It's About Time

I have been delinquent from posting to my blog for far too long. Summer has passed into the history books and fall is swiftly passing away as well. I am having a hard time accepting the fact that November is waning and that December is on the horizon.

I get upset with the way the government is being run these days. I am embarrassed that the president of our great country bows and scrapes to leaders of other nations. Not only that, he apologizes to them for our country being a success. However, he is trying to change all that by destroying everything that has made this country great. He is circumventing the Constitution every chance he gets. The change he promised is not one that I embrace.

I wanted this blog to be positive and so I have felt no incentive to come here and write. But I realize that there is still much to write about that is positive in this country. So, I will once again strive to find that which is good and of worth to discuss on this blog.

I will begin by enumerating some of the things for which I would like to express my gratitude. Mind you, this is only a partial list and everytime I actively think about the blessings that we have been granted my list grows. These are some of the things for which I am so very grateful:

1. My Life and the joy that is mine
2. The Gospel and my testimony of its truthfulness
3. The Scriptures and what we can learn from them
4. The privilege of being able to commune with the Lord
5. The joy of having prayers answered
6. A living prophet and all the brethren who serve with him
7. The freedom we have in this country
8. My husband, Wally
9. Our children and their good circumstances and the love we have for them
10. Our grandchildren and the love that is between us
11. Our home, neighborhood, good friends, and the beauty that surrounds us
12. The love and harmony we have in our home
13. Our comfortable financial circumstances
14. Opportunities to serve
15. Our health and strength
16. The ability to do things to increase our health

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Gloria

Farewell to our Tree

Forty three years ago we moved into our home, not realizing it was not only our starter home but was to be our final destination. About ten years ago some neighbors and friends who live closeby decided to sell their home. They put it up for sale, it sold, and they went out house hunting. After a few days of that, they changed their minds and cancelled the sale of their home. They felt they were money ahead staying put and remodeling their current home insteading of starting over. But I digress, this is, after all, a post about our tree.

When we moved in, our tree was just a sapling, there was no lawn in the back yard, and no fence. The tree grew through the years. Our children loved that tree because they loved to climb it, or sit in it, and we loved the shade it provided.

But then it started dying. Several times during the last few years, we have had arborists come in and trim off the dead branches. We hoped it would help, but sadly it didn't. Every time the wind would blow, our yard would be littered with branches from the tree, large and small.

Now my dear husband is a practical man. He got a little weary, maybe even a lot weary of picking up those branches every time he had to mow the lawn, which is weekly in the summer. So he felt the time had come this year to take the tree out.

So I took pictures of the before, during and after. I didn't realize how sad I would feel to see this tree come down. Our tree was a landmark and I miss it.









I wish we had just had all the branches trimmed and just left it there. I took a picture of a home where they did that very thing, hanging interesting little bird houses from it. You know what they say about hindsight. It seems to be pretty perfect vision, after it is too late.

This is a sad sight to see

I wish I had thought of doing this before the tree came down

This is a great example to apply to our lives. It seems that many of us have this distorted idea of perfection. If something isn't perfect, then out it goes. Our negative opinions about ourselves keep us blind to the good in ourselves and in others around us. We look in the mirror and think (and yes even say) naughty things to ourselves. The more we do this to ourselves and even to those around us (especially the ones we love the most), the more unhappy we are.

We need to take the gifts the Lord has given us and make them shine, instead of hiding behind the lack of perfection we see around us. Folks, not one of us is perfect, so we need to get over it.

We must accept ourselves as we are and make the best of what we can be, instead of turning our backs and trying to forget about the whole process. For example, we can't remove extra pounds just by calling someone and having them lopped off, so we mentally "put ourselves down." Why can't we just accept ourselves, like the tree that was changed to hold the bird feeders. Yes, it takes time to make changes in ourselves, but we can make small changes. If we can't ever be a beautiful, thin model-type person, we can lose a few pounds and feel more comfortable.

The tree stump is my touch stone. When I see it, I'm going to work harder at accepting who I am and what I can accomplish while I am here in this life. That is what is the most important thing to remember.

Maybe I'm not making sense to you and maybe I'm not articulating it quite correctly, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.


Gloria

Feeling Better

I've had bronchitis for the last week. Half of that time I thought I was going to win over it. I was taking some GSE drops several times a day and just kept going. Well, last Thursday it sneaked up on me and body slammed me. I knew I was in over my head and that I had to see a doctor.

