"Mom, You've Been Under The Radar Lately!"

For Max

I got this text message from Jennifer this week.  I guess I really have been under the radar this week.  To say the week has been busy and intense would be an understatement.

Some friends of ours lost their baby grandson a week ago this past Friday.  The baby had some congenital  problems that were known before his birth.  After the birth many more were discovered.  His tiny little 4 pound body just could not sustain life here on earth.  Wednesday night they had a visitation at the mortuary and hundreds came to share their love and support for them.  Their children, the parents of the baby, live in our ward.  They have two precious little girls and are the sweetest, most faithful people you'd ever want to meet and love.  Our hearts go out to all of them in a constant stream of love and compassion.  We find joy in knowing they will be with their tiny boy again one day and their faith with get them through this. Yesterday we worked on a dinner we are taking in to them today.

 This whole thing has been on our minds since before Christmas when we first learned of the diagnosed issues.  It was so reminiscent of how it was for us with Hazel.  Our friendship with his grandparents deepened considerably as we shared some things with them about grandparenting and supporting their kids.  We love these friends so much and pray for them daily. 

Moving on from here.....

 

Last Sunday I gave my Family History and Genealogy PowerPoint presentation to the Cambodians church members that live in the Oakland area.  That took weeks of preparation and researching their history and was a very rewarding experience.  They are a beautiful and humble people and were so eager to learn how they might preserve the memories of their ancestors and immediate family members that died at the ruthless hands of the Khmer Rough.  Some of them that escaped Cambodia were there and still working through the tragic loss of their relatives including husbands and fathers.  Jim came with me and my good friend, Carol, did too.  That meant a lot to have them both there with me.  I just love this work I am doing now and find great value and satisfaction in it.

Google Images

Mayflower

Monday I got caught up a little and prepared a lesson on searching Immigration Records and Ships Manifests for work on Tuesday.  I also did some research on my own family and discovered an amazing possibility that I might be a descendant of the Mayflower passenger, and signer of the Mayflower Compact, Stephen Hopkins.  A real, honest to goodness Pilgrim! 

By Wednesday night I had confirmed it.  I am indeed his descendant!  He is my 11th great-grandfather born in 1581-82 in England.  I was crossed-eyed and exhausted but what a discovery.  The fun part is seeing how many others have descended from him that we all know like Sir Issac Newton, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Jane Austin, Agatha Christie, John Steinbeck.  I love that so many of them are writers.  The more important part is that I know the genealogy is correct as hundreds of professional researchers have blazed the trail, as admittance to the Mayflower Society is based on proven genealogy.  Now I am not sure that I will ever join the Mayflower Society but my real prize is knowing my family heritage and being able to pass that along to our children and grandchildren.

Thursday we took a break and went to San Francisco with our sweet young friends, Margo and Tim, to go to the De Young Museum for a special floral event.  That is going to get its own post soon.   

The floral designers did arrangements

 that complimented the art work and they were

Spectacular and Beautiful!

Friday I worked on recording all my new genealogical information and verifying it all again. I also watched the live streaming of the Rootstech  Conference 2013 for a good part of Thursday afternoon, Friday and Saturday morning.  It was phenomenal!  You can catch some reruns here.  http://rootstech.org

And last but not least, 
I worked a little on our trip back east.

  First stop...Charleston, South Carolina!

Pinterest

Well those were the big rocks in my jar and then fill that in with a lot of sand...the little things that keep one busy.  And that is all of why you haven't seen me on here for a week.  I truly have been under the radar.  It has been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs.  But I have to apologize to Jen.  She and her family are coming for Easter and at this point I am so not ready!  So that is next on my agenda.  Well, after Church and a meeting here this afternoon and dropping off the dinner to our sweet friends.

 I hope that you are all doing well and having a great time with all of your fun activities as well.  I'll be back soon with the details on that art show soon.  Five stars for the San Fransisco Fine Arts Museums.  We plan to be lifetime members!  It is the best value around these parts!  Enjoy your week before Easter preparations, both spiritual and temporal.

Love to all,
  ♥   Bonnie

Alleviating Proverty Little by Little...

Remember when Jim went with the BYU Design Team last summer to Peru?  This is what they did.  Both our son, Chris, and Jim are seen in this video.  I am so proud of them.  Here is a little peek into what they were doing.  Here is the link for those of you that follow by subscription.
http://youtu.be/XSx5bQWN-8Q

A Simple Woman's New Year's Daybook

Our lives pass swiftly by! I want to do something to remember

the everyday moments and my thoughts about them.  

