The Key

A couple of years ago I wrote two poems for Christmas so I thought that I would share them with you. The first one I'm posting is called The Key. So here it is.

The Key
Once upon a darkened night
all men slept unaware
that into their lives a glorious light
would this very eve appear

The sheep outside the city grazed
upon the thin sparse grass
as shepherds’ drowsy eyes far gazed
into starry skies of glass

When suddenly a sound was heard
and breath was held with joy
as angel voices spread the word
Of Mary’s little boy

Hark! The melody rang out
in tones of cheer sublime
Listen to the trumpets’ shout
echoing through all time

Nature paused and bowed her head
honoring Salvation’s birth
and cries of hope from all her dead
burst forth throughout the earth

Hosanna! sang each fettered heart
the chains of sin’s dark grasp
soon would fall and all step forth
the Key had come at last

His kingdom he has come to claim
Stem of Jesse’s rod
blessed be His holy name
Christ Jesus, Son of God

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The second is a little longer and I titled it:

.

From Whence Came That Sound?

From whence came that sound? He drowsily asked
As he was roused from his midnight sleep.
Was it the cows? Or a lonesome howl?
Or the bleating of restless sheep?

From whence came the sound that awakened me?
His patience was wearing thin
Don’t they know that I have to work?
He yawned, as he scratched his chin

He rose from his bed and rubbing his eyes
He wearily got to his feet
From whence came that sound? He questioned again
But even the dog was asleep

Some sound has disturbed my brief, lowly rest
And drawn me out of my bed
From whence came that sound? He asked himself
scratching his tossled haired head

Shuffling to the window he searched for the source
And surveyed the darkened site
A hush of almost perceptible weight lay heavy
In the pastoral night

The fields lay barren, and stillness prevailed
Thus proffering no clues at all
The trees shivered soundlessly in the pale moon light
Their shadows cast puzzlingly tall

It was only a dream, he consoled himself
And thinking of his day ahead
He wearily stretched and quickly
returned to his warm and comfortable bed

But the inquisitive mind of this humble man
Would not afford him his rest
From whence came that sound? He mused o’er and o’er
The answer his only quest

From whence came that sound? He spoke aloud
But his voice now seemed out of place
Somehow where familiar clamor once reigned
A peace permeated it space

He opened his eyes and in amazement beheld
The shadows were fleeting and stray
I’ve forfeited my rest in the answerless quest
For this light surely heralds the day

Slowly he rose and dressed for his work
And falteringly stepped out the door
Wearily he knelt for the tools of his trade
And when he arose from the floor--

His eyes caught a glimpse of the heavens above
And a glorious scene he beheld
A concourse of angels radiating splendor and light
Streamed out through the thin parted veil

He sank to his knees and trembling in fright
The sound came afresh to his mind
Fear not! Declared the voice of pure peace
Its tone so piercing yet kind

Good News! For this night is the promise fulfilled
The Messiah has come to the earth
The handmaiden of God has just travailed
And the Son has been given birth

Angels and nature united and sang
In harmony sweetly sublime
Hosannas to the most high God
Resounded in each vale and clime

Tears streaked the face of the simple man
As he sat in wonder, awed
To hear the sound of joy proclaim
The birth of Christ his God

I found this very funny video for those of you who are Twilight fans! Enjoy and have a good laugh!!
http://www.take180.com/s/ep5l7

Saturday was such a beautiful day!! Cool, refreshing, breezy, we reveled in it. We opened the doors and windows and turned off the air conditioner. That afternoon we went to a park so Charity (and her friend Tatum), and Grace and Jonathan Robert could play and we could just enjoy the weather. Here is few pictures taken there. There was a water feature there for the kids to play in and despite the cool breeze the kids all got wet and played until their teeth chattering got too bad. It reminded me of swimming in Idaho as kids--blue lips were expected.

The Giver

I just finished The Giver by Lois Lawry. It is definately a book that I will have to ponder and think about. I'm certain that there are lots of gospel parallels especially in regards to the plan that Satan put forth. But also to God's plan specifically that there must be opposition in all things. To know joy there must be sorrow, to know comfort there must be pain etc. and how can we learn from experience if 1st there is none and second, there is no memory of pain/guilt/remorse etc. and for the reciever once he had those memories and experiences, there was no going back. As we mature and become adults, we can't go back and be the naive, carefree children we used to be--we are changed by the memories etched in our minds and by the choices we made because of our experiences.

the following is a response to a prompt I pulled from my journal jar.

"Describe your first home or apartment--as a young couple"
Marvin and I first lived in his parent's house, out on the family farm. His parents had not had much success for a number of years and were finally forced to give up the farm so they sold it for a dollar to Marvin's older brother Elden (to avoid foreclosure) and moved to Phoenix Arizona where there were good paying jobs for dad. It was a small rectangular pink brick house with two bedrooms and one bath on the main floor. The house faced west but all the activity was through the back door. There was also an unfinished (but framed out) basement. The living room was small, a fairly narrow rectangle with a couch across the north wall (which pretty much filled the whole width of the room, there was enough room for an end table I believe). The front door (west side) was rarely ever used because all of the parking and the rest of the farm (the garden, sheds, chicken coop, barnyard etc) was out back. The house sat on a "hill" which elevated it a little from the surrounding irrigated acres. It sat back away from the paved county road at least three or four hundred feet (a half a block or so) The narrow hard packed dirt lane that lead back to and circled the house mound was rendered impassable each spring when the rains fell and the snow melted and the ground thawed. It was easy to get stuck up the the doors of car in the mud. During those times the tractor was the only way in and out. Marvin moved to this farm when he was five years old. His father had been awarded the land in a homesteading give-away/drawing to veterans to open the north side of Rupert to farming. A great irrigation project/experiment was put in place and the land divided and distributed. It was nothing but desert, they cleared the sage brush, rocks, rabbits and coyotes off the land and spent the next fourteen years scratching out a living. The house was slow in coming but well appreciated when it was done. The basement held shelves filled with hundreds of jars of canned goods preserved by the sweat of the brow. One section held the freezers and the meat processing equiptment because hunting and butchering livestock that was raise to sustain the family was part of everyday life on a farm. The boys slept in the unheated basement as the bedrooms upstairs were for their parents and little sister. After we were married, Elden let Marvin and I take the master bedroom and he slept in the smaller one. We lived there until our daughter Danelle was born at which time Elden had found the girl he was going to marry and with his wedding coming soon, Marvin and I started looking at apartments. In a small town there wasn't a lot to look at, but we were very lucky to find a nice two bedroom duplex. (Believe me after one of the other apartments I looked at, it was the fabulous.) But that is another story.