Now I knew if I saw a doctor, he would prescribe antibiotics. I hate to take antibiotics because they mess with my digestive system, but there comes a time when you have to assist the body and so you do it. I had kept telling my husband that I would go to the doctor Monday if I wasn't better. However, Friday I was so miserable, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I could not put it off. Of course, my family doctor was all booked up so I took myself into Insta Care.

And just as I predicted, I got the prescription for antibiotics and cough syrup. Sunday night, after listening to me cough my sox off, my husband commented that I would never have made it to Monday before seeing a doctor. He was right. I probably was heading toward pneumonia and would have arrived soon enough without intervention. Bronchitis is bad enough. I hate the wheezing.

I'm feeling better now, although if I talk much I start coughing my sox off. So for now I guess I need to be quiet and let my fingers do the talking.

Gloria

Bird Watching Made Easy

I "borrowed" this link from here and have enjoyed watching the live cam as well as the archived files that show the adult Peregrin (I guess it's the father) feed the little hatchling some food. Watch it--it's delightful.

http://www2.fiberpipe.net/falconcam/live.asp

Gloria

Sunday Thoughts

Principles are anchors of safety. They are like the steel anchors a mountaineer uses to conquer otherwise impossible cliffs. They will help you have confidence in new and unfamiliar circumstances. They will provide you protection in life’s storms of adversity . . . The productive power of correct principles can make your life a joyous, satisfying experience.

~ Elder Richard G. Scott ~

We are navigating through times in our Country the likes of which we have never seen before. We have politicians who twist the truth into something unrecognizable. They say one thing to placate the masses and then do another to please themselves and/or to further their “careers.” The one thing we can do in these turbulent times is to hold to correct principles. The important thing is to stay close to the Lord and follow His path, striving with all the energy of our hearts to be like Him. If we do this we will triumph.

Consider This Quote

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.

You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves."

~ William J. H. Boetcker ~

(This is a quote made famous by Abraham Lincoln)

I found this quote here and felt it was something that we should consider as we look around at the chaos our beloved Country is experiencing. I feel that we must let our representatives know how we feel and be consistent in that contact with them.

Gloria

The Amazing Tomato Plant

Last fall our neighbor's soon-to-be daughter-in-law discovered a little seedling bravely growing in the drain of the bathroom sink. The family speculated on how it came to be there, and decided that it must have been deposited there in the drain by someone as they were brushing their teeth. They didn't even know what kind of a seedling it was, but on a lark their son carefully fished it out of the drain and planted it in its own pot. He placed the pot in a window with a southern exposure, watered that brave little seedling and waited.

It soon became evident that it was a tomato plant. Well, that brave little tomato plant liked that pot and that new home and it began to grow. Well, actually it thrived. Eventually, it set out blossoms, which the family fertilized with a gentle squeeze of each little blossom. Soon those blossoms dropped off to reveal tiny little tomatoes.

Along about the first part of April they picked and consumed the first two full grown, ripe tomatoes. Now the third is beginning to turn a lighter green. So, the contest of who in this neck of the woods will eat the first, ripe tomato of the 2009 growing season has already been won.

The tomato plant has now been given a new home out in the garden. It's not as warm and cozy there, and at times it has been downright cold (read almost freezing). The wind blows and so the plant has had to endure some buffetings. At first it suffered a little shock and it looked a little bleak for this plant. In fact, it looked like it might just give up and die.

But no, that plant rallied, took hold, and now it continues to thrive and grow. All season long, I'm sure it will provide those luscious red, ripe tomatoes that we all love to eat.

This just proves that no matter where we are planted, we can grow and achieve the measure of our creation. In the beginning, I suppose that little seed could have just gone "with the flow" (pun intended) and just wash down the drain into oblivion, but it didn't. We need to be like that little seed and seedling. No matter what is happening around us, we can keep having faith in our Heavenly Father and in ourselves and keep on striving.

Just like the plant, when our life suddenly changes and we find ourselves suddenly "transplanted" into some hardships and trials, we can again be like the tomato plant and just dig in and adapt and continue to grow. In the end we can be winners, just like the tomato plant--growing, serving, and striving to be the best we can be.

Gloria