"Opportunity is missed by most people because
it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Dear Children,
I loved a few of the quotes from the BYU devotional this last Tuesday about doing the right things for the right reasons. He taught that accepting truths requires obeying the feelings of the Spirit, self discipline, and then, courage to live that which is right in the sight of the Lord. He also taught that pursuing easy things makes us weak but pursuing that which is hard, makes us stronger. Above is my favorite quote from his talk though.
Much of his talk helped me to prepare to listen to conference and especially act on feelings and impression from listening to our leaders like the scripture in Ezra 7:10 (prepare my heart to hear the word of the Lord and DO IT
). In my institute class this week we covered the scriptures through John 4 and I enjoyed especially John 4:14 which reminded me to think about what I need to do to drink deeply of the living waters (doctrines of the Gospel, word of God and Atonement).
Some sad news of the week for many of you: Georgia Harris passed away late last Sunday night. Her services are tomorrow so, unfortunately, Dad and I will miss it. She has been so ill with kidney failure for so long but just about a week ago, she looked like she was feeling a little better. She was a great teacher to some of you.
On Tuesday Dad and I were able to drive down to Sweet Home and see Sunhee play soccer. It took me back several years ago, watching many of you playing soccer. She is an
aggressive player who doesn’t wait around for the ball to come to her. It was fun to watch her enthusiasm for the game. She made at least three shots on the goal and she was only in the forward position about a third of the game.
At the end of the game, Meeja got her turn to run across the field and run she did! She took off like a bullet running past and around the goal, then back to us. She has also got a set of running legs on her and the energy to boot!
Dad and I took a small detour back to Angie’s house after the game to have a victory treat. Sunhee chose Dairy Queen so we all loaded up on soft serve ice cream.
Speaking of sports, Morty called this
week one day to share his excitement over his and Nate’s recent plans for more college sports later this month. Already planning to go to Los Angeles with Aaron and Nate this weekend for the Oregon-USC game, he is now returning to Texas with Nate for the BYU-TCU game and then later in that same weekend to a Texas college game with one that starts with “M” (Michigan or Missouri; I know it is an important to them)! As Morty told me excitedly, I thought, “These boys are never going to have time to settled down and get married.” But I instead joined in the fun of the moment for Morty and laughed with him that he is a crazy sports nut. I was glad that the next statement Morty made was, “We’ve got to do this before we get married. This is one more stadium on our list to visit!” Well, it l
ooks like they are having fun in Los Angeles this weekend. Morty made a connection with Bryan Bybee and will stay at his place while there. He ran into Bryan and Rachel Bybee many months ago at church there on a previous visit to Southern California.
Besides soccer games, Dad and I enjoyed our favorite team sports this week being able to watch BYU beat Utah State on Friday evening. I recorded it so we could start a bit late, after Dad’s later work errands, and catch up by skipping through the commercials, but I ended up listening to most of the game over the baby monitor while I needed to keep working in the kitchen.
I found myself falling behind by evening as my projects grew greater on Friday as I was preparing to leave on Monday. On Friday morning, the thought came to me in a panic that I was going to be from the garden quite a while and since the weather has turned more fall-like, I realized there was a possibility that we could have a nighttime freeze that could wipe out my tomatoes, peppers and basil. I picked much of it and froze a huge batch of a tomato soup base that I experimented with earlier this fall, researched and froze basil mixed with a bit of olive oil and made my first batch of canned salsa in over 25 years. I prefer fresh of course but I decided to make my salsa specific to my chicken and rice dish (with its own chili powder included) so I can just open a jar and the recipe is ready to go. I hope it turns out. It made more than I realized that it would since I loaded it up with extra vegetables from the garden. It took me much longer than expected since I sliced open a finger, right through my nail, instead of one of many tomatoes that I was cutting. Don’t worry; I checked for blood and body parts left on the cutting board so there is no extra protein in that salsa!!! I was determined to finish all my projects so I wrapped it and held enough pressure to stop the bleeding and then gingerly applied gauze and a rubber glove so I could continue.
It was a very welcome rest to relax with the Stangers at Olive Garden after the game at the end of the night. They had called earlie
r in the week and offered to treat us to dinner. I just requested it be after the BYU game! We had a late night (or early morning) with the Stangers since we didn’t start until late and we closed the restaurant after sitting and talking after dinner. Then, we came back to the house to play only one game of Canadian Salad since we had to get up early to prepare to drive to Adam’s soccer game in Albany and birthday party in Jefferson.
