Big storm

As I started to wake up Saturday at about 8 am but then to roll over and try to sleep some more, I suddenly remembered that it was supposed to have snowed during the night.  I had the thought that it might be timely to break out the snow blower that I got for Christmas a year ago and never used.  I opened the curtain, and what to my wondering eye should appear but 12 inches of fresh white stuff.

I got dressed in warm clothes, put on the snow boots that I also got last year for ice fishing but never used, and went to the garage to dig out the snowblower which was in the back of the storage side of the garage.  With some difficulty I got it past the car and pointed ready to attach the snow.  I checked and found it still had gasoline from when I tested it last year.  I strung an extension cord and plugged it in the snow blower socket (it has an electric start option).  I managed to find the starting instructions plate on the machine.  Going down the list, I set the throttle on high-choke as required, then depressed the choke button for step two.  Step three called for me to insert the key in the key slot.

I wondered, where did I leave the key, after I had tested it almost a year ago?  Wendy might remember, I thought.  But she is in Newport Beach with her girl-friends and would certainly still be asleep (it would be only about 7:15 am there).  So I started my search of the house, the key box, the cabinet file where the guarantee should be (it wasn’t), various kitchen and office drawers.  No sign of the key.  After 30 minutes I find it.  It was on my bedroom dresser, under receipts that had been accumulating for a year.  Someday I need to get organized.

Anyway, I was then able to start  the machine.  I did our driveway and sidewalks and also did the sidewalks around the corner to the east to Howard Peterson’s property and then to the west and up 820 east for 5 houses clear to the vacant lot past Young’s.  That part was easy and the machine handle the deep snow without a problem.

(Pictured: the snow blower in position this morning to go to work again, the foot of snow on Wendy’s flower pot on the patio and on the truck (this morning), and the top of a pine tree in Howard’s back yard with the top branches still weighed down with snow and a cute little top-knot sticking up.)

Capitol Reef Album--Scenic Drive

Capitol Reef Album--Deer near camp grounds

Tasty bush

Capitol Reef Album--Canyons

Capitol Wash

Capitol Wash varnish

Grand Wash

Grand Wash narrows

Capitol Reef Album--Sunset on the reef

Capitol Reef Album--Hickman Natural Bridge hike

Capitol Reef Album--Us

Capitol Reef Album--Huge old Cottonwoods

By Fremont River

6 feet in diameter

Capitol Reef Album--Interesting plants

Little bush with holly-like leaves

Brigham Bush--pioneers used it to make tea

Small Pinyon Pine with 2 cones

Capitol Reef Album--Fall colors at Kosharem

Capitol Reef camping

Wendy and I and Michael and Brian went to Capitol Reef NP for the first three days of this week.  We camped in the camp ground in the midst of the old fruit orchard Monday and Tuesday nights.  Some of the things we did:
*Hiked to Hickman Natural Bridge
*Petroglyphs on cliffs along the river
*Drove down the Scenic Drive (10 miles along the west face of the Reef)
*Drove to the end of Capitol Wash, then hiked a mile or so into the wash to see some more petroglyphs and also what they call the Pioneer Registry
*Hiked half of Grand Wash and then drove around to the other end to pick up Brian and Michael who hiked all the way through. 
*Hiked to Sunset Point to see the sunset on the west side of the reef.
*Enjoyed:
    The clear Utah-blue sky
    The red cliffs
    The yellow leaves (especially whole mountain-sides of Aspen–best near Koosharem)
    Some massive old cottonwood trees
    100s of deer
    The isolation and stillness
    Pretty little river in the Park–the Fremont
    Ancient fruit trees
    Good conversations with Michael and Brian.
    Lunch at Café Diablo (SW cuisine-#1 rated restaurant in Torrey, out of 12)
    Hamburgers at Slacker’s Burger Joint (#2 rated restaurant out of 12)
    Finding out I could still camp and hike (well, while taking lots of rest stops)

