Yesterday, 12 March 2011, the family in town went to Susie & Jeff Boardman's house (where Great Grandma Jane Twelmeyer lives) to celebrate Uncle Tom's and Alayna's birthdays. Uncle John and Alayna & Samantha came down from Hazelhurst, WI. Attending were Susie, Jeff, John, Alayna, Samantha (Sherrie remained in Hazelhurst), Tom, Linda, Jim, Josh, Bobbie Boeing, Matt, Tracy, Luke, Julia, Jane, Daxton, and Pierce (Josh was at work at Apple selling the new Ipad)...for a short while T.J. and Haley Anderson and their baby, Brentley, were also sharing in the festivities. We had submarine sandwiches, cheesy potatos, relishes, peach jello made with whipped cream, lemonade, soda, and Heath cake. Delicious! Alayna and Samantha helped Susie make the cake. Great Grandma thoroughly enjoyed watching the little ones, as did the rest of us.
Earlier on Saturday Linda and I served in the Family History Center at the North Milwaukee Stake Center. We work from 1 PM to 4 PM and closing time came upon us before we even realized it. We love our callings as FHC (Family History Consultants).
On Friday I spoke with Mary Jane Koerner (my older sister) and learned that David, Miki, and Asato John (A.J.) were safe in Hiroshima... on the SE coast of the big island of Japan, quite far from the earthquake and tsunami which hit the NE coast of Japan. We thank God our Heavenly Father for keeping them safe. David also emailed Uncle Tom who emailed us the news.
Today, Sunday, as High Priest Group Leader, I tought the HP Group lesson 27 in the Gospel Principles book, about Work. We had a great discussion and there were 3 older dads with us who had come to Milwaukee from the West to visit their medical school sons and their families.
Today Spencer and Momma started this blog. I am very thankful they did and I have committed to Spence that I will post every Sunday. I believe the concept of family blogs is inspired. What a wonderful age we live in!
I must note my observations about current Wisconsin and US politics. Just as families must live within budget, so must our governments. There are many good projects which are not affordable and which must wait or not be commenced at all. Such is life. I believe as Pres. Ezra Taft Benson wrote, that unions have been necessary to protect workers from abuse by their employers, but then the pendulum swings to abuse of owners of private enterprises or the public (taxpayers) by the unions... Wisconsin's public union members for decades have gotten pay and benefits much higher than taxpayers, the average middle class workers. Gov. Walker removed the privileges of collective bargaining from the unions in all but wages and hours. They also are now required to pay nominal amounts for their health insurance and towards their pensions. Union membership will now be optional for public employees and dues will no longer be taken automatically from their paychecks. Furthermore, the new law says that teachers no longer are required to buy their health insurance from the union. Union bosses throughout the US have sent union members to Wisconsin to protest the new law... Without being too dramatic, I was disgusted with the uncivil conduct of the demonstrators and the mess they made of the capitol building (the cost of cleaning up the building (at least thousands of dollars) will be borne by the taxpayers of Wisconsin. Furthermore, the 14 state senators who fled to Illinois to avoid the vote are not heroes. They tried to impose the will of the minority upon the majority by evading their constitutional duties. Our Republic will not be able to function if the minority threatens to stop the game and take the ball home so the game cannot be played every time they do not get their way. This is not an easy time for any of the states or localities. Having been an alderman in Wauwatosa in the 1980s I remember the cost of salaries and benefits being about 70% of the budget and it seemed as if those items just kept going up and up. Tax increases were the norm. Cutting other items from the budget was very difficult. Cutting benefits was impossible. The Employee Relations Committee of the Common Council was made up of alderman who were union Democrats. Even locally those politicians got a great deal of support from the democrat machine. When one contemplates this, one sees that the taxpayers did not really have a seat at the bargaining table! In a private enterprise union the owner and employees both have seats at the table. We pray for all our legislators and the governor and lt. gov.. I could go on much longer, but I do not want to bore the readers of this blog or offend anyone with my rather strong opinions on this subject.
I think this post is just about long enough... I would like to close tonight with my testimony that Jesus Christ is my personal savior and the savior of the world. Joseph Smith was a prophet just as Isaiah, Moses, and Malachi were in the Old Testament. The Book of Mormon is true. It is another witness of the divinity of Christ. It answers many questions we have about doctrine and the Gospel of Christ. This is the book which brought me to believe in Christ and believe Christ's promises to us. It testified to my soul that the Bible is true. It testified to me that there is a true church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We have a living prophet today, Pres. Thomas H. Monson. We are truly blessed! Count your blessings. See what God has done in your life. Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live. They love us. God hears and answers our prayers. I leave this testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ.
Love, Dad
Love
