Christmas 2009

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get update the blog. We are well into the new year now but I wanted to just show a little bit of what Christmas was for us. I found a fun recipe and cookie cutter when I was on vacation with Kelley in Washington last summer and so the dogs got homemade biscuits for Christmas. They seemed to love them!

The ward party gave us a chance to visit with the bearded guy!

Mark and I wanted to invite the spirit of Christ more into our Christmas celebrations and so we planned a time after Christmas Eve dinner to listen to stories and music to celebrate the birth of Christ. Each family contributed in their own way.

The girls sang "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and also "Happy Birthday". Wendi and Matt played "Silent Night" for us on the guitar and keyboard.

After the program, we went as a family to view lights.

Christmas Day we spent with my family. In the morning we started with a big breakfast and some spiritual thoughts. Watched some old family home movies. Opened gifts and then prepared dinner. Every year I make an ornament for our tree and sometimes it represents something that happened that year. For 2009 I wanted to remember that Mark became a CPA.

We were delighted to have the Elders join us for dinner! A little later on we started up the fire out back and roasted marshmellows. It was a wonderful holiday for us!

Humanitarian Donations

With a devastating earthquake in Haiti, there has been a big push and tons of advertising to donate to help with the relief effort. We know there is always a need for help everywhere at all other times. We do pay our tithing and our income taxes. Still right now we should consider to donate today whatever we can, big or small. I always have a hard time trusting so called nonprofit or not-for-profit organizations and how much truly goes to fund the actual charities.

I have found a solution. Our church, the LDS Church, has a website called LDS Philanthropies. All donations (100%) are released to actual efforts, and none (0%) to administration expenses (as those other organizations have high administration expenses). I have had two links on the right-side toolbar of this blog - one called "Humanitarian Donations" and the other is the icon named donate online.

Please check out the website directly:
https://secure3.convio.net/ldsp/site/Donation2?df_id=1280&1280.donation=form1


This is the message after I donated:

We are grateful for your donation of $xxxx to Humanitarian General Fund.

We appreciate your efforts to make a tangible difference in someone's life, and to bless the lives of others around the world. 100% of your donation goes to help those in need.

Sincerely,

Humanitarian Services

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints