And now, the End is Here...

Sunday, Oct. 24th would be a tender day for me. For the last 4 years I have served with the best of the best as the stake Relief Society presidency for the Lexington North Stake.

My first counselor has been Lisa Adams. I have called her 'Isaiah' at times. This is because she has such great inspiration when it comes to determining how we wanted to do something. She has such a strong testimony of the gospel. Her personal life has been very difficult and she has chosen to make her life into a positive. This has created such a strength in her. She knows who she is and what direction she wants her life to take. I've had to turn things over to her on several occasions to take my place as the president. There was never any concern in doing this. She has been supported in all she has done by her dear hubby David.

My second counselor has been Laura Carter. This dear lady has such a quick mind. I wish I could think that fast on my feet. She has a full life caring for her daughter and her mother. But she doesn't miss a beat in her service in Relief Society. She is a biker chick and that immediately created a bond between us. She has so many talents that quietly came out as she served. She is an artist and can also write beautiful, uplifting pieces of music. She has always been sensitive to my ups and downs and seemed to be able to call when I needed her even without me asking. She has been supported in all she does by her dear hubby Howard.

My secretary has been Barbara Mason. Barbara served as secretary to the previous stake Relief Society president so she has been at this longer than any of the rest of us. Even with those extra years of service she has not slacked or shown any slow down in her service. She has been quick to get our minutes to us so we had our list of assignments to follow through. She has kept a great history book of our 4 years of service. She has also been our rock when it comes to the food planning of any event we did. She just automatically took that roll and went with it. She was always great to travel with to visit the other wards and knows everyone. I could count on her to help me put names and faces together as I tried to learn who everyone was in our stake. She has been supported by W.C. whom we love.

Our photographer has been Miss Jessie Carter. Her mother is Laura, my 2nd Counselor. Jessie is such a sweet, caring person. Her excitement at being called and sustained over the pulpit to this calling was just pure joy to observe. She has dutifully carried her camera on the visits she has been able to make with us and the events she has attended. I can't even imagine the number of photos she has taken during the last 4 years. I have felt uplifted as she would quietly say, "Sandy...I love you!" I just filled my heart to hear those words from such a pure heart. We often commented to each other that we are sisters. We both loved saying and feeling that.

Sunday, Claude, acting in his high councilor role, released our presidency (with a bit of a choked up voice) and presented the new stake Relief Society presidencies names for sustaining vote by the membership. It was a tender moment.

Our presidency has been the best presidency I have ever served in. I've served in a lot of them in the Church. I have truly loved all of them but there was just something about this group of us that was so right at just this time in each of each our lives. Laura's hubby nicknamed us the Stake Relief Society Play Group (SRSPG). That was a great name. I shall be eternally grateful that each of these wonderful women came into my life at just this time. They have been a strength and support. They have loved and cared for me in ways I needed at this particular time in my life. We have laughed together, we have cried together, we have prayed together over our callings and our family issues, we planned training and events together, and we have traveled throughout our stake and visited the sisters in all the wards together. Lots of hours and each was well spent and full of rich blessings.

We are sad to not be serving together. But we have formed strong friendships that will last throughout our lives. I just love these ladies and am very, very, very grateful for each of them and the part they have played in the last four years of my life. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for placing them in my path and life.

Count Down to Saturday...

This week would be a very busy one for me. Our stake Relief Society presidency was finishing up preparation for a special program for all the ladies in our stake title Circle of Sisters. My week would be full of getting ready for this event.

Sunday, Oct. 17th I was able to visit Pioneer Ward. Claude headed in earlier to Georgetown Ward where he was to give his first talk as high councilor in the Lexington North Stake. As I was getting ready I checked my purse to get my glasses to read as I blew my hair dry and curled it. When I opened my purse I found Claude's glasses. He placed them in there the night before when we went in to see the Eagles, just in case he would need them. We had forgotten to take them out.

