I was more excited about Christmas this year than I have been in a long time. The main reason was because of a couple of gifts I was giving to my kids and my husband's family. I thought I would write about them here.
When my kids were little I decided to keep "baby journals" for each one of them. I bought blank books and would write down funny things they said, or important times in their lives, when they broke their arm or leg, etc. With some of my kids I was more diligent than others and I regret that, but what can you do? As time went by and my kids grew up and these books got older, I realized that I should type them up so that they would be better preserved and also in case they couldn't read my handwriting. My mother had made me and my brothers and sisters a journal from letters she had written to her mother which had been saved, so I also used that journal to add more things to their books.
Several years ago I began typing these books up, in order to give them to my kids some Christmas. I have five children, so this was sort of a big job. I got all 3 girls books done and half of my first son's book and then I went to Ireland for a year and a half. I took the floppy disks with me to finish them there, not realizing that my laptop didn't have a floppy drive. So after being home from Ireland for 2 years, I finally decided to get back to typing. I took the floppy disk to Kinkos and had them transfer it to a cd. Then about August or September I started typing them again. I finished them about the first of November. As I typed, I decided that instead of just giving each one their own book, that they each needed each other's books. As I had typed, I realized that even though the story was in one person's book, the story was about their other brother's and sister's too. So I put all their books together and made 6 copies -one for each of them and one for me.
Last March my husband's mother died. She was one of the best cooks I have ever known. While we were going through her things, my sisters-in-law and I decided that we needed to take her recipes and type up a cookbook of all her recipes for all of us and for all of her grandkids. I volunteered to type it up, so in November after I finished typing the baby books, I started typing the cookbooks in earnest. (I had typed up a few recipes earlier, before I realized that I really needed to be typing the baby books first.) I typed almost every single night until my hands got tired. I made 13 copies of that cookbook - one for each of my husband's sisters, one for me, one for each of my mother-in-law's 8 grandchildren and one for her best friend.
With both books, I put the pages in plastic sleeves and put them in 3-ring notebooks. On my kid's baby book journals, I printed pictures of them and on the cookbook I put a picture of my mother-in-law (probably one of the last pictures taken of her) holding her coconut cream pie that had just come out of the oven.
Both of these projects were very satisfying to do - labors of love, so to speak. I really enjoyed putting them together, but I enjoyed more the reactions of those receiving them. It made it a great Christmas....
Friday, December 28, 2012
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
GOING POSTAL
You can say all you want about the postal service, but I had a great experience today there. I went to mail a package for Christmas to my sister who lives in China. Even though I had looked up International Shipping several times on the internet on the USPS site, and had written several things down, I was still not prepared when I got to the post office. I didn't have a blue or black pen, only purple ink, I had no clue which customs form to fill out - so I got two and filled out both,(after borrowing the USPS pen) and I didn't even know how to fill out certain parts of the customs form. No problem. When I got up to the counter, the postal service employee was more than happy to show me what to fill out, gave me suggestions of what to put down, gave me hints on how to simplify the information, and when I signed in the wrong place pointed out the right place and told me not to worry about it but cross out the other signature. He even put tape all the way around the package so it wouldn't come open, since it was heavy. When I left, I thanked him for his help - and - he even wished me a "Merry Christmas!" Not "Happy Holidays". Thanks USPS!! Merry Christmas!!
Saturday, November 17, 2012
THANKSGIVING AT THE STOREHOUSE
Our feet are sore and our bodies ache after working at the Storehouse this week. My husband and I both worked 19 hours in three days and helped 274 families. We had a lot of volunteers that came in to help and we were glad to have their assistance and their companionship. We have a lot of fun working with each other as well as with the patrons, and since we also bring a little refreshments, make it a bit of a party. It's more like a grab and go party since we're grabbing a bite here and there between orders. It's nice to know so many families will have a nice Thanksgiving next week.
Monday, November 12, 2012
INFLUENCE
I've been reading the Old Testament. Right now I'm in Isaiah, which since this is about my 3rd or 4th time reading the Old Testament, is not as mysterious as it used to be and I'm understanding it more. About a week or so ago when I was starting Isaiah, I decided to get some additional reading supplements so I turned to the Old Testament Institute Manual, which is one of my favorite places to turn first when I am wanting explanation on a scripture I'm reading. After reading several pages I came across this quote. I can't remember why the quote was inserted where it was, but this quote has stuck with me and caused me to contemplate it a lot. The quote is by David O. McKay, who was prophet of our church when I was a little girl growing up.
"Every man and every person who lives in this world wields an influence, whether for good or for evil. It is not what he says alone; it is not alone what he does. It is what he is. Every man, every person radiates what he or she really is...It is what we are and what we radiate that affects the people around us.
"As individuals, we must think nobler thoughts. We must not encourage vile thoughts or low aspirations. We shall radiate them if we do. If we think noble thoughts; if we encourage and cherish noble aspirations, there will be that radiation when we meet people, especially when we associate with them."
Think about that...without even saying a word or doing an action of any kind, we radiate who we are. I guess that's why I really like the quote by Gordon B. Hinckley under the title in my blog: " Try a little harder to be a little better." I need to give a little more thought to what I am radiating....
"Every man and every person who lives in this world wields an influence, whether for good or for evil. It is not what he says alone; it is not alone what he does. It is what he is. Every man, every person radiates what he or she really is...It is what we are and what we radiate that affects the people around us.
"As individuals, we must think nobler thoughts. We must not encourage vile thoughts or low aspirations. We shall radiate them if we do. If we think noble thoughts; if we encourage and cherish noble aspirations, there will be that radiation when we meet people, especially when we associate with them."
