New Phone

So recently our Chris decided he wanted one of the new Iphones. I think he figured that the only way he'd get one was to get rid of his (perfectly good) 'old' one. So he offered to sell it to me. I wasn't so sure I needed a new phone, but was willing to go along with him.

Tara, however, heard about our potential arrangement, and absolutely let him have it: "You don't sell your phone to your Mom!! She was in labor with you for 3 days! You GIVE her your phone!" She cracked me up and I loved it. (Chris has a good wife!)

So he gave it to me. He got his new one (loves it), and I got his 'old' one. Recently I got it all hooked up and am learning how to use it. And I am finding that the above cartoon is 100% accurate.

I am getting behind in my TV shows. (And I am loving the Iphone)

Going Home

Welcome to Alberta! (pic is not great -- taken from a moving car - -but still -- you get the idea!)

My cute sister and her first grandbaby, Oliver. She couldn't keep her hands off him, with good reason. He's beautiful.

Oliver and his daddy, my nephew Eric. So fun to see him grown up, and being a husband and a daddy (and doing a great job!).

Val and Keith - my only sister and together, one of my favorite couples (and relatives!)

Ian and Ashley, just after exiting the Alberta Temple in Cardston. Aren't they gorgeous?

Val pinning Ian's flower on him after the temple ceremony. He's a married man!

"Where we love is home -- home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts." ~Oliver Wendall Holmes Sr.

Mark and I just returned from a week in Alberta. The purpose was two-fold: to visit with my parents who live in Lethbridge (where I grew up) and to attend my nephew Ian's wedding to his beautiful new wife, Ashley. There's something that happens to me every time I get back there -- there's a pull for me to drive by the house I grew up in, to check out the schools I attended, to look out over Henderson Lake (3 blocks from our house), and to soak up the family that I don't get enough of.

The wedding was wonderful. Ian and Ashley were so ready to spend their lives (and beyond) together and it was a gift to be able to watch them make that commitment to each other. It was wonderful to spend time with my sister and maybe be of a little bit of help in her involvement with the wedding. It was great to be with her husband Keith and son Eric (with his wife Jacquie and new baby Oliver -- both wonderful!). I even ran into some seriously old friends (from way back when -- probably haven't seen them for nearly 40 years -- amazing) and had a little visit with them.

I loved spending time with my parents. I get bothered because they don't get around as well as they used to (or as they'd like to), and I wish there was something I could do to change that for them. But it's fun to be able to spend time with them, even if we aren't doing anything especially exciting. Just being together is really what it's all about.

That week in Alberta has brought out that Canadianism that isn't buried as deep as I thought it was. My feet may have left Lethbridge, but not my heart.

Good Grapes

"Wisdom doesn't come automatically with age. Nothing does -- except wrinkles. It's true, some wines improve with age. But only if the grapes were good in the first place." ~Abigail Van Buren

I have heard it said that learning is an ongoing process and I'm finding that to be true. There isn't a day that passes (super-quickly, I might add!) that I don't pick up something that I really hadn't known before. And I love that. Time is passing and I am learning.

The wrinkles are definitely there. And I want to improve with age -- which means I need to be good grapes. I'm working on it.

Phases of Life

This is the truth! As I look back (which is easier to do all the time, because there is more and more to look back on!) I wish I had enjoyed every phase of life more, even when it was a hard, frustrating phase.

I think that's the key - -to enjoy where you are while you're there. Like Mason says, "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit!". Just love it while you're in it.

I'm so loving the grandma phase I'm in right now.

Missing the Children

“Every member of the Church is important to us. Indeed, every person—member or not—is important to us, but surely among the most significant of all our responsibilities is the responsibility to protect and nurture the children of the Church. . . . We care so much about you and about the children you are teaching. Prepare well to bless these little ones. Give it your best effort. Your influence will, quite literally, affect these children for eternity. Enjoy the assignment that you have, and discharge it faithfully. . . . However much we love and admire children, I am certain we underestimate who and what a child is and what in the hands of God he or she may become. May God bless you always in your sacred opportunity to help save the children of this Church” (Jeffrey R. Holland, Message to Primary Leaders, Mar. 2006).

