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~Monday June 19th, 2017
Outside My Window...It is a hot afternoon here in our neighborhood. It is 99 degrees and cooler than yesterday which was at least 105. When I got in the car after church the thermometer registered this...Yikes. But OK it had been sitting in the sun. I thought surely it would drop down while driving home. It did to 108. This year it has been crazy weather here like every place else. The mornings and evening are very nice. We don't have much humidity so it is not really pleasant to get that hot but at least you are not wringing wet. If it cools down at night you can get up early and get all you house work done before the heat wave. We do not have air-conditioning but we manage nicely 99 percent of the time with lots of trees and shade.
I Am Thankful For...the month of June! We have had so many wonderful things happen this month. Birthdays, anniversaries, our baptism date, our sealing date, our 49th wedding anniversary. A two day get away to celebrating with James. All our grandkids were promoted to new higher grade at school and the two oldest graduated from High School. Our niece Erin got married a few days ago in Hawaii. We didn't go but with technology we felt very much a part of it. I met my first cousin that is a member of the Church in our Reese line. She is married to my cousin Don. We have been improving the yard and got the landscaping around the pond done this past week. Father's Day was good, and Chris and Connor got to spend a few weeks in Brazil and are now home safe and sound. It is a great month to be alive. Julia and Spencer found a job for the summer. There were prom and graduation parties. Connor and Piper already had jobs. Holy smokes I've been burning up the keyboard on Facebook just chronically some of these things for the annual hard bound book of Facebook posts I get printed at the end of each year.
Spiritual Thoughts...I've been more keenly aware of how the Lord has a hand in the details of our lives and how if we listen we are guided. Some things happen that are just remarkable and such a blessing. It doesn't matter whether they unfold before our eyes gradually or if we suddenly get happy surprises. As we look back and see how it all transpired and how many things had to fall into place to make these things a reality, we marvel and see him right there every step of the way.
This very thing happened to me again this week. Ever since I have embarked on doing our family history I have discovered many, many things about our family I never knew before. In 1970 Jim and I had moved to Las Vegas where he took a position as a first year teacher after he received his Master's degree. I started looking for work and found a great job working for two dentists. One of the dentists became a dear, dear friend. He was twice our age and became a father figure to us as we were living away from our own families for the first time. He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Long story short, he taught of the doctrine of the church and over the next several years we joined the church and he baptized us in 1978. We were already back in California at the time but we had reminded close friends with him until his death in 2007. Well, last week I was working on a story of his life that I wanted to publish on familysearch.org. I finished it and was pleased that on the Family Search Family Tree he would now have a memorial to honor his Christ-like life and so that he could be remembered by anyone who went to look him up on the Tree for years to come. In the process of doing this work I discovered that he and I are actually genetically related by the sharing of two common ancestors, a couple from the 1600s. They had several children and I descend from one of the daughter and he descends from another daughter. This news is so thrilling to both Jim and I. Our kids always called him Uncle. But we never realized he was in fact our "real" relative until this week.
This very thing happened to me again this week. Ever since I have embarked on doing our family history I have discovered many, many things about our family I never knew before. In 1970 Jim and I had moved to Las Vegas where he took a position as a first year teacher after he received his Master's degree. I started looking for work and found a great job working for two dentists. One of the dentists became a dear, dear friend. He was twice our age and became a father figure to us as we were living away from our own families for the first time. He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Long story short, he taught of the doctrine of the church and over the next several years we joined the church and he baptized us in 1978. We were already back in California at the time but we had reminded close friends with him until his death in 2007. Well, last week I was working on a story of his life that I wanted to publish on familysearch.org. I finished it and was pleased that on the Family Search Family Tree he would now have a memorial to honor his Christ-like life and so that he could be remembered by anyone who went to look him up on the Tree for years to come. In the process of doing this work I discovered that he and I are actually genetically related by the sharing of two common ancestors, a couple from the 1600s. They had several children and I descend from one of the daughter and he descends from another daughter. This news is so thrilling to both Jim and I. Our kids always called him Uncle. But we never realized he was in fact our "real" relative until this week.
From The Learning Room...every choice we make has a consequence of some kind for good or not so good. With our agency to choose we can literally write most of the pages of our book of our life. The circumstances don't matter as must as how we react. How we choose to spend our time in our day to day living and how we choose to respond is what shapes the pages of the book of our lives. Of course there are things that we experience for which we have no control. Our gift of choice in how we respond to those things determines just about everything in the end.
I Am Praying For...inspiration for an important class I am teaching on the 15 of July. Also country, family and friends as well.
Watching...Grantchester and Anne with an E on PBS. Both such great shows. We adore Masterpiece Theater.
Thinking About...launching into a new decade of my life in July and the wonderful lunch I was treated to by my dear, sweet friend, Carol, today. It was such a joy to have a couple of hours to just be together and chat. One on one time is so important to me with my friends once in awhile. No interruptions, just 100% focus on nurturing the friendship. I love that. It's a rare and wonderful thing when we all have such busy lives.
In the Kitchen..is where I should be right now. I must get dinner going so I will return later. (Too bad so much later that I am finishing this two weeks later. I am ready to write another Simple Daybook this week.)
Loves and Passions... l am a homebody. I love staying home a lot. There re days when I just stay home all day. l love reading, writing, and puttering around home doing things. Jim loves this too but he doesn't get to do it as much as I do. It is relaxing and o enjoyable to not be one the frantic schedules I use to have.
A Photo I'm sharing...
From this day forward and forever...
We have begun our 50th year of marriage having celebrated our 49th anniversary on June 15. We took a lovely two days and stayed in Marin County just north of San Francisco. We spent time in Muir Woods and soaked in the beauty of the earth and our circumstances. We had a picnic at Muir Overlook high above the sea and had a scrumptious dinner at Scoma's in Sausalito.
Our heart are brimming with gratitude for the family God has blessed us with and our love for each other. That leap of faith all those years ago has brought into our lives every good thing.
OUTSIDE...we have been having rain "up the gum stump" as the saying goes. I don't mind the rain, but the lightening is too close! Of course we then get the steamy heat afterwards. That's why I stay in the a/c all day, ha!
ReplyDeleteTHANKFUL...March is our family's months for the birthdays and anniversaries! I anxious when eternity comes and a day is as a 1000 years and a 1000 years is as a day, whoa, experiencing that is going to be amazing!
SPIRITUAL...isn't hide sight amazing! When I think about mankind, I realize we are all related in that we come from Noah's descendants and of course Adam and Eve. I pray everyday for the LORD to lead, guide, and direct all I think, do, and say to be to His glory, honor, and praise!
LEARNING...I'm so overjoyed that the LORD directs us to pray about everything and especially our choices before we make them! I have found out the outcomes are always for the good when I seek Him first than when I don't!
PRAYER...I keep adding to my list everyday! Especially the President's prayer team list. You can see it at: http://uspray365.com/qk5wk They give the truth of prayer needs and not the media's half truths.
WATCHING...the old game shows. I hadn't seen them before since I was in school when they were own!
THINKING...I have a long time Christian teacher friend who is now also retired that we meet once a month for brunch. It's amazing how much we have to share with each passing month! We sit about 2-3 hours talking. The waitress keeps coming up asking if there is anything else she can get us. (Hint: how long are we going to be, ha!_
KITCHEN...That was a long dinner, ha! I'm into cooking kale. I was told by my eye doctor to eat more carrots & greens!
LOVES...I know what you mean, I'm a homebody too. I thank the LORD everyday for my retirement! On my blog, I have been in the book of John and on Sunday I have added a new blog about GOD's animal kingdom.
The LORD bless you and yours, Susan