Time Experience Thoughts

“Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19) Carrie, Scott and Family http://www.forevermotts.blogspot.com/  (Roseville, CA) Carrie is a busy, stay-at-home mom and blogger. With her blog, she both creates an ongoing family history, and also keeps grandma and grandpa up-to-date. She serves as 2nd counselor in the Young Women organization. Scott, her hubby, works as a financial planner/stock broker at Merrill Lynch. He serves as the ward Elders Quorum President. This past summer he also had successful thyroid cancer surgery, with the related radioactive iodine treatment. “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33.) Scott is of good cheer. Carrie and the boys are very glad to have him with them for a long time to come. Sean (2) and Ryan (4) will be welcoming a new baby brother into the family, due to join them in early April 2008! Carrie and the boys visited us this summer; Scott then joine...

Grandma Becky bought several costumes for Ryan and Sean to play in, a fireman, a policeman, a knight, etc. Ryan ended up staying dressed as the fireman most all the first day or so that they were here in Virginia. (In this pic, he was actually watching TV . . . in his fireman outfit.) Ryan said several times over the past week or so that when he grows up his "job" will be Superman. Evidently, he wants to go to Superman school. This is kinda neat, seeing as how when I was but a young boy I read my fair share of Superman comic books (though I was not a big fan of reading lots of other comics). And, of course, I watched a fair amount of the TV Superman. I dreamed of Superman many, many times. Scores of times I dreamed -- at night -- of flying. Maybe a hundred times altogether. Also, as a kid, I dreamed -- literal daydreams -- of being a hero; of being in tough situations; of being -- through no fault of my own -- on the edge of annihilation, but miraculously coming out on top at...

On the fly, we came up with this motorcycle game. Ryan and Sean act as my motorcycle -- their arms are the handlebars; their wrist is the throttle, etc. (BTW, both are solid as a rock; they are in shape. If you look close you can see the muscles work in Sean's back, shoulders, and arms, etc. And Ryan is that much more solid. You can tell they are physically active. A real good thing.) First, we "pop a wheelie." The first time Sean (2) was the motorcycle, I yelled out that we were turning to the left. After turning left, without missing a beat, Sean then said, "Turn right!" After we turn left, then right, we slam on the brakes to just barely avoid "crashing." (Boys like to crash and smash -- or come close to it.) They (and I) could do this all night. But, who will run out of gas first? So much love. NOTE: Ryan, Sean, and our friend Giovanni Freret (Maggie's really cute son) can be heard on this clip. Sean is the one calling out, Right, Left, and Sto...

Rol Allen, 1919 ~ 2005 Eternal Nature * About one hundred fifty years ago, the poet William Wordsworth began writing one of his most inspiring and insightful pieces on what he deemed a crucial idea: that of man’s eternal nature; not only that we all would continue to live on after death, but that we, each of us, came from somewhere before we were born. AND that knowing where we came from, and who we were then and who we really are now, at our very core, makes a big difference. He got the poem to a certain point, setting the stage for illustrating his main idea, but then laid it aside for a year and a half while he continued pondering the subject. He came back to it and penned these words: Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The Soul that rises with us (our life's Star) Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home: Character John Roland Allen - “...

(Links of Love in a Chain of Remembering) Looking back with love, and sweet peaceful longing, Into the long ago past, We discover anew what he did and what he saw -- And what will last. And "what will last" are gentle thoughts and warm feelings, Of all that he loved; Links that connect us all in a 'chain of remembering' - Of those that have gone 'back home' above. Grandfathers long gone, and new ones becoming, may not have met Here on this earth, But will meet once again one day in the distant future -- in a glorious reunion And look back on our birth. We'll get to know each other once again, and muse about the trials and struggles We faced. Father and son and son; we'll look back and speak of what we learned In this place. That dealing with all the struggles and all the trials and the pain And yes, some loneliness, Makes the deep burning reunion All the more glorious. Dads introducing their Sons to their Fathers that have helped to make them What they...