My Prayer

Dear Father I thank Thee for all I've given
I don't feel that I deserve all I have here
The love of my parents who taught me the gospel
oh please bless them Father and always stay near.
My wife and my children the happiness they bring
for all of these blessings I sing

Dear Father for Jesus I thank Thee completely
My only hope is in all that He's done
His teachings, His longings for me to come home
oh please help me Father like Jesus become
increase my faith in your true eternal plan
Dear Father I know that you can.........

Death??

Death?? Oh yes!! I'm familiar with him
He has taken my brother, my sister, my friend
He has taken my father, my granddaughter too
He has taken the old, he has taken the new.

And each time he came he tore me a part
and left me with such a large hole in my heart
but all you who loved me knew of my pain
and helped me until I felt normal again

So each day I pray and thank God above
For each one of you and all of your love
and I thank Him for each of those dear ones who've died
for they each added joy and brought strength to my life

And I know that some day death will visit again
I don't know the who or the how or the when
and when he comes I'll be broken anew
but thanks to you all I know I'll make it through

and someday death will come calling for me
and when he does, what a friend he will be
for love is eternal and death cannot end
this love that I feel for my family and friends

Jayden is waiting, Roberta is there
When we finally meet a reunion we'll share
and I know that my joy will be more than my pain
when I finally see all my loved ones again

Poems for silliness

This one earned me extra credit in high school and is the earliest poem in my memory
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Once I told a little lie I didn't even stop to try
and think that it might hurt someone
that they'd get blamed for what I'd done
that they'd get spanked and yelled at too
for something that they did not do
and this is why a person should not lie
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If you recite this with a cowboy twang you'll get the sarcastic feel of it all
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I picked up the paper and turned to the section
of people who died yesterday
and I got to wonderin' if they had one more chance
what are the things that they'd say?
Then I got thinkin' , Hey! that could have been me
instead of them on this page
so if I should kick off tomorrow please know
How much I love you today.

In all of the hustle and all of the bustle
of life that we face everyday
Those who are near to us, those that are dear to us
are those that should hear us say
you are my every thing, please hear these words I sing
tomorrow will bring what it may
so if I should kick off tomorrow please know
how much I love you today

Tiny fingers

Amy made a request for this. This was inspired by watching the girls as growing babies and wanting to teach them about life
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Tiny fingers wrapped around my thumb
Baby's laughter, your face is full of crumbs
Lie beside the one who gave you birth
She and I will tell you the wonders of the earth

The beauty as the sunshine greets another day
The wonder of a smile that chases tears away
Flowers in the springtime, the colored leaves of fall
The joy of having friends with whom to share it all

Tiny fingers wrapped around my thumb
Baby's laughter your face is full of crumbs
Lie beside the one who gave you birth
She and I will tell you the heart aches of the earth

The pain that burns within you when a loved one dies
Perplexed because there are no answers to your whys
War and its destruction, a million tears will fall
Each day that your alive you'll have to face it all

Tiny fingers wrapped around my thumb
Baby's laughter your face is full of crumbs
Lie beside the one who gave you birth
She and I will tell you the purpose of the earth

Each day will bring a lot of good and bad for you
So always help the needy, try your best to do
Both of us can truly tell you that this life's worth while
Oh yes we know it is every time you smile...................

My lullaby

Here is a song I use to get the little ones to go to sleep while they are under my care...
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My little child the day is through
I hope that it was nice to you
your precious face has made me smile
Now let me sing to you awhile

There was a time I felt alone
your mother came, we made our home
and now you're here and you're so sweet
I need no more, my life's complete.

So close your eyes and go to sleep
your mom and I will try to keep
you safe from harm your whole life through
Please always know that we love you

There was a time I felt alone
your mother came, we made our home
and now you're here and you're so sweet
I need no more, my life's complete.

Your mother whispered in my ear
and now my eyes are filled with tears
I feel so blessed! What can I say?
Your baby sister's due next May.........

Day 3

Here is a poem inspired by the raunchy portraying in some rap and other songs of what I feel is something intimate and personal.
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It was 7 til 2:00 it was heaven with you
It was pure delight.
You were with me at 1:53
It was a magical night

You made me smile for such a long while
We were as one as two people can be
It was heaven with you at 7 til 2:00
yes it was 1:53

We had so much to say that all the next day
We walked hand in hand
Together we walked, together we talked
Together we made our plans

That night we danced and we romanced
and then it happened all over again

It was 7 til 2:00 it was heaven with you
It was pure delight
You were with me at 1:53
It was a magical night

I made you smile for such a long
We were as one as two people can be
It was heaven with you at 7 til 2:00
Yes it was 1:53

Dot related because of her birthday...

