Usually on the first Sunday of each month we have Fast Sunday at Church. This doesn't mean the day goes faster. It means we are encouraged to fast from eating for 24 hours or at least two full meals. The money we would have spent on that food is donated to the Church and is called 'fast offering'. It is used to assisted those in financial need. The fasting is intended to provide a time to approach in prayer and fasting something that you might want an answer to, or need help with, or family concerns, or any other need where a little extra humility and prayer would be helpful.
Our Sacrament Meeting (Worship Service) on this Sunday is an opportunity for the members, who feel impressed to do so, to stand and bear their testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Today a young girl, probably 10 years old, holding her father's hand came to the stand. There were already several people waiting their turn. She and her father sat to wait their turn.
When it was their turn, the father remained seated and this young girl walked to the podium and lowered the microphone to her mouth. Then she calmly and quietly shared her feelings. There was no silliness in her manner. There were only complete sentences with no ands, uhs, likes or any of those words with which we fill our speech. I don't know that I have ever watched a young child like that speak in such a well thought out and deliberate adult manner.
To paraphrase her story, her family was traveling from Michigan to Florida on a trip and stopped in Georgetown, Kentucky to go to Church on Sunday. They would have had her little brother with them but he died. It was very difficult for her when she heard her brother died. She did not know how to handle this. Then she remembered learning in Primary (the children's organization) that she should pray when she had a problem that she didn't know how to handle. She knelt down and said a prayer. After she finished her prayer, she started to sing some Primary songs. As she sang one of them she had a feeling of peace come to her and she felt happy again. She knew that she and her family were sealed in the temple. She knew this meant they would be together for eternity. That meant she would be with her brother again some day. That she said was her testimony.
I had long before reached for my tissue. It was just such a tender and totally honest moment. The Spirit was strong in the chapel and among the congregation. I am ever so grateful for that beautiful experience and don't want to ever forget it and the feeling I felt.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
Somewhere Under a Rainbow...
Today was a weather warning kind of day. I learned a new term in the weather world -- TORCON9. That is what we had in Kentucky today. It means we have a 9 out of 10 chance of having a tornado.
To share with you the concern regarding this bad weather approaching our area it should be noted they dismissed schools early, the Governor declared a state of emergency before the storms came, the Mayor of Lexington asked all businesses to close and get people home ahead of the storm AND...5 Guys closed at 4pm. You know it is expected to be bad when they close America's primo burger place early. Goodness!!!
Claude got a call from Scott Meadows, the pastor of the Sadieville Christian Church. He had been asked if they could use the basement of the church as a shelter if it was needed. Scott assured the emergency planning office that would be fine.
Claude also got an update from Jack Donovan, the emergency planning office guy, about the weather and what to expect.
Andie called us in the late morning to be sure we were aware of and prepared for the bad weather. We assured her we were ready. Then she told us an Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel was on his way to report about the storms from Louisville. Yike!! That is certainly calling in the big guns.
We told Andie I was headed to Georgetown and she was unsure why I would do that with the current predictions. We assured her the desire to have my arm heal without having the knife put to it is a GREAT motivator.
I headed to Georgetown about 12:15. I wanted to go to the nursing home and visit with my parents while Papa fed Mimi. Then I would go to the physical therapists.
On the way in I noted an old home they are completely refurbishing. On the front porch were 4 interior doors that had obviously been painted white and were propped up on easel like things to dry. I was amused to think they would choose a day with strong wind, rain, hail and potential tornadoes on the way. I hope those door dried so they could get them inside before the storms hit.
I had a lovely visit with my parents.
Physical therapy has a big screen television that goes all the time. They had it set to the local NBC station with the closings ticking across the bottom of the screen and the weather showing on the top of the screen. The therapists were receiving eMails and texts about the weather. It was definitely the buzz in that big room where we all do our exercises.
One fellow was from Stamping Ground and survived the tornado that leveled that community in 1974. He shared his story of him and his father being in a tiny trailer on their farm after working the fields. The trailer was out there to provide a place for them to take a break and rest during a work day. They hadn't been settle in too long to get something to drink when the storm hit with a fury. The next thing he knew their trailer was bouncing around and he had something cutting him. He looked to find his father and couldn't find him. Then he realized the sofa was on top of his dad and he couldn't get it off. This man was not going to play around with our impending storm.
