I sat in the waiting room of the orthodontist's office today, while Jackson had his poor little mouth worked on. Sitting next to me on the table was a magazine I've never seen or heard of before. It's called "MORE: For Women of Style & Substance." December 2010 edition. I peeked inside, expecting to find, oh, I don't know what, but ended up thoroughly enjoying the few minutes that followed. The most memorable article inside was that of letters between two pen-pals in the 1950's. One was Julia Child, as she studied culinary arts in and around Paris, France; The other, the wife of a publisher (I think it was) in the United States, who, while helping out her husband in sending a return correspondence to Julia, struck up a friendship that ultimately lasted a lifetime! I didn't get to finish all the letters, but during the 10-15 minutes that I sat there and read, my mind kept thinking, "Oh, I love this concept! I should hunt for more noteworthy pen-pal correspondences, cause this is good stuff... Letters. Yes. That's where it's AT!"
THEN, wouldn't you know... By accident, I found this "letter" tonight... An old text document (from October '09), filing words once put to paper by my dad... and sent to Rodney... I just don't want them to be forgotten. Love you Pa. Love you Rodney. You both make my blue eyes blue. Truly.
Rodney,
Best regards to the birthday boy!
Please know how happy and glad I am that you and Leah found each other, of the boys you have given me, and of the great friend and resource you are to me. I often boast to my friends that one of the b...est things my girls have done for me is having given me 4 more sons, and none did a better job than Leah. In fact, I sometimes worry that I rely on you too much as my personal tech-resource on retainer, but it is a risk I am willing to take.
Your dad must have been a special father, since they say that sons usually imitate their own father when it becomes there turn. I don't think I have ever known a more caring and benevolent daddy than what I see in you every time I am around you.
Thanks again for all the happiness you have brought into my life, and especially for how happy you have made my daughter. As you can appreciate even more than when you first were married, her happiness remains the most important thing in my life --- no kidding!
Happy birthday, and get yourself a pepsi (or bottled water) on the way home. I'll pay for it when I see you again,
Pa
November 21, 2010 ... Ma & Pa after Stake Conference
So the (older) boys are tracked out of school right now. Today marks the 1/2 way point. If I seem anxious for their return (to school) in a week and a half, please forgive me. ;) Aside from normal housewife and motherly obligations, I regularly teach 18 lovely young people how to play piano, and even more, develop an appreciation for music. 18 students who I genuinely love. 18 students who require a litle (yet, a lot) of my time and energy weekly, most of which is just after Rodney walks in the door at 5:30 pm. I say this not to have a pity party, but just to document for the future me (who I hope will enjoy reading this journal way down the road) how I spend much time, in this particular season of my life. It a good thing - wonderful, even.
Tonight, I have found myself looking around old General Conference addresses on lds.org Because of my relatively new calling in the Young Women's Organization, I love to look at talks that center on topics that would uplift the girls who I now associate with regularly. No doubt, it's good for my soul, and it is my hope that some of the light and knowledge I gain by studying will rub off on them... My favorite tonight has been this one by James E. Faust. I just want to remember this little excerpt, and figured that a post here in my "journal" will be remembered well into the future.
***************************************
There is a story of a young piano student. His mother, wishing to encourage him, bought tickets for a performance of the great Polish pianist, Perewski. The night of the concert arrived and the mother and son found their seats near the front of the concert hall. While the mother visited with friends, the boy slipped quietly away.
Suddenly, it was time for the performance to begin and a single spotlight cut through the darkness of the concert hall to illuminate the grand piano on stage. Only then did the audience notice the little boy on the bench, innocently picking out ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.'
His mother gasped, but before she could move, Paderewski appeared on stage and quickly moved to the keyboard. He whispered to the boy, ‘Don’t quit. Keep playing.’ And then, leaning over, the master reached down with his left hand and began filling in the bass part. Soon his right arm reached around the other side, encircling the child, to add a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice held the crowd mesmerized.
