New

So quiet
the gentle
sweetness
protecting
your tiny
body.
So soft
the touch
of your
tiny hands.
How distinct
your smal
lunique voice.
Amazing,
I know you
already.

-Marrianne Escebedo

Friends

When I think about the friends I've known
And all the ways to love they've shown
I realize I am not alone I was a boulder, a stone
Never giving anything to anyone
Always denying that flicker of hope
Wondering if it was all a show
Now I see things differently
I see things as they were meant to be
Where true friendship means more
Than just a knock outside your door
My friends believed in me
More than even I could see
I became something true
Someone that cares through and through
About the lives he touches
His negatives no longer his crutches
He gives because he has been there
Where you have nothing left but the air
He works his hands
For the betterment of man
Never tiring, never ceasing
Cause and effect have played their part
Almost succeeding in taking his heart
All these things that I've tried to become
I owe to my friends, every single one
For showing me the path I couldn't see
I try to thank them in my way to be

-Karl Ludwig

Permission

"Nobody needs permission to love someone."

-Marrianne Escebedo

Where Do We Go?

When the back is against the wall
When nothing keeps us standing tall
Except that will and power from within
When will we begin
To push back upon our bonds
To force ourselves to stand
To shout in defiance the tyranny
Of that singular fear of destiny
Becoming masters of our fate
Choosing for ourselves when to love or when to hate
Never falling for someone elses whim
Always bringing the truth deep within

-Karl Ludwig

Love

"To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world"

"Love is when you take the feelings, the romance and the attraction out of the relationship and find you still love the person."

Salem takes it too seriously.

On Myfamily.com
The Good Wife's Guide

Post by Jessica Monson:

Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favorite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with alot of work-weary people.Be a little more gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives.Gather up schoolbooks, toys, paper etc and then run a dustcloth over the tables.Over the cooler monthes of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children's hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair and, if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part. Minimize all niose. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet.Be happy to see him.Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him. Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first- remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his very real need to be at home and relax.Your goal: Try to make sure your home is a place of peace, order and tranquillity where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.Dont greet him with complaints or problems.Don't complain if he is home late for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through that day.Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or have him lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgement or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house ans as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.A GOOD WIFE ALWAYS KNOWS HER PLACE

My reaction:

Just wondering: We guys are not infaliable and are often bullish brutes. If this were not so, then we might as well assume that being a man alone is enough to carry authority and righteousness. Many a time we become stubborn and thick-headed and we guys rarely think things out with full consideration on proper circumspection (even if that is what we should be doing)! Many a good woman and wife have the right to NOT gratiate their husband when ever the man insists on something his way. When they are not doing or requesting something right and which would drive away the Spirit or do harm or damage in any way- questioning him or refusing him is not a sin unto God-- for God would only have you do right and good continually. If a guy can have any success in helping you be and do any more good, it will only be in that he helps and ecourages you to gain and walk in the spirit and commandments of God- which you all know very well. Men can not set God's perameters and Laws- but he can help identify them, teach them, and be an example in them and bid others follow. You women in many ways can do the same! A man isn't rigteous to task you half to death in bending over backward to serve his every whim. I think it is wonderful that you women would have such a willing heart to serve, love,care and be at peace with him, and that is truely wonderful. I just know that there are crooked guys out there too that could take such a wonderful person like this- and grind them into the dust. Watchout by keeping yourselfs true to the will of God and not to lean upon the arm of flesh and of men! You girls have heads that sit on top of your own shoulers and were given to you of God!

Family in Brief

I am Salem Thompson. Parents are Brooks and Bonnie Thompson. We all all VERY blonde and blue eyed.
Sister Katherine 26, married, mother or two, and a Medical Doctor in womens specials, pediatrics, and anesthesiology;
Sister Auralee 21 married, mother of one and due for another in the next month and is half way through college.
Brother Brooks 19 , single and is also at UVU to be a commercial/private airplain pilot; and is an amazing dancer of all types.
Sister Mercy 17 - very beautiful- she is a regional gold medal winner of theatrics, excellent dancer, and she plays the piano. She's a friend magnet too.
Brother Christian 15 an amazing gentleman and is an interstate regional gold medal winner of theatrics, dancer, and plays the trumpet and doues amazing pencil art work.
Brother David, 13 does piano and straight A student at school.
Sisters Galilee 7, Grace 5, and Spring 2- kind, gentle and cute 24-7.

When to Choose

When the light is given and our eyes are open is the best time to make a judgment of what is most correct- but even then one step at a time. When were are unhappy, miserable, or confused is the least appropriate time to be making a judgment about what is most correct.

The Love of God

"And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?

And I answered him saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desireable above all things.

