By Alan on Nov 22 in Blog tagged Alan Osmond, Family, George and Olive Osmond, Jesus Christ, Osmond Girls, osmonds second generation, Suzanne Osmond, thankful, Thanksgiving, The Family, The Osmonds, where I am going, who I am, Why I am here | 1 Comment

This Thanksgiving Day – I Am Thankful For…

By Alan on Jun 15 in Blog tagged alan, Alan and Suzanne osmond, army lead, as He did, barrack, challenges, church, dedication died, education, eight boys, eternal, example, Family, family life, forever, George, George and Olive Osmond, good meals, help others, impacted, Jesus Christ, knowledge, lare family, Like Father, Like son, live again, love, love at home, loving home, married, memories, nurtured, order, organization, Osmonds, osmonds second generation, parallel, passed away, point the way, prayer, regimentation, respect, righteous, role model, same way, showed me, Sons, spirit, spirit world, Suzanne Pinegar, tender, The Family, traditions, truth, watched him, worked hard | 2 Comments

Father’s Day – “Like Father, Like Son”

“Having been born of goodly parents”, I was blessed to be the third member of a family of eight sons and one daughter of George and Olive Osmond.  We grew up in the town of Ogden, Utah with fond memories of a wonderful family life.

My Mother, Olive, was so kind and tender as she nurtured us children.  She love to cook and taught us music in a most wonderful and loving home.  Her parents were both educators and my mother would have been too, but she fulfilled her first priority and married my father and had a large family.  Because she loved education, she asked my father to build a schoolroom in the attic of our home where she used her skills as a teacher and theologian to teach us children many truths.

My Father was my hero and my role model.  We called him “Father” out of respect and I wanted to be like him when I grew up.  I was by his side when he built, plumbed, wired, and remodeled homes as a great carpenter. I watched him and was by his side when he milked cows, hauled hay, irrigated the orchard and fields, or as we stamped and packaged postal items at the post office that he had.  Father also loved to sing.  I sat behind him while he was driving the car and as we sang together, he would sing in harmony with Mother.   That was how I learned to sing harmony.  Learning that skill truly impacted my life.   Father taught me how to fish, to hoe sugar beets and how to drive the tractor and haul hay.  He always involved my brothers and me in his work projects and led by example.  He always stood by us when the going got tough or was challenging.  You see, Father had been an army sergeant and knew how to lead men.  Several evidences of that training showed up in how he raised our sister Marie and us eight boys.

One example of that was when we got older and our home needed more bedrooms.  Father decided to build on to the back of our house and built what he called, a dormitory.  Yes, you are right, it was like an army barrack with seven military  metal framed army cots and blankets, foot lockers at the end of the beds, and open closets where our clothes needed to be neatly hung and arranged as there where regular inspections that occurred.  He knew how to lead and train military men in the army so like them, Father taught us in many of the same ways and how to have order.  Some neighbors had asked him if the way he was raising his kids wasn’t ‘regimentation’.  He would just smile and respond back saying; “I look at it as organization.”

I remember many times when he helped friends by serving them.  My Father and Mother were always doing things to help others.  They started the Osmond Foundation to raise money for deaf children, two of which were my older brothers.  This was a pattern of my father and I wanted to be like him,  “Like Father, Like Son.”  He was a hard worker and organizer and gave freely of his time in headed up several fundraising projects within the church and the community.

Like my father, I too, found and married the most wonderful girl in the world, Suzanne Pinegar, and she is my eternal partner.  Suzanne has blessed me with eight wonderful
sons.  As a father, I tried to raise them the best I knew.

I can look back and see a parallel in many of the same ways and traditions that I learned from my father.  Those patterns and traditions of life now exist among us as a family with our sons and their families.  Yes, they honor me and call me Father and they have learned to work hard and to never give up.  Yes, they also love

music and have excelled in it masterfully.  I told them to get “real jobs” and they did get good educations with a love to learn.  Yes, they love the out of doors like I did as a son and are all Eagle Scouts.  Seven of them so far have served full time missions and have returned and married.  Yes, they grew up in a home with respect, order, good cooking, love, and with religious convictions that honors our Lord Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father.  We learn from Jesus’s example that even what He did, was as His Father has done; “Like Father, like Son”.

