Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the time of the year where we reflect on our many blessings that God has given us. I have so many blessings to be grateful for.  I have a wonderful husband that loves and adores me and I love him tremendously.  We are blessed with six beautiful children that strive everyday to do what is right.  I am surrounded by wonderful and caring family, friends, church members and patriots.  I am so grateful for each and everyone of them.  I am grateful for the patriot community that have done so much for our family and others during this time of need.    I am grateful that we have shelter, food and clothing.  I am grateful for this Country and thankful for the men and women who protect our freedoms.  I am thankful for all of your prayers and fasting on our families behalf.  I am grateful for the letters of encouragement that you write to my husband and myself.  I am thankful for the gospel and its teachings. I am grateful for God and thankful for all of the tender mercies that he has granted to our family.

But even though we have been blessed tremendously there is still one more blessing that I want more than anything and that is to have my dear sweet husband come home. We miss him extremely bad and cry for him daily.  Our hearts are torn without him.  Please continue to pray for this blessing for him to be able to come home and all of the other political prisoners can also go home to their families.

The upcoming holidays will be a challenge on our family.  I know with our Heavenly Father's help and family and friends that we somehow will make it through the Holidays.  But I cried on Halloween so I am sure I will cry again on Thanksgiving.  I can't imagine what Dave and the other political prisoners feel like during the Holidays.  It must be so hard for them to not be home with their little children and spouses.  Please continue to pray for them.

The kids and I so wanted to make Dave his favorite pies which are cherry and coconut cream.  But of course the detention center where Dave is will not allow that.  I pray that they will at least serve them a piece of pie and real turkey (not soy) on Thanksgiving Day.  So the kids and I had to come up with some creative ways to tell Dave we love him and Happy Thanksgiving.  In the detention center you are only allowed to send letters, pictures or soft covered books from an online bookstore.  So we decided to take a big picture of us holding up a message for Dave.  We also decided to make him a blessing tree with all of our fingerprints on the tree.  We assigned each child a color so their dad would know what fingerprint was theirs.

Our family wishes all of you a Happy Thanksgiving and always remember that there is always something to be grateful for.  I thank God everyday for all of you that have blessed our family tremendously.  May God bless each and everyone one of you and your families. 

Love, The Dave Bundy Family

Our visit to our Daddy!

A couple weeks ago the children and I were able to go down to Pahrump, Nevada to visit Dave at the Southern Nevada Detention Center where he is locked away from his family.

The visit is through a monitor like the picture below.  Each inmate is allowed one visit per week which is one hour long. Inmates can request an extended visit for visitors traveling from out of the state. Extended visits must be approved prior to the visit. Since we live in Utah we were able to get an extended visit. 


I am so grateful for these extended visits which end up being a two hour visit.  Each of our six children are able to have twenty minutes by themselves to talk with their Dad.  It was great to see Dave but it was also extremely hard at the same time.  We just want to touch him and give him lots of hugs and kisses.  The kids and I asked Dave if he wanted us to sing a song to him.  He of course said yes and we started to sing I am a Child of God.  Dave immediately broke down into tears and couldn't stop crying.  This literally crushed all of our hearts.  I looked at each of our children who were all crying and I could see the sadness in their faces.  We were able to sing several more songs to him and ended in a family prayer. 

As we were driving away from the detention center our daughter, Maysa started to bawl.  I asked her what was wrong and she said,  "I have never seen my dad like that before.  I have never seen him crying like he did."  I told her that her dad felt the spirit and was so grateful that he has been blessed with such a wonderful family that he loves so much.

When I got back to Utah there was a letter for me in the mailbox from Dave.  He said, "My dear sweet love.  I too enjoyed our visit.  It was bitter/sweet.  Bitter because I can't hold you and our kids and I see the pain and confusion in their eyes.  Sweet because you came to see me and I got to hear your voices.  I thank Heavenly Father everyday for the family he has blessed me with."

During this month of November, please remember each and everyday to be grateful for everything you have.  Especially be grateful for your families and loved ones.  Always love one another and be thankful for each other.  Please continue to pray for all of the political prisoners and their families. These next couple of months are not going to be easy for them to be separated from each other during the holidays.  If you are able to lighten their loads either through service, prayer or donations that would be wonderful.   May God bless you all and your families for your love and support to all of us.

NOT GUILTY

On Thursday afternoon we received the wonderful news that all seven defendants in the Oregon trial were all found not guilty of the charges they were being charged with. We are grateful for God and for his divine intervention during this trial.  We know that God is ultimately in charge and that he is also a God of Miracles.  We are thankful for the jury members who were able to see the truth through all of the lies.  We know that the truth will always prevail. We are indeed grateful for all of the support that these defendants and their families received during this trial.  There were many of you that supported them through prayer, fasting, donations, letters, rally's and visits.  We can not say thank you enough for all of your support during this trial.  May God Bless you all.

