When Little Things Mean A Lot!

For several years I have been writing posts about things I love and that I am grateful for in my life. Many of them are the big things in life, the gospel of Jesus Christ, our family, our friends, our health, having enough of what is needed, etc.  But many things on my lists are the little things.  The little things that add the nicities of life in small measure.   The ones that synergistically create a larger, more wonderful and abundant life.

As an example, look at the photo above.  I was browsing through my downloads in my electronic files and ran across this gorgeous photo of the sea.   I don't know where it came from  or who took this photo but there it was.  Just breathtaking!  As I clicked on that link I felt grateful for it, it lifted me up and brought me joy.  Part of being grateful in the small things is recognizing them and paying attention to our surroundings.  Part of being grateful is being able to relate something like this gorgeous photo to past memories or future dreams.  And then when we experience something like what I did out of the blue, we take that moment to appreciate it.  To see the beauty in it and to be grateful.    Gratitude is often found in the details of our lives.

So here are a few of the little things I love:

Texting and emails to and from people I care about very much.

Christmas lights when you first plug them in and rediscover the magic in them.

Hearing the rain hit the windows and trickle down while under the covers~all warm and cozy.

Working and playing with Jim.  We had a fun time setting up our Christmas tree last night.

The feeling of pushing through something difficult and coming through it!

I like reading our Guest Book, kept in our Guest Room and remembering the great times we've had.

Lunch out with friends.  I love being able to talk with them and just enjoying each other's company without an agenda or a schedule!  It is so nice.

Thinking about the lyrics of our hymns as we sing them on Sundays.  They are beautiful poems really.  Psalms.

Putting the last of the clean fresh laundry away.  Such a great feeling.

Reading through my blogs and remembering what a beautiful, full and blessed life we lead.

Being grateful, in general, because you can not be unhappy and grateful at the same time.  They are opposites.

Knowing that Thanksgiving Day is every day, not just a day in November when we eat turkey and think about pilgrims. Although that is great too!

How about you?  What are some of your favorite little things that mean a lot to you?

In the Midst Of An Ongoing Miracle

Hazel sitting up nice and tall.
This picture was taken 8 days post op.  

Some of you readers have known of Hazel's story since before she was born.  For those of you that are new you can read it here if so inclined.  Hazel's Story    The post from 2009 has some cute photos of her when she was very little.

Nine days ago she had the first of her surgeries to improve her posture due to severe curvature of the spine caused by Spina Bifada.  The surgery is called a VEPTR surgery (Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Rib).  This device is used over time to separate and lift her ribs and straighten her up.  It is in some ways comparable to Orthodontics.  In six months she will have another surgery to crank her ribs open a little more.  This will be repeated as necessary every six months until the desired effect is achieved and she no longer has undue pressure on her right lung.  From the days I worked in surgery I know that titanium is the only metal that does not cause scar tissue to form at the connection between the metal and the bone.  Thus it has the least likely chance of rejection.  It is a rare surgery but the hospital has a surgeon who specializes in the procedure.  That in itself is a miracle.  It helps to live within a few minutes now of the one of the best Children's Hospitals in the nation.

This is an x-ray of another patient who has had this procedure done.

This was a very serious and invasive surgery for a little girl weighing 32 pounds as of today. She's just barely seven years old.  Jen said they haven't actually measured her yet but we know she's a couple of inches taller already.  She was around 33 inches tall before the surgery last week. Maybe she'll hit three feet!

When her sisters and Grampa got to visit on day three,  

she was one happy little girl. 

Grampa snapped this picture.

Of course her Mom or Dad was with her all the time both day and night. Grampa was going to take a night shift on Friday but she got to come home that afternoon.   So he was spared from "sleeping" on those unlovely hospital chairs that supposedly convert into a "bed".  Oh, Jim just corrected that for me.  They actually had a better bed than the last time I was there.  Still it is nearly impossible to sleep with all the commotion.

This is day 4 and Hazel is beginning to look like herself again.  They let the kids order their own meals.  She got to call the kitchen and tell them what she wanted for breakfast.  Her choice was bacon and...not eggs or oatmeal, but mac and cheese!  She thought that was pretty fantastic.  Grampa was there that morning and said,  "Hazel don't you want something that is more like a breakfast food?" 

"OK Grampa I'll order an apple then too!"  I've never seen Hazel eat any fruit but I'm pretty sure I do know who did eat it.  Grrrraaammppa?

Julia and Hazie

Hazie was quite perplexed by waking up with a newly reconstructed body.  The first few days she did not want to move and getting her to want to get in the wheelchair wasn't easy.  We all felt like the changes were much more drastic than expected.  No one felt prepared and so days of adjusting and learning began on day two.  Learning how to hold her and even pick her up were needed.  Grampa said she felt heavier and with a different center of gravity and balance.  Coupling that with medications, etc. one might only imagine how she felt.

I was so happy that Grampa was there to help them with all the extra work and cooking and transporting of the other girls and doing the laundry.  I stayed here and fulfilled our duties and responsibilities and helped with a wedding that I had happily committed to long ago.  Dividing and conquering sometimes is needed to get it all done.  I'm glad he is such a great helper to them.  As for me if I had been there, I'd be the hugger and chatter with the girls.  The white tornado leaves very little room in his wake for an assistant.  He can run circles around most people.  He runs a pretty tight ship but he does allow Chloe to help him cook!  Now that is another sweet story for another day.