That is what this daybook is all about.

Focusing on the little things that become my life.

One week at a time.

Just for today~Tuesday, January 1, 2013

 

Outside my window...It is bright and beautiful out today.  Cold enough for a fury, warm scarf and sweater but not cold enough for a coat when just running in and out to the car and then into a building.  Standing in the sun feels good but you kind of have to keep moving.  The temperature is 39 degrees.  Invigorating.  It is one of those days when it actually can feel colder in the house then outside.  I have been out and about this morning and with friends and now am just settling in to work.  It is 1:00 pm.   13 hours exactly into 2013.  So far, so good.

I am thankful for...my handy, dandy husband who has already fixed up a "Room With A Past" gently used treasure for above our bed and it is now hanging on the wall~looking like it has always been there.  And I am thankful for his desire to make gourmet food all the time, like the marinated red bell peppers I am having for lunch as I write.  They are roasted and then thinly sliced and drenched in sauteed garlic and onions, a little olive oil, salt and a teaspoon of pesto.  Add a couple of thin slices of a crusty baguette and you'd think you've died and gone to heaven.  It is so fresh and healthy.  That is just the tip of the iceberg regarding his goodness.  Yep, today I am thankful for James.

From the learning room...that life is in a state of constant flux.  The things you thought would be a part of your life forever, often aren't.  Recently we were in San Francisco and drove past the large 22 story Standard Oil Building where I use to work.

I remember thinking back in my early 20s how that was so permanent so "forever".  Several years later the Standard Oil Company is now Chevron and they do not employ one single person in San Francisco.  The 8 or 9 high rise buildings they once occupied have all been sold and vacated and now all of those thousands of employees are elsewhere.

No one would have predicted that when I worked there.  Things change, times change and people change.  Being kind of a sentimentalist I don't really like my world rocked like that but it is a fact of life.  Life is change.

I am reading...a lot of old email trying to clean-up and get rid of what no longer seems relevant, interesting or necessary.  I have realized I have to just try to manage and delete every day once I am finished with something and file only the very most useful.  Hummm, annoying.  Everything ultimately boils down to daily maintenance. :-/

From the kitchen...simplifying after a month of over indulgences.  Sound familiar?  Soups, salads, cottage cheese, simple stuff and getting all the junk out of the house.  Cleaning up the environment for more success in getting and staying healthy.

I am missing...boring.  We have been running far too much over the holidays, it was all tremendously fun, but I am now needing respite from all of it.  I wish I could magically make all our Christmas decor jump into its little hiding places until the next go around, but...I guess I'll start working on it slowly over the next several days. 

Some spiritual thoughts I have been having...Most of my spiritual thoughts this week were centered around the talk I was asked to give in church this past Sunday on goals.  Thoughts of how the Lord has given us the prefect prescription for making changes in our lives and how we should use it more.  If you want to read it, go back just one post to the post before this one. Or you can click here!

I am hearing...some faint classical music coming from the docking station in the kitchen which Jim nearly always has on.  I think I need to put something a little more lively on my computer right now.  This is a very weird confession but I only love classical music in the morning but when I need added energy...not so much.  The only other time I love it is when I am feeling sad...it seems to settle my thoughts and bring a bit of calm and sometimes...even cheer.  "What a Wonderful World by Ole Satchmo just came on when I turned on my playlist.  Oh, wow that reminds me of so many things.  One of my friends from the past in particular.  He is gone now but never to be forgotten.  The memory of him is bigger than life.  And this also reminds me of New Orleans...The French Market and the music in the streets and mint juleps (virgin of course.)

One of my guilty pleasures...living in my memories of special days gone by and daydreaming of the future.  Both of those things make the present more pleasant and gives me balance and a sense of the richness of our lives.

Pet Peeves...constant interruptions when I am working.  I get lost in my thoughts and then someone or something jars me into the moment and it is so distracting.  But c'est la vie, n'est pas?

I am going...I am going to grab my fury leopard blanket and get under it for a little riposo.  Be right back!  Ahh, that was nice!

I am quoting...Pinterest:

If I could change one thing it would be...That people would never misunderstand what we feel, our motives, our intentions. 

