Thursday, January 17, 2008

Depend on who?

"I saw miracles come to help those who went forward as if it all depended on them, but acted as if it would finally all depend on God's power of deliverance... Your experience in enduring well in the trials of life by drawing on God's power of deliverance can bring you the assurance that you need to find peace in this life and confidence for the next."

President Henry B. Eyring
Brigham Young University
January 15, 2008

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Taryn - A Father's thoughts on his daughter.


She was born a daddy's girl. She loved her daddy and would reach out to him hoping for a laugh, a chance to play. Her daddy was a playing daddy and the two enjoyed their time together, it was something that gave them joy. Sometimes the play would cause a fright or she would fall and then mom seemed to be the only thing that could make things better. She loved her mom and that warm embrace would make everything better. This was a good home.

At age three Taryn was diagnosed with Autism. A doctor in San Diego who specializes in such things included her in a five year study. Mom would drive her down for meetings and tests, trying to giving her daughter all she could. At the end of the five years the Doctor indicated that Taryn did not have Autism but was possibly PDD or Pervasive Development Disorder.

The years ensued and Taryn grew to be smart and intelligent. Reclusive by nature, she would sit for hours reading and then read some more. She had a small girl fondness for animals which continued into teenage hood. Her fascination with books led to love for classroom subjects such as English, Science and History. Math on the other hand would be a hardship and a frustration. She would have to repeat Algebra 1 three times. Her reclusiveness made her a loner and there were few friends at school. Church was a blessing for her, it was here she made her first friends. Then, with the encouragement of her Mom and Dad she auditioned for a High School performance choir called "Showtime". She loved Showtime and in her sophomore year gained a circle of friends who she could sit and eat lunch with.

At night she becomes reclusive again and reads for hours on her bed. In the morning she is different. You could definitely call her a morning person and once aroused from sleep will talk excitedly about all kinds of things. Her mind is most awake then and she leaves her seclusion to open up and let out all the thoughts that came to her while in her quite and reclusive self. She is 15 now and her dad sometimes misses the times he was able to rough-house with her and play with her as a child, but he now enjoys waking her up for early morning seminary and cherishes the time she emerges from the bathroom full of talk and thoughts while everyone else is asleep. It's a time for she and her dad. These are thoughts that test her new found adulthood and they help dad to deal with his own grownup perceptions. He's never had a 15 year old before and it's exciting to see how the world looks through his teenage daughter's eyes. He finds a common humor with her and loves to laugh at her wonderful ideas and prays that those laughs never demean or belittles her intellect, because intellect she has. Dad may miss the little girl but he loves the young woman she's become.

Monday, January 7, 2008

A Beginning


I decided to start the new year off by keeping a journal. I read a newspaper article today about blogs and decided journals were old school, come to think of it, newspapers are old school too. So, instead of keeping a journal I've decided to keep a blog. I'll continue to get the newspaper though, since I enjoy that old school habit. What I like about a blog is it's access. I can set down my thoughts were ever there's an Internet connection and with the world getting wired to the Internet more and more, we'll soon have access any and everywhere.

For a little background, I currently work for a daytime TV show called "Judge Joe Brown" as an editor. I've been on the show for the past 3 1/2 years. Before that, I worked for a production company called RC Entertainment and edited 30 plus one hour shows for the Travel Channel, mostly on the subject of Las Vegas. For somebody who doesn't gamble, I know a lot about Las Vegas. I also worked on a show called MXC for the same company. I mention this because when any youth in my church hears that I worked on this show, I become somewhat of a celebrity... "you worked on that? I love that show!" I also worked on various other projects for many different companies before that, I've been editing since 1990. For the most part, I love my job and feel very fortunate to be doing what I do.

Yes, I'm a member of a church. That is something that is also very fortunate. I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and have found the Church to be my strength and my growth. It keeps me on the right path and allows me to stay the course even with my human frailties. Jesus Christ and his great atoning sacrifice...the church keeps me centered on this and that's why it's my strength. It makes me a better husband, father and person.

Yes, I'm a father. That is also a fortunate something in my life. Linda is my beautiful wife of 21 years. We have 4 children; Taryn is 15, Mandy will be 13 at the end of the month, Cole is 8 and Liam is 3. They are all joys in my life, all of them! They give me purpose and hope, love and joy as well as worry and care. In fact, one of the purposes of this blog is to give me an outlet to tell tales of these, my children and my wife (I hope they don't mind). It's something I look forward to doing.