And Now For Something Silly...

Last night Claude and I stayed up and watched the final Tonight Show with Jay Leno. We are usually in bed by 11:30pm at the latest and don't watch Jay but over the years we have watched and enjoyed his version of the Tonight Show on occasion. I especially liked the "Headline" bit on Monday nights where he showed headlines from newspaper articles or advertisements that were worded in a particularly funny manner. Jay also started a bit called "Jay Walking". This is where he takes a microphone and a camera person and they just go out on the streets armed with a very simple question that most people should know the answer to. He gets the most amazing answers. Often he'll ask the question at a graduation and still get answers that are unbelievably silly. Last night he played some of the clips of the funniest of these silly answers to very simple questions. The one that sent Claude and I rolling in laughter with tears running down our faces from laughing so hard was this: Jay: What do the letters DC stand for in Washington, DC? Answer: "Da Capital??" Okay people, that is just silly and side splitting funny. The real answer is District of Columbia (just in case you didn't know).

Did You Know???

That Claude and Sandi live on a VERY steep hill in Sadieville. Ask little Hayden as he hikes up it in Gram"Pa" Claude's bucket hat.

That Memorial Day weekend in Kentucky there are "ripe" Marx children ready for the pickin'. But you need a big strong guy like Uncle Jake to reach up and get them. (They are really filling the bird feeders Papa made for us when we moved here in 2004.)

That it is really warm enough to fill a huge wading pool and have some water madness all weekend. (Bailey and Hayden)

That crafts always abound on the hill in Sadieville and that Bailey is a 'drum' painter and prefers 2 paint brushes at one time. (This was Bailey's first time to do a painting project. Hayden goes for green (his favorite color).

That Hayden loves to cuddle and share is scrapbook about his first year at St. John's Pre-school. (Claude and Papa)

That Bailey loves to ride a push toy and play with Wild Thing.

That food is an important part of every visit to that hill in Sadieville. Hayden loves to dip foods in chocolate and Bailey and Uncle Jake have a great time sharing potato chips. (Claude also smoked a brisket and BBQ'd chicken on the grill.)

That when you cannot hear the mini-Marx's you might find them in a corner of Grampa's office reading story books.

That Gramma Sandi deliberately did not plant flowers in the 2 planter boxes on the back porch so Hayden and Bailey would each have a spot of dirt in which to play. They were using the whiskey barrels which now have Grampa Claude's tomato plants and needed a new patch of dirt. Bailey was given left over silk flowers and fixed quite a nice planter with them.

This was a wonderful weekend. Jake surprised us with a visit. His coming was much enjoyed and appreciated. Jake and I made a trip to Buffalo Trace on Saturday for more candles, pancake mix, another 1/2 barrel for the lower deck, and of course more root beer. Sunday morning Hayden gave us a little scare with a very high fever and lots of hurling. We were never so happy to hear his vocabulary come back full force in the afternoon signaling a potential recovery. Sunday Papa came for the afternoon and evening with Tiny. Michael referreed soccer games in Lexington all weekend. Monday every one headed for home in the evening. Whew!!! It was a full, fun weekend.

Just call me 'Gullible'...again!!!

Okay, today we are finishing up getting ready for company over the weekend. The mini-Marx's are bringing their parents to visit. We had a few last minute fresh foods on a little grocery list. So I headed into Georgetown to visit Mimi and Papa while Mimi ate her lunch. Then I took Papa to lunch. Then I headed over to the Georgetown Mall (WalMart) to get these few grocery items. My habit is to get inside the store and review my grocery list to be sure of what I am looking for and to see if I need to go to the other end of the store before hitting the grocery section. Toward the end of the list in Claude's handwriting was 'henway'. I looked at that for a long time and just couldn't figure out what he was wanting me to pickup. There were two WalMart managers standing in the produce section and I asked them to look at it and see if it rang any bells with them. They had no idea what it could be. I thought Claude was taking a nap and I really didn't want to wake him. His back has been hurting and I thought a good nap with no noise maker around might help. So I determined I would ponder 'henway' as I picked up the other items on the list. I stopped for a prolonged while in the cooler section to just look at 'henway' and see if I could possible come up with what he wanted. I thought perhaps he had misspelled what he was wanting. I couldn't think of a thing except 'Milky Way' that ends with 'way'. So I decided it would just have to be picked up at another time. I hurried home so my ice cream would not melt and then I quickly put the groceries away. Claude was on the sofa resting and took him the list and said, "I got everything but one item and I just was not sure what it was." He took the list and said, "On you what to know what's a 'henway'?" There you have it. Once again I was walking around with 'gullible' plainly printed on my forehead and once again the big guy had me. Go ahead...enjoy the laugh!! (Claude assured me it was about 4-5 lbs.)

