Today is a gift

Today has been a lovely Easter Sunday.  Church was nice.  One talk in particular, by our friend Lora Evans (who just got back from serving a mission in the Des Moines Iowa area), was very powerful.  She talked about the Atonement and it was amazing!  I wish I'd recorded and taken notes. 

After church we delivered "Easter dinner to-go" to our friends Howard and Sandi.  Sandi had just had foot surgery, and we were happy to stop by for a few minutes and say hello.  

This weekend we had a family date to see Batman v. Superman--it was a dark movie, but we enjoyed it.  We sure do love our super-hero genre movies!!!

That same day we had a Girls Night-Guys Night, too.  Rhiannon and I joined other ladies at Kristin Hawkins' home to eat and watch the Women's Session of conference.  The boys went out to Classic Burger in Inyokern!

This week Wade has a band concert and Rhiannon has a drumline competition.  We are feeding the sister missionaries on Thursday night, too.  The rest of the week is pretty normal, the usual fun! 

I'm looking forward to General Conference this weekend, too!

A timely kick in the pants

After an AMAZING, best-ever semester teaching the young single adult institute class, I'd been dragging my feet on the upcoming class material.  We just spent 14 weeks covering one of the new core curriculum classes, I'm sure I've mentioned it before, called Jesus Christ and His Everlasting Gospel.  The material for that class was a joy to cover and consistently brought the Spirit into our class each week.  I just loved it!

The next two semesters I'd planned to power through the Old Testament, and I have NOT been excited about it.  The complexity, length, and sometimes weirdness in this book of scripture made me nervous.

But I got some help today.  Before anyone else woke up, I grabbed my scriptures and the institute student manual for the first part of the Old Testament and started to read.  I read some very helpful things in the student manual, and then I opened up my old scriptures.  The first thing I saw was the title page to the Bible:

Here's a plug for marking your scriptures--they will help you one day!  There on that title page, I'd written some tips from an Ensign article back in January 2002, from President Eyring, about how to study and teach from the Old Testament.  I'd forgotten that I'd written that!  I immediately looked up the article, and let me tell you, it was just what I needed to focus and guide my preparation, and, most importantly, change my attitude about it all!

I'm looking forward to a new adventure in institute and hope I'll remember to focus on finding Christ, Jehovah in the Old Testament, and not get caught up in the dramatic stories and unimportant details.  I'm thankful for the word of God in the scriptures that brings comfort, answers to prayer, and helps us come closer to Christ!  

"Write it down."

Last night after family prayer, the kids went down the hallway, Jason went into the office, and I got in bed to read for a while.

Rhiannon and Wade were teasing and giggling with each other, having a good time making a little too much noise.  It made me smile, listening to them.

All of a sudden I thought, "In a couple years it will just be Wade down that hallway."  My heart stopped, imagining the stillness and how different it would be with Rhiannon gone off to college. How lonely it might be for Wade.

Oh my, it was a sad feeling and moment.  I had to close my eyes and breathe it in, just facing it and trying to remember the last time I'd felt like that, which had been back during my senior year of high school when I realized all of my friends were going off in different directions.

Then another thought came to mind: "Write it down."  I fought the prompting for a minute, but then I got up, dusted off my journal and wrote a page about what I was feeling right then, and how grateful I was to be a mother and have Rhiannon and Wade in our family.

It was a small, important moment for me.

Here were a couple other important things from today:

"I'm thankful for Jason. Back in 1997 we got engaged after 3 months of dating and were married a few months later. Several years have gone by and I'm happy to see that I made the right decision falling head over heels for him. We are very different from each other, but those differences create balance and plenty of opportunities for Jason to practice kindness, patience, and understanding, haha! I am grateful every single day for his love, humor, and moral compass. I love this man!"

And this:

While I was eating lunch today, I saw this quote on a wall decoration of a cute HGTV show called Fixer Upper.  The quote stopped me in my tracks and zinged me today!  Whatever I do today, it is enough!

Symbols

It's bedtime around here after a very long, productive day.  I need to play catch-up badly on the past few weeks!

