I Have Been Remiss...

January 25th I entered a regular post to my Blog. I didn't enter another until February 7th. That is almost two weeks without a blog entry.

Each time I sat down to write a Blog entry during that two weeks I searched my brain for the right 'title' for the post and couldn't find a title or the emotion to write. Sad...but true. February 7th I sat down and determined the best way to get back to my blog was to start one separate blog entry to fill with miscellaneous things (this Blog entry) and to go ahead an create the two full entries I knew I wanted to make.

When I began this Blog entry, I thought of the word 'remiss' and looked it up in my trusty dictionary I keep on my desk. The 3rd definition is the one that fits my feelings about not blogging recently. That meaning is: not energetic; languid; sluggish. That would be my feelings over the last few weeks. I can find many reasons for this feeling. Winter is really hanging on all over the place and it is particularly prolonged in Kentucky. I had bronchitis in December and Influenza A in January and it has left Claude and both tired and listless a lot of the time. We made three quick trips during that time and travel leaves one tired. And sometime, not all the time (thank heavens), a girl just gets a little blue and has to work her way through it. Even if that girl is 60 years of age.

February 7th I picked myself up by the bootstraps (figuratively speaking) and set myself back on course again. I did this by starting this particular entry and adding to it as I completed a couple of other blog entries I want to do about particular events. These are just tidbits that have happened that I want to remember and I'll let this be the 'tidbit' entry.

So here, in no particular order, are some of my tidbits of thought over the couple of missed weeks.

Got a great call from Katelyn Sunday, February 6th. She has been asked to give her first talk in Sacrament meeting on February 20th. She was so happy she was about to burst when she called to tell us. This has prompted Claude and I to make plans to attend her Sacrament meeting in Muskegon, Michigan to hear this talk. This allows us another opportunity to visit with the Michigan branch of our family again.

Wed, February 2nd, was my Countryside Homemakers meeting. I taught the lesson this month that is provided by the Scott County Extension office. It was on Green Cleaning Products. It was a fun lesson to learn about and teach. I was able to include a recipe for the veggie cleaner that Andie, my daughter, makes and a recipe for liquid soap that Bonnie, my mum-in-law, makes. It is great fun to go to the training to teach these lessons and then to present them to our own chapter. I have told our Relief Society president about this training and offered to share it with the Relief Society sisters in our ward if it is ever needed. I did that last year with the Osteoporosis class.

I did learn another very easy dessert recipe at Countryside Homemakers. Our chapter president make these delicious mint cookies. She melted the melting chocolate that comes in a block that you can break off sections of. Then she put a tiny bit of mint flavoring in that melted chocolate. Next she dipped a Ritz cracker in the chocolate so it was completely covered in chocolate. The chocolate dipped cracker was placed on wax paper to cool. I ate one of the edible wonders and it tasted exactly like a Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie. I am not kidding...it was just delightful.

At Church the members are now responsible for cleaning the building once each week. In the past, our Ward (congregation) has chosen to assign this to the auxilliaries and priesthood groups. They have determined this year to try assigning a few families each week to do this cleaning. Claude received an eMail that he and I, the Bolton family and the Durkin family were to clean the building this last Saturday, February the 5th. I called the other two families to see what time would work best for them. The Boltons could only clean Friday evening or Saturday between Eddie getting off work and then driving the kids to Louisville for a special fireside with the youth. The Durkins could clean either Friday evening or Saturday morning but only one of them could come either of those times. Claude and I needed to be able to get Papa and be to LaGrange by 11am Saturday to celebrate Bailey's birthday. We all determined to clean Friday evening at 6pm.

Claude and I arrived at the Church at 6pm. There was no one there. Neither of us has keys to the building anymore so we just waited in our car. After a bit Eddie and Bernie Bolton arrived in their car. They live across the street from the Church and have a key to the building. About that same time Kelly Durkin arrived. Eddie explained that they had friends who wanted to meet them in Frankfort Friday evening. To facilitate this, their family came over earlier and had already taken out the trash and vacuumed all the floors. This left the kitchen and the bathrooms for us to do. Eddie unlocked the building and then locked us inside to do our cleaning. This way, when we left the building would be locked. Eddie and Bernie headed to Frankfort to meet up with their friends. Kelly headed to clean the kitchen and Claude and I took the bathrooms.