Mistress Sandi...How Does Your Garden Grow???

I just love watching my flowers bloom as we progress to summer. I thought I would share a few pictures of our yard and the flowers we are enjoying right now.

This first picture is of my very first Knock-out Rose bud. Claude built a flower bed by his altar on the hill in the back yard. This bed goes on either side of the steps down to this altar. We put some tiny, tiny Knock-out Rose bushes in these beds last fall hoping they would come back and grow big over time and fill in this spot on the hill with some summer color. Knock-out Roses are supposed to be really hardy and they will need to be to grow on this clay and rock hill of ours. It was a pure delight to finally be able to walk that far down the hill and then find a little bud on this bush. Of the 6 bushes we planted 5 have growth on them. The 6th bush has green at the base of the stalk but the limbs are dead. We're going to watch it to see if it will try and send out shoots from the base and the roots.

These next 2 pictures of of the iris bed. We have 2 places where plastic piping is buried under the lawn to the place where our hill REALLY slopes down. These pipes are for rain water that runs down the gutters and away from the house. Claude had a depression in the grown below this gutter. He framed the top edge around the plastic pipe with rocks and then built up the ledge and filled it in with dirt to make a place for our concrete bench. It is under the shade of some trees and is a beautiful place that is very quiet to sit and watch the creek and the birds. It overlooks the ledge with the sandbox and the next ledge below it with the altar and the flower beds. These irises come from Utah. Joann, Claude's older sister, gave them to me. So it is a treasure to have family flowers when we live so far from family. The picture on the left is of a single iris and looks up the hill to the concrete bench I mentioned earlier and out across the empty lot which we own next to the lot our home is on. The second picture is just a little iris that was nestled next to the rocks that frame where the pipe comes out.

Now we move to the front of the house. Claude built a 3-tiered flower bed along the front of the house. This picture is of red Columbine in the level in front of the front porch. Columbine is the state flower of Colorado. We lived in Denver, Colorado for 8 1/2 years. So we wanted some Columbine in our beds.

The middle bed is my Peony bed. The pink Peonies in the middle of this middle bed came from Utah and were in Bonnie's garden. Bonnie is Claude's mom. They may have come from Gramma Chris' garden before that or from the ranch site. I'll have to have Bonnie refresh my brain about that portion. They have a long pedigree with the Christensen family in Utah. Again, it is totally fun to have them with us in Kentucky. The red Peonies I purchased here to fill out the bed and give some variety to the color.

The 3rd and lowest of the 3 flower beds is under Claude's office and is full of Lilac Bushes. Claude remembers Lilac's from the ranch growing up and really wanted them in our yard. We purchased these in Kentucky. We actually only put 2 or 3 bushes in and they have really filled out and grown taller and are blossoming great this year. They are not completely blossomed out but I couldn't wait to take pictures. They smell sooooooo good. The first picture is a close-up of the flowers. The second picture is taken looking from the 3rd bed of Lilacs up the hill to the 2nd bed with the Peonies.

This is just a shot of the front of the house showing all three tiered flower beds. The ring of vines in the front of the lawn is our water meter. We just built a bed around it so it didn't just stick up in the yard. The little tree at the right corner of the house we started from a tiny little thing that was about 12 inches tall that we ordered from the Arbor Foundation. We have another on the other side of the house and several on the hill. It takes a little longer to get them big tree size that way but it is fun to watch them grow and we only spent $40 total for all the trees we got through them.

Now, you ask, "Why a picture of the deck?" I shall tell you why. We have 2 decks on the back of our house. One came with the house and is above the concrete patio you see in the left side of the picture. This decking in the picture is the lower deck and we had it put in a couple of years ago. I put the picture in because my hubby has worked very hard this week to stain both of the leves of decking. It is just so pretty and all the same color and I'm really proud of his hard work. Tomorrow he will put the white adirondac chairs and the hammock on two levels. The whisky barrels are from Buffalo Trace Distillery where we go for Dr. McGillicuddy root beer and pancake mix. Claude is growing tomatos in this this year and he has bell peppers some flower pots that will go on the steps to the yard. That is our flowers at this point. Hope you enjoyed them as much as are enjoying them.

Kentucky Fried Chicken...Home Style...

I did it! I did it! I really and truly did it!! Yep folks, it has been 2 months since my last cooking event. Tonight I actually cooked dinner myself and cleaned up my own kitchen. A tiny miracle to many but to me it is HUGE. Claude has cooked every meal and washed every dish since before my surgery in March. So tonight it felt extra special great that I actually cooked. I wanted fried chicken, so we thawed some chicken breasts. Claude had been craving deviled eggs, so I boiled eggs. This evening I fried chicken, cooked rice, made fruit salad cups, fixed deviled eggs and made gravy from scratch. We even sat at the breakfast table to eat instead of the living room in front of the TV. Then while we chatted I cleaned my kitchen. Now, tell me, are you hungry for fried chicken and deviled eggs???

The Power of Prayer...

Sunday afternoon I went to sit with Mimi for a while. When I arrived there was a pastor from a little church and 2 ladies with him that were providing a worship service for the residents at the nursing home. Mimi was sitting on the far opposite side of the room at a table by herself. This is where she usually sits and it is by a window so she is in the light some times. It was interesting for me to listen to this little service. The music and method of presenting the sermon is always very different for a Latter-day Saint service. The younger female was the vocalist and she had a booming voice that wondered around the scale. She was very sincere in her music and I was enjoying listening to her but was concerned that the volume of the music and the high notes would hurt Mimi's ears and she might say something. Mimi can be quick to tell Hayden and Bailey if they are too loud. She even corrects Tiny sometimes. But Mimi just touched her ears occasionally and would smile every now and then and chatter a little. Near the end of their little service they put on some quieter music, the young vocalist kept singing up and down the scale, and the pastor began to circulate among the tiny group of listeners. He would stand beside the resident and bend so he was close to them and then offer a prayer for them. It was just very sweet and tender and you could tell the residents were pleased to have someone pray with them and for them. Since Mimi and I were at a table apart from the others and I was dutifully crocheting my latest afgan project, I didn't expect this pastor to come to our table. But he did after he finished the long table in the center of the room. Mimi looked up and "put on her Southern" as Andie says and gave him a big smile. He asked if I was related to her. I told him I was her oldest child. He told me she was always so sweet. This is what all the employees at the nursing home say about Mimi and it really makes going through the Alzheimer's with her a lot easier. Many Alzheimer's patients become mean or foul mouthed. But Mimi is sweet, smiles and even remembers to say 'thank you' most of the time. But it felt good that he thinks of her this way when he only comes once a month to provide the service. Then he said he wanted to pray for her. So he put his hand on Mimi's shoulder and his other hand on my shoulder and offered a most sincere prayer. I was moved to tears almost but tried to keep my composure. When his prayer was over, I told him thank you and then looked at Mimi. Her eyes were brimming with tears. I'm sure there was a recollection of praying and she felt the comfort that communing with Heavenly Father brings. It was a most tender moment. I have many friends that I communicate with that are not LDS. When they have health concerns or troubles, we always say, "I will remember you in my thoughts and prayers." I know that the faith we have when we ask for these healing blessings is the most important part of the request. Sunday I again felt and re-learned the lesson that all of Heavenly Father's children have the strength gained from faith and prayers. We can all strenghten each other by showing and offering those faith and prayers for each other. What a great thing to bind all of us together no matter what our religious persuasion.

Mum's The Word...

So, yesterday was Mother's Day. I have struggled with this holiday for years. There are several possibilities of why I feel this struggle. In 1970-1971 when I was pregnant with Nissa I was working as a beautifician (cosmetologist if you want to be REAL fancy). I was blissfully pregant during my 1st year of marriage and having a very healthy pregnancy (aside from the morning sickness which many of us have and can attest to as one of the worst kinds of hurling know to females). One of my regular patrons was a young sister in our ward. Her hubby was also in the Air Force. She also was pregnant and miscarried. She had done this many times and they were beginning to accept that she might not be able to carry a child. My heart ached for this sweet young sister. It made me very aware of my growning abdomen when she came to the beauty shop and when we visited at Church. I just felt great concern for all those who try to have children and can't on Mother's Day. My other thought is that we really play up Mother's Day and we often just do a little for Father's Day. It just seemed inequitable. So for several reasons, I have struggled with Mother's Day. Given all that beginning information, this year was just a great day. When I woke up to get ready for Church, my hubby brought a little box and a card to me. The box was from Lenox. I opened it and found inside a beautiful silver bracelet with a turtle hanging as its onament. If you know me, you know my favorite word is turtle. Over the years I have collected a few turtles and so this bracelet was a real treat. It also helped determine what I would wear to Church so that it would match the bracelet. I was asked to substitute playing the organ for sacrament meeting. I love to play the organ and don't get to do that very often. I considered that opportunity a blessing for me on Mother's Day. After Church, we hurried home to get in relaxing clothes for the rest of the day. Jake called and we had such a nice visit. We chatted about lots of stuff and it felt good to hear from my son and get to talk for so long. Then Claude prepared a dinner of barbequed chicken, baked beans, potato salad and rolls. Mimi and Papa joined us and we visited and then had that wonderful dinner followed by Oreo cookie ice cream cake from Dairy Queen for dessert. Yummm. We wore Mimi right out and Papa took her back to the nursing home. I just missed the call from Nissa and kids. I got a great singing message on my cell phone from them of "Happy Mother's Day to You". I just love that. The mini-Marx's called. Michael was trying to give the phone to Hayden and (if is understood correctly) Hayden said something to Michael about needing to finish chewing or 'she will not understand'. I love the honesty of little ones. Then our friends Dawn & Justin Buttars came over and helped finish the chicken, beans and potato salad. We visited until about 9pm and then they headed back to Georgetown. I loved sitting on the front porch on a beautiful day. I loved visiting with family. I loved my turtle bracelet and that wonderful meal fixed by my guy. It was a good day. I'm including 2 pictures with this blog entry. This one was taken last Thanksgiving and is me hugging Mimi. Love her little heart she just keeps hanging in there. We had a real struggle to get her into Papa's car for him to take her back to the nursing home. We are probably at the end of our being able to bring her out to Sadieville. But it was wonderful to have her close for one more Mother's Day.

This other picture is the card the mini-Marx's sent to me for Mother's Day. It is Bailey and Hayden's hand prints made into little sheep. I need more magnets for my fridge & freezer!!

I hope your Mother's Day was enjoyable. I thank my family for making this Mother's Day just delightful. I love each of you bunches!!

Grandmonster Encounter...

I have not had a Hayden and Bailey encounter since the weekend before my surgery. Claude has been able to see and play with them several times but I have not because of stitches, weight restrictions for lifting, etc. I have been blessed to have several extended conversations with Master Hayden over the telephone. We ramble on about trains, sharks, St. John's pre-school, etc., etc. I truly enjoy talking to this little guy for as long as he wants to talk. But yesterday we went to the Marx home after cleaning the temple to pick up a microwave she was giving to Papa. We arrived during quiet time. We knocked on the door so that if the munchkins were asleep we wouldn't wake them. Then we quietly entered and headed to the family room to sit and wait for them to wake up. Andie was aware we arrived and went and got Master Hayden to come down the stairs. Now, bless Andie's heart, she had gone over in detail with Hayden the does and don't's with Ma when she came to visit. As I stood at the bottom of the stairs, Hayden came down very quietly holding Andie's hand. There is nothing like the sight of little kids eyes and smiles when you haven't seen them for a long time. Hayden and I just looked at each other for a what seemed long time. Now, normally he runs and jumps up and I grab him and he throws his arms and legs around me in a vice grip and we hug and snuggle with me standing and holding him for a long, long time. What were we to do now. I knew Andie had had her 'talk' with him. I knew my doctor had had his 'talk' with me (so had Claude and Papa and they were watching to see if I would be obedient!). So here we were at the bottom of the stairs looking at each other trying to figure out how we could handle this need to hug and yet need to be careful. I sat on the bottom stair and we did a gentle hug. Hayden began assuring me that we were NOT going to touch my tummy, and we WERE going to be gentle. Then he held my hand with his little soft hand and said, "I'll walk with you and help you walk carefully." I ask you, can it get sweeter than that?? I sat on a chair in the family room and Hayden began his verbalization of all things that run through that rapid motion brain of his. He had 4 willing adults ready to listen to his every word and we were each sitting in a different place so he was moving all over the room, hand and arms describing as well as all those words all the things of his little heart. Andie is doing a thing with green, yellow and red light foods. Green light foods you can eat all of whenever you want. Yellow light foods have a little nutrition and a lot of sugar so you can't have those without special permission and red light foods are really not good for you. These are only eaten after eating a really good meal. Now, if you have followed Hayden's growth, you know that eating is something that has required many hours of work. So having him know these things about green light foods and abiding and eating by these principles in a great step. So we played a game where we would name foods and he would tell us if they were green, yellow or red light foods. Guess what??? Dr. Pepper is a red light food. Hmmmmm.... Hayden also told Papa about the caterpillars his pre-school class has been watching change into butterflies. He says they are in the chrysalis stage now. Then Claude asked him if he knew how they got the name 'butterfly'. I'm sure Claude had a very witty comment to make as an answer for that question (you could see it in him eyes) but Hayden looked at him and said he knew how they got that name...God gave it to them. Well, we all laughed and Claude knew that whatever his witty response was, Hayden had out done him. Eventually Hayden and I went up to his room to see his train tracks that he has recently made to fill the floor of his bedroom. Then Miss Bailey woke up and we had lots of snuggles in the rocking chair in her room. Then down stairs to find that Pa she loves so much. Hayden and Andie had a surprise for Papa. Sunday was his 81st birthday. So Andie made him a special cake and committed Hayden to secrecy. Once Bailey was present we all headed to the dining room to enjoy a surprise for Papa birthday cake. Andie had made a cake in the shape of a guitar and frosted it like a guitar. Papa had Hayden help him blow out the candles after Hayden led us in a rousing rendition of 'Happy Birthday to You'. Bailey climbed up in my lap and helped me by eating the M&M's used as decoration for the neck of the guitar. Papa was very surprised. I was amazed once again at Andie's ability to make the right kind of cake for the occasion. Then we retired to the living room and Papa sat on the end of the sofa and stretched his legs out and fell asleep. Bailey was on the love seat with Claude playing and at some point realized Papa was asleep. She bounded that little body down and ran over to Papa and whacked him on the leg and said, "Wake up Papa, Wake up!!" It was so sudden and so quick it caught us off guard and we were all rolling with laughter. Papa thought we put her up to it but we assured him it was of her on design. On the drive home, we kept say, "Wake up Papa, Wake up!!" It was a great visit with the mini-Marx's. Thank you Andie for making such a wonderful cake for Papa. Thank you Hayden and Bailey for a couple of hours of entertainment and a lifetime of love.

The House of the Lord...

Living in a temple district with a smaller temple has certain advantages that living near a larger temple (i.e. Washington, DC) didn't have. Each ward in the Louisville Temple District is assigned several times a year to come to the Louisville Temple to help clean for 2 hours on a Tuesday afternoon. In Washington DC we attended the temple as patrons and even served as temple ordinance workers. But the cleaning of the Temple was a paid position. Since living in Kentucky Claude and I have been out-of-town each time our ward was assigned to provide 4 people to help clean the temple. This year the first 2 days this assignment fell to the Georgetown Ward (our home ward) was in May. Claude, being the high priest group leader, it fell his lot to get together 4 people for each of these 2 times to serve in cleaning our Louisville Temple. I was so happy at the first of the year because I would be in town and available for this assignment. THEN...I was assigned surgery and recuperation so I figured my cleaning days would have to wait until 2010. The 2nd date for this month filled up with volunteers quickly but yesterday's chance did not fill up for whatever reason. Dave Rennick, a counselor in our stake presidency and dear friend, said he would love to go. Claude could go. That left a need for 2 people. Claude called Dave and asked him just how strenuous the work could be. Dave said the last time he helped with the cleaning he was dusting pictures all day. Dave is over 6 feet talk. So Claude asked Papa and I to go and help. Papa had helped last year. We figured this body could now hold up a duster at minimum. If I had to quit or they didn't have anything I could do, then I would head to the car and work on my crocheting. So yesterday afternoon Claude, Papa and I drove to the Louisville Temple to help clean. I always love looking at things familiar with a new perspective. I think that is why we enjoy little children so much. They give us a truly fresh perspective on what we have already been through. We were each given a white jump suit and white socks to wear as we cleaned. I found this jumpsuit totally comfortable. I might get me one for home!! Then we sat in the waiting/kitchen area until time to start. Bro. Schumacher is responsible for the cleaning of the temple and directs the efforts each Tuesday. Pres. Hettinger, the temple president, spoke to us for a minute before we began. He told us that he had called Salt Lake City for clarification and then shared with us what he was asking for clarification about. With the 'New Family Search' going into the temples, it is really speeding up the time it takes to get family file names through the temple. It is anticipated that within 90 days of the time a name gets to the temple, ALL the work for that name should be completed. If it is not, the name will be returned to Salt Lake and then forwarded to a temple that can get the work completed within the next 90 days. This means that in 6 months from the time a name is submitted through the 'New Family Search' it should be completed and we would track its progress through 'New Family Search'. Pres. Hettinger said it has been a source of great concern with the 'New Family Search' that the smaller temple has had to ask families to only bring in 10 names at a time so everyone has a fair chance at getting through their family file names. With this new computerized process we are being asked to submit those hundreds of names to Salt Lake for others to help us with. We are encouraged to keep a few for us to do as individuals but to open the others up for the temple to use as temple files names. Then the members will being doing all this family file work as temple file names for others. What a day and age we live in. Dave Rennick had warned Bro. Schumacher about my surgery and when I signed in Bro. Schumacher told me he was aware and would assign me according to my abilities and to tell him if I needed to rest. The temple is a place where everyone is sooooo thoughtful and considerate and where what you bring is always acceptable and very much appreciated. I was given my feather-like duster and sent on an errancd to dust pictures. I was even shown how to do it before going off to dust. I determined I would follow the advice I learned years ago that when you get in a maze and need to find your way out, put out one arm and keep touching the wall on that side and eventually you will find your way out. I chose my left side and made my way through the entire temple that way. May I tell you that the pictures on the women's dressing room side are different from the pictures on the men's dressing room side. I knew that pictures are carefully selected for the rooms in our temples and church buildings. So I tried to look at them and where they were located and see if I could learn from that experience. By the recommend desk there is a painting of Mary holding the baby Jesus as they took him to the temple when 8 days old. I looked at that picture and thought how when we enter the temple we are all like little children, ready to learn and grow with each temple experience. As we enter, we are rededicating ourselves to living a covenant life and preparing ourselves to be trained in how to live so as to return our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ prepared to live with them as they live. I suggest to each of you temple recommend holders that as you visit the temple next, note the pictures and see if you don't find at least one of them that makes your temple visit more uplifting. My other favorite is in the hallway by the entrance to the women's dressing room. It is of the Savior at the tomb and Mary has just recognized that he is the Savior. Dusting pictures was a treasured experience. My 2nd assignment was to take wet wipes and clean all the telephones and receivers throughout the temple. I'm sure this is done regularly but with the flu virus going around today it had added significance. My 3rd assignment was to dust the inside backs of the chairs in the endowment room. I must confess, this would not have been on any cleaning list I can think up and I'm really, really good at making lists. My 4th assignment was to clean the top of the recommend desk, the tops of the 2 tables in the kitchen area, the counter in the kitchenette, and the top of the desk in the confirmation room in the baptistry. My 5th assignment was to dust the tops of the tables in the celestial room. Now, here I came across a little black bug. How he got there I'll never know but I scooped him up in the cleaning rag I was given and folded him inside of it till we were finished and then carried him out. I was very amused he was in the celestial room and he was not dressed in white. My mind is a little quirky that way. My final assignment was just amusing to me. There is a set of french doors from the lobby area into the baptistry. It has little glass window panes all over each door and the side panels so you can stand in the lobby and watch what is happening in the baptistry. There were some finger prints on the glass panes of these doors. So Papa and I were given responsibility for cleaning it. Ahhh, the flood of memories that brought back. When we lived in Denver years and years ago and my kids were little, one of the things I found helpful when they were having sibling rivalry was to place one on each side of a window and have them clean it. Eventually the frowns turned to grins and they would end up happy with each other again. Now here I stood, Windex and paper towels in hand, on the opposite side of a door from my 81 year old father, cleaning the windows in the House of the Lord. Yes, I smiled. As we were finishing up our work, our stake patriarch was dusting the silk flower arrangements throughout. He thought he was done but then he asked to all of us standing there turning in our cleaning supplies, "Are there flowers in the men's room?" He wanted to be sure he hadn't missed anything. Pres. Hettinger said, "I don't think so." Bro Schumacher said, "I don't think so." Me, the only female there and a stake Relief Society president said, "If there are, they will have been placed there by the Relief Society. I don't think we have done that." This led to a hearty chuckle by all the priesthood. I am truly grateful I was able to do this work. I am grateful there was a little time to sit between assignments. I am grateful that what I could bring to do service was acceptable and truly appreciated no matter how small. I am grateful that now, as I go to the temple, I'll see it with a broadened vision of the care and service needed to maintain this building so that when I enter the cares of the world can be placed in perspective as I relax and feel the Spirit inside that most peaceful place on the earth, the House of the Lord.

