Sunday School:I am not Ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: Romans

The scripture from Romans was so good today in Sunday school class that i had to share it.  Romans chapter 8 is powerful stuff.  The links are to music emphasizes the scriptures.  Enjoy these words of Paul.

Romans 8: 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IARerNmOShk&feature=related [Osmonds "I am a Child of God]

 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be [prevail JST] against us?

 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I think this means nothing can take us from God's love, not even our own selves.  His love is always extended to us. We just have to take his outstretched hand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xquqy4cLPcU&feature=related [Instrumental, I Feel My Savior's Love]

http://www.lyricszoo.com/mormon-tabernacle-choir-orchestra-at-temple-square/i-feel-my-saviors-love/ 

 [lyrics]

Romans 1:  16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Book Review: "To Whom it may Concern" William O. Ashton

This book I borrowed from the Stevens Creek Ward Library, and I decided to read it before taking it back.  Marvin O. Ashton was the father of Marvin J. Ashton.  H married a Jeremy making him my grandmother's cousin-in-law, and Marvin J. Ashton my mom's second cousin.  Marvin O. Ashton was presiding bishop of the church for many years.  My mother tells the story of his spending time with the family in Idaho Falls when he was there for a dedication.  He later mailed two-person piano music to my mom and her twin as they had played for him on the piano while he was there.  He may have also helped my grandparents on their way to reactivation and going through the temple.

The book is a collection of stories, ninety of them, and then other stories and lessons to tell the story.  A couple of them stood out.  One story is entitled python eggs.  He tells how in India, the native country of the pythons it is important to seek out python eggs and smash them with your heel before they hatch.  In this way they could prevent the dead venomous snake from being born.  He explained this further telling about a young man who absolutely refused a drink with his friends, even when they tried to force them.  This young man told a story about someone who had given in to that first drink, eventually became an alcoholic, and in a drunken stupor had forced his wife and baby out on a cold winter night.  When he realized what he had done the next morning he came to his senses, and found his wife dead, her body wrapped around the baby to keep him warm.  The young man said he had been that baby.  It is best o smash the python eggs before they hatch.

He referred to "Stop, Look and Listen several times.  I like this statement as I use to sing this song to the kids growing up.  He has another chapter called "Constant Aim" about a man new to farming.  He was trying to plow a field, and someone told him to keep his aim towards a mark, like a stone, at the other end of the field.  However he pigged a pig rather than a stone, and the pig kept moving.  As a result his plowing job was all over the place. 

Many chapters are time sensitive and geared to bishops.  It was written right after WWII.  By today's sensitivities we might refer to his attitude as being racist in light of comments about "Israelitish" people and "colored" people.  It was a different time then.

He also told the story "I can sleep when the Wind Blows."  This story is about the man hired after saying this sentence, and then when the big storm came he slept through it.  The farmer was disappointed, but then discovered the hand could actually sleep because he had already prepared everything for the storm. 

This book was an enjoyable read.  Now I just have to get the book back to Cupertino.

Life in Manteca:Park Review and Rachelle Visit

My weekend started right on Thursday my niece was at our home when I made it home off the train.  She was here to ran a race with a team from San Francisco to Napa. This is a link to her blog. http://runningfortrevor.blogspot.com/2011/09/top-10.html?showComment=1316405419341#c5665894226652593318

Friday Sheri and I visited the Jazz night the stake put on.  The music was great.  Brother Hammerstrom and his students from Sierra High School.  The food was New Orleans style and spicy hot.  For dessert I dipped strawberries in fondu. It would have been funner had we known more people.  Sheri did run into a cousin, Haws, we really hadn't met before. We left early as Charity was at our house and we wanted to chat with she and Anthony.

Miranda has been practicing driving, so I had her take me through New Hope, or Stanislaus City, which is no longer there, but thanks to Linda Hicken from the Ripon Ward, I now have a better idea where it was--the  and of Manteca road.  We got a couple pictures, then a couple of llamas and alpacas on the road, disappointed in Durham Ferry State Recreation area--it must be closed as it said "no trespassing." 

We then made it to the library, the new part to the library park is still closed, but you could get through the fence and kids were trying out and I let Tony try for a couple minutes.  It is going to be fun. 

We then checked out a park we had never been to. It is called Union West Park, close to Sierra High School. It has a metal (all the others have been plastic for the most part) play structure with a slide and climb and then also a big person swing.  Lots of trees, basketball court etc.  Lots of shade.  Miranda, Tiago, I and Tony were there. Tony is starting to swing.  For the first time really he was actually pumping and doing some good.

Another first for Tony.  We were at Diana's house today.  Tony made his first basket on their hoop.  I knew he was close as I had him playing a few weeks ago, and he almost got some in then. 

