Blogging Blair Style

Miami Woods Hike

2009-10-16T16:32:00.005-04:00

We took a hike through the woods next to Miami University during a Hike-a-thon. It was a beautiful Fall October morning.

Emily checking out how old some of the trees were.

This one is as old as her Dad!

Beautiful Woods

Russ and Emily

A little bridge just right for Emily.

Ryan's Homecoming

2009-08-29T07:35:00.005-04:00

25 August was a very special day for our family. Ryan returned home from his mission after serving for 2 years in Long Beach, CA. It was a long awaited and much anticipated homecoming. We are very grateful for his service among the people of Long Beach.

Summer, here I come!

2009-05-30T12:35:00.001-04:00

So, I was looking at Pam's blog this morning and saw our family blog to the side with a two months ago tag and decided I should try to update a little.

I finished school three weeks ago. What a semester. I took 20 credits and earned a 4.0. I had one week off and started my summer term. I am taking an English Grammar class and doing my Senior Capstone. Miami requires all seniors to complete one. You have to be a senior, which technically I am. Some of them are pretty exciting like traveling around Europe for three weeks checking out their educational systems, or going snorkeling in the Bahamas; all of which takes time and money. So, for my capstone I am working on an educational website that was developed a few years ago and has kept growing through this particular capstone.

I will be done with classes in 4 weeks. After which I will be going to girls camp as the camp director, although I really haven't done anything to prepare the girls so far.

Russ is back in Japan for two months. He is working with the ROTC Midshipman and helping to coordinate cruises with the Japanese Navy. We thought we were done with separations for awhile. He's enjoying being back and said it felt like home when he pulled up to PSD and was expecting me in our lovely tan Toyota Estima van.

Ryan will be getting home from his mission on August 25th. We are very excited for him to be home. He'll stick around for about 10 days and then head back to BYUI in Rexburg, Idaho.

Lindsay is home for the summer from BYU. She finally got a job as a lifegaurd at the city pool. She's hoping to get a nice tan, but for Lindsay maybe she'll look like a normal person. So far, you can barely tell she's been in the sun.

Maura is almost done with her freshman year. She has a busy summer schedule with girls camp, youth conference, band camp, and a two week leadership and service camp at Miami. She's pretty excited for everything to finally get going. She's thinking about maybe an Arabic camp at BYU next summer!

Emily is finishing up first grade. She has had a great year and a smooth transition. Her teacher was wonderful and all the students were very welcoming. She's made lots of friends and loves to be the center of attention. Her reading has taken off and she has surprised us all with the books she can read. She's looking forward to a lazy summer. She has a few swimming lessons lined up, but other than that, we're going to wing it so when everything lines up, maybe we can go on a few road trips and actually explore this new state we are living in. We'll just leave the two older girls behind to do their thing.

I guess that got everyone up to speed. If anything exciting happens, I'll try to update this wonderful blog.

I know I need to post

2009-03-24T16:50:00.002-04:00

So, everyone is giving me a hard time about not posting. You see, I do have a reason. I just got back from my trip to London and have been overwhelmed with school work. I haven't posted anything about the trip, but for those of you interested, my sister Pam came with me and she has photos and the itenerary all listed conviently on her blog. You should check it out there. I have a link to the side, but it is pamandmatt@blogspot.com I think. It was a lot of fun and great to see mom. She is doing really well and looking forward to coming home.

We had a few birthdays this month. Lindsay turned 19, Maura 15 and me, well I guess I'll tell you all I am finally 41. When I asked Maura if she felt 15 she asked me if I felt 41. I don't think I do. I know I'm old, or so my kids say, but I guess I still feel young at heart, maybe 35. I look back and see all that I've done, and I guess I could have done more, but I think Russ and I have raised some pretty good kids and if that is all that I ever do in this life, I will be satisfied. Of course I am trying to improve myself. I love going to school and learning all I can. It has been really fun and I look forward to being a great teacher in a few years. It seems my life might be half over, but I still have so much to do and accomplish that I hope I can spend the next 40 years being even more productive than the last.

So to all of you. Thanks for your love and encouragement.
I hope all my sisters are happy now!

Peggy needs...

2009-02-15T22:15:00.002-05:00

I just saw this on Jill's Facebook and thought it was pretty funny. Just for the heck of it, I googled my name and thought they were too funny to not post. So here it goes.

Here’s how it works: Google “[your first name] needs” put it quoted to that specific phrase together and share the first 10 results. That's it: it is that simple. But be honest! Tag the person who tagged you, and pass it on...