I really enjoyed conference and I'm looking forward to re-listening to some of the talks. I want to listen again to Elder Corbridge's talk on Sat. afternoon about how living any other way than Christ's way was maddness.



I have been reading more and while I haven't read any great books I read some that I have enjoyed and that are thought promoting. I read a lot of "self help" books trying to figure myself out and trying to find those magic formulas to make me love to exercise and eat right and to be more productive. The most recent one I read was called "Loving What Is" by Byron Katie. It is a non religious book that helps us realize that what ever is going on in our life is "what is" and how we can accept and trust that God is in control and release our negative thinking and align ourselves with the truth in our lives and learn to live in peace. I have developed some insights from this book. I am starting an LDS preceptive book "Forgiving Ourselves" by Wendy Ulrich but haven't got too far yet. I just read the first two Harry Potter books (I know I'm behind the times) and just started "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. I am rereading "Running with Angels" which is by an LDS mom and how she lost 100lbs and ran a marathon. I read a chapter or two of Persusion by Jane Austen and will be returning to that soon.


One of the things I did a couple of months ago was to buy a new computer. It sure is nice not to have all the glitches that my old one had developed. I believe that the old one just needs to be wiped and reloaded and everyone asks me where my restore discs are and I tell them the computer didn't come with any. I need to contact the company this month because I bought an extended warranty and even though I think it is a software problem, maybe they will provide the restore discs. Anyway with this new computer I learned something that was so easy but just didn't know how to do and that was how to "rip" my cd's to the computer. How simple was that!! Just open your windows media player, put your cd in the drive and click on rip! Sometimes if it was the first one I had to click on rip again and tell it to "rip the cd in drive E" but after that, every cd I put in was ripped automatically. I bought some head phones ('cause I was jealous of Holly wearing their big ol' headphones). I listened for a couple of minutes, enjoying the bass, then went to nap because I had to work that night. In the morning when I got home from work, I came to the computer and found that someone (a little big brown-eyed curly top girl) had taken the scissors I had used to open that extremely theft-proof packaging on the head phones and had snipped the wires into about nine or eight pieces!! Good thing I went for the $10.00 pair from Ross (a discount store) rather than the $80 ones I was thinking about at Sam's Club!! :) Not a big deal, just a reminder about being mindful of a child's curiosity and desire to try out their SKILLS.

This girl has "scissor" SKILLS!

Jonathan Robert with his new toy, taken yesterday. 10/4/08

Here is Grace on 10/04/08, she is such a cutie and Oh those Eyes!!

This is Charity last month on her first day to school. 9/2/08.

Gosh! It's been a while! I'm not sure why I haven't been posting, part of it is a sense of perfectionism in that I guess I want what I write to be poetic, or moving, or at least not to waste your time. I also haven't been taking any pictures so even if I thought I should post, then I think, I don't have any pictures to post with it. So blah, blah, blah, so much for excuses.

In the last two months since I blogged, lots of things have stayed the same but of course in other ways my life has changed. First, Holly, Jonathan, Charity, Grace and Jonathan Robert have moved in with us and have brighted up our lives. We all love having them here with us. Marvin especially likes the little ones and this chance to get to bond with them. Speaking of Marvin--He quit smoking 2 months ago and just this week finally said, "It's still hard but I'm going to make it." Every other time if I checked in on how he was doing he would just moan and lament on the desire that constantly pressured him. He has used alcohol to help but he says, "now, I'm going to stop drinking. I don't know when yet, I've used the beer as a crutch while I quit smoking, but once I know I'm free of the cigarrettes, I'm going to do it. It will be easier than the cigarrettes." I was so moved by this hopeful statement. I truly hope he can be successful. My concern is that unless he replaces these habits with something, he will just slip back into them. He currently does nothing except watch tv.

I haven't changed, I still think about and plan to diet and exercise but haven't started yet. One of the speakers this morning in General Conference quoted a marathon winner as saying "the commitment to win is nothing with out the commitment to prepare" I think I keep focusing on the winning and not on the daily, hourly, moment to moment preparation needed for the goal to be realized. It makes me marvel at Marvin's will power to quit smoking, when I can't quit eating the wrong things.

Christmas is rushing towards me and I haven't done any planning, or any made any handicrafts to give away. I do like to sew, cross stich, crochet etc. and would like to give something of myself this Christmas but it won't happen if I don't get busy. I had started some "red-work" embroidered dish towels last year after visiting my brother and his wife. She is from Scandinavian descent and is deeply involved in their culture. I thought that this form of embellishing the dish towels was cute and not too time consuming, but even so, I haven't completed any yet, but have all the materials to make a set or two.

Well, I least this is a start and hope to return to posting regularly. Thanks Marilyn for the sweet reminder. Love you all.

Hi again. Monica and family were over for dinner on Sunday and I took a couple of pictures of Morgan because she got her hair cut for her first day of high school. She already looked older than her age and now I think she looks even older. She sure is growing up fast. I also am posting a picture of Dillon cause it was his birthday. Happy Birthday 10 year old! Then just so he won't feel left out I will post a picture of Denver too.

I love to go to Goodwill and Savers and peruse the book racks. Today I scored "Suite Francaise" a book I have been going to buy for a year because it was listed on a must read/best book list, a copy of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass: A Selection of Poems and Prose" AND "A Pretty Good Joke Book" Guess which one I started reading?

Here are a few of the old standard one liners---

My pig learned karate--now he's doing pork chops

A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but you mean your mother.

Is there another word for synonym?

Did you know that half of all people are below average?

Did you hear about the dyslexic devil worshipper?? He sold his soul to Santa!

and finally: What do Alexander the Great and Winnie the Pooh have in common?
The same middle name!

My cousin usually posts a meaningful and inspiring quote on her blog but maybe I will just post a joke from this book!! I am actually terrible with jokes, I can never remember them!! but this book gave me a laugh today.

Monday again

I'm sorry that it seems like I can't write more than once a week. I worked last night and now that I had a short nap maybe I can function a little. Today is my mother's 78th birthday. I wish I could be up there to see her. I haven't got to see her this year, with preparing for the wedding and changing jobs I didn't get to take time off for a visit. Danelle went up and visited her this summer and says she looks great!! I know she has been exercising and has lost weight and she was always blessed with great skin so I'm sure she looks much younger than her age! I hope Danelle posts pictures soon, but I know that Danelle is also wrapped up in uncertainty--job change, moving, and school starting. They must move by the end of the month but Vincente will not be elegible to post to a new store (where he will be Senior manager) until Sept 1st so they do not know where to move or stay yet. It's too bad that things didn't work out for them to stay in their home for another month, but we all have faith that the Lord will provide and guide them to where they should be. I hope it can be closer to us but most of the store openings seems to be further east at this time.

