Wednesday, June 29, 2011

BEEHIVE BREAKFAST

Whenever we have a new Beehive join Young Womens, Teresa does a special breakfast for them at her house. She even makes little 'bumblebee' cupcakes and has everyone come in their pajamas. How cute is that?! She's so good with these girls!

Here's our new, darling beehive, Kayla! Everyone was so excited for her to finally join them and it was non-stop giggling and talking. Add the other 5 girls who weren't able to come that morning, and imagine the fun that will be had.....

Friday, June 24, 2011

MODERN DAY LOVE STORY

One of our residents passed away recently and this was the obituary that her husband placed in the paper. It made me emotional reading it, partly because I knew her, and partly because it will just make you emotional. He would faithfully come every single day and visit her. One day I hope to feel this way about someone:

EMMA STILWELL This is not an obituary to notify everyone that a person has died, it is instead a tribute to the best person I ever knew in my nearly 85 years on Earth. Emma Mae Stilwell, Mae as she preferred to be called, was born Oct. 2, 1922 and passed into Heaven May 20, 2011. She was the third child of 12, born into a very large, very poor, and extremely dysfunctional family. Her older sister was sent to live with her grandparents, leaving Mae as the eldest daughter at home. As a young child, when her mother produced a new baby almost annually, the midwife would hand the baby to Mae and was told to go clean it up. After her second grade in school at the age of eight, her father gave her to a couple to live with, that he said he owed a favor. She had to tend to their three children, do housework, and any other chores they might find for her. The youngest child was a girl with epilepsy, and they showed her how to put a wooden spoon or paddle in her mouth when she had a seizure, so she wouldn't bite her tongue off. Quite a life for an eight year old. The only plus was that they sent her to a nice school where she started to learn acrobatics, which she loved. After one year there, her father decided that she was being abused, and took her back home. She completed grades four through six in school, and then her father removed her from school at the age of 12, and sent her to an Italian couple to work for $5.00 a week, and she had to pay him the bulk of the money. She said they were good to her in many ways, and she was taught how to cook. I would put her spaghetti sauce far ahead of any Italian restaurant I ever ate in. She worked there for a number of years. I met Mae by a God given miracle. My first wife walked out on me one night, and left me with my twin daughters who were less than three years old. I was young, hadn't any money, and had no idea what to do. My father (who was a saint), told me to advertise in the newspaper for someone to be a live in Nanny for a motherless home, and he offered to pay them $25.00 a week. It sounds crazy now, but that was 1952. I advertised and must have had 75 calls. Some were not interested, but many were. I interviewed several and chose Mae for the job. She was just wonderful from day one. The children loved her, and she in turn loved them dearly. It was strictly a business relationship for nearly a year, but then we fell in love, and here it's now 2011. I'm not real religious, but I'm either the luckiest person that ever lived, or God stepped in and sent me the most wonderful person that ever lived. It is almost impossible to imagine how much I miss her. There was never an easier person to get along with than Mae. Whatever I wanted to do was just perfect for her too. I truly believe, that if God gave everyone alive one wish, many would choose wealth, many health, a long life, and all kinds of wishes, but if he gave Mae that wish, she would have chosen, "To make "Harry" happy, and for him to love me." I had the best. She wasn't educated, but she had higher morals, ethics, and honesty than anyone I ever knew. My only hope is for God to not keep me around very much longer, and send me to be with her. I'm not sure that I deserve to go to Heaven to be with her, but if I do, I surely can't wait to be with my darling again. - Your devoted husband, Harry

Thursday, June 23, 2011

TINY TEMPTATIONS

Yesterday one of my co-employees brought in a bag of watermelon taffy and put it in the candy dish in my office (usually reserved for mints and candies with less long-term effects). Darn those tiny taffys! They've sucked me in!! But at the same time, many thanks to Debbie for always being so good to me.....

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

GOT THIS SICK DOG

This isn't a picture of Jack, but it might as well have been last night. Poor little Jack the Dog was super sick and there wasn't much I could do to help him. From the way he was acting and whimpering, I could tell that his stomach was hurting him, and every time he took a step or was picked up he would breathe heavy and give a little groan. Luckily my Administrator at work raises show dogs, so her prior recommendations of water, pepto bismol, chicken, and rice did the trick. Today he's still sluggish and not moving very fast, but he's back to staring you down when you're eating, hoping that you'll give him something. I seriously love that dog!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

MY BIG FAT GYPSY WEDDING

As fascinating as it is to see their culture come out in the show, here's why I'm really grateful I'm not a gypsy:

1. Their average age to marry is 17 years old. 17!!!!!
2. The traveling gypsys live in trailers. I'm a big fan of them when I'm camping, but not so much to live in.
3. Their wedding dresses are usually twice their weight....which causes them scarring on their hips from it pulling at their skin. The bigger the scar, the better.
4. Girls are expected to clean and have kids. That's pretty much all they are allowed to do. They even have to have permission from their husbands to go out and see family and friends.
5. If a woman divorces an abusive husband she's not allowed to remarry. He can marry as many times as he wants, but she's 'used goods.'
6. There's not an emphasis on education. In fact, it's discouraged when you're a girl because you should be cleaning. Seriously?!?! Even the boys are discouraged once they get older (older meaning 15 and 16) because their focus should be finding a wife.
7. Disputes and disagreements are settled by fist fights that last until one or the other person gives up. You never talk out your problems.
8. They marry their cousins. Enough said.

Friday, June 17, 2011

CHALLENGE

Last week our Bishop issued the challenge to our ward to all read the Book of Mormon before the end of the year. We could do it as families, or as individuals, whichever way we decided we wanted to do it. It's only been a week, but I've already had multiple conversations with people who have been experiencing the effects of it. I love that no matter how many times you read the Book of Mormon, you can always experience the peace and power that comes from it. The excitement of knowing it was written by prophets who saw our day. In February I was in Guatemala and saw numerous sites that Church Historians have indicated were sites from the Book of Mormon. The City of Nephi, the Waters of Mormon, even just the wilderness that they walked through. I'm imagining it as I read and it's making it become more real to me. It's making me appreciate even more the sacrifices that were made to keep the plates, and to travel with them, and to preserve them for us. For me. Tomorrow the Young Women are coming over to my house to read. We're going to read for an hour, have lunch, and then spread out and read for another hour. What a great way to spend a Saturday morning, and what a great blessing to be able to bring the Spirit of the Book of Mormon into my home. If only weight loss challenges were this enjoyable......

Thursday, June 16, 2011

CH-CH-CH-CHANGES

It's been a while since I posted anything. Partly because I've been incredibly busy with some aspects of my life, and partly because I haven't felt like there was much to 'talk' about in my life. It's been almost 3 months so I'll do a quick recap of some changes in a nutshell:

1. New job: I'm still working at the same company as before, but my title now is 'Director of Human Resources.' I'm putting Social Work aside for a while (yippee) and focusing on something different. I started it a couple of months ago and so far I LOVE it!!! I enjoy being able to interact with all of the staff, I like that everything still feels familiar, regardless of how different it is, and I like having a window and private office again. I don't have much time to look out my window, but I like that it's there :)
2. New kind of house: Not a literal new house, but for the first time EVER I am living alone. I know it makes me sound sort of ridiculous saying that, but I like being around people and not having a roommate right now is a HUGE step for me. On the upside, I now have guest bedrooms and a whole slew of new appliances, so if you're ever this way, come by and stay for a bit. Seriously. I'm starting to talk to Jack like he's an actual person.
3. New attitude: Hahaha! Just kidding! But I like to think that I'm trying to stay positive about the little things that life throws my way. I feel like I went through a bit of a slump a couple of months ago and was feeling pretty frustrated with life in general. It didn't take long for me to realize that me feeling down wasn't changing the reality of the situation, so I implemented some goals for myself. It's been awesome and I feel like I'm on the upswing. I'm a big fan of re-evaluation, and it was a good time to do that.
4. New favorite show: NCIS. I'm a bit obsessed with this show right now, and thanks to Netflix I'm going to spend my summer watching all of the episodes from the beginning. Kudos to my old roommate, Melissa, for putting up with hours and hours of episodes when I first discovered it in March. It's fantastic!
5. New favorite food: Vegetable meatloaf!!! Don't wrinkle your nose at this because I found a recipe for meatloaf you make out of ground turkey and oodles of vegetables. It freezes easy, and is delicious!! I literally have been eating it four and five times a week for over a month now and still look forward to it. Yummy!
6. New computer: This was inevitable because my other one shorted out. I still haven't had a chance to touch base with the 'Geek Squad' to see if my information can be salvaged, but I sure am hoping I can save even some of my information. Note to self: Always do a backup!!!

So that's my life right now! Nothing hugely significant, but lots of little things going on. I feel like my life is similar to the picture I posted with this. Lots of awesome scenery and things to be appreciative of, and a road that I find myself on with bends and turns, and the inability to see around the corner. But it's a BEAUTIFUL road and I'm excited to see what lies beyond the tree. Life is good!