Two lessons

Here are two experiences with Chandler guys that may suggest lessons for living.
1) Early in the afternoon on Friday September 7th, Wendy fielded a phone call from Jamison’s scout leader that reminded us that they had a camp scheduled for that evening and the next day. We had not heard of this before and weren’t sure whether the camp had been publicized very well even to the boys, and were a little apprehensive about what Jamison’s reaction would be. He gets home from school about 4 pm and they wanted the boys to be packed and at the church at 4:30. Having worked with scouts and teenage boys for a lot of years. I knew it to be fairly typical for their first reaction upon learning about an activity to be negative. Then if they finally consent to go it is also typical for them to have a great time and come home glad that they went.

So, Jamison walks in the door a moment after 4 pm and we inform him that there is a scout camp to get ready for. We were a little taken back by the vehemence of his response. It was like a little black cloud came over him. As I recall this, he curled up in a chair in a sort of fetal ball. With a scowl on his face, he told us in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t going to go. We mentioned that this was his Deacon’s Quorum and his Scout Troop that was doing this activity and suggested that he owed them his support, but seemingly without much of any change on his mood or motivation. Wendy told him that one of his friends in the troop had called wondering if he was going to go. (I think he was experiencing the same crisis as Jamison.) After that he made a similar call to a second scout. We got the intelligence from him that these two were probably going. By now 10 minutes had been lost. He was still scowling and stated that he still was not going to go.

So, we handed him the phone again and said, “OK, then you will need to call your scout leader and let him know.” He took the phone and was thoughtful for a moment and then said. “Well, maybe I will go. But you will need to call him and let him know I’ll be late.” Wendy and I said, “We’ll help you pack.”

There was a checklist for the camp. I found a backpack and sleeping bag and pad, and Wendy help him gather some clothes and supplies and we jumped in the car and reached the church at exactly 4:30–the first ones there.

The lesson here, or so it seemed to me, was in how Jamison’s mood changed. Immediately when he mumbled that he guessed he would go, the little black cloud disappeared and his was happy and spontaneous and enthusiastic. The contrast in the two moods was so great and the change happened very fast. I drew a conclusion from this that obedience and happiness go together, that we tend to be miserable when we resist doing what we should, and are also happiest when we do what is right.

2) Here is a little character study about Holden. We took the three littler guys to a swimming party for cub scouts on Wednesday (the 5th) at the home of a member of the bishopric. When the party started he welcomed the boys and went over rules for being in the pool. One thing he specified was that the pool had a plastic liner that could be ripped or torn if swimmers climbed out in places other than the ladder, and that would ruin the pool for use. Most of the boy complied with this but there were 3 or 4 older boys that didn’t and Sister Blake, one of the den leaders, saw this happening and reminded these boys one by one that they shouldn’t do it. They may have nodded “OK” but we noticed that they soon forgot their promise.

Holden was about the youngest boy there. As we were watching the pool with sister Blake, Holden climbed out over the side right in front of us. I don’t think he heard the instruction as was doing something in the water when it was given initially. Sister Blake said to him, “You are not supposed to climb out over the edge. You’ll need to use the ladder.” He was standing right in front of her and looked up in her face and said, “Why?” I was a little taken back by how direct he was in this interaction with an adult, and thought she could have been offended. But in a calm voice she explained the situation about protecting the plastic cover. He nodded and went back to the pool. And I noticed that he only used the ladder from then on and didn’t once climb out over the edge the rest of the evening.

I thought of Jesus’s Parable of the Two Sons, and how the one who initially rejected obedience bu then changed his mind was approved of God, but the one who promised he would obey but then didn’t was rejected of God. I was proud of Holden for being obedient when it counted.

Journaling, September 7, 2012

Our flight got us back to Utah at nearly 11 pm Monday. We had phoned and gotten tickets to tour the Brigham City temple at 11 the next morning. Wendy's sister Bonnie picked us up and we accepted her invitation from to stay at their home that night to save two hours of driving in the morning.