1. Peggy needs some good luv'n and get some new people to hang around with.
2. Peggy needs help selecting some fish. Can you help her?
3. Peggy needs an evil twin.
4. Maybe Peggy Needs A Little Help From “Laura Bush”.
5. Peggy needs to develop a task force to review the assessment to extractspecific information and develop specific recommendation.
6. Peggy needs a home for the holidays...
7. Peggy needs your pearls...
8. I think Peggy needs to talk to the people at "Picture Loans".
9. Peggy needs as many "walkers" as she can get.
10. Peggy needs more than a makeover, she needs an overhaul!

The only ones I skipped over were the multiple ones of needing a home. I guess a lot of people name their miscellaneous pets Peggy and they must all be homeless since so many need a new home. Anyways. This was pretty funny. If anyone else is up for it, do it and post on your blog.

Have a great day!

May I Cut In?

2009-02-09T17:49:00.007-05:00

Tonight I had no homework, and I was really bored, so I hopped on the computer. The blog was up, so I started looking at the recent Posts, and wow, have I missed out on some stuff. I didn't know my parents would keep up this well. My mom was talking about My Mock Trial experience, and she had a few things wrong, so I'll start there. Our School has two Mock Trial Teams, Red Team and Blue Team. I was on the Blue Team, a.k.a. The JV Team. Each team has a Defense and a Plaintiff. I was the Opening Attorney for the Defense. The first competition you attend is Districts, then if you make you move one to Regional, and Then State. Now, your Defense and Plaintiff compete separately, the Plaintiff goes against another teams Defense, and your Defense goes against a different schools Plaintiff. In order to move on to the next competition your Defense and Plaintiff both have to win their round. Unfortunately, our Plaintiff went up against a really tough team, and didn't win their round. But, the Defense won their round, even if I made some really stupid mistakes. For instance, the Judge asked if the Plaintiff would like to introduce their team, and I got up and started introducing our team, and if you remember, I was on the Defense. Or I referred to one of the Plaintiff's witnesses as a he when she was in fact a she. But other than that, we did really well, my co-council won the Best Attorney Award. I had a ton of fun and look forward to trying out next year. I hope to make the Red team next year, with some luck and practice. Now that Mock Trial is over all I have to occupy my time is Key Club and Homework. For those of you who don't know, Key Club is an organization which is devoted to service and helping those around them, and is sponsored by Kiwanis. It is a ton of fun, I love Service Projects, and helping out in the Community. As for Homework, I got two B+'s one A+ and the rest of my grades this semester were A's. I had a 4.0 weighted GPA and a 3.8 something un-weighted. I made honor roll, and here you receive a coupon to Buffalo Wild Wings if you get a 4.0 or higher weighted GPA, so I received one of those as well. I have to say my favorite class is my honors English class with Mr. Lykins. We have about 14 people in my class, and we get a ton done while having fun and some awesome discussions. I really love it because of all the writing we have done, I think that in the past semester we have written more than any other year. Not to mention we do a ton of reading. We are usually reading something as a group, and we have to read two books a quarter from one of two AP reading lists. At the moment we are reading To Kill a Mockingbird. I have to admit I didn't like it at first, I once described it as a peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwich, delicious, but there is nothing there. It has gotten better, but I still don't see how my teacher could have read it eight times! I applied for some "Gifted" camps this summer. Basically, you go and stay at collages, and take classes, as well as go and do hands on stuff that has to do with the camp. I applied to the one at Miami, which is called, B the Change (U Wish 2 C), this one is all about getting involved and doing service, you attend a few classes in the morning and then go Downtown Cincinnati and do service projects. I also applied to one at UC which is a law one. You get to attend trials and all that fun stuff. I can only do one because they take place at the same time, but I really want to get into one, they sound like a ton of fun. I am also attending Girls Camp, Youth Conference, and Band Camp! This summer with be busy, but will be topped off the best event of all, RYAN COMING HOME!!!!! I am so excited, boy does time fly. I hate to say it but I think I have run out of things to talk about. Well, until next time.

January has come and gone

2009-02-01T20:02:00.003-05:00

It's been a crazy week. We were told when we moved to Ohio that they have pretty mild winters in the Cincinnati area. Not sure why, but it seems that the first winter anywhere we live becomes the worst winter in history. That sure happened here. We got dumped on this last week. In fact, the girls were out of school Tuesday-Friday! Of course, Miami only closed on Wednesday. Those of you out west who like to laugh, there is a thing called ice when you get anywhere with moisture in the air. That ice sticks to the roads, sidewalks, powerlines and cars. Try shoveling a foot of show that weighs a ton. It isn't fun. So, for the girls it was a slow week. For me and Russ, life goes on.