An enjoyable movie we have watched lately...Les Miserables.  Simply stunning...the very best there is to offer out there.

I am curious about...why a story like Les Miserables that is so founded on Christ's truths, teachings and the principles of the Gospel can be so universally loved in a world that for the most part denies him?  My only answer is that the light of Christ dwells within all of us whether we like it or not.  Denying him cannot negate the veracity of what is.

Plans for the rest of the week...Starting an arduous task of redoing, revising and creating some old and new presentations on Family History and Genealogy.  I have 14 classes to teach in various places scheduled this year so far.  No time to dilly dally now.  I have four of them in January...the first on the 8th.  Yikes!  This week other than a dental appointment tomorrow at 8:00 am (ugh!) that is my priority.  Everything else has to take the back seat for now including putting Christmas away.  The party is o. v. e. r...nose to the grindstone starting tomorrow around 10:00 am.
 

One of my favorite things...pushing myself over the edge with commitments apparently.  I do love a passion for something though...what else gets your blood pumping with a desire to work your tail off?  I have decided my definition of a passion is when you are so engrossed in the doing of something you don't want to stop until you drop.  It just fills you up until you have no room to think of anything else in your life for that little while.  Do you have a passion for something?  I hope so.  It is essential, exhausting, elevating, exhilarating, enabling, efficacious and enlightening.  Whoa, I do like E words evidently. Smiles...

Some photos I am sharing this week...the Christmas season has held some really fun activities for us.  One of them was setting up and decorating for a wedding that was held at our church on the 28th.  We Latter-day Saints are a peculiar lot.  We love to help each other get ready for big events like weddings and we literally save families thousands of dollars by lending a hand.  We decorate whatever venue is selected and in our church one can use our cultural hall and kitchen and all of the tables and chairs, etc free of charge.  Cha Ching...money in the bank for the bride and groom.

Then if friends help with all the other things it is just such a nice thing.  We had tremendous help with our three wedding in four months back in 1997 and Jim and I have been working on weddings for other people ever since.  Pay it forward...that is what we all do.  So we got together with several other friends and set up this gorgeous winter wonderland for this older couple.  The woman had been in our ward and lost her husband to Parkinson's several years ago.  She found a wonderful new man and they married the other day.  She wanted a regular reception like a new bride and that is what she had.

This is my good friend, Lanette, and she is the one who got to go up in the cherry picker and hang the snow flakes on the strings of tiny white lights that had been strung across the cultural hall...aka full size basketball court.  She is fit and strong and the bomb!  She is my Weight Watcher Leader and the most popular one in the whole region, I might add.  I had her do a little commercial for Weight Watchers just for fun!  She is my inspiration!  65 pounds off for six plus years now!  You go, girl! 2013 is the year to succeed!

The 12 rounds were set with pink table clothes and white Poinsettias as you can see.  We decorated the 12 foot tree with lots of gorgeous pink, white and silver ornaments and icicles. Jim and Dave did a large part of that  along with Doug of course.   We did lights and fancy, wired, silver and white ribbon, accented with white snow flakes on 70 feet of live juniper and pine garlands.  They were made by our friend, Darlene.  Lee decorated the large white gazebo with the same type of garlands and lights for the cake table.

When the lights were dimmed it was simply gorgeous.
And the pine garlands smelled heavenly.
It helped create a wedding day for this couple
in their 70s that they will never forget.

My sweet friend, Maureen, was in charge and she is amazing!
She is a professional floral arranger and has done many weddings.
She also worked with me when I had my decorating business.
Her husband Doug and son Jeff helped a lot too.

The workers bees included Michelle and her sons,
 Joseph and Jacob and his friend Brittany, Lee, Dave,
Bob and Shirley,
Jim and me and a few others.

We had a fun time with our friends and got the job done.
We find that that is the fun of doing service for others.
A Win/Win all the way round.
Service= a gift of accomplishment with fun attached.

❤♡♥♡❤♡♥♡❤♡♥s, Bon

Because I Have Been Given Much...

The title of this post is also the title of a hymn. What follows the three dots is "I too must give." This is something I try to remember when I get weary, when I am tired or feeling unappreciated.

In order for someone to have a life blessed with receiving, someone has to give. It follows that if we love someone, we want them to be blessed with the receipt of goodness. We are the instruments the Lord uses to bless others and to answer their prayers. It is a privilege to be one of His instruments, isn't it? I remind myself of that when someone asks me to do something that is inconvenient or that at first I just don't want to do.