I went into hyper-speed to get ready and get to the Georgetown Building to get Claude his glasses before he had to give his talk. I got there and the meeting was in full swing but Claude had not given his talk yet. I stood in the doorway at the back and held up his glasses. He saw me and nodded. One of the young deacons came to the back, took the glasses and walked to the front and gave them to Claude. I decided to stay and listen to his first talk as a high councilor. He did great!!

Then I hurried off to visit Pioneer Ward. Followed by a visit to Papa and to Mimi. Then back to home in Sadieville.

Monday, Oct 24th and Tuesday, Oct. 25th, Andie brought Hayden and Bailey out. She always likes to have them go see Mimi in their Halloween costumes. Papa came out Monday evening and we cooked out and had some family fun.

The first picture is Tiny chasing Hayden & Bailey up the hill on our lot next door. The next picture is Papa putting air in his tires. He explained it to Hayden and you can clearly see Hayden explaining it to Papa. It turned out to be a great day to color with chalk on the driveway, play in the fountain grass in the back yard and take a walk down by the creek.

If you note Bailey is carrying a black plastic toy. Yep, it is a rat. While cleaning out City Hall for our Comin' Home Birthday Celebration for Sadieville, this black plastic rat was found. Claude brought it home and I found it on my kitchen counter. We showed it to Hayden and Bailey when they visited and told them it was Templeton from the Charlotte's Web story. Bailey fell in love and carried it with her both days. When she had quiet time on Monday, we could hear her yelling over the monitor, "Mommy, can I take Templeton home with me?" over and over. She did borrow Templeton but if he never returns to Sadieville it is okay with Claude and me.

Tuesday we had our visit to the nursing home. The kids were a huge hit with the residents. Mimi even brightened up a bit when she saw them in their costumes.

A good time was had by all. We thank Ms. Cannon for wearing lots of bracelets to entertain Bailey. Papa was invited to join us for lunch but he stayed to feed Mimi lunch. He told us later that as they were getting ready to feed Mimi he said something to her about getting to see her great grandchildren in their Halloween costumes. She looked up and clear as a bell said, "Yes I did!!" This brought Papa great joy.

We headed to Cici's Pizza for our lunch before Andie and the kids hit the road to return to La Grange. Claude was in the Jeep and got there before us. I got a call on my cell phone as we were pulling up to the light in front of Walmart. He informed us Cici's is no more. It has closed it's doors permanently. This was a crushing blow. We have made that a bit of a family tradition to all go to Cici's at least once when all the grandmonsters are here. Our Paul LOVES pizza. Claude saves quarters and treats all of them to a round of games in their game room after everyone eats. That is not going to happen again now.

A quick decision was made to head to Steak and Shake for dinner instead. We had a good meal and then Andie and kids headed home to LaGrange.

Wednesday, Oct. 20th Papa and I sang at the nursing home.

Thursday, Oct. 21st Claude was in Frankfort all day for training. I was at home so the carpet cleaning guys could come and do their cleaning thing on my upstairs carpet. I expected them to show up at 11am or noon. Claude and I moved as much furniture as we could the night before. I had my sofa and my loveseat in the breakfast area. We moved the dining room carpet out to the deck and put the rest of the living room chairs and end tables in it. The bathrooms were full of furniture. I waited, and I waited, and I waited. They called a couple of times to say they were coming soon. They finally got there about 4:30 or 5pm and were not done until between 6:30 and 7pm. They did a wonderful job. Claude had a meeting in the evening at Church and when he got home at 9pm the carpet was still wet. We couldn't move the furniture back until Friday. This meant Friday evening because Claude was off to Frankfort early Friday morning for the end of the conference.