Here are a couple of poems that are Dot related. The first will be the short one which I wrote for our 20th anniversay. These are lyrics put to music but for this post will pass for poetry
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It was twenty years ago today
you came into my life to stay
I have never felt more okay
and I know you feel the same

and through out those twenty years
we've wiped away each others tears
you've helped me conquer every fear
that's why I always want you near

so now to heaven I implore
please, won't you give us twenty more
'cause of this one thing I am sure
without her I could not endure

and may our future years be blessed
with grandchildren and happiness
for this I truly will profess
of all men....I'm the luckiest.........
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Today's the day you completely changed my life
Today's the day that you became my wife
and now the world looks so much lovelier to me
and as you stay that's how its always gonna be

For now the sun seems brighter, I hear more laughter
and I feel things I've never felt before
My dear you've helped me open heaven's door

So as we walk together down the road of life
some days we'll laugh and there'll be days that we will cry
and one by one as our children come along
they'll look to us and we will sing to them this song

For now the sun seems brighter, I hear more laughter
and I feel things I've never felt before
My child you've helped me open heaven's door

Then when we're older and we're sitting side by side
We'll watch our grandchildren our hearts will fill with pride
and I'll look back at all the things that we passed through
and I will say I'm glad I spent my life with you

For now the sun seems brighter, I hear more laughter
and I feel things I've never felt before
My dear you've helped me open heaven's door

Some time next century when our lives are finally through
You'll see my spirit and my spirit will know you
We'll have those same old feelings as before
and hand in hand together we'll walk through heaven's door....

Who knew???

There is a national poetry day in October, a national poety week in late August and a national poetry month in March...or so my google search informed me. Each day this week I'll post a poem I have written and I'll start off with this short poem I wrote for Dad and our love for basketball.

You cheered me on in basketball and in everything I've done
you've been proud to be my father, I've been proud to be your son
but when this life is over and our spirit life's begun
on that first day back in heaven I will take you one on one..........

Talk in church with Joel as the main topic

This past week I gave a talk in church. As the new Ward Mission Leader I got my first speaking opportunity as we had the most recently returned missionary report to the ward.
The topic was missionary work of course and I used Joel as a prime example of how he bettered himself and chose to serve the Lord.
A mathematical fact I presented was this, there are around 13 million members world wide and 6billion people on the earth. That means that each member has the charge to introduce nearly 500 people to the gospel. Take into consideration most members let the full time missionaries do all the gospel sharing. Now, if 10% of the church were full time missionaries (which isn't true) then each missionary would have to contact and teach 5,000 people to have the work fill the entire earth. Take into account that missionaries travel in pairs, each pair would have to teach 10,000 people...the message was that everyone needs to be a part time missionary.
We can each do some changing in our lives in the missionary effort so that we can benefit the lives of others as Joel changed and benefitted each of our lives

Many times our minds were piqued by something we had seen and we were curious enough to investigate some certain situation. On one particular cowboy show, Dennis and I were put off at the fact a man had hanged himself simply by kicking a stool out from under himself. Fake…boo. How could that possibly be fatal? I was seven at the time and Dennis was closing in on his ninth birthday. We had seen numerous hangings where the trap door was released and the bad guy’s neck was snapped as the slack ran out of the rope after a 10 foot fall. Now that was how hanging killed someone!!!
Still, we were curious as to how much death a person could inflict on themselves simply by kicking out a stool so we decided to field our own little experiment. For this we needed some rope, which we found in the back yard by the tree house. We didn’t know how to make a hangman’s noose so we just made a simple slip knot and made sure it wouldn’t come loose when we tried to hang ourselves.
With our rope now ready we needed a beam to throw the rope over. We easily realized the branch of our front yard tree would make a suitable beam, so we headed for the front yard.
Now we were ready to validate our hypothesis that just merely dangling from the end of a rope cannot cause death. To enact our plan it was agreed I would climb up the tree and put the noose over my head. I would then slip off the branch and hold onto the rope myself as I dangled in mid air. If indeed, I could tell this was a possible way of causing death I would let go of the rope myself and gravity would pull me to the ground, thus ending the experiment.
I climbed up the tree, got out into the middle of the branch, put the noose over my head and let myself slip off the branch while I kept a hold of it as if I were going to do chin ups. I let go of the branch with one hand and used it to grab a hold of the rope. There I was, possibly suspended between life and death. I had one hand on the branch, the other hand on the rope. The experiment was now only seconds away from its start. I let go of the branch and held on tight to the rope with both hands.The rope immediately tightened around my neck as I slipped down a few inches from the branch and the slack went out of the rope. I was quick to grab the rope with both hands. The grip only lasted for a hundredth of a second as I could instantly tell this was not a recommended activity for the human body. The slip knot held wonderfully as the full weight of my body was hanging there from the tree with only my head keeping me inside the noose. The fire in my throat was a quick reaction to the rope pushing my larynx deeper into my neck. The experiment was over in a second. I knew this was a bad way to die so I let go of the rope…My descent to earth did not happen. I was slowly slipping farther away from the branch. Finding myself in this precarious situation I started to flail my hands and wrench my body as if…as if…well..as if I were choking to death!!
Dennis immediately saw the cause of my slow return to earth. He was standing on the rope. He made a quick side step off the rope and I came hurtling down with a thud. With the slack now back in the rope I was able to breath again. I pulled the rope away from my neck and off my head. I had a rope burn about an inch wide all the way around my neck. I tried to cry, but could only emit a sound made by someone whose mouth is full of marshmallows. The rope had temporarily robbed me of my voice.
What is the moral of this story??? Don’t try hanging yourself. It is painful, dangerous and stupid.