Advent Scripture Calendar For December

Are Most People Happy?

Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven." The practical translation: put in some effort to both seek out happiness-boosting experiences and learn to express gratitude for what you find. There will always be crap lying around in your life. This will never go away. If you focus on it, your world will become Emerson's hell.

Lately, I have felt my attitudes drift a little closer to that hell Emerson spoke about. Rather than launch into a lengthy page by page account, let me just say, I have my struggles. Such is the nature of life. My struggles range from settling in with my mom's death, trying to handle all those things that piled up on me this last year caring for her and having her pass, to finding my way as I enter into a new phase in my life, my home is no longer full of children and believe it or not, this is not easy for me. Add things like aging, the emotional effects of seeing a good share of my life behind me, wondering where I want my future to go, re-structuring where Man with a drill works and trying to set goals, I have felt overwhelmed and depleted.

I am deep feeling, full of passion. I'm stubborn or determined, which ever you choose. And living my life in a rich and full capacity is important to me. I do not want to waste one minute of my life. I'm a doer and I don't want to miss one single ounce of joy this life has to offer. Because of that I am filled with a sense of urgency. Life passes quickly. I feel that every day and I want to make the most of it.

Today I had an interesting experience. Let me start with the subject of prayer. I believe in it. I rely on it!  And oddly enough it's something I enjoy doing. Age has made me appreciate it's viable power! I cling to it and have a deep sense of gratitude that it's available to me every second of every day. I can honestly say, I love praying, I love talking to my Father in Heaven and do not take His help lightly. I see His hand in my life every day and I know prayer works.

I've been reading a book, "Increase In Learning" by David A. Bednar. I bought it and downloaded it on my iPad. It has powerful wisdom in it. This morning I read some instruction that counseled me to pray for eyes to see and ears to hear. It was in cased in one of the beginning chapters aimed at teaching people to harness the spiritual power available to each one of us as we make our day to day decisions. So I did. I prayed today for eyes to see and ears to hear.

This morning I got a phone call from a good friend asking me to come up to her house and run. She lives on a big hill. She knows I have a love hate relationship with hills, so she invites me to come and do hills. I hate them, but ironically I need them in my training. Life is always symbolic.

I drove to her house this morning, we got out on the road and we got our heart rates up and going as we made our way first down and then up the hill. When we finished our four miles and got to the top of the mountain, just under the base of Big Ben, I stopped to look over the valley and was astounded at the sight. As I stood there I realized my eyes saw something different, or maybe it was my heart that felt different as my eyes saw clearly.

As I stood there I thought about what I had prayed for that morning and with what my eyes now saw I was reminded God hears and answers my prayers. As I looked over the valley, spiritual insight accompanied the beauty of the scene. I could see clearly into my life for a split second, I could see things I needed. I could see attitudes that weren't profitable. Right in that moment, I felt the spirit and the subtle joy that spirit brings and I could see things I needed to go home and do. All in a split second. It felt good and I made a mental note.

After gazing at the beauty of the morning, we turned and made our way to my friends house and she invited me in. I needed water, so even though I was in a hurry to get home, I disregarded that nagging feeling to get going and went inside.

When I walked into her kitchen, I saw my friends husband dishing up a bowl of soup. He was working from home, something he doesn't often get to do and as I sat down to visit a story unfolded. He started telling me about going to Siberia for four months with his work.

"Siberia?" I said. I rattled off something about having no desire to travel there and preceded to ask him a million questions. That's when he started to tell me about a conversation he shared with a woman he sat next to on one of his bus rides to his motel from his work.

The woman he sat next to had opened up an interesting conversation with a question. She quietly asked "Why aren't Americans happy?"

My friend responded, "What makes you think Americans aren't happy?"

She proceeded to talk long and hard about all of the self-help books we have available in this country and launched into an account of how many phychiatrists there are in America, how many counselors we have and family therapists. She went on and on about how Americans are always looking for more and wanting more. She told my friend it seems like no matter how much Americans have they are never happy with it. She had lots of insight as to how Americans are never satisfied. She told my friend, "just open up any magazine in America and you can read it in the lines between the print."

My friend couldn't argue with her, so he posed a question back, "Well then," he said. "Why are Russians for the most part, happy?"

As this man, large in stature, sitting across the table from me started into her response, suddenly emotion stopped him cold in his sentence. He got so choked up, he couldn't speak. I sat there for what seemed like a long time. My heart suddenly felt softened as I watched the tears fall from his eyes. Then he spoke.

Her response, he said . . . "We enjoy today."

He stopped again. He was visibly struggling with trying to controll the tears that continued to form. Then he went on.

"Because tomorrow might be worse," She said.

Suddenly I thought about Russia and I felt cold, lonely and hungry.

Then my friend launched into the deeper meaning his story would tell.

He said at the time her comments didn't have much meaning. It wasn't until he had lived in Siberia for a week that her words started to impact him in a literal way.

At the motel he was staying at he was required to turn his room key in every time he left the building. The first morning he left for work he had complained to the manager that he couldn't get a hot shower. He said at best the water was barely tempid. He has a trouble with his shoulders and was missing his American HOT water that pours from his own beloved tap any time he turns the knob!

The second day he went to turn his key in he noticed a sign on the desk. It read, "We hope this won't inconvenience you, but for the next three days there will be no hot water."

My friend thought about the wording, "Inconvenience?" The manager told him that there was a shower in the basement that was self heating and he could travel from the fourth floor down to use it if he wanted to. The second day he did so at 2:30 in the morning to avoid the long line. He said the water temperature was tempid at best and the place was filthy. He hated going down in such conditions to get his tempid, so called, hot water.

By the way, the water temperature in Siberia is 15 degrees colder than our water temperature here. Just a side note, water that is colder than 32 degrees eliminates the need for soap, because once it's colder than 32 degrees soap no longer works.

After the three days passed he again went to turn his key in. Again there was a sign. This time it read, "We are sorry to inconvience you but for the next three days there will be NO water." My friend discovered the government controlls the water, and the water temperature. In fact the government controlls EVERYTHING!

He was then instructed to go and fill up his tub with cold water and was given a bucket so he could dip water from the tub to flush the toilet for the next three days. By the way, when you are taking a shower in Siberia you don't open your mouth. Enough said.

After telling me his saga with just trying to bathe, he then proceeded to tell me all about trying to buy groceries there. He said he spent more time going back and forth to the market, traversing the empty shelves than he spent working. He said it was a major ordeal tying buy something to eat. He had to travel to the market every day in hopes maybe one day he'd find eggs, or maybe juice, some substatial items he could take home and cook. He said it took a week just to wait for a box of saltine crackers to appear on the shelf.

At the end of his tale he told me when he finally got back to America and went in our local market to buy groceries, he stood on the cracker isle and cried. He said, "It was overwhelming to me the amount of different crackers available for me to buy. He said he stood there in a stupor not knowing which box to pick. He said, "Americans are spoiled and ungrateful!" I didn't need him to translate all the meaning in that statement.

At the end of his story he recounted the woman's words, "We enjoy today . . . because tomorrow might be worse."

At that moment I realized my ears had heard him loud and clear and my heart had made a vast translation.

I am not going to go into a lengthy paragraph as to what I gleaned from sitting there at my friend's kitchen table that morning. I will say it altered my thinking as new thoughts and ideas were presented to me in a way different from any other day. The spirit was there and I had eyes to see and ears to hear. It changed my attitude.

Tonight I sat in my big jetted tub surrounded by soothing hot water, I soaked longer than usual. There was gratitude in my heart as I sat there and thought about all the blessings that surround me. Those simple little blessings I don't often notice.

Tonight I found the above picture. Four of those boys packing my mom's casket are mine. The picture is filled with meaning to me. It reminds me, I am alive. And when I look at it, I am motivated to clearly see and hear happiness all around me and like Emerson said, find my heaven.

For-Get-Me-Not

I was born on the 4th of July. There is no greater day to have a birthday! I'll explain further on this subject when it's actually my birthday. Today however I was reminded of something.

Every year when I was young I would beg my mother for a birthday party. Every year she would tell me, "Everyone celebrates your birthday." After that she would launch into a discussion about how I am the single most lucky child in the entire United States, because every state and every city throws me a birthday party. For the first few years of my life I believed her. Every year I went down to the small park here in my city, I truly felt like everyone was celebrating my day. After all, everyone at the park came up and made a fuss, wishing me Happy Birthday. And it was the celebration of all celebrations in my town. Always a day to be remembered.

When I was about nine or ten, my mother finally succumbed to my ranting and allowed me to have a full fledged, honest to goodness ---birthday party. I was so excited and I still remember it well. My mom held the party outside on the front lawn and all my friends came.

Due to the suggestion of my mom, she encouraged me to invite two little Indian girls that belonged to a family whose father worked on my farm, Ned and Ruby Bassinta.  Today, I can't imagine what wages Ned Bassinta made working for my father. My dad was a farmer. Just that statement alone tells you as a child my family was poor. The lucky part is, growing up, I never knew it!

Ned and Ruby had the two girls and a little boy. I wish I could remember their names. I didn't play with them much, even though they lived just up the road in an old barracks that another farmer provided in trade for work. If I was poor, I can't imagine what this little family would be considered by the world's standards. These children had next to nothing. What's worse, Ned use to take his pay check and get drunk every Friday, leaving the family with even less for the week.

My mother was always good to Ruby. She would take her meat and milk from the farm and she always gathered up second hand clothing and gave it to her family. Anything someone was getting rid of, my mom would confiscate and then haul it up to Ruby.

There is one thing about that birthday party I have never forgotten. It is the sweetest memory that has stayed with me forever and I have drawn back on it many times for wisdom.

Having a birthday party meant presents! As a child, I had gone to so many parties and wondered what it would feel like to open a mountain of presents. That day I got my wish! The funny part is there is only one gift I remember. I couldn't tell you one single monetary thing I received that day. I do however remember one gift that touched me deeply and those feelings have never left me.

At the end of all the gift giving, Ruby's two little girls walked up to me and handed me my present. I still remember the shock inside my heart when the youngest daughter pulled from behind her back a paper cup filled with water. In the water rested a little blue mound of for-get-me-nots.

At first my response was a greedy one. I remembered thinking, "WHAT?" and "That's it, that's all!" And then I looked at the children standing before me. Suddenly everything about them became blatantly visible. I suddenly saw them for the first time, their clothes, their hair, and the look of embarrassment on their faces. My mother jumped to the rescue, and drew every one's attention to the flowers in the cup. Suddenly all of the value of one small insignificant gift sprung forth to me in an amazing way. My mom launched into her garden expertise and told all of the kids how hard it is to grow a for-get-me-not. She made those flowers sound like some exotic plant from Africa. By the end of her lecture, every kid felt slighted that they had never gotten a paper cup full of flowers for their birthdays! Mom mom was a  genius! After making a big tado over such a small gift, she took us in the house and we put the flowers in the window sill.

After watching my mother arrange each little flower like a delicate ornament, all the kids ran out to play. My mom held me back. I still remember her stern voice. She gave me one simple sentence. "Those kids have nothing, you go out and thank them for their beautiful gift. That's a gift you will never forget!" My mother was wise and my mother was right. I did thank the girls several times over and I have never once forgotten that sweet offering. Today when anyone mentions the remembrance of gifts or presents, that experience is always the first to come to my heart and mind.

Desi asked me a question last night. She asked me if I had listened to President Uchtdorf's talk on For-Get-Me-Nots. As soon as she said the word "For-get-me-not." I remembered my affiliation with a tiny insignificant flower that I have long loved. This morning thinking about my mom and missing her deeply, I pulled the talk up to listen.

It is worth a post, worth remembering, worth a for-get-me-not!

 

If you can't watch it, you can read it! Click on this Link: For Get Me Not by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

Five Petals of a little For-Get-Me-Not:

First: Forget not to be patient with yourself.
Second: Forget not the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice.
Third: Forget not to be HAPPY NOW!
Fourth: Forget not the "Why" of the gospel.
Fifth: Forget not that the Lord loves you!

It has been a beautiful fall. One I will always remember.

