Jasper's Ultrasound DVD

Brooke and I thought it'd be fun to edit Jasper's 20 week ultrasound DVD and put some music to it!  Brooke did a great job of clipping out the boring stuff and putting the title screen, closing screen, and music in it!  Here it is:

Just 4 more weeks till she's due!!!  I'm so excited!  :)

Baptism

Romans 6 in the New Testament has excellent teachings on baptism.

It teaches us that we need to change – we can’t continue sinning and assume that God’s grace makes it alright.  We need to start a new life, following the teachings of Jesus Christ and following Him.

It teaches us of the significance of baptism and it’s symbolism of Christ’s life.  Just as Christ died and was resurrected, we are “buried” in the water (symbolizing death) and are brought back up with newness of life.  Our old selves are gone and our new selves are alive in Christ and His teachings.

This symbolism of being buried in the water and coming out of the water “reborn” lends itself well for full-immersion baptism.  Sprinkling does not have the same significance or meaning that is intended.

We can maintain the “newness of life” we experience at baptism by striving to follow Christ’s teachings, keep the commandments, overcome sin and temptations, and doing all we can to do God’s will.  As we fill our lives with righteousness and remember that it is through Christ that we can be redeemed, we will invite His Spirit into our lives and we will be strengthened.

Mosiah 3:19 in the Book of Mormon teaches us that the “natural man” is an enemy to God.  That part of us should die at baptism as we start anew and become more like Christ.

Romans 6 furthermore explains how we can know whose servant we are.  It is by identifying what we yield to – do we yield to sin or are free from sin?  What do we bring into our lives – corruptions or holiness?  Romans 6:23 states it very well:

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

It is through repentance and trying our very best to follow Christ that we are made free.  Sin imprisons us and we become captive to Satan.  But as we free ourselves from sin and its ugly consequences, we are made free and can ultimately enjoy eternal life through Jesus Christ.

L-R: Me and Brooke at our baptism in 1996.

Living in Tulelake

So I've been living here at home for about 3 weeks now and working at Staples for about the same amount of time (2.5 weeks). I'm only working part-time though. But the general manager told me today that they'll probably be adding quite a few hours to my schedule for the next 2-3 weeks. Hours are good!
Tomorrow we're getting up super early to pick pears at the church orchard in Medford! We'll be leaving the house around 6am, pick pears once we get there until noon, and then go to Costco. That'll be fun, other than the forecast of 100°+! But, hopefully we'll beat most of the heat by being there early in the morning!
There is a super-exciting social at the branch this evening! Lol. We're bringing a Papa Murphy's pizza. They'll LOVE that - Everyone loves pizza.
Well, I'm going to read now! Brooke is always trying to tell me I 'need' to read all those Twilight books before I go on a mission! We'll see though, because I have a LOT of books I want to read!
Has anyone been keeping up on the Olympics? How are we doing?! Fill me in!