OK, I’m not dead and I didn’t quit! yes, it’s been quite a while since I made the time to post a blog entry!

I simply like to have a normal life outside of cyberspace! Too many of us can be guilty of spending far too many hours infront of our laptops indeed I can be guilty of this at times. Then I reflect that I’m so blessed with a wonderful family and there are better things to do in life that be tied to the computer sreen! For those of you, forever on your keyboards, if you feel like this image below seems like you, then it’s really time to chill and get on with real life – unplug!

So this past Friday (15th May’09), I took our 13 year old son Antony on a Father and Son’s overnight camp. Each year, we take the time to ‘bond’ and spent this valuable one-on-one time with each other. With 5 daughters, who get very jealous that I take Antony camping, this just has to be done! We’re so out numbered in our household by the ‘female kind’, that Antony and I have to get some male bonding each year with our camp outs!

My life long friend Clifford Herbertson has a lovely estate and hosted this Father and Son overnight camp on his land, which was perfect, apart from one thing – typical British weather, it rained and rained that night, but it all adds to the fun!

Thankfully we have a pop-up tent, one of those tents that when upzipped automatically flips into shape and so all we had to do was peg it down whilst in the rain, thankfully Antony held the umbrella whilst I did the pegging down in the dark night as we had arrived late.

YouTube Video: Father and Sons Camp – 15April09

You can’t have a camp out, without a camp fire…

These pics show the camp fire the following morning, some of the boys had stayed up all night keeping the fire and embers going, thats dedication for you!

Antony and I didn’t have that staying power to remain awake all night, we hit the sack in the early hours! Getting into our sleeping bags Antony then got out his Apple iTouch and wanted to play Chess, I tried to oblige but trying to play Chess on an iTouch is a little difficult in the wee early hours! With no Wi-Fi access, he wasn’t able to get online either thankfully so Antony fell asleep after me, as we drifted off to sleep in our warm sleeping bags, with the rain dripping on out tent. Note in the video his wet socks, lovely!

By Morning, after breakfast, time for games, a variety of father and son team games, such as catch the egg throwing competition. Oh yes, I knew what to expect, lots of eggy mess, so we hung back, but it was not surprising to find some pre-planned fun cheating going on, some were using part hard boiled eggs. It all becaome too suspicious, when the distances being thrown and dropped was too unbelieveable for a soft raw egg to survive, especially when they bounced – no way!

The last game was popping the balloon, tied to your angle, not so much fun if those tramping on your feet were wearing football studs, ouch!

So why do we do all this, apart from the obviously bonding time with our youth, our sons and young men? Certainly camping isn’t the idea of fun for many men, who’d rather be comfortable on a matteress bed at home. For me, I love camping and spending one-on-one time with Antony camping is great for our relationship, but there is another reason for the recognition of this date 15th May each year.

In our faith, the significance of this date is important, for Latter-Day Saints, 15th May 1829 is the date that John the Baptist appeared and restored the holy Aaronic Priesthood which is the authority to act in God’s name.

YouTube Video: Restoration of the Priesthood

Restoration of the Priesthood

Hope that if anyone is looking for a back to basics bonding time with their children, trust me, go camping, get your kids unplugged from their games consoles, TV or computers and spend some ‘human’ interaction time with your kids, you won’t regret it, just watch the ‘ole back if sleeping rough!

To sell or not to sell my beloved Phaeton – that be the question!

I remember the day in November 2005 that I drove to East Grinstead to test drive a Volkswagen Phaeton at the VW dealership. I wasn’t really certain about what I was doing there, perhaps more curiosity than anything else. My friend having worked for Bentley explained that the Phaeton is really a Bentley in disguise and so having driven Bentley’s too, I was intrigued.

I had been driving Mercedes for the previous 6 years and perhaps rather snobbish about the badge on my personal transportation, so if this Phaeton was a Bentley, it was worth the drive to go check it out – ‘what a snob’ I hear you say.