Classes are going fine. It's different this semester with no education classes. They are actually all generals so I'm doing lots of big lectures, three tests, maybe one paper due. It's a little strange, but I am learning quite a bit. My family thinks I'm getting paranoid about germs, but try sitting in on a lecture three days a week dedicated to human diseases and microbes, I think you'd be washing your hands more too.

Ryan is having a great week. His new address is:
9431 Cedar St
Bellflower, CA 90706

If Bellflower sounds familiar, it's where the lady delivered the eight babies. He likes his new companion and the area. They had 5 investigators at church last week. He said they've been working really hard.

Maura competed in her first and only Mock Trial competition. They have been practicing for so long now. They have a team of two different sides, prosecution and defense. They won one an lost one so will not be going on to the state competition. She had a lot of fun doing it and will probably do it again next year.

Lindsay went on a date yesterday! It's weird that she is dating and meeting people we know nothing about. She is having a lot of fun out at BYU. Hopefully studying as much as she should be.

Emily is taking an Art class at the university every Saturday morning. She just started two weeks ago. She's already used some big words like natural and surrelism. She is also starting up her gymnastics again. She started private lessons with a university student. We'll see if she can make some progress or not. Her back doesn't seem too flexible. We really need to work on that.

We did the usual Blair family outing yesterday and went to a movie. The girls saw the new Inkheart movie and Russ and I saw Taken. It was pretty good. Lots of action and such. The theatre was very nice. The screen huge and the sound great. Doesn't make me miss the little Benny Decker on Yokosuka.

We just got some bad news a few minutes ago. A former co-worker and friend of Russ' died yesterday of a heart attack. His name was Werner Jurnika. He was a great guy. Russ really respected him. He worked with Russ on the Kittyhawk. They left Japan shortly after us and moved to Italy. It was a shock to open the email. Werner was our age. It really seems like life can be pretty short. Our prayers are with his wife Hannah and their family.

Hope you enjoyed the update.

Lindsay's new semester

2009-01-20T17:33:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone. I thought that I should update about myself again, since I am really bad about doing that. So my semester has been going pretty good. While mom and dad have only been in school for one full week i am making headway into week three. I am braving 17.5 credits this semester, and with two of those being English classes I have a lot of reading to do, but it isn't too bad, yet. My roommates are all the same from last semester and we get along great still, even though we have practically no classes together anymore. I am really enjoying my classes so far and feel like I have been learning a lot, and I am not too busy to have some fun still. I guess that is about it for me. There are no exciting things in my life right now, no guys anyways, I pretty much do everything with my roommates and a few other friends, and they are my social life. Maybe (crossing fingers) some of the now guys in my ward will be better than the guys last semester at asking girls in the ward out on dates. I guess that pretty much sums up my semester so far. It has been pretty boring and coldish, for being January it is surprisingly warm outside, a whole 30 degrees. But life is good if bland, I am getting into a routine with studying and classes and stuff. So yeah, I guess that is all that I have to say. Later.

First week down!

2009-01-19T09:43:00.002-05:00

Just a quick update on school.
My semester started off busy as ever. I was having a hard time getting all the classes I needed. I was registered for 19 credits but that included a night class on T-Th that I didn't really want to take. I have time during the day, so day classes work out better. Besides, I'm exhausted at night so I really didn't want to head out twice a week and sit in class in the dark. Last Sunday at church we were sitting in Relief Society and the R.S. President made a comment about needing to ask Heavenly Father for what we need. I hadn't really asked for his help and her comment really hit home. Every day and night I would get on the computer and look for classes and hope something would come up. At Pam's one night she and I even sat up looking at all my different options and nothing was working out. So last Sunday I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help with this problem. Monday morning I got up, looked for classes, there was an opening in a 10 am MWF MBI instead of my 2:00. The problem was I had a MW His at 9am but the discussion group was F at 10 am. I hurried and looked and sure enough, there was one slot in the His class. I hurried and switched the two. That got rid of my 2 pm MWF but I still had the night GLG class. I went to the 9 and 10 am HIS and MBI classes and thought I'd wait around and see if I could get into anything. There was a GLG class at 1 pm but I had already emailed the prof to force add me and she said she never did that. I was sitting around trying to figure out what to do. I decided to email another prof for a Classics class that was at 2 pm and see if I could force add that and just drop the GLG night class. I emailed her and continued searching. I checked GLG again and to my surprise, there was one opening in the 1 pm class. I hurried and added it. By this time it was 12 pm. I thought I should check my email and there was an email from the Classics prof saying I could force add. I was shocked! I didn't know what to do. I hurried and called Russ. He said don't burn any bridges and go to both the 1 and 2 oclock and see which one I wanted to take. So I went to GLG and it was pretty interesting. Then went to the classics class. It was FULL. There were about 15 kids trying to force add the class. I guess she told everyone they could force add. It was hot, stuffy, and a little weird. I decided not to force add that class, stay in the 1 oclock GLG and drop the night GLG. What a long story, but I couldn't believe how everything turned out. I started with a lousy schedule and ended up with one that I would have hand chosen if I could have from the beginning. This is what my schedule now looks like:

MWF 9:00-9:50 HIS 111 American History I
MWF 10:00-10:50 MBI 111 Human Disease
MWF 1:00-1:50 GLG 111 Physical Geology

TTH 9:30-10:45 ENG 226 Creative Writing
TTH 12:30-1:45 HIS 198 World History II
TTH 2:00-3:30 ENG 301 History of English Language

I know that my prayer was answered. Sometimes I feel like I can do things on my own, but I guess I really need extra help. This really taught me a lesson.

Needless to say, I'm going to be very busy. I have 19 credits soon to be 20. We found out in our Creative writing class that it will be worth 4 credits because she is turning it into a service class. We have to go serve at a homeless shelter and then we are going to write a book for them, or something like that. Not sure I'm too excited about the extra work but hopefully I'll have a good time and learn how to write creatively.

So...long story short, my first week is over. It will be busy, but I hope I can keep up with everything. Russ decided to drop his classes and try to be around more for the kids. We felt like Emily was getting a little neglected and the stress levels were getting pretty high when we were both trying to study. He is also pretty busy with work, so this should take some of that stress off of him. Speaking of work, we had a hail and farewell at our house on Friday. Talk about more stress, but things turned out well. I got some recipes from Kate. Everything was a hit. We had almost no food left. The house was clean, thanks to Maura and Russ who were home all day cleaning (school teacher work day, and Russ took the day off). All in all it was a good night. I'm just glad it is over.

That's about it. Enjoy the read.
Peggy

Happy New Year 2009

2009-01-01T13:27:00.008-05:00

We just got back from our trip to visit Pam and Kate (sisters) in Virginia Beach. We had a great time with great weather. Marie and Tansy (sister and niece) were also there for a day. We pretty much hung out, played games, saw my new niece Paisley blessed, watched Benjamin Buttons and visited. Lindsay and Maura got together with our old friends, the Jones'. Russ was able to go fishing with Kate's inlaws and he caught a 34" striper, or striped bass. The Lineberrys invited us over for fish dinner. It was soooo good. We made it home safely and are planning on having friends over to celebrate the new year this afternoon. If you want a play by play, go to Pam's site at pamandmatt.blogspot.com she laid it all out about everything we did. Enjoy the few pictures that I took. There are some of Ryan on his mission and one of us all gathered around the phone with our Christmas Day phone call. Happy New Year to all.

Emily's First Tooth

2008-12-01T17:07:00.005-05:00

Emily lost her first tooth! She thought it would never happen. She's a little on the older side (7) for her first one, but boy was she happy. The only problem was after the Tooth Fairy came and left her some money, she gave the tooth back to mom and dad. Emily happened to find it in my night stand, somewhere she never gets into, and came to me and said, "Mom, we need to have a chat, look what I found". Needless to say, I was at a loss as to what to say. Russ and I came up with how the tooth fairy knows moms and dads want their kids first tooth, so after she took it and gave Emily money, she gave it back to us. Emily says when she sees the tooth fairy then she will believe in her. Whatever happened to childhood? It seems like kids are growing up faster every year!

Aunt Jo's funeral

2008-11-25T09:20:00.007-05:00

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.

A night at BYU

2008-11-22T13:10:00.003-05:00

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.

Emily's 7th Birthday

2008-11-19T16:55:00.006-05:00

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.

Lindsay's Turn

2008-11-13T18:51:00.004-05:00

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

2008-11-09T21:53:00.001-05:00

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

2008-11-09T18:17:00.008-05:00

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.

Speaking out for moral truth.

2008-11-08T08:53:00.006-05:00

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.

Update on Ryan

2008-11-07T14:09:00.000-05:00

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.

Why traditional marriage is imporant

2008-11-06T07:51:00.000-05:00

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. "

Hello Again

2008-11-05T16:48:00.000-05:00

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.

Welcome

2008-11-02T15:13:00.000-05:00

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