In the Church we all have a job or calling. Sometimes you have to wonder why you get called to a particular task, especially if it is outside your comfort zone or your perceived realm of gifts and talents. But you say yes, willingly hopefully, and amazingly you are blessed as the Lord qualified those whom He calls. In the best of all worlds everyone magnifies that calling and does their very best. In reality it is not always so and sometimes the responsibilities left undone by one become the burden of another.

In those times it is easy to become critical, to backbite, to criticize another. This is one of the tools that Satan uses to be divisive and destroy our unity. Satan knows that if we are not one, we are not the Savior's. And oh, how he loves that!! This is when we need to put our concentration back upon our own performance and not judge, as we never know what burdens are already being born by that person.

I know that I can never repay the Savior for His gifts to me or to my family but, I try to look at it this way when I do get tired and frustrated and want to say no when asked to serve others.


He has answered all of our prayers and blessed us so abundantly that I cannot voice our gratitude enough. At every turn we see His blessings played out, day in and day out in our lives. They are there for us all, we just have to see them. Paying attention heightens my awareness and makes me want to serve Him by serving others all the time. And when the request seems unreasonable or too much, I might grumble a little under my breath, but for the most part we don't ever say no. And I hear the hymn in my head and heart..."Because I have been given much, I too must give."

In those times where I feel exhausted, once I have an attitude adjustment I am good to go. I need to just put my shoulder to the wheel and get to work, knowing that my Father in Heaven knows what I need and what another person needs and He wants everyone to be edified through the experience at hand. He wants a win/win for all His children. He is THE perfect parent.

I am grateful everyday for the people I associate with that are such good examples of giving of themselves. They teach me all the time, especially James. People like him don't think about it, or grumble or whine...they just do it.

The secret...they hve made that decision in advance. When someone needs them, they are there. They don't mull it over in their mind every time they are asked to do something...they made that decision a long time ago.

(Decisions in advance=no internal struggle over the issue.)
I truly do admire that so much!



I want to be more like Him someday!

Painting by Liz Lemon Swindle

Doing A Good Turn

Every November for the past 15 years Jim has headed up the Scouting For Food campaign in a large region spanning many Bay Areas cities. This is a major undertaking requiring a lot of coordination with various food banks and getting a commitment from a major trucking company, Con-way Freight. These people donate their trucks, drivers, equipment and time every year. Jim also organizes 17 site managers for the collections sites and 6,000 Boy Scouts in a concerted effort to help the hungry. He begins this effort in September and works on it pretty consistently for over two months. When he was working his employer gave him time off work to fulfill this commitment!

The following is the flyer he created to be sent out to all the councils, units leaders and Scouts and parents that are involved. I thought it was really neat and it made me very proud of the effort he personally makes each year to feed people that need help. I wanted to share some of the fun statistics with you.

Food Bank of CCS 10/02/2011

"In 1988, the Boy Scouts of America launched the national “Good Turn,” known as Scouting for Food.

It was part of a campaign that targeted what the scouts called five “unacceptables” in society: hunger, child abuse, illiteracy, unemployment and drug abuse.

Last year 2010~165,481 lbs.

Best year 2002~ 204,669 lbs

Average over the 14 years ~ 174,669 lbs.

Last 14 years, since 1997 ~ 2,445,366 lbs of food

That would equal=

(12oz) Cans of soup ~ 3,260,288 lbs

· This would stretch from our town to Sacramento..

.to Lake Tahoe...and then 13 miles past Reno, Nevada

· That’s 1,086,829.33 ft or 205.83 miles if laid end to end!

Why did we do this? Because a Scout is Helpful. We help those in need. Because we have Scout Spirit. We live the Scout Law.

Who does this help? Mostly families and children in our Council who are hungry.

• 12.6 million pounds of food distributed in fiscal year 2009 - 2010 -- that is enough food for over10 million meals.

• 132,000 people served each month through direct service ­programs
• And a network of 180 partner agencies.
• 28% are Children

How did we do that? One can at a time...the can YOU picked up last year...the cans you will pick up this year. What you might think is a little effort is really all the effort that is needed...if everyone does a little, together we can do a lot! Nearly 2.5 million lbs. worth of food!

What can you do to make SFF better? Double our numbers by inviting a friend or encouraging that one Scout who is reluctant to go. On Collection Day stay out just one hour longer."

