Merry Christmas 2011

The Bise Family (according to Cami):
     This is my family.  Robbie is in France.  I want Robbie to come home RIGHT NOW! He is teaching people and walking around and stuff.  Dallin is my DallyWally.  he took me on his motorcycle.  He likes Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Jordon playes MonkeyBall with me.  He sings songs on his guitar to me.  Every day, Cadie's hair looks different.  She likes to paint her nails.  She let's me paint my nails.  Charli likes to sleep a lot.  I am almost as big as Charli.  She likes to play stuff with me and Cadie.  I am six.  I go to kindergarten.  I  really like Crazy Jamison.  I have lots of  friends.  My dad likes to work.  He likes me to give him hugs and kisses.  Dad likes to play with me and he thinks I'm funny.  Mom watches me and feeds me.  Mom plays the GameCube with me sometimes.  She doesn't win.  Have a good Christmas!

 These family pictures were taken in January 2011, right before Robbie left.

Robbie (20) Serving as a missionary in the France, Paris mission.  

(He's on the left)  Loves France, 

Loves the gospel, Loves life!  

The food in France is pretty good too!

Dallin (almost 18), Senior, 

Qualified for State in X-C, attends Spokane Community College, 

works at Carls' Jr., enjoys working on cars and motorcylces.

 Jordon (14) Freshman, 

Loves reggae and ska and most other music, 

plays guitar, bass and has a part-time rock band 

and tried cross country  for the first time!

 Cadie (almost 13) 7th Grade, 

cross country, volleyball, plays piccolo and electric bass in band, 

enjoys skiing, swimming, ice skating, 

learned to wakeboard and loves to cook.

Charli (almost 13) 7th Grade, 

cross country, basketball, volleyball, 

plays Saxaphone, enjoys ice skating, 

swimming in the lake, wakeboarding  and skiing.

Cami (6) Kindergarten, 

loves to play, run, entertain, sing 

and direct anyone who will listen to her.  

Still a mini-tornado, but learning to clean up her messes! 

We are thankful for our Heavenly Father's gift to us:  

Our Saviour Jesus Christ...  

For his atoning sacrifice and the miracle of resurrection. 

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends!

My Dream Job!

So I have this missionary son that I adore.  He is in France.  That's pretty far away.  He writes us a letter every Monday morning.  I love waking up on Monday mornings, reaching for my phone and reading his e-mail.  He has been gone since January 13th.  That's all.  It seems like forever and it seems like just yesterday (well, really last month..) that he left.  Some days I miss him so bad that I get tears. I miss his smile.  I miss him asking "What I can do for you mom?"  I miss his shoes in the kitchen.

But I don't want him back.  Well, I do, but not yet.  When it's time.  He is learning and growing so much.  What an amazing young man he is.  He is a leader.  He loves serving the Lord.  Nope, wouldn't trade it...

Elder Bise with companion Elder Stephenson

Then there is this 2nd son.  Dallin.  Loves to work with his hands.  Fixes stuff.  Is almost 18.  Is growing up.  Wow.  Every afternoon, after seminary, he comes home for lunch.  Sometimes he calls me.  "Mom, put a pot of water on so I can have Mac and Cheese."  Yeah, he's spoiled rotten.  He works at Carls Jr. He REALLY wants another job.  He has about $1500 saved for his mission.  He graduates from High School this year.  He went to State in Cross Country.  Did I mention he fixes stuff!?!  I gave him some caulk today and told him to caulk the shower.  He did, and did a good job too.

There is a third son.  Jordon.  Good looking kid.  Freshman.  Loves music.  Did I mention, he LOVES music.  Plays guitar and bass.  Sings.  Harmonizes amazingly well.  Learned that on his own.  Good looking kid.  He ran Cross Country too.  He reads his scriptures every night.  What a boy.  Doesn't like school too much.  Wants to grow up to be a hobo.  I'm not kidding.  We're working on a better goal.

Jordon's Box Theory Band

Thing 1 and Thing 2.  Chuck and Cathy. Cadie and Charli. Charli and Cadie. Two girls.  Best friends.  Get annoyed with each other.  Likes to have the last WORD.  Both of them.  So the words never cease.  Giggle. Hang out. Fight. No neat freak genes.  Dang.  Beautiful smiles.  Humble.  Sweet.  Kind.  Inclusive.  Never knew how much I'd enjoy almost teenage girls.  But wait...  the hormones ain't flyin' yet!!!  So I'll hold on for the ride.  Although I don't really expect that these two will be as bad as I was.  I think that will be Thing 3.