My parents have both been in tornadoes. Mimi was in one when she was single and lived in a rooming house in DeRidder, Louisiana. The tornado picked up her home and moved it about a foot and set it down again. Papa was in his vehicle each of the two times he was in a tornado. One time it simply turned his truck around while he sat in it.
The physical therapy office got the word to close at 4pm. My appointment was at 1:30pm and I was done by 3pm.
I headed back to Sadieville to ride out whatever came our way with my hubby. It turned out we had a very bad rain storm, no hail and no tornado. Papa had some hail the size of golf balls in Georgetown. Andie had the kind of storm in LaGrange that we had in Sadieville. She and the kids stayed in the basement. Michael was at work the entire time.
After the storm the sun quickly came out. I peeked out the door to the deck and found another amazing rainbow. It arched completely across the sky. At the bases the sun was reflecting off of it and making the colors even more vivid. At one point it even tried to be a double rainbow. This is a panorama shot I took.
And here is a picture of one end with the sun making the colors so brilliant.
The storms still rage to the southeast of us in Kentucky. We have many friends from Church that live in these communities and hope they fair as well as we did but they have definitely sited tornadoes in those areas. One of the small towns in Indiana just to the north of us was leveled. We are indeed blessed to have been spared that catastrophe. And to have such a gorgeous rainbow to end the day.
To share with you the concern regarding this bad weather approaching our area it should be noted they dismissed schools early, the Governor declared a state of emergency before the storms came, the Mayor of Lexington asked all businesses to close and get people home ahead of the storm AND...5 Guys closed at 4pm. You know it is expected to be bad when they close America's primo burger place early. Goodness!!!
Claude got a call from Scott Meadows, the pastor of the Sadieville Christian Church. He had been asked if they could use the basement of the church as a shelter if it was needed. Scott assured the emergency planning office that would be fine.
Claude also got an update from Jack Donovan, the emergency planning office guy, about the weather and what to expect.
Andie called us in the late morning to be sure we were aware of and prepared for the bad weather. We assured her we were ready. Then she told us an Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel was on his way to report about the storms from Louisville. Yike!! That is certainly calling in the big guns.
We told Andie I was headed to Georgetown and she was unsure why I would do that with the current predictions. We assured her the desire to have my arm heal without having the knife put to it is a GREAT motivator.
I headed to Georgetown about 12:15. I wanted to go to the nursing home and visit with my parents while Papa fed Mimi. Then I would go to the physical therapists.
On the way in I noted an old home they are completely refurbishing. On the front porch were 4 interior doors that had obviously been painted white and were propped up on easel like things to dry. I was amused to think they would choose a day with strong wind, rain, hail and potential tornadoes on the way. I hope those door dried so they could get them inside before the storms hit.
I had a lovely visit with my parents.
Physical therapy has a big screen television that goes all the time. They had it set to the local NBC station with the closings ticking across the bottom of the screen and the weather showing on the top of the screen. The therapists were receiving eMails and texts about the weather. It was definitely the buzz in that big room where we all do our exercises.
One fellow was from Stamping Ground and survived the tornado that leveled that community in 1974. He shared his story of him and his father being in a tiny trailer on their farm after working the fields. The trailer was out there to provide a place for them to take a break and rest during a work day. They hadn't been settle in too long to get something to drink when the storm hit with a fury. The next thing he knew their trailer was bouncing around and he had something cutting him. He looked to find his father and couldn't find him. Then he realized the sofa was on top of his dad and he couldn't get it off. This man was not going to play around with our impending storm.
My parents have both been in tornadoes. Mimi was in one when she was single and lived in a rooming house in DeRidder, Louisiana. The tornado picked up her home and moved it about a foot and set it down again. Papa was in his vehicle each of the two times he was in a tornado. One time it simply turned his truck around while he sat in it.
The physical therapy office got the word to close at 4pm. My appointment was at 1:30pm and I was done by 3pm.
I headed back to Sadieville to ride out whatever came our way with my hubby. It turned out we had a very bad rain storm, no hail and no tornado. Papa had some hail the size of golf balls in Georgetown. Andie had the kind of storm in LaGrange that we had in Sadieville. She and the kids stayed in the basement. Michael was at work the entire time.
