The Funniest Things

I love to laugh.  The feeling of being able to relieve the various stresses of life through a loud outburst from a funny joke or something that is said that is unexpected is awesome.  One of my favorite things is to hear something said from one of our children.  When they were young, they had some really funny things to say.
When our oldest was young, she would say something that seemed inappropriate, but funny, and I was quick to correct her.  As time goes on, I have come to realize that there are just some funny things that they say. Some of life's greatest moments have come from the hiliarious things that were said.  Thank heaven for those things.

Drive Because We're Free

I am so thankful that I live in the United States of America, where the freedoms we enjoy are without number.  That is the case today.  We are able to leave and travel without any problems.  We enjoy the blessing of having vehicles that run well and that we can count on to get us to the places that we want to go.  We have family that care for us and take an interest in our lives.  I feel grateful to be a citizen of a land of great promise.  God bless America!

Nothing But The Bottom Of The Net

I don't know how many of you even like the game of basketball but I thought that I would share a little something about the game as it pertains to me and my life. 
The dimensions of a traditional court is ninety-four feet in length by fifty feet in width. Like with anything in life, there are boundaries.  It is expected, by all participants, to abide by the regulations set. 
There are similar boundaries set in our own lives.  As long as certain rules are kept life seems to move forward at a pretty good clip. 
Our lives can be compared, in many ways, to the game of basketball.  There are fundamentals, that if learned, practiced, and then mastered, can aid the player in a higher level of success.  The is precisely the same with life.  There are countless opportunities to become better skilled in a certain area of life.  There are opportunities that require effort but are character builders in the end.
I love to play basketball.  These days, it's really only fun for me to play on the driveway with our kids.  There are fundamentals that can be learned to better hone your own personal skills of the game.
More important than basketball is our ability to master the things of life.  To be the very best you can be!  Day by day, a little at a time, the day will come where self-mastery is the end result.  That will take a lifetime but the hard work in the journey is worth the end result.

Feeling Great!

It's a great feeling to know that I can think clearly. There is a man I work with who struggles with mental issues and I watch him battle through those difficulties with obvious frustration. My health is something that I take for granted every day. I have never had a reason to worry about whether or not I could make good sound decisions. I believe that I say this almost every day, life is great and even in our most challenging times, there are blessings that are ours if we will look for and then recognize them. I know it's late...but I'm feeling great!

Thinking Of Somebody Else First

Another good story to share for those who want to be uplifted.  It gives me great hope for the future when I see these kinds of nice acts.

On Saturday, West Liberty-Salem (Ohio) High junior Meghan Vogel won a state title. Incredibly, that might not even be what she or anyone else remembers most about her day at the Ohio Division III track and field state meet, because she later committed one of the most selfless acts of the year on the track: She stopped running the 3,200-meter final to help along a foe who had collapsed just 20 feet from the finish line. 
As first reported by the Springfield News-Sun and Dayton Daily News, Vogel had already captured the state 1,600-meter title when she came upon Arlington (Ohio) High sophomore Arden McMath near the finish line of the 3,200-meter final. Both Vogel and McMath were out of contention for the medals in the event at that point, and rather than try and make a final, mad dash, Vogel decided she was better served helping ensure McMath made it to the finish line.
"I was kind of blacking out," McMath told the Daily News. "I wasn't too aware of my surroundings. I was just trying to keep going. When my body gave out, she was there. It was amazing.
"I just told her, 'Thank you.' I just couldn't believe she'd done that for me. We're all in it together as distance runners. Everyone is trying to do their best. It's a lot harder on your body than a lot of the other races. We just try to help each other."
The result was nothing short of electrifying, as you can see from the video above. With each step, the cheering crowd at Ohio State's Jesse Owens Stadium seemed to get louder and louder, finally reaching its zenith when McMath crossed the finish line just in front of Vogel.
In fact, even that final finishing order was Vogel's idea; after all, McMath had been ahead of her when she collapsed.
While McMath and her teammates may have been most touched by Vogel's charitable actions, the state champion insisted that she got just as much out of the charitable act.
"Helping her across the finish line was a lot more satisfying than winning the state championship," Vogel told the News-Sun.