I did not see this as an issue until I got a call from Papa Thursday evening. I made the Jell-O portion of my desserts for our Saturday Relief Society event. I was about to head to the basement to finish my talk and other things I needed to finish preparing. Papa called and told me he heard from Diane Touchstone, my cousin, and she and her friend Billy were coming for a visit. Now, usually Papa's company stays in my guest room. However, that night I didn't need any walking on my clean and still very damp carpet by anymore people than really needed to be on it. Papa assured me they would stay with him that night. I told him they could come on Friday and help me move furniture back in place and then stay in the guest room if they wanted.

This sent me into high gear to get things done so I could have some time to visit with them in addition to a full list of things to do to prepare for Saturday. I got programs printed and some things collected on Thursday.

Friday, Oct. 22nd I got up and put the light pieces of furniture in place and the things that sit on tops of tables and the plants in place. I left the big stuff for when I had help. I got everything done with the exception of baking the rest of my desserts and finishing my talk. I called Papa and told him I would meet him in Georgetown and take them all to lunch.

We had lunch at Papa's favorite Mexican restaurant. Then they headed out to find Loretta Lynn's home in Butcher Holler. I headed to get Tiny and take her home with me for the afternoon.

Friday evening Claude and I met my presidency and we all had dinner together at Logan's Roadhouse. It was great to be with these wonderful ladies and their side-kicks. Our high councilor, Jaime Kumar joined us. It was great fun. Claude gave them pens and suckers from his campaign for Mayor. I gave my presidency each a journal to thank them for all their hard work over the last 4 years. Then we headed to the stake center to decorate for our big Saturday event.

After decorating, Claude and I returned home. We were surprised to find Tiny still in our house. Papa was going to come by and take her home after their trip into the mountains of eastern Kentucky. Hmm...I wondered what had happened.

I started the baking process and the making of dough to be fried into another dessert Saturday morning. Papa finally got there about 11:30pm. He took Tiny and headed back to Georgetown with Diane and Billy. I continued my baking and dough making. Then I headed to the basement to finish my talk. I got to sleep about 1:30am.

Saturday, Oct. 23rd was an early rise day. I was up by 5am to fry up the Bunuelos for another of the desserts. My home quickly filled with smoke from the grease I used for the frying. I opened windows and doors and continued to fry until 7:15am. Then I hit the showers because we needed to leave by 8am for the Church.

Circle of Sisters was just a wonderful event.

• Our hubby's wore our camouflage aprons from an earlier event and took over the kitchen duties for us. They have worked so well together over the last 4 years in the kitchen, helping us set-up and take down, serve food and whatever we needed them to do.
• We had beautiful music for this event. Lisa Adams, my 1st Counselor, wrote words to go to the music "It's A Small World" that fit our theme. Laura Carter, my 2nd Counselor, wrote a new song and set it to music. Karen Cooper from the Paris Ward sang this as a solo. It was just so tender and moving. Our presidency plans singing and recording it later. Laura has to be gramma to a soon-to-be-born grandson first.
• We invited four ladies from our stake to tell us about their country of origin, their conversion story, what the church was like in their country and bear their testimonies. These ladies were from Ireland, Chile, Ghana and the Philippines. Their stories were so moving and made us truly aware of what blest lives we live here in the United States.
• I gave the key note address about Relief Society and it's being a worldwide sisterhood.
• Our stake president was our concluding speaker.
• Our lunch was Hawaiian Haystacks. To add to the feel of being a sisterhood we asked each of our eight congregations of sisters to bring one of the toppings for our Hawaiian Haystacks.
• Our desserts were recipes provided by each of the sisters from the four countries. Here is where I learned that we are the sugar capital of the world. Without fail as I asked each of the ladies to participate and requested a simple recipe from each of them that I could prepare and serve for the dessert that day, they looked at me with a puzzled expression. You see, we are the sugar fiends. In Ghana and the Philippines they really use fruits and/or vegetables that are available. The Ghana recipe was made with plaintains. The Philippine recipe was a vegetable bread made with casava. The Chilean recipe was a dough that is cut in rectangles, a slit is cut in one end of the rectangle and the other end is pulled thru that slit. The name 'bunuelos' actually translates into 'torn shorts' which is what the shape of the dough is after this cutting and pulling through. The sister from Ireland told me that when she came to the United States she was appalled that we actually put Jell-O on our plates and ate it with our main meal. They never do that in Ireland. She said that if they have Jell-O in Ireland it the red variety and it is served with ice cream on the top as a dessert. So I made red Jell-O and took the liberty of adding some mixed fruit to it. Then Claude bought some vanilla ice cream to go on top. It was a hit for desserts.
• We also showed our slideshow of hands of the sisters in our stake as everyone was arriving.