So yesterday Hazie had her first outing with Mom and things started to begin to look a little more like normal for them.  Her poor Mommy had a five day migraine almost immediately following the surgery.  There had to be so much stress and concern over this whole thing for her as one might imagine.  Thank heavens everything is going better now.  Slowly but surely the new things will become the new normal. 

Here at the park Hazel wanted to swing but it was too soon.  So her little doll, Ruby, is going for a ride.  Hazel is learning for the first time that she can use both her arms together more without tipping over or having to use her right arm for support while sitting up.  Miracle!

I like this quote but it doesn't fit Hazel exactly.  She is the farthest things from an ordinary individual I've ever known.  She is angelic, happy, determined and adaptable and full of love.  She loves her life and everyone she meets.  She does find strength to persevere and endure and progress in spite of overwhelming obstacles and she is a teacher to us all.  She is adored by all of us in our family. Having her as our beautiful granddaughter does, indeed, place us squarely in the midst of an ongoing miracle.  Thanksgiving is everyday for us!  

By The Grace of God...

I never really thought in my ordinary life, I would have had an Oprah worthy story to tell.  But I do, and I am...six months after it happened I am ready to share it.  This story is sacred to me and so close to my heart, that I just didn't ever find the exact right time until now.  Today we are celebrating a very special date, time, place and circumstance in our family.  June 23, 1945.

This is a World War II story.  A time when things were so uncertain and lives were put on hold to put up a good fight for freedom.  The young lives of my parents and aunts and uncles were completely fraught with upheaval and distress.  Young people married in haste and hurried off to war.   Often both women and men not going to war, changed their plans for college and instead worked long hours in jobs to support the war effort.

Normalcy did not exist for anyone and especially for newlyweds.  It was not easy.  You were never told where or when your spouse was going.  It was not easy knowing if you'd ever see your husband or wife again, if they would live or die or what the next day would bring. With little contact other than censored letters they knew very little. The mail did not come with any predictable regularity. Often it was delivered in bundles in big piles of 20 or more letters. Once they did arrive they knew virtually nothing still...between the big sections cut out, deemed unacceptable by the military censors or the lengthy delays.   These were very hard times.  Often the stresses of all of this diminished those young relationships until they completely dissolved in divorce.

That is what happened to my Dad's sister my Aunt Grace.  She was 19 when Pearl Harbor had the horrific surprise attack that destroyed most of our fleet, killing more that 3,000.  The warning from Washington came an hour too late for it to matter.  The next few years she followed her husband from port to port when she would get a sudden call to meet him.  In her own autobiography she said, "Of the 821 day we were married we spent 33 days together and never in the same place for long."

In 1944 she found herself in Sacramento, California working for the war effort there and living with my Mom and two of my Mother's sisters.  Towards the end of 1944, my Aunt Grace was expecting a child.  This was clearly not part of the plan.  For reasons only she and the father of her unborn child understand fully, they did not marry.

She moved away and the baby was put up for adoption.  None of the other living relatives ever breathed a word about this and to this day we do not know if they even knew.  If any did, I suspect my mother did.  During the war everyone was scattered all over, Grace's mother lived half a country away, her brother was in the Pacific someplace.  How would it help to tell them one wonders?  What could they do but worry?

Gracie went to live with a family in Chico.  There she gave birth to her tiny son and left him with the family whom she believed would take the best care of him.  As well as I have known her all my life, I know this could not have been easy for her.  On his birth certificate she named him James but he grew up in a loving home and was named William. He did not know he was adopted nor did his only sister.

When Williams mother died his father, William Sr., told both William and his sister that they had been adopted.  At the time William was in his 30s.  Although his sister did not have an overwhelming desire to seek her birth mother, William, was driven to make that discovery and connection.

 For 35 years he searched and at one point he discovered that his mother had given a false name on his birth certificate but she had been born on 17th of June 1922 in a little town in North Dakota. When William searched those birth records for that area, there were some baby girls who had been born that day, in that place, but none with the name on his birth and adoption papers.  He was stumped by that.   But each year since 1967 he had thought of his birth mother on the 17th of June and thanked God for the woman who gave him life.  He also discovered that the people that processed the vital records had noted that they felt the mother had falsified the information at the time of his birth.

Fast forward now to the last few years.  In William and Rita's church they have a good friend named, Nancy, that does a lot of genealogical research.  Upon hearing his story she took an active interest in his case and started to help him.  They were coming up with so many roadblocks because they really did not know his birth mother's name.  Since I do a lot of genealogical research myself this story is all the more magnificent to me.

She convinced William to have some DNA tests run after a class she had taken about how much that can help you connect to your ancestors' surnames.  Maybe going through the paternal line would yield a chance to find her.  William got the test and Nancy was right!  27 possible matches or connections.  William so lovingly refers to Nancy as his Search Angel, and for good reason.

They started to analyze the results and to pick which Hallsted (along with some other surnames with matches) for who would be a likely candidate.  They tried to eliminate some that were perhaps too old but decided to go with all the males residing in California at that time.  Lots of time and effort went into all of this.  Nancy also began her search online for the surname Hallsted and a few others.  One night she was Googling the name and she ran across a blog.

 My blog! This very blog!  I have written well over 2,000 blog posts since the end of 2007.  Sometime I would get discouraged and say, why do I do this?  Is anyone even reading it?   Well, on December 19, 2013 that question was answered in full.   Oddly, I had just asked my husband, Jim, those very questions the night before.