I mention all of this because I was struck by the willingness of the Bolton family to pick a HUGE part of the cleaning process and tackle it as a family before the rest of us could come. How thankful we were for willing hearts and hands to get this done as quickly as possible. It was fun to work with Kelly in finishing up our cleaning duties. A big thank you to both of these families for all they did to make the responsibility as light as possible.

Tuesday, February 1st, I went to the Lexington Stake Center with Claude and Papa. They go there every 1st, 3rd and 5th Tuesday afternoon to cover a shift at the Family History Center contained in that building. I went with them so I could practice the organ for their 3 hours shift. I was to play the organ in the Lexington North Stake Center for a special stake meeting conducted by Elder David Bednar on Sunday, February 6th. I really needed time to practice. Even though this would not be the organ I would actually play, it would give me the practice of using the pedals and practicing the music on an organ instead of the piano. It was great fun and after 3 hours I was beginning to get the hang of it again.

After Claude and Papa's shift was over, Claude treated us to 5 Guys Burgers. This was Papa's first foray into 5 Guys Burgers and he totally loved his burger. Claude had the presence of mind to only buy one large fry. That was plenty for the 3 of us.

Claude attended the City Official's Academy at the Marriott in Lexington Wednesday, January 26th thru Friday, January 28th. This is training for recently elected City Officials that is done by the Kentucky League of Cities. It is excellent training. Claude has attended before. This time he attended at the Mayor of Sadieville. We have 4 newly elected City Commissioners. They each arranged their schedules so they could attend all the training. One is a mom with a little boy in pre-school. She had someone watch him for her. One works 2nd shift at Toyota. He came to the training and then went to work on his shift after that. One took vacation from his job to attend the training. We were so happy and pleased with these new commissioners dedication. Claude was so cute. He would come home and say, "All the kids were there again!!"  He was just very proud of these new commissioners.

Maybe I can stay on track now. This morning I woke up and to a beautiful scene. We had snow Tuesday and some flurries on Wednesday. It has stayed cold and the snow isn't melting. It was cold enough this morning that we woke up to ice on all the trees. It was just beautiful. The sun was coming up and shining on those trees. I took pictures but the sun was so bright it would caused lots of glare on the pictures. Sometimes it is just a gorgeous world that we live in.

A Wonderful Meeting...

Sunday, February 6th, we had a special stake meeting in lieu of our regular three hour block of meetings on Sunday. Elder David Bednar was our special guest. He is one of the 12 Apostles of our Church. Elder Posey, our Area Seventy was also in attendance.

I was to play the organ and Claude was to lead the congregation hymns. This assured us soft, comfy seats at the front of the building. I don't get to play the organ often. I love to play the organ. I don't have any real organ training but I am capable of finding a nice set of stops and playing the hymns and some prelude and postlude. However, I found myself telling Claude Sunday morning that I was a bit more nervous than usual. There would be an Apostle in attendance and it just added a little more to my level of nervousness.

We arrived at the Stake Center in Lexington an hour early. The chapel was already full of people and the cultural hall was open and filling fast. Pres. Hymas, our stake president, had asked me to start prelude 40 minutes early. I told Claude I thought I should start right away. This was confirmed as we met Pres. Hymas when we entered the chapel. So I hurried to the stand and got the organ ready to play prelude for an hour.

Elder Bednar was in charge of how the meeting went. These are some of the remarks that meant the most to me from this wonderful meeting.

Elder Posey quoted Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." What a wonderful scripture to focus on. He also said we need to know who we are, be who we are, and act who we are.
Pres. Hymas was asked to speak next. The thought I liked best from him was the reminder that 'the gospel is beautifully simple and simply beautiful'.

