How Blessed Are We

 

A week ago I taught the lesson in Relief Society.  I had read and listened to the talk several times in the course of a month and it just wasn’t resonating with me. As I prayed about how I should go about teaching the lesson I felt inspired to focus on the upcoming conference and how to prepare to hear whatever message we needed to hear for ourselves.

I passed out a paper with thoughts I had collected from both the church website and Deseret News.  It starts out with how blessed we are to get to hear the words of God through our prophets and apostles and other Church leaders.  Let me emphasize other Church leaders as we heard from many that serve in other capacities.  And what a great blessing it was to hear from each of them.

General conference is a gift that each of us can benefit.  Taking notes helps one to focus – at least it does me.  I know that there were some who were disappointed not seeing Pres. Nelson for three of the sessions.  I appreciated Henry B. Eyring’s as he addressed the “servants of the Lord” – they were all servants.  And all brought “words of truth and encouragement  and greater insight guidance”  I love that.  I love that we have the opportunity to embrace conference.  I didn’t always, but feel more connected and grateful with modern technology helping us to view more freely and fully.

Pres. Nelson is almost 100 years old.  He recently had surgery and sat down for his talk.  Prophets and apostles age.  They encounter health problems.  Eventually they or their spouses are called home.  I remember watching conference when Pres. Hinckley sat alone while those he assisted were absent due to health. 

I am so grateful for modern day revelation and inspired mouth-pieces of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  I am thankful for prayer and the guidance of the Holy Ghost.  I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

My Favorite Christmas Song

          I LOVE Christmas songs.

I could play them all year wrong

which is sinful in Jaime’s mind –

Halloween should be honored. 

What a terrible thing it is to have

Christmas decorations displayed

side by side the Halloween.

 

We had taken her to Ashland to visit. 

When we picked her up we went to a

few second hand stores. 

In one we found three CDS –

one specifically for Christmas. 

Richard played each CD on the way home. 

Jaime cringed as the Christmas CD played. 

There was one song that played that

we both recognized but NOT as

a Christmas song. 

Jaime accepted “Feeling Good”

Haze and Fall

 I like sleeping with the 

window open if it is 

not too cold 

or smokey.  

Right now it appears the 

smoke and the mist are 

having a fight.  

I think that the smoke 

may be winning.  

Drastic Change

 

I have a drawer where

my shorts live or

used to anyway. 

Weather changed. 

Make way for the

coats and sweaters! 

 

Problem is – I don’t

have enough room. 

Too much bulk for

just one drawer. 

 

I do love the fall though. 

Kind of naughty for the

morning temperature to be

67 one day and 43 the next. 

 

I have gone two days now

without running the air conditioner. 

I would rather have it cold than

overly warm

 

Pretty soon we’ll be

turning the heat on. 

Bah, humbug!

When We’re Predictable - Badges and Suits

                Our Sunday School lesson focused on the latter-day prophets and apostles.  Before getting into the lesson we were asked to share any encounters we may have had with any.  Melodie told about seeing Pres. Monson at a Jazz game and waiting for the elevator with his party.  They were dressed in suits at the Jazz game.  They are dressed in suits every time they are in public.  It’s an image that we perceive.  Could we view them as God’s mouth pieces if they were dressed in tee shirts and jeans?  Perhaps.  They are human beings with their own thoughts but do represent so much more.

          Long before being ordained as president, the then Elder Monson had come into Snelgrove’s ice cream parlor with some companions.  Burnt Almond Fudge was a popular ice cream with the general authorities.  President Benson would order a dish of BAF – no cherry please. Elder Monson would order a double thick BAF shake. 

          One night while he was there my mom went to his table to take his order.  When it was his turn my mom had asked if he would like his usual  double thick BAF shake. 

          “Am I that predictable?” he asked.

          Well, yes.

          Elder Monson than decided to do something unexpected and ordered a dish called “Desert Sunset” which is totally different from a BAF shake.  The dish contained one scoop of vanilla ice cream, a scoop of raspberry sherbet and a scoop of orange sherbet on either side of the vanilla. This was topped with a fruit salad topping.  It was not a popular dish.

          As they were paying their ticket, mom asked Elder Monson how he had enjoyed the Desert Sunset.  He didn’t say he didn’t like it, but did make it clear that it wasn’t a BAF shake.  Mom said he sounded disappointment about the choice he had made.

          I always thought that might make a great analogy on those of us who wear suits or name tags – who are looked upon as examples (whether we want it or not) and what if things changed?  What if we were to wear a tee shirt instead of a suit or order another dish out of the ordinary?  How is perception changed? Or does it change?

          Ordering one dish over another is not life changing.  Some choices don’t matter.  And yet there are some who are so admired they put a suit on out of respect to those who may follow their every move.  Some of us are predictable and that’s okay.  I like doing things out of the ordinary just to throw people off.  What do I accomplish by doing that?

hopeless romantics . . . or rather hopeless at remembering.

 

The other night I had asked Alexa to set an alarm for yesterday morning as we would be picking pears . . . or so we believed.  I had glanced at the calendar and realized that yesterday was mine and Richard’s wedding anniversary.  I started toward the back room to ask him if he wanted to do anything special to celebrate.  I don’t know if I even made it back to the room where he was working on watches.  I am so losing it.  We both are.

          Both of us forgot about it being our anniversary.  We went down to Medford to pick pears which we normally do at the end of August.  No smoke filled the air!  It was great!  But we wondered: Do the pears prefer smoky weather?  I have never seen so many puny pears EVER.  The majority were not even pickable.  What?  It was rather disappointing.  Two people climbed ladders and dropped them down to those who would catch and gently place in their bags.  Rings had been handed out and most pears missed their mark.  I took a few pictures before getting recruited to fold boxes.  I liked that job.

          We did stay longer than normal but have stayed longer if the pears were their normal size.  It wasn’t until we were almost home when we received a text from Ryan wishing us a happy anniversary.  Oh, yea.  Talk about your hopeless romantics . . . or rather hopeless at remembering.

          Facebook reminders of celebrations past . . . many with other nostalgia unrelated to the anniversary itself but anniversary of something else – like the planes crashing into the twin towers just two days after we were married.  Twelve years ago I had gone to Mrs. Cavanaugh’s candies with the second grade field trip. 

Evidently it was “Karen” day one year – I think before 2020 when the name Karen seemed to get a bad rap. That was the same year I put some presidential trivia online for two months.  Ten years ago my mom was dwindling between this earth life and the other side. 

From 80 to 50

     I have wearing my 

sweatshirt the last couple of 

mornings.  

Mist crawls over 

the mountain.  

Fall is in 

the air.  

It would be 

nice if it would 

last always.