This Father’s Day, I reflect back on my father’s life and how much he showed me by example the way to be and to become.  He taught us to be positive and to never give up when we were challenged and would say, “You can do it”.  He also taught us that “You can be what you want to become, if you become what you want to be.”  He was hard working yet a righteous man with a tender “marshmallow” heart”, as my mother would say, as he blessed his family and took us all to church.  He served in the bishopric and held several other church callings in which he blessed others.  We never had a meal together without first having a word of prayer and giving thanks and blessing the food.  We always had family prayer at night and even before every show that my family and I did later when we became entertainers.  When major decisions were made, we would counsel with the Lord together in kneeling family prayer seeking inspiration and giving thanks.  This was the way we grew up because it was the way he did.

 I remember the day my mother passed away and which was a hard thing and then not long after that when my father died.  It is not easy to see them go but it is those times when the knowledge of that they had taught us gave us the understanding that we would live again and be with them.  When my Father died, I was the first one to be by his side.  I saw him lying cold and still on his bed.  His body was there but my Father’s spirit wasn’t.  I shed some tears and held his hand as I offered a prayer of gratitude to my Heavenly Father.  I thanked Him for giving me the greatest earthly father I could ever have and for the good man that he was.  It was then that I honestly started to smile as I knew he was now once again with my Mother in the Spirit world.  I looked at him and said, “Father, save me a place, up there.”

Some day, I too, will graduate and do as my Father, my Savior, and my God have done, and live on eternally.  ”Like Father, Like Son”.

Alan Osmond
For The Family

By Alan on Feb 27 in Blog tagged a to z, alan, Alan Osmond, are we related, Clayton and Ethel Brough, cousins, Donny, Donny Osmond, Family History, focus, genealogy, George and Olive Osmond, George Osmond Sr., Hi Cousin!, http://osmond.com, Jay, jimmy, Jimmy Osmond, LDS Tabernacle Choir, Marie, Merrill, moments, Mormons, Osmond Family, Osmond family history representatives, Osmond Research and Extraction OProject, surname, temple work, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Family, The Osmond Family, Tom, Virl, Wayne | Comments Off

Family history moments: Family’s focus

….Strengthening The Family

By Alan on Feb 14 in Blog tagged a to z listing, alan, Alan Osmond, Clayton and Ethel Brough, computer programs, deceased ancestors, distant cousins, Donny, Donny Osmond, Family History, family history moments, genealogy work, George and Olive Osmond, Hi Cousin!, how are we related, http://osmond.com, invite to see if we are related, Jay, jimmy, LDS Conference Center, Marie, Merrill, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Mormons, Olive Osmond, oru website, Osmond Family, Osmond Family's focus, relatives, temple work, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Family, The Osmonds, Tom, Virl, Wayne | Comments Off

Family History Moments: Osmond Family’s Focus

For decades the Osmonds have sung and performed for people around the world. In July 2008, all nine siblings of the famous Osmond family — Virl, Tom, Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Donny, Marie and Jimmy — performed together with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during two evenings of Pioneer Day celebrations in the LDS Conference Center. However, even when performing in different parts of the world, this large family has always taken time to focus on families, including trying to locate distant cousins and performing temple work for their deceased ancestors and relatives. 

The Osmonds’ love of family history and temple work was instilled in them when they were young. Their parents, George and Olive Osmond, contributed countless hours toward genealogy and temple work, and involved their children in this “eternal work” as much as possible. As the mother of the world-famous singing family, Olive Osmond was constantly on the go. Yet, wherever she went she was continually answering and sending family history letters, compiling and directing genealogical research work, devising and suggesting new ways to enter family data into computer programs, and constantly encouraging relatives and her worldwide audience to become more involved in genealogy and family history.

As Alan Osmond has said, “My mother taught her children how to do family research, and we published our family history in several magazines and on various websites.” In 2008 the Osmonds traveled around the world on their 50th Anniversary World Tour, and according to Alan, “We would greet the audiences from the stage as,

‘Hi, Cousin! How Are We Related?’”

Alan invites you to see if you’re related!