Tonight I just want to express gratitude for my institute class that I get to meet with each week.  We started a new course, Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel, this fall semester, and it is fantastic.  Every week we focus on the Savior and learn something new through the scriptures and modern revelation.  At the close of class tonight, several shared their favorite symbols, ideas, and even people that remind them of the Savior.  Family, lighthouses, the moon, special items, the temple, sunlight...the list went on and on.  There was a strong spirit there and I was glad to be a part of it!

These young single adults are wonderful examples to me.  They are helpful, fun, funny, smart, and FULL of faith and hope. It's very inspiring to be with them!

Rhiannon's great-great-great-great grandmother

Rhiannon left for a 3-day pioneer trek activity with our Ridgecrest stake yesterday.  Right now she's in the middle of Cherry Valley, CA somewhere, with her handcart "family," consisting of a ma and pa (Gavin and Emily MacGregor from our ward--they are wonderful!!!), and other youth from our stake.  I am so excited and nervous for her at the same time.  Having never participated in something like this, all I've heard is that it's hard and it's fun!

There was a lot of preparation involved.  Along with learning about pioneers in general, reading scriptures, gathering supplies, and preparing physically, Rhiannon had to choose an ancestor to dedicate her trek experience to.  I got her plugged into Family Search, told her that she was blessed to have a LOT of options on all sides of the family--Cushing, Throndsen, Williams, Sheen, Beck, etc!, and then she did the rest.  I was pleasantly surprised by her choice--her great-great-great-great grandmother on the Sheen side, Eliza Elizabeth (Taylor) Sheen.

Eliza--I love her little smile in this picture and can imagine how her town felt about her.  

Rhiannon with friends Tamara and Katie, the morning I dropped her off for trek.

After I read Eliza's short history on Family Search, I felt Rhiannon had made a wonderful choice.  We can't wait to get her home on Saturday and hear ALL about it!!!

From FamilySearch:

History of Eliza Taylor Sheen

Contributed By Kelli Douglas Swenson · 4 August 2014 · 0 Comments

Eliza Taylor Sheen was born August 1, 1827 in Redmorley, England.  She was the wife of Robert Sheen of Wostershire, England.  To them were born seven children, several of whom were born in England.  They were born and reared in England and were sweethearts there; they were very industrious.

As years went by, the Gospel of Jesus Christ came to them, through the spirit of the missionaries who had been sent to England to deliver the truths to all who were in readiness.  This family partook of the spirit, knew it was for them, and were baptized.  The missionaries were their friends, and they confided in them.  They lived the gospel, and when the time came, they were ready to take the long journey and come to Zion.

The family were poor, not much to enjoy but work.  In the year 1856 on the 23rd day of March, this family with 534 saints sailed from Liverpool, England under the direction of James Fergenson, on the ship, "Enoch Train".  The journey was long, and sickness came upon them.  Food was rationed very closely, and before the journeys end, ran out; but those who had more rationed it among them.

Their sea-sickness left them, then the measles were in store for the young children, and the fleas began to attack them.  It must have been anything but a pleasant voyage, but at last, on May first they landed in Boston.  From there, the Saints traveled by rail via New York City to Iowa City, Iowa., from whence the journey across the plains was commenced by wagons and handcarts.  It was their luck to miss the wagon train by a few minutes, and the handcart making began, as no other conveyance was to be had.  Under the direction of Daniel Spencer, who was acting as General Superintendent of Emigration on the Borders, assisted by George D. Grant, William H. Kimball, James H. Hart, and others, the work began.  As soon as the carts were finished, which took two days or more, the train of immigrants started for their destination - a distance not known.  There was not much to eat.  The father of this family had a shotgun and being a good shot, kept them supplied with wild meat.

Eliza Taylor Sheen was traveling with a small child two years old who passed away on the journey.  Traveling was held up for a day while casket-making was done by the men of the company.  The casket finished, the child was buried.  The family wept, and before night, were traveling along their way.  The child's name was Emma.  They were now left with only four children.

