Rasmania 102

  Brothers and Sisters, welcome! Today our hearts are filled with joy as we commemorate Easter, the day our Savior, Jesus Christ, broke the bands of death and rose in glorious victory after a time of great despair and uncertainty. As we reflect on this ultimate act of love and power, we will also consider what the promises fulfilled at Easter teach us about preparing for His eventual return. First and foremost, preparing for the Second Coming requires us to deeply trust in God. This trust is built upon our faith. As the scripture in Ether 12:6 teaches us, 'Faith is things which are hoped for and not seen.' Think of the disciples during those three days between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. They could not see the impending miracle, yet those who held onto hope and the Savior's promises were witnesses to the greatest triumph in history. Similarly, if we want to develop this essential faith, we must actively work to obtain it. We can diligently read the scriptures, ...

Happy Birthday Harvey Harvey turned 5 on April 24.  We weren't there to celebrate with him, but I was able to get his gift when Caitlyn and I were there earlier this month.  He also had his birthday date with his siblings back in November when Roy and I visited.  We're a little behind on the birthday dates because we had so many in late March and April.  We're still looking forward to going out with Todd, Finn, Ila, and Hyeji; and Ruby's birthday is tomorrow.  Happy Birthday to all of you (We should take the adults on dates, too, but we don't). Maverick got braces this week.  We had the opportunity to take Cub for a few hours on Monday morning to give Adrienne a lift.  Roy had him the first few hours (I had a PT appt.), then I took over.  He is busy!  On Sunday he gave Adrienne quite the run for her money when he dumped a whole carton of milk on the floor--then his macaroni and cheese lunch, and the final straw--he climbed onto the counter an...

We celebrated Easter at Crista's this year.  It was wonderful for her to host so that we could just show up and enjoy visiting with everyone.  Easter is always special to me.  It lifts my heart every year when I think of what the Savior went through to give us hope.  I have hope through the Savior that I will see Thomas, and all of my loved ones again, after I leave this mortal existance.  It was a wonderful Easter.  I listened to several things from the General Authorities on Youtube to help me feel the spirit of the holiday; and on Good Friday, Jieun and I went to our stake center for a beautiful program about the Savior.  Each room of the stake center was filled with depictions of Christ, beautiful plants, and water features.  In each of the rooms, a different song about the Savior was playing through the speakers (the audio/visual guy told me it had been kind of been a nightmare setting it up, but each room was filled with the Spirit).  I...

April started out with an April Fools joke.  A huge snowstorm!  It was pretty, and we need the moisture, but still... Even with the cold weather, some of our kids were determined to enjoy their kids spring break, so Nick and Sara headed up to the cabin in cold Wyoming.  Crista and Matt joined them after returning from their trip to Legoland.  They found things to do--like braiding everyone's hair.   Ori, Ruby, Effie, Avie, Greta and Bridget To get them out of the house they took a side X side ride down to the lake.  Greta, Bridget and Avie Elijah is growing! Since Camden loves to dress up with his sisters, his parents finally bought some "boy costumes" for him.  They're definitely better than princess skirts and dresses. Roy and I headed up to the cabin for conference weekend.  Crista had already left and Sara and Nick were packing up.  There's only so much you can do with 8 children indoors.  They had probably all had enough. ...