Dear Children,
It is sunny here
in Portland
today and supposed to hole this weather for a few days. Maybe I will get out in the garden! Yesterday, Dad and I went on a bike ride and
it felt like winter still. I couldn’t
believe it; we were riding in winter air on Cinco de Mayo! Right afterwards we worked in the kitchen at
the temple and afterwards both of us were so sore. Dishing up food and handing people their dishes
across a steamer counter for four hours hurts your back but it was kind of fun.
This weekend we travel
to Utah for
Rebekah’s baptism Saturday afternoon. We
are flying on Saturday morning, the baptism is at 2:00 and then we will spend
the evening at the Brady’s. They have
invited people over for dinner afterwards. On Sunday, Adrianne and Blake have invited us
for Mother’s Day dinner. They are
barbequing Taco Bill and Gumbo, their tow males ducks. We may get to help Adrianne in her garden on
Monday. She was going to take the day
off on Monday to play with us.
Sad news for the
Seversons: White Duck died last week. They are not sure what happened but she
was one of their two laying ducks and she was doing fine up until her death. They got two new ducks Tuesday night from a
lady in Payson. They are Muscovy ducks. Adrianne says that they are extremely ugly,
but almost soundless. They have also laid a couple giant eggs already. Did you
see the graphic photos of Blake’s hand surgery?
I am curious what it will look like this weekend since the pins are ones
that have to be removed.
Our next plans
to travel will be to Albany
this Wednesday. Kyre invited us to bring
Grandma Maldonado that evening for an early Mother’s Day dinner. Isn’t that nice? Grandma is still feeling tired from her trip
to Mexico
with Aunt Denise. The two places they
stayed looked so beautiful and SUNNY.
Every warm place these days looks very inviting. After Mexico,
Grandma went to Antioch
to celebrate Asteria’s first birthday with Wiley and Michelle.
Dad accompanied
me this week to a very interesting event, Food Services of America vendor show
to look for Girl’s Camp ideas. Oh my, I
was sick and THIRSTY afterwards having little samples of prepared foods isle
after isle! It was quite interesting and
I may have gleaned a few ideas. I need
to squeeze a trip up into Washington
at the end of this month to look at the camp kitchen. Did I tell you that I am the Girl’s Camp Cook
this year and they changed camp sites to three hours away in Washington?
Just the transportation of all the supplies is mind boggling right now.
After May, we
are headed to Las Vegas
for the SendOutCards convention and to see the boys. That will be lots of fun. Dad wants to bike Red Rocks one of the days
in preparation for the Las Vegas Century on September 22. We are going a couple of days early since
Nate got Wicked tickets for Thursday night!
Last weekend
Aaron and Morty were here so we were able to celebrate Aaron’s birthday on his
exact day on Friday. The boys arrived on
a very late flight the night before.
Katie was leaving for her cruise and would be gone on her birthday the following
Monday so we did a late night quick birthday celebration for her the night
before Aaron’s birthday. She requested
Tillamook chocolate peanut butter Oreo dessert; interesting. We stayed up late that
night playing games since it was her only chance to be with the boys. It seems
that our April and March birthdays can easily get bounced around.
We went to a new
breakfast spot called Biscuits for Aaron’s birthday and then had, what else,
sour cream burritos for his birthday dinner.
Grandma came also so we played more games. On Saturday he and Dad wanted
to ride bikes into Sherwood. He and
Aaron are getting ready for 100 mile bikes rides this summer and fall. Aaron had an old missionary companion that
had moved here so they rode to his house and then Dad rode on to Newburg where
he met Morty and I at Sunhee’s first softball tournament of the season. Aaron stayed to visit with his friend and
then got a ride into Newburg since he was quite sore already.
It was fun for
all of us to be supporting Sunhee. She
is dedicated to whatever she is doing.
She is one of the team’s catchers so she has to work very hard all game. Dad biked home and we all met at Grandma’s
home for more dinner and more games.
I had broken my
tooth late Thursday night so everyone enjoyed making fun of my lisp over the
weekend. Unfortunately, I had to speak
in church and my sharp broken tooth was shredding the side of my tongue. I didn’t realize how painful it would be when
I was telling Dr. Griffiths that he didn’t need to come to his office on Friday
to smooth the rough edge. At the
beginning of the weekend Dad’s advice was not to start my talk explaining why I
sounded funny but by Saturday night, he was saying I should explain
myself. I decided not to say anything
but speak more slowly. About a third of
the way through my talk I all of a sudden realized that I was avoiding the lisp
altogether! I was so thankful; my
prayers had been answered.
My talk
assignment was from Elaine Green since the Relief Society presidency was
assigned to speak and two members of the presidency couldn’t or wouldn’t speak. My topic was Love Work, Avoid Idleness and
Help Other in Need. I found a great
article from President Thomas S Monson called “Hands” from 1991. Isn’t it great how the words of our leaders
never go out of style! His talk pulled
together those three subjects perfectly as it talked of the miracle of the creation
of our hands; how an infants hand instinctively grips a parent’s finger tightly
and a child’s hand opens up in perfect trust to be led by a parent to learn
love, service and trust. I used the
Primary song below and talked about the idea of us praying for a blessing on
our hands to understand the goodness and service that they can accomplish as we
gain the Christ like attributes of loving work, avoiding idleness and helping
others in need, which before this I had never noticed the power of that phrase.
I have two little hands, folded snugly and
tight.
They are tiny and weak, yet they know what
is right.
During all the long hours till daylight is
through,
There is plenty indeed for my two hands to
do.
Kind Father, I thank thee for two little
hands,
And ask thee to bless them till each
understands
That children can only be happy all day,
When two little hands have learned how to
obey.
In considering
the teenage hand, President Monson said those years are perfect for learning to
labor and laboring to learn. And then the adult hand reminds us of the lessons
taught to us by devoted parents. Lastly,
I talked of our Savior’s hands and putting our hand in His hand to allow
ourselves to be guided safely home and then told the story I had heard, but
couldn’t find anywhere, about a statue of Christ in Europe
that had been destroyed in the war. Upon
trying unsuccessfully to replace the hands that were destroyed, a plaque was
posted at the feet of the stature instead: Our hands are His Hands.
Thankfully, that
one talk by President Monson was the foundation for those three subjects. If you wish to read the complete talk, it was
the First Presidency Message in the 1991 March Liahona.
Last week Dad
traveled to a special sports award dinner at OSP with Scott hosted by the
inmates’ sports club. Scott could buy a
ticket for one guest. It was a catered
meal from a local restaurant so it was quite a treat for Scott to eat that kind
of food. When he saw Scott enjoying it
so much, Dad shared much of his food.
Dad enjoyed being with Scott in a more relaxed environment and
especially loved the comments made from other inmates about Scott’s good
qualities and his amazing thirst for knowledge.
I look forward
to this coming week and seeing many of you.
Lots of love, Mom
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