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Pioneer Day Festivities

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Living in Salt Lake City, we are lucky. Not only do we get to celebrate the 4th of July, but the 24th of July, too. Pioneer day! And, let me just say, that pioneer celebrations are huge in Utah. We like fireworks. Lots of them. I wonder what the pioneers think of our celebrations? My little family had a great day. We started out with our ward breakfast. This is a tradition in our ward. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, you name it. Then, at the end, there is a “parade” by all the kids in the ward. The kids bring their … Continue reading →

FHE with Small Children-Pioneer Day

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So, Sunday, I had the opportunity to teach sharing time in my ward. The topic was honesty, yet with pioneer day being two days away, I wanted to do something to talk about the pioneers too. I of course went to sugardoodle to look for ideas and I came across a great one to tell stories about pioneer children that were being honest. It was a great lesson. You can find that link here. The kids loved this idea so much that I thought it would make a great FHE lesson too. I decided to make a campfire for our … Continue reading →

Every Sunday

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Do you ever wonder how much your child is actually learning in Primary? Do you wonder if they are “getting it”? More importantly, do you worry about whether or not you are teaching them enough about the Gospel when you have those opportunities come up, or even when you don’t? I do. But, I am continually surprised by how much my daughter is learning, in fact. She is 5 and in the CTR class at church. She is not a morning person. We have the reverse block, which puts primary first at 9 am. I look over at her and … Continue reading →

Pioneer Day Celebrations

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As I mentioned before, Pioneer day is a big day here in Utah. It is a state holiday. Yesterday was the observance of Pioneer day since it fell on a Sunday. I actually spent a lot of time this past weekend thinking about the pioneers and being grateful for their trek into Utah. We started off the celebration on the actual day, in Primary. The children got up and sang two songs in Sacrament meeting. And, the talks were about some of our ward members’ ancestors that were pioneers. I couldn’t help but be grateful for these men and women … Continue reading →

Pioneer Appreciation

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I am not a history buff. In fact, I claim to hate history and want nothing to do with it. Unfortunately, this tends to encompass the history of my own church as well. I am not like many people that I have met that love to learn about church history, but give me a good fiction book to read, and I’m there! Growing up in Texas as a child, I was vaguely reminded of the pioneers and what they did for church history. And, when I say vaguely reminded I mean that I was probably given a lesson about the … Continue reading →

Celebrating Our Pioneer Heritage

July is a month where I always think about my pioneer ancestors. The pioneers sacrificed to come across the plains and to establish the church in Utah. All of the early members of the church made significant sacrifices to help to establish the church. It had to be difficult to leave your family, your home and everything you knew to go to a new place and start over. With travel conditions being so difficult, most people realized that they may never see their families again. In Utah there is a state holiday that celebrates these sacrifices, but for everyone living … Continue reading →

Lest We Forget: U.S. Troops and Families were Pioneers of International Adoption

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As we remember our servicemen and women, past and present, on this Memorial Day, it is worth noting how much the landscape of adoption in America was changed by servicemen and women. U.S. soldiers fighting in Europe, participating in the post-war occupations of Germany and Japan, and later serving in Korea, Vietnam and other Asian countries helped to familiarize their families back home with the needs of the many orphans they encountered. Although some of the armed services discouraged their personnel from adopting during their service, there are several stories about units informally taking on the cause of one or … Continue reading →

Latter-Day Hymns: Israel, Israel, God is Calling

Hymn #7 in our current LDS hymnbook is “Israel, Israel, God is Calling.” When I think of this hymn, I remember sitting in the old chapel on 100 West in Logan, Utah, with my Grandma Norton. This chapel has a lovely painting of a pioneer woman standing in front of a covered wagon, and this song so closely fits the message of that painting, it almost seems too much of a coincidence that I remember singing the song in that location. The lyricist, Richard Smyth, served three missions for the Church and often entreated new converts to “come to Zion.” … Continue reading →

Latter-day Saint Heroes and Heroines – Marlene Bateman Sullivan

What are you willing to sacrifice for your faith in Jesus Christ? What are you willing to do to stand firm in your testimony of the restored gospel? I just finished a remarkable book. Titled “Latter-day Saint Heroes and Heroines” and subtitled “Stories of Courageous Saints around the World,” it’s a compilation of stories about men and women who held strong to their faith under the most horrifying of circumstances. Many of these stories gave me chills, some of them made me cry, and every one of them caused me to stop and think. How strong is my testimony? If … Continue reading →

November in the Adoption Blog: Month in Review

I began the blog on All Saints Day with a tribute to certain “Saints” in U.S. Adoption and Pioneers in International Adoption. Then I wrote a tribute to the founder of my daughter’s Korean adoption agency, who has lived an exciting and multifaceted life and is remarkable for his humble concern for children. In honor of National Adoption Month, I wrote two blogs on Top Ten Myths about Adoption. For Part One, click here. For Part Two, click here. Then I wrote a blog about events on National Adoption Day, Saturday November 17. These events included finalizations of thousands of … Continue reading →