Marvin is still staying strong in the quitting smoking attempt but every day that I ask he just seems like he won't be able to hang on much longer if the desire doesn't start to ease off. On Wednesday it will be two weeks since he essentially quit, with no easing off of the intense desire to smoke.

Holly and family should be arriving in another week or two, I'm not sure when yet and if you read her post you know that her car has died---one more obstacle in an already overwhelming month.

Monica's kiddo's started school today, I hope they all liked their new experiences--Morgan started in High School and Denver in Middle School.

Pictures from spring break

Monica uploaded her memory card to my computer Sunday and she had pictures from her trip to Texas to visit Danelle and Aimee. I thought I would try once more to upload some pictures since I couldn't upload any yesterday when I tried 5 different times. So here are a couple of the pictures she took.

Monday news

Hi, first of all Susie called and got the report of her Ultrasound which was "unremarkable" Yeah!! She will still go and see her Dr on Wednesday but it appears that there is nothing to worry about.

Second, Breaking Dawn I'm sure most of the die hard Bella Fans have finished the book by now but I don't want to spoil it for any who are still reading. I really did enjoy this series, it is fun to share the romance of love. I read several blogs that were angry or disappointed in this last book mostly because of their "gimme a break" comments on the course of events (as if reality had anything to do with this book of fiction). Considering her target audience is teen girls I vote for Stephanie Meyers choices on how this last book plays out. I mean who wants reality in a fairy tale anyway, teen girls just want swept away in the dream of happily ever after and personally life will, all too frequently, bury that dream under the weight of every daily living soon enough. So from under my own pile of ##*X I loved the few hours I got to spend in love with Bella and _______ (I won't tell whether it was Jacob or Edward).

Holly, just called and said that Jonathan recieved a job offer here in Phoenix so it looks like they will be coming in two weeks. I'm excited to have her and the kids here. Marvin really enjoys the kids too!! Now we just need to figure out how to get her down here.

Denver and Dillon spent the night last night. They like to stay and grandma's not because of grandma but because I have cable TV and high speed internet so they love to flip channels and play games. Dillon is going to be in fifth grade!! and Denver just turned 13!! Wow! Morgan will be a freshman this year! Of course all of my grandchildren are growing up too fast and for that matter all of my children too!!

Well just wanted to let you know about Susie and also Holly's news. Love you all Deanna

July 30th

Hi, I've pretty much spent the whole day messing around on this new computer and with my camera. I found a site that did what I always said I needed some one to do. Just to go step by step though the controls and in plain English show me what to change, set etc. !! I had so many things not set right that I now have hope for great SOOCS (straight out of camera shots). Before the pictures were always "washed out" (overexposed) on the Auto settings and apparently that is a common problem with Nikons, and I always had to tweak them in their photo program before I would want anyone to see them. Now, hopefully they will start out great. I haven't loaded my Photoshop Elements 6 yet but maybe later this afternoon I'll do that. I thought I might post a few more of the BearLake photos. Like I said I didn't take many but I wanted to post the one of Eric and I couldn't find it yesterday when I was posting.

Susie went for an Ultrasound this morning and will see her Dr. next Wednesday. Here last CT scan showed some possible fluid in her abd. so they are checking it out. It is so scary for all of us.

Today was Marvins quit date for smoking (he started taking Chantix a week ago). I think he is doing pretty good, however, he did buy cigarettes when he went to the store this morning and his pack is still sitting out by the back door (ie he didn't toss everything to avoid temptation) BUT I have not seen him smoke today and I have been here all day. So keep him in your prayers, I know he will feel so much better once his lungs recover some,--his coughing episodes can get pretty darn hairy at times.

I'm making chicken and noodles for dinner per Marvin's request. I had better get busy and do something around the house. Love you all.

Family Reunion

Hi all, sorry I took so long to post but my computer was down. My monitor had died and then I was working so I didn't get right on replacing it. Any way, I know all of you are waiting for some pictures from bearlake. I didn't take a lot but I did get some. I'm glad that Sarah was conscientious about getting photos of each person there. I look forward to her pics. It was a very nice weekend. I didn't get to go up and see my mom though because of time restraints. Danelle went though and said that grandma looks great!! As I had said I would in my previous post, I used the drive time to read (and also snuck some of the weekend to read also). I was able to read all three books in the Twilight series and I am looking forward to Breaking Dawn's release. I do have to admit that I am tired of Bella's whining and fit throwing and wonder what there is about her beside her smell that Edward fell in love with!! Anyway Here are some pics from Bear Lake. Hey Trista, comment again on this blog so I can get your address again (the worse part of a new computer is having to reload everything.) I'll write again soon, maybe even today but I need to have a break from getting this computer set up and running 4 hrs is tooooo long. Love you all

Vacation Day 1

I just got off of work and so am FREE until Wed. night of Next week!! I have a lot to do today to be ready to leave early tomorrow morning for Utah and the family reunion. I am just so excited to not have to work for a week!! My daughter Aimee started a blog yesterday http://www.weimerlife.blogspot.com/ and my daughter Monica started one last week at http://www.ohellimeanhello.blogspot.com/ and of course my daughter Holly has a blog at http://www.sparklebrightly.blogspot.com/ It is fun to keep up with everyone's activities this way and get to see pictures too!!! I will be seeing all of my family Friday so I'd better get busy so I won't be late!! I can hear that Marvin got the mower running for me so the lawn awaits me!! See you soon :)

By the way, Denver sent me a link to one of Margaret's Bridesmaids photos which has photos from Margaret's wedding and a link to Margaret's Flickr account because she will eventually post photos too.

Suzie's (the bridesmaid) account is -http://picasaweb.google.com/redzipstar/MargaretSteveSWeddingWeekend

Margaret's flickr account is http://www.flickr.com/photos/margejames

I Got Music!

I have spent the entire evening listening to playlists on random blogs and then figuring out how to put a playlist on to my blog. I hope you like the music, I'll try to remember to go in and rearrange it once in a while so you don't always have to hear the first song over and over. I laid around all day and now it's after midnight and I have church in the morning and work tomorrow night, so I'd better put myself to bed.

I'll see you all soon (except for you sweet Aimee. Did you get your blog started? I haven't gotten any notice yet.)

Denver, I checked out your beautiful daughter's wedding pics. It all looked perfect and I loved the colors and flowers she used.