Indeed, the understated lines of the VW Phaeton, offer a reassurance, to go about unnoticed, therefore less chance of some holigan ‘hoodie’ to recklessly scratch it than otherwise a Mercedes or similar prestige marque.

A Bentley Continental GT shares its basic architecture with the VW Phaeton. The suspension setup is also nearly the same, with gas air springs and multiple links front and rear. The steering wheel, 7” display, clock, switchgear and dashboard layout are all the same. So is the Bentley worth nearly double the price of the VW Phaeton? Or should you ask the more appropriate question: What’s in a name?

My friend, who advised me to check out the Phaeton, was at that time the General Manager for H.R. Owen Bentley Dealership in Barclay Square, Central London. He had commented that they had discussed using Phaeton’s as courtesy cars for their clients, Bentley advised them against this. Their reasoning being some clients would soon appreciate that they paid twice the price for their Bentley’s and the Phaeton shares so much of the same components at half the price, with all those same ‘bells and whistles’ to boot!

I test drove the car, I was sold, it was awesome, the performance, the quality, the technology and patents behind the Phaeton are so very impressive, so I actually brought the demonstrator car I drove on that day. Later did I come to appreciate what a sensible decision that had been seeing reviews such as Top Gear below.

Don’t take my word for it; see what Jeremy Clarkson of BBC’s Top Gear said about the Phaeton, video below.

So after watching this Top Gear review you’re probably thinking why would I even consider selling my beloved Phaeton after almost 3 years of blissful and exhilarating performance from its jaw dropping V10 cylinder 5.0 litre twin turbo engine, even considering its frugal diesel economy, I must be mad to even consider selling my Phaeton.

Jeremy Clarkson would be ashamed of me, being such a petrol head. I’d like to think I could do my part in reducing my carbon footprint and even with the frugal economy of the Diesel, a V10 5.0 litre engine even so make a generous footprint!

Don’t expect me to rush out and go buy a Hybrid Toyota Prius, I’ve driven one and it’s no Phaeton! You must see what Clarkson thought of the Prius; watch his review, driven whilst in the US.

Just to appreicate how powerful the VW Phaeton V10, 5.0 litre diesel engine is, how much torque is available. Fifth Gear TV show took a VW Touareg which has the same V10 engine and used it break a new world record – towing a 155 tonne Boeing Jumbo 747 airplane.

I’ll let you know if I ultimately do sell my beloved Phaeton and go Green and if so, what next? Well perhaps a Hybrid Supercar that is capable of 220 miles per gallon?

This is the supercar that can return 220mpg, but has enough power to see off a Ferrari! With it’s Porsche Carrera GT-style rear, it looks ready to take on the world’s elite motors, I think I’ll order mine now!

Your friend, John Deighton
My other web site!

Some have noticed the professional family images and asked about them, I have some intermingled with other photo’s posted on various sites, for example, here are some from Slide.com below and on Facebook etc.

It’s not difficult to notice that our girls love to pose. We tease Sophia at times that she’s like Marsha from the 70’s Brady Bunch TV show, combing her hair 4,998… 4999… 5000 times each morning before school.

I’m sure our girls wouldn’t look out of place on the Hollywood walk of fame, trust me they’ve been there and Hollywood suits them, see pic below. I could easily envisage Sophia a budding Hanna Montana replacement!

Here’s some quick video I took at our family photo shoot last summer whilst Naomi was home from BYU. They had such fun, this was the first time we had taken their musical instruments to pose with. For us, these are treasured family fun times together, captured on film to cherish as they grow up.

Sophia’s been learning to play ‘Popular” one of the memorable hit songs from the London West End / Broadway stage show ‘Wicked’, the prequel to the Wizard of Oz storyline, so in her honour I added it to the end of this video with some of the images taken, enjoy.

Your friend, John Deighton
My other web site!

I’ve been meaning to write about this for some time, it was a special day for our family… Sunday evening (18th May 2008), our Elena was Baptised by myself, here both of us dressed in white with Andria (mum), symbolic of the purity of Baptism. It was a very special day for Elena.