Not long ago I was called to a new position -- counselor in our Stake Primary presidency. That of course meant a release from our ward Primary, where I had served for nearly 5 years, 1 year as the chorister and nearly 4 as the President. I love our Primary, the children and their teachers more than I had imagined possible. I loved being with them and serving them. I loved feeling the spirit with them and talking about the gospel with them.

I also knew that Heavenly Father had something else in mind for me. I know that I am where I am now for a reason. I know that His hand was in this change. But I miss the children and teachers of our ward.

Stake callings are different. I know this because I have had them before. You are dealing with the adults, training them, and helping them to love their Primary (or whatever organization you are serving in) calling. It's very different from serving in the ward. I had a dream presidency when I was released, wonderful teachers and Primary workers to serve with and children that I will always love. And change is hard.

Now I have a new presidency to learn to know and love. The fact that most of us are in different wards makes it harder. And that it's summer doesn't help either, with many people traveling. And have I mentioned (ha!) that I miss the children?

I have such a testimony of Primary and the love that the Savior has for the children. That's where I have been planted, and that's where my heart is. Working directly with the children.

And now I have to figure out how to help other adults love serving in the Primary. I hope I can do it.

(picture of our Primary in a Christmas Sharing Time)

New House

family room

Front door, looking from living room into family room

Upstairs playroom (ours looks a lot the same as this)

Other side of playroom -- our TV is there along with the elliptical

kitchen

Dining nook (not very big - -not sure what we'll do when we have big dinners here -- like Christmas. We'll figure it out, I'm sure!)

kitchen

Front yard (don't you love those trees?!)

Things are (finally) slowing down - -and I have had numerous requests for pics of the new house. I want to make it clear that these pics are not of us moved into this house - they are the pics that were posted when the house went up for sale. So it doesn't look like this anymore. I am not ready to take pics of it yet 'cause it's still in a mess. But here's what it looks like in general.

We love it.

Moved In

I am finally feeling like there will be a time (still in a fairly distant future - but now there is hope) that we will be all moved in and settled. Even though we've moved a lot, I had forgotten that when you change houses, everything changes. The rooms don't work with your furniture, or the places you used to store stuff don't exist anymore. You know what I mean. So we've bought new shelving, new TVs (yup, you read that right -- we figured we deserved it since our newest TV was over 10 years old), new organizers for the drawers, etc. etc. etc. We still need to get a cabinet to hang over the toilet in our bathroom (where else am I going to store the TP?!), the king guest bed takes up the entire guest room so I think we're going to go to a full instead, and bunk beds are what we want for the room for the little people who visit.

Mark has a lot of things to put together or to hang or to do something to and then I can continue what I need to do. More, I need help with trying to figure out how to set up our family room. I'm so not good at that - but what I do know is that it doesn't look right. And my Candice has moved! Ack! So we're kind of still in a mess - -but progress has been made. And that's good.

Just another little (sort of) funny note: as we were clearing out the storage unit on Saturday, we made one last trip and in our zeal to be done, we over-loaded the back of the pick-up we had borrowed from Mark's work. Math was riding back there, keeping his hand on a purple chair (that's why it it was in storage - - no purple at either house anymore) that was a perched just little bit precariously. Just as we came down Slaughter (quite a busy street here in Austin, especially on a Saturday afternoon), a breeze came up, pretty much swept the chair away and it landed in the middle of that busy street. Math said that he felt it coming, but if he had held onto it, he would have gone along with it. (Good call on that one!) Math's friend Kim was driving behind us and she managed to stop, and everyone else around us managed to do the same, thank goodness. Math and Mark leaped out and put Little Purple (didn't know we named our furniture, did you?) onto the median and then we just kept on going. No one knew what else to do and I think it was the right answer.

We rushed home, unloaded the truck, formulated a plan and headed back to rescue Little Purple. But in that short time period (no more than 30 minutes, I think), Little Purple had been kidnapped. So RIP, Little Purple. We hope you like your new home!

'Cause we like ours. A lot.