As the room in the cart was limited, two children tried to walk.  The one did not want to, so one walked all the way, never refusing, never complaining, she was Ann. These two companies of handcarts were the first to travel by carts.  The company was so large, it had to be divided into two sections. They arrived September 26, 1856.  Seventy Five miles from Salt Lake City, a cow was killed for the company, and they surely had a feed.  They arrived at Salt Lake City, under the charge of Edmund Ellsworth and Daniel McArthur, where they were met and welcomed by the First Presidency of the Church, a brass band, a company of dancers, and a large concourse of citizens.  Captain Ellsworth's Company left Iowa City on June 9th.  They started the handcart journey with 497 souls, 100 handcarts, 5 wagons, 24 oxen, 4 mules, and 25 tents.

The family started life all over again.  The Sheen family went to Ogden, one more child was born, James Robert, and for a few years this was their home, but they decided to travel on and came to Payson, Utah.  There they made their home, and of course were in very poor circumstances.  The people were good to all immigrants, and they were taken care of.  People shared what they had.  One more child was born to the family here, a girl, who was named Matilda, the youngest and last child born to them.  Later they moved back 3 miles to Salem, where they continued living the remainder of their lives.

At Salem, a new life again was in store for them.  They settled daown to farm work, and it was not long until things were turning brighter.  Land was bought, machinery intalled, and things accumulated until the debts were paid and the family had a better living.  All worked hard, and each one did his share.  Soon they had four lovely daughters and one son.  Eliza Taylor Sheen was a wonderful mother and wife, always willing to assist in sickness, and by this time she had enough of the necessities of life to help the immigrants who came later.  She shared food, blankets, and whatever could be used.  She had conserved and helped in every way possible to keep their living coming in.  Here life here was very different.  She had a house to live in, after living in a dugout in Payson.  Now she was growing fruit, raising chickens, milking cows, making butter, and had a lovely garden of potatoes and vegetables.  Of course the garden had to be hoed and weeded.  When she was tired and needed rest, she had a basket of carpet rags upstairs.  What a pleasure for her to go up and sew rags as she would sit and rest.  Eliza Taylor Sheen became the midwife of the town.  She was handy in caring for the sick people, and had a little training and great intelligence and was greatly relied on in confinement cases.  Out of her bed at a minutes notice, any hour of the night, she would go.  If anything came to  ride in, she would ride, if not she would walk.  I have known her to ride horse back which was  a regular custom then, or I have too known her to walk from one end of town to the other to take care of mother and child, and back again.  And of course she made trips to the patients everyday for 10 days thereafter too.  Grandma Sheen worked at nursing on her own reliance, as there were no doctors then to be had for maternity cases, and I can truthfully say she has been in every home in this town and entire large families were brought into this world by her help only.  She loved the little babies, lost very few cases, and it seems she had that gift along with a little training.  It was handed down to each of her daughters, as they too were all professionals at nursing, also taking care of the dead, washing and laying them out for burial.  Her girls were all taught to work and be useful.  All  made good cooks and good housekeepers in general.  Not only were the sick attended to and many children born, but here neighbors were never neglected - a kind word, a minutes visit, a little help, all of which made an enjoyable neighborhood.  She attended church, had a good voice, and her talent was enjoyed in the ward choir.  She was small in stature, with beautiful black eyes and a great determination.

In 1879 on January 7th she was sustained as 2nd counselor in the Salem Ward Relief Society.  Before that time, she was an active visiting teacher.  Her aim was always to assist and help the cause of the church, the missionaries, and to maintain ward meeting places, all for the betterment of mankind and in gratitude for the blessings that came her way.  She was very thankful at all times for the promptings she had received from living a good honest life.

Now she was getting along in life.  Her husband had been called to the great beyond, which was a shock to her.  Her health was failing, and she was not able to assist in child bearing.  She made a visit to Arizona where two of her daughters had colonized in early days with the Saints who went there.  Her temple work all done, she was now able to rest and enjoy what was in store for her, but she did not live long.  Her lonely life was very short.  Seven years after her dear life-long companion had left her, on the 17th of September 1901 she passed from this life with many milestones trodded over, kind deeds, and a host of living proof of her good works.

The townspeople missed her.  She was Grandma Sheen to all.  I see her now from memory in her little black bonnet hat, a black silk cape, and a fringed shawl, her dress so neat and trim.  Her funeral was held in the Salem meeting house, and burial was in the family plot in Salem Cemetary.