Our website is http://www.osmond.org.

If one of these top 30 SURNAMES is in your family history, Click it!

If not, click the first letter of your SURNAME!

(Remember, we still may be related. These names are all that we have found so far!)

Donny Osmond has likewise stated, “I inherited the love of genealogy from my mother and have fond memories of doing research with her and sharing our ‘finds’ together. I know that my mother has now been united with those ancestors she became familiar with while doing her genealogy work.”

We wish to give special thanks to Clayton and Ethel Brough who are not only related, but are our family history genealogists and experts! They have spent endless hours in helping us achieve what you see at our website!

.

If you think you are or might be related, send me an email and your contact information and a brief description on how we might be related to:

alan@thefamily.com

Thanks cousins!

Alan Osmond
For The Family

By Alan on Jan 27 in Daily Inspiration tagged do you believe, George and Olive Osmond, in angels, or God, watching from above | 3 Comments

You must watch this very powerful story of a young boy who passed away on Christmas. He shares his near death experiences before going to the other side.

Download with Vixy | Convert YouTube to MP3

There are two kinds of beings in heaven who are called angels: those who are spirits and those who have bodies of flesh and bone. Angels who are spirits have not yet obtained a body of flesh and bone, or they are spirits who have once had a mortal body and are awaiting resurrection. Angels who have bodies of flesh and bone have either been resurrected from the dead or translated.

There are many references in scripture to the work of angels. Sometimes angels speak with a voice of thunder as they deliver God’s messages (Mosiah 27: 11-16). Righteous mortal men may also be called angels (JST, Gen. 19: 15).

By Alan on Dec 25 in Blog tagged Family History, first Christmas, George and Olive Osmond, journals, record keeping, The Family | 1 Comment

Does your journal sit unused in a drawer?

We are a journal-writing family, and it seemed a shame not to use them in a productive way. So every Monday evening, one of our goals is to read from a family member’s journal. When each of our children was born, we started baby journals, recording our thoughts and aspirations for them. When they were old enough to participate, they kept their own journals. With everyone’s contributions over the years, we have a lot of journal entries to choose from. Each week we share excerpts from a different family member’s journal. Sometimes we share recent entries; others are from years past. We are always careful to not share sensitive information. Each family member may choose what to share.

If your family hasn’t kept journals, you might see if other relatives, such as grandparents, will let you read selections from theirs. Hopefully you can encourage your family to begin keeping journals. Our children enjoy hearing about the funny things they said when they were younger and the lessons they have learned along the way. Writing in our journals is a much anticipated activity in our family. We know we’re not just writing for our future posterity. We are recording our thoughts and life experiences to benefit our family now.

My parents, George Virl Osmond Sr. and Olive May Davis Osmond were married on December 1, 1944.  This is a note from Olive’s journal about their first Christmas.

GEORGE WROTE ON DRESSER SCARF

“I had a lace-trimmed beige dresser scarf on the dresser and one morning I noticed George had written on it with a pencil, “I love you, honey!”  I immediately embroidered it with red floss.

For our first Christmas we bought a small little tree and made the decorations ourselves.  Because of the war there were no electric lights available.  For trimming, we cut cellophane strips, twisted them in the middle to make bows, crushed some old broken ornaments to make our own “glitter” and glued it to each end of the bows.  The tree was really cute and we had fun being creative – - and practical.”

Olive Davis Osmond

(From the journal of my Mother, Olive Davis Osmond)

As we start out another new year, lets make a new year’s resolution to write our feelings and experiences in a journal so that we have a history of where we have been and where we wish to go.  Your grandkids will love you for it!

Learn more about our Family History Here!

“The Bible is a history of families.  The history of Israel begins with the family of Abraham. He is highly esteemed of the Lord as a father and teaches his children properly.” Gen. 18: 17-19

Alan Osmond
Strengthening The Family

By Alan on May 26 in Blog tagged Alan Osmond, George and Olive Osmond, heaven on earth, poem, The Family, theFamily | 1 Comment

A poem I wrote to my parents

who gave me a

“Heaven On Earth”

I wrote this poem right after my Father, George V. Osmond died and went to heaven to be with Mother, Olive D. Osmond, again!