We had a full day on Saturday celebrating Adam’s big day; he turns nine years old today! Dad and I were anxious to see Adam play soccer. Aunt Lynn said that his footwork is getting very excellent. Unfortunately the game was cancelled when part of the team learned tha
t the earlier rains had scared away some of the players. We were surprised since we are so used to soccer in the rain. I remember that some of you were disappointed when it wasn’t raining during game time!
Adam’s party at the park was timed perfectly for the weather. They have an excellent park facility with a large covered picnic area and nice children’s play area. At the last minute we were thrilled to be able to pick up Alina and drive her down from Keiser. Dad and I haven’t seen her since April so it was nice to get updated on her school and activities. She is still involved with her softball team. It was so fun to see Alina playing with Klaire and Adam. Wendi drove with her great grandmother, Mimi, so
she could bring the car that she just received for her birthday. I tried to take a picture but my camera’s batteries went dead just before she left.
It was a great party. Uncle Mickey barbecued hamburgers for everyone. Adam and Aunt Lynn had decorated the cake that was in the shape of a car! Adam received some wonderful gifts, especially a large keyboard so that he can practice for his piano lessons that he just started this year. All the children were kept very busy and happy on the play structure, just stopping to eat dinner, cake and watch the gifts being opened. We returned to Beaverton late on Saturday and tried to squeeze in just one session of general conference before going to bed.
After we learned the soccer game was canceled (we were already in Albany) we went to Kyre’s home and visited with Klaire, Kyre and Adam. We played some games with the
m and then left to go run “errands”. Actually, we drove back up to Salem and visited with Scott since we would be gone this coming week. Our time was shortened with him since I received a call from Janara (first one since April) asking us to pick up Alina since they were having car trouble. We were very happy to comply even though that sent us back to Keizer before heading back south to Jefferson for the party. Scott was very happy to cut things shorter in order for the chance for us to be with his children.
The visit was great. He updated us on his cell mate news. His cell mate hasn’t been moved yet and the other cell in C Block that he hopes to move to will hopefully be available when the time comes. We talked about the difficulties of moving to a new cellblock: being the bottom of the heap again, learning new people and new relationships. But, he made us realize that this time he moves with lots more skills and knowledge. He really wants this cell mate in C Block. He also introduced us to a friendly man in the visiting room and later told us that this man, a tall black man, would be a source of protection to him in C Block. He called him a Christian brother. He explained that he has been in OSP for years and is an unofficial “debt settler”. His “inside” job is to come between two peo
ple trying to settle a debt! It is a very intriguing life of complications inside a prison inmate system.
The last picture of Adam is a gift that we saved for Adam when none of his siblings were around. The Mertons were fine with us giving him this gift from Scott. It was a headlamp that was in Scott’s backpack. Adam will be thrilled with it. He writes wonderful letters to his father and Scott loves the ability to write to him. The letters go through our address.
I had to “sleep quickly” since I had promised several families warm cinnamon rolls before the morning session of general conference. I had three people that had bought cinnamon roll deliveries at auctions in the last two years that I had to pay back! I am glad that I have now cleared out all of my previous obligations. I made an especially large batch since Malia Hite was one of the winning bidders. The last time I made her cinnamon rolls, Aaron was living here and I sent a huge pan over to her home so I was thinking that she might expect that again. I also wanted to make a batch for the Georgia Harris family in town and the Whisenant family who will be watching our home and Sammy while we are away. Thank goodness Malia picked up her batch on the way to a singles gathering for conference and Dad delivered the rest.
I saw three sessions of conference today since I couldn’t bear to wait until I get back from our trip. It was such a great conference with so many messages that will be helpful to me. There were, of course, many messages about adversity and troubled times. I loved Neil Andersen’s thoughts on the fact that faith is a decision in his talk on having difficulties with our spiritual footings. He put it simply: choose faith.
Lots of our leaders spoke of faith and hope. President Uchtdorf told us that faith, hope and charity work together to stabilize our lives. Along these same lines Elder Holland admonished us to pray for angels to attend us and be more angel-like to help others.
Several speakers spoke of optimism is the face of adversity. I loved Joseph B. Wirthlin’s talk about choosing happiness over sorrow when he said that adversity handled correctly can be a blessing in our life. I appreciated how he made it clear that he was not teaching us to ignore the reality of pain as he talked of choosing wisely the way we react. He warned us, “The dial on the wheel of sorrow eventually points to all of us.” L. Tom Perry has a great message about this also and as he spoke of his place to recharge himself, Walden Pond, I wondered where my Walden Pond was. I liked his thoughts on the spiritual benefits of a simplified life and the need for spiritual fuel. President Monson’s message about finding joy in the now was so great. I hope I remember his teaching to never again let a problem to be solved be more important than a person.