Elder Bednar requested some members come to the stand and bear their testimony. The first was Kathy Hymas, wife of Pres. Hymas. The J.T. Friemann (spelling) from the Frankfort Ward and Brittny Manwaring from the Georgetown Ward each bore their testimony. These are youth that are high school age.

Elder Bednar'a wife, Susan, gave a brief message. She shared her experiences being the wife of an Apostle and seeing the Church through the lens of being a world-wide Church. When Elder Bednar travels outside of the country, which is a great deal, she is invited to travel with him. This does not always happen when he travels within the continental United States. She was very happy to be able to travel with him this time. They lived in Arkansas for 20 years and have a deep love of the South.

Elder Bednar spoke for the last half of this two hour meeting. He started by telling us that, of the 192 (or something close to that number) countries in the world, the Gospel is now in 170 of those countries. Amazing!!!

God is not a changing God. He spoke to his children in Old Testament times and we have that record as the Old Testament. He spoke to his children in New Testament times and we have that record as the New Testament. He still speaks to us today.

The Church is not a building. It is a body of believers.

Agency is the capacity to act and not just be acted upon. We use agency to make and keep covenants. When we use our agency and make a covenant, we accept the terms inherent in that covenant. Then we are bound by the terms and must act within those terms. When we choose not to act within those terms we are not using agency, we are sinning.

The Atonement does not just provide the ability to have our sins remitted after we repent. The Atonement is also provides an enabling grace or a strengthening power to aid us in living and serving Him. This can ease our burdens and help us carry the loads we experience in life.

This was a beautiful meeting. The closing hymn had three verses. The end of each verse had the word Allelujah repeated three times. As Claude led and I played the organ for this hymn, I was overjoyed as the congregation sang those thre Allelujah's at the end of each verse. They actually took a breath between each one so that each Allelujah was accented. It was very powerful.

This meeting was just great. I'm so grateful I was able to attend. It was a filling experience.

Bailey's 4th Birthday...

Tomorrrow our little Bailey Marx will turn the ripe old age of four. Zip...and the time flew by. This is a great age for kids because four fingers are much easier to hold up than two or even three. Claude, Papa and I journeyed to LaGrange to have a family celebration for Miss Bailey Marx.

Bailey wanted a 'unicorn' birthday. Bailey LOVES horses. Especially the white ones. So it is natural that she would want a unicorn cake for her birthday. Andie, loving all things that are 'food art', found a My Little Pony cake that could be adapted very easily to be a unicorn cake. 

When we arrived Andie was finishing up the icing on the cake and Michael was finishing picking up the toys.

Hayden and Bailey were so very happy to have old people to play with. Papa stretched out to watch and catch little naps as he could. Hayden brought in his pretend light sabres for him & Claude. I like the second picture of Hayden and Claude because it looks like Claude is actually trying to use the Force on Hayden. Oh my... 

Bailey entertained me with a tunnel and all it's possibilities. The tunnel's final role was as the entry into, in Bailey's words, "The most perfect dog house I ever made!!

Michael headed out to pick up our barbeque dinner and the kids pulled out their Leapster's to calm down a bit before dinner. Hayden was such a great little host. He taught Claude how to play a game and enjoyed watching his Grampa play with the Leapster.

Michael returned with the food. Hayden brought in the special plate Andie made at a ceramics class for the celebratee to have their cake on. He placed it at the head of the table for Bailey. She was very happy to take her seat where this special plate was waiting for her unicorn cake.

Andie had Hayden help her get the cake ready to be brought in. Hayden carried in one corner to help Andie get it to the table. We were all ready to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Bailey. It took a few tries but she got all the candles blown out.

Now, here is a picture of just this cake before it was candled or cut. It was just a beautiful cake.

Bailey wanted the part that would have been the cheek of the horse. Hayden wanted the eye with all that sugary decoration. It was not only a beautiful cake, it was also delicious.

