Peace and Quiet

Thinking this would be a quiet evening, I thought it a good time to shed my clothes and just wear a bathrobe while I washed all the laundry. I'm kind of funny about getting the laundry done and having dirty clothes in the hamper. So the load of whites was swishing around in the washer and I was standing at the sink washing dishes and Tom was outside working in the garden when the doorbell rang. I was expecting a call from Sandi, my friend, but not anyone at the door. I went in the spare bathroom and peaked out the window to see who it was. Relief! It was Sandi, so I felt it safe to answer the door. I invited her in to visit so she could tell me all about the meeting she had just attended. When she was on her way out the door another vehicle pulled into the driveway. It was the scouts, and I suddenly remembered they were doing the Friends of Scouting Drive tonight. I hollered at Sandi to yell at Tom for me and tell him to come in the house! Then I ran to my room, got the checkbook and wrote an amount for them. Not hearing Tom, and only hearing the doorbell, I hurried to get dressed, and then luckily Tom came in and took the check to the door. I went back to the dishes again and heard Tom's phone ringing, so I rushed to answer it since he was outside again. Finally I finished the dishes, put the wet laundry in the dryer, and in a few minutes I can go to bed. All my kids should be in bed or nearly there by now and all my neighbors should be unwinding so I think it's safe. So much for a quiet evening!

(If I had been quick-witted Rebecca, when I saw it was Sandi at the door I would have flung it open and greeted her with, "Welcome to my brothel!" Maybe I would have asked her if she was bringing her application for employment. And only people in Nevada would understand...)

Boy, oh Boy, oh Boy!!

Well, until this year we had six of each--granddaughters and grandsons. But this fall and winter the boys will increase by three! Jessica, Lisa, and Cindy are all expecting boys: September, October, and December. (My dad is expecting five great-grandsons during that period of time.) I can imagine the fun those boys have had as they have planned what they are going to do together at family gatherings. Can I just say I am a happy grandma?

Talk Walks

There are numerous benefits of walking, and walking with partners adds to the benefits. I have a few friends that join me for our six a.m. walks. When the alarm sounds after a too-short night of sleep, knowing that someone is expecting me to be dressed and in my walking shoes within the next few minutes is the thing that gets me out of bed when I'd much rather spend a little more time staring at the inside of my eyelids. Having others walk with me also helps keep me paced so I don't go too slow. As I am the oldest (by about sixteen years or more) of the group, it is good to have young ladies who can encourage me up the hills and who will hang onto me going down steep, gravelly inclines. And the greatest benefit of all is the talking.

Here's the most recent example of how our talk walks benefit me. I talked to Rebecca about my feelings toward my new calling. The previous afternoon she had just read a paragraph in a book that fit the situation perfectly, and last night she stopped and dropped off the quote that helped me shed the feelings of despair I had over being "stuck" on a piano bench again for two hours every Sunday. As a result, this afternoon I was led to the LDS Church website and read more about my calling, and from there went to sugardoodle.com, and I read some blogs written by other people about being Primary pianists (who all said it was the "best" calling in the Church!), and I found some lovely arrangements of Primary songs that I can use for prelude music.

I have overcome! Once again the young ladies I walk with have helped me up a hill that seemed a little too hard to handle for this old body (and soul) of mine.

I am thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows how to reach me in my darkest hours, and to friends who listen and are ready to respond when the Spirit directs them to do so. I love my Talk Walks!!!

Who's Got Talent?

In any organization, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, where accompanists are needed, well, you can expect that if you are one of those with the ability, like it or not, you will find yourself being asked again and again to be a pianist for this or that. Personally, I like sharing my talent. After all, God gave it to me. How ungrateful would it make me to turn down a call to serve using my God-given abilities? So today, once again, I sat across from a member of the bishopric and without hesitation accepted the call to serve as pianist in the Primary organization.

Would you think me terrible if I admitted out loud that I felt like crying from that moment on? I spent over one-hundred minutes sitting on a piano bench, with no more than fifteen of those playing the piano. I was continually berating myself as I looked over the top of the piano at the faces of those lovely, innocent children who were there to learn the gospel of Jesus Christ. Somebody has to be there to play the piano whenever a song is sung! It's my turn again! I'm doing it for the Lord! Stop feeling sorry for yourself, Edna! It's a blessing to have the free time now to do other things instead of spending hours preparing lessons or planning and carrying out activities. Other people would think this is one of the greatest callings in the church!