8 days and counting

Eight more days until we leave for the family reunion. Danelle is stressing out because her car has been giving her some trouble, Holly's car has been overheating as well. Danelle will be driving up from Texas by her self with the 5 kids and then Vicente will be flying up so it is scary to be on the road by yourself with an unreliable car!!

I went and bought a few more things for crafts for the reunion. I found two bags of tie-tacs with a "snicker" bar logo at Goodwill, (80+ tacs) but we can glue something on top if that to make custom tie-tacs or brooches/pins. So I bought some little lizards for the boys to glue on, also the clear glass flat "stones" that we made refrigerator magnets out of for Susie's wedding will also work on them. I also got some things for the scrabble tile necklaces, just need a little more ribbon or cord for the necklace part. I already had some craft wire for rock pendants, and tons of key rings if Danelle brings her lanyard stuff to make key fobs. I picked up some more beads/glitter stuff to put into the bracelets for the girls so I think we are about ready. So there will be plenty of different crafts to choose from. Holly has bought the noodles for the soft swords and I will pick up the PVC and the pipe insulation up in Utah so I don't have to haul it all the way.

I work tonight and tomorrow night and then again on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Then I don't work again until the week after the reunion on Wed, Thurs, and Friday. Because I started at a new company I didn't start earning paid time off for 60 days so I didn't have enough time built up yet. So it was great that my manager worked with me so I can have almost the whole week off. I still feel very comfortable with this company. It still feels like the patient is the main focus and not the paperwork or the cost, so that is great.

I'm pretty sure that Marvin is going to come. He told Holly he was coming, now just to see how he feels when the time comes to get into the car. Twice in the past he has come up "I just don't know what it is but I don't have a good feeling about going" and then stayed home. (He did tell me he thought someone tried to break into the house one of the times) So I just don't know what the day will bring.

I think that I had better read Stephanie Meyers "Twilight" series on the drive because I'm beginning to feel like the last person in the world to read it.

Here is a picture of the bracelet, lizard, tie-tac/pin and the glass magnets. I haven't made up a stone pendant necklace or a scabble tile necklace yet but we have directions that we printed off the web for them.

Monica's Birthday

Monica came over today and we went shopping for a birthday present for her. We went to Kohls unfortunately, they no longer carry sterling silver charms for her bracelet but I was thinking about getting her a new pair of sunglasses for our reunion trip. We ended up finding a pair of capris and the sunglasses and a hat. (all on sale or clearance--SCORE!)

For dinner, I had looked around at The Pioneer Woman site http://thepioneerwoman.com/ and found some new recipes to try. (A couple of months ago she had a contest and to enter you gave a favorite recipe) She got over 5000 entries! I chose a recipe for Lettuce Wraps (my daughter Danelle makes them frequently and her family loves them), A recipe for crab puffs (rangoons), Fried rice and then "Smores on a Stick for dessert. It required a lot of chopping but Monica and Morgan helped and the meal was delicious, Allen even had Monica type up the crab puff recipe for him. I also made a Seseme Ginger dipping sauce, and a peanut butter dipping sauce. We all liked the Seseme Ginger sauce the best.

Brian looked very handsome tonight!

Monica's boys have been playing with the soft swords/boppers (see "refocus" 2 post ago) all night so I think it will be a good craft for the boys at the reunion. Holly, I will put the money in your account if you want to go ahead and try to find enough pool noodles at the dollar store up there. I think 20 would be enough (2 swords per noodle). I was thinking if they have a lot of 2 different colors then the teams could be made up by the color of their sword, blues against reds? other wise we could tie head bands or arm bands of different colors to make up the teams. If you look now, if you have trouble finding them, I will have time to get them here. Monica's boys are spending the night tonight and they are still chopping each others legs and arms off!!

Monday again!

Good morning, I just read one of my daughter's (Monica's) first blog on her new blogsite and of course it brought guilt upon my head, because again it has been a week since I blogged! I reread my last blog and what a jumble of unrelated stuff! I guess I could have at least made paragraphs!!
I have today and tomorrow off Yeah!! I have so much I should do in this house, but like always, I probably will only barely touch the surface. Instead I'm sure shopping and computer grazing will win out over housecleaning. Today is Monica's birthday so I need to plan dinner and maybe an activity to do with/for her today. We could go over to Susie's swanky apartment and use their beautiful pool/BBQ area but Susie doesn't get off work until 6:30 pm so that is pretty late.
I have been pondering on which book I will read on the drive up to the reunion. (One of my favorite parts of a trip is letting Marvin drive and getting to read the entire trip!!) I started the trilogy "Kristin Lavransdatter" (which I had read and enjoyed about 25 years ago) but when I got to the night when the young teenage Kristin makes the emotionally immature choice of her future path by binding herself to the handsome morally weak rogue instead of accepting the more honorable and suitable man chosen by her father for her, I had to close the book!! Having read the book before I am acutely aware of the path of heartache she was binding herself to with this choice, and it made me so upset I had to walk away instead of taking the journey with her again. I'm sure I will pick it up again because while I really don't remember many details of this Nobel Prize winning novel, I do remember fondly the feeling of enchantment, of being transported to another time and place--but I'll have to prepare myself first. Oh how we need to pray about the major decisions in our lives, we need the Lord's knowledge and foresight! Our earthly selfish desires and limited vision can so easily take us onto paths that lead to heartache. (and even then, how many times do we continue down the path because we subbornly persist in doing what WE want and so set aside and refuse to listen to (or even refuse to seek) the Lord's counsel!!
I have also discovered that this is a different translation from the one that I read before. I can remember being so immersed in the "old English" language pattern, and the thee, thou, thy pronouns etc. I found it difficult not to speak like that when I stopped reading. This translator wanted to modernize the language which she felt was too flowery and to be more true (in her opinion)to Sigrid Undset's style of writing. I would have to have both translations available and also the original Norwegian text (and be able to read and understand all of them) to say whether that was true. Oh well! So I am thinking that my book choice will be "The Poisonwood Bible" which I have started once but haven't read yet and at 500+ pages is long enough to get immered in and to transport but much less than the 1100+ pages of Kristin Lavarnsdatter.
I have got to get busy so bye for now!!

Refocus

Here is a picture of my sweet Charity!

And one of Gracie

And a couple of silly kids who I love!