Me again here now...If you see the Boy Scouts help them out by making a contribution. If you are parent of a Scout, please encourage them. If you are leader, please support the boys in this effort, set a good example for them by getting involved yourself. If you do a good turn and they do one, everyone will have more nights of better sleep. Not having people going to bed hungry every night would be a great way to serve the communities where we live. As for me, I do support this effort and I am very proud of my "Boy" Scout!

Today's Heart Warmer!

Just one comment...

Have you thanked God for the pure, clean water you
have at your finger tips today? I hope so! Love, B

Hoppy Easter, Bunny!

Today we had a church activity for Easter. The committee prepared a very nice pancake breakfast and we and all gathered for that and a nice Easter Program. After that all the kids had an opportunity to have their photos taken with the Easter Bunny before the Easter Egg Hunt to be held outside on the grass.

Jim and I did not eat,
but while everyone else was
doing that....
We were doing this........

Now I have been to a lot of pancake breakfasts and
Easter programs in my day but today I learned and did a bunch
of things for the very first time..

For one thing...I never knew I was married to the Easter Bunny but..... apparently, I am! He is quite sneaky when he is out delivering the baskets! I caught him red-handed jumping into the suit. Just like Lois and Super Man, I guess.

I have never helped a grown man
into an Easter Bunny Suit!

I have never been in the men's restroom
during a church activity before!

And I most certainly have never had my picture taken
in one with the Easter Bunny!

Now you know one of the reasons Jim is loved in the church.

He is a man that never says no to any request for service.
I do admire that in him don't you?

It was all worth it to see the smiles on these little faces!

Along with the ones that were not too sure
or were down right terrorized!

These are not them...
They are the ones screaming bloody murder
in the background and no where near
the gianormous rabbit.

Oh, and just for the record, Will, you
are scaring me bad here!

But you're scarin' The Easter Bunny more! LOL!!


Happy Easter from our hutch to yours!

Our Brother's Keeper?

flickr

The following excerpt from an AP article got me thinking....

{KARAKUWA, Japan – There may be no water, no power and no cell phone reception in this tsunami-struck town, but in the school that serves as a shelter, there are sizzling pans of fat, pink shrimp.

Relief supplies have only trickled into the long strip of northeast Japan demolished by a powerful earthquake and the wave it unleashed a week ago, leaving affected communities to fend for themselves.

Many have risen to the occasion.

No water for the toilets? No problem. Students in Karakuwa bring buckets of water from the school swimming pool to give survivors the dignity of a proper flush. In the kitchen, a giant rice cooker given to the school by a resident sits on a table, steam rising from the heaping mounds of rice inside.

"For a long time, in the countryside, even if you didn't have enough for yourself, you shared with others," said Noriko Sasaki, 63, as she sat on the ground outside another relief center in the town. "That is our culture. Even if they're not relatives, we feel as if they're sisters and brothers."}

A Sense of Community...that is the part that got me thinking along with the fact that people are not complaining, they are not angry or sitting helplessly by and waiting and excepting someone else to fix everything. I also loved the quoted woman who said, For a long time, in the countryside, even if you didn't have enough for yourself, you shared with others... that is our culture. Even if they are not relatives, we feel as if they're our sisters and brothers." I think this is something learned over centuries, not just something that happened spontaneously this week.

I have so much respect for that, don't you? God Bless America, is all I can say. All I have been able to think about since I read this is the contrast between Japan's response and the footage of the looting, etc. in New Orleans after Katrina. I had the image of that one young guy etched in my mind...pushing a shopping cart full of new VCR's in boxes stolen from a store front. My thought was how odd...who even uses a VCR anymore? And why do you think they are yours for the taking? And who even has electricity here for that matter? Somehow he thought he has something to gain in someone else's misfortune.

I also remember all the blaming that went on, How it must be Bush's fault, since when do Presidents cause hurricanes I wondered? And who can forget the demands for everything including their rights for FEMA trailers, etc. The last thing people need in natural disasters like this, is humans making it worse.

And I have thought about how in our church we store food for emergencies. The thoughts about how that food and those supplies would be used is a curious one in this country. People have said to people that do prepare, "How will you protect your storage in the event of an emergency?

Do you know what I think would happen in a case like that? I think that the food and supplies would be taken to a central area and used to feed the"5,000." And it would not be kept just for "our own." It would be shared in the community because we too think of others, relatives or not, as our brothers and sisters.