Michael had Hayden help him set up the gifts in the family room for Bailey to open. Then the rest of us joined them in the family room. Bailey started out in the big chair and eventually moved to the floor. Hayden would hand her a gift. She would tear into it, thanking the giver after the gift was opened, then Hayden would quickly give her another to open. Bailey loves to open one gift and play with it and then open the next. This system with Hayden helping kept the show moving and then the kids played with Bailey's birthday gifts.

Bailey received lots of fun gifts but I'll just share a few here.  Andie and Michael gave her a DVD about how to do ballet. It came with a ballet barre and mat. The mat has the positions for your feet in the four or five positions that most of ballet is done in (according to the DVD). Claude and I gave Bailey a new leotard and practic tutu.

One of the funniest moments was Bailey placing her doll in the baby carrier she got. The carrier had straps to hold it up like a basket. Bailey would put these on her shoulders to wear like a backpack. That would work just fine, however, watching this poor doll flop around and be upside down at times while Bailey tried to wrangle it on her back was just too funny. Makes one very happy they play with dolls to learn these skills.

Bailey's big gift was a horse, not a real horse, but a big stuffed horse she can pretend to ride on. It was so much fun watching Bailey and Hayden play with this horse. Pictures don't do it justice but here are a few pictures to get the feel of their fun. Papa got a huge laugh out of watching Hayden combing the horses mane. At one point Hayden licked his hand and wiped it on the hair to get it to stay in place...wonder where he learned that trick!! Papa was in stitches.

Now, I have to explain this one. It could be titled "Children's Ingenuity". Right after the kids saw the horse they kept trying to figure the best way to get on it. Eventually they would realize you could step up on the footstool and get on. And lastly, they got the hang of putting a foot in the stirrup to get up on it. But at first, it was great fun to see them try to figure out just how to get on top of that horse without someone lifting them up and setting them on top. In one of their earliest attempts, Hayden set on the floor at the back of the horse and Bailey sat on his head as he tried to lift her up to get on the horse. Such a caring brother for his younger sister. Here is a picture:

It was soon 2pm and time for Hayden and Bailey to have quiet time as well as time for us to get Papa home to let Tiny, his little dog, out. We said out goodbyes and got hugs around and pointed the red Buick toward Georgetown and then Sadieville. It was a really fun little family party for Bailey. Happy Birthday little one!!

Real Friends...

I'm having some tender thoughts about friendship today.

This last weekend Claude and I completed our trip to New York state to visit very dear friends from our time living in Maryland. We were to have visited them the weekend of January 7th - 10th. However, Claude got very sick on our way home from Las Vegas and could not travel on the 7th. I got his sickness on Sunday, January 9th and was happy we were home to be sick. I was able to change our flights to Albany, New York to this past weekend and we made the trip then.

The reason for this trip was a very good one. When we lived in Maryland, Claude was the bishop of our ward (congregation) at Church. One of his counselors was Keith Soressi. They became very good friends through this service. Keith's wife, Jan, was my visiting teacher and was also the Relief Society president while Claude was bishop. Keith and I taught seminary together. As a result of these opportunities to serve together our friendship grew.

We retired and moved from Maryland to Kentucky. Not long after Keith to a position in Boulder, Colorado and they moved from Maryland to Colorado. On their drive to Colorado over Thanksgiving time, they stopped and spent a couple of nights with us. It was just great having their family (they had 3 kids and a dog at that time).

Later Claude and I drove through Colorado our our way to Utah. We stopped in Boulder and spent the night with the Soressi's then. Again, it was just like old times in Maryland.

Keith eventually took a position in Albany, New York and their family moved to New York.

We received an eMail from Keith suggesting that we needed a vacation in a place that was really cold and covered with snow. He hinted at a new calling for him and he really wanted Claude's moral support. We guessed that he was hinting at being called as the bishop of their ward in Albany. We were right!! Then we made plans to be there on the weekend he would be sustained as the new bishop of the Albany 1st Ward.

