Both Maren and Jamie made my home made rolls for their dinner. I was proud of both of them for making them and they look delicious. Wish I could have been at both of their homes to try them. Way to go girls!! Glad you each sent me a picture and they all look delicious!
P.S. Again, does Jamie ever take a bad picture? Never seen one yet.
I asked people to send me pictures of their Thanksgiving. I got lots of fun pictures that I will post. We also did a family zoom call at 6:00 and were able to get everyone except for Lyndsy and Derek. We did get to talk to Derek, but he was just on his way to teach his class so he wasn't able to do the zoom call. Not sure why Lyndsy didn't join in. Even though we couldn't all get together in person, at least we all got to connect and see each other on zoom. There are always blessings and something to be thankful for if we just look.
Our Thanksgiving was spent eating a delicious dinner on the Spode Christmas China. After we took a generous plate or two of food to Ron Organt who has no family and lives alone. No one should be by themselves on Thanksgiving. After we delivered dinner we came back and had a game of scrabble and I beat Neal yet again. He added the score up a couple times but it came out the same every time.
I am thankful for all my posterity. I love them all and delight in their accomplishments and the good things they are doing in their lives. I love how they keep me in their circle of events when it is possible.
I had to post this picture because it totally depicts a grandmother with her grandchild. Gently holding her hand and helping her with her journey. I pray that I can always be an example and have my hand out to all my posterity to guide, support and love.
I'm so grateful for my sisters. Both Lila Mae and Annette were such an incredible influence in my life. The years of memories with both of them are treasures to me. We lost Annette way too soon but I'm so grate for all the time we did have together. She taught me a love for all kinds of music. Hours and hours were spent at the piano, playing and singing. Lila Mae basically raised me and taught me kindness and love. Both Lila Mae and Annette had a huge part in shaping the person that I am today. I love them both!!
Lynda Ann put this collage of pictures together in a frame that spells SISTERS. That is why you see different frames around each one.
Lift to right: Annette, Lila Mae and me.
Man, I was so cute!!! Hahaha
I am so thankful for my family. We are a crazy group with a variety of personalities that tolerate, clash, laugh, have fun and most importantly, love each other.
Some time ago Abby decided that she should go on a mission. I'm sure lots of prayers were offered by her to make sure this is what she was supposed to do. I'm always sure that Jeff and Annie were thrilled to know that they would have another missionary in their family, but kind of sad to think that she would be leaving them for a while.
Abby began preparation for her mission by getting all the necessary doctors' appointments along with her meeting and interview with her Bishop and the Stake President.
Abby is beyond ready and she knows that she will dedicate her next 18 months to the Lord. Abby is committed to serving and clearly understands that a mission is not an opportunity for her to have cool experiences, rather a mission will require her to work hard both physically and emotionally, forgetting about herself and serving the Lord.
I suspect that she and Mallory, who served a mission in Tennessee, have talked about what it is going to take to find, teach and baptize those she serves, and who she will help come unto Christ.
Abby is beyond ready and will be a mission president's dream come true! She is mature, spiritual, calm, quick to learn, level-headed and obedient.
Abby has been called to the Los Angeles, California Spanish Speaking Mission and will leave for Mexico City to the mission home to learn the language. She will be in the mission home for 6 weeks and then to LA to serve the people there.
Jeffrey R. Holland:
"Don't worry about the language. None of that matters. It will not matter. God loves you and this is the truth and you can do it! Just reach down, pull up your socks, and go to work. This is a atime for you to go out. I plead with you sisters to start fast, run hard and to the top! You can rest later."
Two of my favorite primary songs:
I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
I know who I am
I know God's plan.
I'll follow him in faith.
I believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ.
What a simple and beautiful statement of the truths we believe!
and:
I believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ
I'll honor his name
I'll do what is right;
I'll follow his light
His truth I will proclaim"
I know these words are true and that we have a loving Father in Heaven, who is waiting for us to turn to Him and to bless our lives and the lives of those around us.
#givethanks
I get up every morning and walk with my friend Mindy. I am so glad that she loves to walk and is committed to walk with me every morning at 5:30 a.m. We've been doing this every morning since August 24th and haven't missed a day yet! I'm so thankful for good friends that build me up and are a positive influence in my life. I also love the fresh air that we breathe and the beauties of the sunrise that we get to experience every morning.
Friday morning at 11:00 A.M. President Nelson said he would give a 15 minute message to the world. He told us that he had been inspired to talk to everyone and this was the message he was supposed to give.
