Scouting - Arrow of Light

It's been a busy month for the Beckstrands in Folsom.

First, Maggie was baptized, then a couple of days later, Kraig received his Arrow of Light! I'm really proud of him and his accomplishments. He even received all but one of the Webelos activity pins as well. He will start Boy Scouts in March when he turns 11 years old. He has even set a goal to get his Eagle Scout award by the time he turns 14.

Scouts reading what each advancement means.

Kraig getting his Arrow of Light award and making the transition to Boy Scouts.

Kraig received a Boy Scout handbook, Boy Scout scarf and slide... Now we'll get his tan Boy Scout shirt!

Kraig, Chandler, and Nick reciting the Scout Oath and Scout Law!

Sandy, Kraig and Mike - Kraigs Arrow of Light awards!

Maggies Baptism!

On November 17th I baptized Maggie. Not much to say here... Pictures can speak for me.

Dad's always making faces... well, we're not ready!

I'm really glad Mom and Dad made it! So was Maggie!

What a group!

Grandma Taylor and Maggie.

Things I've Done

This list is from Karyn’s blog page. I liked it too, so I copied it too!

The things in bold are things that I have done.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world (Disneyland as a kid and World when I worked for Philips Semiconductors - they paid for it!)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (On my mission - "Because I Have Been Given Much")
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train (rode one from Eugene, OR to San Jose, CA! Had to call Chris and remind him to come and pick me up!)
21. Had a pillow fight(with my kids!)
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping (YES I did! And not ashamed to admit it too!)
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset (saw the sunrise in New York and south of NASA in Florida and the sunset in Santa Cruz while at the Boardwalk)
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance (Got rear-ended one block from home in San Jose on Superbowl Sunday!)
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gave flowers for no reason (I bought them at 7am on my way home from work and was asked what I did to have to buy flowers so early in the morning by another customer. I just said “No reason.” What did you do? The guy didn’t answer!)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (Who hasn’t!)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (I still have my Snoopy Dog doll! Kraig has it now.)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (does a layoff count??)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (Dad use to own one when we lived in Vegas. It was a blast!)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (does this count if you flew over it in a plane several times???)
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car (I wish it was a new truck, but I got a Mini Cooper instead!)
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (The picture is in the Church News from General Priesthood when I was in the Priest Quorum.)
85. Read the entire Bible (on my mission!)
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox (I cannot believe Karyn had this one marked! Didn’t you get vaccinated Sis??)
89. Saved someone's life (Long story… Happened while I was a truck driver for C.R. England and Sons. I’ll tell ya some day.)
90. Sat on a jury (almost several times, for some reason the attorneys don't want to keep me!)
91. Met someone famous (I met Pres. Monson just before my mission! He spoke at a fireside in St. George.)
92. Joined a book club (Just to get the free books!)
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Steven Visits...

Yes! You read the tag line right! Steven visited us this past weekend. Well, it wasn't for the whole weekend... my like... "Hey Mike! I'm working in Fresno and I'm flying out of Sacramento some time on Saturday and I was wondering if I can crash at your place!" or something like that!

Fact: Steven WAS working in Fresno on Friday... He said he was just waiting for the movers to get there with some printers so he could make sure the network was working.... and he did do some other stuff to keep everyone thinking he was busy!

Fact: Stevens flight was out of Sacramento on Saturday... around 1pm! I can understand why one would want to be in Folsom... Green... Hilly... Family. I mean all there is in Fresno is... Fresno and no mountains!

The kids were excited to see him Friday night. I think the real reason was that since Steven was visiting, we went out to dinner and the kids like to go out to dinner... then the novelty of having an Uncle like Steven over wore off... until morning anyway!

Oh don't get me wrong... we really like having family visit especially Steven!

The World of Blogging

Have you ever noticed how much time that is spent on sites like MySpace, FaceBook and other social networking sites? I'll tell ya! Too much time! With sites like those and others like "LinkedIn" and "Plaxo", there isn't enough time in the day to keep all of these sites up to date! Well, as of today, I deactivated my "FaceBook" account. Yep, no more wasting time for me!

YA RIGHT!

Now maybe I can keep my blog space up to date with other interesting bits of what is going on in my world.

Never thought it would be this obvious, but...

The following was posted by Daniel Bell on Derrick Beckstrands FaceBook page (hopefully this link works). Permission to re-print here thankfully granted by Daniel. Thanks Daniel!

"I'm glad that Prop 8 passed. I can understand (and indeed sympathize with) those who don't share my beliefs and voted against it. I'm pretty sure that were I not a member of the Church, I wouldn't have supported Prop 8.
But this note isn't really about you guys. Welcome, read the note, comment or question if you like, you're awesome, but you're guests here."