Two great speakers brought up some interesting thoughts on unity and I felt that all their ideas were especially important to our family as we show true concern to help one another and demonstrate love for each other. I wish we all could make a careful study of both messages from D. Todd Christofferson and Henry B. Eyring: President Eyring with his thoughts on being a peacemaker and Elder Christofferson’s warning to be free of strife and contention, to forgive all and look after one another the best we can.
It was fun to talk with Katie on Saturday night before I had a chance to hear any of the conference messages and ask her which of the Saturday talks were her favorites. After listening to the Saturday session, I agreed with her especially after hearing the talk by Dallin H, Oaks on the importance of being consistent in our sacrament meeting attendance and being true to our worship of Christ during this time. He said, “Always remember Him; don’t violate that even in sacrament meeting!” I needed that! Morty has called me on that before when I got after him for texting during sacrament meeting and he said I shouldn’t be working on my calendars in my planner during sacrament meeting! He is right.
I loved Sister Elaine Dalton’s message she called “a return to virtue” when she quoted President Monson saying, “There is no friendship more valuable than a clear conscience.” And lastly, I must listen again to the talk by Lawrence Corbridge (I have never heard of him) as he gave a powerful witness of the Savior and he taught that the Lord’s way was not hard. It was amazing.
If you come across a Conference Jeopardy-type activity in the next week or so, let me know. We have the FHE for the empty nesters this month and I want to play a game like that. I have put them together before but maybe someone else will have done it and posted it online before I get around to doing it when I get back!
We ended the day, well, packing. But first we went to Grandma’s for dinner. She stuffed some of our huge bell peppers for dinner; it was so nice not to have to cook. We also took Miss Kitty to stay at the Grandma Hotel while we are gone. She will get a lot of attention there.
Dad remarked last night that we will amazingly be able to see every member of our family within just 10 days! I am so excited for this opportunity; it makes me so happy to be around each one of you. I love you so much. I hope that you have had a chance to look at your holiday calendar. I would love to know who is coming home and when. Someday we really need to try to get everyone home at the same time! I love you! Love, Mom
I loved a few of the quotes from the BYU devotional this last Tuesday about doing the right things for the right reasons. He taught that accepting truths requires obeying the feelings of the Spirit, self discipline, and then, courage to live that which is right in the sight of the Lord. He also taught that pursuing easy things makes us weak but pursuing that which is hard, makes us stronger. Above is my favorite quote from his talk though.
Much of his talk helped me to prepare to listen to conference and especially act on feelings and impression from listening to our leaders like the scripture in Ezra 7:10 (prepare my heart to hear the word of the Lord and DO IT
). In my institute class this week we covered the scriptures through John 4 and I enjoyed especially John 4:14 which reminded me to think about what I need to do to drink deeply of the living waters (doctrines of the Gospel, word of God and Atonement).Some sad news of the week for many of you: Georgia Harris passed away late last Sunday night. Her services are tomorrow so, unfortunately, Dad and I will miss it. She has been so ill with kidney failure for so long but just about a week ago, she looked like she was feeling a little better. She was a great teacher to some of you.
On Tuesday Dad and I were able to drive down to Sweet Home and see Sunhee play soccer. It took me back several years ago, watching many of you playing soccer. She is an
aggressive player who doesn’t wait around for the ball to come to her. It was fun to watch her enthusiasm for the game. She made at least three shots on the goal and she was only in the forward position about a third of the game.At the end of the game, Meeja got her turn to run across the field and run she did! She took off like a bullet running past and around the goal, then back to us. She has also got a set of running legs on her and the energy to boot!
Dad and I took a small detour back to Angie’s house after the game to have a victory treat. Sunhee chose Dairy Queen so we all loaded up on soft serve ice cream.
