Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Aunt Jo's funeral



Chris Hebert, Beth Pope, Mike Helm, Benji Glass



Robert Strong Jr. at Bayou Caddy



Stefanie Dunbar's house in Slidell, LA


Benji and Amelie's kids
Alex, Sydney, and Mallory


Michelle and Nick

My mom's sister Joanne Strong passed away last week. I got to know Aunt Jo when I was a little kid and we lived in Mississippi for three years. We moved in with her and Uncle Albert for a few months while we were trying to buy a house. I have some good memories of the time we spent with her. She was a good sister and aunt to many. I flew down to New Orleans on Thursday and returned Sunday. It was nice getting to see aunts and uncles and cousins that I haven't seen for years. Thank you to my Hebert cousins for being great hosts to us. My mom, sisters Marie and Beth, and brother Mike were there. I was so excited to see my mom, since she's been in London for a year. The night before I left the girls went and saw the Twilight movie. I really enjoyed it. After the funeral, we all went back to Stefanie's house and had a nice family gathering. It was lots of fun, with most enjoying Singstar!
It's sad that it takes a funeral to get people together. We will definitely need to have a Glass family reunion in the near future.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

A night at BYU


I think Lindsay wanted to add a few pictures. I will see what I can do to help her out. Here she is with Michael Watkins.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Emily's 7th Birthday

Eliza Jones and Emily with their HSM cake.





Well, on Friday Emily turned Seven! She is getting so big! She had her party at You're Fired!, a local pottery painting shop owned by a member of our Branch. She combined her party with her friend Eliza.


They both had a wonderful time. I (Maura) also had a wonderful time. I painted a bowl and it is going to be really awesome! Here are some pictures so you all can see the fun we had.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Lindsay's Turn








So i guess everyone else in the family, besides ryan who can't, has posted on the blog so i thought i would take my turn.  other than being out at BYU my life is pretty normal... i just go to class and study and take tests and occasionally go on a date or two.  i came out this summer and i took a few classes, came back out this fall and took a lot more.  this summer was great i met a ton of cool new people and made some really good friends and this fall is turning out to be good for me as well.  i have to say that i have been blessed with awesome roommates and i don't know what i am going to do next year when i have to get new ones.  anyways... i guess i am really bad about taking pictures, cause i don't have that many, but i am going to post some with this, so that you all can see how i am doing.  these pictures are from both summer and fall.  love you guys

Sunday, November 9, 2008

OK, so I got these pictures on but I have no idea how to turn them around. I could use any help that you have to tell me how to turn them.
Thanks.

Navy Ball and Band Formal





















So I decided that since I (Peggy) haven't posted anything, maybe I should get on the bandwagon and write something. Things get pretty crazy every week. I'm not sure how I'm handling 19 credits at school and still have any time for my family. I can't wait for this semester to be over. Just a few more weeks to go. Although it seems that all my professors are piling on the work all of a sudden and those papers that seemed so far away are now all coming due at the same time. I am proud to announce that I did very well on my mid terms. My grades are as follows:

Math for teachers- 92%
Children's Lit.- 100%
Exceptional Learners Psychology- A
Sociocultural Studies in Ed.- 99%
Adolescent Development- 97%

My other class had no mid term. I was a little stressed out and felt about like Pam. I thought I blew my Children's Lit test. I got the 25 terms and 4 people right, it was just the 4 essay questions that I had no idea about and kind of took a stab in the dark. (My professor likes to test us first and then tell us the answer) I guess he liked my answers. I was very surprised by my 100%. So, I guess I can do this. I just can't wait for the semester to be over.

