Claude stayed in Utah for a week. I was only there Friday night thru Sunday afternoon. On Tuesday, June 4th, I received this picture from Claude. It is of the cemetery at which we purchased our burial plots. Claude and his mother were discussing funeral arrangements and things of that nature. This is the diagram she drew of the plots owned by members of the family and how we would be laid to rest.
In case there was any question whatsoever...we will fit in our plots. Right there, side-by-side, till the resurrection. Yup. That is Sandi and Claude giving the grave plots a try out to the amusement of the remainder of our family. This picture was taken May 28, 2011.
On June 5th I received a link from Jake to an NPR story about turtles and dogs. It seems in Iowa they have trained dogs to sniff out rare turtles in the wild. The dogs gently pick the turtle up with their teeth and bring them to the people tracking them. I love turtles. So Jake sent this to me because of that love of turtles. I thanked him for remembering me and sending me this very neat news story. His reply, "Those dogs better be careful putting their mouths so close to wild turtles." This was a very tongue-in-cheek comment. You see, when our Jake was beginning kindergarten we had a pet turtle. It was a wild box turtle I found crossing a street. I picked it up and put it in the back seat of my car and took it home. The kids befriended this little turtle, named it Toby, made a two room home for it out of cardboard boxes, changed the sign on the fence to our backyard from "Beware of Dogs" to "Beware of Turtle". Toby was a big thing for a brief while at our home. Jake would get up every morning and run water from the bathroom tap over his shell to give him a bath. Then Jake would kiss the turtle. The morning of his very first school picture, I heard a blood curdling "Ma!!" I ran to the bathroom to find Toby hanging from Jake's lip. Apparently it was time for Toby to hibernate and he was trying to get that message across to this family that loved him so much. That afternoon Jake let Toby go back into the wild. Here is my little kindergartner with his Toby kiss on his upper lip. Go ahead, laugh, it is quite funny.
June 6th I got my annual mammogram. All is well for another year.
Also on June 6th I heard a news story about a leopard in Kruger National Park killing a 2 year old. Ugh! Our big trip this year is to Kruger National Park. Hmmmm...
Friday, June 7th, Claude returned from Utah very late in the evening. Yeah!! (Can you feel the rhythm of ups and downs in these paragraphs?)
Saturday and Sunday, June 8th and 9th was the Lexington Kentucky North Stake Conference. This year we had Elder Steven R. Bangerter of the Seventy attending. He held us in captive attention at the Saturday evening session with stories of serving with Pres. Russell M. Nelson and what he, Elder Bangerter, does as a Seventy. In addition Saturday night Bro. Russell spoke. He had a lovely southern accent. He mentioned he was from Louisiana. My ears perked up and I wanted to find him after and ask where he was from in Louisiana. But, I missed him.
Sunday morning Elder Bangerter spoke again. One phrase really stuck with me. He said it was something his father taught him that had great meaning to him. The thought was "guard the private times of your lives". He explained that true honesty occurs in the private times of our lives. I love that phrase and it gives me pause to appreciate and guard the private times in my life.
Brother Russell and his wife were in attendance Sunday as well. After the meeting, I made my way to them and extended my hand to shake Elder Russell's hand. I told him I was also from Louisiana and asked where in Louisiana he was from. He said it was a small town that I probably didn't even know, Many, Louisiana. I assured him that was in my stake when I was a child and our stake president was from there. His name was Pres. Belial. He knew this man. He indicated he also knew Shreveport. At that point his wife finished talking with someone and turned to see who was talking about Shreveport. I told her my parents were Vernon and Virginia Lawrence. She had this happy and surprised look on her face. I told her I was Sandi Christensen now. She said, "I am Suzanne Clements!" One my heavens, someone from my childhood who lives in LaGrange. It was fun catching up just a bit before Claude and I had to go and facilitate a class. This is one tiny little world and one never knows who one might run into.
Saturday the 8th I also received a message from Jake to me and his father. He stated he wanted to be given credit for the Christensen dermatology award this year. He had been to his dermatologist and had two pre-cancerous spots removed from his face. He does hold the record for our family so far this year.
Our youngest grandmonster has wanted to see Hamilton ever since she heard of the play. Her parents surprised her with tickets and on June 10th Andie took Bailey to see Hamilton. Our Bailey was over-the-moon to say the least.
Thursday, June 13th, I met up with an old friend and we had breakfast together. She was a student in an Institute class I taught. She left the church but we have stayed friends on Facebook. My life is so wrapped up in a daily visit with Papa that I often bypass meeting out with others. When I was looking for a Sadieville t-shirt for us to take to Sadie, our niece, when we were in Utah, I happened to notice a wooden refrigerator magnet with an arrow stitched through the block of wood. I just felt like it needed to be purchased and given to Justice. I bought it and got in contact with Justice. The result was our having breakfast together. The server came to our table and told us our food was getting cold, we better stop talking so much and eat. We all laughed. It was great seeing Justice again. She is a wonderful person and I count myself blessed to be her friend.
Yesterday, Friday, I took Papa out of the nursing home to go to the church while I practiced the organ. He enjoyed it so much. I played for about an hour. By then the arthritis in my hands was giving me fits. I went from the organ to the seats in the congregation and asked Papa if he wanted to go get a chocolate shake or listen to more music. This man who loves chocolate and anything sugary declined the shake in favor of more music. I said a silent prayer for Heavenly Father to help these old hands play a little longer. We made it from Hymn #1 through to Hymn #85. Papa would follow along while I played. He didn't sing this time but he loved the music so much.
Papa is really getting stir crazy in the nursing home. He used to listen to the television with the headsets. Now he can't work them. He used to read a lot. Now his eyes get tired and sore and he has to quit reading. This severely limits what he has to fill his time. We have given him books with pictures instead of lots of words. That is easier on his eyes. He has photo albums and two books with his geneology in them. But he is still just bored to tears. So, for my visit today, I took him to get a soda and then sit in the car with the windows down and play his game on my old Kindle. Then I went to the grocery store and he sat in the car and played his game while I got some barbecued ribs for Claude. He was extremely happy to be out for a bit. Now we have rain for the next week. We'll see how we do with that!
Friday night was our turn to clean the church. We had a crew of three families. Claude and I are the team leaders. All done in one hour. Yeah us!! And...it appeared all the kids had jobs they enjoyed doing. That is a plus.
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