Trip to the ER

On Saturday afternoon we had our first dreaded trip that all parents try to avoid....a trip to the E.R. Zachary had his first, and hopefully last visit. We had a great day playing with friends all morning. Then in the afternoon we decided to go outside. The kids played on the swing set and in the sand box. Right as we were going inside my friends son got sand in his eyes. As I was figuring out how to help him Brooklyn ran into the bathroom to get some water for us and on her way out she shut the door. Well, that is great, except when Zachary is right there with his finger in the door jam. I immediately heard him screaming and knew something was wrong. I looked over to see a pile of blood and a crying baby sitting on the ground. I quickly inspected his mouth and then spotted his finger looking as though the tip had been sliced with a knife from the fingernail forward. So I called over two neighbors and my mom to help since I knew at that point I could not handle 4 children by myself, especially 2 that needed attention right then. We put Zachary's finger in a cloth and got him to settle down after about 5 minutes with a pacifier. Then we got the sand out of my friends son's eyes and loaded everyone in the van to head to the hospital.

After dropping off my friends kids and Brooklyn to grandpa we were finally able to make it to the E.R. We ended up getting there around 6pm and staying for about 4 hours. While waiting Zachary was quite content and really wanted to get down and run around. After about 2 hours in the waiting room we were able to go back to a room where they took an x-ray of Zachary's finger and told us he would probably need surgery to fix his finger. Then it took another hour to get a bandage put back on his finger and get discharged from the hospital. I was just glad that Zachary handled the situation well and even let us take a picture of him sitting in the hospital bed.


Four days later Zachary is still doing well. We went to an orthopedic Surgeon on Monday and he said the finger is healing very well and he is going to hold off on doing surgery...yeah!! He told us that the finger and the nail should grow back completely. We will keep you all posted on how things go with this little injury. Tonight I got a picture of his fingers to compare how much it changes over the next few weeks.

An Idea on the Law of Consecration

This is kind of a random thought, but that is the way my mind works. Stick around me long enough and you will know the definition of randomness. Anyhow, I was just sitting here in bed and I have had an idea I have been trying to put into words or at least mental thought, and I figured why not just write it and put it into written thought, and I thought, what a great idea!

Well my idea revolves around the Law of Consecration which is the law which we will voluntarily live by when we are allowed to live in Zion. Anyhow my idea is in trying to explain in a general sense what this law is about. If I had to explain it to anyone, I would have to say it this way with a question. What do we work for when we go to work where we get paid. Are we working for the prestige of the money or are we working for the things we can purchase with that money? To clarify this, are we working so we can go on vacations with our families, pay for gas to go on those vacations, and to have the other needs of life or are we working so we can show off those things and be better than others. If you have to narrow it down, are we working for the money itself or for the services that come from that money?

If we are working for the money in itself, we could never be satisfied with how much we get because when can you say enough is enough or I have enough? When could we finally say, I am happy? If you are working for the services that that money provides, you come to find a sense of accomplishment in that money being spent on a means to an end rather than the end in itself.

Now how does this relate to the Law of Consecration? Well consider for a second that you made a substantial amount of money; Not millions, but you definitely had plenty of money to buy the things you wanted and needed. How would you feel if everyone else was able to enjoy those same things that you were able to enjoy? Would you feel less successful if everyone else was able to have the same things you had even though they maybe had less education or other qualifying factors than you had? In other words, what would that money mean to you? would it be as a means of lifting yourself up above others so that others could see your status was above their status and you had more "things" than they did? Or on the other hand would you feel a great feeling in your heart that everyone was able to partake of the same blessings as you?

As you apply this to the Law of Consecration, an individual person may do very well under the law as he adds increase to his stewardship that has been entrusted to him. The blessed thing in this is that as he does well, so can everyone else. In today's world we are told that if one class is to live a life of luxury, then it must needs come at the expense of another class. This is not the way a loving Heavenly Father wants it for his children. We are all blessed with different talents and abilities and some are better at things as business than others, and some are better at taking care of the sick and the afflicted than others. We all have our unique talents and skills. Their is more than enough abundance for all to enjoy every blessing that Heavenly Father has in reserve for us on this earth, but to get to that point we must get beyond the status of money and get to the services of money. Once we come to the understanding that money is only a means to an end, we will be closer the day when we can all enjoy the blessings of this earth. For although we may be Doctors or Lawyers and have great prestige and many of the things of this world, it matters very little if these "things" are only so we can put a label upon ourselves and put ourselves on a higher level than others.

When we are blessed to live the Law of Consecration, money will no longer be about prestige, rather about service. In a sense, that is all money boils down to anyhow is service from one to another. When we are all able to think of others as we do ourselves, NOT BY FORCE BUT BY CHOICE, this will be when we are ready to live the Law of Consecration and when all will begin to enjoy the blessings of our Heavenly Father in abundance both temporally and spiritually!

Life in the Military!

Well, It has now been a full month since I left Colorado and the family, again. These deployments sure do get old fast, but I am getting some good education which is a good thing. I was thinking about it the other day, and I have almost been on active duty time with the military either in the army or in the Air Force for 2 years, the same amount of time I was on my mission. Just an interesting little fact. That doesn't even count for all the time I have been with the Guard in training either on the weekends or in the summers. If you added all those together, they would add up as well. I don't complain about this, but I do look foreword to when my enlistment is up so I can finally be somewhat done with this type of lifestyle.

I do have to admit that their is little comparison between the Army and the Air Force. They seem to be quite different from each other, at least from the experience I have had. My opinion may be skewed some because of the fact that I served with the Army in Iraq and in training to go to Iraq for a year and a half, (A time I would not wish for anyone to have to go through) but the Air Force does seem to be much more civil. My personality type did not fit into the Army very well by any means. I am a type INFJ which is only 1% of the population of the world, but needless to say, this personality type is not the type of person who likes contention, and the Army was full of that from sunset to sundown. Anyhow, I am quite glad phase of my life is over, at least being with the Army.

It is kind of cool meeting so many very interesting people in this world, many of which I would never have met if I was not in the military. I can honestly say that it was in the military that my innocence was lost; where I learned there is more than one definition of thong. That was an interesting story in and of itself. We finally got a break from boot camp and we were going to six flags, and I told the group I was going to go get my thongs, and they all started laughing. I did not get it. I was wondering why my sandals were so funny. Later they told me the other definition of thongs, and I have to admit I laughed pretty hard myself. Who knew, (Well I guess everyone but me) that thongs can be worn on your feet and to cover your derrier, or as the case may be to not cover your derrier if you know what I mean.

Well, the point of all this is that although military life can be quite difficult, it can also be quite rewarding, adventurous, and at times down right hilarious. Although it has been a tough 2 years, it has been a great learning experience I would not give up. Now if you would have asked me that a couple of years ago, that probably would have been a different story, but that is for another day and time.

Now we are Bloggers!

Well, here it goes, our first little try at blogging! A big day for the Searle Family. One little problem, much of Forrest's side of the family is still learning how to turn on a computer, let alone checking someone's blog site, but o-well! This will be a good way to keep up with family and friends, so we are excited. It seems like nowadays the cool people blog, so in keeping up with the Jones's (No punn intended for Holley's side of the family since much of them are Jones's) we are now the "Cool people on the block." Just kidding! Hope all who visit get a chuckle or two, some good advice, or something worth your time.