Think about that...without even saying a word or doing an action of any kind, we radiate who we are. I guess that's why I really like the quote by Gordon B. Hinckley under the title in my blog: " Try a little harder to be a little better." I need to give a little more thought to what I am radiating....
Friday, November 2, 2012
Last Monday I got a call from Gilbert Girl telling me she was on her way to the hospital with her almost 5 year old boy and she wanted me to leave immediately to go to her house to be with the rest of her kids. That afternoon while she was picking up her 8 year old, the almost 5 boy said to his older sister,
He - "Guess what I did today?"
She - "What?"
He said, "I swallowed my Hexbug battery." (Like a watch battery - a lithium battery)
She - "When did you do this?"
He - "This morning."
She -"Did you tell Mom?"
He - "No."
So the second her mom got home she told her what he'd done and Gilbert Girl called the doctor who told her to go to the emergency room. In the emergency room they told her it would be a 2-3 hour wait - that is until they asked her what the emergency was - then they took them straight back.
They took an x-ray and could see it in his stomach. He ended up spending the night in the hospital. Both his parents stayed with him while I stayed overnight with the rest of the kids. The doctor told them that they would do another x-ray at 7 am to see if it had moved into his intestines, but if it didn't move then they would have to go in and get it. At 7 am the x-ray showed that it had moved, so he was released and sent home with stool softeners. The doctor told them he had until the next night to pass it and if he didn't then they would go in through the other end to retrieve it.
The next day after lunch, Gilbert Girl texted me a picture of the battery, with the caption, "Got it!" We were all very relieved that this episode turned out ok. It was pretty scary for awhile. Here's a picture of what the hexbugs look like:
He - "Guess what I did today?"
She - "What?"
He said, "I swallowed my Hexbug battery." (Like a watch battery - a lithium battery)
She - "When did you do this?"
He - "This morning."
She -"Did you tell Mom?"
He - "No."
So the second her mom got home she told her what he'd done and Gilbert Girl called the doctor who told her to go to the emergency room. In the emergency room they told her it would be a 2-3 hour wait - that is until they asked her what the emergency was - then they took them straight back.
They took an x-ray and could see it in his stomach. He ended up spending the night in the hospital. Both his parents stayed with him while I stayed overnight with the rest of the kids. The doctor told them that they would do another x-ray at 7 am to see if it had moved into his intestines, but if it didn't move then they would have to go in and get it. At 7 am the x-ray showed that it had moved, so he was released and sent home with stool softeners. The doctor told them he had until the next night to pass it and if he didn't then they would go in through the other end to retrieve it.
The next day after lunch, Gilbert Girl texted me a picture of the battery, with the caption, "Got it!" We were all very relieved that this episode turned out ok. It was pretty scary for awhile. Here's a picture of what the hexbugs look like:
Monday, October 22, 2012
SOUTH RIM
On our way home from my parents house a couple of weeks ago, just as we were getting to the turn-off of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, all of a sudden my husband hit the brakes and turned and announced to me, "I think we're going to go to the Grand Canyon!" Since we had planned on staying in Flagstaff that night and our stop at Lee's Ferry hadn't taken near as long as we thought it would, I thought this was a great idea!
It has been several years since we've been to the South Rim and every time we pass the turn-off, we always mention that we need to go there again.
There were some things that we had not remembered about the South Rim. For some reason we had not remembered that the road inside the Grand Canyon was actually lined with trees. Why did we always remember that it was just desert? When we stopped at the entrance to pay our fee, my husband asked for the senior pass, now that he is 62 (required age). The ranger told him it would be $10.00. My husband said, "Ten dollars? Isn't it like $35.00?" The guy said, "No, that is what you paid last year for your entrance fee to all the parks for a year, but now you can get the Lifetime Senior Pass for only $10.00." We had thought that they quit selling them for that and had raised the fee. Of course our information was from our parents, who always gloated that they had bought their lifetime senior pass for only $10.00 and that they heard that the parks had raised the rates and they were so lucky that they had gotten that pass for only $10.00. Anyway, we were really glad and realized how smart the national parks are to offer the pass for that low of a price for seniors, since they are their most frequent visitors. :0) I am not able to use my husbands pass, since he has to show an ID when he uses it, but if I ever am in a situation where I am going into a national park (once I am 62) without him, I'll just buy one for myself! :0)
Here are some pictures we took:
It has been several years since we've been to the South Rim and every time we pass the turn-off, we always mention that we need to go there again.
There were some things that we had not remembered about the South Rim. For some reason we had not remembered that the road inside the Grand Canyon was actually lined with trees. Why did we always remember that it was just desert? When we stopped at the entrance to pay our fee, my husband asked for the senior pass, now that he is 62 (required age). The ranger told him it would be $10.00. My husband said, "Ten dollars? Isn't it like $35.00?" The guy said, "No, that is what you paid last year for your entrance fee to all the parks for a year, but now you can get the Lifetime Senior Pass for only $10.00." We had thought that they quit selling them for that and had raised the fee. Of course our information was from our parents, who always gloated that they had bought their lifetime senior pass for only $10.00 and that they heard that the parks had raised the rates and they were so lucky that they had gotten that pass for only $10.00. Anyway, we were really glad and realized how smart the national parks are to offer the pass for that low of a price for seniors, since they are their most frequent visitors. :0) I am not able to use my husbands pass, since he has to show an ID when he uses it, but if I ever am in a situation where I am going into a national park (once I am 62) without him, I'll just buy one for myself! :0)
Here are some pictures we took:
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