The Fallen and the Future 8/19/07

What happened to the last two weeks. Wow. We mourn the loss of President James E. Faust of the First Presidency who died a week ago. He was a special friend to the family. He was close to Tim, working with the AV Department for many years. He set Tim apart as Mission President and asked Elder Holland (our friend from AV and CES assignments) to set apart Gloria. We will miss Pres. Faust's Christ-like kindness and marvelous teachings.

This has been a 'crashing' couple of weeks with the mining disaster in Utah (http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=1663036) and the dropping of the Key Bank building downtown (http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=1657948). Our hearts go out to the miner's families and our hopes go out to the downtown development.

We had a wonderful visit from Jared Weichers and his family. Jared was one of our assistants in the England Bristol Mission. He has lived out of state since the mission. He has recently returned from a medical tour of duty in Iraq. It was so great to see his beautiful wife Kjerstin and meet their three awesome children.

Joseph starts fall semester at the University of Utah tomorrow. He managed all A's again last semester and is anxious to get going. Our goal is not to have surgery THIS semeser (breaking the tradition of the last three). We all appreciate your prayers.

Joseph has been studying, pondering and praying about stem cell therapy and the advances being made and is starting to set some goals for the future accordingly. He is beginning to think about a fund raiser next spring to fund Adult stem cell treatment overseas, where they are beginning to have success. If you've got some ideas let us know. You can also email Joseph at josephstaggart@yahoo.com.

Fount of Blessings 9/5/07

August has begun and blessings continue. Thursday the Young Men and leaders of the Westlake 9th Ward came over to hook up the timer for our back garden sprinkler system they installed in the spring. They also installed an incredible new fountain. Bishop Canals and the crew unpacked and installed the fountain which makes a beautiful sound as it recycles the water in the base through the fountain into the basin again. Joseph loves the back garden and spends part of almost everyday enjoying the beauty and the birds.

Ah the joys of Summer and the Grandkids!