Shayla and Zoe with Charli and Cadie (after a race)

That brings us the Thing 3. The Princess. The Boss. The Entertainer. She's six now. Six years since I had my last baby. Yeah, I'm done. She wears me out. She sings all the time. "Baby your a firework" "It's a small world", songs that only she knows. She sang a solo for the Primary Children's Program on Sunday October 25th. The 5th Article of Faith. I didn't think she could really memorize it. It has big words like prophecy, authority, administer, ordinances... I underestimated her. She loves to sing.

See how sweet she sings...  She'll probably have a career in entertainment...  Or she'll be a mom like me... and have a career in entertainment!


Which kind of makes me realize that by choosing to be a mom, you choose to fulfill all your dreams.  I am a writer, a singer, a dancer, an entertainer, a teacher, a therapist

(marriage and family--what I got my degree in)

All because I chose to be a mother of many.

I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Not for a career as a broadway star.

Not for a career as a country music star.

Not for a career as a Marriage and family therapist.

Although, when they are all raised, I might go back to school

and get a master's degree in

Social work

Special Education

Marriage and family Therapy

Speech and Language pathology.

One of those things.

Church History Tour

July 6-17th, I went on a Church History Tour with my mom.  This was wonderful in many ways...  I got to spend 11 uninterrupted days with my mom... 24 hours a day...  I love my mom.  We could've easily been sisters or best friends...  but I'm good with being the daughter.  (side note:  most people thought we were sisters...  good news for my mom...)  I got to see many of the sights of the early history of the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and strengthened my appreciation of these early pioneer saints.  I got to spend 11 days in the Midwest and I still like humidity.  Of course, we left the day the big heat wave started...

We started our tour in Newark, where we loaded up in a tour bus with about 35 other people.  I thought I would be the youngest on the bus, but thankfully, the Jared and Erika Ward came in place of their grandparents.  Everyone referred to them as the newly weds.  Although it wasn't exactly the beginning, but because it was on the way to Palmyra, we stopped in Fayette, NY first.  We visited the sight where the Priesthood was restored on the Susquehanna River. We also visited the Peter Whitmer Farm.

The next day we arrived in Palmyra, NY.  We were able to attend the Palmyra temple first thing in the morning.  It is a smaller temple, quite like the Spokane temple.  Very pretty setting and a great way to start the day.

Palmyra is a small little town on the Erie Canal.  Downtown is fairly historical and included the Grandin Press building, where the first copies of the Book of Mormon were printed, along with a few museums.



The Grandin Press



Displayed copy of the original handwritten translation of the Book of Mormon

That was an amazing thing to see the labor put into translating the Book of Mormon.  Joseph Smith received the gold or brass plates.  He would sit in front of them, translating the words to Oliver Cowdery who would then write them.  Joseph Smith's wife Emma and others would later testify that he would walk away from his work, return hours later and pick up right where he left off, never asking to have any of the manuscript read back to him.  He was persecuted, beaten, chased and tormented but never gave up on the task the Lord had laid out before him.  The Book of Mormon is the history of the inhabitants of this continent who lived from 600 B.C. to 400 A.D.  (Remember in the bible when Jesus said, "Other sheep I have..."  These were some of the other sheep).

Joseph Smith's Boyhood Home

Late that afternoon, we were driven to the Smith Family Farm, where Joseph Smith lived when he began to question what church he should join.  At the age of 14, there was much religious excitement in his area, with many churches proclaiming to be the right way.  Joseph Smith wanted to join a church, but was unsure which one was really right.  After reading in the Bible one evening, and coming across a passage in James 1:5, that says "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not.", Joseph decided to pray and ask God what church he should join.  The next morning, he went to a grove of trees near his house and knelt down to pray.

In his own words, he said, "I saw a pillar of light, exactly above my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.  When the light rested upon me, I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said,  pointing to the other -- This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"  Joseph was told to join none of the churches, but that the true and living gospel of Jesus Christ would be restored to the earth through him at a later time.