In 2008 I had gone to my Aunt Grace's funeral with my brother, Steve, and had taken lots of photos of the church where the funeral was held, and at the burial and I retold the story of the three days we spent with our cousins.  That time for reasons unknown to me then, I even included the obituary word for word on the blog post. I added several pictures of my beloved aunt both as a young woman and before she died.  There were also several photos of my cousins.

Nancy was overjoyed because she had been to Carl Hallsted's grave via Find a Grave online and had seen that he was buried beside a woman name Grace and they shared a common headstone.  But the name Grace had never been a part of their research until then.  It was not until she read the obituary and saw Grace's birthdate that she knew she had found William's mother AND his father, AND his five full siblings!  Nancy called William but they were not home.  She left a message for him to call and read my blog posts.  He has related to me that he felt very emotional and overjoyed during those moments after the discovery that was so much more than he had dreamed or hoped for all these years.

 Now I have no idea how William must have felt but I can pretty much relate to how Nancy must feel.  This work of connecting families on pedigree charts and family group sheets that are our ancestors is pretty exciting, but to actually unite an entire living family, now that is indeed something else! A once in a life time story.  A human interest story that makes total strangers weep because they feel something special and their heart is touched by stories like this. We all love a  little good news because it lifts us.   Just the imagining of it is a thrill.

After the elation he felt, William had the task of wondering how to contact his siblings and tell them his story.  There must have been much trepidation not knowing how they would react.  He compiled a letter with his story, and some pictures of himself as he was growing up as well as how he looks now.  Each of my cousins received their letter on December 18th in the evening.

At 6:00 am the next morning our phone rang.  It was my cousin, Chuck, the first born, or so I thought.  The call gave me quite a scare at first until I realized everyone was quite well and then he told me what had happened.  He was absolutely thrilled and sounded like he was five feet off the ground.  Each and every one of my beautiful cousins felt exactly the same way.  What a Christmas gift!

One look at William and we all knew his story was true.  He looks like my Aunt Grace, and all his brothers, and MY Dad.  I would have given anything to see each one of them as they first discovered each other's pictures. Most of all I would have loved seeing William's face when he saw his mother.  It wasn't long before this picture below was sent to me.  I love it.  Someone had photo shopped William into this picture of Grace with her other five children on the beach.  He is the one in the Hawaiian shirt~right in the middle where a place seemed to have been purposely left for him.

David, Grace, Jake, William, Chuck, Jan and Judy!

The real reunion of the sibling occurred in early January of this year.  With their spouses and each other they spent four days, hugging and talking and sharing and loving each other.  They have a life time of catching up to do and they are enjoying every minute of it.  These are six of the most important people in my life.  I love each and every one of these cousins with all my heart.  In each of them I see my beautiful Auntie Grace, my Grandmother, my Dad.  Along with our DNA we share a rich heritage.

 We hope to meet William and his wife in person sometime this year.  People wonder why I love family history and genealogy so much.  Maybe now they will understand a little better.  Next to God there is no one more important in our lives than our family.  Each person is like a special petal on our own person flower.  Each one adds to our lives and enriches us in ways that only they can. These are my people just as your family members are yours.  They contribute to who I am and who I will eventually become.  When they are happy~I am happy too.  I surely did learn that lesson this year.  They multiply my joys and divide my sorrows.  This story is more than an Oprah story by far...this is nothing short of a divinely inspired, modern day miracle and I am so grateful for it in my life.

Grace

Carl and Grace

Grandma and Grampa Yeasley 
With Grace in Sacramento 1946

The joyous reunion of all the siblings
January, 2014

The Profiles of Four Brothers!

Our Beloved Grace in her last years!

Today, as I said is my new cousin's birthday.  The first one we have been able to celebrate with him.  Happy Birthday, dear William, we love you.  We are so thrilled to have been united with you in this life.  Finally, a wonderful gift of Grace for all to share.  May this be your best birthday ever!

Watching for the Miracles

I believe that one of the ways to increase our faith is to watch for the miracles in our life.  I also think it is one of the best ways to teach our children and grandchildren about faith.  Their prayers and then the miracles that follow need to be pointed out to them so they realize there are no coincidences where miracles are concerned.  Our Heavenly Father and Savior love us individually and are actively present in our lives.

Miracles happen everyday and often they go unnoticed without the proper amount of gratitude attached to them.  Today I woke up feeling positively wonderfully well!  That is a miracle and I am thankful for it.  Since the week after we got home from our nearly five week long trip to the east coast I have been having some health issues involving a medication I had been taking for a couple of decades.  Out of the blue I had an allergic reaction that was pretty scary with quite a bit of facial swelling going into my throat.  The doctors were confounded by it.  The first miracle was I have a new doctor and she is amazing.  When she was at a loss for what to do as my condition worsened, she consulted a regional allergist.  Her ego did not get in the way of my treatment.  Miracle!

The b/p medication I had been taking was a compound drug and the allergist looked at my chart over the internet and knew immediately I should stop taking that drug after all those years, as allergies can develop at anytime with one of the drugs in it.  Another miracle, someone from several cities away could help me quickly, as each day the situation was worsening and my airway was in danger.  The very next day after I stopped it I saw a huge improvement.  Another miracle.  Time was of the essence at that point.

 Four days later not a trace of the facial/neck swelling remained.  Miracle!  My doctor has put me on a different medication.  I noticed a few days later that I was getting a lot of lower extremity swelling from water retention.

 Long story short the new medication was not working for me.  When I went in my b/p had skyrocketed  to dangerous levels.  It is a miracle that I went in.  Since I have had this new doctor I have been to the doctor more than I have been in years.  She knew exactly what I needed and for two days I have been on some very strong meds. Guess what?  Miracle!