'Days of the Week' (not underwear!!) Poem...

Do you read Mother Goose to your children? It was a favorite when I read to my kids 30+++ years ago. One of my favorites as a child was the 'Days of the Week' poem about a child's day of birth. For some reason this Monday morning that is what popped into my head. So I Googled the first line of the poem in hopes of finding a copy of it. The first website I found had the poem and also a place to put in your birthdate information so you can find the day of the week in which you were born. Then this lovely author put a description of your day of the week so you would know what it meant. Imagine...an explanation for Mother Goose!! I really like the positive spin she places on the explanation of each of these days of the week. So...here is the link for this cute little website: http://www.bethanyroberts.com. It turns out Bethany Roberts write children's books and uses animals as the characters in the stories. A cursory glance at her books makes me think they might be a fun purchase for kids. Here is the poem: Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace, Wednesday's child is full of woe, Thursday's child has far to go, Friday's child is loving and giving, Saturday's child works hard for a living, But the child born on the Sabbath Day Is fair and wise and good and gay. I was born on Sunday, July 30, 1950. Claude was born on Tuesday. Nissa was born on Friday. Todd I cannot compute because I do not have the year of his birth yet. Andie was born on Saturday. Michael was born on Friday. Jake was born on Friday. Katelyn was born on Monday. Paul was born on Wednesday. Aubrey Anne was born on Saturday. Hayden was born on Saturday. Bailey was born on Thursday. There, another tidbit of my past enjoyment. Have a very merry Monday!!

Flavius Josephus...

Last Friday, May 1st, I determined was the date on which I would begin to walk on my treadmill again. I have not done this since probably last December with regularity and was told by the doctor not to do it until sufficiently healed. He didn't want me to fall while walking and tear stitches...ooooowwww...neither did I. So somehow I got the date of May 1st as sufficient time for healing. Thursday the 30th of April marked 5 weeks since surgery so I was just sure I would be fine. Friday, I got on the treadmill and determined to start sssslllloooowwww. I set that puppy at 1 mile and hour and it wasn't but a few seconds before I realized that, even in my impaired state, I still walk faster than 1 mile per hour. So up to 2 miles per hour I went and walked for 16 minutes. It was exhilarating!!! Well, really I was quite tired after I got through but the high of actually doing something a little more strenuous that lifting a crochet hook felt really, really, really great! I have often sat in the nursing home and watched everyone but my mom and a couple of other residents live their lives in a wheel chair. At those moments I have thanked my Heavenly Father for the ability to still be able to walk. Knowing that I could live in a wheel chair if called to do that for whatever reason, I was determined to appreciate the use of my legs and movement. So this return to my treadmill was just a great, big, HUGE, blessing. This morning I walked for 22 minutes. Hopefully by the end of this week I'll be back to my 1/2 hour each day and begin to move the speed up a little. How does Josephus fit into this picture...well let me tell you. In September 2005, Claude and I made a dream trip to Israel. I prepared for that by reading my Bible before the trip and then I borrowed Papa's copy of Josephus. This was something that had always intrigued me and I really wanted to read it. So I determined it would be my reading material for the trip. I hefted this heavy volume of history all the way to Israel and read it on the plane. Now, if you have never seen this book, let me share with you it is the tiniest print that man could possible read and it is VERY thick. I marvel that with his hand Josephus must have written it. Not with a word processor mind you but with quill and ink on some type of rough paper. Of course it was not written in English. So I have a translation of the entire works of Josephus from a Greek original version. I am totally enjoying the extended reading project and found that the best time to read this book was when walking on the treadmill. In 1/2 hour you can read the front and back of about 3 pages. I can only walk at 2.8 mph or the movement is too jumpy to see the page through my reading glasses. The words used are phenomenal. There are some really long words and they are fun to try and understand in context of the sentence they are in. There is, of course, the wonderful names of people and places that are in languages that I can only try to pronounce in my head. Then there is all the intrigue and violence of living in royal families or conquering the land the Lord has given you. This is really heady stuff. So I title my entry for today 'Flavius Joseph' in honor of that great book I am into the 2nd half of as I begin to walk on my beloved treadmill again. Viva Life!! (Is that redundant?)