He is Light

Several weeks ago I took Josh in to get his 6 month shots and like sometimes happens, he got a little bit of a fever and didn't feel very well.  That night turned out to be miserable for both of us.  Every few minutes all through the night, he'd wake up crying.  I'd  climb out of bed, pick him up, and rock him back to sleep.  Then I'd carefully lay him down and creep into bed.  It seemed like I'd barely be drifting off to sleep and he'd begin to cry again and the whole thing would start all over.  Now I won't  mention what Tom was doing all this time, but I'll just say that even though he was there, he didn't even know it had happened.  Anyway, this routine went on all night long and I was exhausted - and poor little Josh probably was, too.  Then I remember one time he started to cry and when I opened my eyes, it was just the most wonderful feeling of relief because there was light peeking in from our bedroom windows.  It was finally morning and I was so grateful to see the light.

You know, light always brings a feeling of relief - especially after a long, dark night.   Maybe our nights of darkness are tragedies, loneliness, unanswered prayers, difficult decisions -- big or small,  No matter, we can always know that dawn is coming and that our hope will be answered with the Light of the World.  The Savior is always willing to share His light, to inspire us, to enlighten us with truth and just like the brightness that came shining through my window after a long dark night, the Savior will bring comfort to our souls.  He is light.


  It's just so wonderful when we make it through the darkness and last until the light come peeking in.

feeling the light from our Heavenly Father can bring us so much comfort.
  what a blessing it is in our lives that our Heavenly Father has given us windows of light and truth.  The feelings really aren't too different from those I had the other night.

T.J.'s Talk - Newborn Baby

**  I believe this was part of a  talk that T.J. gave at some point.  I don't think it's complete. It was type written, but at the top in big letters I had written, "Slow down and talk animated".  Such good motherly advice. 

When I was a newborn baby, I had a disease called Class B Streptococaus.  13 out 26,000 newborn babies  get it.  Out of the 13, 10 babies die.  The hospital tested my blood and found that my white blood cell count was really, really low.  Those are the blood cells that fight infection.  When a person  has an infection, the white blood count goes way up to fight the infection, but my body was losing the fight, and my white blood count was so low that I had no way to fight off the infection.  The doctors decided to transport me to a hospital in Phoenix where they had better things to take care of very sick babies.  Before they sent me, they took me into my Mom's hospital room and they let her put her hand into the incubator where I was and she could touch me and hold my hand.  They didn't think my Mom would ever see me alive again.  **And then my Dad and both of my Grandpa's laid their hands on my head and gave me my very first Priesthood blessing.  Of course, I was too young to remember this.  I don't know what they said in that blessing, but when I got to the hospital in Phoenix, they re-tested my blood.  My white blood count was really high.  They called the other hospital and asked if I had been given a blood transfusion.  I hadn't.  The doctors couldn't understand it.  They wondered what could have possibly changed that would now make it possible for me to fight off the infection and live.

This was my first experience with the great power of the Priesthood.  Since that time, I have been blessed many times from the Priesthood.  Sometimes the blessings have come from hands being placed on my head when I was sick or at other important times when I needed extra help.  These have meant a lot to me.  But just as important are the day to day ways that the Priesthood blesses our lives