Spark

Shayla recommended a book called Spark, by Sarah Beth Durst. As I started reading it, I didn't really like it so much, and it was slow going. And then I finally got into it, and have completely changed my mind. It is about a 12 year old girl named Mina, who lives in a society in which certain child volunteers are given the egg of a storm beast, which they carefully tend and nurture for two years, until the egg hatches. Then they and the beast do training so they can help to control the perfect weather of their country, Alorria.

Alorria is like Camelot--"the rain may never fall til after sundown, by eight the morning fog must disappear"--plus more. Their lightning beasts harvest electricity. Their sun and wind beasts make sure they have just the right amounts of those, etc. They know that there are more people in other countries on the other side of the mountain, but they think they are poor pathetic people, quite inferior to themselves, and when they rarely think about them at all, they just pity them because they do not live in such a perfect place as Alorria.

The book, is to me, kind of an allegory. There are people in Alorria who are concerned about what they are doing with the weather--the sky is all connected, they say--so what we do must surely impact the outside world. But mostly, people don't care because their own little part of the world is so perfect.

So when Mina accidentally meets the prime minister, and asks this one undesired question, "Does the ten year festival cause the ten year storms in the outside world?" she quickly realizes that not only is the answer to her question yes, but the powers that be KNOW they do--otherwise, why would it matter if she asked the question?

Mina is suspended from lightning school for a week--mostly to protect her from scrutiny until the backlash from her question dies down--she goes home, and gathers the courage to speak to her family about why she is really suspended. When she tells them about the connection between the festival and the storms, this happens on pages 210-211:

Gaton (her older brother): Wait--you heard the rumors, too? And you asked the prime minister?
Papa: I'm sure you're mistaken. The storm beasts prevent storms, not cause them. What happens beyond the mountains has nothing to do with us.
Mother: You insulted the prime minister? She's a national hero! She isn't keeping secrets from her people! That's ridiculous!
Gaton: You're seriously brave. I've heard stories about the prime minister--she hates to be wrong. So you're saying this is why you were suspended?
Papa: The weather in Alorria doesn't cause deaths beyond the mountains. I think you're overreacting. Yes, there has been discussion--
Mother: Lies. The festival doesn't "kill lots of people" [It does.] Storm beasts keep people safe! That's the entire point of celebration! Haven't you read your history?
Gaton: History approved by the prime minister! All weather is connected--the sky is all one piece. You can't dismiss facts just because you don't like where they lead!
Papa: Now, now. I'm sure our government wouldn't deliberately lie. And I'm sure that there's another logical explanation for these "deadly storms."
Mother: If they even exist. Has anyone seen a shred of proof? All I've heard is talk from people who have never even been beyond the mountains. [Mina has been there.]
Gaton: Are you saying Mina's lying?
Papa: Of course no one is saying that.
Mother: I'm saying she's mistaken.
Gaton: She talked with the prime minister!
Mother: But she didn't see any proof--
Gaton: She doesn't need proof, she has logic!
Papa: Let's all calm down.

I don't know about you, but that whole conversation reminds me, well, of the world (country) we live in.

Later, on page 236, Eione, from the other side of the mountain, in not-Alorria says: "You have any idea what it's like to face a killer storm? [a dying economy, war right in your neighborhood, lack of water due to changing weather patterns, extreme heat, starvation--you can replace so many things with killer storm in that question.] No, of course you don't, because in Alorria you only have perfect summer days with mild wind and endless sunshine as you live your perfect, mild lives of endless selfishness."

Wow. Mild lives of endless selfishness. Huh.

On page 262, Mina converses with her teacher, Professor Dano, who is also concerned about the plight of the rest of the world in the face of Alorrian decisions.

Dano: My friends don't believe that children have learned empathy yet. You have at least proved them wrong in that.
Mina: Don't they remember being my age?
Dano: Just the bad parts. Children can be selfish creatures.
Mina: Adults can be worse. (The prime minister and her advisors, after all, were adults. They knew the truth and had the power to do something to help, yet they refused to.)
Dano: I can't argue with that...You must understand that this is about more than one celebration. If the prime minister acknowledges that the festival causes deadly storms beyond the mountains, then it opens the door to change. The prime minister would need to reevaluate every use of storm beasts. If the festival causes harm, what else does? How does keeping our fields perfectly watered affect the ousiders? Examining the effects of our actions could have ramifications throughout the entire economy. Alorria has been prosperous because of its carefully cultivated selfishness. What happens when that crumbles?

Another wow. Carefully cultivated selfishness. Huh.

Back to Eione on page 288:

Eione: I don't want their pity. I want them to stop murdering our people and destroying our homes. [Which they are doing indirectly through the truly savage weather that does indeed kill and destroy.] How's she going to convince them to do that? Look at these people, smug in their wealth, blinded by their excess. What is she going to tell them that's going to compete with all this?

Smug in their wealth. Blinded by their excess. Could this be...us?

Mina has Eione speak--she doesn't do it herself. And one last paragraph from page 291: Just because mountains [borders] surrounded them didn't mean they were separated from the rest of the world. They were part of the world. Their sky was also everyone else's sky.

So much "meat" in this juvenile fiction book! Comments?

Visit of David and Ruth

It was fun to have David and Ruth, and Ruth's sister Carol, around for almost a week! It was very, very busy, and over in the blink of an eye!

It took a very long time for them to get from Calgary to Chubbock, Idaho, where they stayed Monday night at Brandon's house, because in addition to their visas that would allow them to visit the USA, they discovered they also need a permit each time they cross the border. So that cost them some time, frustration and money. Also, they immediately separated the girls from David, but they could not answer the questions without David's help--due to both language and also they literally did not know some things, like the address where they would be staying in Utah. (David's parents' home was not sufficient, I guess!) So that was fun for them. Welcome to the USA, the most free country in the world. Not.

They arrived to our home on Tuesday evening, and I threw together grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup to feed them. They went to the library to pick Josie up from work at 7:15, and then people just did whatever they wanted to do. Pretty sure I went to bed early.

Wednesday, I went to work. They got up at some point and took in the museums on the BYU campus, and showed Carol around a bit, since she has some interest in attending BYU at some future point. We met at lunch time for a Cannon Center meal, and then stopped back in the library for Albert Winkler's retirement shindig, at which David was able to see and talk to many of his former library colleagues. (An interesting point is that, for the girls, seeing the giraffes and zebras at the Bean Museum, though they were only stuffed ones, was their first time seeing those creatures. I told David that he really needs to take them to the Calgary Zoo.)

Roger Layton took this photo--we were talking with Janet and Janice, though Janet cannot be seen in this shot. Just Janice, me, David and Ruth. Carol was also present, but out of range--a move she purposefully made!

Wednesday night, David had tickets to "A Christmas Carol" at the Hale, which he friend Cristina Bean and her husband were in. I do not know if they took pictures. David said that Carol enjoyed the show, but it was a bit frustrating for Ruth, whose English is not quite up to understanding the nuances of musical theatre. Which, if you think about watching a musical in another language without subtitles is kind of a frustrating experience.

Thursday was their day to go to Salt Lake City and see all the sights. They went to Temple Square, the Beehive House, and I don't know what all else, but they waited to see the lights on Temple Square before driving home.

Friday was the day that they had no plans, so I wanted to give them some plans. They are both not very much in favor of spending money--Ruth even less so than David!! (I know--how is this even possible?!!) But I told them that I wanted to spend some money and make some memories. So I gave them the choice between the Dinosaur Museum and the Aquarium. Ruth opted for the aquarium, because there are dinosaur museums in Argentina that they had visited, but they had never been to an aquarium. This was a delightful experience for them, so I am very glad we went. Although I did not take many pictures, but I know that they did!

Much of the aquarium is dimly lit, so thank you to Nancy for brightening up this image so that the faces of people can be seen.

Carol, Ruth, David, Josie and Bruce at the aquarium

I was very, very sad because they were cleaning the sea otter exhibit, so there was not an otter to be seen!  I took very few photos, but I did take one picture of one of the displays, because it was just so pretty. Even better if you see it in real life, since the sea creatures are alive and moving! But it is still pretty.

I took one picture of our visitors at the entrance to the Utah exhibit, so here it is:

This almost looks like they went somewhere more south, but of course this is fake because it is an exhibit. David says that getting into that hole was not comfortable at all.

On Wednesday night, I had asked the girls what foods they miss the most from Argentina, and they said empanadas. And I knew there were empanadas available here, so I googled "best empanadas in Utah" and got one suggestion in Provo -- Empas, which is on 300 South, in the same little strip mall where Gloria's Little Italy used to be. So, when we finished at the aquarium, we headed to Provo to Empas, and the empanadas were really good, and super authentic according to our Argentinian nationals. They also were clearly super happy to have a long conversation in Spanish with another Argentine.

The owner was very nice, and before we went had texted the menu to me. I was very happy with the prices, though the girls thought the prices were high compared to Argentine prices.

All the females in our group got the Fugazza on our first round (Carol's treat) while Dad got beef and David got Saltena. On our second round, the girls got beef or chicken, and Dad tried Saltena and I can't remember which one David got! Let me tell you, the Fugazza is magnificent.

Saturday, David took the girls out shopping in the morning, while I was at home making funeral potaotes, one normal, and one gluten-free. Then we held our family Christmas Party/Meet and Greet David and Ruth at Dad's work in one of the conference rooms. At noon (or 12:30 by the time we started) we ate dinner with Kelli, Allen, Matthew, Stephen, Rosie and Austin--and R & A's dog Flynn. (They were enroute to Saint George, hence the need to bring Flynn, who was well behaved and spent most of the time in the kennel.)

Kelli planned this fun game where we passed this big ball of presents wrapped in cellophane, and you would have to unwrap until the person beside you rolled a 1 or a 6 on a dice. If you unwrapped a present, you got to keep it. The presents were small to large size candy packages, or gag gifts from the dollar store. It was super fun, even for people like me who got exactly zero presents.

Matthew had brought his tripod and camera to take photos, but I do not have any of them yet. I am sure they will be lovely.

Then small groups of family started arriving at two. Carlie and Mike came, bringing Ash. Then Uncle Bruce and Aunt Sara. I do have a picture of them:

Mike, Carlie, Bruce, Sara, Ash

 Then one of David's friends dropped in. He was a guy who had been in Spam-a-lot with David, so nobody else knew him. Unfortunately, Ruth and Carol took advantage of this distraction to slip away, walking to the nearby Walmart. I was kind of upset because I knew that Mary and Debbie were driving down from Salt Lake expressly to see David and meet Ruth. But this was entirely my own fault because I had not made clear to either of them the importance of this--and I can totally understand that, when your English is not the best and you have a bunch of new people to meet, you can feel awkward and need a break. So, I took some other pictures, but felt bad because Ruth and Carol were not there when I finally thought to pull out my camera.

Carlie meeting Flynn

Josie joining the group of our lovely ladies.

Clearly, I did not take this picture since I am in it. Uncle Bruce entertaining David and I with a story.

Mary and Debbie brought their husbands, and it was fun to visit with them, but they were disappointed and I was disappointed that they couldn't meet Ruth! They of course wanted to see David, but...They left about five minutes before Ruth and Carol returned! But here is a picture to prove that they came:

Kelli, Gary and Debbie, Me, Don and Mary, David, with Josie and Uncle Bruce in front

Saturday evening, David had a couple of friends over to play games, and Dad and I went with Kelli, Allen and Stephen to watch "A  Christmas Carol" at Orem Community Church. Allen's cousin Liz was in it, along with her husband and children. We have so many connections to Liz--besides that she is Allen's cousin, she worked with David at Syrsi-Dynix (she was the company lawyer), her step-father is Gerry Anderson from Taber whose sister Dorothy was one of my best friends when we were children, and her husband Steven Thonpson is my cousins Ted and Aleda Mitchell's nephew. So. Here is one of five youtube links--Liz's mom posted them. Here is a still from one of the videos of Steven Thompson's Scrooge.

Steve said his wife volunteered their family to participate in this only about 2-3 weeks ago, and he thought he would be in the chorus--and then he was cast as Scrooge! He did great.

Thanks to Kelli for treating us to that. I do not think Dad loved being there, but I did! It was fun to do something with Kelli, Allen and Stephen, and to watch the Thompson family shine in the play!

Sunday we headed to our ward's Christmas services, and David and the girls headed in to the conference center for Music and the Spoken Word. They loved it! This was their favorite experience in Utah, getting to hear the Tabernacle Choir sing live.

On Sunday afternoon, we played games. David bought a game that he used to play in England that is called "Ice Cool" and he and I and Ruth played it --how you decide who goes first is whoever was the last person to see a penguin. Since we had all seen a penguin or two or twenty or fifty on Friday, who would be first? David decided that since Ruth had been scrolling through her aquarium pictures, she was the last one to see a penguin, so she went first! Also, that game is really fun. I recommend it.

We also played Scrabble, and we let Ruth use a Spanish word, tajo. I was very happy to learn that word, because on Friday, I was cleaning sticky stuff off my scissors, and learned the hard way that two sanitary wipes between my thumb and the blade while doing a quick hard rub is not suffidient protection from slicing my thumb. I have quite a gash there. So, thanks to Ruth building my vocab, I can now say "Hay un tajo en mi dedo." Which is a true and painful statement!

We played RummiKub and talked with Nancy and family on the phone/video/communication devices, and David peeled the potatoes, and Josie mashed the potatoes, all the young folks being so helpful to spare my poor dedo with its tajo.

After dinner, David, Ruth and Carol worked with Bruce on his second birthday puzzle. I had gotten him a wasgij puzzle for his birthday that I did not know contained actually TWO 1000 piece puzzles. He and David had finished the first of them--the one whose picture is actually on the box--while David was here. 

This is the one they finished.

So they took that one apart, and in about an hour the four of them managed to complete the entire outside edge of the second puzzle, so the frame is ready and waiting for Bruce to finish it. Not to give it away, but this is what the second puzzle will look like:

And then, Bruce left for work, David moved his car into the garage, they loaded it up, everyone went to bed, and we got up this morning early, and they were on their way by 5 AM, as planned. They are now 10 hours or so into their journey, so I hope that all is well with them, but I don't know! (Yes, I do. It is now 3:25, and they just crossed the border and are back in Canada. I bet they feel more free! And less like grilled salmon--or grilled humans!--which was how they felt when crossing into the US--grilled!) We were so glad they came. We had an enjoyable week with them!

Talk A and B

I was supposed to give a 3-5 minute talk before the Primary Children sang in church today. This is what I planned to say, Talk A:

My 4 year old granddaughter. Zoë was being mean to her little brother, so her mom said, “You’ve got to start being nicer to your brother. Santa’s not going to be very happy when he sees how unkind you’re...
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Zoë interrupted. “You mean he can see us when we’re awake, too?! Then I’d better start being good! The song says, “He sees you when you’re sleeping” and “he knows when you’re awake.” What a tricky song! Why didn’t they just also say that he sees when you’re awake so we can know that?! I’m so behind on being good!!”

I tell this story not because it is funny, although it is, but to illustrate the point that children learn what they sing.

This happens to all of us. Music is a powerful tool. When we grow up singing the songs of the gospel, we internalize messages of testimony: “I know that my Redeemer lives” – messages of identity “I am a child of God” – messages of hope: “Fear not, I am with thee, oh be not dismayed” – messages of “Peace on earth, good will to men” and “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!”

We live in what is increasingly becoming a spectator culture. We do a whole lot of watching other people do things instead of doing them ourselves; listening to other people sing instead of singing ourselves. We erroneously think that singing is something for good singers to do, and the rest of us should just listen.

But this is not true. We all have good voices—after all, He who created all things and declared that they were good created your voice. It might not be trained, but it is a good voice because it is your God-given voice. The Lord said, “The song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.”

There are some built in blessings to singing: singing builds unity; it positively impacts mental health, and also physical health. Singing improves your heart rate, your breathing, even your immune system. These are automatic blessings available to all who sing. We are so blessed that we can come to church and sing together; to lift our voices in praise to our Father in Heaven and thereby enjoy the built-in blessings of singing! Our prophet, President Nelson, recently said, “Music is such a powerful form of worship, and that reality is never clearer than during the Christmas season when we enjoy beautiful carols that testify of the risen Lord. This December I hope you will make time with family and friends to enjoy the glorious music of this season.”

Today the Primary children and teachers are going to sing together. They will sing “Born to be a King.” This song was written last year, in 2018, by Sister Maren Burnham, who lives in Okotoks, Alberta, which is in the Calgary Alberta Foothills Stake. Sister Burnham says, “Writing this song was one of those times when you don't feel like it's you writing. After some prayer and reflection the song came while I was on one of my evening walks. I hurried home and spent the rest of the night writing this song. The next day I added the descant, and that is when it felt complete.”

I hope that you will all feel our testimonies of the Savior as we share this song with you.

But then life happened. First, I got a call 15 minutes to the hour, just before I was about to walk out the door, that the children needed to sing two songs instead of one because one of the singers had sick kids and couldn't come today.

Second, the lady who sang before, in her 3-5 minutes presented many of the same ideas I had, but she spoke for at least 7 minutes, and then she sang "O Holy Night" which is not short.  So, I was busy looking at my notes on my phone and deciding what to eliminate and what to add.

So this is what I actually ended up saying, Talk B:

My 4 year old granddaughter. Zoë was being mean to her little brother, so her mom said, “You’ve got to start being nicer to your brother. Santa’s not going to be very happy when he sees how unkind you’re...
“Whoa!” Zoë interrupted. “You mean he can see us when we’re awake, too?! Then I’d better start being good! The song says, “He sees you when you’re sleeping” and “he knows when you’re awake.” What a tricky song! Why didn’t they just say that he sees when you’re awake so we can know that?! I’m so behind on being good!!”

I tell this story not because it is funny, although it is, but to illustrate the point that children learn what they sing.

When we grow up singing the songs of the gospel, we internalize messages of testimony: “I know that my Redeemer lives” – messages of identity “I am a child of God” – messages of hope: “Fear not, I am with thee, oh be not dismayed” – messages of “Peace on earth, good will to men” and “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!”

The Lord said, “The song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.” Our prophet, President Nelson, recently said, “Music is such a powerful form of worship, and that reality is never clearer than during the Christmas season when we enjoy beautiful carols that testify of the risen Lord. This December I hope you will make time with family and friends to enjoy the glorious music of this season.”

Today the Primary children and teachers are going to sing together. It was a surprise to all of them that they will be singing two songs! First, they will sing "Far, far away on Judea's plains." The children love singing "Glory to God in the highest." And they also love this song because it was written by John Menzies McFarlane, who is related to our own McFarlane family. Next they will sing “Born to be a King.” This song was written last year by Sister Maren Burnham, who is a member of the Calgary Alberta Foothills Stake. Sister Burnham says, “Writing this song was one of those times when you don't feel like it's you writing. After some prayer and reflection the song came while I was on one of my evening walks. I hurried home and spent the rest of the night writing this song. The next day I added the descant, and that is when it felt complete.”

I hope that you will all feel our testimonies of the Savior as we share these songs with you.

So--everyone laughed in the story of Miss Z. The Primary sang beautifully. Even though I got all fuddled and DID NOT SWITCH THE SIGN for the second verse.  It was there for the first verse, which arguably the children do not need. But the second verse, it would have been good to have the sign. I have to forgive myself for that error--so, sorry me, for doing that!

Good Grief Advice

Sometimes I read some things that I just like to save, and this was one of those times. I read it here: https://www.thatericalper.com/2015/08/16/person-is-asking-for-advice-hn-how-to-deal-with-grief-this-reply-is-incredible/?fbclid=IwAR0xusm1FNTs4bgQfbXMkXpgtXbNWkhmtQAmaji6xh_N3o_s9_K_oNElV24

Puspanjali

Because we have visiting faculty from Bali, I Nyoman Windha (known to us as Pak) and his wife Ibu Gusti (known to us as Ibu--that is probably not her full name) both the music department and the dance department are benefiting from these faculty members. Pak is a gamelan musician and a composer, and Ibu is a dancer and choreographer.

We learned Puspanjali during the first semester of gamelan, about 11 years ago. We have performed it several times over the years, a couple of times with dancers. But this year was different because Pak Windha is the composer of Puspanjali, and Ibu Gusti was the original choreographer of Puspanjali. So that is cool. Also, it meant that we had to do some re-learning, those of us who have played it before, because other people's interpretations of Puspanjali were not the same as the composer's expectation of the sound.

The dance department puts on an event called "Christmas Around the World" during the first weekend in December. I have only gone to it occasionally--mostly when David was on the folk dance team, when we got great tickets so that we could watch him.

This year, the gamelan was asked to perform Puspanjali--so Josie and I got to perform in the Marriott Center, adding this venue to our other important venues like the Tabernacle on Temple Square and  Kingsbury Hall on the University of Utah campus.

So this week has been a very busy week, with tech rehearsal on Wednesday, dress rehearsal on Thursday, and performances Friday night and two times on Saturday. (There was an additional Friday performance for school children, but they did not involve us or the Men's Chorus--just dancers for that performance, to shorten the show. And also make it less chaotic backstage!!)

Holy cow, the Men's Chorus is huge!! You notice it more when they are all crammed into the tunnel with you and all the musicians of the gamelan and a bunch of the dancers. And they just could not realize the idea of being quiet. They were constantly too chatty! 

Our friend Dirk said, "They just keep coming. It's like that scene from the Matrix."

Although in this picture, they are going, not coming. Their part on the program was at a different time each of the three times we performed--they literally ran in and ran out because they had performances in the HFAC at or near the same time for each of the three. Last night (Saturday) they performed in the HFAC, ran over to the Marriott Center to perform, and then ran back to be in the final combined chorus finale in the HFAC. 

Here is Ibu Gusti and the young dancers practicing in the tunnel (when it was empty of young men):

This was from Friday night

Here we are on stage, a still captured from the video at the Thursday night dress rehearsal:

Josie and I are playing suling. It is weird to think that two sulings can be heard above the clanging of the brass instruments, but we actually can be heard. You can watch the video here.

I should also mention that set-up and take-down consumed some time this week, too. We moved the instruments on Wednsday afternoon at 3 pm. We was Jeremy, Pak, Rachael and me--John Shurtleff, who is the technical director for Young Ambassadors, was helping us. It was the best instrument move ever, because he was very thorough and careful.

For take-down, as soon as we finished performing for the last time, we took the instruments to an elevator, and got them out of the building during the second half. Some of us stayed in costume for the curtain call, and some of us went to the HFAC to off-load the truck. Since Josie and I had done the curtain call for the matinee, we elected to help with the off-loading. There were about seven of us to do that work. Josie jumped on the truck with John to help get the instruments off--they have worked together like that many times during YA tours, so it was old home week for them.

So it has been a fun and full week of performances!

Get out!

When Alexander "needs" to call me, and Nancy helps him to do that, he usually just sits there quietly and smiles at me, while I try to think of entertaining things to say, like "Don't climb on the table!" and "Are you being a good boy?" (I am sooo entertaining, am I right?)

But today he talked to me! He called me at my office (twice) and said, "Where are you?" And I said, "In my office." And then he said, "Get out, Naanii! Get out!"

It took me a moment to realize that he wanted me to climb out of the picture on the phone and into their house! I tried, but I could not do it.

Maybe he will invent that technology some day! I hope he hurries up and does it! It would make visiting so much easier!

Connections

So, I mentioned in a previous post that our university librarian, Jennifer, passed away after a hard-fought battle with metastatic breast cancer.  And then, at the baptism on Saturday, the bishop said something about that in our ward we have had recent births and a death--and Irene (our Primary President) and I looked at each other like "What?! Who?" because that was news to us.

Well, it was Carey Bott, our Relief Society secretary!!! What?!!!! She just didn't wake up on Friday morning, which was the day after Thanksgiving. It was so shocking for those of us who are Facebook Friends with Carey (and to literally everyone who is friends with Carey) because she was just fine!

On November 26, just three days before Carey woke up dead, her sister Vickie posted this: "Lunch day with my sisters at Olive Garden! It was wonderful getting together and talking. We had to cut our time short because Judy (one of the sisters) had a rough day with her tremors. No answers today--the doctor called and canceled her appointment because of a family emergency! We are frustrated not having any answers so please keep her in your prayers." And everyone is worried about Judy--but on November 29, it is Carey who is gone! She was 68, so at least she had a decade on Jennifer, who was only 57.

So Jennifer's funeral was on Monday, and Carey's was today, only I couldn't go because I had a noon-hour concert (which was amazing!) but I did contribute to the meal for the family, and stop in at the viewing before the service. I cut the line because I didn't know her husband's children, and went and talked to him and gave him a hug, and then I went to hug their son(ish) because I knew he would need it.

And this is where Jennifer's story and Carey's story meets--with the son, Dawson.

So, almost 6.5 years ago, when we moved into this ward (July 1, 2013) the Botts were just starting to come back to church after not coming for a long time. We were new--I only know this about them because of, you know, things that Carey or her husband said. Around the same time, Carey's only daughter, Amber, died, leaving a son--Dawson. So Carey and her husband adopted Dawson to make the whole parenting of him easier--all the legalities and things were easier if he was adopted. So really, Carey is his grandmother, but he was 12 years old when he came to live with the Botts full time. (The Botts have a yours and mine situation with their children--Dawson is the only "ours" in the family, because he is legally their son, but biologically, he is Carey's grandson.)

Dawson was dealing with a lot of grief over the loss of his mother, and the Botts were dealing with raising a child after all their other children had long been raised. So sometimes things were fraught and sometimes things were difficult, but Dawson is a good kid, and his "parents" are good people.

Well, one day Carey posted something on the ward/neighborhood Facebook page about wanting to take Dawson to a BYU football game. He had never been, and Carey was hoping to find some tickets because there was a home game coming and the weather was going to be good.

So I read that notice, and somehow it came up in a conversation with Jennifer; I can't remember how or why--(Dec. 5: I actually remembered. Jennifer had posted tickets on Swap 'n Shop, and because of Carey's post, I asked for the tickets but was too late; someone else had claimed them. So Jennifer, being the kind person she is, stopped in to my office to apologize that I didn't get the tickets. And then I said, "Oh, I wasn't asking for myself, because I actually kind of hate football. And then I told her...) just how this young man in my ward who was going through a hard time really wanted to go to a football game. And at the time, the situation with Dawson was really dicey--he had been having some pretty serious mental health issues, and was hospitalized from time to time. The Botts were very worried, and it was just a super stressful time for them.

And, a few weeks after my conversation with Jennifer, I got this email from her: "I am not going to use my football tickets for this Saturday’s game against Fresno State. Before I offer them on the Swap ‘n Shop list, I wanted to find out whether the young man in your ward would like to have them? I have two tickets plus a parking pass. The game starts at 1pm. Do you want them?" (This was while Jennifer's family was in a commute situation. When she was first at BYU, her family was still in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and then her husband got a position at Dixie, which still made for a looooong commute--so Jennifer did not always have time on weekends for football games!)

Now, you know that as a dean, the tickets that Jennifer would get were much better tickets than the tickets that most people can purchase! The deans get very, very good tickets. And a parking pass! And Jennifer remembered about Dawson's situation--the recent loss of his mother, being raised by grandparents--so she not only gave him the tickets but kicked in some money so that he could buy himself a souvenir at the game. She put the tickets and the money in a card with a very sweet note of encouragement to him. (I now know that she had only recently lost her own mother, who died (of metastatic breast cancer) in 2012; I did not realize that at the time because she did not say that. It is hard to lose your mom, no matter how old you are, so I am sure her heart was breaking for this poor boy to have lost his mom at age 12.)

So Dawson had a wonderful time at the football game. Carey sent me this note, which I shared with Jennifer, "I want to thank you. Words can't express how much we appreciate you and your boss for those tickets. Dawson wasn't able to come home because of his behavior. I had to call his therapist and ask him if they would just give him a visit long enough to go to the game. He said yes, so I told Dawson what you and your boss gave him and he started crying. He said, "Mom, I can't believe some people care about me. I have always wanted a BYU souvenir." He was so excited when he called me from the State Hospital at 8 this morning. He was ready. Thank you! Thank you! I just can't tell you enough! He had me crying when he opened the envelope."

I was just the delivery person, so I got included in the thanks, but it was Jennifer's memory of Dawson's existence, and her compassion and generosity that was really behind it.

So, I had Jennifer on my mind because of her death, and then on Saturday, with me thinking about Jennifer's funeral on Monday, I hear that Carey has died! And this story, of course, that ties these two kind, loving, generous women together, each of them giving service to this poor, grief-stricken young man in their own way. Maybe they will meet in heaven, and Carey will tell about this one time that someone she didn't even know at BYU made an afternoon football game possible for her grandson turned son, and what a precious event it was for him--and Jennifer will just smile quietly and say "How wonderful!" because I do not think she would be the type to say "Oh! That was me!"

Anyways--a precious memory for me amidst all the death and dying.

Remember, remember the last of November

Today is the last day of November, and I have done it! I have written every day this month, and most of the time I actually had something to say. A couple of times, I wrote with little purpose, but overall, I feel pretty good about setting a goal to write daily and doing it.

Things I am thankful for today:
1. The sun came out today! It was so lovely. It was snowy and ugly out when Josie and I went into the baptism today, but when we came out, the sun was shining out of a clear blue sky! Lovely!
2. My check engine light (that came on last Saturday) randomly went off and has stayed off! Phew!
3. The little boys who were baptized had the names Jacob Haggard and Atticus Trueblood. I felt like maybe I had slipped into the world of Harry Potter! Great names!
4. It has been really nice to have Patrick home. Last night we had Rosie and Austin over as well. It felt good to see them, and to see the four of the kids (P, J, R and A) enjoy each other so much.
5. David's university's strike is over! Have been praying for a speedy resolution to that! It might not have been super speedy, but I am so glad it is over.
6. David's difficult tenant moved out! So happy for him and Ruth that they have one less worry!
7. Josie helped me put up the Christmas lights earlier in the week, and I turned them on for the first time on Thanksgiving night. We plugged them into the light on the balcony, so I only have to flip a switch, which is so handy. Should have done that sooner! (By which I mean, in previous years. Easy enough to buy the little adapter to plug into the light socket. That is the part I should have done several years sooner.)
8. Josie's kitty really loves her. She sees Josie and starts to purr really loudly, and caresses Josie's face with her dirty little kitty feet. (I am very thankful that it is not me with dirty little kitty feet on my face, too.)
9. I finished reading "Without you, there is no us" by Suki Kim. Wow. What a window into North Korea. Hauntingly lovely book.
10. I have been doing a lot of Family Bibles on Family Search--connecting old family bibles to the people who kept them. It is so interesting! I hope some people searching for information about their families will use those old records.

There are many more things I am thankful for. The more I list, the more I can think of them!

Also some sad stuff today: Andrew fought with the leaves and the leaves won. A little boy fell off a snow removal implement and died. My friend Emily (who almost died) has had some hard things: her 14 year old daughter had a grand mal seizure last week, and her 7 year old daughter's best friend's mom died of complications from a medication. So, the reminder that life is hard is ever present.

BUT!! There are still things to be thankful for. I am thankful for taking some time this month to think about that. Hopefully I will continue to think about being thankful every day, even if I don't write about it every day.

3 Bears of Baptism

A few years ago, my friend Laurel gave a talk at a baptism called "The 3 Bears of Baptism," and I thought it made for an interesting talk that explained the promises we make when we are baptized.  There is a baptism on Saturday, and few people are available, so Josie said she would give the talk if I wrote it. (I am already doing the music, so we didn't want it to be the Myrna show.)  I was stumped for an idea until I remembered the 3 Bears.

Here is the talk:

I’m sure all of you know the story of the Three Bears. Today I want to talk about three different bears: the baptism bears. The word “bear” can be used to mean the furry animal, but it can also mean “to carry.” The baptism bears remind us of the covenants we make with our Heavenly Father when we are baptized—we promise to carry or “bear” three things.

We can read about these things we promise to bear in the Book of Mormon, in Mosiah chapter 18. First, we promise that we are willing to bear His name—the name of Jesus. You will be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and will belong to him and carry or bear his name. In ancient times the followers of Jesus were called Christians. Now we can be called Latter-day Saints or Christians. Either one means we bear His name.

Our second BEAR of baptism is to bear testimony, or to bear witness that we know Jesus is the Son of God; that we know He is our Savior and we know His gospel is true. We can bear this testimony all the rest of our lives. This is one way we show our love for Jesus and our Heavenly Father.

Our third BEAR of baptism is that we will bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light. This means we help each other with work that needs to be done and also we help others when they have trouble and sorrow so they won’t suffer alone. In this way, we can follow the Savior’s commandment to love one another, the same way He loves us.

Alma taught these same baptism covenants to the people that he taught and baptized that we can read about in Mosiah chapter 18 vs. 8-10. Alma tells the people being baptized about the three bears: he tells them that:

they need to be called the people of God (which means to bear his name)

they need to be willing to bear one another’s burdens,

and they need to stand as witnesses of God (which means to bear testimony)

After they are baptized, Heavenly Father’s promised to pour out His spirit upon them. He makes that same promise to you as you are baptized today—that he will pour out His spirit upon you. I can think of nothing better than to always have his spirit with us.

If you forget these covenants listen carefully to the priests as they bless the sacrament each Sunday, because the words they say remind us of the promises we make when we are baptized, which are also your three baptism bears …

You bear His name.
You bear your testimony.
You bear one another’s burdens

I gave Miriam 3 little baptism bears when she was baptized because of Laurel's talk, and bought a dozen little bears at that time. So, I chose 6 little bears (because two young boys are being baptized) and dressed them up with belts that spell out "Bear His Name," "Bear Testimony," and "Bear Burdens." For Miriam, I had made necklaces, but actually, belts kind of fit better on these bears.

I had to go and buy string because what I had was too slippery to hold knots, and the beads kept falling off, and while at the craft store, I saw these cute bear bags, so I got them, too.

Thanksgiving Day 2019 in the US of A

I am trying to think of things I am thankful for today that rhyme with tree, gold or carrot to fit into my tale of the day. (Because that was one of young Wally's thankful prompts.)

I am thankful we could SEE while driving to the airport this morning to pick up Patrick. The weather was just starting to turn a bit stormy at home when we left, but it got worse as we drove along. Bruce had volunteered to drive, and I was playing Sherlock on my phone, and when I looked up, holy cow! It had gotten nasty outside! He had to drive through slushy, slippery awfulness. But at least visibility was good!

Because it was COLD we decided to HOLD our Thanksgiving dinner as a brunch at Chuck-a-rama. I had heard that they put on a good Thanksgiving spread for a decent price. Bruce told me there would be a line. I didn't think there would be a line at 10 AM, when they open, which is when we would get there after picking Patrick up. We pulled into the parking lot at about 9:50, and there was already a line at the door! Huh. Mind you, it was a short line of only about 8 people. We sat and waited for Kelli and Allen to arrive, and a bunch more people came, but it was fine. Our wait was short, the restaurant was not crowded, the buffet lines were never awful, and there was plenty of choices to eat. It was nice because Kelli and Allen did not have to drive so far, and we were in SLC already because of the airport. So that was a nice way to get together, and well worth the cost, in my opinion. So I was thankful to HOLD our T-day dinner in a restaurant.

I do not really know how to use words that rhyme with carrot in a sentence about being thankful...well, I was thankful for the yummy carrot in the serving of pot roast I took from the buffet. We do not really have a garrett (attic) in our house, so I can't be thankful for that. And we have a cat, not a parrot, and I am thankful for that because I think I prefer cats to parrots.

Okay, this is getting silly. Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a good night!

What is something you wish you were thankful for?

This is a difficult question, because it implies that you need to think of something you are currently NOT thankful for, and somehow raise the wherewithal to wish you could be thankful for it!

This brings to mind several scriptures: “Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things”(D&C 59:7) and "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

The scripture in 1 Thessalonians is the one that inspired the story of Betsie Ten Boom and her gratitude for the fleas in the barracks in the concentration camp she and her sister Corrie were in. I love that story! Here it is, excerpted from Corrie's book, The Hiding Place, for anyone who would like to read it again (or for the first time.)

Betsie is a great example, but I am not sure that I am ready to be thankful for terrible things like cancer, or people dying young and leaving young children behind, which are things that I am currently not thankful for. But I wish I had the necessary understanding to be able to be thankful for everything! Maybe one day I will get to that point!

Things people answered on Angela's original post with this question--not a lot of people replied to this question, and no wonder--it is a hard one!
Messes everywhere
Stretch marks and mommy pooch
To be healthy--like wow! (This answer is like, we take it for granted!! So indeed, we should notice and be thankful for being healthy. It is the best.)
Answers that aren't what you hope for (example given: an autism diagnosis)
My trials in life
Love handles
Mornings (the person who wrote this must be an owl!)
Tantrums
Headaches

Lots of things to think about here.

When I was young, I had terrible periods. Terrible. Awful. They were irregular, unpredictable, I bled like a fountain, and the pain was beyond horrible. I was exactly the opposite of thankful for them. They made me so angry!! I used to rage "When I design a world, women will NOT have periods!"

But. I learned some things. I learned how to bear pain. I learned how to work through pain, because it is stay home and miss out, or make yourself do something in spite of it. Since they were so unpredictable, I could plan to participate in something, and then it would come at a totally unexpected time, like a week after the last one or whatever. Early on, I missed out on many things, but then I learned to fight back. And when I had babies, I learned that I could bear labor and childbirth pains in ways that people who had not dealt with pain before could not. I appreciated pregnancy and nursing because no periods!! I could get 2-3 years of no periods for every baby!! Sweet! Now that I don't have them anymore, I am even more grateful because they were no fun. But--they did do me some good, after all.

Now to learn to be thankful for other hard things...

What are you thankful for that you never expected to be?

On Angela's post of this question, the number one answer was children! Some people never wanted to, or never thought they would be parents, and then when they were--surprise, surprise! They were thankful.

This made me think of my friend L, who was dating B, but he didn't want children. L really did, so this was becoming an issue in their relationship. B wanted to marry L, but L said, "Well, there is no way that I am getting married and NOT having children so if you want to marry me, you have to want children." So, reluctantly, B became a father to M, and he LOVED it. He loved it so much that he said to L, "Being parents is so much fun! Let's have 12!" And L said, "Slow down, cowboy, I said I wanted children, but I didn't say anything about 12!" (They had three.)

Other people mentioned leadership roles in various organizations--they didn't see themselves as leaders, and yet, when they stepped up, they learned and grew and were grateful.

This is what I wrote in answer to that question: Having to be the breadwinner. I always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom with a bajillion children. Instead, I have always had to work, but because I had to, I pursued lots of education, and have had lots of experiences that I could not have had otherwise. And my children survived having a working mom! They turned out pretty great, honestly. So, I am thankful for that different life path that was not what I expected.

One answer that someone gave was moving--sometimes moving is really hard, but it can turn out to be a blessing. We have moved a lot--probably too much--but each move has been a blessing to someone. Moving to Utah was super hard, and it took years of adjustment for most of us, but if we hadn't moved when we did and where we did, would Nancy have met Andrew? I am grateful those two met; I think they are perfect for each other.

More Questions to Consider

My friend Angela's son Wally continues to think up great thankful prompt questions:

What are you thankful for that you never expected to be?
What is something that you wish you were thankful for?
What is something you are thankful for that rhymes with tree, gold, or carrot?
What is a skill that you have that you are thankful for?
What is a scripture verse that you are thankful for?
What is a law that you are thankful for?

That Wally is a deep thinker sometimes.

My friend Susanne has also been asking thankful questions, sometimes re-using Wally's questions, and, more recently, presenting questions of her own:

Name a talent or quality you have that you are grateful for. Go ahead and brag on yourself since I asked for it!
What is something about the town, area or neighborhood you live in or are from, that you are thankful for?

These are some great prompts, I think! And it has also been interesting to read the answers people give, some short and sweet, and some long and detailed.

As for me, this is all I will write tonight. I left my computer glasses at work! So, what I am thankful for is that I do have computer glasses, which help me so much, since my eyes are pretty terrible. How wonderful to have glasses that help me to see better. But, right now, I have the wrong glasses for the job, so I am just going to stop right here.

Gamelan Fall Semester 2019

This was our huge group of musicians and dancers:

This was such a fun concert! I hope maybe someone filmed part of it! There is a link to the program, which has a few strange spellings for the Balinese words!

Before I went to Europe, I was playing penyacah for Puspanjali, but Jeremy had me play suling because the volunteers from Music 307 needed a strong suling player, since they have never played that instrument before. We will be playing this at Christmas Around the World, and I am not sure what instrument I will play. Our visiting professors are the composer and original choreographer of this piece. Here is a video example. (Not us.)

For Marga Pati, I played penyacah with Rachael, who was very easy to watch. I have played this years ago, but there were parts I was unsure of, so my eyes were on Rachael's hands! Here is a video example, again, not us!

Our Tari Marga Pati (Tari = Dance)

For Wira Yuda (which basically means war fighting) I was on jublag. This one was super easy, at least for the jublag. I picked it up very quickly. That always feels good! This is a men's dance, as you can see in this example which is not our group.

Our Tari Wira Yuda

It was so cool to go back and forth between the steel band and the instruments of bronze! And both ensembles, the steel band and the gamelan, did kecak together at the end.

It was a fun night!

Too much

Some days, I don't know what to write because I have nothing to say. Some days I don't know what to write because I have too much to say. Or too many choices.

Today--continue with thankful posts? Write about death? Or the gamelan concert tonight?

I think I will wait to see if pictures from the gamelan get posted--I didn't take any because my camera/phone was in my pocket, which was pretty inaccessible under my costume.