I just reread my last post and saw the date!! It's been almost a month since I blogged!! I am on the computer almost everyday and I think about blogging but I just haven't felt inspired enough to write anything creative, and while I originally thought I would journal here (and we all know how therapeutic journalling can be--letting your frustrations and disappointments flow out and dissipate) but I realize that this blog is more about keeping connected to my far flung family and friends and is not a creative writing showcase or journal therapy session so I guess I will just write alittle about what's going on in my life. The Family Reunion at Bear Lake is just around the corner and I am getting excited to see everyone. Danelle and I have been trying to come up with a good craft that would be appealing and inexpensive for the boys at the reunion. (the girls will be decorating flip-flops and making bracelets) I have bought the stuff to try out a soft foam sword for some medieval fighting but the center of the pool noodle looks awfully small for the PVC pipe to fit into for the handle. Well, I thought this is silly to still be wondering if it will fit when I have all the material right here so I checked and even though it looks small it does fit. So I will make one up and try it out. I also took a break and went to Bath and Body works to get some aroma therapy!! I have been mourning not being able to see and smell the lilacs this spring. I used to have a lilac candle but alas no more. I didn't know if they had any lilac scents but I just thought I would get something. I was so thrilled when I saw that they carried a lilac room scent!! They were also having their semi-annual sale so I picked up a few other scents also. Coconut Lime Verbana (one of my favorites), Cucumber Melon, Allspice-Nutmeg (for this fall), and a Cinnamon Clove (for Christmas time) on clearance for $3.00 each. I remember my sister-in-law telling me once that when she cleaned--she burned a scented candle and that it helped her focus on completing her task. I also find that music helps me clean so I bought myself a CD today (I spoiled myself today) I have read/heard several people rave about the soundtrack from "Wicked" so I bought that to try. Hold on----I put it in to play right now so I will hear it for the first time with you. I do have the book on which the Musical is based and I started it a year or so ago but then it got put down and I haven't ever finished it yet. (it did have some sexually charged parts as I remember which kind of turned me off to reading it) I have only heard good things about the play though. Wow here I sit, visiting with people I love, surrounded by the scent of lilac and listening to Broadway music!! I grew up with a huge lilac tree/bush in my front yard and I can't say how many hours I played under its fragrant branches. The shady area under it didn't grow grass so it was our "sandbox" so to speak (even though it was only dirt) I remember creating streets and towns for our cars, and digging with my brother's "steam shovel" that he recieved one Christmas. So far the music is good but I'm sure I will need to see the Musical so that not only will the music be fun it will bring with it a remembrence of a wonderful night out and experience. Well, I'm going to go and make one of the soft swords, I'll post a picture as soon as I get it done.

Permission to Live

I was sitting and watching TV (a rerun in fact, how lame is that?) and a young girl was being interviewed about her talents and when asked how many songs she had composed she said "47 - It's easy!!" (I remember writing as being easy but I just haven't tried for a while). Then as I flipped the channel a young woman with cancer was talking about her life and she said "we all live in a terminal condition" but that having cancer gave her the "permission to live". So here is a little musing from that.

Permission to Live

"We all live in a terminal condition" she said

and yet, I squander the precious moments

I whine and peruse the dark cloud above my head

And if it doesn't rumble and sprinkle a little rain on me

I proceed to make my own and shed a few tears

(in order to justify my continued attentive care)

I dwell in my cloud alone, lonely with my daydreams

of what I will do --someday--when this or that occurs

But nothing happens so I go from day to day ineffectively

imitating life. Wanting more, but unwilling to change.

Unwilling to open my umbrella and boldly stroll out

into--what? A deluge?- or - sunshine and rainbows!

"Give yourself permission to live" she said

"But what about___?" I whine. "I can't do that!" I protest

"I have that anchor chained to me, more than one in fact!"

"Well then, you need to row a little harder don't you!"

"You'll never know if the next stroke of the oar would

be the one to set you free if you don't try!"

"A person should be the leading lady in her own life"

says the movie. So give up that supporting actor role--

that "who am I to think I could be a star?" mindset

As Nelson Mandela said--"WHO ARE YOU NOT TO BE?"

Give yourself permission to live! And not only to live

But to soar and laugh and lift and serve joyously

a couple of pictures of the Bride!

Howdy family, Here I am after a few days of debriefing and then 3 days of work. I finally just got to talk to Susie! She and Micah had a relaxing time in California. Mostly hanging out at their motel (no surprise there)! She and Micah hosted a BBQ at their new apartment last pm but I had to work so couldn't go. As it turned out the pool was closed because the management found out that they didn't have the right permits and OKs yet for the pool. (It is a brand new apartment complex and Susie and Micah are some of the very first to brave all the continued construction and move in. It is an upscale apartment complex and the common cool stuff is all done but only 2 of the many apartment buildings are completed. It is kind of like having the pool, weight room, media room, etc all to theirselves!

I am posting a couple of the pictures from the wedding photographer's blog site so be sure and visit (www.pangburnphotography.com). When she gets the rest done, they will be posted under the "client" section on her web site and then we can sign in and see more. Through some of Kadie's (the photographer) connections Micah and Susie were chosen to be models at a Photographer workshop event. They will recieve copies of all the photos from the photo shoot in which 10 or so photographers participate. They will also get hair and makeup session and the tux rental as well. Susie doesn't have many details yet but it will be in a couple of weeks in Tucson. On Kadie's blog (I think it is the first blog in the January 2008 archive) she shows pics she took at a similar event.

I came across my grandmother's first book of memoirs "Across the Years" by Annie Theresa B. Throckmorton. I thought that I would start entering it into the computer and then post it. I can see that even typing 30 mins a day it will take a long long time to get it entered. I think I will start a new blog just for it.

I am still excited about getting to read more, but I have got to get all the wedding stuff put away somewhere and get this house cleaned up!! I was so excited pre wedding to be able to start working on it immediately but in reality, I needed a few days to recover but then I had to go back to work so nothing got done. I finally have the tablecloths in the washer right now.

Marvin is bugging me to make him a grilled tuna and cheese sandwich. so I guess I'll close for now. Love you all and remember "Love conquers all!"

Kadie posted some pics on her blog!

I checked Kadie Pangburn's (the photographer)blog again and she has posted a few pictures on her blog. So if you want to see some pics of Susie and Micah check it out at www.pangburnphotography.com and clic on her blog tab.


I've got to go to work, so see ya later.