And he spake unto me, saying: Yea, and the most joyous to the soul."

-Book of Mormon

Will you go?

Many if not all of us know people from far to near-and-dear who have had a crisis over various gospel issues, themes, doctrines, historical evens, social dynamics, business, triangulations, gossip, etc. In any one of these things is something where any one of us may feel that everyone else is oblivious to the thoughts, questions, and/or incompleteness of the thing to which one struggles with. We struggle when we know something presented or present is not entirely perfect- within our understanding or within the idea itself. We have an unending strain of questions but our anxiety gets the better of us if we lack patience. It is at a time like this that we are vulnerable to temptation to give in- either by believing that the question is not a good one and has no place in the universe, or blaming our frustration on others, the thought or idea, ourselves, or upon God. We want answers to millions of questions and we wonder, "God, it is only from you and your laws that I truly believe that my proper knowledge and understanding can bear any solid ground-- what other people say and do obvious is not the foundation I can build upon for truth of all things." So we turn our questions over to God.But many people who have turned to God for a time about the myriads of seemingly unanswered questions have left... not just "the Work" or "Mormonism" or "Christianity"But they have truly left it all- they have left out Christ and God altogether.Questions set all mankind into the realm of the two things that set the destiny of all souls: what we know and what we don't know- and what we do with what ever it is we do know. We lay in between gnostic and agnostic and God as our teacher and parents. Belief in ones self can only be true if one can hold to the core that we are the Children of God- for what other aim of the soul, and what greater cause for God or ourselves? Shall we then base the state of our souls on the things we know or the things we don't know? And shall we set our standard by the virtues of God or by the average to which men aspire as the norm of virtue?I have asked myself this question: When people are struggling with questions and the vices of others- to what end will it take them in the end? To what end the struggle? Victory over evil or a dying soul becomes the final lot. Every one that leaves the Work, or denies the Church, or denies Christ or God, does so because they say they are running from incorrect ideas, ignorance, or fleeing from tyranny and falsehoods, and from hell itself. But what have they left to? When Christ asked his disciples "Will you go also?" where was every one going to? - each to his own way.When you see people leave, do you see them saying or do any of the following:"I have had the spirit touch my soul and whisper peace and joy to me in confirming it is ok to leave and go-- wherever the wind takes me."Do you see people that Deny Christ and the Book of Mormon become full of the spirit of love and start teaching others to live by virtues and principles that will bring them happiness?When people leave, did they say "God has told me that this was the right thing to do?"When they left, did they leave to something more whole and more perfect?when they left, did they become more kind and compassionate than before?when they left, do they become more vigilant in teaching their children and friends about the laws of Christ?''Did they do so with loving kindness?''Did they do so because others had shut them out of their circles or because they had shut every one else out of their circle?''Did it bring the better welfare of their family and loved ones?''Were they making or breaking a relationship?''Did they do so based upon conviction or the lack of it?''Did they do it out of an excuse against their consciousness to principle?When they left, What grander or greater ideas, hopes, and practices of charity and belief in God did they go to that is more beautiful than what Christ has already given?''Were they taking a step up or a step down?Where they thinking long-term or short-term states for themselves and their children?Of those who have left, remember them and all their children and ask yourself to the direction to which they aspire.Of those who have left, will their children love and trust their parents more for it?Is love, virtue, service, need for soul searching and knowledge, and a need for Christ perpetuated more or less in the homes of those who have left?Were they reading constructive or destructive literature when they left?Were they becoming more and more happy in the process of confusion, doubt and rejection of dependency of the Spirit of God?As for myself, I do not always have God's Spirit. I believe in knowing all I can but I am far from knowing everything and I have proven myself to be full of vices that need correction. But my faith and hope in God is not built upon where I am confused, disoriented, or in the dark, or where I don't have the answer to something yet. When the light is given and our eyes are open is the best time to make a judgment of what is most correct- but even then one step at a time. When were are unhappy, miserable, or confused is the least appropriate time to be making a judgment about what is most correct. Gods Spirit is like the light-- for it alone can lead. As they teach in wilderness survival: If you are lost and disoriented or in the dark, it is a really bad idea to start getting up and wander around, for chances are you will get yourself even more lost than before. If you can not make a good decision for going somewhere that you know is better, the best decision is to just stay put for a while and not make a decision about going anywhere for the moment. If you feel lost and in the dark, just stay put until the sun comes up and your mind is more clear.

Know this

What then is knowledge?
experience, obervance
or shall they be twain?
Hidden is it, to one, to all
Latent does it lay,
and dormant still
To temple of mind and soul
till
reflection in, is reflection out
And found by others once again.

-Salem Thompson