Today I woke up and felt phenomenal for the first time in a long time.  Sometimes you don't know how badly you were feeling until it is over.  B/p is 128/78 this morning.  My head is clear, my vision is crystal clear, headache is gone and swelling in my legs and feet is almost gone and I lost several pounds of water.  Miracle!!   This has not been a pleasant experience but it has nonetheless been a miracle.  I have thought of many aspects of the silver lining in this cloud.

Who knows how long this has been brewing having taken this medication for over 20 years.  The fact that this did not happen on our vacation...simply a miracle!  I cannot tell you how thankful we are to have not had to look for help and hang out in a hotel for days.

The fact that it happened right now when we are home and not traveling was perfect.  I am leaving in a few weeks to go to an important Conference I have been looking forward to for the entire year.  By then I will feel confident that all is under control.  Tender mercy and a miracle.

When you have an experience like this one you begin to appreciate the things you take for granted.  Like medication that helps you, something as simple as having the b/p machine at home and being able to monitor your progress without having to run to the doctor everyday.  No headache.  No swelling.  No fatigue.  Enthusiasm for the new day.  Miracle!   These are all the things that are absent when you are sick and they become all the sweeter when you are well.  That is an amazing blessing.

If we never had the trials how could we appreciate the absence of them?  Our trials help us to know and to see that we are not alone, the Lord is by our side.  We have tremendous support from Him, our families and our friends.  That is a miracle worth noting and praising God for all the time.

I apologize for talking health issues (so like an old person) but I thought it was a good example of how the Lord works in our lives, in miracles in the big and small things all the time.  Each and every single time something like this happens we need to sort it out and realize everyday miracles get us through this life one day at a time.  If we think we are somehow in charge or that these things are a coincidence, we are only kidding ourselves and robbing ourselves of the great joy of our faith in a Father that loves us and cares for each of us. 

I am thankful that I feel better than I have in so long I cannot remember and that I know where that healing and energy and renewal comes from.  I am not feeling old, I just wasn't feeling well over a long time.   66 is not young but it is not old either!  (My new paradigm)  Another Miracle!  So I feel new hope for more health in my future.  That is the biggest miracle of all.

Photos from Pinterest and Google images

Celebrating my miracles today with you my friends, thanksgiving and some beautiful flowers created by God~Major Miracles in and of themselves.

Love to you all....Bonnie

Thankful In All Things

http://youtu.be/yoygmylt2iM

"Thankful"

Somedays we forget
To look around us
Somedays we can't see
The joy that surrounds us
So caught up inside ourselves
We take when we should give.

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be.
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see.
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.

Look beyond ourselves
There's so much sorrow
It's way too late to say
I'll cry tomorrow
Each of us must find our truth
It's so long overdue

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And every day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.

Even with our differences
There is a place we're all connected
Each of us can find each other's light

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though this world needs so much more

There's so much to be thankful for...

My Favorite Things~Version 4.2

Currently my favorite photo from Pinterest.
It is called Falling into Winter

Our gifts can be big and small and we all have thousands of them. I have been working on this list for a few years now and today I am updating it again, the February updates for 2011 are in Red and Purple is used today since I am updating on Thanksgiving Eve. I will probably run out of colors before I run out of things I am grateful for in my life.

I have previously updated my favorite things blog post as follows: My updates in Orange 2010. Green in 2009 and maybe some Blue too. This is such a fun list to make...I hope you have one for the days when you are feeling down, or sad, or bored with a ho-hum life, it is a great pick me up! There is so much to be thankful for and so much to enjoy in this life. You may even find things on here twice! The original one was done around Thanksgiving 2008. I thought it would be fun to add these posts in combination with my on-going list of 1000 Gifts. It is a permanent and on-going list and found at the tool bar just below the header photo on this page.

Thanksgiving *

I know we are all thinking about Thanksgiving and the things we should be grateful for each day. I also know that for many of us, every day is Thanksgiving Day as we bow our heads and thank the Lord for his abundant blessings in our lives.