So...death it is! I finished reading "Smoke gets in your eyes and other lessons from the crematory" by Caitlin Doughty, and it was such an interesting read. I was reading it quickly because it has a shortened due date since others are waiting to read it. And with death on my mind while reading this book, wouldn't you know it but that my friend Janice (Kapp Perry) would end up in the hospital having had a stroke on Friday, and then this morning our university librarian, Jennifer Paustenbaugh, died after a valiant, over-the-top, concerted effort to beat cancer. She just sent us all her letter of resignation on Friday, and though I didn't think she would see the New Year in, I was quite shocked that she died today!

I didn't think she would last the year in 2018, but she did, and she made it almost through 11 months of 2019. Her cancer has been terrible, and aggressive and unremitting, and yet she would come to work looking like a million bucks. I have not seen very many people as resilient as Jennifer. She was the energizer bunny of not giving in to cancer. 

Until--she finally was just worn out by it.  She has not been at work for about six weeks or so now, and the rumor mill said that she would be stepping down at the end of December.

It was very odd to have someone die while I was reading this book, and thinking about how ridiculous it is to be embalmed and put in a ridiculously expensive coffin. And thinking about whether it is better to be cremated or just dig a hole and put your body in it to decompose properly, or whether it is better to donate your body to science.

One of my neighbors did that--donated her body to science. She was a very dedicated teacher, and I think she wanted to keep on teaching after she died, so if her spirit can't be around to do that, she wanted her body to teach somebody something. So there is zero expense at death when you donate your whole body--unless, of course, doing so becomes too trendy--then they will think of some way to monetize it, am I right? They come and take your body away within 24 hours and then you might allow doctors to do trial procedures or implant trial devices, so they learn on a dead guinea pig instead of a live one. You can be an organ donor AND a body donor--you die, and they will first harvest your organs, and then find an organization that wants the rest of you. Or they might just want your head, or your leg, or whatever. Or you could be a crash-test dummy--sometimes they like to try things out with a real dead body to see what happens upon impact.

Well--read the book! It will make you think! 

What is something you are thankful for that you have seen, but not had?

Wow! That is not a question I would expect an 8 or 9 year old kid to come up with.

Angela posted this: "Wally's response to his own question was "puppies" and mine is "the horse farms around us here in Kentucky." I'm grateful his question reminds me we can be thankful for things without having them."

I feel like I am the host of "Family Feud"--and the survey said...

waterfalls

sunsets

calving glaciers

flower gardens

beautiful paintings

temples

kittens

antidotes (the woman who wrote this--her husband works in a factory that manufactures antidotes and also vaccinations)

foster families

my own room

dogs

sons

the deepest part of the ocean

all the beautiful places in the world I have seen pictures of but not visited

One person wrote: "I’m thankful for pets because they are a source of joy, companionship, wonder and happiness. Especially when someone is alone or sick. 💞
I’m thankful for farmers and farms because without them we couldn’t feed the world. Plus I’m a huge fan of delicious vegetables."

Susanne also posted this question, and that list included:

vaccinations

medicines

the promise of Heaven

an Italian passport

children

I thought this was such a profound question to be posed by a child. It really makes you think of all the wonderful things that you don't own, and in many cases can't own ("have") but for which you can still be thankful. And people's lists make me think of some things that I am thankful for that I have had--like back in the day when I had my own personal farmer (my dad) and his farm!

I think that other people have thought of such wonderful things to answer this question with! I am thankful for their answers. And right now, this may be silly, but I am thankful for hippos, which I have seen but not had. I am thankful for going with my sister to the San Diego Zoo and watching the hippos swim and cavort and play in the water. What a sight! When you see them on land, or standing in puddles of water, they look just large and maybe a little clumsy. But seeing them underwater! What a privilege. They are so graceful and agile and adorable. Who knew? I am thankful to have seen that sight, of these beautiful creations of God enjoying their lives in ways that I did not know they could. Delightful. (If you have not seen them for yourself, here is a video someone else took.)

What is something you are thankful for that you think is fun and interesting, but other people think is boring?

I did not answer this question when Angela posted it. But many people did, and they posted these things to be thankful for:
spelling
doing the laundry
budgeting
window shopping for houses (I call that being a looky-loo)
audio books
bed sheets
weaving
trying to hypnotize people
reading Wikipedia
reading almanacs
books
birds
plants
board games
dogs
organizing closets, drawers and files
weeds and weeding
behavior analysis
math
school
looking up words in the dictionary
vacuuming
taking classes
bugs
colorful hairbows
cats
LED bulbs
watching car repair videos
knitting
learning botanical Latin names
opera music
words
maps
watching people paint or garden
spreadsheets
sewing doll clothes
PBS
historical fiction
Star Trek Enterprise
going to yard and garage sales
watching TV

That is a pretty great list. I am not sure if I have anything to add--and I find very few of the items on this list boring. As a child who read all of the World Book Encyclopedias and was reduced to reading the big fat Webster's Dictionary my parents had, and did a fair bit of pouring over the maps in the old encyclopedias--I can't remember what kind they were, but yes, I grew up in a home with two sets of encyclopedias. (I thought that was normal. I was shocked in school to discover that there were children who had no encyclopedias or dictionaries in their homes!!! What?!!!)

I am very, very sorry for getting rid of our World Book Encyclopedias when we moved. I did give them to a school, so at least they didn't end up in a landfill. But still. I robbed my younger children of the pleasure of reading the encyclopedia. Which is totally NOT boring! Fascinating.

What I am thankful for that makes me different from other people...

Isn't it wonderful that all of us are different from other people? Every single person is unique--even identical twins! You get to know them, and you can tell them apart, because they aren't completely identical. They will have something that is uniquely their own!

What is sad, in our increasingly polarized society, is that people cling to other people who are like them, and miss the beauty of the diversity around them in others.

What makes me different? It could be physical things, like my toe thumb on my left hand. Or the way my right big toe sticks up in its own special way. My gold streak, back in the day before I started to dye my hair--that was definitely different from other people.

It could be things that I do, like being unable to sit still in intense or scary scenes in movies. Or crying over some silly cartoon or advertisement--not everybody you meet is like that.

What makes me different from other people is that only I am the youngest daughter of Arnold and Pearl Conrad, and only I have three wonderful siblings, Bruce, Colleen and Arlene. Only I am Bruce Layton's wife and have these particular six children: Kelli, Abbi, David, Nancy, Patrick and Josie, each of whom in turn is spectacularly unique and precious, and each different from the other.

I love diversity! I am thankful even for my bad eyes (because they are only bad; I can still see!) and thankful for the people around me who can see better than I can. And I am thankful for the things that I can do maybe a little bit different that might lift someone else. When you put us all together, with all our differences, the whole lot of us are greater than the sum of our individual parts. I am thankful for that.

What I am thankful for that I used to not like:

Sooooo many things! I was a cantankerous, not-liking-much kind of girl. So I have had the opportunity to learn to be thankful for many things that I formerly was not thankful for.

This was my answer on Angela's Facebook page: Sweet potatoes! Oh, how I hated them when I was a kid, but now I love them! They are so yummy! So, keep trying foods you never thought you liked, because tastes change over time!

