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hat to say writing a couple different talks here is what i ended up with a few years ago when i had only one child and was ambitious i took the opportunity offered by a fellow mba student family to grow a garden across town they had rented a home with a sizeable garden plot in the backyard in exchange for water costs i had my one quadrant in which to grow whatever i wanted i started my research someone suggested square foot gardening so i planned out my space i took stock of the sunlight that reached my plot of land the hours of shade and sun i learned about what plants liked my region and i got a few basic supplies and got to work my husband and i and alex at about peter s age went out one saturday and prepared to ground we pulled weeds broke up the dirt and made rows the ground was hard and after hours and hours of work we were excited to bring some plants and begin our first garden i faithfully went and watered my plants pulling weeds as they grew chasing away the wild quail that thought this was a fantastic new feeding ground and doing all i knew how and was learning about to make my garden grow i wish i could share my marvelous success story the bounteous harvest and wonderful experience this was it wasn t yes we ate a few things from our garden plot but it was not the wonderful yield that we had hoped for all that work all that time all that dirt that alex ate as he gardened by my side i may not have gained a love for gardening but i did learn some lessons that we can hopefully apply to ourselves i ll come back to that i want to share one more experience a bit more recent a couple of months ago i bought a bag of onions at the store i came home used a few for dinner and left the rest in the grocery bag on the counter forgotten for a week or two they were again needed for a meal i opened the bag to find new green life coming from many of the onions here they were unattended in a grocery bag and growing i did not ask them to grow i did not plant them intending them to grow but grow they did they used the nutrients and moisture inherent in them to bring new life what makes a plant grow what makes it blossom and produce fruit a botanist or gardener would tell you that it needs air warmth light water and nutrients they don t need the pep talks we sometimes give them but with the right conditions they naturally grow and produce new life just as god intended for them to do tonight s theme is bloom where you are planted what lessons can we learn from the world around us that testifies of god in its very nature every spring we see new life come up from the ground even now new leaves are about to burst forth on the branches of the trees already i have seen sweet and hopeful flowers blooming in my yard literally i have crocuses in my grass j we need to build lives of faith and hope that respond to the warmth of the son and the gospel to do that we need to be covenant keeping women we have the potential just like my onions and crocuses to grow and become what we were meant to be when we move toward our potential we are happy and blessed president eyring spoke in a general women s meeting 2 years ago about this he said your heavenly father sees greater potential in his children than we or even our earthly mothers see in us he sees that glorious potential in all of his daughters wherever they are he spoke of eve and her knowledge of the atonement he said she was sure as you can be that as she kept her covenants with her heavenly father the redeemer and the holy ghost would see her and her family though whatever sorrows and disappointments would come she knew she could trust in them i know that eve faced sorrows and disappointments but i also know that she found joy in the knowledge that she and her family could return to live with god i know that many of you who are here face sorrows and disappointments i leave you my blessing that like eve you may feel the same joy that she felt as you journey back home elder uchtdorf spoke of finding joy despite our trials in his story of great aunt rose he taught about what great aunt rose discovered to turn around her disappointments and let joy into her life again she said faith i discovered faith and faith led to hope and faith and hope gave me confidence that one day everything would make sense that because of the savior all the wrongs would be made right after that i saw that the path before me wasn t as dreary and dusty as i had thought i began to notice the bright blues the verdant greens and the fiery reds and i decided i had a choice i could hang my head and drag my feet on the dusty road of self pity or i could have a little faith put on a bright dress slip on my dancing shoes and skip down the path of life singing as i went many of you know that i lost a sister recently she had had a hard life physically she had many health issues and disabilities from the time she was little and at times she got really discouraged she would tell my parents that she just wanted to give up but my mom would remind her of the promises we ve received through the gospel she d encourage her to have faith and look with hope for the promised blessings that would be hers after she had finished her work here on earth when given any chance my sister becky would bear her testimony of a better life that would one day be hers of the perfected body she d one day have and the day when she d be out of pain each of us has our own personal trials that make us want to give up at times we each will be discouraged we will have times of winter when all seems dead and lost this is part of the plan this is the time that we must turn to a higher source for light and nutrients for our souls when adam was driven from the garden of eden he was told that the ground would be cursed for his sake for his good were the difficulties of life added to his existence we can know like adam and eve that because of the hard times because of the evil that surrounds us we can know the joy of our redemption and the eternal life which god gives unto all the obedient sometimes our trials act as the churning of the ground that must be done before new plants can grow if our hearts are to be softened by trials we must keep our faith alive the lord is the master gardener he can see if we need to be replanted or if we need a good deluge of water to save us from wilting he has given us a worldwide sisterhood to help us watch over each other sister oscarson said the adversary would have us be critical or judgmental of one another he wants us to concentrate on our differences and compare ourselves to one another i don t think it matters if you re an apple tree and i m a squash you may need some mulching and i may need some pruning at times we are in this together we are sisters sister oscarson went on to say to be sisters implies that there is an unbreakable bond between us sisters take care of each other watch out for each other comfort each other and are there for each other through thick and thin the fact of the matter is we really and truly need each other women naturally seek friendship support and companionship we have so much to learn from one another and we often let self imposed barriers keep us from enjoying associations which could be among the greatest blessings in our lives sisters there is no other group of women in the world who have access to greater blessings than we do as latter day saint women we are members of the lord s church and regardless of