Sunday, April 26, 2015

Two Visits

My daughter Audrey and her family have lived with us for a number of years.  So we have grown close and used to being in one another's company.  Perhaps for that reason Audrey feels the need for regular visits.  I love her pursuit of continuing closeness, so when she said she was going to drive here from her home in Mountain House, I was excited.  Two weeks ago, she drove the 10 or so hours by herself and arrived on that Monday afternoon.  She stayed for five days.  We had such fun together.   We saw some of the local sights, went to the temple and exchanged thoughts and ideas.  It was a sweet time.

Audrey with a new hair style from my favorite local
hair stylist, Danea Villa.
She introduced me to a journaling system that includes long range planning and I'm hooked.  At least for now.  I've made all sorts of charts of potential accomplishments, in various categories.  It is a pretty structured system.  I admire structure.  I'm in the habit of setting up all sorts of versions of it for myself, with grand plans for accomplishment.  After all, I only have so many years left to do whatever I want to get done before leaving this mortal place.  But while I admire all things organized, and goals set, I am, by nature, a free spirit.  So I quite often sabotage my own good intentions.  Sooner or later, something inside of me often rebels and I lapse back into my free-spirit mentality.  I forget my carefully ordered systems and lapse back into relative chaos.  But perhaps if I persist in my efforts, I will eventually win in my war for accomplishment.

My first accomplishment under my new system was to get all of my father's memorabilia organized into one binder.  Wow.  I'm so proud.  And I so enjoyed reviewing my father's life once again.  He really was quite wonderful.

Audrey's sons Chase and Isaiah and Chase's wife Morgan joined us on Friday of two weeks ago.  Isaiah was visiting Chase, so they brought him back to our house, for the drive back to California.  California is where Ben and Jessica's newest baby girl was just born.  The thought came to me that I could ride there with them and see my newest little granddaughter.  Audrey planned to begin the drive back at 1 am Saturday morning so as to get Isaiah back to California in time to go to work for the afternoon.  You may imagine how we looked forward to that!  Then Layne suggested that we leave after dinner on Friday night instead, spend the night in Winnemucca, and finish the drive on Saturday morning.  He made all the arrangements for us, and we took his advice.  It made the trip so pleasant!  Perhaps that is how we should proceed from now on.

We celebrated Morgan's birthday Friday afternoon,
with strawberry pie for dessert.  She loved it.
I spent the time in California with family mostly, getting a good bond in with just about everyone.  I spent last Sunday with Ben and Jes and our new little Olivia.  And all the other, very busy children.  I had such fun with all of them.  Olivia is almost two months old now and, with a little encouragement, she "talked" to me and even gave a little smile.  I was charmed.  Audrey and I had a very pleasant lunch and bond with Reed several days later.  Cliff drove me to the airport early last Wednesday morning and we talked all the way.  I loved that too.  So, in spite of catching a cold from someone there, I had a wonderful time and it was very worth the effort to make the trip.

Olivia in a serious moment.
After some encouragement on my part,
here is a hint of a smile from Olivia.
Ben and me in his kitchen.
I've been nursing my cold, and passing it on to Layne, ever since returning home.  We are both staying home from Church today to nurse our ailments.  Next Tuesday we begin our concert series with my singing group.  I hope we can squeak out some singing.  Layne and I are supposed to sing a duet.  This is new territory for me.  I'll let you know how that turns out next week.    

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Easter

I have happy memories of Easter that flow back to my childhood.  We had Easter egg hunts, Easter baskets and seemed usually to find a Church to attend on Easter.  I remember dressing up in a new dress, shoes, gloves and hat for Easter.  There was no other event that produced such finery.  Easter services always seemed especially spectacular too.  Special flowers and music usually filled the chapels we attended over the years.  I longed for more of Church in those days.  But my family only attended Church on special occasions.

Of course joining the LDS Church changed all of that rather dramatically.  Church is part of my everyday life now.  I like it that way.  But memories of sweet Easter celebrations has made me a little sad when Easter falls on General Conference Sunday.  Easter services are often not celebrated in the ward when that happens.  I love General Conference and I love Easter.  But I wish they fell on different weekends.  Somehow it doesn't feel quite right to sit at home, in casual clothes, on Easter and watch the TV.  Perhaps that is just the Protestant in me.  Plus there is no family to enjoy a celebration with.  BUT I did enjoy Conference and there were plenty of talks about the Savior and Easter.

Our yard is exploding in blossoms.  Spring is such a beautiful time.  I love walking through the yard and seeing it come alive, a little more each day.  Layne is loving working in the garden.  But our garden experiment with early planting has hit a snag.  Our tomatoes apparently roasted in the plastic covered setting Layne set up for them.  He's decided that they needed more water.  So he's started over, unaffected by the frustration of it all, or so it appears.  He just keeps on trying new approaches until he finds out what works.  He's got a knack for not getting discouraged over things.  I so like that about him.

Part of our front yard.  Love the blossoms!
I have a number of projects started.  I've complained before that I can easily start things but finishing them is, for some reason, a challenge for me.  So I've started a t-shirt quilt.  Its not on my priority list but, somehow, I feel pressed to do it.  So I am.  And I'm happy to say that it is almost finished!  Once it really is finished, completely, I plan to celebrate the completion of something.  Then on to my other uncompleted projects.  I'm hoping that finishing something will spur me on to complete some more.  I'll keep you posted on that!

The t-shirt quilt, almost finished!
I am filled with gratitude for the good things that fill my life.  I realize that we are amazingly blessed and I don't want to take it for granted for a moment.  I wonder what more I should do to share these blessings and show the Lord my gratitude.  I pray to know each day and am trying to tune into the unspoken needs of others.  I'm working on being more service-oriented.  I'm grateful for Easter too, and the chance to review the Lord's grand Atonement and the gifts it brings to us all.  I guess, to sum things up, I'm just plain grateful.  

Happy Easter!