Technically, Vogel should have been disqualified for helping McMath, as regulations call for any runners aiding another to be disqualified from their event. Yet, perhaps in line with the spirit of Vogel's touching act, Ohio officials failed to disqualify either runner, with final standings crediting McMath for a 14^th-place finish and showing Vogel crossing the line in 15^th place.
"She could have just gone around Arden," Arlington coach Paul Hunter told the News-Sun. "But she chose to help. I've never seen that at a state meet. That's real sportsmanship."

The future is bright because there are a lot of people who want to do what's right.

Time Is Flyin'

Yesterday morning at 6:45 AM, I took Natalie to Bountiful, Utah where the bus was that would drive her to Southern Utah University, in Cedar City, Utah, where she would attend Girl's State for this week. We had a nice visit but it didn't seem real that Becky and I were sending her away for the week. I also rehearsed in my mind the fact that she will be a Senior in High School. We visited and when it was time for her to board the bus, I hugged and kissed her and told her how much I loved her. I watched her walk toward the bus with steps of confidence in her stride. I got into the truck and waited until the bus drove away before I headed to work. I couldn't help but cry as a flood of memories flashed through my mind. Nata was a little girl just the other day. I used to love to get down on the floor and play with her. She was the most enthusiastic kid you would ever know. The day we moved into our home in Magna, Utah, Nat was a year and a half. Now she is a beautiful grown woman. She is delightful and full of life. She has a sincere desire to choose the right. She thinks methodically about the decisions she makes in her life. She has done that her whole life. As I drove to work, I could feel a huge lump in my throat. My emotions were clearly at the surface. I wondered if I would feel better if I would just stop the truck and have a good hard cry. Instead, my heart ached for a few minutes and then I began thinking about the great opportunity she had to learn and grow.
I am thankful for our family. It brings me peace to be surrounded by Becky and each of our children. We love to work hard together. Laughter is a constant in our home. We laugh together in a spirit of love and harmony. We work really hard to guard each other's heart. There is safety inside our home. We don't laugh at someone else's expense. We do laugh at ourselves, however. It one of the many reasons I love to go home.
The time of life speeds onward. The future is bright and we look forward to the adventures that await us on any given day. I will see Natalie in a week and be grateful to hear about the fun she has had. I continue to hang on tight and enjoy the bounty that life so kindly offers me.

Gramercy Court

A couple of weeks ago, our three youngest children--Laurel, Brady, and Danny, and I went to Sacramento,California to visit my family and more specifically, to attend the baptism of one of our neices' baptism.  On Sunday morning, we went and visited a facility for the elderly.  Because my dad is the president of the Interfaith Council of Sacramento, he has been able to 'reach out' to some parts of the community that he feels like he can best help.  This opportunity with the elderly has been a touching experience for him and our family.  It was Mother's day so my dad had asked that we be prepared to share a musical number that would uplift and bless the lives of these wonderful people who have grown accustomed to my dad coming to visit.  He teaches them something from the Bible and prays with and for them. 
It was one of those times when I felt very close to heaven.  The gratitude that these people show for coming to spend time with them was touching to me.  When we left this community (called Gramercy Court) our children expressed their thanks for the chance they had to go and love these people and watch the smiles on their faces as they listened to the beautiful songs that were shared and the words of love and encouragement that my dad shared with them.  They were deeply touched, as was I.
One major responsibility I have is to visit the poor and the needy.  The old and those who are not fully capable to care for themselves.  I hope and pray that I am fulfilling that great responsibility.  One day, I will hope that somebody is there to help me when I cannot do things for myself.
Gramercy Court was a life-changer!