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Welcome Families! Have you checked out all of our sites at TheFamily.com? Be sure to watch for NEW items that “Strengthen Families”. With the summer now here, remember that the best thing you can give your family is: Your TIME! Now, here are some topics ideas from our “Family” of Interns: Here are a few key tips to having a fun and safe CELEBRATION with FIREWORKS:
Long term Debt! “Avoid the philosophy that yesterday's luxuries have become today's necessities. They aren't necessities unless we make them so. Many enter into long-term debt only to find that changes occur: people become ill or incapacitated, companies fail or downsize, jobs are lost, natural disasters befall us. For many reasons, payments on large amounts of debt can no longer be made. Our debt becomes as a Damocles sword hanging over our heads and threatening to destroy us. I urge you to live within your means. One cannot spend more than one earns and remain solvent. I promise you that you will then be happier than you would be if you were constantly worrying about how to make the next payment on nonessential debt. In the Doctrine and Covenants we read: ‘Pay the debt thou hast contracted. . . . Release thyself from bondage.’ ” Thomas S. Monson “Probably the greatest challenge to people of any age, particularly young people, and the most difficult thing you will face in mortal life is to learn to control your thoughts. As a man “thinketh in his heart, so is he.” ( Prov. 23:7.) One who can control his thoughts has conquered himself. When I was about ten years old, we lived in a home surrounded by an orchard. There never seemed to be enough water for the trees. The ditches, always fresh-plowed in the spring, would soon be filled with weeds. One day, in charge of the irrigating turn, I found myself in trouble. As the water moved down the rows choked with weeds, it would flood in every direction. I raced through the puddles trying to build up the bank. As soon as I had one break patched up, there would be another. A neighbor came through the orchard. He watched for a moment, and then with a few vigorous strokes of the shovel he cleared the ditch bottom and allowed the water to course through the channel he had made. “If you want the water to stay in its course, you’ll have to make a place for it to go,” he said. I have come to know that thoughts, like water, will stay on course if we make a place for them to go. Otherwise our thoughts follow the course of least resistance, always seeking the lower levels…. The mind is like a stage. Except when we are asleep the curtain is always up. There is always some act being performed on that stage. It may be a comedy, a tragedy, interesting or dull, good or bad; but always there is some act playing on the stage of the mind…. If you can control your thoughts, you can overcome habits, even degrading personal habits. If you can learn to master them you will have a happy life…. Once you learn to clear the stage of your mind from unworthy thoughts, keep it busy with learning worthwhile things. Change your environment so that you have things about you that will inspire good and uplifting thoughts. Keep busy with things that are righteous.” Boyd K. Packer Jesus and Satan were having an on-going argument about who was better on the computer. They had been going at it for days, and frankly God was tired of hearing all the bickering. Finally fed up, God said, "THAT'S IT! I have had enough. I am going to set up a test that will run for two hours, and from those results, I will judge who does the better job." So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away. They moused. They faxed. They e-mailed. They e-mailed with attachments. They downloaded. They did spreadsheets! . They wrote reports. They created labels and cards. They created charts and graphs. They did some genealogy reports They did every job known to man. Jesus worked with heavenly efficiency and Satan was faster than “hell”. Then, ten minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder rolled, rain poured, and, of course, the power went off. Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curse word known in the underworld. Jesus just sighed. Finally the electricity came back on, and each of them restarted their computers. Satan started searching frantically, screaming: "It's gone! It's all GONE! "I lost everything when the power went out!" Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of his files from the past two hours of work. Satan observed this and became irate. "Wait!" He screamed. "That's not fair! He cheated! How come he has all his work and I don't have any?" God just shrugged and said, JESUS SAVES. We are all brothers and sisters and should treat each as such—with respect. While it may be inconceivable for many to imagine America treating churches that oppose gay marriage the same as racists who opposed interracial marriage in the 1960s, just consider the fate of the Boy Scouts. The Scouts have paid dearly for asserting their 1st Amendment right not to be forced to accept gay scoutmasters. In retaliation, the Scouts have been denied access to public parks and boat slips, charitable donation campaigns and other government benefits. The endgame of gay activists is to strip the Boy Scouts (and by extension, any other organization that morally opposes gay marriage) of its tax-exempt status under both federal and state law. Public need for the same-sex family? Nature enforces and imposes marriage upon all human civilizations, and it does so with very little tolerance. Conversely, there is no public need for the same-sex family. If there were, societies would have created such families to meet the need. But they have not, because same-sex “marriage” meets a personal desire of a few adults, not society as a whole. Anthropologists tell us marriage, as a heterosexual institution, does four primary jobs. It is the only institution that provides these things, and every society needs marriage to do them. 1)Marriage socializes men. Anthropologists tell us that a society’s most serious problem is the unattached male. Marriage is the answer. Natural marriage socializes men by channeling male sexuality and aggression in socially productive ways. And it is women who do this through marriage. Gail Collins, editor of the New York Times editorial page, wrote a book titled America’s Women, which examines the role of women in American culture. In an Oct. 9, 2003, interview on National Public Radio, Collins said, “the most important implicit role women play in society was to make men behave.” Other scholars have recognized the same thing. But, same-sex marriage will not socialize males, because males do not socialize other males. The lack of monogamy and relational durability in gay male relationships is evidence of this. Same-sex marriage fails in this first purpose of marriage. 2) Marriage regulates sexuality. By socializing men, marriage regulates sexuality. Marriage establishes sexual guardrails, which are a requirement for successful societies. We cannot survive with everybody doing whatever they want, sexually. Every society must have rules, mores and standards about sexual behavior, and marriage is how societies manage human sexuality. Research is very clear: societies that weaken these sexual standards end up with unexpected social problems. There is no evidence that same-sex marriage would serve society in regulating sexuality, and as such it fails this second public purpose of marriage. 3) Marriage protects women from exploitive males. When we do not have a social norm of monogamy, women become commodities — things to be collected, used and then discarded. Marriage helps protect women by regulating sex. When women socialize men through marriage and parenthood, men are more likely to care for and respect their wives and other women. When fewer men are married to women, fewer men care for and respect women. A wealth of research shows that abuse of women by their partners or strangers is lowest in married homes and highest in cohabiting and dating situations. Same-sex marriage fails the third purpose of marriage in its inability to protect women. 4) Marriage provides mothers and fathers for children. Healthy children define a growing society, and marriage is the way we ensure the next generation grows up with the irreplaceable benefit of their mother and father. A loving and compassionate society comes to the aid of motherless and fatherless children, but no compassionate society intentionally subjects children to motherless or fatherless families. But this is what every same-sex home does — and for no other reason but to satisfy adult desire. So, same-sex marriage fails in fulfilling the fourth public purpose of marriage. No society anywhere has been able to sustain itself with a buffet-like mentality of family, where you simply go through the line, pick and choose what suits you and one choice is just as good as another. Other : 1 c. butter Cream together butter, sugars, eggs, peanut butter and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder. Mix well. Stir in oatmeal When hot from the oven, spread a thin layer of peanut butter and allow to melt. (Crunchy peanut butter is good). ICING: 1⁄2 c. butter In a sauce pan, melt butter. Remove from heat and add cocoa and milk. Stir. Add powdered sugar. Mix well. Add vanilla. Pour over melted peanut butter. Make sure your friends sign up for the newsletters and visit our various web sites at: www.thefamily.com! |
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July Newsletter