“The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.”
- Ezra Taft Benson

"Yes, Christ changes men, and changed men can change the world. Men changed for Christ will be captained by Christ. Like Paul they will be asking, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Their will is swallowed up in his will. They do always those things that please the Lord. Not only would they die for the Lord, but, more important, they want to live for Him."
-Ezra Taft Benson

"This life is not so much a time for getting and accumulating as it is a time for giving and becoming. Mortality is the battlefield upon which justice and mercy meet. But they need not meet as adversaries, for they are reconciled in the Atonement of Jesus Christ for all who wisely use Today."

-Lance B. Wickman

"Change your thoughts and you can change your world."

— Norman Vincent Peale

"Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.”
James Matthew Barrie

Sean and I have just finished Book Two in the Harry Potter series:

"Bed rest and perhaps a large steaming mug of hot chocolate.  I always find that that cheers me up."
~Dumbledore

well, if it weren't as hot as a steaming cup of hot chocolate outside at the moment, it might sound good to me too....maybe some ICED hot chocolate....hmmmm.....

"Again and again I therefore admonish my students in Europe and America: Don't aim at success -- the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long-run -- in the long-run, I say! -- success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it."
- Viktor Frankl

"I too believe that God will always make a way where there is no way. I believe that if we will walk in obedience to the commandments of God, if we will follow the counsel of the priesthood, he will open a way even where there appears to be no way."
-Gordon B. Hinckley,

"One of the great tributes the Savior can give is to call us “friends.” We know that He loves with a perfect love all of His Heavenly Father’s children. Yet for those who have been faithful in their service with Him, He reserves this special title.…We become His friends as we serve others for Him. He is the perfect example of the kind of friend we are to become."
-Henry B. Eyring

"Everything can be taken from a man but ...the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." by Viktor E. Frankl

A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner.
- English proverb

"The problems of our day loom ominously before us. Surrounded by the sophistication of modern living, we look heavenward for that unfailing sense of direction, that we might chart and follow a wise and proper course. He whom we call our Heavenly Father will not leave our sincere petition unanswered."

-Thomas S. Monson

"Thoughts mold your features. Thoughts lift your soul heavenward or drag you toward hell. … As nothing reveals character like the company we like and keep, so nothing foretells futurity like the thoughts over which we brood. … To have the approval of your conscience when you are alone with your thoughts is like being in the company of true and loving friends. To merit your own self-respect gives strength to character. Conscience is the link that binds your soul to the spirit of God."
-President David O. McKay

My sunflower...happiness on a stem!

 

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow.  It's what sunflowers do.
- Helen Keller

It should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his views beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity; but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world, and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn.
-George Washington, letter to the legislature of Pennsylvania, September, 1789

Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half sorrow.
- Swedish proverb

"We do not know the future, but our Father in Heaven does, and He will lead and guide us if we let Him. When we are in tune with the Spirit, we will see many small miracles happen in our lives. I have found that having the ability to see and recognize these small miracles is based upon my spiritual worthiness, my willingness to be obedient, and my desire to not allow myself to become complacent and caught up in worldly and personal pursuits."

-Ronald T. Halverson

I love and miss President Hinckley

"Cultivate an attitude of happiness. Cultivate a spirit of optimism. Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, in the testimony which you carry in your heart concerning things divine."
-Gordon B. Hinckley

The potential of the average person is like a huge ocean unsailed, a new continent unexplored, a world of possibilities waiting to be released and channeled toward some great good.
- Brian Tracy

Let Freedom Ring!!!

Sold - Thank You!!!!!

Ryan's Graduation...yes, time flies....

“The Lord’s tender mercies are the very personal and individualized blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindnesses, consolation, support, and spiritual gifts which we receive from and because of and through the Lord Jesus Christ. . . The Lord’s tender mercies do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Faithfulness, obedience, and humility invite tender mercies into our lives, and it is often the Lord’s timing that enables us to recognize and treasure these important blessings.”
-Elder David A. Bednar

Memorial Day - yesterday

"America's veterans have served their country with the belief that democracy and freedom are ideals to be upheld around the world."
- John Doolittle

"God expects you to have enough faith and determination and enough trust in Him to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. In fact, He expects you not simply to face the future (that sounds pretty grim and stoic); He expects you to embrace and shape the future--to love it and rejoice in it and delight in your opportunities.

God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can't if you don't pray, and He can't if you don't dream. In short, He can't if you don't believe."
— Jeffrey R. Holland

Oh So Breezy!!!

“The stronger the breeze the stronger the trees”

My little Graduate....Ryan!! Pictures....wonderful pictures...courtesy of Maddy Lemon!

While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.
Angela Schwindt

The backyard "happy place" Royce created for me....

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
Marcel Proust

Sarah Bear....

Yesterday my son in law graduated from college...yay Ryan!!.... and I was able to watch Sarah for Christi and Ryan. All I'm gonna say is "PURE DELIGHT!!!"
“Grandchildren are God's way of compensating us for growing old.”
Mary H. Waldrip

Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger
you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.
-- Epictetus

"True love requires action. We can speak of love all day long, we can write notes or poems that proclaim it, sing songs that praise it, and preach sermons that encourage it but until we manifest that love in action, our words are nothing but sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal."

--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Our Cherry Tree actually works!!!

Ocean View

"I hope you always have a shell in your pocket...and sand in your shoes."
Sold - - - Thank you!

Memories

sold - thank you!!!