Of course, it is not a perfect world and not everyone would want to do this, but I think the majority would, under local leadership requests. This is a hard concept in America, where the 'me first attitude' is prevalent. But I think we would be asked to do it and would, in most cases. Coming together and sharing the supplies would ease the burden of all and I think it would also increase the blessings to all.

Surrendering these stores for the good of all, would also eliminate or greatly lessen our chances of being harmed while someone took it away from us by force or at gunpoint. We all know they could and probably would! Some would think it foolish to give it willing to the cause, but I think it is living the higher law. It is what the Savior would have us do. It is what He would do.

And that is why my respect was heightened today for the people of Japan and why I pray we will all take the lesson to heart and learn from it. He that hath eyes to see, let him see, etc.... Any other way would not bring any lasting comfort or peace to anyone. In the end doing what is right always brings blessings back to the place or people where that good originated.

Their Helping Hands

I know we are in the Christmas Season now but I just need to do a little flashback to last month...Sometimes as a parent your heart is just bursting to share something special that your kids have done. This post was on Laura's blog on Thanksgiving and I just wanted to share it. That's what I love about blogging~you can do whatever you want to and this is one of those times I need to tell you about something wonderful our Laura and her family did.

She writes:

"We decided to spend Thanksgiving this year serving Thanksgiving Dinner to the community through the local Methodist church. It was awesome!

They asked us to show up at 11 am and when we did they put us right to work. Spencer and I worked in the kitchen making casseroles while Ross and Robert worked in the main room preparing tables and gift bags. We worked steadily until 1 pm when the doors were opened and people started to arrive. Spencer and I served food from the main serving line and Robert and Ross served desserts. As the afternoon rolled on and things began to wind down, I joined Robert at the dessert table. And,we all had a chance to do LOTS of dishes (as the food was all served on glass dishes and eaten with real silverware). All in all it was a great experience- one I hope we can continue to do in the future.

Our time serving today reminded me of some truths that I hope to teach my kids not just on the special days in life but in the way we live each day of our life. Here are some of the things I learned and relearned today.

1) In giving to others, we receive. In lifting others, we are lifted up. I don't know how or why this is true. I just know that it is. When I give to others I always feel better- ALWAYS!

2) When people work together toward a common goal they can accomplish great things. There were times today when I felt bad because I didn't feel like I was doing much. But today, I was a part of something bigger than myself and that is a great feeling. We did something remarkable, we gave food and companionship and joy to 100 people that would have otherwise spent the day alone. I could not have done that alone, none of us could have but together we did. Opportunities like these are humbling and empowering at the same time.

3) When we serve others our love for God grows. I just don't think it is possible to show love for, give service to, or truly lift another persons heart without feeling a closeness to God. It is a testimony to me that we are His hands here on earth and that He is a real part of the service we give.

4) Having a job to do (a real job with real significance) builds confidence and brings joy. I have been trying to teach my kids to love work for as long as I can remember and to be perfectly honest, it just hasn't been working. But I learned something today that I hope will help as I try to teach them in the future. Working with purpose, working on something significant, working for something with real value is what makes working worthwhile and joyful. I saw my kids enjoy work today for the first time because they knew that what they were doing was important. They were given real jobs with real significant and they found joy in it! Wow, what a discovery!

5) We have been so blessed. Living in Naples was a very eye-opening, very humbling experience for me. I promised myself, as I watch the people I grew to love there struggle, that I would never forget the blessings I have been given. We have made significant changes in our life style this year as a result of the things that we saw and the experiences we had in Italy all with the hope of remembering our blessings and living in thanksgiving daily. I felt very humbled today as I watched how something as simple as a warm meal brought joy to the lives of others. A warm meal- that was all it took to brighten someones day. I eat three warm meals a day and never think twice about it. It made me wonder what other blessings have I been given that fail to recognize regularly? President Monson said, an attitude of gratitude must be cultivated. I love that word and hope that with significant, conscious effort on my part my attitude of gratitude will grow!"

The kids ate their own Thanksgiving Turkey
{that turned out to be a chicken}
on Friday
but that is a story for another day!

Anyway, I just love that they did this and I truly am so proud of their loving service to those in need. Talk about cultivating an attitude of gratitude and living in Thanksgiving daily!

