An Epiphany on Making Lists

I make lists and then avoid them. They stress me out. Lists make my stomach hurt. I will find anything else more  "important" to do than what is on my list. I sometimes feel that lists were invented by the devil (same as my feelings about Algebra). I can't even say the "o" word (organize) without a pang that makes we wince (ow). Reading Doctrine and Covenants 109:8 (organize, order)  gives me a stomachache (Dana has seen this phenomenon).

With that said,  I am reading "The Beginning of Better Days: Divine Instruction to Women From the Prophet Joseph Smith,"  and on page 19 Sis. Pearce  mentions that a particular teaching got her thinking about the to-do lists (pang) that we carry with us (not me!).  But what followed was her personal insight she received from studying the minutes kept by Eliza R. Snow (who was the RS secretary, I believe, at these meetings): she can be more prayerful in her list making.

~*Epiphany!*~

I have a testimony that I, of myself, am nothing, and when I allow the Lord to help me, things happen. I know this.

 President Henry B. Eyering said (and sis Pearce quotes), " The promise to you and me in the last days is that after seeking God and serving his children with unwearyingness, we will come to know his will.  The promise is not just that I will have the power to do what's on my list of tasks but that I will know what to put there.  On those occasions when I have known what should be there, I've found myself glancing at the list as a source of joy, not anxiety."

These people were put here on this earth at this time just for me.  I know it!

So, I shall bravely stand before a piece of paper, and with shaking hand, ask Heavenly Father what to put on.....on my.....l...li....lissss...list

Seeing the world differently

I think I need to “get out among the English” more. I am seeing the people of the world through different eyes. Typically, most of the people I know and associate with are church members, and even then, living out among the outer boundaries of the Branch doesn’t allow for much socialization with these good people, either.

When I got a flat tire on the way home from church one Sunday, out in the country,  it was the people covered in tattoos who stopped to inquire, so kindly and full of concern,  if I needed help (it was really hot out ).  It was, also, the people in the white truck, dressed in jeans and sleeveless  tank tops, who obviously weren’t coming from church, who stopped.  It was the couple, driving the crummiest car, hatchback held down with bungee cords, that had the hydraulic jack I needed (which was found underneath the woman’s wheel chair). The man proceeded to change the tire himself, and instructed us that the donut tire always goes on the back, never the front, and why.  The woman he loved was deformed, short arms, hands scarred from multiple surgeries to straighten them some, make them usable.  Her teeth were stained brown from nicotine and coffee.  But she had a bright, sincere smile.  Her eyes were kind.

All of these people live a very different lifestyle than I do.  They smoke, they drink, they are into tattoo art, but they know how to love and serve.

I live in this place where I have been jerked around so much when I needed help, that I just see the people of the world in a cynical manner.  I think I need to “get out among the English” more and allow the Lord tutor me freely about the good people who are out there.  They just haven’t been in my circle.

Misreading Dr. Seuss

The Cat On the Hat

Comfy?

Taking a nice nap.  Do you suppose she’s comfy?

Oh, let’s change position a little…

Catching Raindrops

Sure, we’ve been having a drought, but really…thirsty much?

August 28, 2011

It’s  that time of year, again.  Yippie!   The holiday season begins on September 1 in our household, if not a little sooner.  Sometimes people ask me why we do this.  Click here to find what I tell them.

Patrick and Katie fluff the limbs

Mary is backed into a corner

Fluffing the top

Holding the tree up because it keeps trying to fall down.

Wrapping the lights around the pole

“You missed a spot.”

Still trying to keep the tree from falling down

Flamingos and Palm trees this year….

 

Let the holiday season begin!!  Merry Christmas, everyone!

Because the Holiday is Just Too Lovely to Enjoy For Only 1 Month

I love Christmas Trees. I do. They cheer me, bring me joy, and lift my spirit.

Back when I was a normal person who even considered social norms, our family used to wait until the first weekend of December to put up the tree (Having children on the Autism spectrum taught me to throw social norms out the window).But, the year came when I just couldn't wait till December, so we put it up just before Thanksgiving. Then the next year the kids just started asking about it in October (I am easy to convince on this subject), so it went up just before Halloween for years after with just the lights (but waiting until Thanksgiving to put the ornaments on). And then it stayed up for months after Christmas, usually April, sometimes May.
The Holiday is just too lovely to enjoy for only one month.
Then we moved to Arkansas and, truly, normal became only a setting on a washing machine. My husband was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and our world was turned upside down.
Well, the person who is not going to recover from an inoperable brain tumor gets everything they want, as far as I am concerned, so on September 1, 2004, before my husband died (May 2005), he asked for the tree to go up rather than wait till the end of October. So up it went; anything to bring him peace and contentment in his adversity. And it was Christmas day, every day, until he died.
So, now, my friends, it goes up when the time feels right.
Merry Christmas!! God bless us, every one!