Finally a pretty warm day - or at least it felt like it! Marcella was here and wanted to play outside. I tried taking pictures of her and Nikiya but this is all I was able to take before the batteries died! Of course I didn't have any others on hand. Chester loves the snow. Marcella was throwing snow at him and he was running around in circles. I'm glad he didn't run into Marcella at full speed that would have hurt! He did it to me once and about knocked me down!

In a previous post I talked about how we hold in our feelings and don't always talk things out. I read an article today at meridianmagazine.com titled When Honesty is a temptation, not a virtue. It talks about when something or someone rubs us the wrong way and how we might be tempted to lay all our cards on the table and let that person know exactly how we are feeling and how that is being tempted to "honestly" share what was probably nothing but thought distortions, false perceptions, and negativity. It goes on to talk about what to share and what not to share. The author, Darla Isackson says "The thoughts and feelings I need to honestly share are those that come from my heart when I am in tune with the Spirit. There is great virtue in that kind of honesty. The thoughts and feelings I had best keep to myself are those that come from my natural man self and from the promptings of the adversary." So, instead of just blurting things out of frustration or because we are upset about something we need to take a step back and wait until we are in tune with the spirit to speak. Take a moment and read the whole article - I think it's worth reading.

Nanette I thought of you when I read this - not because you need it - because you asked me to post thoughts that I find. It is from an article I found by Hermanus W. Smeenk when I looked up the word meek. I tried to find out exactly who this guy was but I couldn't seem to find anything about him. He is from a Christian living website. He says that as we try to live a Christian life everyday we are bombarded by negative thoughts, encouragement towards unbridled selfishness and pride in our accomplishments, hatred and jealousy towards others because of their good fortune and a kindling of covetousness towards the material things of this world. The following are some "notes to ponder" to help us lift our thoughts.

"Those things which often appear so beautiful many times are found to hide so much ugliness."

"Many an hour can be wasted searching for something that's right beneath our noses."

"The teachings and deeds of a person having a gentle and peaceably disposed nature are remembered longer than those of a quick tempered tyrant."

"If half the world treated the other half with compassion and concern for their health and well-being, it may result in peace among all humanity."

"The optimist sees a glass as half-full, the pessimist sees a glass as half-empty, but the wise man knows that it'll take the optimist and the pessimist the same amount of time to empty the glass."

"Peace is not that which has been won by the victor of an altercation but which comes about from the mutual agreement of individuals to respect one another's opinions and way of life."

"Getting along with each other comes not only from accepting the other person's opinions or ideas, but also from respecting that person's right to formulate his/her own opionions.

"The optimist revels in the beauty of a sunset, the pessimist sees only the coming night, but the wise man will reflect on the blessings he received during the day."

I have been bad and not taken any pictures since Christmas. In looking back at pictures I found some of Dann's pictures to blog about.
No, they did not catch the salmon - they were given to them! They would like for you to think that they caught them!
Cutting up the salmon and packaging it!
Marcella trying on Grandpa Dann's cowboy hat - in her swimming suit -
Grandpa Dann and William when he was a few days old - He has grown so much in 5 1/2 months.

Kanien was frustrated the other day when I was at her house and then Nathan called and she was talking to him and her frustration was showing in the conversation she was having with him. I felt she could have said what she was saying at a different time when she wasn't quite so frustrated. Nathan hung up the phone but when she called him back I gathered it wasn't intentional and was an accident. He later told her that he said he had to go because his boss was there to talk to him but Kanien didn't hear any of that. When he hung up and while she was dialing to call him back she said "aaahhh our family just doesn't know how to talk things through" and she is right! Now to the point of why I gave that example. In reading scriptures and studying today I was reading over the yw's lesson and came across a talk that President Monson shared in July of 2007 - The Peril of Hidden Wedges. I just want to share a few things from that talk. He says "Sometimes we can take offense so easily. On other occasions we are too stubborn to accept a sincere apology. Let's remove any hidden wedges that can do nothing but destroy. Where do hidden wedges originate? Some come from unresolved disputes which lead to ill feelings, followed by remorse and regret. Others find their beginnings in disappointments, jealousies, arguments, and imagined hurts. We must solve them - lay them to rest and not leave them to canker, fester, and ultimately destroy. " Words by John Greenleaf Whittier "Of all sad words of tongue or pen,/the saddest are these: 'It might have been!'"
The Spirit must be freed from tethers so strong and feelings never put to rest so that the lift of life may give buoyancy to the soul. In many families there are hurt feelings and a reluctance to forgive. It doesn't really matter what the issue was. It cannot and should not be left to injure. Blame keeps wounds open. Only forgiveness heals. George Herbert, an early seventeenth-century poet, wrote these lines: "He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven; for everyone has need to be forgiven."