Christmas 2018

Mitchell is ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood today

My grandson Mitchell was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood today.
Left to right: Matthew Moody, April Moody, Mitchell Moody,
Grandpa Baadsgaard, Grandma Baadsgaard, John Baadsgaard and Dalla Moody.

Happy First Birthday Ellie

Elizabeth

by 

Grandma Baadsgaard

Happy first birthday my precious little Ellie.

You begin here

Breathe in, breathe out

New dwelling place

Gentle surprise

From darkness, into light

I end here

With me in you

Earthly vestige

Transformed

For where you are

There I am

I will go on

In you

Rebirth

Renewal

All is well

With me and Thee

Breathe In, breathe out

Awake, asleep

Goodnight

Happy Birthday Mitchell

Dear Mitchell,

Happy 12^th Birthday! This is a special birthday because you will receive the Aaronic priesthood. The priesthood is the power of God given to man to act in His name. Remember your authority comes through your ordination but your power comes through personal obedience and worthiness. The priesthood is a gift from God that blesses all His children. Your Heavenly Father now trusts you enough to give you the responsibility to help others.

Up until now your parents, extended family and church leaders have been taking care of you and helping you grow and learn. Now it is your turn. For example, this Sunday you will pass the sacrament for the first time. Isn’t it wonderful that God allows you to be part of this most sacred event? You will represent the Savior as you offer the emblems of the bread and water as a symbol of His great Atonement. The sacrament is the most important reason we go to church.

What a great blessing it is to hold the priesthood. I hope you take the time to go to a quiet private place and pray to your Heavenly Father and ask him how you can magnify your priesthood. Praying and asking questions has been a great way for God to send messages to you. In fact, did you know when the Prophet Joseph Smith was translating The Book of Mormon he found a part that mentioned baptism? On May 15, 1829, he and his scribe Oliver Cowdery went into the woods to ask God about baptism. As they prayed, a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light. This messenger was John the Baptist, the prophet who baptized Jesus Christ. John the Baptist, now a resurrected being, laid his hands on Joseph and Oliver and conferred upon each of them the Aaronic Priesthood, which had been taken from the earth during the Apostasy. With this authority, Joseph and Oliver were able to baptize one another. John the Baptist was chosen by Heavenly Father to prepare the way for the Savior and be the one to baptize him. John did this through the authority of the Priesthood of Aaron.

After baptism, a sacred opportunity comes to members of the Church each week as we partake of the sacrament, renew our covenants with our Father in Heaven, take upon us the name of his Son and promise to keep his commandments. Those holding the Aaronic Priesthood have the sacred privilege and honor of preparing, blessing, and passing these holy emblems of Jesus Christ’s body and blood. God wants us to repent, come to Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit and partake of the sacrament. When we renew our baptismal covenants in this way, the Lord renews the cleansing effect of our baptism. In this way we are made clean and can have His Spirit to be with us. That is why it is so important to take the sacrament each week.

 As you know, the offices of the Aaronic Priesthood are bishop, priest, teacher, and deacon. With the authorization of the presiding priesthood leader, deacons pass the sacrament. They also help the bishop watch over Church members by giving service and assisting with temporal matters such as gathering fast offerings for the poor. Teachers perform all the duties of deacons and also receive other opportunities to serve. They prepare the sacramental bread and water and serve as home teachers. Priests may perform all the duties of deacons and teachers. With the authorization of the presiding priesthood leader, they may also bless the sacrament, baptize, and ordain others to the offices of priest, teacher, and deacon.

As you serve in your priesthood responsibilities, always remember that serving your own family is the most important because the most important exercise of the priesthood takes place in the home. Your parents and brothers need you to love them and serve them as only you can. Remember the best friend you will ever have is Jesus Christ. He will save you whenever you are in trouble or hurt.

You now stand at the beginning a life-time of service. As you serve in the Aaronic Priesthood, it will prepare you to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, receive the blessings of the temple, serve a full-time mission, be a loving husband and father, and continue in lifelong service to the Lord. I love you so much Mitchell. I have so enjoyed watching you grow up and become such a wonderful young man. I will always be your biggest fan.  I am so lucky to have you for my grandson. I will love you forever.