Speaking of sports, Morty called this
week one day to share his excitement over his and Nate’s recent plans for more college sports later this month. Already planning to go to Los Angeles with Aaron and Nate this weekend for the Oregon-USC game, he is now returning to Texas with Nate for the BYU-TCU game and then later in that same weekend to a Texas college game with one that starts with “M” (Michigan or Missouri; I know it is an important to them)! As Morty told me excitedly, I thought, “These boys are never going to have time to settled down and get married.” But I instead joined in the fun of the moment for Morty and laughed with him that he is a crazy sports nut. I was glad that the next statement Morty made was, “We’ve got to do this before we get married. This is one more stadium on our list to visit!” Well, it l
ooks like they are having fun in Los Angeles this weekend. Morty made a connection with Bryan Bybee and will stay at his place while there. He ran into Bryan and Rachel Bybee many months ago at church there on a previous visit to Southern California.Besides soccer games, Dad and I enjoyed our favorite team sports this week being able to watch BYU beat Utah State on Friday evening. I recorded it so we could start a bit late, after Dad’s later work errands, and catch up by skipping through the commercials, but I ended up listening to most of the game over the baby monitor while I needed to keep working in the kitchen.
I found myself falling behind by evening as my projects grew greater on Friday as I was preparing to leave on Monday. On Friday morning, the thought came to me in a panic that I was going to be from the garden quite a while and since the weather has turned more fall-like, I realized there was a possibility that we could have a nighttime freeze that could wipe out my tomatoes, peppers and basil. I picked much of it and froze a huge batch of a tomato soup base that I experimented with earlier this fall, researched and froze basil mixed with a bit of olive oil and made my first batch of canned salsa in over 25 years. I prefer fresh of course but I decided to make my salsa specific to my chicken and rice dish (with its own chili powder included) so I can just open a jar and the recipe is ready to go. I hope it turns out. It made more than I realized that it would since I loaded it up with extra vegetables from the garden. It took me much longer than expected since I sliced open a finger, right through my nail, instead of one of many tomatoes that I was cutting. Don’t worry; I checked for blood and body parts left on the cutting board so there is no extra protein in that salsa!!! I was determined to finish all my projects so I wrapped it and held enough pressure to stop the bleeding and then gingerly applied gauze and a rubber glove so I could continue.
It was a very welcome rest to relax with the Stangers at Olive Garden after the game at the end of the night. They had called earlie
r in the week and offered to treat us to dinner. I just requested it be after the BYU game! We had a late night (or early morning) with the Stangers since we didn’t start until late and we closed the restaurant after sitting and talking after dinner. Then, we came back to the house to play only one game of Canadian Salad since we had to get up early to prepare to drive to Adam’s soccer game in Albany and birthday party in Jefferson.We had a full day on Saturday celebrating Adam’s big day; he turns nine years old today! Dad and I were anxious to see Adam play soccer. Aunt Lynn said that his footwork is getting very excellent. Unfortunately the game was cancelled when part of the team learned tha
t the earlier rains had scared away some of the players. We were surprised since we are so used to soccer in the rain. I remember that some of you were disappointed when it wasn’t raining during game time!Adam’s party at the park was timed perfectly for the weather. They have an excellent park facility with a large covered picnic area and nice children’s play area. At the last minute we were thrilled to be able to pick up Alina and drive her down from Keiser. Dad and I haven’t seen her since April so it was nice to get updated on her school and activities. She is still involved with her softball team. It was so fun to see Alina playing with Klaire and Adam. Wendi drove with her great grandmother, Mimi, so
she could bring the car that she just received for her birthday. I tried to take a picture but my camera’s batteries went dead just before she left.It was a great party. Uncle Mickey barbecued hamburgers for everyone. Adam and Aunt Lynn had decorated the cake that was in the shape of a car! Adam received some wonderful gifts, especially a large keyboard so that he can practice for his piano lessons that he just started this year. All the children were kept very busy and happy on the play structure, just stopping to eat dinner, cake and watch the gifts being opened. We returned to Beaverton late on Saturday and tried to squeeze in just one session of general conference before going to bed.
After we learned the soccer game was canceled (we were already in Albany) we went to Kyre’s home and visited with Klaire, Kyre and Adam. We played some games with the
m and then left to go run “errands”. Actually, we drove back up to Salem and visited with Scott since we would be gone this coming week. Our time was shortened with him since I received a call from Janara (first one since April) asking us to pick up Alina since they were having car trouble. We were very happy to comply even though that sent us back to Keizer before heading back south to Jefferson for the party. Scott was very happy to cut things shorter in order for the chance for us to be with his children.The visit was great. He updated us on his cell mate news. His cell mate hasn’t been moved yet and the other cell in C Block that he hopes to move to will hopefully be available when the time comes. We talked about the difficulties of moving to a new cellblock: being the bottom of the heap again, learning new people and new relationships. But, he made us realize that this time he moves with lots more skills and knowledge. He really wants this cell mate in C Block. He also introduced us to a friendly man in the visiting room and later told us that this man, a tall black man, would be a source of protection to him in C Block. He called him a Christian brother. He explained that he has been in OSP for years and is an unofficial “debt settler”. His “inside” job is to come between two peo
ple trying to settle a debt! It is a very intriguing life of complications inside a prison inmate system.The last picture of Adam is a gift that we saved for Adam when none of his siblings were around. The Mertons were fine with us giving him this gift from Scott. It was a headlamp that was in Scott’s backpack. Adam will be thrilled with it. He writes wonderful letters to his father and Scott loves the ability to write to him. The letters go through our address.