It was priceless to me to walk the paths Joseph and the Smith family walked in the 1820's.  It makes the history and the stories easier to visualize and understand.

Because it was so close to where we were, the next part of the tour took us to Niagara Falls.  It truly is a wonder of the world, with so much water rushing from so many directions.  Later that afternoon, we arrived in Kirtland, Ohio.  After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized in Palmyra in 1836, the Church moved headquarters to Kirtland, Ohio, where over 1000 residents had already converted to the gospel.

The Saints sacrificed much to build this temple and hearing and reading their stories again is a marvel.  They had so much faith and perserverance.  They were blessed with such testimonies of the restored gospel.

 

I wish I knew how to put these pictures side by side...  Oh well.  The first is of the Newel K. Whitney store, where Joseph and Emma Smith stayed upon their arrival in Palmyra.  The 2nd photo is from inside the store and the third, of a room above the store that was called "The School of The Prophets."  This room was used for instruction prior to the building of the temple.  In this room, the revelation now known as The Word of Wisdom was given to Joseph Smith.  Upon hearing the revelation, the men in the room took their pipes and chewing tobacco and threw them in the fireplace. We also visited the John Johnson farm and saw the home of Eliza R. Snow.

 Monday found us traveling to the Indian Mound Sites.  A man named Bruce H. Porter joined us.  Bro. Porter is a religious scholar who has done much research into the setting of the Book of Mormon.  He has theorized that the Book of Mormon took place here in Mid-land America, based on passages from the Book of Mormon itself, quotes from the Prophet Joseph Smith, archeological evidence including the Indian mounds and the Hopewell culture and DNA evidence.  He has written a book called Prophies and Promises of the Book of Mormon that detail his theories.

After visiting some of these sites and hearing his lectures, I tend to agree with him.  I must make it clear that regardless of where the Book of Mormon took place, the book itself is scripture, written by prophets, for our day.  But the archelogical evidence, done by non-Mormon people, points very clearly to a culture like that of the Book of Mormon people.  In fact, the archeologists agree that the Hopewell culture, as they call it, was centered on  very strong religious principles and including building large forts by throwing up piles of dirt as tall as a man and then lining those piles with "pickets of timber".

Indian Mounds in Ohio

Part of a fort, with the banks of earth pile up 6-7 feet high.  Evidence shows that pickets of timber were set in the banks of earth.  This bank runs nearly 2 miles in legnth.  Imagine the work....

Finally, the Cahokia Mound in Cahokia, Illinois.  This is part of a series of mounds, this one being the largest and believed to be part of a great city on the Mississippi river.  (google Cahokia for more info.)

 From the mound sites in Ohio (we actually visited Cahokia on our last day) we traveled to Carthage, Illinois, to visit the jail where the prophet Joseph Smith was martyred.  Again, we stepped out of the line of the history of the Church, but it was on the way to Nauvoo.

My impression here were that of solemnity and sadness.  What had this man done to deserve such treatment?  he was wrongfully imprisoned and left unprotected as a mob of men entered the jail and opened fire, both through the door and fom the outside, through a window.  And yet, the Lord's work did not end.  The martyrdom of Joseph Smith did not stop the Church from progressing.  This was not Joseph's church.  He was simply a man, chosen by the Lord to restore the gospel and the that gospel continues to roll forth....

The original door of the room where Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, John Taylor and Willard Richards were hiding in the Carthage jail.  The jail keeper, knowing there was a mob gathering, thought the men would be safer in his private office upstairs and so moved them from the cell to this room.  You can see the bullet holes, one by the knob and one in the upper panel. 

Looking through the bullet hole in the door to the window where Joseph Smith fell after he was shot from the front and the back.

Mom and I at the Carthage jail.

Nauvoo was the next stop on our tour.  We spent Monday evening and all day on Tuesday here.  So much restoration has been done, making this a wonderful destination for families.  The shows were wonderful, including the Nauvoo pageant, the stories shared in each restored home or business were insightful and entertaining.  We also got to attend a session in the Nauvoo temple.  I have never been in a temple as exquisite and beautiful as the Nauvoo temple.