Change - and Frustration

Who was it who said that there is nothing in life that is as constant as change? Whoever it was was right. This has been a 3 month period full of change.

We did get the move done. It wasn't easy - complications with the IRS and their missing paper (that was needed by the title company) and our buyers (first-timers who were extremely difficult to work with - our agent Nolan was amazing which made a big difference) as well as rain (not good for a do-it-yourself move) and a deadline to get our truck emptied that I was sure we were not going to be able to meet. But we have amazing friends and family and every one of them (it seemed, anyhow) came through for us in ways I couldn't have predicted. We got the closings done (eventually, anyhow), the move made, the truck returned (in time!), and then we began the settling-in process.

After nearly 2 weeks we finally have a home phone again, internet (woohoo!) but no TV yet. The biggest down-side of that is that all the shows I've followed have ended -- without me. Sigh. Interestingly enough, though, I seem to have survived it. Who knew? We should have our TV going within the next week. Apparently we have to trim a big old tree out front for that to happen. What?!

It just seems that everything that has to do with this move has been complicated, and if something could go wrong, you could count on the fact that it would (and did). But we have come out on the other side and the house is wonderful. We love it and look forward to staying here forever.

And our family have been joined by Miss Lucy, who is beautiful, sweet and calm. What a gift! Add to that the MBA our oldest son Chris received last week and I have to step back and count my blessings. There is so much to be grateful for -- and I am.

But I need a trip to IKEA to buy some things so I can get this house organized -- and then, I think I'll feel settled at last. And you should come visit.

Sad Day

Yesterday we got word that Mark's mom, Mary Lou Mason, had passed away in her sleep. This was totally unexpected and utterly heartbreaking for our family. Grandma Mason was a precious, special lady who has a tender place in all of our hearts. She has been an example of kindness, patience, long-suffering and good humor and good cheer for as long as I've known her (35+ years now).

She had been confined to a wheelchair since she contracted polio back when Mark was 2 years old, and we have all only known her that way. But not one of us has ever heard her complain. On the contrary, her comments about polio are positive: she feels like she would never have been humble enough to accept the gospel if she hadn't had polio. She was and is an amazing, loving, wonderful lady.

We will miss her terribly. We will never forget her, and we will think of her often because there is something of her in each one of us. We are grateful and happy that we had the privilege of being a part of her life.

And we want to live so that she would be proud of us.

Re-Tox

There is a lot happening right now, and if you look at my face, you can see a mouth covered with cold sores (ack!). I have rarely had a problem with them so I did some looking online -- and I found that stress is one of the biggest factors in a cold sore breakout (beyond the viral connection, of course). Stress? Any going on here? Maybe so.

A lot of the stress doesn't belong to me personally, but there is a lot on my mind. First, of course, the move. The house sold quickly, we found another (that we love) quickly, and now we're trying to make the arrangements between us, our buyers, our new house and the current owners, two title companies -- it makes my head spin. We need to close on this one first so that we have the $$ to put into the new one, and then we need to be able to stay here for a day or two so that we can do the closing on the other one and get moved in. Timing is everything and our buyers have been difficult to work with. Whenever I get ready to tell them to forget it, I look out my window and see the other houses that are still for sale and suck it up and try to move on. We do know that we will be moving 'on or before May 14'. We are just hoping it can be a little before then.

So in preparation for that move, we spent the weekend packing and got a lot done - but now we are living in a mess. Add to that chaos, the knowledge that our Chris is getting his MBA (yay!! I know they will all be so happy to be done with that) and will graduate here May 21. I'm hoping we actually have a room/rooms for them to stay in at that point. Baby Girl Cottam is due to arrive on May 17. And the Father/Son campout is (of course) scheduled for the weekend of May 14. We may be moving with just the 2 of us! And Chris C. had his tonsils out last week and is really suffering -- we're trying to do everything we can to help there as well.

Anyhow -- add to that the regular stuff: Visiting teaching, temple visit for May (which is closed for 2 weeks, further complicating scheduling), learning and trying to function in a new calling (it's going to be fun!), and just generally keeping my head above water.

I do need a re-tox - bring on the Diet Coke!

picture via everyday people cartoons