I had to “sleep quickly” since I had promised several families warm cinnamon rolls before the morning session of general conference. I had three people that had bought cinnamon roll deliveries at auctions in the last two years that I had to pay back! I am glad that I have now cleared out all of my previous obligations. I made an especially large batch since Malia Hite was one of the winning bidders. The last time I made her cinnamon rolls, Aaron was living here and I sent a huge pan over to her home so I was thinking that she might expect that again. I also wanted to make a batch for the Georgia Harris family in town and the Whisenant family who will be watching our home and Sammy while we are away. Thank goodness Malia picked up her batch on the way to a singles gathering for conference and Dad delivered the rest.
I saw three sessions of conference today since I couldn’t bear to wait until I get back from our trip. It was such a great conference with so many messages that will be helpful to me. There were, of course, many messages about adversity and troubled times. I loved Neil Andersen’s thoughts on the fact that faith is a decision in his talk on having difficulties with our spiritual footings. He put it simply: choose faith.
Lots of our leaders spoke of faith and hope. President Uchtdorf told us that faith, hope and charity work together to stabilize our lives. Along these same lines Elder Holland admonished us to pray for angels to attend us and be more angel-like to help others.
Several speakers spoke of optimism is the face of adversity. I loved Joseph B. Wirthlin’s talk about choosing happiness over sorrow when he said that adversity handled correctly can be a blessing in our life. I appreciated how he made it clear that he was not teaching us to ignore the reality of pain as he talked of choosing wisely the way we react. He warned us, “The dial on the wheel of sorrow eventually points to all of us.” L. Tom Perry has a great message about this also and as he spoke of his place to recharge himself, Walden Pond, I wondered where my Walden Pond was. I liked his thoughts on the spiritual benefits of a simplified life and the need for spiritual fuel. President Monson’s message about finding joy in the now was so great. I hope I remember his teaching to never again let a problem to be solved be more important than a person.
Two great speakers brought up some interesting thoughts on unity and I felt that all their ideas were especially important to our family as we show true concern to help one another and demonstrate love for each other. I wish we all could make a careful study of both messages from D. Todd Christofferson and Henry B. Eyring: President Eyring with his thoughts on being a peacemaker and Elder Christofferson’s warning to be free of strife and contention, to forgive all and look after one another the best we can.
It was fun to talk with Katie on Saturday night before I had a chance to hear any of the conference messages and ask her which of the Saturday talks were her favorites. After listening to the Saturday session, I agreed with her especially after hearing the talk by Dallin H, Oaks on the importance of being consistent in our sacrament meeting attendance and being true to our worship of Christ during this time. He said, “Always remember Him; don’t violate that even in sacrament meeting!” I needed that! Morty has called me on that before when I got after him for texting during sacrament meeting and he said I shouldn’t be working on my calendars in my planner during sacrament meeting! He is right.
I loved Sister Elaine Dalton’s message she called “a return to virtue” when she quoted President Monson saying, “There is no friendship more valuable than a clear conscience.” And lastly, I must listen again to the talk by Lawrence Corbridge (I have never heard of him) as he gave a powerful witness of the Savior and he taught that the Lord’s way was not hard. It was amazing.
If you come across a Conference Jeopardy-type activity in the next week or so, let me know. We have the FHE for the empty nesters this month and I want to play a game like that. I have put them together before but maybe someone else will have done it and posted it online before I get around to doing it when I get back!
We ended the day, well, packing. But first we went to Grandma’s for dinner. She stuffed some of our huge bell peppers for dinner; it was so nice not to have to cook. We also took Miss Kitty to stay at the Grandma Hotel while we are gone. She will get a lot of attention there.
Dad remarked last night that we will amazingly be able to see every member of our family within just 10 days! I am so excited for this opportunity; it makes me so happy to be around each one of you. I love you so much. I hope that you have had a chance to look at your holiday calendar. I would love to know who is coming home and when. Someday we really need to try to get everyone home at the same time! I love you! Love, Mom
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