It was a delightful weekend catching up on our families and work and health and movies and trips and on, and on, and on. We attended Church with them on Sunday and truly enjoyed their ward and the people in it. Keith told them two weeks earlier when he was sustained about his friend whose counselor he had been in Maryland and how much he appreciated him and the training he received while serving with Claude. He assured the congregation that if he didn't do something right "It was Claude's fault." All through Church people would come to introduce themselves. When they found out it was Claude, they always said, "Oh, you are the one we can blame!!"

We have had this happen with other friends over the  years where you get to be together after a long time and we pick up right where we left off. It is always so nice to share friendship with these wonderful people.

Today, Claude had business in Georgetown, so I put on my jeans and tagged along. He dropped me off at the nursing home to visit my mom. She was in her bed in her room. She was in a happy mood today and smiled often. I matched her tops and bottoms in her closet and chatted away with her. She held my hand and we talked when I finished. Then I read to her from the Ensign. The CNA's came in to take her for her bath during my visit. They decided to bath someone else so I could visit with her a bit longer. When Kandy came back to get mom for her shower, I asked her how she was doing. She paused in her work day and shared with me the trials of her life. It is amazing how much they are each dealing with and they come and still remain loving and caring with my mom. What treasures these good people are in my life.

Kandy has a cousin that used to work at the nursing home. Her name is Loretta. She cared for my mom when she worked there. I remember her carefully putting knee-high stocking on my mom when they were going to have a special program, just so she would look extra special.

Kandy shared with me that Loretta actually came to the nursing home last week  just to visit my mom. She doesn't work there, her mother has stage 4 cancer all over her body, but she took time to come to the nursing home to visit my mom. Kandy said she and Loretta sat in mom's room for 40 minutes and just talked to her and each other. Kandy said, "I don't know if Mrs. Lawrence understood or not." I told Kandy that I am positive the visits brighten her day even if she doesn't understand who or what is happening a lot anymore.

I left thinking about these two dear ladies who cared for previously and are still caring for and about my mom. They are such dear friends to my mother and consequently to me.

My mom was assigned two of the sisters nearer her age to visit her in the nursing home when she first when in there 4 1/2 years ago. They have long since been assigned other visiting teaching routes. But each of these dear ladies comes as often as they can to visit my mom. They are each older and it isn't easy for them to get around. But they still come to visit mom. They are truly dear friends to my mom and consequently to me.

At the ending of this day, I'm reflecting back on these friends in my life and so many others it is too numerous to mention here. I truly believe a friend is a person that just cares, truly cares about you. And I want to remember these friends that have entered and touched my life in such a positive way. May I be that kind of friend to others as well.

Puzzlement...

Every year we make a puzzle at Christmas. My mother was a puzzle makin' kind of lady. There were three of us girls and we would sit with my mom and work on a puzzle after Christmas dinner each year.

Because I have a bit of a 'compulsive' side to my nature, I steer clear of making puzzles except for this one time each year. This year Andie found our puzzle at a consignment sale.

After Christmas dinner we cleared the dining room table and pulled out the puzzle. Michael came to join Andie and me. I pulled the Lindt Truffles from their hiding place (special candy with properties guaranteed to add enjoyment to the puzzlin' process).

Then Michael looked at the picture on the box and groaned. He was anticipating a picture of something. This puzzle was a picture of something but it was a picture of all colors of yarn. Not a beautiful scene from nature. To top it off this lovely puzzle was not cut in your normal 'inny-outy' pieces. They were funny shapes and did not fit square together. It was also giganorous. It was too big to fit on the neat new puzzle making board Andie bought. Andie and I would press on with the moments we had to work.

Needless to say, when the Marx family left December 26th, the outline of the puzzle was all we really had completed. There was some organizing of some colors and a few clusters put together of those colors. But there was a lot left to do.

I left the puzzle on the table and did some on it on New Year's Eve and at times before our trip. When we got back from our trip I spent that Saturday finishing the puzzle. It still resides on the dining room table. I haven't the heart to tear it apart yet. But I have taken this picture to always remember it in it's finished state.  Enjoy!!