A New Start

"God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it's me". ~Author unknown, variation of an excerpt from "The Serenity Prayer" by Reinhold Neibuhr

How can it be the first day of school? (and I know that it's already been the first day of school in other places!) The summer has flown for me. And I am having this fall-ish feeling that I love -- sort of the feeling of a new start (you know what I mean) and time to get back on a schedule etc. Which is weird considering I have no one who lives at home with me except Mark -- and he's on the same schedule he's always been on.

But I do love that feeling. It's the right time of year to step into the routine, to feel the steadiness of scheduling, to get back to (trying, anyhow) being better about keeping dinners fixed on time, to stay up on my church calling, to get my house in order. That's what fall says to me -- even when the temps here are over 100.

And the above thought spoke to me today so loudly and clearly that I couldn't not post it -- the person who always needs the most work is me. And what better time than now to work on that?

Happy First Day of School, wherever you are!

(it doesn't look like the picture here -- but it sure says fall to me!)

Road Trip!

Looking forward to a Mason family reunion in Missouri - we leave on Thursday and I think I'm as bad as the kids are: the anticipation makes it twice as much fun!

To Be Useful

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and have lived well." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Mason loves Thomas the Tank Engine. Maybe not quite as much as he used to, but still -- a lot. So we have gotten to know Thomas and those who populate his world. What Thomas really wants is to be a 'really useful engine'. Which to me means that he wants what he does to count for something. I like that. Because that's what I want too. I want what I do to matter. I want the things I do to be pleasing not only to myself, but more, to my Heavenly Father.

So as I go through my days, I remind myself to look for opportunities to be an instrument in His hands. Because I want to be like Thomas: 'a really useful engine.'

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.