greaterthansparrows

In the insanity that is today, firmly not allowing myself to think past my lesson until my lesson was past, I found yesterday that both of us had bought bananas somehow and neither of us had eaten many.  This meant that  there were bananas now past their prime and a soon-to-be-absent cook.  Sooo.... banana bread was added to the tasks of the day.  One loaf will be given to the lovely, kind friend who is taking us to the airport, and one loaf will be cut in a few minutes with the remainder traveling with us and being offered to those who live where we are going. All the packing is done, the laundry is done, plans have been set, scrambled, canceled (Tabernacle Choir tickets are inadvertently for the wrong weekend so they will have to be used for someone else) and a couple of last quick errands for the morning are easily in reach.  Post office, Brown & Haley outlet for the sons-in-law.  I am so glad we are not dealing with an o'dark o'clock departure!...

I am a little the worse for wear, but very happy, after time spent with people I love so much, and then phone time--calling for her birthday-- with the only person (and her husband) from our student days that we are still in touch with.  Then a stake program last night, where we spotted friends we last saw on their way 'out of Dodge' maybe a year ago.  I can't even remember where they were moving, but they were passing through on their way from Alaska to the next place, and now they have returned to Tacoma in the next-door ward.  Not ours--rats!--but close.  (You can't miss them, he's 6'4" and she's 5-foot- nothing and a couple of decades younger.) I have been worked over by both the massage therapist and the chiropractor this afternoon, and I expect to be too sore to sleep, but that doesn't matter at all.  We are getting on a plane in a couple of days, and will see family members we have seen this summer and those we see seldom, coming from both ...

Taken when Geoffrey was born We are heading south tomorrow morning, and going to stay until Saturday afternoon with very dear  friends .  Last year our plans for Thanksgiving with them were cancelled when our little  grandson was ill. They moved in across the street when I was six months pregnant with Geoff, and they were just feeling their way back into the Church, because of the love and encouragement of another terrific family where they had been living before.  We went through a lot together, crises and challenges on both sides, and provided spiritual and emotional anchors for each other. This picture gives you an idea of how long it's been.  Carole wasn't even thought of yet, and she and Hannah grew up together literally from birth, with the Almighty giving Hannah a six-months' head start.  It was such fun to watch those baby stages as Hannah would leave one stage and Carole would enter it.  It made us realize how universal those stages ...

Yesterday was the annual ward Thanksgiving dinner.  There was a great turnout, tons of food, and happy fellowship. It all started when we were first in the ward as a young family, and didn't involve us at all.  The young people decided that they wanted to do a Thanksgiving dinner two days before Thanksgiving, on Tuesday, for the senior members of the ward, many of whom did not have family in the area to spend the holiday with.  Some of them couldn't afford a fancy meal.  It was a service project, with the teenagers, twelve and up, waiting tables, and volunteers cooking two turkeys (paid for out of the budget) and bringing other menu items.  It was a wonderful experience and much appreciated by those who came.  I remember Karl Jones, whose wife and child had died so very many years ago, decades, and who had never married again; he lived alone and the ward was his only family.  His claim to fame was that he had made the Cowardly Lion costume for The Wi...

One of the interesting things about having a child who writes about family experiences is that you go read a different point of view to things you also remember.  It's not like having a four year old parrot words to some other person that you've said in a thoughtless moment that make you wince, but it stops you for a second sometimes. I guess I'm taking a turn today. My oldest daughter speaks of a rough patch in her adolescence as part of her Nauvoo Times column here recently, when she quit piano.  She had real talent and an affinity for music, and we actually got a second car finally so that I could get her started on piano lessons, for which I needed to know I had transportation that wasn't dependent on my husband's schedule.  She was starting third grade; I would have started her a year earlier if it had been possible.  I was anxious not to let it get any later; I knew she needed this. I did not know where to find a teacher.  I had prayed for a piano ...

I, Marian, having been born of goodly parents.... I could start so many of my contemplations that way.  That I was loved, that I was taught, that I have been given counsel, listening, and support.  That my life was shaped for the better. My parents celebrated their 60th anniversary this week, and had a wonderful party on Saturday, to which we were originally going.  Because of scheduling problems with other siblings, the family party with all of their children was postponed four weeks, and we changed our tickets.  If I were rich (a common and totally empty refrain around here) I would have just gone to both. I remember the family meeting when we were all together in Maryland, I think for Dad's 80th birthday.  There haven't been a whole lot of times when all of us have been in one place, we're so scattered.  Dad asked us what we remembered, what mattered most to us from our growing up.  My answer was that we could always catch our parents kissing...

It was amazing that I had two days--in a row!--last week where I woke up and my first awareness was not pain.  This is not one of those days.  I arrived at the YMCA yesterday for my two classes not sure at all if I would last as long as last time, I just felt not-great. Once I was moving, though, and the water yoga class was not taxing to me (it depends on what she does on the particular day, sometimes the sequences hit my weak spots more than others) and I revived more than I expected.  I was doing so well that I tried brief bits of moves in the water aerobics class which follows that I have not been doing.  I was pleased that I was tolerating them, but careful.  By evening I was stiffening up a little, and long before wake-up time I was hurting. But that's the way it is.  Every little increase triggers strain, but pushing forward, cautiously, is essential to making any progress.  There are things I know about what I need, and things I know I hav...

I was assigned to speak for the ward Relief Society Visiting Teaching convention today, where they had the brothers take over for Primary in the last hour, and the Young Women join us, so that all the sisters could be in one place.  I wrestled over this assignment because when the request came, it struck me with guilt.  This was something I had a strong conviction of, but I had fallen down on it. I am committed that this will change. Visiting Teaching I was feeling   good about my spiritual preparation in my life, in service for my callings to teach, and with peace in my daily walk in the Spirit.   I was grateful to be doing well. Then Sister Meehan called.   Sisters, with this assignment I have the opportunity, the obligation, to confess and repent. I have been very blessed in teaching my stake class, in preparation and in the time we spend on Wednesday mornings—I have felt the Lord’s presence and help, and expressed my thanks to Him often.  ...