Finding Joy in the Big and Little Things of life

I am grateful for Friends that give a hoot about my favorite things in the first place, my Philanthropist husband Jim, being mom to three and then six, being the Gramma to 10 fabulous kids, Baby Hazel's much improved health, Hazie's first year of riding the bus to school and how much she loves going to school, beautiful interiors, answers to prayers, nicknames, black licorice, Will Smith, flower gardens, Netflix, memories of good days gone by, Hazie's New Scooter, computers (iMac in particular), Lowell, the iMac guru, red, uplifting and fun movies, Marie's good news, great books, San Francisco, days alone with Jim-Bob, rings, funny things the kids say, an eternal companion that is just plain wonderful in every way, the best friends, Just A Little Lowder came on the scene, linen spray, Laura's big hair obsession, North & South the mini-series, temple times, tinyurl.com, my iPod and the sweet brother that gave it to me, Camillia Tea Room in Benicia, blogs and bloggers, scrapbooks of old, chemo that actually worked on my beloved brother, thinking about our kids and how much we love them and their families, green; the way God makes it, Hazie's wheelchair all purple and sparkly, dimples, Europe, 7 cents a minute international calls, the families of our children's spouses, Diane Keaton, Il Postino ♥ it, having fancy dinner parties, girl time, Hilary Swank, Miss Vanessa's Fab Blog, bracelets, quiet restaurants, thinking about retirement and the freedoms of it, Farmer's Market, Amazon.com, Billy Joel, Blogging, blogging and more blogging, ethnic foods, Tom & Jean, photography, a great sense of humor, fabulous books, truffles, education, Education Week, art, home accessories, movie tickets, fabulous jewelry, revisiting places with nostalgic past memories, Pinterest.com~ oh yeah, WC III Ward, Meryl Streep (Mamma Mia), seeing friends from the past, Sky Room Memories of lunches with family and good friends, Palm Springs in January, Scottish accents, Opera revisited and refreshing renewed love for it, Jeffery Holland, God's mercy, love & grace, Thrift Store finds, memories of Mississippi before Katrina, no more math classes, salt and vinegar chips, normal body temperatures~no fevers for Hazel in two months now, Washington D.C., eucalyptus trees, pansies, fish; alive and in the pan, digital photos, Curiel lotion, Ann Voskamp's blog, the guys in the white hats, E-anything especially E-hats, Hazie in the pots and pans, creme soda, fried scallops and calamari, birds singing in the morning, frogs croaking at night, Facebook reunions, crickets chirping or whatever they do WHILE they are totally out of sight because they scare me, Room with A Past, Room With A Past with Maureen especially, shade, phone calls just to say hi, passionate causes, voting, laughing 'til tears roll down your face, a good cry, a gift for no particular reason~just because, Richard Gere, smiling when its hard 'til your heart believes it, waxing lyrical (per Jen's request), gifts that are priceless and cannot be purchased, hilarious comedians, Blogging Friends, Johnny Mathias, Uncle Buffalo, K.D. Lang, Nora Jones, Diana Krall, Thai Food. Studying the history of WW2.

Thinking about parents and grandparents, my great brothers and their families, plans to move nearer the kids or not depending on the economy and many other things but staying close regardless, New Orleans (pre-Katrina) in the winter, new friends, leather furniture, deer in the yard if they are not eating our plants, Jim on his Bobcat~cutest thing ever, electronic technology, the smell of steak on the barbie, Gordon B. Hinckley, tax deductions, summer evenings when it cools off, Chanel #5, cyber friends, Blissfully Domestic, summer mornings, Queen Latifah (she is so funny!), fire in the fireplace, fire on the TV on Fireplace The Movie, Letters To Juliet, Autumn/Fall?, teaching, the holidays, oddly enough...flying, our DVD collection, Lee, Barb, my Monday morning group of inspiring friends..past and present, courteous and friendly strangers, watching all the grandkids grow older and mature and develop their characters, Youtube, pictures of Cohen Romney, Robert hugs, designer paint, Pablo, white picket fences, beautiful kitchens and bathrooms, good health, magazines, family history, Google, so many fun days with Jim, shopping with my favorite females, snuggling with the babies, fabulous memories of all European travel, Val Wilcox, Connor's concertos, thinking about and planning actively for our mission for the church, laughing a lot, Mother's Day, cherry pie, Pad Thai, Tom Hanks, North and South, appreciation, my rockin' great time with Barbara on our road trip this summer~never to be forgotten, Louis Armstrong, garlic; on everything that doesn't have sugar, Perkins Cove~ Maine, memories of Chris & Laura in Pops Concerts, Lea Solanga, the Ensign, Old Glory, when your heart is so full that your eyes brim with tears and you wonder why you never a have a Kleenex, rainbows, houses, waterfalls, GPS, cracked crab, Jen's new paper flowers, great singers, New Hampshire foliage, Kevin James in Hitch, porch swings, Norma Bowerbank's pizazz, The fun we had at the General Conference Women's Broadcast this year leading to thoughts of Barbara, Beth, Ilse and how they made me laugh for days afterwards. (My lips are reverently sealed!)

Sunrise, sunset the events and the movies, Michael Ball, Stevie Wonder, Kenny Rankin, Kenny Rogers, Kenny G, Michael Buble, The National Science Foundation, happy endings, Big Band music and other oldies from my parents' era, our cousins, Silpada Jewelry, Bob & Beth, Scott's Restaurant's fried calamari, Christmas in Italy,memories of our good friends gone before us, Chinese Food, Elder Holland, Presidents Uchdorf and Eyring, Rossie's billion kisses, Angel wings and Miracles up close and personal, our cottage, clean sheets, Golden Girls Christmas Luncheon, disappearing into the matinée alone and not telling anyone where I am for a couple of hours, deep gratitude for our son, Robert, serving to guard us all against the terror of our enemies, bleu cheese, car trips with Jim, babies' toes, online shopping, driving right past the place I use to work, that four of our grandkids have blogs, The Gilmore Girls (miss), our good friend and mentor Steve, enjoying the wonders of nature and the beautiful world we live in, shopping in Italy, a full moon in October, Jim's cooking, James Franco movies, hot chocolate on a winter's morn, having a heart full of love for life as it is that is growing daily, Jeff Adams' knowledge of the Gospel, iPhone, ice, texting, Steve Martin, photo editing, air-conditioning, Real Simple, the excitement of falling in love and staying in love, Date Night, reliable cars, Josh Groberg Groban music, mad money, copper, cell phones, e-mail, abc.go.com, the heartfelt "I love yous" from the little ones, pancakes at Cracker Barrel, Olympics, Denzel Washington, the hopeful wisdom that come with maturity, the crow of a rooster in the early morning, The Kindle, Sausalito, gift cards to the movies, Itty Bitty Soap Company, my mercury glass obsession, the smell of pine trees and baking bread and the sea, our first and new waffle iron, Good Ole Days, Billy Crystal, so many British movies, baby's skin, inspiring friends, popcorn popping in the pan and on the apricot trees, no shower curtain or door, being alone, being together, Italian marble, when something I have written touches another's heart and brings tears to both of us, Cabot Cheese, a bright and promising future of service to the Lord.