After the storm the sun quickly came out. I peeked out the door to the deck and found another amazing rainbow. It arched completely across the sky. At the bases the sun was reflecting off of it and making the colors even more vivid. At one point it even tried to be a double rainbow. This is a panorama shot I took.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Three Weeks to Improve...
Today I saw the physical therapist. He did an evaluation and then taught me some exercises. I am to do them two times each day. I will visit him every Tuesday and Friday through March 16th. Then on March 19th I will go back to the orthopedist and we'll evaluate my progress to determine if physical therapy will heal this or if surgery might be needed. I'm going to give it my best effort with the hope surgery will not be needed.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
MIB - Man In Black...
I get the Groupon eMails for Lexington and Louisville. One came for a custom made suit. This was on Claude's bucket list. The Groupon made the cost half off. I approached Claude about the possibility of this being a great Christmas gift for him. He thought it was a great idea. I bought the Groupon.
Claude went to the tailor the beginning of November. The suit was to be finished before Christmas. That didn't happen. Then it was supposed to be done before our cruise in January. That didn't happen. After we got home Claude was finally able to go and have his final fitting. This last Sunday he wore his new suit for the first time.
This is what I saw as my hubby exited our bedroom into the living room and was my first view of my hubby in his new suit.
He is just sure he looks like MIB the movie.
Of course that necessitated me sending a quick eMail to our kids and son-in-laws. I got these responses back from them:
From Andie: Very nice! Bailey says he is "pretty as a horse". teehee
From Jake: Has he quoted Will Smith saying, "I make this look good" yet? Lookin' sharp.
From Michael: Bobo wants to know why Pa is dressing up like him? (FYI...Bobo is the cat.)
We headed to Church and I kept watching to be sure Claude didn't put on the black sunglasses. I know he really, really wanted to do that.
The suit is beautiful and he loves wearing it. There will never be another but it is a fun thing for a once in a lifetime event.
Claude went to the tailor the beginning of November. The suit was to be finished before Christmas. That didn't happen. Then it was supposed to be done before our cruise in January. That didn't happen. After we got home Claude was finally able to go and have his final fitting. This last Sunday he wore his new suit for the first time.
This is what I saw as my hubby exited our bedroom into the living room and was my first view of my hubby in his new suit.
Of course that necessitated me sending a quick eMail to our kids and son-in-laws. I got these responses back from them:
From Andie: Very nice! Bailey says he is "pretty as a horse". teehee
From Jake: Has he quoted Will Smith saying, "I make this look good" yet? Lookin' sharp.
From Michael: Bobo wants to know why Pa is dressing up like him? (FYI...Bobo is the cat.)
We headed to Church and I kept watching to be sure Claude didn't put on the black sunglasses. I know he really, really wanted to do that.
The suit is beautiful and he loves wearing it. There will never be another but it is a fun thing for a once in a lifetime event.
Sleepover #2...
We met Andie in Shelbyville to exchange kids. She took Bailey and we took Hayden.
Hayden was so cute. He got out of his car seat and snuck around their van and burst out to the side we were parked on. He was wearing round glasses and carrying a wand. He was like a blond Harry Potter. I had no camera out and totally missed that shot. I'll regret that for a long time but the mental image is there of a huge grinning blond Hayden Potter.
Bailey was all buckled in and started to cry. We asked her what she needed and she said she wanted a Hayden hug. Hayden hurried back in the van and gave Bailey a huge hug and a big kiss. She only cried the more. Then she said she wanted a soft kiss and hug. Back Hayden ran and gave her the most gentle kiss and hug. She was happy and we all parted ways, Andie and Bailey back to LaGrange, Claude, Hayden and me back to Sadieville.
Hayden wolfed down the snack bag I had in the car and was still very hungry. We stopped in Frankfort and found a McDonald's drive-thru to get him a Happy Meal. He wolfed that one down as well. This boy is getting a real appetite.
Hayden and I have a reading adventure going on. He and Andie have been reading the Harry Potter series. After they read a book they watch the movie. After they finish a book they loan it to me. When I finish reading it I get to watch the movie with Hayden. I finished the 6th book so our movie before bedtime for Hayden was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It was a good movie and totally fun to enjoy with Hayden.
