Gone...but for good reasons.

"In God’s eternal plan, salvation is an individual matter; exaltation is a family matter." - Russell M. Nelson

While much has gone on in terms of life events, birthdays past and upcoming...I just wanted to pay tribute to what's most important to me. Families. Mine in particular, but I am sure you probably feel the same about your own family.
We have had a great past week with Russell's parents and sister visiting and in a couple of weeks we will get to visit with my parents and sister(s)/neice, then off to Florida to see all of my family. While we love to have them here...we hate to see them leave. It's unfortunante that life isn't just full of weekly family visits and less work.

FAMILIES ARE AMAZING BECAUSE:

• They love you unconditionally
• They know exactly what you need and when you need it, even if you are thousands of miles away without having to say a single word
• You can never stay upset with them, because it just feels wrong
• Someone will always love you, no matter what
• They get your quirky ways and still like you
• They are FOREVER (this is my favorite)

I'm so grateful for all of my family. They fill the cracks and crevaces of my every day life and make it worth so much more than it could be if they weren't in it. I am posting the second half of Elder Russell M. Neslons article, from the May 2008 Ensign....it's great.

Family Responsibilities
Individual progression is fostered in the family, which is “central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.” The home is to be God’s laboratory of love and service. There a husband is to love his wife, a wife is to love her husband, and parents and children are to love one another.
Throughout the world, the family is increasingly under attack. If families fail, many of our political, economic, and social systems will also fail. And if families fail, their glorious eternal potential cannot be realized.
Our Heavenly Father wants husbands and wives to be faithful to each other and to esteem and treat their children as an heritage from the Lord. In such a family we study the scriptures and pray together. And we fix our focus on the temple. There we receive the highest blessings that God has in store for His faithful children.
Thanks to God’s great plan of happiness, families can be together forever—as exalted beings. Our Heavenly Father declared, “This is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” Both of His objectives were enabled by the Atonement of His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. His Atonement made resurrection a reality and eternal life a possibility for all who would ever live.
Resurrection, or immortality, comes to every man and every woman as an unconditional gift.
Eternal life, or celestial glory or exaltation, is a conditional gift. Conditions of this gift have been established by the Lord, who said, “If you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God.” Those qualifying conditions include faith in the Lord, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and remaining faithful to the ordinances and covenants of the temple.
No man in this Church can obtain the highest degree of celestial glory without a worthy woman who is sealed to him. This temple ordinance enables eventual exaltation for both of them.
In Church callings we are subject to release. But we cannot be released as parents. From the first days of human history, the Lord has commanded parents to teach the gospel to their children. Moses wrote, “Thou shalt teach … diligently … thy children, and shalt talk of [God’s words] when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
In our day the Lord has added, “Bring up your children in light and truth.” The Church is to assist and not to replace parents in their responsibilities to teach their children.
In this day of rampant immorality and addictive pornography, parents have a sacred responsibility to teach their children the importance of God in their lives. Those evils, so highly destructive of divine potential, are to be strictly shunned by children of God.
We are also to teach our children to honor their parents. The fifth commandment states, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”
How can we best teach our children? The Lord has given us specific instruction:
“No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;
“By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—
“Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy.”
When a child needs correction, you might ask yourself, “What can I say or do that would persuade him or her to choose a better way?” When giving necessary correction, do it quietly, privately, lovingly, and not publicly. If a rebuke is required, show an increase of love promptly so that seeds of resentment may not remain. To be persuasive, your love must be sincere and your teachings based on divine doctrine and correct principles.
Do not try to control your children. Instead, listen to them, help them to learn the gospel, inspire them, and lead them toward eternal life. You are God’s agents in the care of children He has entrusted to you. Let His divine influence remain in your hearts as you teach and persuade.