We took Wendy's son Michael with us to tour the temple, and had opportunity to answer a number of questions he had. We found the temple to be just as beautiful as others had reported, and look forward to the dedication service (to be broadcast to our building by Satellite a week from Sunday) and returning soon to do temple work there.

We got home mid-afternoon Tuesday. We found everything to be alright and also a big box sitting on the kitchen island containing about a bushel of peaches from our late Elberta tree that the Blakes had picked for us on Sunday evening. We (but mostly Wendy) spent most of the rest of the day in bottling 21 more quarts of peaches. That makes a total of 35 quarts we bottled from our two little trees. Add to that about 30 packages that the Blakes froze and some that Matthew and Kimberly got, and that makes lots of good eating from our peach crop this year. (Thanks to Alison for helping with pruning again.) Plus we had lots of fresh peaches to eat. I can't think of anything I like better than fresh, tree-ripened peaches from our own trees. We had 6 weeks of good eating, stating with nectarines, then our early Elberta, then finally the late Elberta. They ripened about two weeks apart, so we had fruit from the trees continuously starting in early August until now.

Journaling from Bentonville, Sept 2-3, 2012

Sunday, September 2nd
Testimony meeting--Jamison bore his testimony about the blessings of daily scripture reading. He said he has been trying to read the Book of Mormon daily and when he does this, things go better. We also heard a sweet testimony from a women whose family are real recent converts. In March they had reservations at a Utah ski resort. When they got here, there was no snow so they decided to tour Temple Square. They loved the Spirit they felt there, wanted more, contacted the missionaries, and now the whole family, Dad, Mom, and their 12 year old son are members and loving it.

At this meeting, there were people sitting in the overflow and back into the cultural hall. It looks to me like the ward is prime to be divided.

Valerie had asked me teach her Sunday School class of 13 year olds. The lesson was on the Sacrament. 11 kids were present. This is a very good class, with kids who like to explore the scriptures. Thanks, Valerie, for letting me have this experience.

In the evening Wendy and I gave our family presentation on great-grandmother Martha Ann Townsend Lufkin and her presence at the meeting in Nauvoo where she and many others experienced the "mantle of Joseph" falling on Brigham Young.


Monday, September 3rd Labor day--The post-Isaac weather has turned out to be southern summer at its most horrendous--Just like July-August in NC that we were happy to miss in our second year--99 degrees and 70% humidity. Step outside the AC'd door and you are enveloped with a blast of furnace-hot air.

Ward breakfast--We attended a ward pancake breakfast Monday morning with the kids. Big attendance. We are starting to get acquainted.

Chandlers were assigned to put up and take down scout flags for the Labor Day holiday. Our route was one of four, and was the Kensington neighborhood where their house is located. We had 29 flags. Jaron drove and McKay and Jamison put the flags out, with my helping to read the map for which homes got the flags. Monday evening I drove while McKay and Jamison took the flags down. The flag project is really lucrative here. They ask $50 a year from each subscriber family. On this route, 24 of the homes are non-members and 5 members. If that ratio holds, the program is grossing about $6000 each year with about 85% coming from outside the ward and Church. It enables a rich young men's program, like doing summer camps at Philmont last year. This coming summer, they are going to a Scouting sea base in the Florida Keys. This ward seems to have lots of young men right now, and appears to be operating effective Troop, Varsity, and Venturing programs. Our current Stake President in our Spanish Fork stake has decided not to allow flag projects, which is OK, but the ward leaders are constantly complaining that they don't have enough money to go to BSA camps or do district activities. I guess I have a preference for what the Bentonville 1st ward is doing.

Tie tieing school

Valerie suggested that sometime during the visit, I conduct a tie tieing school. So we brought that program into being Sunday afternoon. With a little help and coaching, both McKay and Jamison achieved a beginning competence with a Four-in-hand knot. See picture for proof. We may work on more advanced knots next Sunday, if they have maintained the Four-in-hand lesson.