The writer of this history is a granddaughter.  My mother's family were born with her as midwife, and I was brought into this world by her only, my mother, Ann, being the little girl of this family who walked all the way across the plains at age 9.
Mrs. Chloe Davis Jorgensen

Retyped by Kelli Douglas Swenson
Filed with Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Utah County

LIFT

I have watched this Mormon Messages video about sixty million times since my mom mentioned it to me a few weeks ago.  I love it, I love it, I love it, and I tell everyone about it!

Rhiannon goes to EFY Express!

As I type this, Rhiannon is walking a bag full of used Kleenex tissues out to the trash can. Just from today. She was sick earlier in the month, got a Z-pack of antibiotics, and now 2 weeks later she is R-E-A-L-L-Y sick, coughing, coughing, coughing with severe chest congestion.  She took 2 doses of Mucinex-D yesterday which really broke up the congestion, BUT the stimulant in the nasal decongestant part of that equation kept her up all night with a racing heart, so we stopped that in a hurry!  My best guess is bronchitis or maybe pneumonia--we'll see.  Everything is closed on Sunday except for the ER, so we will get her into urgent care first thing tomorrow.  

It's been a tough month for her--missing school, catching up, worrying about grades, getting braces for her teeth and orthotics for her feet on the same day (more on that in the next post), and being SICK and TIRED of being sick.  She has her sad moments, but overall I am amazed at her grace, patience, kindness and humor.  This girl is one tough chick!

There have been some bright moments for her this month, thankfully!  Last weekend she went to an EFY Express down in Lancaster.  I drove her and 5 other girls down, dropped them off at this beautiful stake center out in the boonies, and heard all about their fun time seven hours later on the drive home.

One of the funnier moments was pulling into the stake center parking lot and gasping at the sight of so many young men in white shirts, hahahaha!  As much as I love Ridgecrest, a typical turnout to a stake youth activity here is maybe 30-40 kids, mostly excited young women and few boys.  So it was really fun for them to see that!  There were between 300-400 youth from all over California attending--they played games, listened to two inspirational speakers, had pizza, watched a talent show, and then danced for 2 hours at the end.  $20 and some gas money WELL-SPENT!

Rhiannon said it was one of the best things she'd ever done--YAY!  

Kira, Rhiannon, Tamara, JenAi, Celeste, and Katiana

I had a "mommy day" while the girls were there.  I shopped, bought some clothes, went to Costco, and saw Cinderalla--it was a fun day for me, too. ;)

Our friend Sundown

This weekend has been very special for our ward family.  A wonderful investigator and friend, Sundown Hittu and her son Ben were baptized last night.  This has been a 6-month+ journey for Sundown, and she has been an inspiration to our whole ward as she has overcome addictions, discouragement, trials and fear.  We have all grown from her faith, and we are all so happy for her!!!

Bishop Washburn, Sundown and Ben Hittu, Sister Taylor and Sister Lazarotto

Elder Haroldsen with Sundown and Ben

When Jason and I showed up at the baptism (at President and Sister Bull's home in their pool--still no stake center here in Ridgecrest to use a regular font), our bishop Ephraim Washburn and his wife Kimm talked with me for a few minutes.  He said that I'd been very helpful to Sundown when I'd shared my testimony of repentance with her, that there were so many like me who were sharing this day and her joy with her.  

I wanted to write about that particular night with Sundown because it illustrates one way the Holy Ghost works and how prayers can be answered in simple ways.

On Wednesday, March 11th, I had the random idea to text a few friends and see if they wanted to ride together to the Relief Society dinner that night.  Sundown was the only friend able to go that night, and I was happy to pick her up.  (Now, I rarely offer rides to RS night--I like making quick getaways, haha!)  The activity was wonderful and we all enjoyed the sisterhood and love that was felt there!  As I pulled into Sundown's apartment complex afterwards, we talked in the car for a bit, and Sundown talked about the process of the baptismal interviews she had to do and how painfully embarrassing it was for her.  She was so sad and upset.  I paused a moment, feeling impressed to share some personal experiences but feeling awkward about it, but I took the plunge and shared one of my own experiences with repentance, how I had felt those same feelings, in the beginning.  But I also said that I was grateful for full, true repentance because ultimately that embarrassment gave way to deep gratitude to the Savior for His Atonement and an understanding that it was real, that it was for me, and that Christ knew me and loved me.  

