Rise Above the Clouds

The past week I went to TOFW with Grandma,
studied Spanish, read OT and Juju and I - I
guess you should say 'fought' over whether or
not to get another dog.

She really wants one and has for a very long
time. I really don't want one. I think the burden
lies more on me because she leaves in a year
in a half. She says it's her because she would
take care of both dogs and after a year and a
half having two dogs is no different than one. 

I'm sitting at the airport waiting to board my flight
back home. It was nice to spend the weekend
with my mom, Fran and Aunt Katy. I can't say it
was really fun, but it was nice. My mom had tears
as we said goodbye (well maybe that's not unusual,
but I think she knows we did this for her. We love
her.) Time Out For Women was good and I have several notes I wrote down.

But my thoughts are turned. Maybe it's because I'm doing these
gratitude thoughts each day. Maybe it's because I realize how
easily life can be so different. There were terrorist bombings in
Paris on Friday. Over 100 people killed. Maybe it's because life
is fragile. Maybe I have a home to return to and Aunt Katy doesn't.
Or Grandma who has a house but it's a mess in a lot of ways. I'm
sure it's because of all of these things. As Katy and I visited at the
airport she talked about Amelia. She was working for the church
and really didn't respect a few people. (Aunt Katy called one woman
evil. I don't think that's true, but...). She's been in theatre and 

I'm sure has gay friends. Phil is liberal and likes to stir things up.
Anyways Amelia does not attend church. She has not blessed her baby and she is not 

attending a wedding at the temple of a good friend. (They'll just sit outside). Aunt Katy just found out
how bad it is. Phil goes to church but she thinks it's only because he is a student at BYU. She told Amelia
she's going to have to figure things out for herself. Her decisions don't just effect her. There's her children
and grandchildren. She also said she feels she's lost Alan, but when I asked if its the church she said no.
She said he just likes to do things his way and he's prideful. I'm not sure what that means. Aunt Katy
talked about how she has told the bishop that she will not support the YM because they play Halo and
it's a waste of time. She talked how she doesn't support her primary president that she serves with
because she's a liar. Aunt Katy said Alan is judgmental. (Maybe he's right and Aunt Katy is wrong. I don't
know. Even when things are bad, we choose to support the church programs). The whole thing makes
me sad. 

I am grateful for the Church. I can go and worship and feel inspired. I don't have to have friends or like it, it's 

nice but my testimony is not dependent on that. I know our obedience to the programs of the church and its 

leaders strengthen us. We don't have to like or agree with our leaders to be strengthened. Our obedience 

strengthens us. We only have our agency to give. We only have our heart to give. 

Right now I am filled with love and humbled gratitude. I love my husband and my kids. I would and do -
do everything I can for you. You are my everything. Not because you are my life, but because I would
give everything, even my life for you. I am so very proud of each of you - how you care for others, how
you are friends with each other and how you strive to follow the Lord and be like Him. 

Why am I so blessed? Why does my heart hang on a little longer so the Lord can comfort me, heal me
and show me the way while others slip?

I am grateful for all the things I have and for all the things I don't have, that I don't want. I haven't really
wanted for anything. I've receive so much more than I ever imagined I would have. I've had cancer, but
nothing what a lot of people have had to handle. Danny had diabetes but we've managed it. We've had
huge family trials but we've been able to rise above the clouds or hang on long enough to heal or be
strengthened. 

It was raining in Phoenix and we just took off. We rose above the clouds and I could see the sun. I took
a picture. 

In just a moment we were back in the clouds again. I was happy I took the picture. 

(You have to remember it was rainy and dismal on the ground)

Then we kept gaining altitude 

and the plane was able to rise above the clouds again. 

There are always going to be storms and clouds. We may rise above the clouds just long enough to
see the sun and then we're back in the clouds again. Be grateful for the sun (Son). If we keep rising,
we will gain altitude and we will rise above the clouds. 

All of us have storms in our lives. This weekend one of the speakers was a quadriplegic. She was a
dancer and broke her neck at 21. She talked of being at the store on a rainy day and while getting in
her car fell to the wet asphalt. A car drove by. She talked of a older woman coming over to help. She
said she couldn't have weighed over 100 lbs. There was no way. She first tried to lift her by one arm.
No success. She then straddled her and started to count...1,2...3.  She then testified 'You are the
strongest when you bend down to lift someone else up.'

She said 'I went on my way and the old woman walked back into the storm.'

We all have storms - some more turbulent at times than others, but we still can help each other. 

This week I just want to thank you for being such a wonderful, beautiful person. I also want you to know
how very much I love you!