our individual circumstances we can all enjoy the full blessings of priesthood power through keeping the covenants we have made at baptism and in the temple we have living prophets to lead and teach us and we enjoy the great gift of the holy ghost which serves as a comfort and guide in our lives we are blessed to work hand in hand with righteous brothers as we strengthen homes and families we have access to the strength and power of temple ordinances and so much more in addition to enjoying all of these magnificent blessings we have each other sisters in the gospel of jesus christ we have been blessed with tender and charitable natures which enable us to render christlike love and service to those around us as we look beyond our differences in age culture and circumstance to nurture and serve one another we will be filled with the pure love of christ and the inspiration which leads us to know when and whom to serve i extend to you an invitation that was issued once before by a relief society general president who said i invite you to not only love each other more but love each other better this is the weeding we need to do weed out the negative comparisons we make weed out the negative thoughts from the adversary that tell us we ll never be a fruitful apple tree the truth is maybe you re a rose bush or an orange tree or a rhododendron if the thoughts are not encouraging you to be better but to wallow in what you re not weed it out nourish your soul read your scriptures say your prayers and the blessings of heaven the guidance you need will come to you the onions on my counter growing in a grocery bag will not last very long they will use up their stores and rot that is not the growth we want we want to grow and bloom into our full potential we can do that as we work together we will be supported in our trials troubles and afflictions as alma testified and we will be supported by one another as we work towards eternal lives and families if we plant our faith god will grant that your burdens may be light through the joy of his son and you can do it if you will i hope that each of us will put down deep roots in the gospel i pray that you will do what is necessary to find peace and hope and nourish your faith don t stay on the counter get in the garden get in the gospel do your part show up serve you will be blessed and you will bloom no matter where you are planted and since i have gotten so bad at updating this blog here s a few pictures just for fun no comments friday january 15 2016 new years letter 2015 dear family friends i never seem to get the christmas letter for our family done in time for christmas nor do i ever seem to have the motivation to but for some reason i tend to get that motivation by the time the new year is rolling around so this is our christmas letter for 2015 new year s letter for 2016 in recent years we ve had major moves at least every other year provo à cedar rapids and back in 2011 provo à hannibal in 2012 and hannibal à st charles outer suburbs of chicago in 2014 so it was nice to not have any moves during 2015 we ve continued to enjoy the chicago area particularly enjoying it from afar it s nice to not live very close to the city itself but still be able to visit when we d like we ve had a membership at the museum of science and industry during most of the past year and we ve enjoyed visiting there a number of times throughout the year even though we didn t move we still managed to keep it a busy year most notable was the birth of our 4 th child peter zachary jones on june 2 nd we were very excited to welcome him into our family and we ve immensely enjoyed the 7 months we ve had with him so far he s a very happy baby and his most recent way of keeping us on our toes has been learning to crawl it s now a daily surprise to find out where he s wandered off to abby 2 ½ has exploded with her language skills this year it s been a lot of fun to have her find her voice which lisa s mother assures us sounds just like lisa did when she was a young girl abby enjoys doing puzzles and hanging out with her daddy this year she s started to enjoy being read to and especially likes llama llama books savanna 4 ½ is still going to pre school and has started to learn to read this year she s particularly enjoying magic school bus books and is able to read many of the shorter words herself we love her boundless optimism and her enthusiasm savanna has been enjoying taking dance classes and learning ballet and tap dance she s excited to start kindergarten this coming year alex 6 ½ started 1 st grade so it s been the first year of all day school for him he still loves it a great deal and has started to become a voracious reader for the second year in a row he s participated in the elementary school s chess program and this year got 2 nd place for his age bracket in the tournament lisa has loved having a new little baby roaming around the house and that s kept her busy during the 2 nd half of the year four months ago she was called to be a counselor in the presidency of the children s primary organization at church it was with heavy heart that she said goodbye to her sister becky who passed away right before christmas we were grateful to be able to go and be with family to say goodbye and we are especially grateful for the knowledge we have of the plan of salvation and the hope becky had in the promise of peace and rest lisa s doing a fantastic job of teaching our children life lessons and i m continually appreciative of all she does for our family she s the glue that holds us all together for my part it s been an interesting year i ve been teaching early morning high school seminary all year so it s been fun to delve into the doctrine and covenants and then the old testament with my seminary class though the mornings are early i ve rediscovered playing with legos and have designed a few models of my own some of which i ve been able to build in july at work general mills announced that they will close the plant i work at in waves over the next year and a half that has made for an interesting and challenging few months since the announcement there s much human resources work to be done in a situation like this i ve been getting to lead efforts to help employees transition from general mills to other companies or locations we ve just had the first wave of layoffs entirely made up of people who were willing to go earlier thankfully and i m hopeful that something will connect for me elsewhere in the company in between now and february 2017 when the final wave of layoffs happens we re confident that we ll land on our feet somewhere whether with general mills or elsewhere heavenly father has given us great peace with regards to that so it promises to be an exciting and eventful year in 2016 for us we re excited to see what the lord has in store for us during this new year whatever it is we re grateful for all the blessings he s given us and the opportunities that he provides us we hope that 2016 is a fantastic year for all of you and that the lord blesses you and those you hold dear sincerely the jones family keith lisa alex savanna abby and peter 2 comments friday may 15 2015 alex s talk alex was assigned to speak in primary on sunday the topic was i can repent he wanted to type the talk himself without help this is what he wrote repenting when i repent i feel happy inside and i know that happy feeling is the holy spirit telling me i did something right he s such a sweet boy i am bless...