Being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (sometimes incorrectly called the “Mormon Church”) is very important to our family, our faith sustains us, much of what we do revolves around our faith.

We know that baptism by immersion is part of the vital process of following Jesus Christ and entering into a covenant relationship with Him. We’ve taught each of our children about their decision to follow the teachings and example of Jesus Christ.

We’re taught that baptism must be performed by one who has proper authority from God for this sacred ordinance. Naturally, there are many other views and many questions that people ask about our beliefs in this regard.

I realise that some groups claim that baptism is not essential, assuming that faith alone is the requirement for salvation. The broad issue of the relationship between faith, grace, works, and salvation I’ll not get into here, my friend Jeff Lindsay wrote an excellent summary of those issues on his faith and works page.

So why did Elena get baptised at age 8 and why by me? By what Authority?

The Bible teaches the importance and even necessity of baptism, we also have 13 Articles of Faith, the fourth stating:

We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Let us first consider the example of Christ, who showed us how to live and how to follow Him. As he began His ministry, He sought out the prophet and messenger of the Messiah, John the Baptist. John was teaching men to repent of their sins and to be baptized by immersion (that’s what the Greek word means) in “water unto repentance” (Matt. 3: 2,11), or, in the words of Mark, John preached “the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Mark 1:4). Though Christ was the Son of God, pure, holy, and without sin, He came to John and asked to be baptized (see Matt. 3: 13-17). John refused, knowing who Christ was, but Christ explained that it was necessary “to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt. 3: 15). Then John baptized Christ in the river Jordan – apparently by immersion, for then Christ “went up straightway out of the water.” It was at this moment where the Holy Ghost descended in the form of a dove and the voice of God the Father spoke from above saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

This is the same manner in which our Elena was baptised by myself, by immersion.

Infant Baptism

In mainstream religions – Baptising a baby is often viewed as very special event in the lives of young parents. Grandparents come to witness the special occasion. A white baptismal dress is purchased for the baby. Photographs are taken. The little child, often crying and unaware of what is happening, is sprinkled with water by a robed priest or clergyman at the church house. Parents hug. Grandparents smile with pride. The little baptismal dress is stored away as a memento. Some of you who are reading this article may have been baptised as a baby. It is a very common practice. The term “christened” often refers to infant baptism. Why are babies baptised and what do the Scriptures teach about such things?

Actually, there are two different reasons why some believe babies ought to be baptised:

The Catholic view is based upon the idea that babies are born in sin. Pope Clement IV declared in 1267, that infants who die without baptism die in their original sins and are excluded from the vision of God. The doctrine of “Limbo,” the intermediate state between the suffering in hell and the glory of heaven, was developed to satisfy grieving mothers whose children died without baptism. For Catholics, infant baptism is a matter of salvation. There are some non-Catholic groups that practice infant baptism for this same reason. They have accepted the idea of inherited sin and this is a natural conclusion that comes from believing that.

The Protestant view differs from the Catholic view. To most Protestants, infant baptism is not seen as a matter of salvation. Generally, Protestants believe in salvation by faith only and would not accept baptism as necessary for salvation. Yet many of them will baptize their babies. Instead of baptising the baby for the remission of sins, as the Catholics do, Protestant’s baptise babies as a promise that the parents will raise the child in a godly home and bring the child to church services. Infant baptism is viewed as a sign or a pledge made by the parents to the child.

Latter-Day Saint view – I ought to point out that some other faiths not just us ‘Mormons’ such as most Baptists, and the Seventh-day Adventist do not practice infant baptism either. We feel the Scriptures are quite clear on this matter.