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Gen. 1: 1

Alan Osmond
For The Family

TEXT VERSION:  (Requested by my sister Marie!)

A poem I wrote to my parents
 who gave me a “Heaven On Earth”

We all dream of Heaven
Where all will be made well.
And those we love will gather
What stories we will tell.

Of times we spent together
And challenges we won.
How hard times made us stronger
And love . . . made us one.

Well, I went to Heaven
And this much I can say
It was all that I had hoped for
But, it was just another day.

You see . . . We all keep dreaming
For Heaven . . for what it’s worth
If we knew now . .  what we’ll know someday
Our Heaven’s Here on Earth.

I hope to make each moment
Every breath and step I take
Become that place called Heaven
On Earth . .  for Heaven’s Sake!

By: Alan Osmond

By Alan on Apr 29 in Blog tagged George and Olive Osmond, George Virl Osmond Jr., Obey the commandments, Olive Osmond, physically, plan of happiness, premortal existence, Satan, spiritually, The Family, The Purpose and Destiny of the Earth, theFamily | Comments Off

George and Olive Osmond
The Purpose and Destiny of the Earth

.

By George Virl Osmond Jr.   (a continuation from the article written concerning Earth Day – The Creation)

.

.The Lord created all things spiritually before He created them physically: “For I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth. … And I, the Lord God, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them” (Moses 3:5).

My Parents, George and Olive Osmond taught us children, as we were growing up that… “Before this world was organized, we had spirit bodies and lived in a premortal world with Heavenly Father, the father of our spirits. We knew Him personally just as He knows us. He desired that we become as He is—having eternal life and exaltation. He presented His plan to us in a great council during our premortal existence. As He taught us the great plan of happiness, we learned that, as spirits, our progress was limited. We needed to obtain a physical body. God’s plan would demand much of us; some would be lost if they did not have faith or keep the commandments.”

We learn that Satan, our brother, opposed this plan, and disregarded our agency when he promised that if we followed him no one would be lost (see Moses 4:1).  We also learn that, A  third of the spirits chose to follow Satan, rejecting the Father’s plan (see D&C 29:36).

My Mother, Olive Osmond explained to me that …”We, who accepted the plan of the Father, were born into this earthly existence.  We agreed to do the best we could. We knew that we would make some mistakes, and because of our mistakes, we would not be worthy to return to the presence of the Father. But as a central portion of the plan, a Savior—who would make it possible for us to repent and be forgiven—was presented to us. We rejoiced when the great plan of happiness and our Savior and Redeemer were presented to us.”   (see Job 38:7).

I can honestly remember at an early age when my Father, George Osmond spoke to his children around the dinner table during our Friday night – Family Home Evening about our mortal experience here upon this Earth.   He went on to explain that we … “Temporarily leaving our Father’s presence, we were sent to this earth. Through mortal fathers and mothers, our spirits were placed in mortal bodies. A main purpose of our mortal life is to test our willingness to do all our Heavenly Father asks of us. Obedience is essential for us to obtain exaltation and eternal life and thus become like our Father—beings of flesh and bone, immortal, exalted, and glorified. Only then will we be heirs of all He possesses.”

I also remember as a young man being disciplined for something I did wrong by my Mother Olive.  She brought to my attention to the words of Amulek found in the book of Mormon.   Amulek taught that “this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God” (Alma 34:32). With our conscience, which comes from the Light of Christ, every one of us can discern between good and evil, between truth and error (see Moro. 7:16–19). With our agency, the right to choose and act for ourselves, we can choose to do what is right or what is not. We can choose to follow the plan of happiness and obey the commandments of God, or reject the commandments of God and not be happy, for “behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10). The progress we make and the happiness we attain depend upon our choices (see 2 Ne. 2:27).

My Brothers and Sister Marie have often commented on how blessed we have been to “be born of goodly parents” … that George and Olive Osmond took quality time out to teach their Family the mysteries of Godliness and to strengthen our testimonies concerning – The Purpose and Destiny of the Earth.

References – Russell M. Nelson

George Virl Osmond Jr.
For The Family

Photo composed by G.Virl Osmond …pondering the creation and purpose of the Earth.