"Wonky's Book Worms"

Just as 2 Corinthians showed me how Paul sought to prepare those ancient Saints for the return of the Savior, I should prepare myself for when the Savior returns. I need to stay strong in the faith, live righteously and repent of all my sins. I need to reflect upon how I am saved through the atonement of Christ. No matter how righteous I become, it is still by the divine grace of Christ that I can receive salvation.


The scripture reading for this week is Ephesians Chapters 4-6, Philippians, Colossians, and 1 Thessalonians Chapters 1-3.

Donny Dance Forum

WOW! We really missed something! Were you there dancing with Donny? Looks pretty fun to me.

Will Wayne's project be finished before we leave for Branson?

This view is taken from the top of the stairs in the front yard. The staircase is going down on the south side of the house to the backyard. Wayne has finished the framing!

This photo was taken from the bottom of the stairs in the backyard where Wayne started building the levels and stairs up to the front yard.

Wayne loves his tools and even better he uses them. He loves to use the exact tool for it's specific purpose.

Wayne is really enjoying building his elaborate redwood staircase to match our two decks in the back of the house. Greg, Steve, Jared (Steve's friend) helped Wayne redo the decks in the back and replaced the existing wood with redwood right before Steve left on his mission to England.

When Emma is taking a nap Noah and I check to see how far Wayne has progressed. Sarah has been in training classes for her new job the past two days so Noah, Emma and I have been having a fun time together. Noah's favorite thing to do with Grandma right now is playing with Play-Doh. Red is his favorite color and we are on our third jar of red Play-Doh because it dries out so fast when that is the main color that he plays with all the time. Today we made 20 horses in different colors and sizes along with snakes and other animals.

Since Jeff, Amy and their 5 children are coming this weekend to stay for about 10 days, I went and bought a 25 pack of Play-Doh tonight so everyone can have fun together. There are 25 different colors to choose from. I don't know if Jacob will enjoy playing Play-Doh with us but I know Lizzy, Jenny, Noah and probably Maia will have fun. We are really looking forward to their visit. I haven't seen Hailey since she was born. We'll invite the other grandchildren to come and play with the Play-Doh too. 

Fun, Fun, Fun!!!

It's going to be a continuous party for about 10 days. Being a grandmother is the very best!

Hailey's growing up too fast!

Pigeon Forge, Tennessee Shows

Join The Osmond Brothers - Wayne, Jay & Jimmy as they perform in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee August 29-September 2, 2011 and be a part of the fun & excitement of an EXCLUSIVE Meet & Greet Adventure in the Beautiful Smoky Mountains!

The adventure begins at The Smith Family Theater - Admission $40/person – payable (cash or check) when you enter the Meet & Greet Tuesday, August 30th...

11:00 AM - 2:00 PM in the theater auditorium ...

- Snacks & beverages will be available for purchase at the theater concession stands

- Games/Prizes - A Q&A with the brothers - Chances on a raffle basket & merchandise will be available

You will have your photo taken with The Osmond Brothers and it will be loaded onto a Miracle Gift Flash Drive Lanyard benefiting Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (you will receive the Miracle Gift Flash Drive Lanyard during the event).

You will also receive one of the new Osmond CMN Miracle Gift Cards

which includes a CD with The Osmond Brothers singing “Stars & Stripes” and a bonus video of the Miracle Story (also given to you at no additional cost at the Meet & Greet).

Following the Meet & Greet at the theater, we will go on an “Outing With The Osmond Brothers” – we will take a beautiful tour with Rocky Top Tours of the mountains, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg and Sevierville (the home of Dolly Parton), and will also be making a SPECIAL SURPRISE STOP!

Attendees will receive PREFERRED SEATING when they purchase their tickets for the Osmond Brothers’ shows at The Smith Family Theater Monday, August 29th and/or Wednesday, August 31st.

The River Bend Hotel is offering a special rate to Osmond family and friends, so if you need accommodations make sure to request this discount when you call the theater for your show tickets. (Note: There are a limited number of hotel rooms for reservations between August 28 and September 1.)

- E-mail terri@jayosmond.com by August 10th to reserve your spot at the event. Put PIGEON FORGE EVENT in your e-mail subject line, and include your full name in the body of the e-mail. (If you have more than one person attending, please include the full name of each person in your group.)

- To purchase show tickets and/or to reserve at the special hotel rate, call The Smith Family Theater toll free 866-399-8100 between the hours of 9:00 AM & 5:00 PM ET and ASK FOR RACHEL.

We are asking attendees to bring a new, small plush toy or children’s book to the Meet & Greet. These toys and books will be donated to the Children’s Hospital in Knoxville by The Osmond Brothers. Note: A portion of your entry fee will be benefiting CMN Hospitals.

I will look forward to seeing you in Pigeon Forge!

One Good Apple Dish

Adam and Sarah made us all a yummy Sunday night treat! We all thought it was so tasty that you may want to try it.

Topping:
1 cup butter, cold
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup oatmeal
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
(Sarah cut these ingredients in half, except the oatmeal because Sarah loves the extra oatmeal)

In a large bowl, mix butter, brown sugar, flour, oatmeal and baking powder just until the butter is broken up and the ingredients are mixed. Mixture should be crumbly. Set aside.