Dad says he lives a 'charmed life'. Well, I live a 'Cherished Fricken WOW' life! Thanks!

Anniversary, speak out

So, most of this week I felt so tired. I was productive but not nearly as much as the week before. Wednesday was our anniversary. Jon made us all breakfast in bed (well he just brought yogurt and a banana for George but we had blueberry french toast). I went visiting teaching, our home teacher came over and I went to institute choir and then we went to olive garden for dinner. I actually ordered something for the chicken. Thursday evening George and I went over to our home teachers home. We were babysitting their son, so the parents could celebrate their anniversary with dinner, a night away and breakfast. That went well. Friday I cooked lunch for institute (simple salad, heart attack rolls, normal marinara pasta, a sage/pumpkin pasta and a chocolate mint trifle). Saturday we went to the church to help with a deep clean. George and I worked on a bathroom. I let him play with the toilet brush (he likes pretending to clean or splash with it) and I cleaned the mirrors, toilets, toilet bowls, walls, and then another lady came in to help and George and I cleared out and she did the sinks and mopped the floors. Today was our primary program and my team teacher wasnt there,so I had to wing the lesson. We tried going over what pure means. (I told them to imagine I was doing the suggested demonstration with pouring salt in my hand-pure and then mixing in pepper. Then we talked about how doing wrong things makes us not pure.) We talked about super heroes. The manual asked questions like, does your hero always obey the law? Do they use bad words? And 2 others. The lesson suggested they find other heroes, but I thought that was possibly a little harsh. So I said if our superhero saves the world, can we pretend to do the same? If our superhero said a bad word should we do that too? No. So who is our perfect example? Jesus. So if our hero does something Jesus wouldn't do, should we follow or pretend to do that thing? No. Anyways, I think they got the picture.

Thoughts. .. I'm reading general conference and I'm reading through Sunday mornings talks. Russell m Nelsons was on righteous women and speaking out. And the next person also talked about speaking out. A few quotes, "You are the women he foresaw! Your virtue, light, love, knowledge, courage, character, faith, and righteous lives will draw good women of the world, along with their families, to the Church in unprecedented numbers!"

"President Packer declared:
“We need women who are organized and women who can organize. We need women with executive ability who can plan and direct and administer; women who can teach, women who can speak out. …
“We need women with the gift of discernment who can view the trends in the world and detect those that, however popular, are shallow or dangerous.”8
Today, let me add that we need women who know how to make important things happen by their faith and who are courageous defenders of morality and families in a sin-sick world. We need women who are devoted to shepherding God’s children along the covenant path toward exaltation; women who know how to receive personal revelation, who understand the power and peace of the temple endowment; women who know how to call upon the powers of heaven to protect and strengthen children and families; women who teach fearlessly."

And then from the next talk, referring to Peter, "Many heard his words and felt the Spirit, and 3,000 souls joined the ranks of the early Church. This is powerful evidence that one man or woman who is willing to testify when the world seems to be going in the opposite direction can make a difference."

Oh, I also had a "movie night" on Thursday. I say that in quotes because we never turned on the movie. I have great friends here. One has a lesbian sister and a gay cousin, both of my friends who came are still single and about 40. Anyways, all three of us, when we heard the new handbook about homosexuality, our first instinct was to accept it. One prayed for understanding because she didn't fully understand it, but the difference between her and so many others is, sure, she may have questions, but she accepts it on faith and then seeks understanding. Anyways, the other is in her relief society and they had an interesting (almost bad) lesson last week. The teacher was good but didn't know how to handle a certain comment. (It was on pride and how we need to be humble. One lady said we shouldn't be humble because then we're submissive and door mats and slaves.) My friend, stood up and spoke out in an email. She said she was thinking about things and how one dictionary does make it sound like humility is more of a weakness, but then used scriptural examples to bear testimony that we are not expected to be slaves or door mats (she didn't use those words) but she defined what she felt the scriptures want us to think of humility as. Anyways, with the two talks on a row and everything going on, now is the time to stand up. To speak out. We can make a difference.

Pictures of George: the one with the remote- he looks like he's zoned out watching the TV. That's partially true, but the TV is off.

He now climbs on everything. The toilet included and likes to stand on top and dance and stamp his foot (usually his left foot). He has also climbed up onto a dining table and was scaling a folded up chair. I ran over because I was afraid it would fall when he got to the top. Anyways, he climbed onto the piano bench and actually sat when I said "sit down please" and this was his face when I said, "say cheese". He then played the piano for a bit.