Football, Forms and Forefathers -- 8/21/06

FOOTBALL:
There is something wonderful about the green pitch, (opps, 'field' for Yanks) the beautiful weather, and the sound of "GOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLL", that is good for the system. Joseph and Dad went to the Real Salt Lake game with the Houston Dynamo on Saturday and had a great time. Joseph is doing great, making steady progess. He is able to do many things himself including feed himself, brush his teeth, shave himself. All of these take effort and dilligence, but his strength improves and so does his determination. He is registered for school again starting next week at the University of Utah. He is excited and anxious to get back to the classroom. He's starting back with two classes, more about that next week.

Dad was really pleased to see Elder Douglas Shumway (http://deseretnews.com/confer/leaders/e.htm) again last week. The last time they met was in Guatemala in the hospital when he came to give Joseph a blessing. He was serving in the Central America Area Presidency at the time. Now he has been assigned as one of the Audiovisual Department Executive Directors supervising Tim's work. The Lord does wonderful things to connect the puzzles of our lives and surround us with blessings.

FORMS:
On Friday afternoon Dave-the-concrete-guy came and built forms for the concrete sidewalk and pad linking Joseph's ramp to the back driveway. They will pour sometime this week. After that, other than getting some landscaping and lawn back, the outside is about completed. Dad spent Saturday painting the Garage cupboards. This officially ends the construction in the garage. Now to have it all organized. . .

FOREFATHERS:
Remembering Who They Were and Learning Who We Are Part III
A couple of weeks ago we held the George Washington Taggart Family reunion in Bountiful. (http://www.taggartfamily.org/) This great pioneer was Joseph's GGGrandfather. He crossed the nation on foot with the Mormon Battalion (http://www.mormonbattalion.com/), built many of the early mills of Utah and was the righteous ancestor of most the current Taggarts living in Utah. The photo is a newly discovered Tintype Tim found of George and his wife Clarrissa Marina Rogers (Noah Rogers' daughter). Their home in Salt Lake was built where the driveway of the McCune Mansion is now. IN 1843 in Nauvoo his mother wrote a letter back to family members back home in New Hampshire. At the bottom George added a note about the Prophet Joseph Smith:

“He is a young looking man of his age, which is near thirty eight years [George was nearly twenty seven], and one of the finest looking men there is in the country. And he does not pretend to be a man without failings and follies. He is a man that you could not help liking as a man, setting aside the religious prejudice which the world has raised against him. He is one of the warmest patriots and friends to his country and laws that you ever heard speak on the subject. Neither is he puffed up with his greatness, as many suppose, but on the contrary is familiar with any decent man and is ready to talk upon any subject that any one wishes. And I assure you, it would make you wonder to hear him talk and see the information which comes out of his mouth and it is not in big words either but that which any one can understand.

"[C]oncerning public reports and stories that are abroad in the world concerning Joseph Smith and the Mormons, so called, as a people they are as false [as] the Devil or those that make such stories. I say this as a fact, knowing it to be so. Therefore, if you ever believed me to be one of truth, [I] am still the same.” ^{Taggart Family Newsletter (Vol.IV, No.1, December 1983) 4-6. GWT Biography}

Our lives are blessed because of the example, hard work, integrity, and committment of those who came before us. We turn our hearts to those to who will come after us, and try to establish a similar example.