Category: Church

Remembering

This was the Ross Pioneer Trek Family. Richard and I were Ma and Pa to 7 children, ages 14-18. We had a baby we carried made from a pillowcase and dry rice.

We worked hard and we were a great team. We worked to make our journey a reminder of the past and relevant to our current lives.

We grew close to each other and stayed with our family most of the time.

This was my last pull with my family. I got heat stroke and had to be taken away for medical help.

Richard carried on without me. He was much admired for his sacrifices on the trail.

I am so grateful that a photographer kept a record so I could see what happened after I left.

I like these photos of Richard. It’s my blog, so I can post as many as I like.

They went up this steep hill with a human chain to pull on either side of the handcarts.

This man helped me when I was ill.

At one point, I looked up and was amused to see this Amish-looking man kneeling beside me. He was a great help to me also and I smiled to think that our Brigham Young actor was also an experienced paramedic.

Although the Ross Pioneer Trek family was “orphaned” they were proud to have finished the trek first, and raced to the end. Richard was there to cheer them on.

Paige did a great job on Trek. She was strong and cheerful.

She was part of a different “family” but we watched her from a distance. She enjoyed carrying her family’s baby.

It was an experience not easily explained in words, but the memories are deep and our faith has increased. And I have a nifty bonnet to help me remember.

Photos by Mr. Zollinger and Kara Egbert

Dinner Theater

Rose, our Laurel president wrote a play for the youth to perform. She directed it, prepared the set, and put up tables and chairs for the dinner theater last night. It was Laurel awesomeness.

Lady Emerald, the maid, Professor Topaz (Paige), Mr. Onyx, Aunt Pearl, Mrs and Mr Ruby were the suspects in the whodunnit thriller, Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar.

Sherlock Holmes and Watson were on hand to solve the crime.

The lights went out…thunder rumbled… and someone stole the jewel cookie!

Sherlock accuses Auntie Pearl!


Oh, the drama.

Our new Beehive shouts, “Let’s hear it for Rose!”

The kids had a lot of fun. Daniel did the lights. Paige was a great bespectacled Professor Topaz. Everyone was a star.

Record

I’ve been looking through old photographs to find a picture of my friend’s son who passed away last Friday. I found him. There he was at a Primary activity in Austin back in 1997. The children were dressed in pajamas and I was telling the children “bedtime” stories. And there he was, a member of my Primary choir at the ward Christmas party, dressed as a shepherd. I will send these to his mother who is a dear friend.

I love photos. They help to reinforce the memories of dear friends and family. When I go to a party, you can find me in the corner looking through the family’s photo albums and scrapbooks. When people come to visit, I pull out the photos and hope to find a funny one from our past for them to take home. And when someone is having a hard time I try to find a photo that will cheer them.

I hope my small offering helps my friend. It’s a record that her son’s life lives in my memory, too.

Date night

The Young Men in the ward treated their moms to a Mother’s Day dinner this week. The boys prepared an invitation and were drilled in etiquette in the weeks leading up to the event. We had a lovely meal outdoors overlooking the lake. I noticed that Daniel opened every door, pulled out my chair for me at the table, and prepared my plate before his own. I enjoyed my time with my good looking, dashing and intelligent young man.

Desert Friends

Here are some of us at the youth temple trip. It was a good day and 5 of these youth brought family names to the temple. They like family history work and they love the temple.

I smile at the permanent connections that are forged through this service with the youth. T. Nay was a scout leader in this ward, but the first time I met him was when I was 16 and he was a scout leader with my dad. One of the women in my presidency is Lucille S’s niece. Lucille served with my mom when my mom was Young Women president. I didn’t stay in Provo, but despite this, in this tiny town we meet and continue the tapestry of our relationships with these families.

I don’t think that it is a coincidence that there are certain people in our lives with whom we learn and serve. The individual nature of Christ’s rescue and concern is evidenced in the people which seem to be hand-picked for us to meet. We need them and they need us and my obscure location matters little because the Lord finds a way to continue the ties and raise up friends and associates to help us.

Some days it feels lonely in this desert, but I just need to think about the people I know here and it doesn’t seem as barren.

I’ll choose these memories

Black light volleyball photo by Jen C.

Last week I had sad news from extended family and weird challenges sprang up around me. I felt heavy and sorrowful. On the other hand, I had good news, too, and there were opportunities for me to serve and feel needed and this made me happy.

Someday when I look back at this time in my life it will be a smudged, incoherent image because of all of the activity, but I will work to see that the good memories will rise up and be more prominent than the bad.

I will remember how Mark’s little drawings cheer me. I will remember the love I feel for the people around me, of the fun times with the Young Women playing black light volleyball and hearing them sing.

I’ll remember how I much I enjoy Richard’s dinners from the grill and chats with him during a baseball game. I’ll think of the way Timothy twirls his hair when he reads to me and how Daniel looks when he’s acting grown up and unselfish. I will remember the way the little ballerinas watch Paige sweep into the dance studio and how she smiles when Richard teases her.

I’ll remember the good people who serve my family in the community, sports, and church.

I will be grateful for a husband who lets me sleep in and remembers to kiss me goodbye every morning.

The difficult things will just serve as a counterpoint, essential in emphasizing the good and forming character, but they won’t take a prominent place on the mantel.

Now I’m going to get back to work.