Four-in-hand: (Our NC Raleigh missionaries called this a Twister.) This is the simplest knot and the one that businessmen such as Mitt Romney have been using for the last 30 years. It looks neat and professional. It makes a slim knot that is slightly off-center or with a small twist in it. It works with most all widths of ties from very skinny to very wide.

The other two knots I know are the Half-Windsor and the Windsor. (NC Raleigh elders knew them as Windsor and Double Windsor). They make increasingly fat knots. Many of our Utah missionaries and current Utah boys seems to a prefer a big, fat, loose, and bulky knot that the two Winsors achieve. Current tie styles include ties that not only are wide but also are thick having some inner material added to increase the bulkiness.

All three knots start with the tie laid over the shoulders (or threaded though the collar) with the narrow end on the left and the wide end on the right. The narrow end should extend only to a point somewhere between the sternum and the belly button, with the higher for more bulky knots. (When the knot is completed, you want the wide end to extend to barely cover the belt buckle, and the narrow end to be shorter.

You do all the work of tieing with the wide end.

The wide end overlaps the narrow end at about level of breast bone.

For the Four-in-hand, at about the level of the breast bone, wrap the wide end around the itself and the small end, about one and a half times to a point directly at the back side of the knot, then bring the wide side end up and over the knot to the front and poke it under the wrap at the front of the knot. Pull it loosely tight and straighten out the front if the knot if necessary, then tighten then knot up to the collar. And you are done.

The Half-Windsor starts the same way, except the wrap only goes a single time around the knot to a point at the front of the knot, then you put a single wrap around the narrow end of the tie just above where it enters the knot, starting at the inside and bringing the wide end around again from the outside. Then continue the wrap around to the backside of the knot and finish it in the same way as the Four-in-hand.

The Full-Windsor starts the same way, except that the wrap only goes a half way around to the neck side and then is brought through the top of the knot and makes a single wrap around the wide end just above where it enters the knot, then goes across the back side of the knot to where another single wrap is made around the narrow end just above where it enters the knot (this is the same as for the Half-Windsor) and then the wrap continues around the front to the backside to finish the knot the same way as for the other two knots.

OK, now the whole world knows.

Journal, Saturday, Sept 1, 2012

BENTONVILLE, AR. Its Saturday morning and the sun just started to shine again, with bright blue sky (its like Utah blue) between the remaining clouds. It rained most of the time since yesterday morning, perhaps for a total of couple of inches (I've not seen any official figures), sometimes pretty hard and sometimes only a drizzle or a mist. Isaac seems to have passed us (we ended up only on the outer fringe), without any flooding, but giving NWA some much need moisture.

Thursday night was exciting for those of us who are BYU fans. Our defense dominated Wazzu's much toured Air Raid and our offense sputtered at times but showed promise. We are staying with three great fans of BYU football, Jamison, Trenton, and Holden. (I'm not sure what went wrong in the education of Jaron and McKay--they could care less about BYU football.) The 9:15 pm starting time was a challenge on a school night. Jamision had an invite from The Blakes to celebrate the game with them, and the two little guys begged and pleaded to be able to watch. We finally passed the buck back to Valerie, when she called about 8 pm to let us know that she and Greg had arrived in Boston, and she suggested that Trenton and Holden be able to watch the first half. They got on their PJs and saw that much action and then dutifully retired. Blakes brought Jamison home as promised during halftime. He watched a little of the third quarter and put himself to bed.

In the meantime, Wendy and I concentrated mostly on watching the last evening of the Republican convention. Like much of the audience we teared-up with some of the stories about Mitt Romney's caring actions and others' stories of family progress.

In the morning we were pleasantly suprised that the little boys all were able to get up on schedule so that we were able to get them to their schools on-time ( a part of the bargain for seeing part of The Game).

