So What About Kids?

I have to admit there times when I don't think a lot about kids.  Like when I'm under general anesthesia, doing our taxes or having a root canal.  But other than that I think about kids a lot.  Our kids, your kids, our grandkids and yours.  Big kids, little kids, precious infants, kids in trouble or that are troubled.  Innocent kids, naughty kids, kids that are noisy and exuberant, kids that are sad...I think about them a lot.  And there are the ones I love because I know them so well.  Or because my good friend loves them so much...kids or grandkids of theirs.  I may never have met them but if they love them...I do too.  They are a part of my friend and their life and that is good enough for me. 

I have to admit I am not really a people watcher but I am a baby watcher! I love spotting a baby and watching them in a mall or crowded place or in church.  And it is funny but if I can catch their eye they will usually smile at me, almost as if they know I am a Gramma!  

There are the ones I want to scoop up and hug and the ones that I think need a time out until they remember who is in charge.   I think about the ones I'm so proud of and the ones that worry me sick. The ones I applaud and the ones I cry over.   Kids are wonderful big and little humans, in all of their varieties.  As for the littlest kids, the thing that I love to see the most is their innocence and their newness in this game of life.  Where they haven't been jaded too much by hurts or sad things and they are just kind of living in their happy moments without a care.  The ones that have faith in Jesus, their parents, their surroundings, their friends and themselves.

One thing about them all...they all need a lot of love.  Real love and attention and protection.  They need assurance and security and praise and help in growing up healthy in body, mind and spirit. They need sound principles to guide them and understanding parents that sacrifice constantly to give them these things and grandparents too.

May none of our children ever doubt we are there for them through thick and thin, no matter how old they or we get.   And no matter what their struggles may be.  Love not only changes everything for the better but is soothes a lot of difficulties in life.  Good parents love unconditionally and kids have to know that some people will never leave them~no matter what.  Not ever.

I love the photo message above.  It is cute, poignant and true.  I like the suggestion to put them in water if they are crabby.  I once babysat a child that was crying hysterically about something.  I picked him up and sat him on the counter near the kitchen sink.  I put his little bare feet in some cool water and he was delighted immediately.  Who knew?  And I love the admonition to "Teach Feelings."  This is where empathy begins and love is learned.  And I'd add teach them to express feelings.  Especially feelings of love and appreciation for others.  May they never wonder if we love them.

So anyway, since I am not under anesthesia today or doing taxes or having a root canal...I was thinking about kids.   My kids, your kids the people that give us reason to get up and get dressed and get going every day with a purpose.  God bless us all in our sincere efforts to keep this sacred trust with the Lord to do good by them.

Writing

 

I like that this lovely lady is a lefty!

If someone were to say to me, "Don't write anymore, it would be like taking my voice.  Laryngitis of the heart, mind and soul.  That would be one of the cruelest things I can imagine!  It would be like locking my heart in a wooden box...and throwing away the key. It would be total deprivation of the freedom of expression that comes with the symbols of the written word.  It would be like saying to your eyes, 'Don't blink', or to your lungs, 'Don't breathe,' or to your heart 'Don't love.'

 To not be able to write would be a kind of death inside me. 

 One I cannot really think about too much.

Funny, but I don't feel that way about talking...just writing.

That is where I find my comfort zone.

This picture should be much more colorful
 for its words are the truth.

Life's Little Outtakes

 

San Francisco~September 6, 2012

This is one of my iPhone, Drive-by photos

 on the Bay Bridge.  This has become one of my

 favorite things to do while Jim drives. 

The trick is to get between the cables

 that are in the frame about every half a second!

Speed 50 mph...can you say pure luck?

I love this one!

Don't you just love outtakes or deleted scenes on the special features of DVDs?  It is fun to see what they just didn't want to include.  And yet they do include it in the features.  They do it because sometimes even though the editing to shorten the film requires deleting something, they realize that people could gain something from them.  That is kind of how I view some of the things in our lives.

We had one such experience yesterday. One thing Jim and I always do is we pray for safety before we go on a car trip.   We have done it forever and it is just part of our routine.  Happily those prayers have always been answered as we have hoped.  Yesterday was no exception.

For the past week we have made a trip on the freeway everyday to Oakland for one thing or another, two trips to the airport, a couple of days of work, ward temple day, etc.  It just seems our car is beginning to think we live there almost.  Yesterday we went to the Temple grounds and dropped off the kids' rental car at the Temple parking lot and then we took, Jen and Lowell with us to San Francisco.  It was their 15th anniversary and it was a beautiful day we had some fun plans.  The weather was outstanding and it was fun to see them relaxed and childless for the first time in nearly 14 years.   We missed their kids but also enjoyed the peace and quiet and whole uninterrupted sentences, even paragraphs exchanged.