Godly Sorrow

This is the movie for Sunday school lesson today.  We didn't get through the entire movie, and the song is very nice.  It is important to remember that God's grace is sufficient for us all, but we need to repent in the right way, and this movie talks about this. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X5lp4a8_vM

We also talked about trials ad tribulations.  I shared the Francis Webster story, which is in my history blog.  What an interesting man.

http://bwardlehistory.blogspot.com/2011/09/francis-wester-california-gold-minor.html

Manteca Views: sunset and moon

Miranda mentioned the sunset, and I had taken some pictures of it on Friday os last week.  It was more interesting as it looked like there was a storm in the distance.  The first picture I took from the train as the sun set, and the next too from the horizon from the side of the road on the way home 

I also wanted to share a picture of the moon which I took from our house out the high window.  https://picasaweb.google.com/103595303801313510528/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCIH314bCopr3bQ&gsessionid=a0wHEYol9WKtn_sREm3abw#5651228659748321618

My 9/11

Taking the kids to seminary, the radio announcer KNBR was interviewing their stock market broker in New York trying to figure what was happening.  This was after the first tower had been hit, but before the 2nd.  The question was, whether or not this was a terrorist attack, or an accidental plane running into the World Trade Center.  They weren't even sure what size of plane it was, and there was speculation it may have been a small plane.  But in the back of my mind was this feeling it was a deliberate attack.  Just before getting to seminary about 6 a.m. on the pacific Coast or 9 a.m. in the East, the second tower was hit.  At that point everyone new it was a terrorist attack.

 I hurried home, and turned on the t.v. so we could watch the morning's events.  That is when I was presented with the gravity of the situation, and the horror.  When this even first happened, people could not get enough of watching the planes crash into the towers with the plume of fire.  It is hard to find this on the internet anymore.  The people so desperate that they were jumping from the buildings, that was a nightmare.

I had to tar myself away to go and pick people up from seminary, and then again to go to work.  The first tower had collapsed before I went to work.  That was so unbelievable.  Who could think that the towers would actually collapse.  I thought that there would be a fire, but they would remain standing, like when they were bombed previously.  I was  so convinced of the invulnerability of our country.  I had another thought coming.

Shortly after getting to work, we were evacuated to the mental health administration where we continued to watch the events.  It seems someone had made a bomb threat tot he hospital, and non essential services were moved.

We continued to watch the t.v. at the administration building, and before noon they finally told us we could go home.  What a day, and I was still glued to the T.V. watching any new tidbit I could get.  I watched the video of President Bush, being informed, but acting in such a way as not to alarm the children he was with, of the planes being scrambled, of the Washington D.C. being threatened, the president hidden away, both towers collapsing, the Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania, the loss of the first responders, the clean-up and so much more.

And then after all that, ten years of war, but through that ten years, no further attacks on our soil.  My son has been to Iraq, and who knows where he might serve in the future.  SO 9/11 is not a single even, but a series of events. 

Bucket Lists

My Bucket List to do

Visit Rainbow Bridge (Lake Powell)
Delicate Arch

Lea Salonga Live

Iguazu

Camp at Jenny’s Lake
Kirtland

top of St. Louis Arch

Martin’s Cove again

Ashton History

Cantata Performed
100 recorded songs on You Tube; 30

Gettysburg

Visit 50 temples inside: 22: Logan, Salt Lake, L.A., Oakland, Manti, Provo, Ogden, Washington D.C., Rexburg, Jordan River, Vernal, Sacramento, Timpanogos, Palmyra, Bellevue, Fresno, Cedar City, Provo City Center, Las Vegas, Mesa, Phoenix, Winter Quarters
outside: 15: Idaho Falls, Draper, Bountiful, St. George, New York City, Mesa, Boise, Twin Falls, Oquirrh, Reno, San Diego, Payson, Provo downtown, Brigham City, Richland, 

50 National Parks, etc

19 parks and 35 others: Yellowstone, Tetons, Yosemite, Arches, Canyonlands, Grand Canyon, Zion, Mesa Verde, Sequoia, Petrified Forest, Mount Ranier, Death Valley, Great Basin, Capitol Reef, Pinnacles, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Bryce Canyon, Joshua Trees, Kings Canyon, Mount Rushmore NM, Golden Spike Promontory NM, Cedar Breaks NM, Natural Bridges NM, Fort Point, Golden Gate NRA, Rodeo Beach, Scotts Bluff NM, Jefferson National Expansion (Arch), Wilson's Creek Battlefield, Cabrillo NM, Craters of the Moon NM, Dinosaur NM, Timpanogas Cave NM, Fort Laramie NHS, Trail of Tears NHT, Mormon National historic trail, Oregon national historic trail, Arlington, Washington D.C. mall and memorials, Fort McHenry, Independence NHP, Niagara Falls, General Grant NM, Erie Canalway, Buffalo National River, Smithsonian, Monument Valley Navajo Nation Park, Flaming Gorge, Ross Lake NRA, National Mall, White House, Mojave Desert, Coulee Dam NRA, Constitution Garden, Lake Mead NRA, 