Love,

Grandma Baadsgaard

Happy Birthday Matthew

Happy birthday Matthew,

It has been such a joy to watch you grow up. 

You have become such a fine and handsome young men. 

I notice how you excel at so many things. 

You are a fine student, musician and teacher. 

I hope you know that your grandmother loves you so much 

and that I will always be your biggest fan. 

You have so much to look forward to 

as you grow into manhood and learn to love and serve. 

You have such an amazing family to grow up in

 where you have been taught so well how to live after the manner of happiness. 

God bless you my precious grandson. I will love you forever.

Grandma Baadsgaard

Lights at Temple Square

Some of my beautiful family members at temple square enjoying the lights.
April, Matthew, Dallan, Myana, John and Mitchell

Rock Hounding with Joseph and the boys

Joseph with his sons Daniel and Christian.

Buddies forever.

Introducing Simon Kent Poffenberger

My newest grandson Simon was born on November 3rd.
I held him in my arms moments after his birth.

This is my daughter Aubrey holding her new baby in her arms.

I think he likes it here.

Simon has a peaceful calm personality.

Kirtland Trip

Add caption

Ross and I loved visiting Kirtland Ohio.
So many important events in for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
 history happened here.

We are on the steps of the home on the Johnson Farm

Happy Birthday Griffin

Griffin

By 

Grandma Baadsgaard

Happy Birthday! I love you mighty Griffin

Griffin is a dragon with an awful great big roar

Whenever he sees Alice he fires her and more

He swings his mighty tail around and makes a horrid sound

Then Alice trembles with alarm and falls right to ground

Griffin has two mighty wings he spreads out far and wide

His heaving chest can wield a sword right next to his side.

He fights his nemesis Rylan with courage and with flair

For angry brothers cannot catch him so high up in the air.

Griffin spews out fire like a great big giant torch

And everything it touches suddenly is scorched

He shakes his head and peers around for anybody left

And finds his dear old mother bewildered and bereft

Then he looks for others he can frighten and confuse

And finds his dear old father who is definitely not amused

He growls and roars and makes loud obnoxious demands

But Dad just stands there smiling, his line drawn in the sand.

“Even dragons must go to bed,” his father says with glee

No matter how you struggle, dragons must mind me

For even bad guys have to sleep for a few hours each night

But don’t worry; when you wake you’re still a terrifying sight

So Griffin is swooped up in his father’s arms

And even if he wants to, there is no great alarm

For his eyes are drooping and big mouth yawns with sleep

And soon the mighty dragon is not making one small peep.

Happy 8th Birthday and baptism day Rylan

October 2018

Dear Rylan,

I’m so excited that you are turning eight years old because that means that you are old enough to choose to be baptized. I’m so happy you have made that choice.

I remember when I was baptized. I was baptized on my eight-year-old birthday on a Saturday night in a little white church across the street from my house in Union, Utah. My congregation had all the children being baptized sit on small wooden chairs and talked to us for a while. I don’t remember what they said, but I do remember what I felt.

I felt excited and a little scared before I was baptized. When I was baptized, the water was warm and I felt clean. After I was baptized and put my dry clothes back on, I walked out of the church into the cold January winter air. I remember looking up and seeing lacy white flakes of snow falling all around me.

Even though it was cold outside, I felt warm inside. I knew God loved me and was pleased I wanted to come home to heaven someday. I also knew that Jesus was my best friend and that if I tried to live like Him that I would be happy.

When I was your age, they waited until Sunday to confirm me at church and give me the gift of the Holy Ghost. I felt protected when the men with the priesthood made a circle around me and put their hands on my head as my father confirmed me.

What I didn't know was that the man I was going to marry someday was being baptized on the very same day, January 6^th (my birthday) in a little town called Spanish Fork, Utah. He was a little scared and excited too. Because we both wanted to be like Jesus, we found each other many years later. We recognized that we had the same dreams and plans for life.

           When he returned from his mission to Samoa, we were married in the SLC temple. We made special promises to God. We were sealed for eternity. Pretty soon your mother was born. Then she grew up and married your daddy in the temple and then pretty soon, you were born.

Being baptized was the beginning of everything wonderful in my life. Being baptized is such a tender and beautiful time because we are able to participate in our first saving ordinance and make our Heavenly Father our first official promise. You are a son of God, Rylan, and your Heavenly parents love you very much. They want you to be happy so they have made a plan of happiness for you to follow so you can return to them someday. 