Filling:
8 fresh medium apples, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Place apples in 9 X 13 inch pan. Sprinkle with sugar, salt and cinnamon. Crumble crisp topping on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Joe loved the apple dish so much that he had a 3rd helping.

"Wonky's Book Worms"

Paul taught that the greatest of all the spiritual gifts is charity. The attributes of charity are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7.

"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.

Doth not behave unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."

After reading these scriptures I am going to seek to develop and pray for the gift of charity. Charity is the highest form of love. If I have charity then I will have the same love for others that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for all people. If I had the gift of charity I would show love for others the same way that Jesus Christ showed love to others and they would be able to feel my love for them. Having charity is a gift given by God who truly seek it and live a life that is worthy to be able to receive this gift. I will probably never receive this gift in this life but I might as well start striving for it now.

I have a friend that joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a young adult. She was totally disowned by all her family, thrown out of her house and told never to contact them again. Having come from an abusive family she had a hard time knowing what it was like to be loved and especially what the perfect love of charity would feel like. One night while saying her prayers and pleading again to feel the love that her Heavenly Father had for her, the most wonderful feeling of love come over her. For a short time she knew what it felt like to have such a perfect love like her Heavenly Father possessed. Having never felt real love from her family and then being rejected by them, this experience helped her realize what charity really is and she felt that wonderful love our Heavenly Father had for her and has individually for each one of us. This made an incredible difference in how she related to her husband, family, friends and the children (18 months to 12 years old) that later became her stewardship to be responsible for at Church. I could feel that very special love she had for each child in the primary every Sunday and during the week when she would teach, interact and work with the children. What a wonderful inspiration she is to me and I am so thankful that she shared her experience with me to help me learn more about charity.

Charity is defined in the Bible dictionary as "the highest, noblest, strongest kind of love, not merely affection; the pure love of Christ. It is never used to denote alms or deeds or benevolence, although it may be a prompting motive."

What impressed you in your reading this past week?

Our reading July 24 -30 is 2 Corinthians Chapters 9 through 13, the Book of Galatians which is 6 chapters and Ephesians chapters 1-3.

Olive Osmond's Perpetual Hearing Fund

Justin, Virl and Tom went to Mexico and sponsored over 2,000 children with the gift of hearing. Justin expressed what a neat experience and an honor it was to work alongside his two deaf uncles and witness his Grandmother Olive Osmond's dream come true. These are some of the highlights of the trip.

Wayne Osmond tribute

Wayne's Project

Wayne's building project

Noah, Grandpa and I are having a slumber party tonight or as they now call it - a sleep over. Do you have any fun ideas that would make the night more memorable?

Wayne's 43 Year Old Shoes

Wayne has a tendency to get attached to things and doesn't want to give them up. That includes old clothes, old cars, old shoes, etc. Wayne has been working outside with shoes that he has had since he was 17 years old. Maybe some of you might recognize them? We all decided that the reason Wayne fell outside when he was working was because of the worn out shoes that he was wearing. He agreed and has finally decided to give them up and not wear them anymore. Yeah!

Don't you love the matching stripes in his shirt and pants? 

Fun in the Sun!!!

Create your own free digital slideshow

Wayne got in a fight!

One week ago Wayne came into the house from working outside in the yard with a swollen, red and black eye. We could tell it was bleeding under the skin from close to the corner of the left eye heading down to his cheek. Because he was still complaining about a fall he had taken the night before we were worried that the black eye and the fall might be connected. When Michelle and I saw his eye and how it was getting worse by the minute we really put some pressure on him to go to the hospital or see a doctor, but he just wanted to wait until the next day.

The night before Wayne was out fixing the sprinkling system in the dark while holding a flashlight and fell, hurting his head and ribs. He just had to get that last sprinkler finished before he could come into the house that night. 

Luckily Sarah, who is a registered nurse, came home and looked at his eye. She could tell that he had a scratch or bite next to the corner of his eye so she didn't think that it was related to his fall the night before which made Michelle and I feel better.  We could see that his eye was still bleeding but he wasn't the least concerned. By the morning it looked even worse. (You might have noticed his black eye in the photo that was taken at the Olive Garden Wednesday when we had trouble with Sarah's car). 

Today Wayne had an appointment with Dr. Steve to have another root canal done. Steve not only worked on the 2nd most difficult root canal that he has ever done in his history of root canals, but also solved the mystery of Wayne's black eye.

At church on Sunday everyone was teasing Wayne about who won the fight and they'd like to see what the other guy looked like. Wayne responded by telling everyone that he had gotten into a fight with a wasp and the wasp won. I wondered about that explanation because he hadn't mentioned a wasp before Sunday. I could tell that everyone that asked him about his black eye tried to keep a straight face when he explained it to them. They couldn't tell if Wayne was joking or not.

