The love of his life........

Well I am going to venture out and try to post a video for you all to see. I hope that I can figure it out. If there is no video attached to see, leave me directions of how to do it. Thanks in advance.

Ethan is a different kind of fellow. His freshman year in high school he played football. Was pretty good at it too, at least that is what the coach said. He enjoyed playing football, but it interfered with his rodeo nights. You see Ethan gets a big rush out of climbing on the back of a bucking horse, holding on tight and "riding" it for 8 seconds. High school rodeo season starts in Aug. and goes until June, with a little break from Dec. - Apr. No time to pursue both sports since football and rodeo were on the same nights, Ethan chose the later.

Here are a few excerpts of his latest (not his best) ride. Every Monday night at Deseret Peak Complex, the Clegg boys bring some of their wild horses to "buck out" and practice on. Helping to make the horses better and of course the cowboy.

Oops! No video as of yet. I have missed placed (remember Fling and Toss?, it got me again) the input/output cords and so I can't download the videos yet. Hope this picture will give you the idea of what he loves to do. Video coming some day, SOON!








Abi sent her first e-mail from Cleveland. She is doing great. She says that it is cold but she is staying warm by layering up her clothing. "I wear my thermals, my tights,my stretchy pants, and some socks with my boots....I keep plenty warm" Also, she spoke about her tour with all the new missionaries and their Mission President to the Kirtland Temple. She stood in the prophets office and there sang The Spirit of God, in the very chapel where it was sung for the dedication of the Temple. They then went to Newel K Whitney's store where they sat in the school of the prophets and there she was allowed to sit in silence and dedicate her mission and her life for the next 18 months to the Lord. "It is not very often that the Father appears in scripture, but 2 of the 4 times were here in Kirtland.....I stood in both of those rooms...pretty sweet way to start my mission, huh?" She is having wonderful, spiritual experiences. Her and her companion, Sister Abby Dickson (from Murray) are in a new area, Parma, OH. They are the "Abby/Abi" Sisters. Abi is still receiving blessings for her piano playing. She is getting lots of opportunities to share. Abi's new address is: Sister Abigail McNeill
6223 Stumph Rd Suite 1-A
Parma Heights, OH 44130




I have to blog about my awesome neighbors. These kids call us up and ask if we can come over and play. Of course, their mom and dad are pretty awesome too. We recently went bowling with them. It was interesting with my sore knee to bowl. Must say that I didn't come in last.

Help

I want to change the background of my blog. Abi taught me how to do this her last day here. Now I don't remember how. Can anybody help?

Tender Mercies

It has taken me a while to sit down and express my feelings about some of the blessings that Heavenly Father gives me. These may seem trivial and unimportant to you, but that is why they are Tender Mercies to me. Heavenly Father, through His Son, Jesus Christ, knew how important they were to me. They knew what I needed and willing made up for my faults and shortcomings.

To explain, I am notorious for the fling and toss method at my house. (You would think that my house would be in total shambles because of this method) Well because of this fault, over the years I have usually had more than one Temple Recommend. The day before Abi was to enter the MTC, we decided to attended an early morning session at the Jordan River Temple. We got up at 4:30/5:00 to get ready and be there for the 7:00am session. Just before we left for the Temple I started searching for the all illusive Temple Recommend. No where to be found. Disappointed, I told Abi that we were not going to be able to attend a session because I could not find my recommend due to that FLING and TOSS habit. Abi took a few minutes, and then said, "Mom, I think your recommend is in your church bag." I was thrilled. Excitedly I went and got my church bag. Ruffling through the contents and pockets, I found nothing. I then proceeded to dump the whole bag out. Still no luck. So terribly disappointed, I wanted to attend the Temple one more time with Abi before her leaving on her mission. We had only been able to go together her first time through. Settling myself to the disappointment I was feeling I spotted my recommend barely sticking out of my pocket calendar. How blessed am I? Like I said, to me it was one of those Tender Mercies that we all too often pass off as "LUCK".

The other Tender Mercy that I wanted to share happened Dec. 29, 2008. Abi was selling her car to her Grandpa, then he was going to donate it to Kidney Kars for a tax write off. We needed the Title to her car out of my safety deposit box in order to donate the car. Well I ran to the bank, just before closing, knowing that my key is ALWAYS in my purse. Nope, not this time. I couldn't find the key anywhere. Safety Deposit boxes come with 2 keys issued. Well for many years, we have only had 1 key. The second key has been lost. This caused my stress to skyrocket, since I thought that I had now lost the only key to the box. I came home, mad, dejected, heartbroken and disappointed with myself. You would think that I could get over this FLING and TOSS habit when it leads to so many discouraging moments. I was so angry with myself all night. Constantly "cussing" at myself for my stupidity. When the Lord spoke to me in that soft voice that usually comes when you are willing to listen. Not only did I find the key that I had, but I found the second key that I thought we had lost years ago. We were able to get the title out of the box and send the car off to benefit others.

