Moving Day

Pretty exciting happenings around here! It has been so much fun watching Colin and Macey preparing for their upcoming marriage. Today, they're moving furniture and other belongings into the apartment they'll soon be sharing. We're just so hhappy for them! Macey is absolutely adorable, and her family thinks just as highly of Colin. Having most of our family arriving to celebrate this momentous occasion, only adds to the joy. Sometimes it seems incongruous to feel so wonderful when I know there are so many people who are suffering. But I have to remind myself that during my time of greatest trial, life still went on for others, and that was as it should be. I know I will never be completely oblivious to the trials of others, though. All those affected by the earthquake, and tsunami, and the looming nuclear disaster in Japan are in my thoughts and prayers. When I enter the temple tonight, and next Friday, I will be conscious of the fact that others are in less desirable places, such as clinics, hospitals, etc., and I will be praying for them. Rejoice when you can, and pray always.

So, here's a good laugh Greg sent me recently. It's an account of a road trip we took from our home to visit my sister Becky. He wrote:
"Anyways, I am thinking it is story time right about now. Today I shall tell you about an incident that occurred on a family vacation when I was at the tender age of 13 years old. We were driving from Washington State to Los Angeles and we elected to take many of the scenic coastal byways through Oregon and California. In the back of our minivan we had a little bed set up where we would rotate who got to lie down and take a little nap as we drove. Somewhere in northern California, it was once again my turn to lie down and relax. I was pretty tired by this time as we had been on the road the entire previous day. It didn't take long for my eyes to grow heavy as I was hypnotized by the drone of the tires on asphalt. As the minivan swayed back and forth, I could feel myself slipping deeper and deeper into sleep, and I began to dream. :) In my dream, there was a very warm and soothing mist that danced back and forth across my face. I snuggled my pillow tighter as I enjoyed this luxurious sensation. My mind began to wonder and question from where came this spa-like treatment? Finally it was too much, and I awoke. To my surprise, the side of my face was indeed moist!! I sat up quickly and this is when everything became all too clear.....there was my mother, dumping a cupful of my 3 year old brothers urine out the window, which was then misting me through the open side vent :/ Lets just say I didn't attempt to get any more sleep hehe :) "
It's an account all right, but not a true one. He wasn't 13, and his brother wasn't 3. Aside from being a little off on their ages, I have to admit that it is pretty near to the truth. Hmmm, I look forward to hearing what stories our sons will be swapping this time next weekend.

Valentine from Heaven

Since Jordan died, I've found myself wishing, and even praying, that I'd dream about him, so that I could hear his voice and feel his personality again for awhile. Not being much of a night-dreamer, it's not too surprising that it hasn't happened. But last night as I went off to bed, I asked Dan to set the alarm clock for 6AM, so that I'd have a little extra time to put a few finishing touches on my Primary lesson. then I changed my mind and upped that to 5AM. I am so glad he didn't hear me and set it for 6 as I'd originally asked. Because, this morning, I dreamed of Jordan! I dreamed I was sitting on the loveseat, talking on the phone with Carol Cornwall, a friend of long ago that I recently reconected with, and just as she was telling me some really interesting news, the front door opened, and in came Jordan, just as if he'd been doing it every day without any interruption. My heart swelled with joy, I let the phone fall from my hand onto the loveseat without signing off or anything, and cried, "Jordan! Where have you been?!" He answered just as calm as you please, saying,, "Oh, I've been around for about a month and a half," as he walked across the room to look at something or pick up the mail or something. It was all so natural and so low-key. Low-key for him, but exhilarating for me! I ran across the room and threw my arms around his waist, hugging him from behind. I gave a long, loud, wordless, shout of joy. Dan hurried into the living room to see what was going on, and then, then I woke up. It was the best dream I have ever had, that's for sure. I checked the time, and it was 3 minutes before 6AM. Oh! if I'd risen earlier, I might have missed my wonderful valentine from heaven.

Dan was such a huge help to me yesterday as we prepared for our family Valentine's Day dinner. He made radish roses, halved and scooped out, and filled the twice-baked potatoes, helped with flattening and rolling up the chicken and cranberry filling, divided the Nutella mousse into the cups, etc. Not used to being so involved, he asked, "Why are you so needy today?" I told him that I'm always needy, but that in recent years Colin or Shane or Brianna were around to be my assistants. Now our household has dwindled down to the point that he's my one and only right hand man. And he came through with flying colors. A good meal, and a good time, was had by all. :D

Today's Primary lesson went well, too. Skylar, Makhyla, Andrew, and Nathan were elsewhere, but Kylie and I had a great class on dodging temptation with Ally, Connor, Doug, Lauren, Madison, Phoebe, Marinda, and Allie. Primary can truly bless lives. I know, because it has blessed mine.