It was a quiet, special moment that I will never forget.  How grateful I was to find out later that those few minutes, talking in my van at night in the parking lot, helped Sundown jump those last few hurdles.  I hope she knows how much she is loved and admired and cherished!

I needed more copies

I had to laugh at myself last week when my spring semester institute class was set up online.  We've been going for 3 weeks, and 6 or 7 students were coming each time (bless them!).  Out of curiosity, I checked the numbers--I had 9 students officially enrolled, out of almost 400 young single adults in Ridgecrest.

Eeek.

If I'd been feeling a little too prideful and a little too confident, that news certainly burst my bubble!  If you're doing the math with me--those 6 people coming represent 1 and a half percent of the people invited to the class.  Not a great statistic.

At the same time, out of that 400, several are away at schools out of state.  Some have married and moved on.  Some are attending Tuesday night classes at the community college or working.  Some are serving missions.  So, there's that.  It made me feel a little better, haha!

Well, I just kept plugging along, spending massive amounts of time on lesson prep for that special group who find the time to come.  Oh, how I appreciate them!  They brighten my day and lift my spirit with their comments, love, and participation.  It's a pretty good weekly gig I've got going on, and I am very thankful for it!

Over the past week I'd been stressing about the next lesson about the law of consecration and stewardship, from several sections in the Doctrine and Covenants. I chose to cover it in one lesson instead of the two available.  SO MUCH MATERIAL.  I felt like I was tripping over myself during the actual lesson and kept trying to find quotes and info I'd read to no avail.  There was just so much information it wasn't funny.

But here was the great part.

I started the lesson with those 6 wonderful people, and a few minutes into it, there were 13 of us!  So many there that I ran out of copies, haha!  A wonderful young woman, Emma, had returned THAT DAY from serving a mission and was getting released that night.  Instead of going home and spending time with her family she had missed for 18 months, she came to institute and brought her siblings and a friend with her.  I was amazed by her example and loved having her there.

It was a really special night!  I've said it before and I'll say it again--nice people make the world go 'round!

Spiritual homecoming

Last Saturday I hitched a ride with my friend Melanie McDonald to a seminary/institute training conference down in Valencia.

I wasn't looking forward to being gone for a whole day.

But I'm sure glad I went anyway!

Months from now I'll have forgotten exactly what was taught and shared, but I hope I never forget how I felt while I was there, absorbing information through the Spirit.  It was like a million light bulbs turning on, or being drenched from a spewing fire hydrant.

One of the best moments was the keynote speaker's address.  He was a great teacher.  Funny in the beginning to get our interest, and had the whole room, men and women, brought to tears at the end.  His closing point was that we, as teachers, get to help the young men and women we serve prepare to return to their Heavenly Father.  And he showed a video similar to the following to drive home his point.  It was powerful.  I think we could all imagine our own "spiritual homecoming."

Be where your feet are

Christmas Day!

Jason's hard work on the kids' rooms!

New Years!

Christmas vacation!

2015 goals 

Back to school, back to work, back to subbing

An epic 39th birthday!

Our heavenly Christmas break ended with a thud last week.  Boy, it was hard for all four of us to put our game faces on and get back to it!  After a week and a half we are mostly back to normal, but we are already dreaming about a long 4-day break coming up in February, haha!

I was trying to find a "theme" or phrase that I could use for the new year.  Obviously "be more decisive" wasn't one of them because I ended up choosing 4, haha!  These have been running through my mind constantly and have been helpful!  Enjoy these until I can do a more serious blog update on the CA Cushings!

Perspective

Over the past few days, several friends have been experiencing some really hard times.

One college friend's home caught on fire on Christmas Day--their garage and daughter's room were levelled to the ground, and the rest of the home has major smoke damage.  Thankfully their family is safe.

My high school friend's father had a seizure and stopped breathing the day after Christmas.  He is in the ICU and still unconscious.

A friend in our ward posted on Facebook yesterday about her elderly mother who has been recovering from a neck injury, and now is in the hospital again for a black widow bite.