It was a great morning with all these wonderful ladies attending and participating. Displays of artifacts from these countries were enjoyed as lunch was eaten. We left feeling very good about this event and have had many comments from the sisters who attended that were very positive.

Saturday afternoon Papa brought Diane and Billy out and they watched football on the big screen TV in the basement. Diane did some laundry. Claude grilled chicken and made a wonderful dinner for us.

It was a very, very, very full and rewarding week.

Rockin' Along...

It has been a while since I was able to sit long enough to complete Blogs. Since this is my journal, I want to catch up on a few of the things I did since October 11th when I made my last real entry.

Tuesday, October 12th Claude and Papa changed shifts with Phyllis Beaman at the Family History Center. As it turned out, Papa was not well that day and I covered his shift with Claude. I had an absolutely wonderful time. I took some books of Mimi's family history with me to start cleaning out and streamlining her things.

Mimi has several books of geneology and there is a LOT of duplication of documents. I sat for 2 1/2 hours and compared family group records and noted the differences on one set of records so that I could toss the extra papers. It was pure delight to read through these names from long ago. Names I don't remember ever hearing before. This is a project I have had in a box in my sewing room for a long time. It has been on my long-term 'to-do' list. So it felt particularly good to actually have this time to focus on this work. I only made a teeny-tiny dent in it but look forward very much to being able to continue this work and then share my final results with my sisters.

Wednesday, October 13th Papa was still under the weather. I took a DVD to the nursing home and shared it with the residents so he could rest. This DVD was Country Music Award winning songs sung by the vocalists who recorded them. When the DVD was finished, Geraldine looked at me and said, "I like that country music."  Ah...the reward for going every week to sing for these good people who are finishing out their days in this nursing home.

Thursday, October 14th I was able to go to Cincinnati to pick up my neighbor, Nancy Bracken. She took a trip to Albuquerque to visit her son and his family. Nancy is a sweetheart who lost the love of her life last Memorial Day weekend. It was good to see her take this trip and visit her family. It was great fun to ride home and have a chance to visit. We have wonderful neighbors in Sadieville.

Friday, October 15th my extra activities were to get a hair cut in the afternoon and attend the GOP Picnic in the evening.

Getting a haircut is always a treat. Tyra is my hairdresser and she grew up in Sadieville. Her shop is called "Main Street Retreat" and it is located on Main Street right here in Sadieville. I just love visiting with her.

In the evening Claude and I headed to Brookings Park in Georgetown. The GOP Picnic was actually held in one of the exhibit buildings for the fair. One of the highly contested races for office is Andy Barr running against Ben Chandler for US Representative. He spoke to us as did Ryan Quarles who is running for State Representative against Charlie Hoffman, the long standing incumbent.  Also in attendance was Mayor Karen Tingle-Sames, Georgetown Mayor running for re-election. I met the man running for Governor on the Republican ticket next time. There was also a guest there to speak in behalf of Rand Paul. He was a Retired General and his last name was 'Storm'. I truly thought that was a great name for a military general.