By the way, the morning schedule for getting the guys to school is a killer--set the alarm for 5:15 am to help Jaron wake-up and get off to seminary by 5:55, 6:45 wake up Holden and Trenton and see that they get up, dressed, etc.; also wake McKay; at 6:55 drive McKay to seminary; at about 7:15 walk Trenton and Holden down the street to a neighbor's so that they can get a ride to school; 7:40 leave for the church to pick up McKay from Seminary and bring him back home; 7:55 wake Jamison; 8:20 drive Jamison to hs school; 8:35 drive McKay to school. I have done all the driving, while Wendy has been preparing breakfast, helping with dressing, etc., here at home. She rode along to take McKay to high school. When we got home at 9 am after nearly 4 hours of effort, I had the thought, "We are 33% done with our assignment to get the kids to school in the morning. Two days down and four to go, next week."

Six days of this routine is really not such a burden, especially as we don't have anything else to do, but we can see that Valerie deserves great credit for doing this day after day, month after month, year after year. We are grateful that we have had pretty good cooperation from the boys and that there has been a minimum of grumbling and resistence to getting going. We would feel a great sense of failure if the alternative occurred.

Wendy finally gets her wish

While we were on our mission in NC, Wendy used to say to the natives, "I would like to go through one hurricane while we are here." They would just shake their heads and say, "You don't know what you are asking for."

Sadly (??), the hurricane season we went through while there didn't produce any major storms that came into NC. But now she is excited.

We are in Bentonville AR tending kids while Valerie and Greg celebrate 20 years of marriage with a big trip, and we are directly in the path of the remnant of Isaac. (Well, it has been downgraded to tropical storm status, but who is being technical?) In a couple of hours the clouds should start to arrive and then a little more windiness and some thunder and lightning and then the rain is supposed to begin and keep falling the rest of the night and all day tomorrow and into Friday night. Exciting, right? We will keep you updated.

Scouting Committees--a proposal I gave to our ward and stake

I was looking for some direction regarding how to organize scouting committees, when an experience of Harold B. Lee that happened many years ago came to mind. During the worst of the Great Depression, he was serving as Stake President in a less affluent part of Salt Lake City. His stake developed a successful program to relieve many of the financial difficulties being experienced by his stake members. He was then called by President Heber J. Grant to develop a comprehensive Welfare Program church-wide. Among other things, he sought for answers as to how to structure such a program, what kind of welfare organization the Church would need in the future. After much thought and prayer the answer came: “The Church doesn’t need a new welfare organization. Just use the existing church structure.”

Applying this inspiration to scouting committees, each year BSA asks us at rechartering time to specify a support organization for each of the scouting programs that we charter, with a chair and two or more members. Why do we not just use the committee organization that the chartering process requires? Let it work like this:
1) Have a committee for each program
2) View committee assignments as one-year callings
3) Make the committee organization that we create in our charter applications real (not paper) and have no other
4) A few weeks prior to the time when rechartering applications are due, the bishopric looks at each scouting program in consultation with the unit leaders of the individual program. They should identify, for each program:
• a person to be chair for the committee for that program for the next year, and also
• parents and others with interest in that age-group (i.e., Sunday School teacher, other specialists) to serve as committee members (at least two, but preferably more) during the coming year.
5) Call these persons, arrange for completion of applications, youth protection training, etc.
6) Arrange for training of these persons, as needed.
7) Complete and submit the chartering applications at the specified time
8) Each of the committees meets as needed and functions in support of their scouting program for the next 12 months

Three spiritual treats

I want to highlight three spiritual times with family this summer.

• Sacrament meeting in the copper top church.
  

I spent the July fast meeting with many members of the family in Matthew-and-Kimberly’s ward in Mapleton. Several family members bore their testimonies: Trenton, Adam, Brianna, and Matthew. All of these testimonies were impressive–personal expressions, no trite phrases. I thought, “We are missing so much not going to church together as a family. When we go to church in our own wards, we hear the testimonies of near strangers, persons with whom our relationships are temporary or even non-existent. What a pleasure to learn that in our own family, testimonies are being developed and expressed.

