Blessings

Today I went to a really great funeral. We have really great funerals in the LDS church. I think that doesn't happen in other religions, so probably other people think that's a weird thing to say. We tend to celebrate life, and look at death as a passing on to other phases of living. It isn't so much an end of living as it is a beginning of something more. Sure, we miss the person who has moved on, and we feel sad that they have passed, but we don't think they are gone forever. We believe that we will be with them again, so we don't mourn them with finality.

So, the man whose funeral I went to was my niece's father-in-law, and my family podiatrist. His name was Dennis Blackburn. He was a very good man who was loved by so many people, the funeral was just so crowded it was neat. His family loved him deeply, and he obviously loved them. It was very touching.

The whole thing made me grateful. This Thanksgiving, and Christmas season, we're going to have a new tradition in our home. On Thanksgiving, we'll start a "Blessing Jar", by writing down blessings on strips of paper. Throughout the holiday season, we'll add strips of paper as we think of blessings, and then on Christmas morning we'll read all of our blessings. We'll just stop and take the time to thank the Lord for all of our blessings. In the middle of all of the chaos of opening Christmas presents and seeing what we got, we'll stop to remember the gifts we've received from God, and we'll thank him especially for the gift of his child, the Christ Child, the Savior of the world.

Happy Thanksgiving. Don't forget to count your blessings and remember from whom they came.

Inspiration

Last night was the girls night for their special Young Women In Excellence program. It is a night where they get to show something they've been working on over the past year in their Personal Progress goals. Tori had a goal where she had studied a bunch of scriptures of people who had great integrity and then she wrote about her impressions of them in her journal, and Leah learned about the Plan of Salvation and reported on it to the family. At the program, the girls each were given a neat bookmark with a quote by Neal A Maxwell, which has really impressed upon my mind. I just keep thinking about it, and I wanted to share it here -

"The same God that placed that star in a precise orbit millennia before it appeared over Bethlehem in celebration of the birth of the Babe has given at least equal attention to placement of each of us in precise human orbits so that we may, if we will, illuminate the landscape of our individual lives, so that our light may not only lead others but warm them as well."

This really got me thinking. This is one of the most beautiful things I've ever read, honestly. I've been absolutely inspired by it. What he's saying here, essentially, is that we are all placed here to be saviors, in our own way, to the people in our lives. Isn't that an amazing and wonderful idea? It does carry some weight, as well. I mean, we're responsible for the people around us. We aren't just here to take care of ourselves. We are stars, here to shine for others, to light the way for them and to warm them with our light. What a sweet thought. Here's another great quote, from a book called Strangers No More, by Beverly Campbell:


"A most glorious truth, which should be trumpeted from the highest battlement and received with joyous shouts of hallelujah, is that each one of us comes to this earth at exactly the pre-appointed time, along with a bevy of others known to us before we were here. They and we were sent to support one another and to help one another in the fulfillment of our missions."

I just really love this idea. I love the people around me so much. I've tried really hard to love the people in my life and keep them close to me. I haven't always been able to hold on to the people who I think I should, and that makes me sad. I've lost my mom and dad, and my brothers and sisters. They've all slipped away from me. I mourn them every day. I can't pretend there isn't a great hole in my heart over that. But I have my sweet husband and kids, and some other really great people around me, and I hold them close. I feel so grateful for them. I'm trying to shine for them as brightly as they shine for me. They are my saviors on earth for sure.

How wonderful life is when they're in the world . . .

Blessings

This is such an awesome place. This is the LDS Temple in Manti, Utah, or one of the temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

On Saturday, my husband and I were able to take a dear friend of ours to the temple for her first time. It was just so awesome. We really had a great time. The feeling is indescribable. Soon she will be able to be sealed to her husband and children who have died before her. That means that they will be able to be together for all of eternity. Can you imagine her joy, seriously? Her best friend and husband died before her, and then each of her two children died before her, leaving her to raise her two grandchildren on her own. What an amazing woman, so strong and lovely. She is truly an elect lady. I am humbled and graced to call her friend.

Blessings.

Ohhhh, yesterday I had to stop suddenly, and found that Jared had not buckled up. It was a near disaster.

He was sitting in the very back seat of our van, and we have the middle seat out on the side he was sitting on, so he flew forward all the way to the back of the front seat, where he hit his head. He was on the driver's side, so I felt him hit the back of my seat. I was just sickened by it. I turned around and my first reaction was to yell at him - "YOU NEED TO BE BUCKLED!" Now, I never yell at my kids, seriously. He just said, "Sorry." Then I asked him if he was ok. He had a little red spot on his forehead. I had only been going about 15 mph when I braked, so it wasn't horrible, but still, the potential was there for him to have been really hurt. I was so worried.

He was fine.

That didn't change the fact that I freaked out. As soon as we got to the school, I checked him out thoroughly, and made him tell me how he was feeling about a million times. I said he was fine, and that he was so sorry for not being buckled. I just told him I was sorry I drove off without checking, because I always, ALWAYS check to make sure the kids are buckled. That won't happen again! So then I was so worried still, I called his teacher to have her pay special attention to him in case he got to feeling sore or sick later in the day, so she would call me and let me know. He was fine, of course. I still felt so bad that I had to go pick him up for lunch and have a special lunch date with him to let him know he is my special boy. I love him so much I could just eat him up!

Anyway, I'm just feeling happy to have him. My dear friend, Tammy, had her sweet baby boy a week or so ago. She is amazing, and her baby boy, Jackson, is so darling. What a blessing little boys are. What would we do without them?