I wrote that, I am sure, because I have been buying and eating sweet potatoes lately, and I think they are so good. They have a more-ish flavour, in my opinion. And since I started with foods, I will just stay there for this post.

Rice--I also used to hate rice. And cream of wheat cereal and oatmeal. But now I like all those things. They are actually things that are easy on the tummy, and inexpensive, so they are good things to eat. 

I think that for me, as a child, it would have been easier to list the things I did like to eat, because I pretty much didn't like anything else! I loved bread, though, and I still love bread.

I didn't like candy (I would only east Smarties) 

and candy canes at Christmas. I HATED Christmas oranges, and I hated chocolates, both important Christmas treats. My family was okay with that--more for them!

I think I am still inclined to be picky. But I am thankful for many more foods than I used to be thankful for! We have such a wonderful variety of good choices, don't we?

What I am thankful for that is my favorite color...

When Angela posted this, the first of Wally's questions, I did not answer the question because how could I even? Like, what is even my favorite color?

Most of the time my favorite colors are pale pink and baby blue. So I spent some time trying to think of things that I am thankful for that are pink, and I decided that most things that are pink are man-made, and they are things that could be many colors, not just pink. So I just didn't answer that question.

But then when Susanne also posted that question...and the first answer someone put was the sun, and a discussion about is it yellow or orange or what...and that made me immediately have the sky around the sun pop into my mind, and I realized that I really love sky blue. Which is almost like baby blue, only with a bit more brightness to it. And it is a color made by nature!

How I love the sky! Living here in Utah, there is not the wonderful sky like there is in Alberta. The sky really does get bigger near the poles, so there really is more sky to see, and it is just the best. I remember lying on the green lawn and looking up at the sky--it is better than a movie! Actually--it is a movie, especially in Alberta, where the wind is pretty constant, and the clouds are moving along and changing their story as they go, blobs of white paint on a sky blue canvas.

Not to mention sunrises and sunsets. Sooooo beautiful. In Utah, sometimes the sunset is stupendous, too, and I always think how very lucky I am to be outside right at this moment so that I can see this sky! Because the sky paints ephemeral pictures, and you have to be there to see them--some pictures (photos) are pretty great, but not as beautiful as the real thing.

When I was young, my favorite song was...

Whenever I hear the song of a bird
Or look at the blue, blue sky;
Whenever I feel the rain on my face,
Or the wind as it rushes by;
Whenever I touch a velvet rose
Or walk by our lilac tree--
I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world
Heavenly Father created for me.

And I was so lucky to live in a yard that was like a park, where I could see and hear all those songbirds, and lay on the lawn to look at that blue, blue sky.  Rain was often a welcome light sprinkle to gently cool off the day, and the wind in Alberta does a lot of rushing! My mother grew roses--the Peace Rose, which is sort of pink and yellow, was her favorite, but she had several colors of roses, with their velvety-soft petals; and we grew lilacs--but in Alberta they seem more like bushes than trees because lots of plants just don't grow as tall in the north. But I felt like that song was written for me, in my yard, in my world.

Here is Josie and the YAs singing that song with some children. I love this video--look for Josie in her pretty pale green dress.

And some lovely Alberta sky shots for you:

August 19, 2019 - photo by me, in Kananaskis Country

August 6, 2018 - the clear blue sky / photo by Eric

October 14, 2019, photo by Sarah (Lowry) Chute

Hail Storm sky on August 6, 2019 / photo by Eric

September 1, 2019 at Eric and Jocelyn's little house / photo by Eric

Harvest Sky on the Torrie Farm / taken by Eric October 24, 2019

Maybe near Airdrie, AB - photo by Sarah (Lowry) Chute, October 14, 2019

Primary Program 2019

Our Primary Program was held on October 27, but I didn't write about it. However, Nancy talking about her experience with the choir and Alexander today reminded me about our program. Because Nancy talked about an embarrassing experience, and people not noticing. Did they really not notice, or are they just being kind?

I am going to believe that they really didn't notice. I have done my share of embarrassing things, but in retrospect, I am guessing that fewer people noticed than I thought did, because over time, I have learned that people are pretty self-absorbed. Like, when it is your baby crying, you are sure that everyone is noticing and wishing you could get them to stop. But when you don't have babies any more, it is amazing how much of their crying you can ignore, unless they are close by screaming near your ear.

So--for our program, I felt the kids knew their songs really well, but there was one scripture that we were reciting as an entire Primary, John 5:39 --Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me. (KJV) Also, I had the older children singing "I am a child of God" in Spanish. We have Spanish-speaking children and teachers, so I knew they would know it, but our English speakers might not, so I wanted to have those words available to see while singing.

So I put both of those things on a clipboard which I hid behind the podium. I asked one of our teachers, who is over six feet tall and has a man-bun--so he is not invisible--to move the scripture quote off the clipboard after that was over, so that the Spanish words could be seen. (I asked him to do it because he was seated reasonably close to the clipboard. A Sunbeam teacher was closer, but--Sunbeams! So he seemed like the better choice.

At our dress rehearsal on Saturday morning October 26, I got all worried that he had forgotten to move the scripture because I DID NOT NOTICE HIM DOING IT. Me, the person most worried about everything, who was watching to make sure it happened, I did not notice it.  So I peeked to see if it was done, and of course, it was done.

I really doubt that anybody in the congregation noticed him moving it on Sunday. I didn't worry about it on Sunday, because I told myself just to trust him, because he did it (so sneakily) that I didn't notice it in rehearsal. I knew he would do it. I bet even some of the kids were like - huh- the scripture is gone; the Spanish words are there. Magic!

I am thankful for...

It is November after all, and I keep having writer's block, but the thing is, I could be writing about things I am thankful for.

My friend and former student Angela, who married my friend and former student Justin, has been posting little thankful prompts on Facebook that have been generated by her children. Then she reads the responses back to her kids. Most of the questions are from her oldest son, Wally, who "invented" this game for their family. Some of the questions have been:
What is something you are thankful for that is your favorite color?
What is something you are thankful for that you used to not like?
What are you thankful for that makes you different from other people?
Guest post from Adele: What is something you are thankful for that you think is fun and interesting, but other people think is boring?
What are you thankful for that you have seen, but not had?
What are you thankful for that is orange?
What is a game you are thankful for?
What is some music/song/instrument you are thankful for?
Who is a veteran you are thankful for?
Draw something you are thankful for using a circle.
Guest post from Isaac: What are you thankful for that is living?
What are you thankful for that rhymes with mountain, people, or bugle?

I think that some of these are great writing prompts about thankfulness, so I can come back to them if I need some inspiration.

Today, I am thankful for Alexander. I have had the opportunity to talk to him on video calls multiple times this week. Sometimes this is because he "needs" to talk to me! Wow! I have fifteen grandchildren and he is the first one who "needs" me. Some of my grandchildren actively didn't like me: "I don't like Josie's mom." Some of them tolerated me. Some of them liked me, but, you know, not enough to "need me." I wish that he had decided that he needed me while he still lived close by, so that means I am also thankful for the technology that allows him to both hear and see me, and that that virtual connection is enough to keep him "needing" me. It feels wonderful to be needed.