50 state Parks: 34: Dead Horse Point, Calaveras Big Trees, Hyrum Lake, Natural Bridges State Beach,  Henry Coe, Big Basin, Ano Nuevo State Park, Carnegie State Vehicle, Castle Rock, Caswell, Clear Lake, Henry Cowell, Columbia, Lake Del Valle, Manresa State beach, Mount Diablo State Park, New Brighton State Beach, Old Sacramento State Park, Seacliff State Beach, Sonoma State Historic Park, Sunset State Beach, Sutter's Fort, Turlock Lake State Recreation Area, Wilder ranch State Park, Antelope Island, Bear Lake Ut, Green River, Starvation, Steinaker, Bear Lake, Id., City of Rocks, Cave Lake NV, This is the Place Heritage Park, Giant City Ill, Bodie, CA, Dutchman SP, 

My Bucket List Done

Les Miserables musical, entire (went with Charity and Miranda)
Take picture of Los Gatos Cats

Top of Washington Monument

Top of WTC

Niagara Falls

Machu Pichu

Palmyra

Harmony

Martin’s Cove

Eat at La Cabana, Buenos Aires

Broadway Evita

Broadway tours, Wicked

Broadway tours, Phantom of the Opera

New York

Nauvoo

Carthage Jail
Independence, Liberty Jail

Wade in Lake Michigan

Mount Rushmore

Yellowstone

Tetons

Mom’s History

Dad’s History

Write a musical

Write Cantata

Write a History, Dad's, Mom's, Isaac Wardle

Promontory
Space Needle
Indian Grinding Rock State Park
Minetonka Cave,
Timpanogas Cave,
Black Chasm Cave
Top of Coit Tower
China Town San Francisco
Winchester Mystery House,
Clarksville, Ark
Parley P Pratt gravesite,
Osceola ghost town

Niagara Falls Canada

Niagara Falls, New York

Climbed Point Arena Lighthouse

City of Rocks, National Preserve

Labor Day: Beach and Arena Park

We picked up Jesse and met Charity and Anthony at the beach.  After the beach we went to arena park and ate pizza.  There Tony had his choice of webs to play on.

The Los Gatos Cats

I have been wanting to stop and take a picture of the Los Gatos Cats for a long time, since first reading of them some years ago.  They are on highway 17 just South of Los Gatos.  I had Sheri take a picture of them on our way to Santa Cruz.  Be fore warned, it can be difficult getting back on the freeway.

 

http://www.metroactive.com/metro/10.17.07/coverstory-0742.html

This link is about a book which includes the story of the cats.  If you skip the first, the cats' story is at the end.

TV Time: ****A Dinner of Herbs

This was available on Netflix instaview.  It is British so I assume it is BBC, but I am not sure.  It tells the story of three young people.  Mary Ellen loves Roddy, Roddy loves himself and Hal loves Mary Ellen.  Roddy and Hal share a similar fate in that both their fathers are murdered by the same man.  Roddy was there, but was thrown off a cliff and has amnesia.

This movie shows three time periods, when they are boys of age twelve, later as young men, and then 25 years later.  It is a show about the effect of bitterness and revenge, and coming to terms with the past; which is sometimes hard to do.  This is a very nice story, and the characters are great.  Mary Ellen has a certain spunk, and the actress changes three time, but the spunk is evident with all three.  It is very well done in that regard.

I would recommend this movie to others if you have the chance to see it.  It is a miniseries with 6 almost one hour sections.

Charity with Cupertino High School Choir

http://www.youtube.com/user/thalialialia?blend=13&ob=5#p/u/36/sw-qgN_jK2E

http://www.youtube.com/user/thalialialia?blend=13&ob=5#p/u/35/k0AvXyPg0vc

http://www.youtube.com/user/thalialialia?blend=13&ob=5#p/u/34/Y3sfJWBzHrk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfOB5UZBi3w

I found some Cupertino High School choir music with Charity on You Tube.  The first three are from a trip to L.A. when Charity was a senior. Charity is in the front row to the right of he pianist.   The last is when Charity was a freshman.  She and Jeremy sang a duet as part of "You can make a difference," one of two choir theme songs. 

Caleb's music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E74mtgt1mcQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rroN5Zu0jcQ

In Caleb's Freshman year he was invited to play with a group Synthisis for talent show.  They won both the Cupertino and Inter district talent shows.  This includes both performances. Caleb plays trumpet.