The aroma turkey baking, a clean house, Matt Damon, anything Christmas, the forest, maple trees and leaves, our newly remodeled and spruced up house, driving through canopied streets, patio umbrellas, homemade ice cream, music, music, music, my Daddy's gentle ways, Patrick Swayze, being happier than I have ever been in my life...everyday, good haircuts, Newport, Rhode Island, manicure and pedicures and a great massage and reflexology, New England beauty, family photos, long time friends, giving gifts and service to my favorite people, Stefano, Judi Dench, our never failing Kim, mom's potato salad, apple pie and her nut bread, iPhone, getting to know Caroline and Faye so much better, Missy's great cooking, Moonlight & Roses, my Dad's garden and his ability to win every game he ever played, Oprah, Paris, Larkrise to Candleford (British TV series) & that I am getting it for Christmas & that sometimes you just have to buy yourself a present and let your hubby give it to you! Win/Win for both. He doesn't have to shop & I get what I want!) memories of my brothers, Brighton, Steve, when Alesha & Raul got married and of Sebastian watching them dance and knowing he belonged to them, War and Remembrance the mini-series, The 2011 Family History and Genealogy Conference, sleeping with our granddaughter Julia Mae, our still new bathroom, concert memories, Muir Woods, black current and licorice sweet treats from Scotland, Concord II Ward, coming to terms with reality, James Taylor, Jen's cupcake obsession, drive-in movies, Newport mansions, one on one with our kids, Ross, Julia and Connor's piano playing, Google Translate, Lowell's Lost and his Mr. Bass Man, Nick and Mara's wedding plans, the way Tony Damiano teaches Sunday School, Yosemite, the sound of a push mower, Pier 1 Imports, the smell of freshly cut grass, Creme Brulee, faux grass, real grass, Restoration Hardware, Rick Steves, The Nut Cracker Ballet in SF, my Mom's unconditional love for me, days with nothing pressing to do, Marie and her Kitchen, chocolate, hyperlinks, Silpada, Brenden Frazier, Judi and Joel reunions, Friendship~Trust~Love, a good storm, bedazzlement, a fullness of joy, fun collections, flash drives, theater, concerts, Yale University campus, musicals, Christmas tree lights, Piper; our Scottish princess, Christmas in Scotland, croutons, cheese fondue, Rouclette, our sons, our daughters, the grandies.

good responsible people, Traci Hartman and her photography, a walk in Golden Gate Park, Mt. Timp, thinking about the blessing of having a husband that can do anything, answered prayers, old things, Piper in heels, new things, Linda Ann, glitter, Connor's vocabulary, double paned vinyl windows, memories of travel to Italy, Jim's tenacity and good work, working with Laura on houses, Lee's new fancy jewels and Dave~servant of the Lord, also Jim, Maureen and Emily, Scotland, my brother Steve's Airport Taxi Service, candle light, Orchard Nursery, Agent Baigent, Zach's charging hugs when we visit, clean windows, good jazz, memories of our 2011 family reunion in Sundance, Utah...the best ever time, the gift of Chloe Jane and her spiciness, Golden Gate Park, Paris, Venice, Orvieto, Florence, birthdays, the delete button, my new Rebecca Stewart, buying new clothes, Disneyland, New England in the fall, getting paid for what I love, When Mandy's Cohen age 3 asked her how babies come out of mommies' tummies and she wasn't answering him plainly enough, he told her to just look it up on the 'puter and read it to him. LOL!!, Robert Mitchum, salads, urns pots and outdoor statuary, road trips with the family, Muir Woods redwoods, the way Spencer could tell you all about the water systems of a city at 2 years old, grandboys holding the Aaronic Priesthood (what?), salsa, Sue Capson's amazing gospel doctrine classes, all things feminine, possibilities, getting a real bargain, Kenny Rankin's music, Google Reader, gel nails, Pavarotti's Caruso~so beautiful, Max Raabe, Aynlsee's beautiful stripped golden and apricot hair and sweet smile, Microfilm readers that work for old newspapers, hydrangeas, Nellie, Sister Susie, Maggie Smith, Day Trips with Jim, grandkids loving their cousins, vests for layering, Wrinkle Releaser for fabrics, Shaun, Root Beer Floats, Julia Roberts, Penfield School, going on Brokers' Tour to see houses others have staged, Tiberon harbor benches, punctuality, Filoli Gardens, writing, Manhatten, watermelon, Weight Watchers new program, the way Jen helped Laura after Katrina, Laura and Brandon's Life, the way Laura re-decorated the faculty lounge at Spencer's elementary school over a three day weekend to surprise the teachers, focusing on our health and seeing results, Verona, artichokes, everything genealogy, sunshine on my shoulders, Owen's sweetness, maple trees, our still new bathroom, garden tomato sandwiches, monochromatic white vintage decor, pandora.com, clean cars, friends that never let you down, Chris' career accomplishments, the quiet and peacefulness of cemeteries, hearing Laura and Ross speak Italian, adding to this list as things pop into my head, the tender heart of Dave Hopkins during Sacrament Meeting, Retirement, Jeffery Dean Morgan, Tasso, HomeGoods, box seats at an opera you have studied and understand before you go, Deanna's Christmas Blog and Old Radio Shows, reflexology, eTools, Christmas stockings, Presepes, garage sales, the love and lessons of Hazel, portable picnic table for gourmet picnics on the go (anywhere, anytime), the Rockies, knowing when enough is enough...well, almost knowing it anyway....! Ah, on second thought, maybe not! Definitely not!