The fund-raiser they do at each of these picnics is to auction off cakes. Before the event started Claude and mosied on up to the cake table to check out the selection of cakes this year. We found a really cute one with an elephant decorating the top. We both knew this was the cake we would bid on. We often tell to Hayden and Bailey when we go to a GOP function it is an 'elephant party'. Claude bid on and won the elephant cake. We were headed to LaGrange the next day and the cake would come with us to have a mini-elephant party with Hayden and Bailey. Hayden loves elephants.

Saturday, October 16th we started our day in Georgetown. This month it is the High Priests turn to clean the church building. So we started our day helping with cleaning the church.

Then we were off to LaGrange. Our evening was to be spent in Louisville, so we asked if we could spend some time with Hayden and Bailey during the day. We met them at the park close to their home after picking up some chicken for a picnic for lunch. A great deal of time was spent find acorns and filling our pockets with them.

Checking out trees was a great deal of fun. We even put some of the acorns back by hiding them like Easter eggs for the squirrels to find. I assure you that lightened the load of acorns in my pockets quite a bit.

This Miss Bailey realized there was a pond. She really needed to find Nemo, a shark and a alligator in there. So we headed out for a hike around the edge of the lake to see out aquatic life.

After a fun lunch and play at the park, it was time to head to the Marx abode for a bit before quiet time. We had our elephant party for dessert with the cake, read a train story about a little engine named Sadie, and then the Mini's and Claude headed for a nap or just to be quiet for a bit.

We stayed for just a bit after quiet time. Hayden put in Toy Story for us to watch. When Claude and I left, I rolled down the window of my car and yelled out to Hayden, Bailey & Andie standing on the front porch waving good-bye, "To Infinity and Beyond!!"  Hayden went into squeels of glee over that phrase. And as we drove to the end of the street I could hear Hayden still yelling it right back at Claude and me.

Our plan for the evening was to begin with dinner in Red Robin. We headed to where we thought Red Robin was but didn't find it till too late. We ended up eating quickly at Arby's. Since we had a chicken picnic and since Claude and I are both 'one big meal a day' people, Arby's ended up being the better deal. As we sat in Arby's I looked out the window by me and found Red Robin down the curve in a road. Now we know for next time and we really ended up with the better meal for us that particular day.

Next we headed into Louisville to the very new Yum Center. This is a huge new arena in Louisville right along the river. The show that night was the Eagles.

That's right folks, we were off to see the Eagles again. This time we had seats on the floor. They were excellent seats. My only beef was with the people in front of us. They were right in front of me and they decided they needed to have a conversation. Now, if you come to a concert, you should sing along, clap along, sway with the music, whatever...but you do not need to come to have a conversation while others are trying to listen to a band that cost a little bit to see. Plus, when you are at a concert the music in LOUD and you can't have a conversation without yelling it to each other. I have two very favorite Eagle songs. The first one of them the Eagles sang that night was by Timothy B. Schmidt called "Love Will Keep Us Alive". It is the best one he does and I love to sing along. This is when the couple in front really decided to converse because, evidently, it was not their favorite song. At one point I put my hands out like I was ready to grab something and looked at Claude and motioned that I was going to crack their heads together. Other than that one episode, the audience was great, the music was great and we just had a wonderful time. There is something really very filling about being in a huge arena and everyone singing along with the actual band they all enjoy so much.

We were very surprised to see it was midnight when they finished the concert. We headed back to Sadieville and got home at 2am. Sunday's alarm at 6:30am came way...too...early!!

Sweet 'Taters...

I haven't had time to blog in a while but will do so next week. However, I had to type a recipe to save that I got at my Countryside Homemakers Meeting on October 6th. It is an absolutely wonderful way to prepare and serve sweet potatoes. So I thought I would at least put this wonderful recipe out there until I can really sit down and blog next week. It is very timely with fall, Thanksgiving and having to take dishes for potluck meals. Enjoy!!

Sweet Potato Souffle

Hazel Mulberry’s Recipe

3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
2 eggs
1 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup margarine
1½ cups milk
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup melted butter


Mix first 7 ingredients (mixing will be easier if sweet potatoes are heated first). Pour into a 9” x 13” baking dish.