Our  first stop after Oakland was in Marin county.  We took that beautiful, meandering, canopy-covered road down into Muir Woods.  It was delightful in every sense of the word.  I wish we could start every day with a stroll through the redwoods.  They are so majestic and such a reminder of how large God is and how small we are.  There is a reverence felt there by one and all. People just naturally whisper in the presence of those magnificent trees.  No matter what state of mind you are in when you arrive, it will be transformed almost immediately into something elevated and edifying. The air...full of pure oxygen, the scent of the redwood forest, the stunning beauty,  the quiet, the reverence all make you new again.  It is truly one of the most beautiful places on the earth.

 Muir Woods

From one of the wooden bridges
 gazing down at the stream.

 15 memory-filled years of marriage today!

I think this picture of Jim is so cute. 

 He always says women only

 include photos when they think
 they look good no matter how the
 rest of the subjects turn out!

 Just for the record...Mr. M...

 This is proof positive that just
isn't the case.

 If only two dimensional photos 
could really capture this in 3-D

After the redwoods we went to Muir Woods Overlook
 for a quick panoramic view of the Pacific.

The water was pretty calm and a gorgeous teal. 

The breeze was refreshing and there was no one there.
  We had a tiny snack-type
 picnic on the redwood table by the sea cliffs.  
H E A V E N.

Point Lobos

Then we wound our way back to San Francisco and went to the De Young Museum.  We got the best parking place in the park...amazing.  We went in and enjoyed some of the current exhibits and then headed to Point Lobos for a view of the ocean from our favorite perspective near Seal Rock.  Jim kept the car running while the rest of us got out for some pics.  We ran out and checked out the sea...turned around and found this street vendor selling the most amazing earrings.  Jen and I snagged a pair and jumped back in the car.  The day was magical!  Next we went to our favorite Pizzeria.  Pasquale's in the Sunset district on 8th Ave and Irving Street near where we once lived.  For this:

We have been patrons for over 44 years.  

 The quality never disappoints.  Jim practically

 has his own table there, he has been there 4 times 

in the past five weeks with various visitors.

After we ate it was time to head back across the bridge. We thought we'd never get to the on-ramp of the bridge the traffic was fierce.  Once on we started moving at a pretty fast clip and all of a sudden Jim thought we should stop at Treasure Island for one last photo op and also to see the naked lady called Bliss. Don't worry it is just a giant wire sculpture that is worth seeing for its immensity if nothing else.

Here is Bliss...check out her size compared 
to the palm trees. Jim at just over 6'1" comes just
 below mid-calf when standing beside her.

As we start off the bridge Jim can hear something weird going on with the car so he rolled down the window and he could hear some hissing.  A minute later we had a flat tire, it could have been a blow-out traveling at high speeds on the Bay Bridge during computer hours or on a sleepy deserted lane on Treasure Island where he could easily change the tire without getting run over. 

It was a miracle, an answer to our earlier prayer for safety, a tender mercy of the Lord.  It was the first thing I thought of and I am so grateful.  It wasn't a big, big thing...but a very tender gift.  We were safe.  It could have happened at any time the previous week when we were traveling much faster on the freeway going back and forth to Oakland, or on the mountains going down to Muir Woods which would have been dangerous.   Or on the bridge which would have been extremely inconvenient and dangerous and would have caused major delays for a ton of people eager to get home.

So what could have been a deleted scene in this lovely day is taking center stage.  I include it  because it increased our testimony of God's awareness of all of us and the prayers we offer each day.  We just don't leave home without it and this is the reason.  God lives and he hears and answers our prayers.

We had a wonderfully bonding time with Jen and Lowell and when all was said and done, we were filled with gratitude for the perfection and protection of the day.  Glad you could come along!

Evernote~Your External Brain

This summer has been a wild and crazy time.  We have been gone more than we have been home.  But now things are settling in a little and I have to tell you I am beginning to love conferences.   The summer held two excellent ones for me.  I attended the 4 day Family History and Genealogy Conference at Brigham Young University in Utah and The Evernote Trunk Conference in San Francisco which was just one very full day.  

There are several things I'd love to share from the 4 day conference at BYU but the syllabus is several hundred pages and waiting patiently on my desk for me to get to it.  If you are interested in genealogy you can see some of the posts on this blog.  {http://alegacythat matters.blogspot.com}  So let me just tell you a little about Evernote today.

Evernote has been around and being developed since 2007-08.  It is a life management system.  It is yet another way to organize and store information.  As we are continually barraged with more and more vital information via the Internet and other places, these types of programs are emerging to help us cope with it and organize it.  Organizing on a new level just makes sense so we can be more productive and efficient. Remember the days when a big calendar would pretty much cover life events for us?  Those days seems to be gone forever.  Remember the Old Franklin Day Planners we lugged around?