When the Saints were forced to abandon Nauvoo, they crossed the Mississippi river here, lining up for for miles, waiting for the ferry to take them across.  The story was told of John Taylor, apostle and later Prophet of the Church, who waited to cross with his wife and young son.  The boy (about age 2) was inconsolable.  After they crossed the river, the boy finally told them why he was so sad.  Apparantly all he wanted was his small rocking horse.  So risking running into the mobs, John Taylor rode his horse back across the river, snuck into his home, got the rocking horse and tied it to the back of his horse and took it to his son.  That rocking horse is now on display in the John Taylor home in Nauvoo.

The next stop on our tour was Mt. Pisquah, a recovery area along the Mormon trail.  This is now a large farm, owned by a non-LDS man (Can't remember his name) that truly values the work and dedication of the pioneers.  He has found evidence of cabins, graves, mills, etc. on and around his property.  

View from Mt. Pisquah

 

Winter Quarters, Nebraska, near Omaha.  The visitor's center there was filled with our Pioneer Heritage, including an example of a cabin that would have been built there for the Pioneers to stay in on their trek west.  These cabins could sleep up to 12 people.  We were able to see the Winter Quarter's temple, but did not do a session there.

By Friday, we made our way to Independence, MO, again out of order for Mormon history, but how it was done.  The Saints went from Kirtland Oh, to the Independence area to escape persecution.  However, it wasn't long before mobs of Missourians drove them from there to Nauvoo.  Finally, after Joseph's death in Carthage, the Saints were driven from their homes again and headed west, settling in the Salt Lake area.

There is more to write of this trip, but I will go ahead and post this now.  Hopefully I will be able to complete this in the near future....



Cancun and the Ruins

Wednesday, May 11, Troy and I flew to Cancun.  (Getting my passport was quite an adventure, let me say... so I won't tell that story, only if you don't have one, get it now!)  Cancun is located in the Yucatan Pennisula in southern Mexico on the Gulf side.  It is a larger city than I imagined, larger than Cabo.  Again, most of the Mexicans speak at least a little English, but Troy chose to speak Espanol to EVERYONE!  So I brushed up on my Spanish so that I could follow along with the conversations.  Troy is such a good missionary.  After some getting to know you questions, he would tell the Mexican that he had 6 kids.  They would reply, "Oohh... you Mexican Hombre!  hahahah..."  They thought this was pretty funny, because in the last generation of Mexicans, they all had large familias.  This is not the case anymore.  I tried to make to joke that it was the Catholics and the Mormons that had large families, but they didn't get it.  They figured they had large families because they were Mexican (although most we talked to were also Catholic... go figure.)  Anyway, this would lead Troy to tell them we were Mormones and how we feel about families.  Lots of questions would follow.  Troy would now like to serve our mission in Mexico.

Thursday the 12th, we took a tour bus to Chichen Itza, one of the new seven wonders of the world.  This place is fascinating.  You MUST visit it!  The newer part of Chichen Itza dates 500 A.D. to 1000 A.D.  The structure below was built around 900 AD by the Mayans.  This structure houses another smaller structure.  The larger one represents the 365 day solar calendar and was built to remind the Mayans of the Spring and Autumn Equinox dates by mathematically structuring it so that a snake can be visible in the shadows of the sides on those two particular days.  REALLY.  The building inside, which we couldn't see was built to represent the 260 day lunar calendar.  Although it is referred to as a Mayan Pyramid, it is in fact, not a pyramid.  It has 4 sides, 9 levels and no telling how many steps.

The older part of Chichen Itza dates from 200 BC to 500 AD.  The pictures below are from older Chichen Itza.  Those ruins/buildings are incredible to me, because they were around during the time the Book of Mormon takes place.  In that book, you read about the cities, the roads, the trades and then you see this archeological site and then you truly understand.  These people were amazing...

Possibly an observatory...

Archeologists believe this was a church

The Mayans have a word that literally translated means "a white man coming down from the sky surrounded by light."  This image depicts a man surrounded by rays of light. (The arch around him represents the rays of light.)

Either a baptistry... or a bath in the middle of the city

As you can see from these pictures, this was a large city!  The Archeologists have uncovered 60 acres of buildings, roads and other structures in this site alone.  They have also uncovered 80 miles of road near here... 