Because I Have Been Given Much...

The title of this post is also the title of a hymn. What follows the three dots is "I too must give." This is something I try to remember when I get weary, when I am tired or feeling unappreciated.

In order for someone to have a life blessed with receiving, someone has to give. It follows that if we love someone, we want them to be blessed with the receipt of goodness. We are the instruments the Lord uses to bless others and to answer their prayers. It is a privilege to be one of His instruments, isn't it? I remind myself of that when someone asks me to do something that is inconvenient or that at first I just don't want to do.

In the Church we all have a job or calling. Sometimes you have to wonder why you get called to a particular task, especially if it is outside your comfort zone or your perceived realm of gifts and talents. But you say yes, willingly hopefully, and amazingly you are blessed as the Lord qualified those whom He calls. In the best of all worlds everyone magnifies that calling and does their very best. In reality it is not always so and sometimes the responsibilities left undone by one become the burden of another.

In those times it is easy to become critical, to backbite, to criticize another. This is one of the tools that Satan uses to be divisive and destroy our unity. Satan knows that if we are not one, we are not the Savior's. And oh, how he loves that!! This is when we need to put our concentration back upon our own performance and not judge, as we never know what burdens are already being born by that person.

I know that I can never repay the Savior for His gifts to me or to my family but, I try to look at it this way when I do get tired and frustrated and want to say no when asked to serve others.


He has answered all of our prayers and blessed us so abundantly that I cannot voice our gratitude enough. At every turn we see His blessings played out, day in and day out in our lives. They are there for us all, we just have to see them. Paying attention heightens my awareness and makes me want to serve Him by serving others all the time. And when the request seems unreasonable or too much, I might grumble a little under my breath, but for the most part we don't ever say no. And I hear the hymn in my head and heart..."Because I have been given much, I too must give."

In those times where I feel exhausted, once I have an attitude adjustment I am good to go. I need to just put my shoulder to the wheel and get to work, knowing that my Father in Heaven knows what I need and what another person needs and He wants everyone to be edified through the experience at hand. He wants a win/win for all His children. He is THE perfect parent.

I am grateful everyday for the people I associate with that are such good examples of giving of themselves. They teach me all the time. Especially, Jim, he is truly one of a kind. He doesn't think about it, or grumble or whine...he just does it.

His secret...he has made that decision in advance. When someone needs him, he's there. He doesn't mull it over in his mind every time he is asked to do something...he made that decision a long time ago.
(Decisions in advance=no internal struggle over the issue.)

I truly do admire that!I want to be more like Him someday!

Painting by Liz Lemon Swindle

His Hands

Last Sunday members of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints met around the world via satellite broadcast for our Semi-Annual General Conference. Several sessions of conference include talks from our church leaders that are incredibly inspiring and uplifting. One such talk, by President Dieter Uchtdorf I am quoting belong.

"A story is told that during the bombing of a city in World War II, a large statue of Jesus Christ was severely damaged. When the townspeople found the statue among the rubble, they mourned because it had been a beloved symbol of their faith and of God’s presence in their lives.

Experts were able to repair most of the statue, but its hands had been damaged so severely that they could not be restored. Some suggested that they hire a sculptor to make new hands, but others wanted to leave it as it was—a permanent reminder of the tragedy of war. Ultimately, the statue remained without hands. However, the people of the city added on the base of the statue of Jesus Christ a sign with these words: “You Are My Hands.”

I just love this story and it has really stuck with me this week. I started to think about how many times each day we actually do serve others by the small acts of kindness and good deeds we all do. I have heard people say sometimes that they feel guilty because they don't serve others very often. I think sometimes we put too many labels on what we think service really is. It is not just the big things like helping with a big project or bringing in meals for someone that has been ill but I believe service is everything that helps to uplift and edify another person.

Service comes in all colors, shapes and sizes, all equally pleasing to God!

One of my good friends is the mother of five and the grandmother to many and feels she doesn't serve others that much. Are you kidding me? She is constantly doing for one of them. When you have 20 something family member living nearby it is OK if you are not doing a lot of big service outside the family. There are only so many hours in the day! Charity and service really do begin at home...ask any mother or father...!

Some people just serve constantly with their kind words, their affirmations of another's worth and their love. They show love and compassion and understanding that makes a big difference for others. They listen, they embrace, they pay attention, they care. These attributes are service in every sense of the word. It is not just bringing a casserole to someone~think outside the box.

