Sunday, January 27, 2008

The Passing of a Prophet of God



Robert and I just found out that our beloved prophet and leader, President Gordon B. Hinckley, passed away this night. While this news has had me in tears because I will miss him and am sad to have him go, I am filled with joy as well that at age 97 he is able to move on and especially be with his dear wife, Marjorie.

To read the official announcement from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, go here.

I want to add my witness to the many given that I know -- absolutely, no-doubt-about-it KNOW -- that Gordon B. Hinckley was a prophet of God. I do not use those words lightly, nor do I proclaim "knowledge" lightly. I cannot count the number of times President Hinckley has spoken directly to my own heart, giving me the guidance, strength, even solace that I needed. President Hinckley was a prophet; he spoke for Jesus Christ, our Master, and directed Christ's church.

I know that this work, the work of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that it is His church. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God as well. He did restore the fulness of Christ's gospel on the earth, through the inspiration, power, and authority of God. I know that the Book of Mormon is the true word of God. Most profound to me of all, I know that God is not only our Creator, but our Father. We are His children and he loves us, beyond understanding. He loves us not because we earn it or deserve it; just because we are His. We are His work and His glory, and I know He finds immense joy when we choose to follow His Son Jesus Christ; but even when we do not follow or we mess up, He still loves us, because we are His.

I truly do know these things are true. President Hinckley is a prophet of God. He has gone on to his dear wife and surely to the bosom of our Lord, whose servant he was. (-Jocelyn)

Friday, January 25, 2008

Picture-Rama

UTAH:


Peter and cousin Penelope re-meeting.

Cousins Amanda, Peter, and Penelope having fun!

Temple Square with "pseudoAunt" Brittany, Jocelyn, Peter (and Robert and his sis Tiffany taking the picture).

Cousins Ethan and Peter having a staring contest.

Future mission companions (they're three days apart!) Peter and his bud Adam.

CALIFORNIA:

Cousin Bailey (who is freaking her Aunt Jocelyn out by getting so old!) with cousin Joseph.

Peter and his cousin Joseph with Uncle Alex (Joseph's Daddy) on Christmas Day!

Cousin Isabel with Peter. These two had a BALL together. I have a ton of cute pictures, but here's one where they're both actually looking at the camera. (Now whenever I show Peter pictures of Isabel, he gets excited. So cute!)

Cousin Joseph pushing Peter. Go, Go, Joe!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

She Lives!

No, I'm not dead! My computers are, though. Hence why (well, the easiest reason to explain) I haven't blogged.

I am sorry, please forgive me, etc. etc. My computers (yes, I have two; long story) are still out of commission. I am using Robert's laptop at the moment. I will fix them... soon. :)

I just wanted to write a note to say I am still alive and things are going well! This new year has brought new motivation for me to do many of the things I've been struggling to do: lose weight, write, improve spiritually, serve more, and just generally be a little bit better. I've been doing well so far. And I have started training again for a 5k. I think we're going to run one in May, but I haven't decided which one for sure we're going to do.

Anyway, I will post pictures soon, but I'm sorry I've been out of blog touch. I have not read any blogs in about a month... so I am sorry... and I have not blogged in over that amount of time! CA and UT were both so fun and it was an amazing trip. We're sad we didn't get to see everyone we wanted to, but we were SO happy we could spend the time with our families and see the friends we could!

More to come... soon! (-Jocelyn)