• Baptisms for the dead and an endowment session in the Draper temple.
  

We had most of our teens together to do family baptisms on July 17th. Wendy and I, Alison, Katrina, Heidi, and Valerie did an endowment session while the kids did baptisms. Is there anything greater than being in the temple with those you love most?

• Sealing session with family in the Provo temple.

On Saturday evening, August 11th, a group of us did family sealings. This carried on a tradition of going to the temple at a time near JoAnn’s birthday. More than anything else she loved being in the temple with her children, and what better way to honor her memory than to gather with family members in the temple to perform work for our kindred dead. Present were Emilie and Scott, Matthew and Kimberly, Alison and Quin, Heidi, Andrew and Britain, along with Wendy and myself. Hurray for the next generation of temple goers.
We had the blessing this time for the officiator to be an elderly Samoan man, brother Salanoa. Although a humble man, he just reeked of patriarchal power and authority.

Family camp July 2012

We had 50 people at our Lewis family camp, July 19-21. How great was that? Thanks again to Matthew for the family picture.

The theme this year was on the Family Proclamation, with decorations form the Stanford ladies. For skit presentations on Thursday evening, each family chose a topic from the list of things that help bring happiness in family life as listed in the Family Proclamation:

The skits were very clever and creative:
Faith-- David Lewis family
Forgiveness--Blake family
Love--Stanford family including Troy & Katrina
Compassion--Nathan & Gloria and also Soderquist family (according to Alison, there is no way that we can have too much compassion)
Work--Chandler family
Wholesome recreational activities--Matthew Lewis family

For the two morning devotionals, everyone 18 and over (who wanted to) were asked to present a challenge that faces families these days and some solutions to that problem. (Here are Alison’s notes:

Aunt Emilie—Using Christ as our example, use kindness and ‘suffering long’ with each other in our families.
Uncle Bruce—Problem: So many stresses in our lives that we tend to take it out on the people in our family. Solution: Exhibit ‘patience’ in the face of stress. We live in an instant-gratification world. We need to be patient. Realize that Heavenly Father is in charge and our problems are not that significant in the eternal scheme of things.
Heidi—What she saw in Spain is that an individual member of a family with an addiction (usually law of chastity or word of wisdom problems) was the biggest problem. It affected everybody in the family. Solution: Admit your addictions, even if they’re small. Anything you focus on that becomes more important than the people around you and your relationships with them is an addiction.
Katrina—Problem: Low self esteem. Solution: Remember we’re children of Heavenly Father. Also, put relationships ahead of technology. And as a young adult, you can call home once a week and build relationships even when you’re living away.
Dad—Problem: contention. Solution: Realize the difference between ‘tension’ and ‘contention.’ Tension is what you have when you don’t know the outcome. Contention is what you get when people let selfishness into the discussion. Be selfless and try to understand the other person’s point of view.
Troy—Problem: media. Solution: Keep computer out in open. They don’t have any tv or internet, so they have to do wholesome activities together like board games.
Rachel—Problem: Spouses falling in love with Facebook friends then divorcing. Solution: Joint Facebook accounts once you are married.
Aunt Angela—Problem: contention. Solution: Apologize quickly. “Agree with thine adversary quickly.” And like Nephi, “frankly forgive” somebody who rails against you—no railing or reviling back at them!
Uncle Matthew—Remember that we’re trying to get our spirits to control our bodies. We need to cultivate self discipline and selflessness. Evaluate ourselves every day.
Me—Problem: Teenagers pairing up too early is Satan’s way of weakening marriage decisions. Solution: Grandma Lewis’ social pyramid. A strong base of same gender friendships. Boy and girl activities beginning in a limited way around 14 years old. Group dating starting at 16 or later. Dating a variety of people. Exclusively dating one person waits until you are actually old enough to get married if you decide you like each other enough. We have to carve out a new LDS dating culture in opposition to Disney Dating.
Uncle Scott—Divorce is the problem. Solution: Small daily decisions of service and sacrifice. It’s the difference between being selfless and selfish.
Uncle Greg—Problem: getting ourselves in big problems and being frustrated and thinking we’re powerless to change. Solution: the Agency Ladder. Recognizing there are steps that lead you to the top of the slide (where you can’t stop the behavior). Each of those steps before you get to the top of the ladder is a choice—a place to exert your agency. You CAN stop climbing to the point where you are out of control.
Aunt Valerie—Problem: Kids thinking they know more than their parents. Solution: Experience Math. She brought Grandpa and Grandma up to the front and added their years of experience on earth—128. She then brought up Jonathan or somebody—12 years of experience. Would the counsel of people with a score of 128 be worth listening to? Who would know more—someone with 12 or someone with 128? J
Alyssa—Problem: Disorder in the home. Solution: Be in the moment and enjoy yourselves, but then take just a few minutes to clean as you go. Individuals need to be proactive and clean up after themselves or clean other messes they find. A clean home makes a more thriving environment for a family.
Nathan and Gloria—Problem: Individuality. Solution: Knowing that we’re happier married to someone who cares about us than we would be single.
Staci—Problem: people having a hard time getting along. Solution: Be patient and slow to be irritated with different ways of doing things. Put other person first—give 100% each.
Miguel—As a single adult, the small, simple things like prayer and scripture study don’t seem important. Just put them on a checklist and DO them every day. People in families change over time through experiences and challenges, so find points where your interests intersect and DO stuff together.
Camille—Problem: We feel busy. Solution: Take time to listen to each other—it’s important.
Grandpa—how to bind couples together better. We need to learn to communicate love in a language our spouse understands. He gave every couple a copy of the “Love Languages” book and told us to study it. I think everyone is taking him seriously. I know Dad and I are. We’ve read halfway through the book. I came away very serious about making a study and figuring out how to show Dad I love him in ways he’ll appreciate.