He told us that the remedy for the world crisis was gratitude. He then invited everyone for the next seven days to turn social media into your own personal gratitude journal. We are to post every day about what we are grateful for, who we are grateful for and why we are grateful. At the end of the seven days, see if we don't feel happier and more at peace. We were to use the hashtag #givethanks. He went on to tell us that working together we can flood the media with a wave of gratitude that reaches the four corners of the earth.
Then he invited us to unite in thanking God through daily prayer.
Two of his quotes that were my favorite are:
"Counting our blessings is far better than recounting our problems."
"Showing gratitude is a long lasting spiritual prescription."
And - "Prayer brings forth miracles."
Now if I were a media person and knew how in the world to hashtag anything I would get on social media and start putting in what I'm grateful for. But, because I don't have Mallory around to teach me I will be content with posting what I'm thankful for on my blog. If any of my grandchildren want to copy and paste anything from here to a social media - be my guest.
First I would say that I am thankful for a living prophet who guides and directs the affairs of God's church here on the earth. When I think about the world and all the confusion and heartache that people are experiencing during this pandemic I am reminded of the incident of President Nelson and Elder Wirthlin at General Conference in 2007. I so remember watching 90 year old elder Wirthlin at the pulpit and he began to waver just a bit. Immediately President Nelson went to him and steadied his arm and body so that Elder Wirthlin could finish his talk. I remember tears falling down my cheeks as I watched President Nelson comfort and sustain this great man.
While we may not physically feel President Nelson's hand on our arm, we can feel him steadying our hearts,
I testify to all that we do have a living prophet on the earth today and that God is still speaking and reminding us to . . . . "Be still and know that I am God."
I'm also grateful that he sealed Neal and I in marriage for eternity.
Mallory posted this picture of her and Emmi on Veterans Day. I love this picture and feel the love that these two sisters have for each other.
I got a text from Mindy asking me if I had anything delivered to me. I told her I had not and she said to check my porch just in case. So I did and there was nothing there. Then I got a text from a flower delivery who said they had a delivery for me but couldn't get through the gate and needed the gate code. I told them they were at Farm Hill and that he needed to come around the corner and enter our complex from 1300 East. But, he never showed up. The next day I got about three or four calls from the floral place getting my address and directions on how to get there. I chuckled because I suspect Mindy probably called them and gave them the "what for" for not getting the arrangement delivered. She felt bad because she wanted it to be a complete surprise. The arrangement came the next morning and it was beautiful! Along with the floral arrangement was attached this note.
The year before Mallory went on her mission, I put up the tree before Thanksgiving because she was leaving for Tennessee on November 1st. I wanted her to have a taste of the Christmas Holiday before she left. What I found out was I really liked having sharing the decorations of Thanksgiving and Christmas and by setting things up before Thanksgiving we can actually enjoy the spirit of the holidays all that much longer. Ever since then I've made it a habit of setting up Christmas on Veterans Day. That is a holiday for the county. This year veterans day landed on a Wednesday so I took Thursday and Friday off and have enjoyed a nice long weekend. Neal and I pulled down the Christmas Tree for one last year. We have two rows of lights that will not work on the tree and it is not fixable. The tree is 19 years old and Neal finally admitted that it was time to get rid of it. We did go look at threes at Modern Display but Neal wasn't quite ready to buy on for this year. We will go back the day after Christmas and get one a bit smaller and one that we can actually lift down and put away by ourselves. We spent the day getting the house all decked out for the holidays and it is nice to have that done. We don't know what the holidays are going to look like this year but it is looking more and more like the pandemic will keep us from not only gathering for Thanksgiving but not gathering for Christmas either. Hard year for families that like to get together for good food, conversation, catching up and games.
I'm not excited to welcome winter. Of the four season, the least favorite of mine. I know that I would miss all the seasons because I lived in California for enough years to recognize the beauty of each season of the year. However, winter is not the season I welcome with open arms.
Neal needed help this year bringing in all the flower pots from the patio, cutting the foliage down and then stacking all the pots on the side of the garage. Neal had actually moved all the pots into the garage (on his side) because of a freeze warning. It took us a couple Saturdays to get out there and actually put them away. After running errands we went out and trimmed, stacked, stored, and threw away. At the end I swept the garage good and it was nice to look around and have every thing done and in its place for the winter. (Notice Neal's car is once again repaired).
