We wish you a Merry Christmas.....

The Bowen Family, Sweet, Id. Thanksgiving 2008.

Pictured left to right: Marc, Renae, Doug, Mason, Kirii, Payton, Kade, Nicole, Seth, Kelly.

Thankful

We hope all of you had a fabulous holiday with family and friends. We were so grateful to be able to spend it with the Bowen side this year over in Boise. What a fun and relaxing week for us. We are also thankful to share the news that we are expecting again! We hope all goes well with this pregnancy so we might have the blessing of another little one in our home. (Payton has been begging for a sister for over a year now.)

A new year is coming soon, and hopefully for us, an addition to our family, and it gives me much to think about. My strongest thoughts revolve around the world in which we live, its state, and how things will change. We have had some scary changes in the world and in our economy lately...and I am sure there will be more to come....harder things to come, and wonderful things to come. Am I prepared for change? Am I prepared to raise beautiful, innocent children in a wicked world? I know most mommies wonder the same thing....but what do we do.

Joseph Smith said:
"The Lord will feel after you and He will take hold of you and wrench your very heartstrings, and if you cannot (bear) it you will not be fit for the Celestial Kingdom of God."

...but the amazing thing about our loving Heavenly Father is that he will not subject us to any difficulty which is beyond our ability to resolve with His help. So, with that "wrenching of our heartstrings" so to speak, he freely GIVES us a way to bear it. He loves us. He strengthens us. Thats enough of an answer for me when I question what to do. I guess I just need to trust Him.

I am thankful that trust and a clean life are quite simply all it takes- because of Jesus Christ.
I am thankful for trusted friends and family, and those around us that make our life rich.

Happy Thanksgiving

The Klinglers

Halloween

We had a long, fun day of Trick-or-treating and playing. We visited Idaho Falls, Newdale, Grandma Betty's and Grandma and Grandpa Klinglers all in one evening. Above: Pictures with cousins Kennedy and Emerson at Newdale's Trunk or Treat. And then below, Batman at our house, showing his muscles.

Get food storage fast!

Grateful to my fabulous mom!! She gave us one of these for Christmas a couple years ago. I wanted to buy more and she let me know about how to get them at COSTCO.COM. You can order them directly from the company but they are 105$ per bucket and like 25$ for shipping, making them around 130$ per bucket, which is still a great buy on how much is in there. But, you can buy them from costco.com for 85$ a bucket and that includes shipping.

It contains 3month food supply for one person. I have 4 of them, which makes a years supply of food right there. They have diverse meals all drypacked in the bucket (its heavy!) and has a 20 year shelf life! Great thing about it is, in a natural disaster, what if all you had to do was grab your 72 hour kits and your buckets of food! HANDY! Also, use for camping and such.

If you don't have a costco membership and need help purchasing some for your food storage, just call me!

Preparedness

I know I am posting lots of text lately, but there is much going on in the world right now of importance. I boss emailed this to me and it is an eye opener.


Just want to share this email that I received from a friend. It's a letter
sent to her friend from people in Texas who just experienced 'Ike'. What a testimony for preparedness.

Dear Friends: We have a 6'x6' hole in our roof, no electricity or running water, Trees down everywhere. However, because we listened to the counsel of our Prophet we are prepared. In fact it seems to me that it's only the members of the church who seem to be calm, prepared, and helping one another with trees in roofs, flooding, etc. There is a POD or Point of Distribution in Tomball where we live. There you get water and ice IF you have enough fuel to wait in the 3-hour lines. We don't have to do that because we have 3 full water barrels, 75 juice bottles filled with water, and our pool, which is dirty, but we use it to flush. It is very difficult to get gas. Police guard the stations when fuel is delivered and you might wait half a day to get up to the pump just to have them say, 'Too bad, we are out'. I am grateful that we have a generator. We run it 4 hours a day to keep our fridge and light. I am grateful that we have had fuel for it. You can't even buy gas containers as they are rationed. We can only buy bread once a week and limited to 2 loaves at a time. Water is rationed by the case at the grocery store - 3 cases per family. The ATM machines do not have power. For the past 6 months I have stashed small bills away because I have had such a feeling of foreboding. We have cash because of that. LISTEN TO THE SPIRIT. Get cash in small bills because the stores can't make change and credit and debit cards often don't work. I had to pay 5 dollars more for an item because they couldn't make change for me. And . . . PHONES ONLY WORK OCCASIONALY. Believe it or not...I have not had a bath in 4 days, Today was the first day I got to wash my hair with pool water. I haven't fixed my hair in a week!!! It just doesn't matter anymore. We cannot do laundry because we don't have water. So, we wear our clothes until they are literally disgusting. When we do finally get water we will have to boil it since it is contaminated. I am grateful for my parents. When we got low on generator fuel they drove 45 minutes to help us. They filled up their cans and brought us 10 gallons of fuel, which kept us going until this morning at 6:oo, am when we finally found some gas. A prepared Family and a loving extended family is the key to survival and making it through right now. I know that my parents would drive to the end of the earth to help me and it's nice knowing they are there. I know that I would do the same for my children. I want all of you to know that I have such a testimony of following the counsel of our li ving prophet. There really is safety and peace in your hear t if you are prepared. Please get your generators, 5 gas cans full of gas, canned goods, baby items, baby wipes to bathe, and all the water you can store...even if you have to trip on it in your home. Have your lanterns, crank flashlights, tarps, rope, etc. ready to go because you never know when it will be your turn to endure the test. It's overwhelming, but it's going to be ok eventually. I have a home, I have food, and I have water, because I listened to the counsel of the prophet. Please make sure you do the same. It's time to have your life in order. Tomorrow may be too late.

