Thoughts and stories, by Pal

Thursday, February 20 2014 Are Wayward Children Strategically Placed in Families? By Larry Barkdull Comment on Article In the article in Meridian today, there was another photo.  I saw this on Facebook and decided to add it, because it is so precious, to see Pres. Thomas S. Monson with a baby. (This article was adapted from  Rescuing Wayward Children .  Click here to learn more .) Over the years, I’ve listened to many parents who suffer because their children have departed from the plan of happiness. Some parents have wondered if they are at fault; others wonder if they are being punished: “What did I do to deserve this child?” I’ve answered “Probably a lot. But you weren’t given the child as a punishment. Likely, you chose the assignment.” When we are faced with an overwhelming challenge, we can become myopic. We tend to see the event narrowly, as if it were confined to a brief season in mortality. While we acknowledge that we lived ...

I have many photos of the family over the years.  It is hard to choose which to publish, as they all are so precious and each one brings out many memories.  Everyone in each of our children's families has such a wonderful enduring place in our hearts.  If any of you have photos you'd like included, please send them! My older half sister, Delsy, and me (Pal) when I was about 1 year old, about 1935. Our son Allen with his family -- clockwise, Chris, Holli, Allen Jr., (Max the dog) Marion, Curt, about 2000. Max, the same dog above, with Sam Lieske (Anita's son) and Allen Jr. sitting on him!     My dear mother, Ruth, (with Pal) in Porter's Care Center, when Anita brought her 4 boys to visit their great-grandmother.  Ruth is holding David, (now 16) and Sam (now a returned missionary) standing close, then Anita on the right, holding Ben, (on a mission to Taiwan) and Jake, soon to put in his mission papers. Our son Allen, our only son (or ...

I hope any of you who are interested will try the "Translate" option which is before the "labels". I have read two very good new thoughts today!  The first was the last statement of a writer who writes for our St. George daily newspaper -- The Spectrum. (February 18, 2014)   Actually -- I'll include part of his last paragraph (George Stoddard of the Writers Group) -- "I value community.  At its heart are people who interact daily.  Sometimes it is just a casual wave or touch while passing and at others it is coming together to support a friend or neighbor facing one of life's many challenges . . . . . I am grateful to be living in this special part of the world sharing it with so many I can call friends."                          (and then this special thought) ---    "Gratitude is the foundation of contentment as we live our latter years." I can honestly say I am so grateful for mor...

  I decided to split this entry into part 1 and part 2.  I realized it probably is too long for one entry, and as I am approaching 100 posts, I am re-thinking how I should do it.  I had one ancestor, Thomas Colborn, told about in the previous entry, who was in Zion's Camp.  This is a brief history of:                                                      ZION'S CAMP In the winter of 1833–34 the Saints in Jackson County, Missouri, were persecuted and driven out of their homes by enemy mobs . The Saints had very little food and no protection from the winter weather.  Church leaders in Missouri sent Parley P. Pratt and Lyman Wight to Kirtland to seek help and guidance from the Prophet Joseph Smith.  The Prophet received a revelation ( D&C 103 ) directing him to organize a group of men to march to Missouri and help ...

I decided to make this into two entries, as it was too long.  Please check entry # 99, # 2 which follows this story.  It tells details of Zion's Camp .    Early Church history has always fascinated me.  What inspiration the Prophet Joseph received, to be the instrument for setting up the true Church in these last days.  He received "line upon line".  One of those deciding experiences was when the Prophet Joseph took men on what has been historically called "Zion's Camp", in 1834.   Thomas Colborn, my gg grandfather was one of the men who went with Zion's Camp.  He was the son of Jonathan Colborn and Hannah Hamilton Colborn, born 3 August 1801, at Genoa, Cayuga County, New York.  He was baptized on April 15, 1833, and his wife Sarah on December 26, 1834.  I wish we had more details about their conversion.   As far as we can find out he is the only one of the family who accepted Mormonism, and he was opposed by his paren...

Many years ago I had the opportunity and blessing to meet President David O. McKay in person.  I wish I could remember it more clearly.  The first time was with a Seminary class while I was in high school.  Growing up in St. George during that time, we didn't get to Salt Lake City often, and each spring the Seminary students took a trip up, and toured the Church Office building, and saw the Tabernacle, Salt Lake Temple, and other interesting places there.  The tall Church Office  building wasn't built for many years after.  I remember what a gracious and polite gentleman he was.  Around this same time, Wayne was on a mission in Sweden, and the highlight of his mission was having Pres. David O. McKay, and his wife Emma Ray Riggs McKay, when they were making a tour of missions in Europe.  Wayne took the photo below. A few years later, we were living in the Salt Lake Valley, and President McKay was returning from an airplane trip to Scotland,...