So today I was thinking we could all just pay attention to how much service we give and receive. I think we will all be pleasantly surprised. I believe that all good people act as His Hands, day in and day out, without even realizing they are doing it sometimes. When you are filled with a testimony of Christ~you just do it! You do it because that is just who you become when you choose to follow Him. I am grateful to each and every one of you for the service you give to me and my family all the time!

The Weaver and His Tapistry

Yesterday was the most beautiful spring day. As we listened to the little birds chirping and enjoyed flowers outside, our thoughts were turned to a lady in our church who died last Sunday. Jim and I were going to be helping in the kitchen to serve lunch to the family members who had traveled from as far away as France to come to her service.

Kathy was 61 and had been bedridden with MS for a little over 30 years. She worked in a nursing home years ago and fell in love with a man named John who was a quadriplegic due to a spinal cord injury. She took him home and cared for him after they were married. They eventually had three children.

When Kathy's youngest was around 18 months old, Kathy was diagnosed with MS. Within a few years she could no longer take care of her children. Her brother who lived in Alaska adopted their three kids. They grew up hundreds of miles away from their parents and saw them rarely. She and her husband shared a room at the convalescent home until his death. For the last 20 years she has lived alone in a bed since her husband died, basically just waiting to be taken home.
I met Kathy about 7 years ago when she moved into our town. She was angry for having had to move due to finances, as she had left a wonderful ward full of people that knew her and John and their kids. They had loved her and cared for her. It was my job to try to help that happen in her new church family. Kathy lived a miserable existence, one most of us cannot even imagine. She could not move anything but her head from side to side. She could not wipe away her own tears, feed herself, hold a book, dial a phone number...all she could do was breathe and talk.

I lost a lot of sleep over Kathy. My own mother was ill at the time and in a different convalescent home, and I just didn't have a clue how to help Kathy. She missed her friends so desperately and she didn't know me at all. We were both struggling. Anything that I had ever known to comfort someone did not work with Kathy. I spent hours just wiping away her tears. I organized visits from others, and slowly the service and love grew for her and she began to allow others in. I have never felt so inadequate in my entire life to help another person.

Her faith in the Lord was strong but she had questions no one could answer...a lot a 'whys' I sure didn't have adequate answers for. You could not just chime in with something trite when she asked you why this happened to her, her kids, etc. We shared a lot of very silent moments together. I thought about her constantly wondering how I could help. Finally the Lord answered my prayers in this way. "Bonnie, you cannot fix it, just love her."
So I did...and I stopped worrying about what to say and do and just loved her. I bought her a book from one of her favorite, Christian authors, Neal A. Maxwell. I asked various ward members to read to her and she loved that. Jim thought maybe she would like to be a visiting teacher so she could serve too. We got that going. People started having her over every Sunday on a rotation basis and she started to feel a part of our ward... finally. Every week that she was able, she got a ride to church. Kathy didn't own much but she did have her own van with a lift for her wheelchair. Many people learned to operate it and get her out of the home as much as possible. They were amazing! I had my own mom to care for so I had to leave a lot of it to everyone else.

When someone would die, Kathy would always cry. Tears for them and tears for herself. She longed to be released from the body that held her captive. She would say, "When I die...dance for me!" A lot of people have been dancing for Kathy lately.

Yesterday was a beautiful celebration of her courage and fortitude as she dealt as best she could with her terrible circumstances. Kathy taught everyone well. She taught us to endure to the end no matter what, she taught us not to complain and to be thankful. She taught everyone that knew her how to minimize the whining about their own small troubles. Kathy was amazing. Kathy was real, she didn't try to hide her pain and frustration, her life was unbearably hard. She shared that. Others were blessed. Kathy will be missed and never ever forgotten.

Through a mutual friend, Elder Maxwell was made aware of Kathy's situation and and he wrote her a letter that included this. I thought it was beautiful and was happy we got a copy of it in church today. I am sure we can all find application in our own lives someplace.

"My life is but a weaving between my God and me,
I do not choose the colors, He worketh steadily.
Ofttimes He weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride,
Forget He see the upper, and I the underside.

Not till the loom is silent, and shuttles cease to fly,
Will God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful in the skillful Weaver's hand
As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned."


Kathy on the left with our good friend, Lanette.
May She Rest In Peace... while moving around!