Sunday, November 23, 2014
Dear Riley,
Hi son! I’m pretty
sure I’ll be hearing from you soon as you have to have a Pday within the next
couple of days. I hope you were warm on
your temple walk today. When Sister G spoke to me about seeing you she said you were so happy and you had told her
you had an awesome companion. That’s
great news. She also told me to be certain you had
sufficient warm clothing for today’s temple walk. So after I’d sent the package with goodies,
Dad dropped off his coat and gloves in another.
And she wanted you to know that while she can’t bring stuff to you, she
can take things home from you.
Parker just came down and showed me the mini Star Wars
figures you’d put in his treasure box.
He’s missing you. I think he felt
it more today because he’s used to not having you at school, but you’re supposed
to be at church with him.
Dad is doing tithing settlement now so he’s so busy. Plus he has the third funeral of three tomorrow:
Shirley Neilson, I don’t know if you’d know her by name but only by sight. She is such a wonderful, faithful woman and we’re
sad to lose her.
I called Grandma Parish to wish her happy birthday yesterday
and discovered that she was going to make her own birthday cake. I offered to make it for her and she said she
wanted it just the way she wanted it. So
after I’d promised to make it exactly the way she desired, nothing varying, I
was permitted to make her a sour cream white cake with buttercream
frosting. The best part is that she
wanted me to make my frosting recipe and I didn’t even realize I HAD a frosting
recipe because it’s been years since I frosted cake with buttercream. She didn’t want mousse or whipped cream or
any other fandangled thing, just frosting.
I walked it off to her in the cake dome sometime after
yesterday’s funeral. I stayed and
visited with her for a minute and then the rest of the family showed up. While we were visiting, Mike and Shan’l and
their family showed up. Grandma invited
us to an enchilada dinner which she had prepared the day before. I ran home and made Spanish rice and Dad made
salsa. Dinner was lovely. The kids and I cleaned up Grandma’s kitchen. Madison was particularly helpful. Oh, and Westley is like 6’4” now.
Walking into our house around 9:00 last night, I was
discouraged that it was a complete wreck.
It turns out there was about a half bushel of stuff from the girls’ room
which had migrated to the front room.
The kitchen was unfinished and I had to cut Parker’s hair. I was runnin.
Dad said last night that he’s pretty sure that without him, I wouldn’t
ever make it to bed.
I realized that I had not prepared adequately for singing
time this morning. The highest priority
was to calculate and pay your tithes and our tithes and offerings. Once I had that done, I sat down to learn the
song I was to teach and hope for revelation which would allow me to
successfully teach the children without spending much time as I didn’t have
any. After just 15 minutes I had no
inspiration and had to leave to visit teach.
Our sister was so warm and we chatted about a lot of things and stayed
longer than usual. Leaving her house, I acted on the impression I
had received as I walked out my front door earlier in the morning that I should
ask Sister K if she had something prepared from when she was the
chorister. She did and she brought it
and I was saved. Sometimes we have only
to be humble enough to let God work in our lives through His other children
(and to swallow our pride and ask for help).
When I got home, I had another 15 minutes before I had to be
at the church to practice with the choir.
(I played the flute with their song today.) I got home from church just in time to
straighten the front room AGAIN! and get the girls to church. Though I was only gone 15 minutes practicing
there was a big hulabaloo at home between Aleah and Parker. I haven’t heard either one of them through,
though I know for sure that Aleah claims victim and Parker, justified. Aleah has been a drama queen and difficult
because she has not had enough sleep two nights in a row. Ugh.
We had such a good sacrament meeting. The T family spoke; they live in the K’s
house. Their little seven year old spoke
on tithing. He was torn when he’d
finally earned the $10 award he’d been working toward and he was going to have
$14 but hated to give one away to tithing and have only $13. But he did pay his tithing. Then when he was cleaning up his room, he
found a lost $1. It was so sweet. And his mother spoke about tender
mercies. She used a scripture in a way I’d
never considered that people are to hear the gospel in their own language to
their own understanding. She said that
tender mercies are God speaking to us in a language that we each understand
individually. She told a story from her
mission of a woman she had been working with but before the woman had accepted,
Sis. T was transferred. Then on a
Pday in her new area, she felt impressed to write this woman a letter. This was a sacrifice because preparation time
is coveted time. But she did write it
and put it in her bag. Then later after
finishing a day of work, she felt undeniably that she needed to mail it. The impression was so strong that she wrote
on the outside of the envelope, “Let me know when you get this.” The letter arrived one day after this woman
was pretty sure she couldn’t make it one more day, but her husband convinced
her to hold on one more day. This letter
convinced her that things don’t just happen, but God is in charge and knows
her. This allowed her to accept the
gospel.
Brother M came home teaching right after church today
and he looks and feels remarkably well!
The ayruvedic medicine that Dad was provided through Mokashi is having a
positive impact. His mind was clearer
than it’s been in so long, his eyes are whitening up and his skin isn’t yellow
any more. He’s hoping for years rather
than months. He looks to Eric and wants
the kind of miracle Eric was given. That
makes me feel a little guilty for wanting more of a miracle than Eric received.
I’ve got to end. I
love you so much. People here in the
ward love you so much. You are missed,
but we trust in the work to which you are called and your ability to perform it.
Take care,
Mom
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