Up until now, you have been a child who is learning, growing and maturing. You have made some mistakes; everybody makes mistakes. That is how we learn and grow. Now that you are eight, God thinks you are wise enough to know the difference between right and wrong choices. Heavenly Father knows that some of the choices we make will not be wise. Because He loves us, He wants us to know how to change so we will not be trapped by our mistakes and bad choices. So He invites us to make a promise to Him and then He makes a promise right back to us. When we make a special promise to God and He makes one right back to us, it is called a covenant. Heavenly Father never breaks a promise.

The promise you make to God is that you will remember Jesus, follow Him and keep His commandments. Heavenly Father promises you that He will forgive you if you make a mistake or do something that you know is wrong if you feel sorry and repent. He also promises you eternal life. He also gives you the gift of the Holy Ghost to help, guide, protect, warn and comfort you.

When you choose to be baptized you tell Heavenly Father that:

*You want to be a follower of Jesus Christ

*You will serve your fellowmen

*You will stand as a witness of God all the time

*You will obey the commandments of God

 God promises you that:

*You are accepted as a member of Christ’s church

*You can be forgiven of your sin if you repent

*You can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost

*You can live in the kingdom of God

          Everybody makes mistakes after they are baptized so Heavenly Father gave us the sacrament every week on Sunday. That is when we remember the covenant we made when we were baptized. We think about our week, repent of our mistakes and decide how to be better during the coming week. We think about our Savior Jesus Christ and how He atoned for all our sins, pains, disappointment and grief. We also think about Christ’s resurrection and that we can be resurrected too someday.

I hope you will write about how you feel in your journal after you are baptized. Never forget that you are a child of God and that you can inherit the eternal life God has planned for you. And never forget that your grandma loves you with all her heart.

Love, 

Grandma Baadsgaard.   

Happy Birthday Christian!

Christian

By Grandma Baadsgaard

Happy 2^nd birthday!

I love you with all my heart.

When you’re two

There’s so much work to do

Fly through the air

Doing all that you dare

Climb up the trees

To find what’s to see

Throw tons the rocks

Lose all of your socks

So much food to smear

With absolutely no fear

Jelly down your chin

Makes a sticky grin

Tight hugs around the neck

Brother says, “What the heck?”

“Don’t chuck that toy at me

Or flattened I will be.”

Mom says, “Oh my!”

Dad breathes a sigh

But when it’s time for bed

And all the prayers are said

There is an angel sleeping there

For all the day’s cares

Float into the air

You are our angel fair

Christian is our treasure

Who we love without measure

He is our pride and joy

Such a remarkable little boy

Our greatest gift we say

Forever and a day

After the Fires In Loafer Canyon

This is Loafer Canyon after the devastating fire.
When the fires of life are all around you - have faith and courage and you will see miracles.
Thank you fire fighters.

This is Loafer Canyon after the devastating fire. It is a miracle that our cabin is still there.

FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN

Fire on the Mountain
by Janene Baadsgaard

          My husband and I drove up to our cabin last night after suddenly receiving a pre-evacuation order. “If you have any valuables, get them out now!” the order said. The whole wooded mountainside behind our cabin was engulfed in roaring, towering flames. Our cabin is situated in Loafer Canyon between Elk Ridge and Woodland Hills. 
          As we drove quickly toward our cabin, warning sirens blared and fire fighters scrambled to set up a command post in the parking lot of an LDS chapel at the base of the mountain. Cars formed a long line as thousands of men, women and children in Elk Ridge and Woodland Hills raced from their homes after a sudden mandatory evacuation notice.

          When we got to our cabin it was raining ash all around us. We walked up the steps with cinder in our eyes and stepped in the front door. What do we take? What are our valuables? We only had a few minutes.

          Knowing this might be the last time we stepped inside our cabin, I quickly walked from room to room filming the cozy country retreat we created for our family to enjoy. In a few moments all this might go up in smoke. This cabin in the forest was our dream realized - what my husband and I had saved up for our entire married lives. I filmed the hand stitched pillow on our bed describing our place with the words, “Almost Heaven” and the cabin rules taped to the fridge: 1. Relax, 2. Breathe the fresh mountain air, 3. Listen to the wind in the trees, 4. Gaze up at the stars . . .