 Well Evernote is the new and improved, electronic version and so superior to the old methods, and obsolete ways of keeping on top of our lives.  With the advent of the computer age we soon had the world at our finger tips and the largest library in the world on each and every desktop.  Now we not only have all of that but with Evernote  we can pick and choose to store and massage anything on the Web and everywhere else via scanning.  We can organize them in our own private storage notes and notebooks and they are completely searchable by keywords and tags.

You see an article you want to read later or save?  Evernote.  You can delete anything once you no longer need it.  You want to save photos and videos or music...Evernote.  You want to keep your own notes from a conference or meeting or your study notes for any facet of your life...Evernote.  You want to write or save blog posts, emails or documents...Evernote. You want to plan and organize events, projects, etc...Evernote.  This is just the tip of the iceberg of what Evernote can do for you.  Do you hate sorting and organizing receipts and expenses for business deductions or your personal income taxes?    I  do.  Scan all receipts and categorize them and you have everything you need long before you visit your accountant. The possibilities are endless for how Evernote can help you manage your life.

I personally think it is the best system out there for staying on top of your "beautiful" life.  (Evernote's phase!)  Evernote is for individuals not for big corporations.  It can easily make small business ventures much more efficient with 500 or less employees and they are working on going bigger.  Their goal is 10,000 employees right now.  It has a 100 year business plan.  They plan to be around a long time  and I think they will be.

They call Evernote your external brain!  So there is a tremendous business application to using Evernote but their customers are you and me; just ordinary people that want to be on top of their lives. I think it is great when we just want to de-stress and not have to remember so many things day and night.  I have been using it for a few months and already I feel more relaxed because I can get to what I need in just a few seconds anywhere I am.  Now that I know so much more about it I am really ready to use it more.

For me the practical application for it with genealogy is keeping searchable research notes that don't have to be keyboarded or scanned in from my hand-written notes and they are searchable.  Oh and did I mention you can also share with others and collaborate with them on various things should you wish? That has great family history application.

You can read about Evernote and sign up for free as long as you are inputting less that 60 megabytes or less per month.  If you go over you will want their premiere subscription which is unlimited and has many more features for $5.00 per month.

The program is cloud based like Dropbox or Google Cloud but it has one feature that makes it better.  It is not just a place to store things in a cloud but you can actually create notes for yourself by writing right on the site.  It is compatible with all operating systems which is a big advantage to everyone who uses mobile devices or stationary devices that start with an i.  iPhone, iPod, iMac, MacBook Pro and iPads.  It is compatible with all windows bases computers and all mobile (non-apple) devices as well.  It also is in beta testing for feature phone users which is about 3/4 of the entire world's cell phone users.  (Feature phones are the old Nokias, etc. we use to have or in some cases, still do.)

The other outstanding feature of Evernote to me is you can write your notes on the computer or any of your mobile devices and then they become available to you anywhere when they automatically sync on all your devices.

 So no more notes scribbled in a notebook and never found again without inputting as a document and filing electronically or printing it out and paper filing.  Yay!  I am in love.  This is a solution that I have struggled with for day one in genealogy.  I never could fit my narratives into those tiny little boxes on research logs.  So I used spiral notebooks.  Don't do it for genealogy.  Use Evernote so you can actually find your notes!  Imagine that!  And just in case you have some hand-written notes you want to keep you can just snap a photo with your digital camera or smart phone and save it on Evernote with the Evernote App!  They have even partnered with Moleskine Notebooks and you can draw or write notes or whatever you like, add an identifying sticker that comes with the notebook and Evernote will file it for you!  I am really excited about their product and their company.  The employees just exude happiness, one that cannot be feigned. 

In my opinion, the best way to get started is to do the tutorials on the website @ http://evernote.com or YouTube.  Love to watch someone demo it...I never could follow the geek manuals.  Too dry and confusing and now too heavy!

Well, I hope I have gotten you excited about just thinking about looking at it to see if you could benefit from Evernote.  I know there are lots of places for storing info these days and it can be overkill.  And some of you are just totally fine with your own systems.

What I love about Evernote is it is easy, and effective.  And there is room for all of my interests and activities and goals and the like.  I can see that it is aptly called "an external brain" and I know I need this as my internal brain is pretty much fried these days, just trying to become better at genealogy.  I need all the help I can get!

Won't you just go to evernote.com and see for yourself?  And let me know what you decide!

Thanks!
Bonnie

Three Most Loved Little Words

Owen age 4

This morning I woke up thinking about how people express their love to each other verbally. Three stories were on my mind.

One of them involves our little grandson, Owen. Owen kind of got the short end of the Grandparents' stick when he was an infant and little toddler. He was born just a few months before Hazie. It seems that most of the time we were in Utah during that time was spent in the hospital with Hazie or taking care of Jen and Lowell's kids so they could be with her.