Way more than anyone really wanted to know but great notes for my obit! My posterity may bless me for leaving all this lovely trivia someday. Yours would too.

I have noticed that the more I concentrate on gratitude the more I see. I could have kept going on the purple all day long. Funny how when God asks us to do something like be grateful for His gifts, obedience to that commandment reflects back on us even more blessings. I just had the thought that whenever He offers us a blessing and we step forth to receive it by our actions, it becomes like a covenant...a two way promise of His love. Happy Thanksgiving~ and may your feast be your gratitude.


*As seen in Country Living
and theinspiredroom.net
(2 more of my favorite things)

We Got The Angel, Not the Sword!

We have just learned that Steve has had his PET scan and the results of the chemotherapy.........

CANCER FREE

We have received our miracle and you have been participants! Thank you so very much for your prayers and concern! Your thoughtful communications and your beautiful hearts and prayers of supplication to the Lord, have been affirmed.

I cannot help but think of the story of the 10 Lepers and how only one returned to give thanks. We are collectively that one! We acknowledge God's holy hand in this healing and are so joyful and happy today! A few weeks ago I wrote about adversity and the principle of the angel and the sword.

Here is an excerpt from that post. In Acts 12 we read about James and Peter and their capture after the Savior's crucifixion. We read that James was slain by the sword. When Herod saw that this had pleased the Jews, he had the same plan for Peter whom he had cast into prison. However, because of the fervent prayers of the members of the church, AND because God's plan differed from Herod's, Peter was freed by an angel.

Michael (a man who lost his wife, Laurie, to cancer) pointed out that when adversity comes we all want the angel. We plead for the angel, we may even lead a life worthy of the angel, but sometimes we get the sword. Was James more deserving of death than Peter, no. Was Peter more valued as a disciple, no. Did James want to live less than Peter? Probably not. Were the Saints prayers for Peter any more fervent than Michael's prayers for Laurie? Definitely not!

Were Michael's less fervent than ours for Steve? Not possible. However, for reasons only God knows, Steve as been given lots more time to live his life and for this we are eternally grateful. And this family is very joyous today!

Steve with his wife, Emily, and mother-in-law, Ruthie. His daughter Alesha and son-in-law, Raul, and his two grandchildren, Sebastian and Samantha. Below his son, Nick and his fiance, Mara and little Sebastian.

Sebastian, Steve's little buddy has been quite
worried about his "Bampy" as he calls Steve.
These two have a lot more living to do..together!

Today everyone in this family should have a very grateful heart. Speaking for our house, we truly do! We would never offend God by supposing this came about in any other way but his tender mercies towards my sweet brother, in the granting of this beautiful miracle. We are so grateful that we got the angel when we could have gotten the sword.

"My love for you never ends. If my goodnesses toward you end, I will cease to exist. As long as there is a God in heaven, there is grace on earth and I am a spilling God of the uncontainable, forever-flowing-love-and grace." Ann Voskamp

Weathering The Storm

Our drive yesterday was very long but a good one. We took an alternate route which was longer, but prettier. Instead of highway 80 we took 50. Jim says that Highway 50 is known as the loneliest highway in the world. So you trade driving along side 500 big rigs and a slew of cars for a bit of a country two laner. I am not a fan of the two lane highways but the fact that hardly anyone was out there helped considerably. And we didn't see any trucks until we were about to connect to 80 in Wendover. This is the road we used to take to see my grandparents in North Dakota when we were kids and this road is not that different today.

Since we have retired we have become more of the back roads type of travelers. It is truly fun to get off the beaten path and go through the tiny towns that dot the landscape along the way. Your perspective changes a lot when you are not always racing the clock.

One reason Jim wanted to go on 50 is that his best friend, Dave, grew up in the little mining town of Mc Gill, Nevada. Jim has wanted to see it for many years. We also stopped in a diner for lunch in Eureka. It was an authentic little place that really took us back. The people were so nice. Everyone in the town that we saw had a kind word. Where have all the friendly people gone? Out of the cities it appears.

So our 14 1/2 hour drive was just relaxing and pretty much uneventful...exactly what we all pray for. No hassles, no car problems nice weather, pleasant scenery for Nevada, etc. We spent a good deal of time discussing which classes we will be taking at Education Week at BYU.

As we began to approach the kids' town it started to look very stormy. Hot and rainy is becoming more prevalent here in the summers. As we headed into the storm it became apparent that it was not rain but dust. We were caught in the eye of a big crazy windstorm that was like nothing we had ever seen. It was really scary and the visibility was poor, the dirt flying everywhere, and as the wind increased the debris flying around did too. We saw lots of over turned big orange barrels on the freeway, big orange buckets flying around like badminton birdies, from the construction that is always a part of the scenery in this area. Caution signs were ripped off their poles and became metal missiles flying through the air. And a person lost their entire bumper in the storm and was trying to reattach it on the side of the road. At one point we were driving along the abutment separating the lanes from the construction and all of a sudden a big piece of plywood flew over the abutment and nearly caused my decapitation through the windshield. Jim's quick maneuver saved us. Our prayers were answered for safety as no one was directly beside us at that moment. Everyone was having trouble controlling their cars so we were keeping some distance and driving much slower than usual.

