Youth Groups... 07/02/2010
 
Lynne and I had the opportunity to speak to a group of young men and young women with the theme of "Never Give Up'.  They were a wonderful  group of youth.  One of the leaders was an old friend from my past in whom I played softball with years ago.  We sure had a fun time reminiscing about the good old days of how intense I was at the game.  A few other teammates came to hear us speak and as were were reflecting on some of the other players I was the one who had the good memory of remembering names.  Everyone got a kick out of that.  I am grateful for good friends and for the opportunity I had to play baseball all those years ago.
 
Lynne and I also had the opportunity to speak at "Pineview Reservior" to a group of young women at their girls camp.  As we drove by the lake, a sense of peace was felt of many years ago of where my accident occured.  It was just like driving by any lake.  No stress, sadness or frustration was felt at all.  I thank God for allowing me to survive that evening many years ago.  How blessed  to be able to speak to those young women on 'courage'.  The spirit was felt and at the conclusion of our speech, these beautiful girls sang to Lynne and I.  They were like angels.  
 
 
Lynne and I spoke at the BYU Women's Conference April 29th.  It was a very touching experience for us.  Our subject was entitled "Have Miracles Ceased? Recognizing the 'tender mercies' of the Lord in our lives."  

We were very grateful for the opportunity to share our testimony with over 500 sisters. We had many family members and friends come support us... even friends from high school that we have kept in contact with for over 35 years. A unity was definitely felt. 
 
 
The BYU Womens Conference is coming up April 29th-30th.  The theme is "Choose Ye This Day to Serve the Lord"

The General Relief Society Presidency will be speaking at the opening session.  President Dallin Oakes of the Quorum of the Twelve and his wife will be speaking at  the closing session.  The conference is Thursday and Friday with over 200 speakers to choose from.  

Lynne and I have been invited to participate as speakers on the Thursday session at 3:00pm.  We have been assigned the topic "Have Miracles Ceased? Seeing the Hand of the Lord in our Lives".  We are very excited to have this opportunity!


For further conference information, visit our PRESS ROOM page and under upcoming events, click on the 'women's conference' link.
 
The end of 2009 01/03/2010
 
Well, the end of 2009 brought many wonderful things to our family.  My daughter Lindsay and her two children flew in from Alaska for 3 weeks in the fall.  We spent a very exciting Halloween with Spiderman and a beautiful little Princess. Being with them fills my cup. Though they are far away right now, that is okay because they have created a very nice life in Alaksa, her husband Chuck loves being a dentist and it is a wonderful place for our family to visit.  My youngest daughter Brooke informed me that she too, is going to be a mother, so needless to say I will soon have a grandchild in Utah! I have never experienced that before. That will be a nice added blessing in my life I love being a grandpa.
 
I spent the last two seasons of the year sharing the story of "The Lost Season".  Lynne and I spoke ironically..... at Pineview (where I got hit by the boat) to a youth conference.  It had been a long time since I had been up that way.  It seemed a bit eerie to Lynne but since I don't even remember that day it was no big deal to me.  We also spoke at a Relief Society dinner in August and saw some friends there.  We spoke to a Young Adult ward in September followed by the Brain Injury Conference in October.  November brought many things to be grateful for, having my two daughters here to share an evening fireside and speak to a group of young women and their mothers.  I believe 2010 will bring many wonderful unexpected blessings as long as continually I seek them.
 
"GOD DOES NOT GIVE US WHAT WE CAN HANDLE.........
HE HELPS US HANDLE WHAT WE ARE GIVEN'
 
He definitely has helped me.  For the new year I plan to get back into racquetball without any injuries!!!!  I am also looking forward to speaking at  a Brain Injury Conference at Utah State University this upcoming spring.  Alot of doctors and therapists who work with brain injured patients attend the conference.  I may not be an 'expert' when it comes to studying the brain as these people are, but I am an 'expert' when it comes to being a survivor.  I have much to share with them and thankful for the ability and the opportunity to be able to do this.   
 
