842010-01-25T11:15:00.003-07:002010-02-01T14:35:00.281-07:00RANDOM THOUGHTS - We Need Real SnowI've been listening to the weather reports for B.C. lately. It has to be frustrating for the organizers to have all this warm weather right now. I like a warm winter, but right now it's just not the time!<br /><br />The whole concept of artificial snow seems to work for the ski resorts so that they can stay busy. But it just may not be enough for the Winter Olympics in 2010. I am hoping some real winter weather blows in, and soon. <br /><br />We had the Olympic torch visit us in Beaumont on January 15th. The school chosen for the official ceremony is right in front of my home. I went outside with my video camera about 45 minutes before the torch bearer was expected to arrive. People were already starting to line the street.<br /><br />When the school kids came out to get into position along the ring road my camera was busy filming the excitement. When our special guests finally arrived the crowd that had gathered roared in delight. I had to step out into the roadway to try to take any more pictures. Everyone was craning to see where the torch was. <br /><br />The speeches by our elected officials were impossible to hear over the crowd. But I did get some good pictures. And when it was all over and the various torch runners were reunited with their families, I learned that none of them were from Beaumont. I heard our chosen local representative will actually be doing their run in B.C. If I was them, I would stay there to watch the games.Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-83754782592921980022010-01-08T11:54:00.005-07:002010-01-08T12:32:35.749-07:00RANDOM THOUGHTS - Health Care and MarriageI just read an article today regarding the impact on married couples in the US when Obama's Health Care Reform goes through. There appears to be an increased cost for health care coverage if a couple is married as opposed to remaining single. The justification given is that you can't satisfy everyone. <div><br /></div><div>If a couple makes $50,000 together and they are single, their health payments are at a certain level. If a couple is married with the same income it rises about $2000. I don't care how they try to explain the difficulty in establishing equity here, it's just another way that marriage is under attack. Couldn't they write in an exception that covers this?</div><div><br /></div><div>True, maybe most couples will not base their decision to get married on the impact it will have on their health care costs. But to some, it may. I don't know if my theory is right or not, but don't married couples tend to have larger families? That is an area of concern when it comes to the financial burden of paying for hospital care when you have children. I have heard my American extended family members complain about the complications of arranging for insurance coverage for each child they have.</div><div><br /></div><div>Single mothers in lower income brackets will be helped financially at a higher rate than all others. But single mothers making $50,000 will also have more assistance than the married ones. There's something wrong here. Single status and lower income appear more and more acceptable and supported through government handouts. How does the financial dependence created by government aid motivate people to improve themselves and rise above their situation? How does all this strengthen the family?</div><div><br /></div><div>I believe in helping those who need help the most, but somehow things are getting out of whack here. What is the solution? I don't know. But I fear it will only get worse. Unless you have a health insurance plan included in your workplace benefits, this is going to be another drain of income on the backs of married couples. </div><div><br /></div><div>On a side note, I wonder what the impact will be on gay married couples. Will the single life suddenly become more attractive to them. I'm sure this new health plan will include them too. So much for equality. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126281943134818675.html?mod=rss_Today's_Most_Popular">http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126281943134818675.html?mod=rss_Today's_Most_Popular</a></div>Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-82438387052772420162010-01-07T14:06:00.009-07:002010-01-07T14:41:34.048-07:00RANDOM THOUGHTS - Lost and FoundI remember the time I lost my wallet in downtown Edmonton. I was dropping off some fundraising dollars I had collected for an agency. I had my daughter Brenda with me at the time. I was carrying her in a special bunting bag I had made. When I got home I realized my wallet was no longer in my coat pocket. <div><br /></div><div>I was very unhappy about the situation. I had to cancel my credit card, get a new licence, the whole ball of wax. Life went on. And then one year later I had a phone call from my bank, the downtown branch. Someone had found my wallet and they wanted to return it to me. It matched my description and my money was still there too! Unbelievable.</div><div><br /></div><div>How did it stay lost for so long and then find it's way back to me? I remember trying to hold the fundraising kits and Brenda at the same time. I imagined that I must have dropped it in the building elevator, into some sort of crevice. Then a year later, while getting serviced, someone found it and brought it to the closest branch of my bank. It was my only explanation. </div><div><br /></div><div>Well, last night my middle daughter called to report that her wallet had been stolen while she was working. Now she had no driver's ID, credit card, OneCard/bus pass ... how could she prove who she was to get them replaced? She had cancelled her Visa card right away so that was good. But she still had books to buy for one of her new university courses.</div><div><br /></div><div>I agreed to meet with her this morning and to bring her birth certificate with me. I would vouch for her, they could use my proven identity to do that, if they wanted. It meant a change in my plans for the day but that was easily arranged, which is another reason why I love being a stay-at-home mom. And it felt like this would be a good learning experience for both of us. </div><div><br /></div><div>Shortly before leaving the house I had an unexpected phone call. Well, actually the call was for my daughter. The young lady on the line said they had found her wallet, just outside the Strathcona Hotel and merely a block or two from both her home and her job. So I called and told her the good news, and where she could retrieve it. Wow, can you believe that? What timing!</div>Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586728284364438175.post-837533491616846402010-01-06T09:23:00.005-07:002010-01-06T09:56:13.896-07:00TIME FOR FAMILY - Recording our Memories<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWjeeFg0Wi47FV5GBjwztuGtfl40lh2uTLQwXyGzBS0NHp3Huq-4934x4XuQrOxAeHKcPSkgXigg4OkIYd23gO5CMR2Zoy4kMwEEh1rJfDMZJXTS7quwQn5iCQQuVUNuTfnKPzmGct9PI/s1600-h/1967+Air+Photo+Sacanned+-+smaller.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWjeeFg0Wi47FV5GBjwztuGtfl40lh2uTLQwXyGzBS0NHp3Huq-4934x4XuQrOxAeHKcPSkgXigg4OkIYd23gO5CMR2Zoy4kMwEEh1rJfDMZJXTS7quwQn5iCQQuVUNuTfnKPzmGct9PI/s400/1967+Air+Photo+Sacanned+-+smaller.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423671288397206482" /></a><br />This is going to be shorter than my usual Time For Family column. I don't want to forget this. I got a wonderful idea this morning that I should visit with one of our local seniors and see if she would be willing to let me record her memories of life in Beaumont in the early days. [I am also working on trying to save her family home and use it for our very own museum. I talked about that yesterday in "Beaumont Buzz"].<br /><br />I thought it would be great to add her voice to a power point display of life in Beaumont in the early 1900's. It could also be embedded into the current Beaumont History Webpage. My daughter Brenda and I have discussed working together to get the site upgraded in the near future. Combining Marie's voice with thought provoking images of days gone by - wow, that would be an awesome presentation. <br /><br />I have so many other ideas on preserving and sharing our history that I can't seem to focus on much else these past couple of days. It's my impression that I'm on to something BIG!Carolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278315655130059386noreply@blogger.com0