A perfect day for Susie

Saturday turned into such a beautiful and perfect day for Susie's wedding. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures and am waiting for the photographer to post pics. I forgot my camera and so Brian went home and got it but then it was up at the top of the hill and all the pictures were being taken at the bottom!!. In any case Micah's cousins Joe and Kadie were taking beautiful pictures, I can't wait to see them. Susanna was so beautiful!! She could have been a bride in a Vogue layout!! (Micah is handsome as well). I marveled that little ole me could have produced such beauty as Susie!! The bridesmaids dresses--once everyone was in them and they were together as a group--looked great. (Much better than when we were fitting them individually---at which time I had reservations about how they were going to look!) Marvin pulled it together enough to attend the wedding ceremony and walk her up the "aisle" but seriously I thought he would faint several times while we were there. He chose to go home right after the wedding and didn't go to the reception but I think we all knew that would happen. I had warned the grooms side already. Susanna's coworkers and sister Aimee and brother-in-law Del set up the reception room while everyone else was out at the wedding site for pictures and they created an amazingly beautiful room!! I know this post is premature because I don't have pictures to post but I will let you all know as soon as Kadie posts any pictures on her site. (www.pangburnphotography.com) Susie and Micah have gone to California for their honeymoon. They are staying in Laguna Beach and are going to go to Disneyland. I expect them home tomorrow. I go back to work tonight so have had several days to debrief and recover. Holly is still staying with us until next Tuesday. Danelle and family stayed only Friday and Saturday and drove home on Sunday. Aimee flew in on Friday and went home on Monday. Scott was the only one not able to come. The weekend flew by and I really didn't get to visit much. Well I need to go for now but will check back again soon. Marilyn, I think your biggest Loser contest is great. I hope to get it together with my own family, Love you all. Deanna

Ill be back!! next week

Hi just a note to tell you the I am and have been in the throes of wedding details and sewing and will be back and posting next week after the wedding. We're getting there but still so many details and so little time!! Deanna

Peace Like a River

In the midst of all I need to do I have of course done something that absolutely didn't need to be done. I read a book!! I read it in little chunks and pieces. In the "reading room". I would stretch out reading as long as I could--until my legs, feet and behind started to tingle and go numb)a chapter here and one there. I sat and read it this morning instead of going straight to bed after work and managed to finish it. I hope anyone who reads this does not skip ahead to read the end because even as predictable as some things turn out, if you stay with the characters and share in the journey the impact of the ending will be moving. I did have to suspend some reality in reading this book. Mostly that an eight year old would be as precocious as Swede. But I just kept telling myself that some children are literary geniuses (but in western novels and history)?? This book did keep me wanting to come back to it. I thought about it at odd times and reflected on the tragedy of it all,and what the consequences should be, what would serve justice. etc. In the end, I was moved to tears and loved the description of the "other country". So I would recommend reading it and I do have two copies to loan if you want. By the way the picture at the top is not a reflection on the book, but I just wanted to post a picture of it and decided that it would be fitting to place it upon the throne it was read on.

I did get one bride's maid dress sewn up and the fact that once I got started it didn't take all that long has brought me a welcomed lessening of the dread I faced at the task. I really can see that I can get the next two done in my two days off.

Holly is coming!! toothless schoolgirl Charity is coming!! Big beautiful eyed Grace is coming!! and little Jonathan Robert (Jon-Bob to grandpa) is coming!! I can't wait to see them and to have another pair of hands to help.

Susie finished school this week and has been so stressed she couldn't concentrate and study so she thinks she did very poorly on her last test in A&P. She really was striving for all A's but with all the pressure she is under I hope she knows that one bombed test and a B is still acceptable.

The weather is still holding "warm" (anything under 100 degrees is "warm" here in Phoenix and Susie is wishin' and hopin' and prayin' that it stays this way for her wedding day. (Ceremony is outside).

Well too-da-loo I must run. Love and Kisses to all.

I can't believe it is Friday already. I have such respect for those bloggers who blog everyday! I want to be like that but somehow it hasn't happened yet. I am off until nest Tuesday so am determined to get all the dresses done by then but still---I only managed to work on them for appx. 15 mins yesterday!! Then I thought I would stay up and sew all night while I wouldn't be interrupted by Marvin, TV, shopping, phone etc. but then of course I was tired and fell asleep on the couch with the thought that I would just take a nap and then get up and get at it but you know I slept all night and here it is almost 9am and I still haven't started sewing yet. I oriented again on Wednesday and drove out again yesterday afternoon to see the admission process of a pt on a ventilator. Which when they called interrupted my beginning to sew. I spent a couple of hours there and then I went to a Joann's fabrics and spent another hour and a half trying to find a pattern and material to make for me to wear to the wedding. I did pick up the zippers that I needed and found another one and half yards of the pink taffeta. I hope we have enough now for the boleros. I had only bought enough material for the dresses because that was all they had and then I found another small piece at another Joann's and now finally this last piece last night so I hope we can get them all cut out.
Well I had better try and get started. Love you all.

Monday, Monday

My weekend with the new company went fine, I took patients and an admit yesterday. It was OK and it kept me busy. I know that I didn't do everything perfectly but that's what an orientation is for. When Susie got home last night she informed me that the address we had put on to the wedding invitations was wrong!! I didn't know she had already sent most of them out this weekend so I wasn't too upset and thought I could just have them reprinted but unfortunately his family mailed theirs out this weekend. Anyway It sucks because it is my fault because how the wrong address got on there was I had printed up a trial wording of an invitation several months just as samples for Susie to choose from and I didn't have the addresses right in front of me so I just guessed at the address. When we finally were doing the invitations I only remembered that I had guessed at the reception address, not the wedding address so it was the only address we changed. I am so frustrated with myself and have been beating myself up this morning. Anyway if you are planning on coming to the wedding ceremony the address is really 10600 not 10400. Susie is taking it well, I just don't know how well Micah's family is taking it as their side will have the majority who are coming and who got the wrong address.

I went and got a new tire today (to replace my blow out) and went ahead and replaced the other front tire. Sam's Club replaced the one tire per their road hazard policy so I just had to buy one tire. I then went to a couple of junk yards for a new wheel cover but neither facility carried any so I just bought a new set from Auto Zone.

All of the multitude of "ought to be doings" are calling me, so I better close for now. Hope your day is filled with joy and worthwhile projects.

