The Buck Stops Here

I got a great picture of one of the bucks who are starting to go though our yard again. This one still has velvety antlers, but another one had already rubbed the velvet off his and was ready for a fight (or whatever they do after they rub the velvet off)!

Rollin' on the River!

On Saturday I went rafting down the Willamette River with a bunch of Relief Society Women! (I am in the boat in the forefront of the picture, and I am behind the lady with the hat on, on the left side of the picture.) This trip was particularly significant for me because I have a healthy fear of my head going underwater, and so I had crossed off "rafting down a river" as something I would ever do. For some reason I decided I needed to go, to get out of my comfort zone and conquer my fears and all that kind of stuff. I was reassured that the possibility of falling in was pretty slim, and when I realized some of us were 70 and 80 years old..... Hey, if an 80 year-old can go rafting, then I can go rafting! I just want you all to know that I did survive, we had a great time (we stopped along the way to pick wild blackberries and have lunch), and I just might go again next year!

Focus

I teach seminary for the local high school students. It starts at 6:30am every school day. It is now time for me to start preparing for the upcoming year. I have been battling with myself a bit lately. The battle goes something like this: I am excited we get to study the Old Testament this year! I learned so very very much when I taught it before! I am excited that I can draw on my previous lessons and experience and make our study even better! I love expanding my understanding and appreciation of the Gospel. I love the students - they are wonderful! I LOVE feeling the Spirit each day as I prepare lessons and as I teach! BUT how did I ever get up at 4:30am every morning?! How did I prepare 5 lessons each week that would interest high school students? I'm going to have to go to bed early again. I won't be able to sleep til 6:30am and enjoy surveying the valley out front and my hill in back every morning. I am going to have to spend 20-plus hours a week on this. It's hard for me to teach, and I bet I'm not a very good teacher. I wonder if they wish there could be a new seminary teacher. Why did I tell them I will teach again this year? It is so hard to teach seminary!

Then this morning the Spirit said to me: "Just focus on all the good. Forget the hard stuff. You know I will help you each day as I have in the past. Have fun and enjoy it!"

Now, why didn't I think of that? (That's what I always think when the Spirit points out the simple but profound to me.) I am not only going to apply to seminary, I am going to apply that to anything I have to do that is hard. You can use it too if you want.......!

Rain, Rain, Go Away?

This morning I happened to look out the window, and it was raining. Rain wasn't forecast, so I was surprised. Pleasantly surprised, that is! I thought, "Oh good, its raining!" Then I thought, "What am I thinking? I'm glad that its raining?" Is that what happens to you when you live in the Northwest? Or is that why you live in the Northwest?

When I was shopping later in the day, I asked a couple of women, "What did you think of the rain today?" They promptly replied, "Wonderful!" "It was great!" I guess we Northwesterners are all alike. Lucky we don't live in Arizona!

Wonderful Weekend!

I'm happy to report our weekend with Abbi and Chad was the greatest! We managed to fit in everything we had planned and it all went like clockwork. We discovered that the very large group of sea lions on the coast spend their August in the water, not in the famous Sea Lion cave. Luckily we saw a pretty good group of them sunning on a ledge, so we were able to get our money's worth. We endured the cold, cutting wind on our walk on the beach and discovered why the Oregon beaches are not world-famous for summer vacations. We laughed at Abbi's delight at ordering a plain chocolate chip ice cream cone and at being able to fit in all her letters in our speed-Scrabble game. We visited the beautiful new Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend, and our old home and the elementary school Abbi attended. We had a leisurely lunch on the Willamette River and took in all the sights of the famous Eugene Saturday market. One of the most interesting items there was a very bright and colorful tie-dyed toilet paper. We wondered if that was supposed to be functional or purely decorative........ (Do any of you want to order that for your upcoming Christmas present?) We had a great Sunday and enjoyed dinner with Abbi's friends Laura and Ben who came down from Portland. Abbi got a haircut and chose the pattern she liked for their wedding quilt. We watched all four hours of the movie "Gandhi" in our media room (it was great - we would highly recommend it to you!) And then we laughed some more. The only negative was seeing them off at the airport on Monday. We are thankful for planes that make these mini-vacations possible! And we plan to do it again real soon, with Abbi and Chad and with all our kiddos and grandkiddos! Does anyone want to schedule their next Eugene visit now? We hope so!