Blogging about family visits

Blogging has helped reduce my guilt for not keeping a journal. But, I have reached the conclusion that I have to be a bit lonely to create blog entries successfully. The last 6 weeks did not serve my blogging well. It was basically one big family party. I don’t know how many times I said to myself, “I hope Valerie got some good pictures.” I was just totally irresponsible as far as keeping a family record.

Another thing: When I have the feeling to blog, I have to discipline myself not to call some family member on the phone until I have an entry completed–make the call immediately and lose motivation. After the entry is posted, the call becomes a reward.

Here are family things that happened since mid-June:
1) We had Jack and Olivia for day or two, three times.
2) We had the 4 younger Soderquist boys with us at the cabin (June 18-20) while Alison and Amy were at girls camp.
3) We had Scott and Emilie’s 6 kids for about a week of the time (starting June 22) that their parents were traveling to Latvia for a 20th anniversary mission reunion.
4) While the Blake kids we with us, Valerie arrived with five of her boys (June 24th). They were getting Ryan ready for his mission and dropped him off at the MTC on June 27th.
5) Wendy’s mother passed away on July 1st, which had been expected for a long time. We spent a day in SL helping with plans and then the viewing was on July 5 and the funeral on the 6th.
6) We attending the Beach Boys concert at the Stadium of Fire on July 4th. Great performance, wonderful fireworks. Thanks, Soderquists for the gift.
7) Wendy also had eye surgery on July 5th (blepharoplasty–removal of excess eyelid tissue)
8) Baptisms for the dead for family names by family teens at the Draper temple on Jul 17th, and endowment session with some of the adults.
9) Family camp at Cherry campground, Hobble Creek, on July 19-21
10) Fishing with great success. At the pond at the Visitor’s Center at Wasatch Mt. State Park (Soderquist boys, 13 trout; Chandlers 14 trout; David Lewis boys, 2 trout.) At the Spanish Fork reservoir, me and McKay 7 trout (3 over the limit–the SF policement told us that we had had enough fun for one day).
11) 24th of July 5k at Mapleton (about 4k for Valerie and me), and
12) Lunch with the Evans family at Andy’s house, and
13) Good Mapleton city fireworks, with Matthew’s and Blake’s families.
14) All sorts of other family activities, such as visiting Cascade Springs, Extreme Sports, lunches, home-made ice cream, etc., etc.
15) Attending church with the Blake kids and then at Matthew/Kims ward with the Blake kids and Chandlers
16) Having David and Rebecca and kids at the cabin August 3-4.