Howdy everybody. I spent my first day at an inpatient unit today. They didn't have any admissions, discharges, transfers or deaths so it was a quiet day as they only had 6 patients. I had some trouble getting to work this morning though. This particular unit is around 28 miles from my house, luckily most of it is freeway. anyhow, right after I traveled from the I-17 to the I-30 there was a white panel van screetching and weaving off the side of the road and it appeared that his drive train had fallen down on to the road. I said a little thank you that I was not 10 secs ahead of time and thankfully not right next to him. (He managed to get the vehicle stopped) Then about 8-9 more miles up the road, I heard something spin off the right front tire and ping and bang under the car. I had not seen anything in the road and I guess I could describe the sound like a metal bolt (it sounded metallic and not too big). there didn't appear to be a problem, so I kept driving and as I got closer to my exit I started to move over lanes to get into the outside lane. when I got into the next to last lane I found myself next to an old beatup 1980's van. There started to be a strange noise and I thought it was coming from that old van, but as I passed him, I noticed that I now had a noise and a vibration and I thought "That van could have been making a noise but it wouldn't make my car vibrate. I quickly moved into the outside lane and started braking. Within a second or two my tire blew out but I was able to get into the emergency lane on the shoulder and get stopped. I was really bummed because not only was the tire shredded but my hubcap was no where to be found. I called Marvin who was not sympathetic at all. I called my son-in-law who unfortunately had gone camping with his brother. So it was going to be up to me. I opened the back door where the little jack and wrench were and got those out and I knew that the spare tire was mounted under the back of the car. I noted how low to the ground that the car sat and tried to invision me trying to wiggle under it to unbolt a tire (How low can you go??). I then thought about how black and filthy the tire was and I knew that I would not be able to go to work once I managed to change the tire because I was wearing white pants and I would be Filthy!! I remembered that my insurance policy had a towing benefit, but I didn't think it was also roadside assistance but I gave them a call anyway and guess what! no problem!! Yes it was covered and they would get someone right out to fix it. So after 35-40 mins he showed up, got the tire changed. the spare was pretty flat but he had a small tank of compressed air and got it full enough to get to a gas station and top it off. And ta-da! By the way, the spare tire is unbolted from the floor inside the car, there was no crawling under the back of the car to get it out. Anyway I made it to work and now safely home again. It is time to hit the hay as I also have to work tomorrow. I will be caring for some patients tomorrow and will be learning HOV's charting. Hopefully we will get an admit so I can see that process. LOVE and KISSES to all.

a link to some pics of Susie and Micah

I just went to the web site of Micah's cousin who took pics of them a couple of weeks ago and she has some of the pics posted in her blog. To see them go to www.pangburnphotography.com and click on the BLOG tab.

Monica came over today to help with the wedding stuff and try to keep me on track. We did get some things done but not enough. I kept leaving what I was doing to check out what she was doing!! But every little bit helps. Today is my Holly-Dolly's 25th birthday. Wow a quarter of a century old!! I can hardly believe it! I also have a terrible time believing that I have a child who is 37!! In fact it is hard to believe that I am 56 years old. Time is racing by and seems to be speeding up. I have wasted a lot of it in my life and unfortunately continue to indulge myself in nonproductive activities.

Tomorrow I will be doing a shift at an HOV unit and so will get to see the inpatient process first hand. I think that caring for the patients and the family education pieces will be mostly the same but it is all the little things, who do you call to get what. how do you know which dr. is on call. How do you get DME, meds etc. What is everything you have to do to make sure the pt is properly admitted or discharged. How does the home team like to be notified. etc. etc, etc. I also have to work Sunday, which I don't like but I have to work the schedule of the preceptor. Plus even with Sunday, my manager only has me working one other day next week so I will be only getting 24 hours next week and 28 hours this week. the following week I will be getting my 36 hours but I still do not have a schedule for beyond my orientation. I did speak to my manager again and reminded her of Susie's upcoming wedding on the 24th and told her I could only work either at the beginning of that week or maybe not at all that week, so we'll see what she comes up with. Wow then it will almost be JUNE!! "Summertime and the livin' is easy!" I still remember seeing "Porgy and Bess" on TV when I was very young and loved that song. I think it was Lena Horne who sang it. I just went on you tube and listened to the song again. It wasn't lena Horne on the version I saw but of course she may have sung it in a different one. Just watching diffent clips of the musical makes me want to see it. Maybe it will come to town sometime and I will go. I have also heard such great things about the musical "Wicked" so that would be fun to see also.

Susie was given an extracredit assignment to "earn" rice to fight world hunger by building her vocabulary. Susie, Monica and I had fun trying to figureout the meaning of the words. By looking at the prefixes and some roots in the word we were able to figure out a good percentage. It is quite addictive you can check it out at www.freerice.com

Susie just got home from work so I had better go and get busy on the wedding stuff.

I am still orienting for my new company, I had a day of orientation yesterday and another tomorrow and then I will orient on the unit this weekend. luckily I was dismissed from jury duty this week without having to go downtown so I can get all of my orientation done. I didn't have to work today and with Susie's wedding coming up so fast I should have been sewing, but instead I read a book. It was called The Twelve Little Cakes and was a memoir of Dominika Dery a young woman who grew up in Czechoslovia. Her parents were dissidents and the "party/comrads" always made her dad's life very difficult, but despite all of the difficulties because of the love and strength of her parents she still had a happy childhood.

I should really get busy but now my eyes are so blurry I can hardly read, and I even wore my glasses while I read. (Probably why everything is so blurry since I took them off!) It always takes a while for my eyes to readjust from close work/reading so I hope it clears up soon.

Holly has been reading a lot lately and posts her book reviews on Goodreads. I haven't done that yet but I am getting excited about reading again. I haven't read much the last couple of years, so I have quite number of books stacked up waiting for me to read once the wedding is over. I hope that I can keep the TV off and start doing some creative activities as well as more reading. I didn't used to have a problem with too much TV but it sure seems that it has been my veg drug of choice this last year. I didn't turn it on today however(once Marvin went into the bedroom this afternoon), so tonight I had to go online to see who was booted off of American Idol. I was surprised by the choice. I really thought it would be Jason or Brooke, I usually vote on Tuesday but I didn't yesterday because I really feel that their isn't much competition for David Cook. He seems to be in a league of his own, He really is so much more accomplished. I have to agree with Simon when a week ago, Simon said that David Cook's performance was so good "it was like coming up out of Karyoke Hell" the professional (you could have recorded this performance) was such a contrast to the arrangements that the others did. Don't get me wrong, I like David A. and Brooke but they had the same opportunity to create a polished professional arrangement and their performances did seem thinner, less filled with that "total package" that Paula refers to. Well so much for AI fluff.

I am still thinking about the book I read today and I am just blown away knowing that the author was only 29 when she published her book and it wasn't even her first!! plus she has other accomplishments. What I had at 29 was 6 kids!! I'm not complaining I would not trade my children for anything, they have brought such joy into my life. And I am not dead yet and can still set goals. I just fight with my lifelong sedentary solitary habits.