So James was looking for a little adventure, he found it. As quickly as it arose it began to subside just as we were approaching our exit. We have never been so happy to get off the freeway.

Funny how you just never know what a day will bring when you get up in the morning. It is so reassuring to have prayer to give us courage to get out of bed and face what comes, with God on our side. Before you left your room this morning, did you think to pray? And did you remember to give thanks when your prayers were answered?

Ahh, much better! All is well!

I sure hope you have had a wonderful Sabbath Day. We did! Here is a quote from our lesson in Relief Society.

"Blessed is (s)he that can give without remembering
and receive without forgetting."

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

Romper, Bomper Stomper, Boo!

The other day I was thinking about watching TV when I was a little girl. I was five or six when we owned our first TV. Before that we listened to the big console radio in our living room. I know, I sound as old as the Waltons, don't I?

Even after we got the little TV, the radio remained a big source of entertainment and story telling for kids in the early 50s. I remember listening to Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit and I can still remember my mom listening to a soap opera. ( Was it As The World Turns?) I was thinking about how much the media has changed for little kids. It is too bad really. One I was thinking of from the past was Romper Room. Do you remember it?

I sure do. Here is part of what wiki said about it.

"Each program would open with a greeting from the hostess and the Pledge of Allegiance. Then the hostess and her group of children would embark on 30 or 60 minutes of games, exercises, songs and moral lessons, which were regularly accompanied by background music. The young cast was rotated every two months and ranged from four to five years old.

Romper Room tried to teach its young charges to be polite. For instance, the hostesses were always addressed as "Miss." Many of the hostesses had prior experience in working with small children, as many were former kindergarten teachers.

The hostess would also serve milk and cookies to the children, with prayer offered before eating.

A recurring character was Mr. Do-Bee, an over-sized bumblebee who came to teach the children how to be well-behaved; he was noted for always starting his sentence with "Do Bee", as in the imperative "Do be"; for example, "Do Bee good boys and girls for your parents!"

There was also a "Mr. Don't Bee" to show children exactly what they should not do. Do-Bee balloons were also manufactured. Each balloon featured a painted sketch of Do-Bee on it. When the balloons were inflated and then released, they would fly around the room slowly emitting a buzzing sound.

The show used the then-popular Mattel Jack-in-the-box for its opening and closing titles, with its traditional nursery rhyme "Pop Goes the Weasel" theme song.

At the end of each broadcast, the hostess would look through a "magic mirror" – actually an open hoop with a handle, the size and shape of a hand mirror – recite the rhyme, "Romper, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic Mirror, tell me today, have all my friends had fun at play?"

She would then name the children she saw in "televisionland", saying, for example, "I can see Scotty and Kimberly and Julie and Jimmy and Kelly and Ed and Judy" and so on. Kids were encouraged to mail in their names, which would be read on the air – first names only.

This magic mirror thing is the part I remember the best. I was always hoping they would look in there and actually see me. It seemed they never did say my name. I was so surprised when I found this YouTube and it actually has my name mentioned. Who knew? I must have missed that day or something. Figures! It was nice to be remembered by name for regularly stopping in.

The lady below is Miss Barbara from the 80s. The one I remember is Miss Nancy from the 50s.

Along the same vein I would like to look into my magic mirror now and thank all of you who have told me that you enjoy reading my blog. I truly love knowing you are out there and it keeps me motivated to keep on writing to real people instead of feeling I am mumbling to myself in cyberspace. Thank you for your support and encouragement! That you would take the time to stop in here on your busy day, really touches my heart.

I see Mike and Connie, Mrs.Callabash, Lee, Con, Maureen and Lanette. I see Tracey, Nancy, Debbi, Faye and Michelle, and Michelle from way up north, Alan, Margaret from Edinburgh, and Marie. I see Justin, and Steve and Emily, and Marshall and Deanna, Tammy, Sara, and Scott, Loida, Laura, Missy, Jen and Vanessa, Laura and Julie and Tina and Janet, Nellie and Susie and Becky and Shaun, Linnea and Melissa, and Marilyn and Tom, Stephen, and Laura, and Jessica and Sally, and Kim and Chris, and Gary and Traci. There's David and Dave, Christine and Barbara and Mandy and Robin, Jeannette, and Jim and Kristi of Clayton, and Kristi from Brentwood and Christy of SoCal. I see Jennifer and Gail and Bethy and Emily and Beth and Bob and Mary Jane and Read, Lowell and Robert, and Janet and Barbara. I see Regina also known as Gina, Shelli and Helen Jean, Caroline and Nicki and Piper. There's Connor and Julia, Cathy, Cathi, and Kathy, Jane, Spencer, Ross, Chuck and Michelle and Diane. I see Virginia and Linda Ann and Brad. Then there's John and Jennifer, Stephen, Joel, Judi, Carol, Jimmy Ray and Travis. Can't forget Ron and Miss Spencer and Nancy and Deanna or Marianne and my new friend, Delia. If I have accidentally missed you, forgive me! If I don't know you are reading, please do say hi! (Michael Ball, that would be you, you know you check up on your fans!) A special thank you to all who have read our annual Christmas e-card and commented on it and to those of you who take time to comment on my blog...you are dear to my heart. You all are!

I hope YOU are having a special day! (Saying the Pledge and a prayer before cookies and milk helps and Do Bee polite!)

Thank you! ♥ ♥ ♥ Miss Bonnie