We Can't Wait!

Abbi and Chad are on a plane headed for Eugene at this very moment! We can't wait til they get here and we start our wonderful weekend together!! Hopefully Abbi will remember her camera (mine is getting repaired), and I will report on all our fun on my next blog. I'm headed for the airport to pick up our VIP's!

Words for the Day

I've come upon some words I didn't know, and thought you'd like to benefit and increase your vocabulary. Here they are:

redoubts: small, often temporary defensive fortifications

panegyric: (in 1770's it was spelled panegyrick) a lofty oration or writing in praise of a person or thing; eulogy

nuncupative: delivered orally to witnesses rather than written (as a nuncupative will)

abstemious: eating and drinking in moderation

If you already knew these, I am impressed at your knowledge of vocabulary!

Now let's try and use them:
The redoubts were hastily abandoned when the enemy broke through their lines.
I plan on writing several panegyrics in my blog about the wonderful people I know.
The dying man issued his nuncupative will on his death bed.
I suppose John is an abstemious individual, being high in intellect and wisdom.

I can't wait to read your sentences!

So you think you can dance.....!

I have made the decision to let you all in on one of my deepest, darkest secrets. At first I was determined to NEVER let anyone know this secret, but for some reason I feel the need to share. So here goes: I am taking tap dancing lessons! Yes, its true. Now after you finish rolling around on the floor in laughter, please hear me out on this. You need to know the rest of the story.....


Sister Aileen, one of the Nun's at Mel's hospital (a Catholic healthcare facility), invited me to join her and a few other older-than-forty women who were taking tap lessons. My first thought was ,"Never in a million years!" Then I reconsidered. Why not? It might be fun. Sister Aileen reassured me the class was made up mostly of women like myself who had no intentions of going professional. It was just for fun and exercise. Hey, I could do that. A thousand years ago when I was young I took a couple of months' tap lessons. I decided to live dangerously and try it.

Well, I totally and completely enjoyed the first lesson! It was soooo fun! I even remembered the "shuffle-ball-change" steps of my first lessons many many years ago. I was a natural! After the second lesson, I am ready to invest financially in the whole thing and buy my very own tap shoes! (Now there's commitment for you!) When I dance, I can just feel all kinds of new neurological connections being made in my brain as I try to get my feet to do what my brain is telling them to do. Now I can exercise and not even know it! Now I can exercise and actually enjoy it! What a deal!

So, the next time you see me, if you want a little demonstation of what I am working on, I'd be happy to oblige. I do not see any performances on the big stage in my future, but I'm sure I can teach all my granddaughters a little dance or two. And, I just might ward off old-age-senility for another year or two. So watch out dancing world, here I come!

1776

OK all you book club fans, I have a recommendation for you. You have got to read 1776 by David McClullough! If you are like me, you know the revolutionary war took place, and that the Colonies prevailed, and now we have the United States of America, and that's about it. This is an enlightening account of what happened right after the battle at Concord and Lexington. It is well-researched and well documented. It will help you realize that it was more than the ability and genius of George Washington, Henry Knox and Nathanael Greene that won the battles. You will read of miracle after miracle that enabled the "rabble in arms" to defeat the most powerful nation in the world. And you can ponder Greene's prophetic comment, "We are fighting for our country, for posterity, perhaps. On the success of this campaign the happiness or misery of millions may depend." We are those millions who have benefitted from their fight and their sacrifice. We should learn what took place and never forget how fortunate we are to live in a nation such a this. And finally, we have even broader perspective because we know the ultimate purpose of the founding of this nation - so the gospel could be restored and taken to all the earth.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...".

I think this quote by Charles Dickens applies to the time in which we live. And one of the aspects of the "best of times" is our ability to keep connected through this incredible technology we have now. I absolutely love to read others' blog entries to find out what's on their minds, what they have been doing, what they have been struggling with. The miles between us melt and there is an instant connection. It is a blessing to me because several hundred and several thousand miles separate me from beloved family members. We don't get to see each other every day. But blogging is the next best thing! I also get to meet very interesting people that I otherwise would never meet. Hooray for blogging!