Thoughts and stories, by Pal

I ran across this article this morning from a blog called:  LDS S.M.I.L E.  You  can also follow it at:    http://www.ldssmile.com   (Copy and paste)             It stands for LDS Spiritually Minded is Life Eternal. I have copied it as it was in their blog.  In my title, I mentioned I have had a Personal Gethsemane, not once, but two times, both quite different.  They are extremely personal, and I will not go into them here.  Only some family members know, and not even some of whom are my dearest friends.  Some deep problems are very personal, and some are known by many people, and perhaps are mentioned in the media!  They are as diverse as our lives are! But I do know the only thing that allowed me to keep my faith, courage, and personal self control to go on with normal life was our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the comfort I felt from prayer, and yes -- Personal Priesthood blessings. ...

I guess from time to time I should tell some about our own lives, Pal and Wayne Eckman.   Actually my full name is Paralee Miles (maiden name) Eckman, and Wayne's is Wayne D Eckman.  I was born Oct. 6, 1934, in St. George, Utah and Wayne was born Sept. 18th, 1930, in Murray, Utah, just south of Salt Lake City, in the same valley.  I have noticed some of our readers live in foreign countries, and that is fascinating to me!  How small our wonderful world is!   And I truly feel love and friendship for each one of you, whether we have met or not.  That seems to be something that comes with membership in the true Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!     This photo was on our wedding day, Sept. 24, 1955.  Since then we now have nine children, 29 grandchildren, and 13 great grandchildren. I grew up in St. George, when it was only about 5,000 people, and the Temple was on the south end of town.  Now it is in the center of town, wi...

This was posted by Brian Mickelson 4 days ago, on March 19, 2014.  I felt it had such inspired ideas that I kept it.  I hope it will give insight to you and inspiration.  There are many points on how to improve your own life, and also insights on working with others.  Brother Mickelson has been a bishop and institute teacher, and has gained a lot of wisdom.   Happy Sunday to you all -- New post on  Brian Mickelson.... 27 Principles I Learned While Serving in the LDS Church… by  BJM It has been nine years since I was called to be a bishop and about three since I was released. Those were busy, happy, sometimes lonely, often fun, and long days and times. I remember that season of our lives very, very positively. Some time in the middle of all of that I started making a list of leadership principles I was noticing and learning. As the months went on I continued adding to the list. A few items have been added since I was released. Bu...

  Today, I'm posting pictures of various family members, with a short description about each photo.  I hope you'll enjoy them!   This is a photo Wayne sent me when he was in the army in 1954.  I think Wayne is so handsome and I love the look on the young boy's face, and how he seems to really feel important with a soldier's arm around him!  This is a family photo of our daughter Pamela and her husband Robert Nicholson, and their family  taken 2007.  Standing are Skye, left, Caleb, and Miriam.   Yesterday, March 19, 2014, Skye entered the MTC in Provo, for her mission to the California, Irvine mission.  Front row, Lily, Pam holding baby Elizabeth (now 7 years old) Robert with Joy, and Leah. This is a photo of my mother, Ruth (who wrote the poems in blog # 95 -- the all time favorite!) and her sister Adelia, who was 5 years younger than Ruth, but she passed away a year or two before Ruth. This beautiful photo above...

Hiram  Miles Dayton was born 10 October 1821 at Welchfield, Ohio. He was the eldest son of  eleven children of Hiram and Permelia Bundy Dayton.  His parents had been prosperous farmers and stock raisers, and had a beautiful home in  Parkman, Ohio. During their prosperity Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, came to Parkman and taught  them the Gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They were converted and baptized  Feb. 18, 1832. After this, even their friends and neighbors heaped persecutions upon them. Hiram  Miles was a boy of eleven years and it was hard for him to understand this sudden hostility of his  associates. Following the new church, the family moved to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1834 and went through the  many persecutions there. In 1838 they moved to Davis County, Missouri, then to Far West, Jackson County, Missouri. They were driven out of Missouri into Illinois. The Prophet Joseph Smith had purchased a large...

William Chamberlain and his wife Mary Allen Chamberlain were the great grandparents of Gladys Tregenna Dayton Eckman.  Anne Chamberlain, mentioned below, became the wife of Hiram Miles Dayton, and was Gladys's grandmother.   Hiram's father's history is told about in blog # 67.  William Chamberlain was born 27th October, 1815, in Ewelme, Oxfordshire, England. He was married November 12, 1836 to Mary Allen, born 1 Jan 1815, also born in Oxfordshire, England . They spent the first part of their married life in England where Mary gave birth to John 1838; Henry, 1840; Elizabeth, 1842;  and Joseph in 1844, who died at 11 months of age.  They lived near Oxford, which has the oldest university in the English speaking world.  As the oldest university in the English-speaking world, Oxford is a unique and historic institution. There is no clear date of foundation, but teaching existed at Oxford in some form in 1096 and developed rapidly from 1167, when Henry II...