          I quickly dashed up the stairs hearing the echo of my grandchildren’s laughter as cousins made forever friends playing dress-ups and chess. I filmed Grandpa’s four-wheeler imagining the flushed faces of my grandchildren after a ride in the crisp autumn air. I looked over the deck and remembered children jumping from the ledge into a pile of snow in the winter on a frosty dark night. I thought about the last time we made s’mores over the coals as dusk fell and the sound of crickets filled the air.             While I filmed, my husband gathered our valuables . . . which in the end amounted to a stack of family pictures. Nothing else seemed important. Then we knelt at the side of our couch and prayed.

          “Dear God, thank you for the gift of this cabin and all the loving family memories we’ve made here. If it is Thy, will please protect it from the fire. But if not, give us the faith to rebuild and move forward.”

          There was no time to load a cabin full of appliances, tables, chairs, beds, and chests into the truck and that didn't seem important any more. We knew as we looked one last time at our cabin, that we already had everything that was valuable to us . . . each other, our family and our faith. No matter how fierce the winds, or how high the flames, no destructive work of nature or man could take away our love - and that is what is most valuable. For all power, position and possessions will someday go up in flames. When the smoke dissipates and we see clearly  . . . only love remains. 

Kate's Song

KATE’S SONG

by

Grandma Baadsgaard

Happy Birthday to my amazing granddaughter Kate.

Do you know that you make me smile inside?

Once there was a girl named Kate. While most grown-ups don’t believe in fairies, Kate does. Kate knows you have to be careful and quiet with fairies because they are easily frightened.

Kate likes to create fairy villages to entice wee ones to come to her house. She makes fairy bowls from acorn hats at her grandma’s house. She sews dresses from hollyhock pedals and lilac leaves with a long pine needle. She wraps sticks together to make tables, chairs and beds. Kate also knows fairies like sparkly things so she collects colorful bits of glass and jewelry. Kate knows fairies don’t come out when human are about but Kate can tell when they’ve been to her village because she can see crumbs strewn about or a colorful flower pedal left just so.

Kate’s most ardent wish is that a fairy will come out where she could see them. One day she thought of a plan. Kate sat at her piano and used her fingers to create fairy songs. She wrote the music notes down on paper and gave her songs titles such as: Fairy Lullaby and Elf Mischief. She took her songbook to her grandma’s house and walked out to the back pasture. Then she sat on a wooden fence and opened her book.

Kate sang softly so she wouldn’t frighten the wee people. As she sang she saw the pasture grass rustle in the wind. She almost thought she saw a fairy dart behind a rock. Then she   found a tiny dandelion crown in the grass.

“There are here,” Kate whispered to herself. “I hope they feel safe with me.”

Every day Kate brought a tiny blanket out to the pasture and left crumbs of food and all the tiny dishes and furniture she made for her wee friends. She left bits of glass and jewelry for them to carry away. Each day when she returned, the tiny objects were gone.

Kate searched and searched in the pasture but she couldn’t find their home. She explored in the plum trees back by the irrigation ditch. She lay in the grass and listened to insects in the grass or watched the clouds float across the blue sky.

Then she sang her fairy song . . .

As the moon rises over the mountain

And children have gone to bed,

wee ones come out to play and dance

and all their mysteries are said.

For fairies are real to children

wee ones fly about their dreams

so all the precious nippers

learn that nothing is as it seems.

So close your eyes and imagine

fairies are flying all about

and when you feel alone

 jump from your bed and shout.

Come home my winged friends

and find your rest with me

let my arms cradle you

Like the big blue China sea

            “Grandma,” Kate asked one day, “do you believe in fairies?”

“Yes,” Grandma answered. “I saw one once by a lilac bush in my back yard when I was just your age. My sisters tried to convince me that it was a dragon fly but I knew and I’ve always known. Don’t ever stop believing Kate. Just because we can’t see something doesn’t mean it is not real. You can’t see the wind but you can see the way the leaves move and the trees sway. You can’t see love but you can feel it deep inside.”

“ I love you grandma,” Kate said.

“I love you too,” Grandma answered.