Chocolate Mousse on the Loose

Last year at this time, it was all about red velvet cupcakes. But this year, it's chocolate mousse and chocolate dipped strawberries, heart-shaped cherry chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon rolls, cheese zombies, chicken rolls with cranberry filling, twice baked potatoes, a yet-to-be-determined salad and vegetables, and dodge ball that are on my mind. You can tell I'm slightly carb deprived, huh. But it's been worth it, because I'm down about 30 pounds in the last couple of months. Yay me! A wedding is a great motivator. We started a new tradition in January, something my sister Julie's done for years, getting together for an extended family dinner once a month. That doesn't meanit lasts a long time, it just means that Brianna and Jason, and Colin and Macey join us for a special meal so that we can catch up on what's going on in each other's lives. We had Thanksgiving dinner together, and Christmas dinner (Greg and the kids were here for that one). Then Brianna and Jason hosted the four of us for dinner at their cute house, which led us to setting up our shiny new tradition. I love searching out new recipes to try, and I love our special guests, so it's a win win. I made the chocolate mousse last June when we had everyone over for an after-cruise dinner (everyone except Macey, she wasn't on the scene then). It was a success, so it's making another appearance for our Valentine dinner, but this time I'm serving it in some cute little heart-shaped teacups found on Amazon.com. Teacup-sized servings will leave plenty to share with my good friend,, Pam, who's just now beginning a grueling journey to defeat a very aggressive form of breast cancer. Surgery was last Friday, first chemo is this Friday. Sending lots of prayers and love out for Pam and Ally, her 11-year-old niece she's raised since infancy, who's in my Primary class.
Speaking of Primary class, that's where the heart-shaped cherry chocolate chip cookies and dodge ball come in to play. I'll see if my new cookie cutters permit me to shape the cookies like I'm hoping they will, to hand out as one of our rare treats in Primary. I don't think it's wise to give treats on a regular basis. But for Valentine's Day, yes, it's a go! Before treats though, we'll be talking about the 40 days Christ spent in the wilderness, fasting and communing with Heavenly Father, and then how Satan came and tried to tempt Him multiple times, and how He recognized and resisted every one of them. . There's nothing like a nice reverent game of dodge ball to simulate the barrage of temptations the adversary constantly throws at us, and to show how necessary it is to be on guard against his wiles at all times, with a strong defense in place to dodge them. Three generations on earth have taught me how very important it is to have a clear understanding of these things, and how hard it is when that understanding is lacking. I am praying the Holy Ghost teaches each child how to resist Satan's temptations, and permanently impresses it in their hearts and minds, this very Sunday.

"For of such is the kingdom of heaven"

Eight-year-old Tori surprised Dan and me with a very special note she wrote for us of her own accord during her visit last week. It's such a heart-melter that I had to share it. After all, "if any thing is virtuous, or lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy" it should be passed along in order to make our lives, and maybe even the world, more beautiful.

Christmas Babies! and Christmas Fun

Greg, along with Tori, Juli, and Christian, arrived on Wednesday to celebrate Christmas with us. While Dan and Colin were still working on Thursday, the four of us betook ourselves to the movies to see Tangled. We gave it 5 stars. Then Greg and the munchkins spent a couple of hours at Planet Kid for some active fun after the previous day's looong drive from Denver. Santa surprised us all by coming a day early, on Friday! Hey, but we're all good sports, we just went with it, and enjoyed it to the max. It's been a regular fashion show ever since, what with the cool costumes Aunt Julie and cousin Liz made for the kids. We've got everything from a dinosaur, to a flamenco dancer, a fancy pettiskirted or kimono clad girl, and a fairy, to a super hero apt to show up for meals. Right now, Christian is doing gymnastics for Colin and Macey, while Grandpa, Greg, and the girls, and Jason and Brianna are playing board games in the next room. I'm telling you, these little ones rarely stop moving!

We had a yummy fiesta for dinner today, and I think the star was the appetizer, penguins in the snow, that I asked Brianna and Jason to make. Such cute little guys, and tasty too.

But the biggest surprised of all came from Neil and Penny! Their little twins, due in Feb., but expected to arrive in late January, were born today! I guess they just didn't want to miss Christmas this year. Their little son, McKay Lancaster was born at 4:51PM, weighing in at 4 lb 10 oz. And his sister, McKenna Tecla was born 8 minutes later, and weighed 4 lb. 9 oz. Prayers for a safe delivery were answered, and happy tears of gratitude shed. Dan and I now have 11 grandblessings to love.

It was wonderful to be able to talk to Shane, in faraway Queens New York this morning, too. This old year has been a very happy one, with much happiness expected to come ringing and winging in with the new. Many thanks to a kind Heavenly Father are in order, and to our loving and caring family and friends!