Moroni 8: 9-15
9. And after this manner did the Holy Ghost manifest the word of God unto me; wherefore, my beloved son, I know that it is solemn mockery before God, that ye should baptize little children.
10. Behold I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach—repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin; yea, teach parents that they must repent and be baptized, and humble themselves as their little children, and they shall all be saved with their little children.
11. And their little children need no repentance, neither baptism. Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sins.
12. But little children are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a partial God, and also a changeable God, and a respecter to persons; for how many little children have died without baptism!
13. Wherefore, if little children could not be saved without baptism, these must have gone to an endless hell.
14. Behold I say unto you, that he that supposeth that little children need baptism is in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; for he hath neither faith, hope, nor charity; wherefore, should he be cut off while in the thought, he must go down to hell.
15. For awful is the wickedness to suppose that God saveth one child because of baptism, and the other must perish because he hath no baptism.

Let’s be clear – Babies are not sinners! They are incapable of sin. They cannot be held accountable.

Moroni 8: 9-15
19. Little achildren cannot repent; wherefore, it is awful wickedness to deny the pure mercies of God unto them, for they are all alive in him because of his mercy.
20. And he that saith that little children need baptism denieth the mercies of Christ, and setteth at naught the atonement of him and the power of his redemption.

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we baptise children not before the age of 8 years old, this being when a child can be held accountable since they are capable of knowing right from wrong by this age. In the New Testament, the only indication of this age of accountablility is recorded in 1 Peter 3: 18-21. These few verses describe following Christ’s crucifixtion on the cross his body now lay for three days in the Tomb, but his spirit went and preached to those spirits who had been waiting since the days of Noah. I find it interesting how the scripture references to those who were saved from the Great Flood in the Ark – “eight souls were saved by water”, these being Noah, his wife and their three sons and wives.

More improtantly the following sentence, which says…. referencing the age or number 8… “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us.”

19. By which also he went and preached unto the bspirits in prison;
20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us.

Within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we have additional other revelation through living Prophets and the Book of Mormon both which support this teaching.

So that’s my rant on Infant Baptism! I don’t mean to offend anyone, but looking at our six childen I know that little children are pure before God and for me saying a baby or child who dies without baptism is going to ‘Hell’ really doesn’t make sense!

I’m grateful for the knowledge and restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here the testimony of others who have been baptised into this Gospel and what motivates us to share it.

Your friend, John Deighton
My other web site!

Our son Antony, bottom far left on front row of picture! His first overnight hike and open air camp out!

Firstly, I love camping; I’m all for being in the wild outdoors, looking up at the stars and being mesmerised by the glow from the embers of a camp fire, especially when roasting marsh mellows.

Last weekend, with our son Antony being twelve, it was ‘his time – the right of passage’ to endure an overnight hike with his peers in the Young Men’s group from church. This was a small expedition of no ordinary means. Now I might start sounding ‘wimpy’ at this point in my recollection, that’s because I realise I’m not the fittest ‘bloke’ on the planet, not even with all the AGEL gel packs I consume regularly (which I love). My problem lies with my lack of physical exercise, I pretty much sit around most days, working behind my laptop screen (sad I know), indeed this might be me in a few years….

Back to topic…I knew this overnight hike would test my endurance and stamina, I also happened to be the oldest ‘bloke’ on this outing, so I played that sympathy card as much as I could, especially when I was trailing the pack from time to time, my excuse was I was holding up the rear and ensuring we didn’t leave anyone behind!

We hiked from 8pm till just gone midnight, which in itself is not bad going. However what initially became an amusing story of ‘becoming lost in the forest’, walking though the mud and tripping without little night sky light (no moon that night) and only small torches to hand, quickly became frustrating as we realised we were literally going round in circles – lost! As we tramped over the same paths we recognised again, I got out my trusty compass just after midnight and said – “head east boys!” We eventually found a clearing and were grateful to lay out the plastic sheet on the ground so that all the boys could lay out their sleeping bags and sleep under the stars, praying for no rain that night!

This image was the morning after and my Antony waking up in the blue sleeping bag – what a man!

Now this is where I show my ‘true colours’ having done this thing a few times… I came prepared and that’s my Blacks – 2 man pop up tent to the right of the others! I offered my one and only son the spare place next to me in my nice warm tent, but he didn’t want the shame, he wanted to be with the ‘men’ and sleep under the stars.