"The really troubling issue, from my point of view, was the section of the Church that actively opposed Prop 8. They have some cognitive dissonance to work through---and perhaps some covenants to remember."

"The foremost complaint I've heard from anti-8 members is that "The Church is trying to take away our agency."

"No offense (maybe you'll take it anyway), but that seems like a very immature argument. I've heard it used to argue against everything from the Word of Wisdom to the BYU Honor Code."

"Did the home teachers storm your house to force you to the polls? Anyone who's served a mission has felt the complete impotence of the Church to force anyone to do anything---and, if they learned, realized that even trying is a bad idea."

"I suppose some might say that the Church is blackmailing them with their temple recommends with the "Do you sustain the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?" clause. Perhaps---if you don't feel like you can oppose Prop 8 and answer "Yes," to that question, then supporting Prop 8 is a condition of entering the temple. But we have to remember that it was never a "right" anyway."

"I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants." (Mosiah 2:21)"

"If God doesn't "owe" us our lives, he certainly doesn't "owe" us temple privileges."

"A few days ago I was riding in my friend's car and we were talking about how hard the mission could be sometimes. A thought surfaced. I don't even remember what the topic was, but the logical equivalent was "I worked really hard on my mission. The Lord owes me."

"The Atonement was a no-strings-attached deal. And so is every act of obedience we perform. We GIVE to the Lord, and receive GIFTS in return. If anyone is in debt, it is not the Lord. And (this is important) nor is the Church---at least not to us."

"This isn't just a trivial matter, either. The Lord has made it clear how strict a line we walk here:

"He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." (Matt 12:30)"

"Some would say that this is a doctrinally murky issue. If it was, it sure stopped being murky when President Monson asked all members to work to support Prop 8. It then became an issue of following the Prophet or not. That one's so non-murky we have a Primary song about it."

"I think I've made my point, but there's one nagging issue I want to address. That is the feeling some might have that I'm being divisive or hateful or contentious---especially in light of that quotation from Matthew. I don't intend to "call anyone out" in Fast/Testimony Meeting or anything equally dreadful. Nor have I advocated that "anyone who doesn't like it can get out," because that's really for their priesthood leader to say or not say (I'm a Family Home Evening Group Leader, which basically authorizes me to make brownies and call on someone for the opening prayer). But I'm not going to stop supporting the Prophet (even vocally) just to make you comfortable."

I love you all.

Okay. I'm done. But here are some quotes that are always good to read anyway.

“I will give you one of the Keys of the mysteries of the Kingdom. It is an eternal principle, that has existed with God from all eternity: That man who rises up to condemn others, finding fault with the Church, saying that they are out of the way, while he himself is righteous, then know assuredly, that that man is in the high road to apostasy; and if he does not repent, will apostatize, as God lives.” ---Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 3:385

“You may not like what comes from the authority of the Church. It may conflict with your political views. It may contradict your social views. It may interfere with some of your social life … Your safety and ours depends upon whether or not we follow … Let’s keep our eye on the President of the Church.” Harold B Lee, Conference Report, October 1970, p. 152–153. (And, for those who are sure that President Hinckley would NEVER have done this...)"

“Even in the Church, many are prone to garnish the sepulchres of yesterday's prophets and mentally stone the living ones.” (Spencer W. Kimball, Instructor, 95:527.)"

President-Elect Obama

To know one in particular...

Apparently you weren't alive during the eight years Ronald Reagan was President. Those were the best years this Nation had ever seen! It wasn't until Clinton took office that things started to go downhill and Bush inherited that mess! Clinton was the one that closed our military down that is preventing the numbers of military this Nation needs to protect its self. It was during the Clinton years that the Nations state of readiness became so complacent, that 9/11 happened during the Bush years. Sure, I admit that during Clinton's watch, the stock market soured to unprecedented heights. Sure I admit that Bush got in over his head the last four years.

Obamas plan will lead to Socialism if the people don't pay attention to what he wants to do. The things he said he wants to do will take an enormous amount of money to accomplish. Where do you think he will get the money to do that? Obama will try to raise our taxes to do what he  thinks he wants to do. Also there is Congress... will Congress actually want to implement the things Obama will want to do? Some, maybe, but I doubt all of it.

there is also the question of where all the money came from that bought, I mean, got him the Presidency. Also, there is this issue with his birth right to be President... the US Constitution says that in order to run for or become President, the candidate must be a US Citizen.

So, the facts are: Democrats have not contributed to the success of our economy (maybe a little), Democrats like to "throw" money at problems, in order to "throw" money at problems... taxes will be raised.

I voted for McCain and I stand by my decision to vote for him. But Obama is President-Elect now and i will do my best to support the laws of the land so long as those laws are for the benefit of and for the people. that's why there is another provision in the Constitution called "Impeachment". That's for the people to use (or try to) when Obama has truly done something that harms this Country.

Peace.