BYU Studies article review #2

A BYU philosophy professor, David Grandy, considers implications from the way that Book of Mormon prophets appeared to view the solar system in an article (“Why Things Move”, BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 51 No. 2, 2012, pp. 99-128.). In Helaman 12:15, at first glance, Mormon appears to espouse a heliocentric (our earth circles the sun) view of our solar system. In Western civilization, the heliocentric view began to replace the geocentric view (our sun circles the earth) with Copernicus, who lived A.D. 1473-1543 and becoming more generally accepted after Newton (1642-1727). The timing of this change in understanding might suggest that either the Nephites were far ahead of their time in their understanding of the universe or else the Book of Mormon was written in modern times.

Grandy argues however, that a better reading of Helaman 12:15 suggests that Mormon had neither a heliocentric or a geocentric view. Rather, he understood the motion of the earth in an entirely different way that was a common perception in ancient times.

According to Grandy, both the geocentric and heliocentric views see the heavenly bodies as inert and passive. Once set in motion, they continue with mechanical reliabilty. An older worldview was that God, in addition to creating and initiating the movement of the universe, also was involved and necessary in sustaining its movement. The motion of heavenly bodies “signifies acquiencence to God’s will, which in turn implies a capacity on the part of these bodies to sense or know their place in the cosmos and to move in ways that bespeak God’s majesty and power.”

Grandy asserts that a more careful reading of Helaman 12:15 in its context demonstrates that Mormon held views of the cosmos consistent with the ancients. What appears on the surface to be an anachronism in the Book of Mormon, turns out to be more evidence of its ancient origins.

BYU Studies article review #1

In the latest BYU Studies, Warren Aston gives an update on scholarly research on connections between the name of the Book of Mormon burial place for Ishmael, Nahom (1 Ne. 16:34), and the name of a tribe and area in Yemen in the SW corner of the Arabian peninsula (NHM, Nihm, Nahm, Nehm, Nehem) and also meanings of the Arabic/Hebrew rootword (“A History of NaHoM”, BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 51 No. 2, 2012, pp.79-98). Understand that vowels were not present in the Arabian/Hebrew languages, so that all the words above were essentially the same (NHM). Evidence from archaeological findings and from historical records has now accumulated that this name for an important tribe and the area in which they lived or controlled (Nihm) is known today and has existed for up to 4000 years in this same location. Three altars unearthed at an archaeological excavation of the Ba’ran temple site in Yemem, dated to about 750 BC, contain the tribal name of NHM and constitute, in the words of Terryl Givens “the first actual archaeological evidence for the historicity of the Book of Mormon” and “the most impressive find to date corroborating Book of Mormon historicity.”

Adding to the significance of this area, adjacent to modern Nihm is the largest known burial site on the Arabian peninsula, with burials dating back 4000 years, and could well have been where Ishmael was buried. Due east is a narrow band of plateaus that constitute the only route of travel possible to reach the only fertile area on the 1000 miles of ocean coastline, a small region on the coast of Oman which is fed by monsoon rains. On both sides of this route eastward from Nihm are impassable deserts of shifting, waterless dunes. The fit of these geographic features with the route of travel of Lehi’s party described in the Book of Mormon is uncanny.

Finally, Semitic language roots for the word NHM seems consistent with the Nephite story and its connection with a place for burial, linking to such meanings as “to comfort, console, a soft
moan” and “to roar, complain, suffer from hunger.”