It’s interesting what a good night’s sleep feels like in a tent, as I emerged, seeing how cold everyone else was and the dew of the morning all over their now wet sleeping bags, I was grateful for my little luxury. We gathered our things and hiked off for a breakfast meet, some great planning by our young men, they were having breakfast brought to us, but we’d have to hike for it.

This next stage of our hike was another test of sifting the ‘men from the boys’, an early morning crossing of a local ‘ford’ (a place where water runs through it). Having done this before, I knew only too well how freezing this water can be in the early morning, so I elected to take the bridge crossing. My Antony’s first experience of our local ‘ford’ crossing, he screamed the entire way across. It feels like daggers on the feet!

If you don’t believe me, here’s the video proof…

Another image looking down at the ford crossing…

It was now the home stretch, but like a marathon when athletes hit that ‘mental and physical wall’, our bodies (especially mine) was beginning to give up… We’d been up at just after 6am, so I’d been fortunate to have a comfortable 5 hours plus sleep, whilst others had very little. What I found challenging were my boots, they weren’t the best ‘worn in’ for the task and later I were to find I’d gained some rather nasty blisters and even a week later as I’m writing this up for my blog my feet are still recovering! My left big toe is still ‘black and blue’ from the bruises of walking in those boots, thankfully my blisters have pretty much healed up!

The home stretch, those last few miles I had little physical strength left, showing my age, all of 42 years! However I kept going, willing my legs to move, pacing myself to get to our end goal, where a car ride home and a soak in a hot bath awaited.

Out of all of this, what impressed me and I’m glad to say some others too, is that our son Antony became a man in the eyes of others, not literally of course being 12, but in his enthusiasm and joy of participation with his peers. He was often seen running ahead of the group, excited to see beyond the next bend in the road or just eagerly excited to be hiking with his friends, it was all a grand avdventure for him.

Antony’s first experience open air camping and some serious hiking was now a new joy and experience for me. It amazes me sometimes how the young can have such stamina and fitness, heck I was young once like Antony and somehow albeit I enjoyed those similar experiences that I see him relish I somehow feel he has a greater appreciation than I did of those activities. He’s asked me about five times since last weekend “when can we do another hike?” I keep explaining “when my feet recover!”

Final video of Antony and “the boy’s” hanging out and singing acapella style as they go along the road on the final stretch home!

Your friend, John Deighton
My other web site!


http://www.agelfortune.co.uk
http://www.mlmRockStars.co.uk
http://www.BuildingonaBudget.co.uk
http://www.a-Bombcall.com
http://www.mlmRichEnough.com

So, I’ve finally succumbed to the idea of doing a blog. I’m quite a private person but with lots to say, so here I can express my rants and raves upon the world.

What greets many a pedestrian in our neighbourhood – crap (forgive my language). Why do some dog owners have such little consideration for others that they allow their dogs to ‘crap’ on the pavement (or ’sidewalk’ as they say in the States) without picking it up?

There are some dog owners who are to be commended that I’ve seen when walking their pets and they pick up with a gloved hand their dogs ‘crap’ and place carefully into a plastic bag to be disposed of later safely.

However, there are some ‘nasty’ dog owners in our neighbourhood, and at least one with a ‘monster’ of a beast given by the size of some of these crappy deposits! What’s extra sneaky is that they’ll ‘walk their pets’ before the crack of dawn so not to be seen whilst everyone sleeps and simply allow their animal to crap everywhere. The various colours and sizes of this foul and slippery stench of ‘poo’ can’t be all from the same ‘beast’, today another huge deposit of crap right by our front gate is certainly from the ‘monster dog’ that roams our streets!

If I could be bothered to get up early enough and catch them I would, don’t blame the dogs, just their owners – who ought to be locked up for their inconsideration to others!

So that’s the first of my rants for my blog of life! Enjoy.

Your friend, John Deighton
My other web site!

http://www.agelfortune.co.uk
http://www.mlmRockStars.co.uk
http://www.BuildingonaBudget.co.uk
http://www.a-Bombcall.com
http://www.mlmRichEnough.com