Last night Russ and I attended the Navy/Marine Corps Ball for the Miami ROTC unit. It wasn't too bad. The worst part was finding a dress. I looked for two weeks. The first problem is finding a modest dress. That's maybe one or two in each store. Then they have to have my size, (I guess fat people don't ever want to get dressed up) then it has to fit and look right. I didn't end up with what I had in mind, but I found one that worked I guess. I'm going to have Maura help me try to post the pictures for you. It's been awhile since Russ and I got dressed up and gone somewhere nice. Russ wore his dinner dress jacket, which he has owned for several years but never worn, so it was fun having him wear it. Maura also went out last night to a band formal. The only pictures we have were taken by our babysitter. Yes, Maura has a boy in the picture, but it wasn't a date. Since Russ and I had to leave two hours before her, we had her friend JD pick her up, well actually his mom picked her up and drove them both to the dance. If all goes well, you'll see pictures of both.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Speaking out for moral truth.

Speaking out for moral truth and sacred values is not being judgmental. Rather it is an act of love.

Regarding prop 8, the focus of the Church’s involvement is specifically same-sex marriage and its consequences. The Church does not object to rights (already established in California) regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights, so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the family or the constitutional rights of churches and their adherents to administer and practice their religion free from government interference.


The Church has a single, undeviating standard of sexual morality: intimate relations are proper only between a husband and a wife united in the bonds of matrimony.


The Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage neither constitutes nor condones any kind of hostility towards homosexual men and women. Protecting marriage between a man and a woman does not affect Church members’ Christian obligations of love, kindness and humanity toward all people.


Marriage is sacred, ordained of God from before the foundation of the world. After creating Adam and Eve, the Lord God pronounced them husband and wife, of which Adam said, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Jesus Christ cited Adam’s declaration when he affirmed the divine origins of the marriage covenant: “Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh.”

The divine institution of marriage between a man and a woman was created for our happiness and forms the foundation for the fundamental building block of any society - The family. Children have the right to be raised in a family where a mother and a father each bring their own unique, gender specific contributions.


We are obligated to stand for moral truth, whether it is the taking of a life or sexual immorality. This is not being "judgmental", how often people misquote Matt 7-1 to justify their own behavior. When taken in the entire context of the Savior's teachings in the New Testament the admonition is to not judge unrighteously, but rather to judge righteous judgment. We make judgements everyday, we judge the man who abuses his family, or the woman who kills her children. We judge the pornographer and the thief. The Savior also said "Go your way and sin no more..." One of the main purposes of the scriptures and the gospel is to help us to learn to judge righteously. A society in which no one makes any judgments is anarchy. In this case though, please don't mistake judgment with standing for moral truth. No one has cast a judgment against homosexuals, I will leave that to the perfect judge. I could care less what a same sex couple does, until it begins to tear the fundamental fabric of society and they begin to indoctrinate my children. California already has on its books (and has for several years) laws granting domestic partners (homosexual and heterosexual) the same civil rights as married couples. Three states passed similar constitutional amendments this Nov. More than half the states in the country have done so. Interestingly, polling in CA shows that prop 8 passed mainly because African American and Latino voters (who voted overwhelmingly Democratic by the way) voted for it. Why is this? Clearly it must be more than liberal vs conservative politics. Why would minorities vote overwhelmingly for prop 8 if it were really about civil rights? They wouldn't because it's not.


Finally, those who favor homosexual marriage contend that “tolerance” demands that they be given the same right to marry as heterosexual couples. But this appeal for “tolerance” advocates a very different meaning and outcome than that word has meant throughout most of American history and a different meaning than is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Savior taught a much higher concept, that of love. “Love thy neighbor,” He admonished. (Matt. 19:19) Jesus loved the sinner even while decrying the sin, as evidenced in the case of the woman taken in adultery: treating her kindly, but exhorting her to “sin no more.” (John 8:11) Tolerance as a gospel principle means love and forgiveness of one another, not “tolerating” transgression.

In today’s secular world, the idea of tolerance has come to mean something entirely different. Instead of love, it has come to mean condone – acceptance of wrongful behavior as the price of friendship. Jesus taught that we love and care for one another without condoning transgression. But today’s politically palatable definition insists that unless one accepts the sin he does not tolerate the sinner.

