Sunday Dinner/Veteran's Day

I just love spending time with my family. I especially enjoy Autumn and all her craziness! She cracks me up whenever I am around her. Andrew was starting to feel homesick for Sunday dinners with my family so he asked me to take some pictures for him. This is one I got of Autumn. It was a pretty typical dinner with the family, everyone on their best behavior :) My favorite part was when a couple of girls came to the house to talk to Chad so he went out on the front porch. Noah opened the living room window and called out "Your mom goes to college!" I thought it was hilarious! My dad tackled him and held him down thumping on his chest. Noah did that whole high pitched laugh, it was pretty funny to watch. Then my dad told Autumn to come over and get Noah too. She didn't realize they were playing so she walked over all calm like and slapped Noah across the face so hard it left a red streak. I am laughing to myself now just thinking about it. To all of you reading this it might not seem that funny but it was. You just have to trust me on this. The love we have for each other in my family is so great that it can withstand these times of affectionate "love taps!"
I don't know who all was able to go to the fireside on Sunday night for the Veteran's, but it was very well done. I thought it was a nice way to recognize the sacrifices that so many have made. It seems like in these times we live in there isn't a lot of support for those men and women who sacrifice so much. They have done, and continue to do, some amazing things in this world. Not only for us here at home, but for millions of others as well. I really liked what Bro. Hansen said about everyone being children of God. It saddens me that anyone loses their lives through war and the ugliness that goes along with it, but I truly believe in God's plan and take comfort in the fact that the work can be done for these men and women who have given so much. I often wonder about what it was like for Moroni to watch all of the people he loved die for their righteous convictions or their wickedness. It seems to me that his feelings were the same for both groups, love and saddness. I often think of his words "O ye fair ones," and look at the world around me. We are living in a time when there are wars and rumors of wars. And the battles being fought come in all shapes and sizes. When I was, I think, 14 our YW camp theme was M.A.S.H. (Mighty angels serving Heaven). I often think of the words to the song we sang that year and I think they are fitting for this time and for the times to come.
"The war is raging all around me. I'm weary and battle worn. The darkness of the night surrounds me, threatening to destroy. And the battlefield is strewn with broken lives. Torn and tattered in the struggle to survive. But I will not be a casualty of this war I didn't start, I'll fight it with a fearless heart. The darkness bids me to surrender, my weakness bids me to retreat. But faith sustains its true defenders with the promise of relief. And the battlefield is strewn with broken lives, torn and tattered in the struggle to survive, but I will not be a casualty of this war I didn't start, I'll fight it with a fearless heart. I will not lay my courage down, til the enemy is bound, I will not die. And the battlefield is strewn with broken lives, torn and tattered in the struggle to survive. But I will not be a casualty of this war I didn't start. I'll fight it with a fearless heart."
As we think of those men and women serving in the armed forces and fighting in the literal wars of our day, let us not forget that each of us in a member of a much larger army and the war we are fighting started long ago and will continue to the end.