Introducing…
from The Hobbit
and…
from Star Wars
Daniel dressed up with his friends and roamed the neighborhood.
I went trick-or-treating with the little boys. I have learned that this is the best way to overcome my aversion to Halloween. I don’t have to deal with kids in horror costumes knocking at the door and I get to see my kids having a great time with our neighbors. Our kids are the best company.
Occasionally we have the opportunity to clean the Draper Temple after hours. This means we go from 9 to 11:30 p.m. or on a Monday afternoon. We have a cleaning supervisor who sees that we are thorough and know what to do. We present our temple recommends to enter and we change into white cleaning clothing. The temple is meticulously cleaned often. In fact, it’s difficult to find any evidence of debris on our cleaning rags and dusters.
On my last trip to clean the temple I was given the task to vacuum the sealing rooms and two additional rooms in the hallway. I spent two hours beneath chandeliers and between mirrors with the afternoon sun coming through the stained glass windows. The air in the temple always feels tight and hushed and even the vacuum cleaner I was given was especially quiet. I suppose that the people who were cleaning bathrooms will receive additional blessings, but I felt pretty blessed that day to be able to spend so much time caring for these beautiful sealing rooms in the House of the Lord.
I envisioned the families who had gathered there to witness marriages. I thought about my own family and my hopes that my children will be married in temples someday. It was a good way to spend an afternoon. I looked into the mirrors. When I see myself in the mirrors at the temple I feel more beautiful than I do at home.
I finished the two baby quilts I was working on this month. They are for a newborn and his big brother (age 1) who live in my neighborhood.
They are so soft and fuzzy on the back. Life just gets better when you touch that minky fabric. And look! My friend machine quilted them in a sock monkey pattern to make us smile.
I love that they are similar but each has a unique personality. The brighter one with the yellow back is my favorite.
I’m making two quilts from the fabric I bought last week. One is for a new baby at church. I am not sure who will get the other one. I’ve been arranging the squares on the floor. I’m not loving the way they look right now. I don’t like the brown. Maybe that will change.
At the beginning of January I began a project to keep my daily TO DO lists in a planner. I know that I am not original in doing this. However, I didn’t appreciate the patterns that I would see emerge from my lists or the story that they would tell.
Here are a few randomly picked dates from the past 9 months and what I listed along with a little commentary.
Saturday, January 5
Piano lessons 10:45-12:45
Piano lesson 2:00 (Timothy)
3:00 Paige and Dan
Pay piano teacher
Apparently the only thing I did on this day was drive kids to and from piano lessons over a span of 5 hours. Even if this was actually all I did, I think that it would be enough.
Saturday, March 23
SPARKS This was the day we drove from Elko to Sparks to visit my Stewart Grandparents.
Thursday, July 4
Paint trim (2 coats) in Daniel’s room
Integrity goal #5: Stand as a witness day 4
Family barbecue 1pm (Spring Lake)
Summertime brought a lot of painting and Young Women Personal Progress goals. The Stand as a Witness goal that I mentioned was to write about my experiences as a Mormon on the blog.
Tuesday, August 13
library
lego shopping with little boys
work on Knowledge #9
type out YW calendar
vacuum upstairs
garden assignment: 3 needed
Summer was winding down; I was trying to make the most of the last days with my little boys by shopping for their favorite toys with them. Knowledge #9 was a Young Women Personal Progress goal where I collected and compiled my favorite quotes from General Conference talks by topic. The garden assignment was for the Church garden which supplies the nearby Bishops’ Storehouse. The big boys and Richard took the assignment.
Thursday, September 5
Drive Richard 5:45 am
Drive Daniel 6:50 am
30 minutes Virtue project
Pick up Richard at work–sick day
YW presidency meeting
10% of Richard’s group laid off today (notation on the side of the to do list)
Costco trip
Bring doctor’s note to school for Mark’s absences
Piano lessons 5:30-7:30
continue paint work in craft room
This was a very stressful day on many levels. There were extra errands because of illness and there was worry about Richard’s job. The Virtue project is my current Personal Progress goal to read the Book of Mormon. Thank goodness most days are not this busy.
I love my life, but I don’t always see the beauty in the little pieces. Keeping my little planner has been a good exercise to help me see that I’m going somewhere in all of my circles of errands and small efforts.
I’m working on a couple of baby quilts this week. Just thought I’d show you the cheery fabrics.
That is all.
One day when we were asked to introduce ourselves to a room full of new people, Richard decided to tell the group about one of the times I was rescued by first responders.
I have a few dramatic rescues in my life story and they continue to teach me.
One thing I have learned from being in peril is the quality of selflessness that emerges in the rescuers. They become my friends immediately, willing to do whatever they can to help. I’ve held hands with strangers who have run to my aid. They have carried me, watched over my family, and taken me to safety.
Most rescuers I have never seen again, but I have been blessed to have a few chance meetings with some of them.
They have met me with arms extended, tender encouragements, and even a cheer. “Here she is!!” and “I’m so glad to see you back with us.” They are the regular people and I am a small person, but I was worth their time and they cheer me on. They are my heroes.
Gratitude, love, and self worth are a few of the things I have gained from being someone who has been rescued.
These experiences have also taught me a lot about our Redeemer who has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. When we meet him someday, he will have a measure of love for us that can only be earned by a rescuer.
I’ve heard it said that everyone is in peril of some kind, or they soon will be. We can be rescuers with a smile, a note, or even consistent, mostly unnoticed efforts. We may never know that we have been rescuers or the depth of feeling others have for our service. Ready? Let’s go rescue somebody.
The kids have been in school for a month now. Four weeks seems to be the magic number for finding a routine at our house. Our mornings begin around 5:15. For the next 3 hours I watch the family leave one by one. I try to interact with each one before they leave. The evenings and mornings go by quickly, but we’re finding the time to do the homework and extra curricular activities.
Timothy is playing fall baseball 2 or 3 nights a week. Here are a few photos of him as pitcher and catcher. Richard handles all of the practices and games while I go to Wednesday night youth activities and chauffeur the kids to piano.
Richard and Timothy canned 25 pounds of our garden tomatoes this weekend. I did the dishes and listened for the cans to seal.
Those metal lids making that satisfying popping sound is an old fashioned sound.
I’m an old fashioned person.
I wish I could still wear barrettes and not look outdated. I don’t have a smart phone. I don’t own a maxi skirt in a chevron pattern. I hate the name “maxi skirt”. I don’t have any throw pillows in chevron fabrics. I stopped watching television years ago. I’m not on Pinterest or Instragram. I still write letters. Am I the only person who still does this? It seems like it.
It’s funny to joke how women tend to halt in their fashion at some point. They find something they like and they don’t move on. Maybe I’m there because I can’t get excited about maxi skirts.
This summer we had a few friends walk through our house and our framed children’s artwork drew a lot of positive comments. For years I have displayed their art in simple frames around the house because I love it, but it felt good to hear that other people loved it, too.
Today I framed Paige’s poppy painting and a couple of the boys’ Eric Carle inspired art projects from years ago. I like the shadow box frame for the beach scene. Maybe it would be pretty with a few shells inside.
There are many more to go, but I’m loving how this project is coming together. I also think that I might frame some of their piano compositions in the music room. The frames are from my first trip to Ikea. I truly thought that I would never find the exit in that store.