Well my eyes are less blurry so I had better do a little something and then get to bed. Since I have been working the night shift for the last 8 months it's hard to get up early in the morning for orientation. I have to leave by 710 am which isn't all that early it just seems like it when you can't get to sleep at night cause your used to staying up. I will be working day shifts this week end and next week so I'll have to leave the house around 6 am to get to the unit where I am orienting. The only positive is that I will be traveling against the rush hour traffic to get there.

Day 4 of orientation

Home from another day of orientation. 8-9 hours of sitting is tireing in and of itself, I am really happy to have an actual orientation and all the education and reminders of why and how we care for pts and their families. Today was the last day of "general orientation" and tomorrow I start an orientation specifically for inpatient nurses. I am supposed to attend two more full orientation days next week. HOWEVER, I am also "on call" for Jury duty nest week. Now instead of day of jury duty, you have to call in each evening to see if you are needed the next day for an entire week. I have no way of knowing whether I will be able to attend the orientation next week or if I will have to be downtown waiting to see if I get picked for a jury. I HOPE NOT. I really don't like confrontation!! And I don't want to have to be involved for days or weeks. I guess we don't have a choice though.

After work yesterday I went to Mesa and went not only to the temple to do a session but also to the visitor center where I viewed the Photographic exhibit "Reflections of Christ" I forgot the photographer's name but he was featured in the last Beehive newpaper. He is an Arizona photographer who came up with the idea of recreating Biblical scenes of Christ and/or stories and then photographing the scenes. It was all exceptionally well done, moving and actually looked a lot like paintings.

I'll sign out for now.

April 15, 2008

Wow tax day and I acually did my taxes two weeks ago. I am sure glad that I did since I am working all days this week. 2nd day of orientation went well and I talked with Barbara briefly about my schedule which she is still "tweaking" because two of the shifts that she had available were on the same night so she is trying to get some one else to switch so that she will have two days for me.

I just watched American Idol and still really like David Cook. I'm sorry to say that I am pretty bored with Brooke. It seems she just has one niche and while I do like her sound, It just doesn't have much variety. In fact, I'm pretty bored with everyone except David Cook. I will admit after moaning for weeks about why Kristy Lee Cook wasn't eliminated, she has surprised me the last two weeks and has shown the most improvement.

Susie is writing a paper and so I'm going to free up the computer for her so good night and sweet dreams to all my family.

1st day of work/orientation

Today was my first day with Hospice of the Valley. It was day one of general orientation. What a contrast so far, while HOV is mindful of cost and spending, the focus so far has been on the patient and family and HOV's commitment to 100% satisfaction rather than always "the bottom line" (at my previous hospice verbally we were told the pt came first but the pressure was always on cost. Tomorrow is also general orientation and then Wed, and Thur. will be nursing specific and Friday, inpatient specific. I am hopeful that I can find joy and satisfaction in this position.

Next week I am on-call for jury duty, I have to call in each evening to see if I need to go in the next day. I hope that I can still get my 3 days of orientation in on the unit.

Today I recieved my "How-To" book for working with my Adobe Photoshop elements program. Now to A. find the time to practice and learn and B. figure out why all the new programs don't load/work correctly on my computer.
I had also ordered a trilogy book which I had read and completely and throughly enjoyed appx 30 years ago. It is called "Kristen Lavernsdatter" by Sigred Unsted. It won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1927. I have never forgotten the impact that this book had on me and I had been wanting to reread it so I had been thinking about it and looked for it on Amazon and low and behold there it was!! I'm afraid it will have to wait until after the wedding but then....don't look for me for a week as it is over 1100 pages long in small print.

Last week I also succumbed to one of those 1/2 hour paid programming commercials and I ordered one of those weight loss programs that is always being advertised and it arrived today also. I'm sure that Marvin will have plenty to say to me about getting two packages today!! It will cost the same as I have been paying to the gym that I have gone to a total of 4 times and will be paid for in 6 months and not be never ending payments. So I am cancelling the gym and will see if Michael Thurman can motivate me. I'm hopeing that with the change in jobs and in emotional outlook I will find new determination to increase my activity and decrease my intake.

I need to go to bed so I can be bright eyed for orientation tomorrow. So Good Night.

Stake conference

Last weekend was general conference and then this weekend was stake conference and while we didn't have any general authorities visit we had some inspiring talks. I wanted to share some of what inspired me. Last night's session had a general theme of the importance of families. One story really stood out to me, it was from a talk by Suzanne Smith.

"There was a kind merchant who was traveling by foot to a distant city. Around his neck he had secured his funds, seven gold coins which he had strung onto a string. After traveling most of the day, he came upon poor man who was begging at the side of the road. The good merchant took pity on the begger and took from his neck the gold coins and gave the man six of his gold coins. The compassionate merchant then continued on his way with his remaining one coin. After traveling all day, the merchant was exhausted and as the shadows deepened the merchant lay down under a tree at the side of the road to rest. While he slept the begger came upon the merchant and finding him asleep, stealthily stole the merchant's last gold coin".

When she finished this story, I felt violated, how could someone who was the recipient of such overwhelming generousity from a kind benefactor be so unfeeling as to then turn around steal the man's last coin.

She then said, imagine then that God was the merchant and the coins are time. The Lord has given us six days to use as we will and has only kept one day. We however have stolen that last day as well. She continued to share the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy. She reviewed the history, and the emphasis placed upon it by the Lord. She shared some general guidelines about what should or shouldn't be done on the sabbath and especially how to help children honor the sabbath.

This morning, the topics were varied. One that stuck with me was given by the Temple President. He of course talked about the blessings of temple attendence. He told that there are two blessings attached to temple attendence and that if we were just coming to the temple and not researching and bringing our own family names to the temple that we were missing half of the blessings which we could be recieving. During his talk I really did feel the desire to be more diligent in going to the temple, and I thought about how I had planned in the past to attend once a week and how that had all gone by the wayside, (especially in this last year) He said that only 14 people from out stake were temple workers and that he thought there should be at least 50. I hope that I can overcome whatever it has been that has kept me so immobile and that I can start attending regularly again.


Susie and Micah got back late last night from Tucson, Susie says that the photo session was amazing!! She is so excited. I haven't got to see any of the pics yet as they only brought back a couple on a disc because his cousin shoots in RAW and still needs to Photoshop the rest. And for whatever reason, we couldn't get them to come up on my computer so Susie went to print them. (Micah did view them on his computer so I know the disc works) In the meantime, if anyone is interested, I did get Micah's cousin--the photographer's website address so if you want to look at some of their work, you can check it out at www.Pangburnphotography.com