We learned earlier in the week that some of our Ragnar friends are having a hard time, too; the wife's brother, a CHP officer, was hit on his motorcycle and is very slowly improving in ICU.  Our friends' son has been dealing with constant migraines for several weeks now, too.

My uncle Dave Funk has melanoma cancer that has spread throughout his body, discovered by accident a few weeks ago when he went in to check on a head injury from slipping on ice.

A sweet lady at Wade's school found out over Thanksgiving Break that her husband has a rare form of colon cancer.  One of her sons is in Wade's class.  (On a side note, I learned later that her school family, staff and teachers, gave her family a spectacular Christmas gift--free tickets to Universal Studios plus a free hotel stay--she was blown away by this!)

Several of our extended family members have been sick, sick, sick over Christmas, too.

Another college friend posted a picture of herself with her two cute boys--she was totally bald and had the biggest smile on her face.  I had no idea she was very sick, too.

And on and on and on.


These are all people I know and care about.  It's hard to hear about their suffering, these good people and good families.  It's a reminder that we are not immune from trials and difficulties, too.

I've thought a lot about my Aunt Shirlene, Uncle David's wife.  My mom sent an email sharing something Aunt Shirlene had said:  "Shirlene shared that her Relief Society had been challenged in October to read the Book of Mormon within a two month period and she had accepted that challenge, as well as studying the institute manual for it.  She said it has really been a blessing to have already been immersed in the reading & studying of the scriptures before learning the news of David’s cancer.  It has given her much peace and comfort to help her get through this, whatever the Lord’s will is to be."

This is life.  I'm grateful for the ups and downs of life, for the many blessings that I enjoy, for the gospel, for the Savior's Atonement that covers not just our sins but our sadnesses, too, and for the lessons that I learn from others' faith through their trials.  Their optimism, humor, courage, and strength inspire me to be better and to do more good.

Live Nativity

Another Christmas activity that we enjoyed this year--the live nativity put on by members of our stake at the meetinghouse.  It was open to the public, so people could either drive by or walk up and stay a while.  There was beautiful music playing in the background--the whole scene was very quiet and peaceful!

One of my favorite moments was when "Mary" handed the baby Jesus to one of the three wise men. Mary was played by Leah Lauritzen (recently married--not sure what her married name is!) and the wise man was her dad, David Lauritzen.  It kind of took my breath away for a moment, to imagine what that might be like, if Mary really had passed her baby around for others to hold, for others to cradle the Savior in their arms.

Thank you to those who put this together and to the special people who played parts in the Nativity and stood out in the cold for so long!

Decluttering reveals many treasures!

Thanks to the blog "Becoming Minimalist," I really got the bug to clean out some things around our home last week.

I sold a few things.  I gave some other things away.

I found my trifle bowl that I thought I'd lost forever.

I found my favorite bookmark.

I discovered a new place to store books.

And I found a very inspiring book in that process, Letters, by Marjorie Pay Hinckley.  I can't remember where this book came from, whether it was a gift or not.  There is no inscription in it, so it may have been one of the books in Grandpa Ed's wonderful collection of books that we were able to go through.

Regardless of where it came from,  it is a GOLD MINE and made me cry happy tears last week as I sat in the new "book nook" and read a few pages.  Sister Hinckley's children wrote a letter of their own as an introduction, and the last paragraph really got to me:

"And so, we offer this sampling of Mother's letters....We hope you will see them as a celebration of the power of the ordinary.  We hope that as you peek into the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday-ness of her life, you will see with new eyes the value of your own.  And, most of all, we hope that your family will decide to write and save more letters.

Having a wonderful time.  We only wish you were here, Mother!"

How awesome is that!  It was a quiet, sweet validation of my own splendid, ordinary and blessed life.  I'm looking forward to reading more from it!

Listening and following through

I sent out an email to family yesterday about some stories I heard at church on Sunday.  The stories were so profound to me that I wanted to add them to the blog, too.  That way, when I come back to them, I can remember again how I felt in that meeting.  

In our women's meeting at church, the lesson was from our Relief Society president on listening to the Spirit and following through on promptings we receive.  The moral I got, after listening to some amazing experiences that happened to people I knew, was that it doesn't matter if you think it's from God or just a random thought--if it's not hurting anybody and it feels right, you should follow through, and quickly!

