Salt Lake Tribune Article

For those interested, this is the article that Salt Lake Tribune put out this last Saturday and Sunday. I haven't yet brought myself to read it, but I think it answers a lot of questions about what happened with John plus there are pictures of John and Emily's baby, John II. He's adorable.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50073473-76/john-cave-tunnel-josh.html.csp


I don't usually get up close and personal on here but when it comes to this I feel like I should. This has been a very trying thing for me and has affected me in ways I didn't expect, but one thing remains the same. God lives. I know that he does. I know that he is our Heavenly Father and that he loves us and truly does have a plan for all of us. I've been studying a bit about Adam and Eve and the fall and this scripture has really stood out to me more than ever. "Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy." I know that God WANTS us to be happy. He gave us this opportunity to come here to earth where we would be given agency to choose for ourselves and to act rather than be acted upon. In order for God and anything around us to exist there must be opposition in ALL things, therefore everything in this life becomes a choice. How we let circumstances in our life affect us is a huge part of our agency and has a huge impact on our own happiness. Happiness is in essence something we choose. We couldn't know goodness or happiness if we had no agency to choose, for there could be no good if there were no evil, happiness if there were no sadness. There could be no joy in seeing my brother again if there were no pain at his loss. God would never punish us, he loves us...so much. That's why he has given us the magical gift of agency. I'm thankful for it. I'm thankful for the scriptures and for truth that help us to govern our choices and to essentially choose our own happiness by choosing how we react to situations in our life...if we will act or be acted upon. I choose to act and I choose to exercise my faith in God's plan and in his eternal love and purpose for each of us. I don't understand everything but I do know that God does. He is all knowing and all gracious, I trust in that. I hope that my thoughts are making sense. It's just some things I've been thinking about. I don't want to forget the things that I'm learning through this. I also know that what happened to my brother has impacted a lot more people than just me and my family so I wanted to share this and say thank you to all for your prayers, thoughts, and kind words. It's nice to know we're not alone in this big bad world!!!