In our lives, unpolished though we may be, it is the Master who surrounds us and whispers in our ear, time and time again, ‘Don’t quit. Keep playing.’ And as we do, He augments and supplements until a work of amazing beauty is created. He is right there with all of us, telling us over and over, ‘Keep playing.’
So just now, Carter brought me something he assembled upstairs. It was made of plastic sliced bread, plastic sliced tomato, and plastic bologna. He said, "Mommy, I made you a swan-wish!" Best. Mis-pronunciation. Ever.
Yesterday, he peered into the pantry, wishing for something he saw... Said to me, "Mommy, I want a strong drink!" Turns out, he was eying Rodney's "muscle milk." Best. Almost-right. Words. Ever.
Today, I picked him up from preschool, and asked him what he learned about. His answer, "We talked about snow-mans." Best. Insult-to-the-english-language. Ever.
Tonight I watched a youtube video of Andre Bocelli singing "The Lord's Prayer" with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. You can watch it here and now, if you'd like!
I will start by saying that it wasn't until I was about 9 or 10 that I even learned the words of The Lord's Prayer, found in the New Testament (Matthew 6: 9-13). Oddly enough, my friends and I would recit it while standing in the dughout of the Harkers Island Elementary School ballfield, of all places! We'd recite it before most every game I participated in, while in my youth. I'm no expert now on all things related to this passage of scripture, I admit... But I will say - I don't think I understood, or had a respect for, most of the words then, quite like I do today.
Might I take just a moment to express my thoughts on one small part of this text, tonight. As you can probably guess by the title of this post, I have chosen the words "Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." I am particularly moved by these words tonight, as something happened only days ago that caused me to be even prouder than before of my intimate relationship with my Heavenly Father. In short, I was judged. Judged as both a Mormon, and as a Christian. You see, I feel quite strongly that what motivates me to be the best Mormon I can be, and what motivates you to be the best Catholic or Methodist you can be is exactly the same thing - Faith. Faith that what you've chosen to believe in IS the truth. I make no apologies in admitting that I wish I could share my strong testimony and convictions with anyone with ears to hear! I wish that God would place directly in my path - SOMEONE (or even better - MANY someones!) who is ready to listen to what I have to say about God's Plan of Happiness! I feel that way because IT. IS. THE. REASON. I. AM. HAPPY! It is the reason that I delight in being a wife and mother, and why I know that everything I do here on this Earth is to PREPARE me for a great reward - Eternal Life. And by Eternal Life, I mean a lot more than just "living forever!" I mean living with God as my Father, Jesus as my elder brother and friend, and my Earthly family as my Eternal Family! Yes - that's what I mean. No apologies.
The incident was brief, and to the other person, probably fairly inconsequential. I was having a conversation with this person about our congregation (known as a "ward"), and how the ward boundaries have recently changed. This means that a map of the greater Raleigh area, which had been cut into oddly shaped pieces to define a sort of district, had lines erased and redrawn, so as to accomodate a new "ward." The reply from my friend was, "You mean they TELL you where you are to go to CHURCH!?" "Yes," I said. "I am happy to do it, too - because I know that the leaders who have made such plans have done so, BECAUSE of their duty to God, to do as He would have them do. I have FAITH in the organization that is our Church. Yes." But here's what I didn't say...
I believe - that in the year 1820, with a backdrop of great religious excitement in upstate New York, Joseph Smith prayed to know which church to join. That he was visited by God and Jesus Christ in a grove of trees and was told to join none of them...
I believe that in due time, he would restore the true church as a Prophet of God. Fast forward 80 years... I know that when the Mormon Missionaries healed my great-grandmother Bertha, it was through the power of the priesthood of God, which had been restored through Joseph Smith, and then had been passed on through other worthy men, through the laying on of hands.
I know that in last 180 years, a "Marvellous work and a wonder," as spoken by the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 29:14, has come forth, and is sweeping the whole Earth... And with one solitary goal in mind - to DO on Earth - as it is DONE in Heaven. My brothers were once those missionaries knocking on doors, and I know that one day, so will be my 3 sons. No apologies.