The friend sitting next to me in the meeting is a newlywed. She and her husband moved to Ridgecrest in October.  She shared about something that happened to her husband a few weeks ago.  He was working out at the gym on base lifting weights, and he had the thought to go get on one of the bikes.  He hates cardio, but he followed through.  Just as he got to the bike, a janitor lady that he was friends with walked over to the water fountain near him and collapsed to the floor from a heart attack.  An ambulance was called and she got to the hospital and stayed alive for 15 hours, enough time for her family to come say goodbye before she died.  The crazy thing is that the bike and water fountain were in this out-of-the-way spot where no one goes.  There's no telling how long the woman would have laid there before someone found her.

Then an older friend talked about driving on the highway and having the thought to get over in the other lane.  She ignored it a couple times and finally moved over.  Just as she did that, a deer ran onto the highway, jumped over her car, and kept on going.  If she'd been in the other lane, there would have been a bad accident.

Then our teacher said she felt inspired to talk about this topic of listening and following through after an experience her family had gone through just this week.  She and her husband own a trucking business, and one of their drivers called from a little town in Texas saying that he felt really sick and needed help getting the truck back.  Our teacher was listening to this conversation and felt right away that she needed to call some members of the Church to check on him.  She didn't know how to do that, but felt inspired to get on the Church website and quickly located Church members, strangers to her, and asked them to go check on this friend at his motel.  She was worried they'd think she was crazy, but asked them anyway.  A branch president and missionaries went to check on their truck driver, who was experiencing kidney and liver failure by then and was obviously suffering from something worse than a flu.  He received a priesthood blessing and was life-flighted to a big hospital in Texas because he was having a heart attack and other complications.  Their truck driver friend is not a member of the Church, but he is grateful for the blessings he received, calling them "when the men prayed over me," and he is making a remarkable recovery.

As you can imagine, we were all very touched by that lesson and the stories that were shared.  I'm sure there were lots of other stories that could have been shared, too.  I'm thankful that I was there to hear the lesson, especially since I was itching to get home at the time and watch the Super Bowl. :)  I would have really missed out if I'd skipped.  :)

Trying something new

Well, we all hit the ground running this morning.  Jason and Rhiannon were gone to work and school before 6:10am, and Wade headed to school at 8:30am with our friends Heidi and Halle Evans.  

Inspired by my husband, I started P90X3 this morning, 90 days of 30-minute daily DVD workouts with one rest day a week.  I love that they're only 30 minutes!  I did okay today for my current activity level, ha-ha! :)  For every 1-minute circuit, I was able to do 30 seconds of it or so, and I skipped the donkey kicks.  Sure, I'd like to be able to get to that point and do a for-realz donkey kick, but I can see why it's the last one on that workout DVD, too.  YIKES.  I was aware of myself and my surroundings and knew that if I tried anything that looked even close to what they were doing on that one, I'd crack my skull open and/or throw my back out permanently. :)  NO thanks!

Tonight we're going to sit down and talk about family and personal goals for 2014.  Can't wait! :)

A gift for a special teacher

Earlier this morning I shared something that happened to me yesterday involving popcorn seasoning and feeling Heavenly Father's love for me.  Yep, the two are related.

Well, today that "tender mercy" magic happened again. 

At Wade's school this year I'm doing something new and helping with the Battle of the Books program.  My friend Becky and I meet with about 25 4th and 5th graders every Wednesday at lunch and prepare them for a book competition coming in the spring.  The kids are there voluntarily, missing out on recess time to be with us.  It's been a lot of fun for me so far, and challenging. 

Right now we're doing little "book talks," where we preview each of the 30 books on the list and try to psych the kids up to read them.  Today I decided to get a jump on next week's book and get organized for it.  It's Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan, a great book!

Thanks to Google Search, I came across this:

 

The man on the left is Steven Kellogg, a fantastic illustrator, and the woman is Patricia MacLachlan.   The man on the right helped design the book.

 

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Steven Kellogg's children's books.

 

I really like Patricia MacLachlan's Sarah, Plain and Tall.

 

Steven lived in the Sandy Hook village in Newtown, Connecticut for 35 years and was very, very sad about the school shooting that happened in December 2012.  He called up his friend Patricia and asked her to make a book with him.  Their collaboration, Snowflakes Fall, came out this year on October 29th. 