Annual BIAU 10/22/2009
 
Lynne and I were invited to be key note speakers at the annual BIAU Brain Injury Association of Utah conference.  There was about 300 people consisting of doctors, therapists, victims of traumatic brain injury and survivors. Lynne and I may not be professionals when it comes to the 'medical' knowledge of brain injury but we definitely are professionals when it comes to being a victim and survivor of traumatic brain injury.  There are over 500,000 head injuries per year. 

We simply shared our story of life before the accident and learning to cope with life after my injury. We discussed different methods I was taught by my speech, occupational and physical therapists and doctors.  We shared on how we have and 'are' dealing with significant life changes. I talked about the trials of living with a disability and how I deals with it on a daily basis.  Humor is a big part of the recovery process.  Communication and service to others has also played a vital role in my recovery. It was a nice conference and we certainly hope we were able to touch at least one person.  If we did... we succeeded. 

 
Patience 09/03/2009
 
Picture
This has been quite an adventurous summer.  We went to Alaska to visit my daughter and her family.  This is a picture of our King Salmon my son in law caught.  We were on a boat for 6 hours and at the "last chance" spot we finally got something.  Our guide informed us that King Salmon fishing is for the patient people.  Patience is something I have learned from my accident.  Those around me have learned to be patient with my disability and I am very grateful for that.  Patience is something that can be practiced over and over.  If you feel impatient, just take a deep breath and practice patience.  Eventually you wont have to work so hard at it, it will become a part of who you are. 
 
Create your life 05/31/2009
 

"People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds.....it is something one creates." -Thomas Szasz- 
I am creating who I am through all I do everyday whether it is communicating to my children and grandchildren, writing in my journal, through playing sports and meeting new people daily.  The best way to predict the future is to create it.
 

 
 

A couple weeks ago Lynne and I spoke at a head injury support group associated with the Traumatic Brian Injury Foundation of Utah. We were able to talk with other victims of brain injuries as well as their famliy members.  We shared our experience and how we deal with life after my accident.  

There were people there trying to cope with life changing experiences and my main focus to them was to never give up! I would say to them things such as, "I used to be right handed, now I am left handed" because my right side was affected from my brain injury.  

I feel we gave some inspiration to those who felt anger or depression in helping them focus on what they have instead of what they lost. Lynne and I have been invited to speak at their fall conference in September and are thrilled!  

*All the profits from the book sales at this speaking engagement was donated to the TBI Foundation (traumatic brain injury).

 
 

I wanted to take a moment to share with you how our book "The Lost Season" got it's name and cover.

When I was in my accident, the force from the boat to my brain put me into a deep coma.  I was in a coma for 5 weeks during the months of September and October.  I do not have any memory of this time, in fact I do not remember the time period from about one month before my accident to one month after my accident.  The autumn season of the year 1990 was and forever will be lost to me in my life.  Therefore, the name "The Lost Season" came to be.

As for the cover of our book...  the autumn leaves obviously represent the autumn season that was "lost", but if you look closely, the middle object is a cocoon.  Inside this cocoon is a figure of a person curled up into the fetal position.  As I was deep in my coma and struggling to recover, Lynne was deep in her own cocoon struggling to emerge.  But, if you turn the book over, you can see a butterfly with our family's four silhouettes making up the wings representing that our family has emerged from our dark cocoon into something more beautiful than before.

 
Another injury! 01/26/2009
 

One of my passions is RACQUETBALL!  I play on a local league at the Rec. Center two days a week, and then  other days in the week, I play against some buddies and fellow racquetballers . Unfortunately, a couple weeks ago, I was playing hard and got smacked right in the mouth with a racquet. I received 6 stitches total and now have a battle scar that's healing well.  I am just glad I didn't have to wait too many days before I could get right back to it!

 
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