Today is Halloween and some of my grandchildren were saying they miss Great Grandma. I think it was Spencer that told me. "Nanna, Great Grandma let me get in the Halloween pumpkin bucket all I wanted." That's when Spencer went on to rave about how Great Grandma always said, "Take more, take more. You've got to take more candy than that!"

Today I miss my mother. I miss everything about her. She was a woman who valued the tinest flower and the simplest things in life! Today, I know that I am indeed going going to miss her every single day that I live.  She is in me though. I feel her in a way I never have before. In my doing, in my ways of being, in my thinking, even in the night, she is there, and always, I feel her love pounding in my heart with every beat.

And I will not forget! I love you Mom!

Happy Halloween!

A Very Special Day

I don't have a lot of time to write this morning. I am going to the temple. And even though it is early and the house is quiet for thinking, still words don't form easily on a page. My thoughts today may come sporadically, interspersed here and there with gentle emotion. They may be jumbled and hard to follow. I will try to be precise.

Late last night I decided to go for my run. The week has been a little crazy. Lots to do, little time to do it in. Yes, stress was present throughout the week but I handled it. I think I did a fair job of assigning it a small constrained place in the back of my head. It fought to take up more room, but I wouldn't let it. The mind is powerful and I made sure to keep my thoughts centered in the positives. Today however, I think I made the comment more than once. "I need another week." I'm a week away from a wedding. Don't you always need another week?

Running, walking, exercising really improves my mind more than anything which is probably why I felt the need to breath air in deeper. With that need pressing in on me, I put on my warm clothes and headed out the door. It didn't matter that it was late and dark. I decided I was going to raise more than just my heart rate; I fully intended to raise my level of thinking as well.

The night was beautiful to say the least. There were very few cars on the road and the radiance from softly lit ark lights standing tall and straight mixed with clear and colored Christmas lights hung here and there on homes gave a glittering glow to the rolling curves of the snow draping mother nature and all her lovely fields. I love the country. The light shed a soft ambience on everything and my lungs began to drink in the cold night air as my eyes framed the picturess scene. It felt good and my mind started to release the nasty pricking sting of unimportant needle point worries. I settled into a slow pace. Running in the night makes me feel like I'm running faster even though it's all just a false illusion.

I started out fully intending to go only two miles. It was eight o'clock, the night was black, two miles would be sufficient.  I hit the one mile marker and like a bowl of ice cream I went back for seconds, then thirds. Two miles suddenly turned into to five. Being out on the road in the night alone was a good place to process yet another impounding change in my life. I'm one week away from Seth changing his status for good. It's a good change, but still a change, and my growing age makes dealing with any change a little more difficult to process. Sounds dumb huh? It is! I jogged out all the kinks in my thinking and embraced the days to come processing all of their new meaning.

On the way home every organ in my body felt lighter, especially my mind. Then the thought hit me." I'm going to the temple tomorrow." I love the temple! There is great peace within the walls of the temple. There is tranquillity. And there is a force that carries me out of the building when I leave. It carries me through the days and weeks to come. It fades slowly until it's time for me to hurry and go there again.  If I want my life to go better. I go to the temple. It doesn't make my problems in life go away per-say, but it does give me ideas, skills, and weapons to battle with! It improves my mental capacities, opens up new ways of seeing and dealing with whatever negative forces bite at my back. It gives me companionship with unseen forces that are marching with me, fighting for me to learn, grow, and succeed in this life. It makes me stronger and happier!

All these thoughts however are a by product this morning. For today I'm headed to the temple. And my entire family will accompany me. That is the thought I want to record today. All my children, today in the temple, all of us there together. Even Des has a temple recommend. And while she can't attend the session today, she too is worthy and prepared to go there. Could there be any greater blessing in MY life? I tell you emphatically, with my whole heart and every fiber of my soul . . . NO!

That is the purpose of this entire lengthy bunch of words and ideas typed in a blog. I'm going to the temple with my family.  Today!  My whole family! And I feel so blessed!

Life is a process. One we fight continually or one we learn and grow with. I am so thankful today for the spiritual in my life. I'm so thankful I'm not trudging through life without it! WITH IT life is so much EASIER, RICHER, and PROFOUND! I listened to a man on television the other day. He was asked the question, "Do you believe in God?" My heart sank when his lips formed the word, No. I cannot even begin to fathom any such thinking. He tried to explain himself. He sounded like a complete fool. Nothing that came out of his mouth from that point on made any sense in any fashion.

Today I'm going to the temple. And I am thankful for a Father who resides in Heaven and guides me here on earth. I am thankful for the plan of salvation and for my Savior Jesus Christ! I am thankful for the Holy spirit, for this powerful companionship that lifts, inspires, and comforts me. And today I'm thankful for the temple that binds families together forever. I'm thankful for my family today. It's big and beautiful. I'm thankful for a husband and a plethora of loving children who reverence the same knowledge as I and who live their lives so they can go to the temple. To be in the temple with my family today,  now that's a day worth recording and it doesn't get any better than this!

A Good Re-Post

Over one year ago I posted this video on the blog. Some things in this life are just worth re-posting! Today I had to make a hard decision. I hate hard decisions. I've learned however, we sometimes hold onto things out of habit. And the fear of change is sometimes overwhelming. Yet if we are unwilling to let go of that which we've always known and embrace new opportunities for change, God cannot bring anything new into our lives. It is true, when you ask God for clarity, He will give it to you.
I know it wasn't by accident that I stumbled onto this clip again today. Just watching it once again filled me with the knowledge that my Heavenly Father really does guide my life. He understands my situation today and has once again cleared out all the clutter in my mind, giving me great clarity and the peace to know the decision I have made is the right one.

IN GOD WE STILL TRUST!

I don't like what is taking place in our country. There are rapid subtle changes taking place, changes very few people are paying attention to, changes that are leading us away from the very freedoms our founding fathers fought to instill and preserve. The other day I received an email. It's an old email that's been passed around a bit, but I really enjoyed listening to the song. The song by Diamond Rio is from a Las Vegas concert they preformed. Following the song, they received an immediate, resounding standing ovation, and continue to do so every time they perform it. Sadly, major radio stations won't play it because it is considered "politically incorrect". Consequently the song was never released to the public. Thought you ought to hear it.

Arise And Shine Forth

For nearly seven months, our youth, along with Des and I spent time preparing for the Arise And Shine Forth program that was held at Weber State University a few weeks ago. This program was referred to as the "Youth Spectacular." And it truly was a spectacular event.


In the beginning, President Monson felt he would like to see the youth entertain the adults this year. And our area here in Utah was chosen. This production will be the largest one of it's kind held in the United States during this current year.


Thirty Weber County Stakes participated, numbering three thousand five hundred youth that got involved. Those thirty stakes were divided into three groups; the West Council (us), the North Council, and the South Council. Each council had twenty minutes to arrange, prepare and preform their numbers. Each group was given and era to build their performance around. The North Council was assigned the Pre-existence, the West Council was assigned our time here on earth now, and the South Council was assigned the missionary service that now extends throughout the world. 


This production was certainly under the direction of the Lord. Trying to direct all those kids, to do all the right things, and get to all the right places, at all the right times, was nothing short of a miracle. You only had to attend seven months worth of practices, and several dress rehearsals to know in the end this show was truly an amazing miracle. 


The entire spectacular event has certainly carved it's place in the hearts of all who participated. Deserey and I were lucky enough to have this experience and I'm telling you, wow, what an experience it was. One that I will never forget and I know Deserey feels just the same.


As the first practice was held, I was so excited when I was asked to take pictures and work on the Photography team. From start to finish I never went anywhere without my camera, and I've never enjoyed a calling more. 


I must confess in the beginning I couldn't quite catch the vision. The practices were long and arduous and held in one of the worst spring seasons we've had in sometime. I don't think the kids ever practiced in anything but wind, and rain, and always the temperatures were freezing at best. But as the weather finally warmed and the end grew near, I could not talk about Arise with out welling up with tears. I think it was the first time I saw all the kids on Weber State's field, that brought the spirit into me so strong. Then the first night I walked into the Stromberg building on the first full dress and saw all of those youth standing, fully ready for their respective parts, the spirit nearly knocked me over and it just grew stronger in me each night. In the end it really was SPECTACULAR in every way!


I hope you enjoy the pictures. From start to finish I snapped over a thousand images. I will be editing more to add to this group when I get some time. For now I just want to thank the youth of zion for an amazing experience! 

The Heavenly Group.

The Man In Blue!

It's Our Time - Ya, Finally!

There Was A Great Deal Of Sneaker ---ing Around In This Group!

Hip Hop With The Cutest!

I Had No Trouble Getting These Cute Girls To Smile!

In This Spectacular Event, There Was Always  Line Somewhere You Needed To Get In.

I Could Snap Pics All Night The Crowd Was Never Ending!

Kids, Kids, And More Kids!

The First Initial Line Up Was Crazy!

The Sign Said Shine! And They Did! Every Group Was Shinning!

Our West Council, Waiting For Their Turn!

In Life, It's Always Better To Hold Hands And Go Together!

Take Me Back To The 50's!

Our Pioneers Enter The Field.

Our Pioneer Men Were Awesome!

I don't know how I missed it in all those rehearsals, but it wasn't until the last night I truly observed how the pioneer women changed their colorful skirts to that of being dressed all in white, symbolic of passing to the other side. As I got to really observe this for the first time on the last night, I was so moved! 
It was an amazing transition!!!

The West Council Show had everything. Humor was brought into the act by our Napoleon Dynamites.

And they truly were . . .Dynamite!

I barely caught this shot of Des running across the field.

Every night she ran so fast I missed her. 

Finally on the last night I was able to snap one picture.

While my photo's here capture a lot of  what Des was doing. 

I have so many cool pictures of all the kids.

I loved the enthusiasm of our West Council. 

Can't you just hear them shouting, "It's Our Time!"

The big finish for the West Council.

Some of my ward kids, patiently waiting for the big finale!

I've never seen so many cute kids!

In the end I got to be in the finale. Not having anywhere to sit my camera down, I carried it with me on the field. Seeing the missionaries always choked me up each night. 

While trying to maintain my spot in my line I snapped this shot. 

It was pretty bright. I didn't have any time to meter the light. 

After looking at it though I thought maybe given the fact they do carry the ultimate light of Christ,

my metering wouldn't have helped, after all, they are naturally a BRIGHT GROUP!

Just A Little Note!

Fun kids, fun costumes!

There was lots of excitement in the air as everyone prepared.

My favorite ladies I worked with. Dixie, JoAnn, and Laura.

Looking cute as always Des!

Take a long look at this line. The kids just kept coming.

When I turned around to shoot in the other direction

 the line just kept going, up, up, up the mountain, one kid after another.

The flapper girls gave me a cute pose on their way up the hill.

I got a cute smile from Katie.

And Joey was always good for some antics every time he saw me with my camera.

Up and over the hill they went and clear down to their entrance.

What a line, three thousand five hundred kids make!

There was a lot of waiting.

And a short time to preform.

Saturday night the crowds were all fighting to get a good seat. 

Weber State University held an all time record for stadium attendance. It was a sold out crowd. 

In some of the pictures you can even see people sitting on the grassy areas 

since all of the seats were taken.

The show was amazing. Here you see the kids fanning the world.

Follow The Prophet!

West Council soon to be on.

A few groovy hip hoppers wait their turn.

Funny Faces Could Be Seen Everywhere! The kids always made me laugh!

And all of the costumes were vibrantly detailed.

The enthusiasm was wild.

In Color and in Black and White!

Everyone waves at the end of our performance.

The Haka Dancers got an uproar of loud clapping after their intense chanting.

Yes, HooRAH for Isreal!

Another cool shot of our Pioneers.

I was waiting to come on for our big spectacular ending.

When I looked out and saw the sun nearly gone is was an amazing site. 

I snapped a picture. The mountains were beautiful and the night full with the spirit!

On the last night the lines were finally straight as an arrow! 

You have no idea how hard all these youth worked.

This was my car pool group!

Cutest girls ever!

After every show and rehearsal we went to McDonalds!

The last night we celebrated big and went to Kirts.

Celebrating the light that truly does shine in one and all!

This was the west council theme. 

It truly is our time on earth.

Lets not waste one minute of it!

Great Show Kids!