 

You can bet that my book talk on Sarah, Plain and Tall will mostly be about two friends coming together to heal their own pain and help others do the same.  Amazon.com shares a little more; that the publisher of the book, Random House, donated to the Sandy Hook School Support Fund and also gave 25,000 books to the national literacy organization First Book, in honor of Sandy Hook children.

 

Finding out about this book was a tender mercy. 

 

Realizing that I'd just stumbled on the perfect book for Wade's special teacher for Christmas was another!

 

Merry Christmas!


Post Script:  5 days later...today (Monday) Wade's teacher thanked us for the book.  I'd slipped it in her teacher box in the office on Friday.  She said that day she'd gotten chewed out by another parent over a small thing, and she was feeling low.  She went to her box at the end of the day and found the gift, at just the right moment.  The book was perfect, our letter to her was perfect, and she was very appreciative.  AWESOME!!!!!!!!

 

 

A HUGE accomplishment

Back in October Jason did something really, really big.

He completed his first 1/2 marathon!!!!!!    He did 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 16 minutes!!!

We made a family trip out of it and traveled to Lake Powell in Page, Arizona to see him do that.  It was inspiring to watch him cross the finish line, especially knowing that he'd gotten injured early in the race.  What a trooper!  His friends Rob and Crystal Tomlinson, Ridgecrest friends and Ragnar buddies, also finished the race.  We had a great time with their family.

Early start--they're ready to go!!!

Here's a fun little video of the start line!

Greeted by Rhiannon just after Mile 7

A few feet from the finish line!

THEY DID IT!!!!!  WAY TO GO, GUYS!

Inspired and impressed?  Why, yes, yes we are!  So happy for Jason!

 

Here was Jason's report on the experience:

 

"I really did it! My official time was 2:16:00. I was as close to the middle of the pack as possible, #107 out of 212 finishers, 7th out of 13 in the male 35 to 39 group. Not bad for having to run for 8 miles on what probably is a mildly sprained left ankle and only getting in 5 weeks of quality training. I learned a lot doing this, one thing is that there is a reason you don't see many 220 lb runners, this was tough for a big guy. Mainly I learned that I can set goals and do hard things. I don't think a full marathon is in my future, but I think I'll run a half again sometime! Kudos to the Lake Powell Half Marathon organizers for putting on a great race."

What an experience, and what a great example for his family!  Love you, babe!



Higher education

This is what I've been working on this summer:

Well, it's not a 100% across the board, but I've enjoyed brushing up on some teaching skills.  The biggest thing I've learned is that I still have a lot to learn!

I've also been reading the Book of Mormon steady this week.  I started on Sunday and have 100 pages under my belt.  My goal is to finish it (again) by the time school starts, and so far I'm off to a great start.  I love the Book of Mormon.  It's uplifting and SO APPLICABLE to the lives we live today.  And, best of all, it's TRUE!  Powerful stuff!

A good man

This morning Jason and I went to the usual ward council meeting.  Our bishop got us started with a song and prayer, and then he told us that the meeting would be very brief.  Today he'll be released as bishop, after serving our ward for almost 6 years.  He said he wanted to gather us all together so that he could thank us for our service in our various callings, saying we made his job much easier.  He shared how his calling as bishop has blessed his life and his family's life.  "The most important calling you'll have is the one you've got right at this moment," he said, meaning our callings as husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, and our church callings.  And he also asked us to "go easy" on the new bishop as he got adjusted and made the transition.  There was a very strong, quiet spirit felt in that meeting--I was glad to be a part of it! 

We're excited to see what changes will be made during our regular meetings today, but I am very sad to see Bishop Moran released, too.  My calling as Primary president these (almost) 3 years has been pretty smooth because of a VERY supportive, caring bishopric.  They let me do what I need to do and are always there to help me over the rough spots.  Bishop Moran has always been so complimentary, never harsh, always patient, and always excited about the youth and children in our ward.  I've felt his love for us, but it hit me today how much that quiet enthusiasm will be missed.  I wish him all the best and am very grateful for his service to me, our family, and our ward!