To make topping, mix brown sugar and flour well and sprinkle over the potato mixture. Grind pecans and sprinkle over the sugar mixture. Dirzzle melted butter over the pecans. Bake 1 hour at 375 degrees.

Sadieville Celebrates 130 Years...

Sadieville, Kentucky celebrates it's 130th birthday this year. The Friends of Sadieville Renaissance, Inc. (FSR), of which I am the chair, planned, prepared and hosted a birthday celebration titled 'Comin' Home' in honor of this momentous occasion. The vice-chair, Cindy Foster, of FSR took the lead as the chairperson for the committee to plan this day-long birthday party. Saturday, October 9th was the day of our event.

Lot of hours of planning, preparation and energy went into this event. We had days to clean and spruce up our City Hall and the Warring Pavilion. We prepared games, invited guest speakers on the history of Scott County and the City of Sadieville, invited musical groups to perform, made poster and flyers and signs, and the list goes on. We even had four of our stalwart men to use their truck, long trailer and brute strength to move the heavy bleachers from the park at the far end of town up to Warring Pavilion.

We ended up with this for our program:

• 11am - Prayer by Scott and welcome by Mayor Claude Christensen
• 11:15am - Mike Gillespie speaks on the history of Scott County and Sadieville
• 12 Noon - KidsFest (Games, pony rides, balloon bounce, with Corn Hole and Hillbilly Golf for the adults)
• 2pm - Anne Bevins speaks on the history of Sadieville
• 3pm - Jimtown Men's Chorus
• 4:30pm - Combined Sadieville Christian Church and Porter Church choirs
• 6pm - Birthday cake for Sadieville with special guest Sadie Pack (Sadieville was named after Sadie Pack and it is just a coincidence this young girl shares that name.)
• 6:30pm - Silent Auction and Raffles winners announced
• 7pm - Meet the Sadieville candidates for Mayor and City Commission
• 8pm - Karaoke with Merle

In City Hall we set up a historical display of Sadieville's history. Everyone really enjoyed taking time to browse through lots of pictures and artifacts and remember or learn about Sadieville.

We had lots of people who lived in Sadieville many years ago return to renew old acquaintances. This was really a tender thing to watch. It was great to sit and chat with some of these people. Claude and I have always appreciated the personality of our little town. But actually visiting with these former residents and having them say, "My home stood where the caboose is located today" was just inspiring. It really makes you feel part of a long-standing community and encourages you to add to that history in a very positive way.

Donzetta Hughes provided the food for all of us. Stewart, her hubby, is our Magistrate. They are wonderful people and we were ever so happy to have good food available all day long. We did have one mishap in the late afternoon when a lady stumbled and fell while trying to enter Warring Pavilion with a folding lawn chair. We think she caught the lawn chair on the end of one of the bleachers and that threw her off balance. Donzetta is a nurse by profession and was right their to check her out and tell her she needed to head to the hospital.

I took lots of pictures throughout the day. I'll share some below. I spoke with a local reporter at the end of the function. I'll state here that I was very enthusiastic about the outcome of this 'Comin' Home' Birthday Celebration. It was well attended, the feeling amongs the locals was sooooo good.  Friendships and sense of community were strengthened. The reviewing of our history creates such a strong foundation for our community and encourages us to continue building on that foundation in the future. I'm very tired after it is all said and done but it is that good kind of tired one feels at the end of something that was really a positive experience and a building experience.

Enjoy these few pictures of Sadieville's 130th Birthday Celebration - 'Comin' Home':

Okay, there are more than a few pictures. But this is my journal and I want to remember this experience and have it be a part of my permanent history. As I scanned back through these pictures before I publish this Blog entry, I felt really good again about all those smiles and moments in time. What great memories were built to retain and sustain when times are difficult. Was it worth the time and effort, you bet!!!