Allerton Park Illinois

Jason took me to this HUGE beautiful park with out my camera, so these are from the internet, but it's a beautiful place! It is one of the 7 wonders of Illinois. See more pictures here: http://allerton.illinois.edu/ and here.

Cohokia Mounds

Near St. Louis is the Cahokia Mounds, remnants of Native American's. It is the largest prehistoric Indian sight north f Mexico. It covered 4000 arces and includedd at least 120 mounds. 70 of remaining 80 are protected by the State of Illinois. Jason and I went there and looked around and climbed to the top. This of course for me screams of Book of Mormon archeology. From the top of this we could see the sky line of St. Louis.



This is another mound that we could see from the top of the temple like mound picture posted above.














From the other side of the largest mound you could see fences that they built to keep enemies out. This practice is found in The Book of Mormon.










In the visitors Center, a drawing of what life might of looked like then.












There are many of these mounds around the country, especially in the eastern part of the USA. There is evidence that these people had interaction with each other.













A comparison of other temple like mounds around the world. To the left, one in Mexico, The next Chitza- nitza, which I've been to and it seems huge, the next green one I don't remember, but of course the pyramids are from Egypt. The green mound in the front is the Cohokia mound.










This is from the internet and has markings of other mound sights around Northern America.

Illinois: the land of Lincoln and Mason's

Jason and I spent one week in Decatur Illinois where his family lives. Here are some pictures:

Jason and I on the back porch of his mom's home with a view of lake Decatur.









Tinker is almost 100 % blind. I call her "little blind dog". she is so sweet.












Ron and Irene, Jason's mom and her husband. They are the nicest people and Irene is a great cook!


















Jason and his kids Meghann and Ben on the first day. Jason LOVES his kids. He hugged Ben so tight his teeth hurt! He kissed Meghann over and over again.










Jason and his mom. He calls his mom every day to see how she's doing.













Uncle Carl, his dad's brother and his wife Carolyn.
We got lots of genealogy from them.












Sister Marilyn and her husband Larry. They drove us to St. Louis to get back on the plane. Marilyn is great! This 5 second video doesn't do her justice! She is very pretty.



The Jack Russel Terrier Peanut that loves Jason and that I named "peanut butter dog".












The red camero we rented for 2 days. Jason said I was hot and that I can rev up his motor any time. It was a fun car to drive for 2 days. It drove soooooooo smooth.










This is St. Louis Missouri. Over all we had a great time, visiting family and friends of Jasons. I was so glad we went even though we spent way too much money!

We saw 2 of his friends from growing up. One friend from his adult years(sorry, no pictures). We went to Sacrament mtg at the old building Jason went to church at. He ran into his boy scout buddy that is still in the area. Meghan went to church with us. Jason drove Tim's Harley Davidson bike with me on the back and also Ron's goldwing 3 wheeler. In Illinois you only have to wear glasses, helmets are not required. It makes it fun as I can talk to Jason as we rode. The 3 wheeler was like a recliner on wheels, it was so comfy. I met 2 of his 3 sister and some nieces and nephews of his too. I took pictures of the schools he went to and the house he lived in and the first building he worked on as a mason with his dad at age 10 or 12. We came home with lots of pictures of him and his kids growing up. I need to get them in books.




Jason and his sister Teresa, who is 6 years older than him.














Jason at his fathers and nephews graves. His nephew passed away at age 10.

Adoption: It's about Love

a third blog?

I really want to create a new blog. This one will be about the scriptures, the gospel and study I do. I've always been big into researching a subjects and linking my thoughts together. I want a place to keep track of it all. I've already got a few posts from this blog I can add to the new one and I already have studying done that begs to be organized. It's just a matter of time- when it will happen and the time to make it happen!

Here's the address to my new blog: http://myfirstlovethescriptures.blogspot.com/

Did you know this about The Book of Mormon?

• Book Magazine cited The Book of Mormon as one of the "20 books that changed America"


• More than 100 million copies of the BOM have been printed since 1830. It has been translated into over 100 different langauges, thus making it one of the most widely published books in history.


• The Book of Mormon fulfills Biblical prophecies.



• The Book of Mormon stands as a witness of the truthfulness of the Bible.



• The Book of Mormon Testifies of the divinity of Jesus Christ, of his atonement on an average of every 1.7 verses.



• The Book of Mormon is a tangible evidence of the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith.



• The Book of Mormon contains a promise that God will tell us the truthfulness of the book, if we simple read it and pray to know that it is true. (Moroni 10:3-5)



• Joseph Smith translated The Book of Mormon from ancient gosl plates by the gift and power of God. With only a 3rd grade education, it would have been impossible for him to compose such a complex book in only 60 days, the total time of writing.



• Eyewitnesses to the exhistence of the ancient gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated.

3 witnesses were shown the plates by an angle of God. They heard the voice of God declaring from heaven the truthfulness of The Book of Mormon.

8 other eyewitnesses also saw the plates.

all 11 remained true to their testimoneis for the rest of their lives.

• Numerous archaeological and anthropological links to the old world.


• Literary parallels to ancient languages and practices (i.ie. Hebraisms, personal names) and modern day word print computer analysis shows multiple authors, none of whose style is similar to that of Joseph Smith.