Today Steve took a look at Wayne's black eye and pulled a stinger out from under the skin. Wayne really did have a fight with a wasp I guess. I never know what to believe. He was pulling weeds, cutting down shrubs and trees that day, so I figured he had been scraped by a twig or something. The wound was infected too, but we couldn't tell from looking at the outside of his face. It's a good thing Steve did a root canal on Wayne today. Thank you Steve and Sarah for taking care of your dad and to Michelle for trying to help me talk him into going to the hospital or doctor - even though he wouldn't go. It takes a big family to take care of Wayne.

"Wonky's Book Worms"

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?


If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

I loved how Paul reminded me that I am a temple of God and that the Spirit of God can only dwell with me when I am keeping the commandments of God. 


The Saints in Corinth had started to fall away from Christ's teachings and were straying outside the lines of the gospel. Paul told the Saints to repent of the ways they were straying. He reminded the Saints to avoid contention and to be unified, to rely on God's wisdom not the wisdom of the world and to be morally clean, etc.

This weeks reading:  1 Corinthians chapters 9 - 16 and 2 Corinthians chapters 1 - 6.

Jay's Einstein Salad

Toss together a variety of fresh vegetables:              
Lettuce
Celery
Cucumbers
Grated carrots
Turnips
Radishes
Bean sprouts
Other vegetables if desired
                                                                                
Toss with Roquefort Dressing

*When Jay was small, he asked his mother why she put bean sprouts in the salad. She explained that they contained enzymes. Jay confused the word with Einstein so they named it Jay's Einstein Salad.
                                  

Wayne's 16th Anniversary

Wayne had his cancerous brain tumor removed 16 years ago at Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina. It was on July 16th which was a Sunday the year of 1995. We're so thankful to Dr. Henry Friedman for convincing us that Wayne needed to have the operation done in Durham and for Dr. Allen Friedman who dropped everything to spend his day off operating on Wayne. 

Special thanks to all of you for your thoughts, prayers, cards and genuine concern in his behalf.  It really is a miracle that he totally recovered and is still performing. If you ask him he will tell you that he is really thankful for the experience because his faith grew so much during that time and he appreciates life even more now than ever!

We're trying to get him to write a book about his experience and what he learned from it to help others, but so far he hasn't attempted to begin writing. Maybe he needs everyone's encouragement and interest to show that we really are all interested in reading about his struggles, how he beat the odds and totally recovered from a cancerous brain tumor. What do you think?

Noah Loves Cousins to Visit!

Aunt Kaylynn Meets Emma

Car Troubles

This morning Sarah, Michelle, Noah, Emma and I started out to visit my sister, Debbie, in Ogden and whoever else she could round up. They haven't seen Emma yet and Noah loves to play with Lindsay's little girl, Lily. We were driving on the freeway and right before we got to Layton, a driver of a semi started honking his horn at us. We couldn't figure out why, but pulled off of the freeway at the Layton Mall exit to pick up some take out at the Olive Garden to take up to Debbie's house where we were going to meet. As we drove off the exit all of a sudden smoke was billowing out of the hood in the front of Sarah's new Jeep and horrible smelling fumes filled the inside. It's a 2010 model that they bought less that 2 weeks ago which is really annoying. Isn't that why we buy newer cars - so we don't have as many car problems? 

Don't you love Wayne's pants from Ecuador that Joe and Michelle gave him to match his "We be Jammin'" T-shirt?

After over an hour of Sarah making many phone calls, a tow truck came and took her new vehicle back to the dealership in Bountiful where they bought it. Debbie thought that we were stranded, so she with her daughter Lindsay and granddaughter Lily came to the Olive Garden to find us and have lunch. After lunch, Wayne came to pick us up. After having some soup and bread sticks, he hauled us home. It was a long, involved process but we ended up seeing Debbie, Lindsay and Lily and having some fun too. 

This evening we learned that the previous owner of Sarah's Jeep had filled the transmission fuel too high and when the Jeep got too hot from driving along the freeway, the transmission fuel went all over. We were all relieved that it wasn't a big deal but how could we know? Anyway, another adventure to chalk up. Don't you love car problems. I don't care what kind of car we have - just one that works. Ha!

More Family Fun!

Aunt Michelle taught Aili how to make headbands, necklaces and bracelets.

2011 Hit Parade Hall of Fame

 The 2011 Hit Parade Hall of Fame Nominees awaiting your vote are The Commodores with Lionel Ritchie; The Doobie Brothers; Earth, Wind & Fire; Ferrante & Teicher; Hall & Oates; The Isley Brothers; The Miracles with Smokey Robinson; The Osmonds with Donny & Marie; Billy Preston; Sly & the Family Stone; The Spinners and Bruce Springsteen. 

Click Here to vote for the Osmonds with Donny and Marie.

Thank you for voting. Right now as I post this - the Osmonds have the most votes.

Wonky's Book Worms"

I love reading about the early years of the Church of Jesus Christ. Paul was an amazing missionary as he preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He said in Romans 1:16:

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

Even when under pressure from those that aren't followers of Jesus Christ and/or those not following the commandments of Christ, I want to be able to feel and say "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ" and live in a way that others know that I am not afraid to live and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.


The reading for this week, July 10 to July 16th, is:  Romans Chapters 11-16 and 1 Corinthians Chapters 1-8.