I have had so many people ask me what happens to Dave now?  Dave was not involved in the Oregon trial. He has twelve charges against him from the peaceful protest that took place in Nevada in April of 2014.   Dave is not guilty of any of these charges and was only exercising his First Amendment rights.  His trial along with seventeen others is supposed to begin on February 7, 2017. Dave has now been wrongly imprisoned for 8 months.

This picture is of Dave that was taken in April of 2014, while peacefully exercising his         

1st Amendment Rights.

Please continue to pray and support all of the families that have loved ones that have been wrongfully imprisoned.  These next several months are not going to be easy on the defendants or their families especially during the holidays. We pray for the defendants and their families that they will be given the strength to endure.  We pray that they will be given a jury that will not be afraid to stand up for what is right and be able to see the truth.  We pray for the defense lawyers that they will be able to reveal the truth. We pray for God to be with us always and that the truth will prevail.

Gifts from Daddy

My sweet husband was able to send our daughters each a handmade purse from jail.  He had one of his fellow prisoners make these purses for him.  He was able to trade his commissary items for these purses.  I told Dave he should wait for Christmas for me to give them to the girls but he was too excited for his little girls to get them.  Below is a letter that Dave wrote to his daughters when he sent the package:

My dear sweet daughters,

I know it ain't much but I hope you enjoy your hand crafted paper purse made by one of my fellow prisoners.  I love and miss each one of you so very, very much.  You are my little girls and always will be even when you grow into adults.  I want you to always remember how special you are to me, your mom and our Heavenly Father.  Never compromise your standards and you will always be happy.  As sisters always have each others back and take good care of each other all of your lives.  You are sisters for a reason.  Be kind and respectful of each other and serve one another often.  My life has been so sweetly blessed to have each of you as my daughters.  You all have been special blessings from heaven.  I have enjoyed the very special times we've had together.  I have loved every moment with you from the instant you each were born.  You are all so cute and special to me.  I will forever cherish the sweet love you have given to me.  I am so blessed to have daughters like you.

Love Dad

After I read the letter I noticed one of our little girls crying.  She just kept saying that it wasn't fair and she just wants her daddy to come home. The girls all love their purses and cherish them because they are from their daddy.  They show them off to anyone that comes to the house.  They love their daddy and they know without a doubt that their daddy loves them.  Please continue to pray for all the little children and their daddies who are away from each other at this time that they will be able to be reunited together soon.

I am so amazed at the talent that this man has who made these purses.  He is amazing to be able to take paper and trash and make them in a beautiful gift.

Heartbreak

Today, I would like to share with you some of the heartbreaks that our family has faced recently. When our daughter had her birthday in July, she came home from a shopping trip to a beautiful bouquet of flowers that were sent to her from her daddy.  Her daddy had a little helper to help him get this delivery done.  She loved her flowers.  She cried about her flowers.  She even got all dressed up and had me take her around town and take pictures of her with her flowers so she could send to her daddy.  She wanted her daddy to see how pretty her flowers were and how happy they made her.  She placed these flowers right by her bed so she would be able to see them every night. 

  Yesterday, I saw my daughter bring these flowers out of her room.  Now, remember her birthday was in July and now it is October.  I thought she was going to throw them away.  But instead she filled the vase up with water.  I was puzzled at what she was doing.  These flowers are completely dead. They are over three months old.  She then went into her room and I followed her and saw her spraying these flowers with a spray bottle of water.  I asked her what she was doing and she said, "I read if you water your flowers and spray them with water that they will last longer.  I don't want them to die because dad gave them to me."  I had to quickly leave the room because I started to bawl.  She is afraid and scared that these flowers from her daddy will die.  She doesn't want the memory to die.  She loves her daddy and misses him so much.   These flowers bring her so much comfort during this hard time in her life.

Another heartbreak, is that today we had a birthday party for our son.  My sister said to me, "Do you realize that Dave has now missed everyone of his children's birthday's this year?"  Our children's birthday's start in March and go until October.  This also broke my heart.  Dave loves birthdays.  He loves spoiling his children on their birthdays and making them feel special.  He would never miss a birthday.  It breaks his heart to not be able to spend everyday day with his family especially their birthdays.

Lastly, as I was talking to Dave tonight I mentioned to him that I was thinking about taking our four year olds training wheels off and seeing if he could ride a bike.  After I said this, I noticed Dave was very quite and then I could hear him cry.  Again my heart broke for my husband and our children.  I do not like to hear my husband cry because he can't be here to experience moments with his family.

I try to do my best to make people believe that I am strong and a brave women.   But I am definitely not as brave and strong as you think I am.  Tonight my heart is breaking for our children and their daddy.   When people ask me if I am ok I just really want to tell them that I am not ok.  How could I be ok with what is going on with our family and other families in this country?  My heart is breaking for all of the children and their daddies.  Then, I begin getting really frustrated and asking the questions of Why.  Why would the country that we love lock away our daddy/husband for absolutely no reason at all?  Why would they want children and families to suffer?  Why would they not let him come home?