While setting up to watch the movice, Hayden was wearing stripped pajamas. I asked Hayden if he would like a stripped blanket and commented on all the stripes. Hayden simply said, "That's a 'striperific' idea!!"
Hayden brought me book 7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We read one chapter on the drive back to Sadieville. Then before Hayden went to bed we read another chapter. Our little man chose to sleep in the guest room bed. It is queen sized and he looked really swallowed up in that big bed covered in all the blankets I had in the room. He went right to sleep and I didn't hear a peep out of him until 7:15 the next morning.
For breakfast we had his favorite at our house, cinnamon rolls and bacon.
I pulled out the little Legos set I purchased for him. It was a 3 in 1 set. It made a helicopter, a fire truck and a car. Hayden said it looked like a GPS car. My goodness my world is changing.
Now both Marx kids were home. Claude and I had a wonderful time with these youngest grandmonsters. Now it was time to point that red Buick back toward Sadieville. But we made a quick stop in Frankfort again for dinner at Cattleman's.
Hayden was so cute. He got out of his car seat and snuck around their van and burst out to the side we were parked on. He was wearing round glasses and carrying a wand. He was like a blond Harry Potter. I had no camera out and totally missed that shot. I'll regret that for a long time but the mental image is there of a huge grinning blond Hayden Potter.
Bailey was all buckled in and started to cry. We asked her what she needed and she said she wanted a Hayden hug. Hayden hurried back in the van and gave Bailey a huge hug and a big kiss. She only cried the more. Then she said she wanted a soft kiss and hug. Back Hayden ran and gave her the most gentle kiss and hug. She was happy and we all parted ways, Andie and Bailey back to LaGrange, Claude, Hayden and me back to Sadieville.
Hayden wolfed down the snack bag I had in the car and was still very hungry. We stopped in Frankfort and found a McDonald's drive-thru to get him a Happy Meal. He wolfed that one down as well. This boy is getting a real appetite.
Hayden and I have a reading adventure going on. He and Andie have been reading the Harry Potter series. After they read a book they watch the movie. After they finish a book they loan it to me. When I finish reading it I get to watch the movie with Hayden. I finished the 6th book so our movie before bedtime for Hayden was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It was a good movie and totally fun to enjoy with Hayden.
While setting up to watch the movice, Hayden was wearing stripped pajamas. I asked Hayden if he would like a stripped blanket and commented on all the stripes. Hayden simply said, "That's a 'striperific' idea!!"
Hayden brought me book 7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We read one chapter on the drive back to Sadieville. Then before Hayden went to bed we read another chapter. Our little man chose to sleep in the guest room bed. It is queen sized and he looked really swallowed up in that big bed covered in all the blankets I had in the room. He went right to sleep and I didn't hear a peep out of him until 7:15 the next morning.
For breakfast we had his favorite at our house, cinnamon rolls and bacon.
I pulled out the little Legos set I purchased for him. It was a 3 in 1 set. It made a helicopter, a fire truck and a car. Hayden said it looked like a GPS car. My goodness my world is changing.
Hayden came with his snorkling gear to play in the big tub. At one point he asked me if I would bring him the dolphin and turtle. I headed to the basement and brought up the blow-up things for the wading pool. Hayden played with them for a long time before he told me that he was talking about the little toys that you squeeze and fill with water then squirt it out of the hole in the top. I chuckled because we had inadvertently stumbled on a great way to enjoy the big tub. I went and got the other bathtub toys from the tub Bailey played in the day before. Hayden played long enough for me to read two more chapters in the Harry Potter book.
Eventually it was time to head back to LaGrange. This time we were going all the way to Hayden's home. That is about a 90 minute drive. Hayden faired well until we got to Shelbyville. That left about 30 minutes to his home and he needed something to fill that time. I pulled out a tiny ball of leftover yarn from the travel bag I packed. For that last 30 minutes we strung yarn from one side of the back seat to the other and created a pully kind of thing to move my sun glass from one side to the other and up and down into my hand. It was great fun. When we got to the Marx home Hayden ran in and got Andie and Michael to come and see his creation. Michael was just shaking his head as he walked away. I wonder if he felt I created a monster by letting Hayden play with yarn in the back seat. You know, one of those things that grandparents do that comes back to haunt the parents later on. If so, I could have been successful again!!
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