We will probably need to agree to disagree and I pray that we can do so with love.

This blog contains my own personal opinions, and I do not represent the Church.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Update on Ryan



We thought you might like an update on Ryan. He is well into the second year of his mission. He has been in the same area now for quite some time and he really enjoys working with the people there. There were two baptisms last week that he got to be a part of.
We have heard from several people in the Wards where he is serving who tell us how great he is. Of course you always like to hear that as parents.

I'm sure he would like to hear from any of you, especially as we approach the holiday season.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Why traditional marriage is imporant

With the pasage of ballot measures to amend the consitutions in several states this week to define marriage as between a man and a woman I thought it might be good to remind ourselves of why the issues are so important.

Much has been said in recent years about the idea of same-sex marriage. Those in favor often ask "why, if you believe in marriage as you say, do you oppose or want to deny that opportunity to same-sex couples?" I hope that following excerpt from the Church's newsroom will help to explain our position.

"Marriage between a man and a woman is central to the plan of salvation. The sacred nature of marriage is closely linked to the power of procreation. Only a man and a woman together have the natural biological capacity to conceive children. This power of procreation – to create life and bring God’s spirit children into the world – is sacred and precious. Misuse of this power undermines the institution of the family and thereby weakens the social fabric. Strong families serve as the fundamental institution for transmitting to future generations the moral strengths, traditions, and values that sustain civilization. As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms, “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society.”

Marriage is not primarily a contract between individuals to ratify their affections and provide for mutual obligations. Rather, marriage and family are vital instruments for rearing children and teaching them to become responsible adults. While governments did not invent marriage, throughout the ages governments of all types have recognized and affirmed marriage as an essential institution in preserving social stability and perpetuating life itself. Hence, regardless of whether marriages were performed as a religious rite or a civil ceremony, married couples in almost every culture have been granted special benefits aimed primarily at sustaining their relationship and promoting the environment in which children are reared. A husband and a wife do not receive these benefits to elevate them above any other two people who may share a residence or social tie, but rather in order to preserve, protect, and defend the all-important institutions of marriage and family.

Strong, stable families, headed by a father and mother, are the anchor of civilized society. When marriage is undermined by gender confusion and by distortions of its God-given meaning, the rising generation of children and youth will find it increasingly difficult to develop their natural identity as a man or a woman. Some will find it more difficult to engage in wholesome courtships, form stable marriages, and raise yet another generation imbued with moral strength and purpose. "

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Hello Again

Well, its the middle of the week and I decided it was time for an update. For those of you who don't know I am in Marching Band. This means not getting home until after 8:00 most nights, and not having a free Saturday or Friday night for almost 2 months. Well, last Saturday we had our final competition, and for all the seniors their last performance as a Tallawanda Marching Brave. We did extremely well. Our competition was Mid-Sates Class AA Championships. Well, in the last 7 years, I want to say, Tallawanda hasn't made it into Finals at this competition and we took 7th place out of 21 bands in prelims. During the Prelim awards ceremony there was tension in the air. Everybody in our band was hoping to get 10th place, the last place that makes it into finals, and well we did. There was an audible sigh of relief when they announced 10th place and it was not us. And when they said we got 7th, there was no doubt that even if we placed last in finals NO ONE would be disappointed. In Finals we placed 9th out of 11 bands, sure we were hoping to do a little better, but we were not the only ones to drop a few places and we were all ecstatic that we even made it into Finals. I am really sad that band is over but there are only 8 months until it starts again, and if I'm lucky my parents will let participate in the new DCI type indoor drum line. And we have a Band Ball this Saturday. That is all for now. Talk to you all soon.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Welcome


It finally happened, we got a blog. It's a miracle, my mother (this is Maura by the way) decided we should get a blog. We decided to create it help in keeping in touch with those we love. I guess that's all for now, there will be more soon. So I will leave you with some pictures


At Kings Island, a local amusement park.







.

At the Cincinnati Zoo