Testimony Tag- this is a long one!

As leaders in the Young Women's program, we have been discussing the need for our beautiful young women to more regularly share their testimony of the gospel in order for it to be strengthened, so, I realized I needed to do the same and also, find more ways to do it. Also, I was inspired by an ENSIGN article that encouraged this type of sharing on the internet.... exactly what I am doing here.... sharing of testimony on BLOGS, MYSPACE, FACEBOOK, etc.

My testimony is this, and it has grown and changed over the years, line upon line. I know that God is my Heavenly Father. He is perfect, and he sent his perfect Son to be an example and a sacrifice for us. I know that Christ did indeed suffer for the sins of all... for mine, which are many, but truly, for EVERYONE! His love is perfect and real, and something we can feel and experience as we strive to have a relationship with him.
I know the Atonement is real. I have felt the arm of the Lord reaching for me in my worst times, in my deepest sins, whether is be through gentle nudgings of the spirit, or through the reaching out and concern of leaders, friends, family, and neighbors.
He will never desert you. You will never be alone.
I was never left alone, and for that I am most grateful. That unconditional love has nurtured me, changed me, and helped my testimony to grow into what it is today.

I had an experience when I was a sophomore in High School. I received a Patriarchal Blessing that year. In it, I was told "Heavenly Father loves you and is appreciative of the way in which you have lived your life thus far." I really struggled to believe this part of my blessing. It didn't seem possible. If I looked back on how I had lived my life thus far, all I could see were sins and mistakes.
We often feel that way, and through the following experience was how I came to have a testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
I attended a weekend getaway with some wonderful lessons and guest speakers, and in that weekend we were given a couple hours of personal time to go out into the woods and privately read, pray, ponder, and write in our journals. I remember so vividy my time there. I read and re-read my Patriarchal blessing, and as always, stumbled over that line with disbelief. I prayed to know how this could be true. Did Heavenly Father really mean this, or were these just the words of a man who really didn't know me? I prayed for almost an hour, and tears of frustration and inadequacy came to the surface. In seminary we learned that great inspiration comes through the ready of the scriptures, and so I opened to them, and the first verse on the first page I opened to read:

"For He is a God of truth and cannot lie."

In that instant so many things ran through my head. I look back now and know I was blessed with the whisperings of the spirit. I know that because of how I felt. Warm, tingly, loved, overwhelmed. This is how I feel physically when the spirit speaks to me. The thoughts that came were these:

"This is a true blessing from my Father given through a good and righteous man who was called as his mouthpiece. It IS TRUE. Heavenly Father is a God of truth and cannot lie. However, His statement of love and acceptance is true, but so is that fact that I sinned and did not live according to the commandments He has given. SO- this can only be true if Jesus truly did suffer for my sins, and through my repentance, the Lord "remembers them NO MORE."
Right then I believed that with all my heart. I knew what I learned was true. Jesus is the CHRIST..... he suffered for us. If we repent we ARE forgiven and our sins are remembered by Him no more.

This is part of my testimony, my knowledge of God, His son Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, and the power of the Atonement. I hope to share more later.

But for now..... you are TAGGED! Anyone who wants to be, and the four following people.

Kirii Jones (to read the testimony of my wonderful sister)
Lacey Peterson (to read the testimony of a brand new momma... congrats Lace!)
Jason Nichols (to read the testimony of a friend and convert)
Lynsi Theurer (to read the testimony of an inspiring and beautiful friend and leader)

Your choice! Don't feel pushed, but maybe recall this scripture:
"For behold, this is My work and My glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
And for that to happen the gospel has to roll forth- so we must share it however we can!

All my love-
NICOLE

Proposition 8

This is a popular subject lately, and I just wanted to share with you an email I received from a good friend of mine who has just finished up an internship in Washington DC. She expresses the following about Proposition 8:


Hello my friends and family, For many of you it has been a long time, I know. I sure hope all is well. Sorry in advance for sending such a mass email. If i had the time i would send them personally one by one. Forgive me if this in any way seems inappropriate to you. My intention is not to be offensive or intolerant. This is really important to me. I am writing to you because something of great importance has come up in California that is threatening religious freedom, freedom of speech, and our rights as parents or future parents. I am talking about Prop 8 in California that is up for election this year in November. I dont have the time or space to write all that needs to be written to explain what i am referring to. However, there are videos, articles, etc. that explain the ramifications and consequences if Prop 8 DOES NOT pass. To highlight a few, our children will be taught in school (from K to 12) that same sex marriages are normal and accepted and that it is ok for children to like other children of the same sex. This should be the right of the parents not the schools. go to www.whatisprop8.com<http://www.whatisprop8.com/> and preservingmarriage.org<http://preservingmarriage.org> and protectmarriage.org<http://protectmarriage.org> for videos, articles, more info etc. This is SO important. PLEASE do not take this lightly. The consequences will be huge. It will affect the entire nation. We already voted on it once in Prop 22 and four activist judges based in San Fran overturned what the people said and legalized same sex marriage. This will affect our children. Those who are homosexual will not lose any rights. They will still have all benefits and tax benefits as heterosexual marriages. This is simply regarding the definition of marriage. It is a MORAL issue. It is not an act of tolerance. They cannot use tolerance as a cry against us and then use that same 'intolerance' against us by saying we arent tolerant. We need to unite, all faiths, all those interested in the family and protect the divine institution of marriage. If you are from CAlifornia, please register to vote and VOTE on Nove 4 YES YES YES for Prop 8. If you are not from California, make sure you talk to anyone you know who is and pass on this very important information! Please contact those you know DO ALL you CAN to get them to vote yes on Prop 8. Put it on your blogs, on your facebooks, podcasts, texts, etc.