I am so grateful that we have a loving Heavenly Father who knows our deepest desires. Who, through His Son, makes up for all our weaknesses and shortcomings.
We ended up getting everything done that we wanted to do before Abi left. I know that it is because of His tender mercies towards us that my family (and yours)can have the blessings that are important to us. We matter. What a great blessing it is to have this knowledge.

Abi's starving

I just received an e-mail from Abi and she says that she NEEDS mail. So if you can, please write:

Sister Abigail McNeill
MTC Mailbox #102
OH-CLE 0121
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

She is doing great. Loves the MTC. Wishes she had more letters!!!!! She has only received 2 in her first week. Her MTC companion is from Las Vegas, NV and going to New York, New York Mission. She is learning the discussions and......well let me have her tell you in her own words:

Dear friends and family,
Please go to
DearElder.com you can write me a letter and they do same day delivery. Just follow
the directions when you get on there. The mail comes twice a day...so please please
please write me more letters!
The MTC has been an extremely gruelling scheduele. Nobody could have ever prepared
me for this...but it's totally awesome!!! I love being a missionary!! My sleep
insomnia is effecting me more than ever...especially that first night, but I think
that i'm definitly getting used to the scheduele.

My ministerial certificate says it expires June 9 2010...I think that is really cool
because it is valid in 2008..almost like I served for two years...cool huh? Anyway,
I love the ministerial certificate. i probably might never have to use it but I love
the words it says, "Abigail McNeill in full faith and fellowship of the church has
been trusted to preach the gospel." It gave me chills again just writing that!
Sister Wadsworth and i are the only girls in a group of boys. 5 sets of Elders, 2
male teachers. We are pretty spoiled. i didn't realize this, but the reason RM's
come home and are so good at being a gentleman is because they are asked to do it
here. they open the doors, take our trays, and even stand up when we walk to the
table. It's really cool. The Elders in our district are definitely taking good care
of us...in the ways that they can right?

We're so glad that Heavenly Father is taking good care of Abi. Please send her a letter as soon as you can. We appreciate all your love and support, thanks, family and friends.

Our Missionary - The Beginning

Wow, it's been 3 days since we left Abi at the MTC. I have been going to post our experiences but have felt intimidated by this computer, but decided today that I am better and tougher than these electronic gadgets. So here goes......

The hardest moment of the whole day was on SR-36 between Erda Way and the Hospital. I almost lost it. The thought that she was going to be leaving and the pitty party that I was feeling completely over took me. It was all I could do to hold in the tears, I had to just cuss at the sun and the reflection of the snow blinding me and causing my eyes to water. :-) We had to have Abi to the MTC by 12:30, we left in enough time to grab lunch in Provo before getting to the MTC. We crossed the street heading towards the entrance and came upon a group of Sister Missionaries called to serve in Hong Kong. They were so excited to see Abi and were so nice to her. Yeah Sister Power!!! For those of you who have the experience of taking a son to the MTC, daughters a bit different. They get lots of hugs from the volunteers there helping direct families. It was way cool. I got to clip Abi's name tag on her. How cool!


Let's see what else shall I tell you about? Oh yeah. We had this great idea to take our picture in front of the world map, pointing to our respective missions, only one of the sisters up in the front of the MTC said that they did not allow pictures there on Wednesday's because of the confusion and congestion that it might cause. Well, we get down by the map and Abi gets a hug from the Sister manning her station there, she explains her desire and since there was no "traffic" at that moment, the MTC volunteer Sister let Abi break her first mission rule. We got our picture!!!!


Ok, now we are headed to the chapel for the family meeting before parting company for 18 months. We are headed down a hallway where a brother escorts us up to the front row. Yikes! It was nice and peaceful in the chapel, then in walks a Brother; all official looking. He walks over to the Elder sitting next to us, asks him to say the opening prayer then comes to Abi and says that with every opening prayer there needs to be a closing and asked her to say the closing prayer. In front of all the other missionaries and there families, she wasn't even nervous.

The MTC President and his wife spoke to us. Something that Sister Boone said sunk deep into my soul and comforted me and I think from that point on I hardly shed any tears. She quoted Doctrine and Covenants 6:20. ...."Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love." Where else but in the loving arms of my Savior would I want my darling daughter to be? The peace that overcame me was incredible. I didn't cry anymore. I knew and felt it, that Abi was doing exactly what Abi should be doing. It was a powerful moment for me.

Her closing prayer was just a powerful as her "MOSS" talk on Sunday had been. She has taught me so many things and has been such a good example to all of us.