Tuesday, April 8

General Conference

This last weekend most of our family personally attended together some sessions of the 178th Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, held in Salt Lake City, Utah on April 5th and 6th 2008.

I am still tired and sore... but my body is at least bearable now. Last night I couldn't even think straight, the pain was pretty awful after such a busy weekend, and with all the traveling. Still, I am really glad we were able to go. We enjoyed the time together and we were really blessed to feel the spirit in abundance.

Over the weekend we were able to get the temple clothes that Princess B and Sir Knight will be married in... As some of us watched the first part of the Saturday Morning ~ Solemn Assembly together by television while taking care of some important errands (I love that many of the public buildings in Utah have the conference broadcast...) and as we participated in sustaining the current prophet and new leaders chosen by the Lord I felt a strong sense of privilege about my membership in the church. After that part was over the rest of the family listened on the radio as we headed to temple square (Son1 & Sweetee were already on Temple Square... ) and finally we spent the last 30 minutes trying to hear over the loud speaker while waiting in line with about 10 thousand other people... LOL... Actually it was not THAT crowded yet outside the Conference Center, but there were a LOT of people like us... people with tickets for the afternoon session of conference waiting our turn to go in to that amazing building. It was a wonderful time for all of us... It was a bit nippy, but not quite FREEZING and the snow that was predicted held off all through the weekend till Monday.

We were sitting right in the center of the building about 20 rows back from the front row... It was AMAZING to be there together. After the session we met up with my brother, my sister in law and one of their daughters to give them a quick hug and introduce Sweetee and Sir Knight... We got food for the men and then they went back over to get in line for the PH session. The girls also ate and went to the hotel, then went back up town to where we could meet up with the men and pick them up...

The men said the PH Session was really amazing and they were sitting about the same # of rows back but quite a bit to the side of center, still they all said that the seats were GREAT. Because of the traffic when we picked them up we ended up on the wrong street and got caught in the TIDAL WAVE of Priesthood filling the streets out of the Conference Center so FAST and filling downtown SLC with a SEA of faithful fathers and sons... it was SOOOOO wonderful to witness...!!!!! And it was something that can not really be described. The next few minutes of finding the men was a bit tense... as they got separated but eventually things worked out fine and we were able to meet up with them all quickly and head back to the hotel, where we ate tons of pizza and sat in the hot tub... the kids swam in the pool...

I actually had the chance to go Sunday morning with my brother because he had some extra tickets, but my legs were not cooperating and I could hardly walk at all after the long day we had Saturday so I called him early and told him I would not be able to make it after all, and I watched the Sunday sessions at the hotel, which was really good too, cause it was a positively FABULOUS hotel... We had tons of pillows and pretty much filled the beds in my room... LOL...

Sunday evening we had dinner with some friends at their home... then some of the kids went up town and took a few pictures with the lights of Temple Square/the grounds behind them. We left pretty early Monday for home, but left late enough that we missed any of the bad road weather, since it started snowing early Monday morning. The roads were pretty clear and except for a few spots where it was snowing heavier (from point of the mountain, to just past Provo, there were a few very white spots...) we didn't really run into any travel worries... It was a wonderful trip. We all missed hubby who had to stay behind to work, but he had a pretty good weekend... He ended up with lots of extra overtime, staying at Son1 & Sweetee's part of the time as they live close to where he works, and pretty much just worked all weekend... He has been watching parts of Conference as his schedule allowed. He actually was able to see quite a bit of it using the internet... What a blessing that is.

It will be days before I am "back to normal"... however as I said I am so very, VERY... glad that we were able to go and be a part of this wonderful opportunity to witness some sessions of General Conference for ourselves. I am so very grateful for my membership in the Lord's Church for all the blessing that membership avails me, and I am grateful for my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tuesday, April 1

How To Dance In The Rain

When both my parents passed away in 2007 within just a few weeks of each other they had been married for over 70 years. Often for couples of our faith who make it to that momentous milestone, a picture and an announcement is submitted by the family and this was done for my parents... it appeared in the LDS Church News, Fall 2005. All of their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren knew how devoted they were to each other, we were not surprised that they did not stay separated for long after the first went home to Heavenly Father.

Momma lost her ability to recognize who the many of members of her own family were, and even with daddy she was confused as to who he was... But he never stopped loving and supporting her, daily finding the humor and light hearted fun in their difficult health situations. Life for them was hardly pleasant physically, but each actually found something to be cheerful about as often as possible and they'd laugh about their bad memories and failing bodies. To the bitter end, they were both a joy to serve as a family. So it was that at their funerals we truly celebrated their lives, and it was impossible to speak of one without referencing the other. They were inseparably entwined in life, death and for eternity.

In light of all the weddings lately in the family I thought I would post this sweet little story here... It reminds me of daddy's loving treatment of my own momma in her last months of life. It's also really good advice. I don't know who to give the credit for it to... it's just something I received in my email many months ago that I saved to my journal: ~ PA

~~~

How To Dance In The Rain

It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80's, arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am.

I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would be able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch, and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound.

On exam, it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound. While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry.

The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I inquired as to her health; he told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer's Disease.

As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now. I was surprised, and asked him, 'And you still go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?'

He smiled as he patted my hand and said, 'She doesn't know me, but I still know who she is'.

I had to hold back tears as he left; I had goose bumps on my arm, and thought, 'That is the kind of love I want in my life'.

True love is neither physical, nor romantic. True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be.

The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything they have.

'Life isn't about how to survive the storm,
But how to dance in the rain.'