I know that I'll settle into the calling and I'll find a way to keep myself busy and during Sharing Time and other time of just sitting I can write in my journal and read my scriptures (which is what I did today). I'll realize blessings just for being willing to serve, and although I do not need to practice or study to be able to be prepared for this calling, I will grow just from being faithful to what the Lord has asked me to do. And I'll keep myself from thinking about the months and years ahead of me and stop singing the words of the hymn ("More Holiness Give Me" that say "more used would I be." This is exactly how the Lord would use me in His Church right now. I should be happy that I am worthy of a place in His Kingdom.

Now I'm going to make a list of all the things I want to begin to do this week to fill all the time another calling might have asked of me. (Maybe you'll see more blog posts!)

Sigh....I thought I might make myself feel better but so far it's not working....

When Cindy and Eric graduated from BYU, we celebrated by gathering at a hotel near campus. We had a great time, and one of our "feel good" moments was when we did karaoke and showed off our wonderful musical talent. When you watch this video, stay tuned until the end when you can see the real talent! What a blast we had! (And notice my father in the background, probably wondering what the heck he was doing there!)

Now that I've figured out how to do this, look for more videos and photos in the near future! I've got so much I want to share!

Oldies but Goodies

Tonight we'll have our first "Oldies but Goodies" party here in Spring Creek. We started a group in Grantsville, too, and in West Jordan it was a similar group we started but we called that one "POAC" for "Parents of Adult Children." When I started the first group it was to satisfy my longing for a social life, and I realized right away that I wasn't the only one who needed it. We had some great times. What we did was put everyone's names in a bowl and then we drew them out to see who was going to host the next one at their home. What fun memories I have of the parties in West Jordan! And then we moved, and after awhile I decided it was time to start over again with new friends, so we got it going in our Grantsville ward. I looked forward eagerly to our monthly gatherings and was strengthened by the friendships that were cemented as we associated with one another. And tonight we're starting all over again!

I've been trying to think of a top ten list that tells how you know if you qualify to be in the Oldies but Goodies group. I'll have to post the list when I have it completed. It will include such things as "when you get together with your friends the main topic of conversation is the latest health issue you've had to deal with" or "you had to put on your bifocals to be able to read the invitation."

Speaking of health issues, I have to tell this funny story: While walking with my friends a few mornings ago, one of them said, "Today I'm going for that test that all women dread!" Now keep in mind that I'm about seventeen or eighteen years older than any of the other women with whom I walk. As we all talked about this dreaded test, I was sharing my experience with it while the others were sharing theirs. After awhile it was evident that we were not talking about the same test! For me, the most dreaded test was the colonoscopy! I couldn't believe she was actually out walking with us at six o'clock in the morning the day of her "dreaded test" because I remembered how weak I was that morning as a result of the prep you have to do to be ready for the colonoscopy. So when we realized it wasn't what I thought it was, we started talking about mammograms, for surely that's the test she meant after all! I told her she should be having it done in October, because that's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and if you have a mammogram then they give you "booby prizes" such as pink mints, pink ribbon pins, etc. We had some good laughs as we talked about our experiences with mammograms. And they all got an introduction to what they had to look forward to once they reached fifty! Then....the next day I asked my friend how the test had gone. And we once again found that our assumptions had been wrong. She hadn't gone for the mammogram! She had gone for the pap smear! Now those of you over fifty would understand my confusion, because I've experienced more dreaded "routine" tests than women under forty have even dreamed of! Oh, how we laughed when we realized the confusion in our conversation. My friend had just decided the previous day to forget about trying to make us understand what test she was talking about. I don't blame her.

I'll probably tell this story tonight at our "Oldies but Goodies" party when we're sitting around discussing our latest health problems.

Last and Next

Last night I had my last activity with my Mia Maid class. We had a personal progress activity that was fun for me; I hope the girls had fun, too. Since they all left with bubble gum and Skittles I think they would say they had had a good time. I've had the calling for about two-and-a-half months, which isn't very long, but it was long enough to develop some special friendships with a couple of the young women leaders. And I'll be seeing the girls often when school starts again because most of them are in the choirs that I accompany. I was able to have the "fun" experience of camping in the rain, I taught the girls how to make pies, we had some Sunday lessons that helped me just as much as they helped the girls. It's been a sweet experience, and now I'm looking forward to what's next--because there's always a "next" when it comes to service in the Church.