Love Waits

I read a very uplifting email today, and a very uplifting post. Our world needs a lot more uplifts, right? So I'll share a bit of both. The post is by Dr. Terry Hamblin, England's world-renowned CLL expert. Although he's undergoing a very uncomfortable chemo regimen in a second bout with abdominal cancer, he makes time to answer all kinds of questions on the CLLC Friends forum. From his answers there and other ritings, it's obvious that he is a good, caring, thoughtful and intelligent man. I think you'll agree when you read this:
"Last week was a particularly bad week for side effects and they were beginning to get me down. At one point I found myself very angry at the whole situation. I know that anger is part of the experience of most patients with cancer, but I have always been able to approach my illness pretty rationally. My angry thoughts were, "Why has this happened to me?" "What did I ever do to deserve this?" "It's not fair!" "Why does God let this happen to me?" Yesterday's sermon certainly helped me. Like Israel I was facing massive problems. Mine mightn't be nine feet tall like Goliath, but it seemed too big for me to tackle. But whereas to the Israelite army Goliath seemed unfaceable, to David he was an uncircumcised Philistine defying God. David not only had a proper view of Goliath, he had a proper view of God: not a leader who had gone missing, but The LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel. David was also able to look at himself clearly. He knew that he had been anointed secretly by Samuel; he knew he had killed the bear and the lion when protecting his father's sheep; and he knew the hand of God in placing him precisely where he was to do the will of God.
"Instead of complaining of our lot, we need to be aware that God is working his purposes out in us. If we were only given tasks that we could easily accomplish on our own, then we would easily claim the credit. But we are faced with tasks that overwhelm us and frighten us and come close to defeating us. Why? So that we realize that we need the Almighty Lord to accomplish them. When we feel alone and deserted, then we need to turn to God - not blaming him for leaving us, but confessing that it is we who have stopped looking at him. Psalm 10 begins: Why, LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? But it ends: The LORD is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. You, LORD, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.

"The story of David and Goliath is well known. It was not the triumph of a littl'un over a big'un as it is popularly portrayed. It was the triumph over an upstart by the Almighty God who fights evil with good, lawlessness with justice, hate with love and haste with patience. If there is a God, say some, let him wipe out poverty in Africa, sort out the cholera in Haiti, deal with the North Koreans, round up the drug-dealers, punish the pedophiles, stop the people trafficking, and rid the world of prostitution, pornography, murder, robbery, political corruption and fraud. But God looks at robbers and murderers, prostitutes and pedophiles, drug dealers and even politicians and sees people who might be redeemed by the blood of his son, if they only had a second chance. So he waits."

Often, love is called upon to wait. charity, which is the pure love of Christ, is patient, and it suffereth long. God waits for His purposes to be fulfilled. And to be like Him, we must sometimes waitt ... and wait ... and wait, too. My thanks to Dr. Terry for humbly sharing his wise reflections on his blog.
http://mutated-unmuated.blogspot.com/


I'll post the email I mentioned later.

Happiness and Gratitude Abound

My gratitude cup has been filling up more and more of late. It's not overflowing, but it's pretty close. For the last few months, we've had the privilege of seeing our son Colin and a lovely young lady become friends, and then sweethearts, and now, they're engaged to be married. Macey comes from a strong and happy family, and that's what we anticipate they'll create for themselves, too!

Yesterday was the anniversary of the start of Shane's mission. That means we're halfway to the point of being able to hug him and have him with us again! I sent him pictures of our newly decorated home (yes, JoLyn's been here again), and this is how he began this week's letter:
"Wow, geez. It looks like you put work in on that house. Things look a lot different... including different names for everything... almost makes it seem like it is a new house. Well, it may not be a new house, but it is a different one, which I guess does indeed make it a new house. I hope you are enjoying it and avoiding bumping into things since it has all been rearranged. Things have been going really well here. We had transfers earlier this week, and it already feels like that was forever ago. My new companion is Elder Mathusek. He hails from New Jersey. His house is about 30 minutes away from where we are serving here in Queens. He has about five months left in the mission. He is a great guy who is very dedicated to the work and knows how to make friends with the members and investigators. I am looking forward to working with him for the next while."
He gives us some specifics about several families they're teaching , and then he concludes with:
"This week has been really good. I have learned a lot about loving other people and valuing the times I am able to share with others. The mission is an incredibly unique experience that I have been given to help me be happy. I am learning how to love others and how to show it. I am feeling the sweet sensations of sensational sweetness. Things are good here. I am happy. I hope all is well with the family and people are safe and enjoy the things they are doing. Our Heavenly Father still exists and still loves us. The church is still true, and I hope you know I love you, because I do." I'm grateful that I do know that, and I know he knows I/we love him so so much, too.

As I mentioned, my amazing, seemingly tireless friened, JoLyn, paid us a long and productive visit just recently. She was here for 10 days, but it went by in a flash. She gave almost the whole house a fun makeover. We love it! Brianna went carpet shopping with us, and we had lunch together at a little favorite bistro of hers. She was so eager to see how everything was shaping up, that we invited her and Jason over for lunch before we were completely finished. I'll show her the changes next week when they're here for Thanksgiving dinner, which she claims, by the way, will be ruined unless we have pumpkin swirl cheesecake on the menu. :)

So, you can see that happiness and gratitude do indeed abound. And we wish a blessed and happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Real by Macey