My Simple Daybook~May 13, 2017

Our lives pass swiftly by!

Remembering and recording the everyday

 moments is a great gift to leave behind.

The big things are important, but it is in the details

that our story is born.

The telling of the ordinary moments

are the Threads from 

which the bigger stories emerge.

These things are important links to the 

outcome of what our posterity will inherit from us.

These Daybook posts are my attempt at it.

Just for today~Saturday, May 13, 2017

Outside My Window...It is quiet and very pretty today. It is about 80 degrees and comfortable.  It is nice to feel warm again!  It has been a long, gray and cold winter for us in the usually sunny state of California.  Everything looks refreshed and ready for some summer nights.  I am eager for that.  Are you? Nights when the frogs and then crickets will sing to us and we can sit outside by the pond and enjoy it.  Jim will build a fire outside if needed and the popping and crackling is just so cozy.

I Am Thankful For...technology.  I know that I could not have survived well without our children and grandchildren living nearby without technology.  I depend on technology for so many things as I think most of us do these days.  But mostly it is about people, writing, and learning.  Staying connected and continuing to learn are so important to me.  When you think of the advantages it is one of the most important and miraculous discoveries of our day.  Of course there are always dark sides to good things if used inappropriately.  But seeking the good in it is what I love.  What are some of the things you love technology for in your lives? 

 I love it for family closeness, taking and saving and organizing photos and even editing anytime, anywhere.  I love it for researching all things I'm interested in and for doing our family history and all the sites that support that.  I love it for the beauty I find on Pinterest, YouTube tutorials and music videos, and movies. I adore that I can keep in touch with a life time of friends via social media and that I can print my entries on Facebook into a fantastic book of annual events...equaling more recorded family history. 

I cherish that I can have my scriptures with me at all times and church talks and I can shop in my jammies.  It is just endless, the things that are so wonderful about technology and the Internet. I can write and save my random thoughts anytime I want right here on Blogger.  I love that I can email or text anyone anytime and they can receive it instantly or at their own convenience.  I love that I can share my love and thoughts with friends and family whenever I feel that I want to do so and they with me.   I must also mention being able to meet and develop important relationships with people all over the world that I would never have been able to know without technology.  The fact that we can choose exactly how we use technology to enhance our lives is a wonderful gift of living in this time in the history of the world.  We are so blessed by God.  May we never forget that or quit testifying of it!

Spiritual Thoughts...As I was thinking about the blessing of the technological advancements seen in our life time, I could not help but see God's hand in all of it. And I know that our gratitude for it is pleasing unto him.  I do not want to take my blessings for granted.  By rejoicing in them I gain peace and contentment and a humble heart that is teachable.  We all do.  To not see God's hand in the details of our lives is just wrong.

From The Learning Room...the reality is that being grateful is one of the best ways to be happy no matter what the circumstances of the day seem to be.  We have good days and bad days but we always have something to be happy about. The ultimate beauty in all of that is, it is our choice to decide how we view our day. Do we just have a good day or do we make it a good day?  Are we grateful for our experiences that are good and the ones that teach us also?  Do we recognize that the opposition in our lives makes the good things sweeter?  I hear in my head right now the wise words of my grandmother, Alice Grace Godfrey, "Continuous sunshine produces only a desert."  All things work together for our good.

I Am Praying For...a better understanding of historical events that teach us how to live better lives and not keep repeating the things that never have worked.  It is odd for all the advancements we have in our modern era we are still very stunted in our growth towards freeing ourselves of the greed and selfishness, and the lack of love that could cure so much evil in this world.

Quoting Pinterest...

The most beautiful photo on Pinterest today...

I never cease to be amazed at how many stunning photos there are of this iconic San Francisco site.  Anyone who has ever seen this bridge remembers the Golden Gate.  There is just something about San Francisco and it all come flooding back when you see a photo like this one.

Watching...I just finished watching a series on Mary Queen of Scots.  I am fascinated by the life in Royal Courts lately. What strange and lonely and often fearfully sad lives they led.

Thinking About...Mother's Day.  Being a mom, all it involves, all the hard times and the many more wonderful times.  What a miracle this whole experience is.  There is no other love that comes as close to the pure love of Christ.  We strive our whole lives to know how to love others that way, but to our children it is a free gift.  As long as she lived my mom was my biggest fan.  I wanted to be that for our kids.  They made it so easy.  I love them for that.  I am in no way a perfect mother but our children will never be able to wonder if we loved them completely.  We tell them often also.  To show our love is extremely important but everyone needs to hear they are loved as well.

In the Kitchen...Jim is away helping our kids remodel their house.  Our stove has had a nice long vacation (over two weeks with another to go).  Before he left he did a lot of BBQing.  I have had a full freezer so have only been making salads since then.  He knows how to bless me in the best ways.  It gives me so much more time to do my work. I miss him so much but love that he is helping our kids.  Love is not just gazing at each other but it is also gazing together in the same direction.

Loves and Passions...I love my comfortable circles.  I enjoy the comfort of being able to be who I am with people that I love and trust and that I know well.  I am a classic introvert.  I am very social in my circles of comfort but I am not comfortable in large gatherings of people I don't really know and small talk is not my forte.  I am most passionate about talking one on one or with just a small group of good friends. I can be social when I have to and can compensate well, but it is pure work until I can relax.  Like all introverts I need solitude to refuel but I do not like being lonely.  It is a delicate balance.  It is not about being shy.  It is about how we refuel. Jim is an extrovert.  The longer the party the more energy he gathers.  For me I am like a rubber ball with a slow leak. When I'm out of air I have to go home.

Photos I'm sharing...just this past few weeks this is a fraction of what has happened amongst the grandkids.

 Connor has received his Eagle Scout Award!

Chloe turned 12!

Julia got her Driver's License!

Spencer (Right Front)

Finished his last requirement for his Eagle

Scout Award and Turned 18! 

Chloe and Hazel tasting their first 

crescent roll baking extravaganza!

Grampa taking a rest on the trampoline
today after lunch with Poppy underneath
to keep him company. She just kind of blends in 
but is a beautiful, sweet Aussiedoodle.

Chris and Missy and Grampa have been working
 many hours this last two weeks on their remodel.

Tearing out the whole ground level and living 

in the basement for the summer.  Not for the faint of heart 

but it will be absolutely gorgeous when done!

Jim has been there since April 30.  

He's coming home soon though.