In short, Owen's bonding time with his grandparents was compromised by crisis intervention at his cousins' house. Hazel spent nearly 100 days in the hospital her first year of life. So this beautiful little boy did not see us as much as he would have under normal circumstances. It bothered us greatly but just could not be helped. Consequently he took a long time to let us hold him and get close to him. Why should the poor kid, he barely knew us. I didn't blame him and I sure wasn't going to force it.

Well, this year he has made great strides in realizing who we are and interacting with us since he is talking so much more now, etc. While I was in Utah last week he came charging at me on the run like only little boys can, threw his arms around my legs and said, "I love you Gramma!" Those three most loved little words made me feel so happy and relieved that he does indeed love me too! What a sweet little heart print. A Kodak moment...click!
The second story is about a woman we knew that wasn't the best, most loving wife in the world. She was often super critical of her nice husband and demeaning towards him in public. He was most humble and always kind in return, but to no avail. One day without any warning he died. The woman said in her total shock and dismay, "If I could just talk to him one more time!" In that moment I wonder would she had said those three most loved little words "I Love You" that I can only imagine where not part of her everyday conversations with him? Ah, what a great teaching moment and it left a definite heart print...click.

The third story is about an old man we use to know and loved dearly. He decided early in his life that he would never say those three most loved little words to anyone except his bride. The old man never found her. He lived out his life a lonely hermit with only a hand full of friends. Through unusual circumstances we met him. Our family grew to love him so and he loved us like his kids and grandkids, but he never could bring himself to say those three most loved little words to anyone. He died alone, in an unremarkable hospital room some place. That definitely left a sad heart print with me. It was days before his handful of friends, mostly our family, even knew he was dead. Not a happy Kodak moment but, it left a big impression on me....click.

I am a firm believer is loving people and letting them know they are loved. Are you? In our family we share our love verbally every day and so there is no doubt in anyone's mind that they are loved and loveable. To me this is just a basic need we all have. I often wonder why people hold these kinds of positive affirmations back from people they care about and love? I don't buy that repetition diminishes the meaningfulness of it.

Maybe one of the reasons is there are too many definitions of the word love and people are afraid one type of love may be mistaken for another. I don't know?? But to me love is a verb and part of the 'action' of that is verbalizing it. Maybe part of it is people are afraid it won't be reciprocated. That is OK though, really it is. Love is something you give, not just something you get.

Anyway, just some thoughts for today. And by the way, if you are reading this then you are my friend and I love you! In my heart, love is a very big piece of friendship.

Heart Warmer #6 Communication Devices

The old ways are gone!
Whoever thought it would be impossible to find a phone booth?

I love that we live in an age where it is easy to communicate with friends and relatives that live in various areas of the world. Not only that but we can also meet lots of friends that we otherwise would never know. Some of the things I am grateful for are telephones, cell phones, Skype and the ability it gives us to not only talk to but to actually see those we are talking with on it. I do appreciate the fact that we can get news almost instantaneously and be more informed about the world around us.

Don't Leave Home Without It!

Living away from all of our children and grandchildren presents challenges that these things help us overcome. The greatest device in my opinion is the computer. On it we can communicate with anyone we choose and we can do it instantaneously and also at our own convenience. Not only that but we can choose various forms of social media to stay in touch with e-mail, Facebook, blogs so readily available~there are no good excuses to feel or be isolated. It comes as no surprise that my favorite of these is blogging. I think it is the best way available to be a part of each others lives when living apart. I also see it as the best way for extended families to stay close. For me it is the glue that keeps us from drifting apart and has all the potential we need to keep our family strong and closely knit together. And what set of parents doesn't want that for their children or themselves?

Instant photos! Love it!

Blogging is awesome!

Although some of these ways of communicating can be annoying like cell phones as an example, for the most part they have added a great deal to the quality of the life we enjoy. The culture hopefully will eventually catch up with itself and develop some better etiquette surrounding common courtesy when using them. I often wonder how we ever sent our kids out on dates without them, how we ever found each other while lost in a crowd, how we ever got help in an emergency? The advantages far out weigh the disadvantages.

When we were first married and living away from our family it took almost a week to get a handwritten letter, plus money and time to get pictures developed and sent to our parents or siblings. When our adult children served as missionaries in foreign countries it took twice that amount of time. News was always old by the time it arrived. Now we can get in touch instantly for free or with very little cost and it is so wonderful! I love it.

Practically Gone But Never Forgotten!

When I was a child our grandparents lived in North Dakota and we were here in California. Long distance calling was so expensive and we didn't get to talk to them very often. Consequently we didn't know them very well. Now we can pick up the phone and chat with our grandkids whenever we want and vice versa. With some in Italy and some in Utah this is a wonderful blessing. It is the next best thing to being next door! We always want to be with our kids but when that is not possible electronic devices make our lives better, much much better.