I continue to ask you for prayers and support for all the families involved.  But, also please become more involved by educating yourselves on this issue and make your vote count so that these daddy's don't miss out on anymore birthday's or events in their children lives. Thank you to all of you that do pray and support our families.  We are indeed grateful for your love and support.

Tender Mercies

Even though this trial is hard Dave and I have been so blessed to know that we are a forever family and that we will be together someday soon.  We are grateful for the blessings and tender mercies of the Lord.

I want to share with you about one of our biggest blessings, which is our 15 year old son, Brett.  Brett has always been his daddy's little boy.  Ever since he was a litle boy he wanted to go whereever his daddy was going.  He would always walk around the house wearing his daddy's shoes. He shares alot of the same things that his dad enjoys, sports, aviation, riding horses, hunting and camping.  His dad taught him so many things.  He misses his dad tremendously but at the same time he is trying to make his dad proud of him.  He is trying his best to be a great helper while his dad is gone.

I have been so impressed with Brett lately.  He amazes me with his strength and courage everyday.  Every day he talks into his phone and is able to save what he says into a word document.  Then at the end of the week he prints out what he said and mails it to his dad every Monday.  He wants to make sure his dad knows what is going on in his life.  One day I read one of his letters.  I was thinking he would just tell him the basics like I went to school, went to football practice, ate dinner and went to bed.  But I was so impressed with his letter not only did he inform his dad on what he was doing but he shared scriptures with his dad and gave his dad a wonderful sermon about having stregnth and courage to carry on and not give up.

He watches over our little three year old and makes sure he tucks him into bed everynight.  He helps me with all kinds of different jobs and tasks.  There are some days that he might hesitate in wanting to help but he always ends up helping.

 

Another example was last week when our eight year old sons flag football team lost.  Brett was actually the referree for the game.  Brett could tell that his brother was discouraged and having a bad day.  So as we were headed home to have dinner Brett says, "well lets go get ice cream."  I told him, "we can't because we have dinner waiting at home."  Brett said, "Mom when I was Bronco's age dad would always take me to Dairy Queen to get ice cream before we came home to you for dinner."  So I better do what dad would want me to do.  Not only did we all get ice cream but Brett totally paid for all the ice cream with his own money.

Yesterday, as we were driving home from the fundraiser we stopped to get a bite to eat.  Brett helped his little brother with his plate and everyone was busy eating.  I looked over at Brett and he had his arms folded and his head down and was praying before he ate.  This made my heart swell.  What a great example Brett is not only to his brothers and sisters but also too dad and mom.

God has blessed us and has sent us some tender mercies through our son Brett.   There are so many times that Dave and I feel so badly for our children.  We feel that they have been robbed of experiences with their dad and also have to suffer during this trial.  For instance, Dave wasn't here to take Brett on the deer hunt.  He hasn't been able to help him train his horse. He isn't here now to watch Brett play football and cheer him on.    But I can honestly say that our son Brett is following in his dads footsteps of becoming a fine gentelman and that is one way of how God is blessing us during this trial.  I am also amazed at how coruageous all of the children of the Political Prisoners are.  They have such strong faith and they know that their daddy's and grandpa's are good men and God will bring them home soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Facebook

Last week after talking with Dave we decided it was time to deactivate the facebook account.  There was alot of good from being on facebook but then there were alot of unnecessary distractions also.  I am going to miss seeing and hearing from all of you wonderful supporters.  I will also miss seeing friends and family members post about their families.  Those are things that I enjoyed reading about.  But I have realized that at this moment in my life that I need to shut down any unnecessary distractions and use that time to focus more on our children and Dave.  I will continue to update my blog on a weekly basis.  I definately don't want people to forget about my dear sweet husband and the other political prisoners. 

Lately, I have had people ask me if things are getting any easier or better.  Well, it is actually the complete opposite.  Each day seems to be only getting harder and harder.  We miss our daddy/husband dearly.  We want to be together like we were before.  We want to be building our home together.  We want to be able to spend the upcoming holidays together.  We want to be able to make memories together.  But so far my husband has not been able to come home and these moments that I have been talking about experiencing have been stripped away from our family for the time being.

I know that I must stay strong for my husband and our children.  It is not easy.  One night last week I became overwhelemed.  All within one hour I had our eight year old son wanting to play football with him, then I also had people coming over to pick up fruit, then my daughter needed help with her volleyball and my one year old and three year old needed dinner.  I tried my best to help each one of them but I felt like I fell short and wasn't able to help them in the way I wanted too.  Dave and I love our children dearly.  We only want the best for them.  We pray everynight for them that they will be strong through this trial we are experiencing.  Dave and I pray for each other several times a day that we will be able to make it through the day and be able to stay strong for each other and our children.

I ask all of you to look at your family situation and if there is an unnecessary distraction that is taking away from your family time then get rid of it.  Do all that you can to make memories and spend quality time with your family.  Those distractions aren't imortant but making memories with your family is what is most important.

Below is a picture of our family doing something that we loved to do together, CAMPING!

I pray that next year we will be able to take another camping picture with all of our family together.