 Here is a photo of Troy and I on vacation!  See how white we are!  Everyday it was 90 degrees and very humid.  Behind us is a Ceynote (see-no-tay).  One of hundreds of entrances to underground rivers that flow to the see.  You can swim in them and if you are a good diver, you could dive in them.  This one didn't look appealing, so we didn't go in.  We went here the same day as the ruins tour.  By the way, we learned that:
     The Mayans don't believe that the world will end in 2012.  They stopped the calendar there, because they believed that every 7000-something years (I don't remember the exact number) all of humanity changes.  So on December whatever, 2012, that date will end the period we are currently in and humanity will change.  So we won't all die and the earth won't end...  just some event will signal the change of humanity.  (And perhaps humanity has already begun to change -- my opinion here --  Think how fare the world has strayed from God in the past 40 years...)
Also we learned that:  When Spain conquered Mexico in the 1500's and on through the 1800's, hundreds of these Mayan and Aztechan villages and cities were demolished, because the Spainards/Catholics thought they represented evil.  Sad to lose that much evidence of flourishing cities in this continent from 600 BC to 400 AD.
Day 3:  Friday.  We had to do our timeshare presentation.  an hour and a half, listening to a desparate Time Share sales man tell us about this "one time" deal and for $9000, we could come vacation at the OMNI hotel for one week a year for 30 years.  Of course we told him "NO."  However, because we listened, we stayed in that hotel for 6 nights and 8 days, with breakfast, lunch and dinner included for (hold your hats...) $432.00.  That's it.  All our meals, a nice room, a nice gym,  pool, towels, snacks, shows, the ocean, boogie boards...Not too bad.  After the time share, Troy went snorkeling and I went to the gym to run (it was too hot outside!)  Then we sat on the beach, ate Sushi (as part of our package), swam in the pool and ate dinner.
Day 4:  Saturday was a trip to Xcaret (esh-caw-ret).  This is the eco version of a Mexican theme park.  We arrived, put on our swimsuits and entered an underground river, where we swam/snorkeled for about a mile (took an hour) through caves almost to the ocean.  It was beautiful and sometimes a little frightening (dark, claustrophobic).  Towards the end, there were many colorful fish to see.  The park included some more ruins that dated from 200 BC to 500 AD, but none as "whole" as the ones at Chichen Itza.  Xcaret had a bird hatchery, where they raised baby Scarlet McCaws and Green Parrots with red or yellow or blue and flamingos.  They had a replica Mayan village.  A botanical garden (a bit boring). A really great Mexican restraunt with a horse show.  The evening ended with a Mayan show that took us through the Mexican time-line as they knew it.  (It was REALLY GOOD!  Better than the PCC in Hawaii)  They demonstrated an ancient Mayan ball game.  By the way, all the ruins that are found throughout Mexico and Guatamala have these ball courts:

Notice the ring at the center top of the wall...

Again, amazing stuff to think about...  They all had similar courts and depictions of the games were carved on the walls.  They show also demonstrated another ancient Mayan game played with sticks and a flaming fire ball.  Lots of music and costumes, showed how when the Spainards conquered Mexico, they brought Catholism and civilized the nation.  Very well done show.

A cool carving of Jesus found in the Mayan village

A Cheetah (and a jaguar behind it)

At the Xcaret beach

A ruin at Xcaret.  Steps were so narrow, I didn't dare go up...

Day 5:  Sunday.  We took a taxi to the church.  We assumed church would start at 9.  It didn't start til 10.  Here is the thing.  In the U.S., our church buildings are nice, big, cozy comfortable.  Warm in the winter.  Cool in the summer.  Our pews are cushioned.  We have air conditioning.  In Spokane, we rarely have 90 degree Sundays, but we have A/C in our buildings.  In Cancun, the church building was of the older style of L.D.S. church buildings (probably built in the 70's).  The benches were truly the MOST uncomfortable benches I've ever sat on.  TRULY! Hard wood, and they didn't even sit up straight.  They kind of angled in.  And NO A/C.  It was 85 and humid out and there is NO A/C.  The chapel was cooled with fans.  Americans:  STOP YOUR WHINING!!!  In Cancun, the chapel was filled and the overflow opened.  People came despite the hard benches and the heat.  And I truly doubt they complain. 


Day 6:  Time to go home.  I got up this morning and walked about 2 miles on the beach, collecting seashells.  Then I swam for a while, then we had breakfast.  We headed for the airport about 11 am.  Great vacation in Mexico.  Come home to Spokane, where the temperature was 43 degrees...