Think of those who have died - whose bodies have expired, and whose spirits have moved on to another place. Those people are not vanished into a twilight of eternal nothingness! It is my belief that the veil between this life and the next is a great deal thinner than most of us realize!!! And those spirits are in fact STILL with us - urging us onward to always do what is right, so that we may be reunited one day.
I say all this because - when I sustain my local church leaders as men of God, I do not do so lightly. Oh, I really hate this word, just because the connotation is SO extremely offensive - but I am NOT BRAINWASHED into following people who have an ulterior motive. My Bishop, my Stake President, my Prophet - they are men of God - who serve Him - and who wish for nothing less than the salvation of souls. They do not seek for pride, riches, glory, or any other worldly fame or acknowledgment. Salvation of souls, friends.
"Thy will be done" ... In other words, "God's wishes for us"... I hope and pray that my example of a Mormon and as a Christian is forever firm and immovable, and that no one can ever say that I acted in a way that would cause my Savior any shame for my being His sister, and His servant. I wish to do God's will, and if that makes you laugh at me, then so be it. No apologies.
so thanksgiving is only days away. this makes me happy.
i'm up way too late - caffeine to blame, i do believe.
aaaand - i apologize to anyone who is disturbed by the all-lower-case typing that i usually do when i'm feeling lazy.
this thanksgiving will be a "first," in two ways actually; the first time i'm not at harkers island on thanksgiving day... AND the first time i'll be preparing a thanksgiving dinner as the "hostess with the mostest." that's right - ma & pa & at least a couple others (hopefully) will be coming up to rolesville on wednesday, and dine with the steelman family on thanksgiving day! i'm jealous of me right now. honestly.
so, aside from the excitement that comes along with such a not-*really*-that-big-a-deal-but-still-rather-monumentous occasion, i wanted to give a little thanks...
i'm thankful for my loving husband & my 3 absolutely-positively perfect children...
i'm thankful for my near-perfect parents, my wonderful siblings, my darling nieces, & my future-missionary nephews...
i'm thankful for my kind and loving grandparents, and the role that they played in the earlier years of my life...
i'm thankful for my siblings' dear husbands and wives...
i'm thankful for my my aunts, my uncles, & my cousins...
i'm thankful for good friends and neighbors, who treat me like family...
i'm thankful for my good health, and a body that does what i need it to do; arms that can pick up my boys to cuddle, hands that can prepare yummy dinners and apply bandages to skint up knees, eyes that can see, and more importantly- appreciate the beauties of the earth, legs that can get me where i need to be, whether it be in the other room, or on the other side of town...
i'm thankful for my daily bread, and for having never known hunger, not even for a minute...
i'm thankful for my home, which keeps my family safe from the ills of the world...
i'm thankful for the world wide web, and i'm not even kidding...
i'm thankful for music, which excites me right down to the core in ways that i could only wish it would do for everyone on the face of the earth...
i'm thankful for God's beatiful creation - from the sweet{a}pricot tree all the way to the friendly {z}ebra, and everything in between...
i'm thankful to be born and raised a mormon, and the peace that it brings into my life, especially the knowledge that families can be together forever...
i'm thankful to be an american, and for those who, past and present, have fought for and preserved my freedom...
i'm thankful for laughter, and how my children, especially, work it out of me each and every day...
i'm thankful for for a steady income, and the blessing that is ours for rodney to have a job that he loves, and for me to have the part time work i do as a piano teacher, that i also enjoy...
i'm thankful for a heart that i can be proud of... if i ever grow cold and cynical, somebody just shoot me...
i'm thankful for the nice little getaway that rodney & i just experienced in cancun, mexico for 8 days, and how we were able to share some really special days together, especially at isla mujeres and at xcaret - memories that will last the rest of our lives...
i'm thankful for so many other blessings that are too many to add to this list...
lastly, i'm thankful for this video...
