Thankful Me

To sum it up, we're both having a great time! Over the summer, John's mom mentioned that she had never been to Disneyland.  I quickly issued an open-ended invitation to come down anytime and we'd have a girls' vacation week.  Well, Wednesday I picked her up from the airport.  We dined at the Cheesecake Factory (yum), managed to find the car again after a Twilight Zone-esque experience, and stayed at the Ayres Hotel that night.  Yesterday, we were off to the big D.  After procuring her "First Time Visitor" button, we were ready to hit the park.  It was much more crowded than I expected on a September weekday, but we still managed to see and do quite a bit.  We started in Fantasyland with the classics:  Peter Pan, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Dumbo, Pinocchio, Snow White's Scary Adventures, and a walk through Sleeping Beauty's Castle.  We ate loaded baked potato soup at the Carnation Cafe, and shook chef Oscar's hand on the way o...

This evening I met with the local Guide Dogs club.  I've met with them once before, but tonight's meeting was a training meeting, which means I got to work hands-on with the puppies.  Fun, fun, fun.  Oh, and did I mention cute, cute, cute?  I'm definitely sold.  I'm still learning exactly what the process is to becoming a puppy raiser, but hopefully it isn't terribly long.  Thankful thought of the day:  What else could it be?  I'm thankful for dogs! 

One of the five petals of the forget-me-not is now supposed to remind us to be patient with ourselves.  Well, that reminds me of a quotation I collected about roses.  I wish I could give the author credit, but I do not know who originally penned this (if you know, please let me know): Thanks to my mom's wonderful googling skills, I know that this is from W. Timothy Gallwey in The Inner Game of Tennis: When we plant a rose seed in the earth we notice that it is small, but we do not criticize it as "rootless and stemless".  We treat it as a seed, giving it the water and nourishment required of a seed.  When it first shoots up out of the earth, we don't condemn it as immature and underdeveloped, nor do we criticize the buds for not being open when they appear.  We stand in wonder at the process taking place and give the plant the care it needs at each stage of its development.  The rose is a rose from the time it is a seed to the time it dies.  With...

Roughly once a month, our church service is a "testimony meeting", which I suppose could be described in part as an open-mike opportunity for anyone to get up and share knowledge, feelings, and insights about the gospel.  One three- or four-year-old girl bravely stood at the podium today and announced, "I know my mom is true."  She drew some chuckles with that statement, and I found myself thinking about other cute comments I have heard children say in church.  Once, when I was the chorister in Primary, I was teaching the song, "My Flag".  You can hear the song here.   One of the lines says, "...the banner of the free."  One little girl hopped out of her seat and declared, "I'm three!  I'm three!"  I tried to explain that the song wasn't talking about an age, but rather about freedom, like our ability to choose.  At this point, the same little girl jumped back out of her chair and shouted, "I have shoes!"  By now...

I just got back from watching the broadcast of the General Relief Society Meeting.  ( Click here to watch the General Relief Society Meeting. )  The entire meeting was uplifting, of course, but I particularly enjoyed the final speaker. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk centered around the small blue Forget-Me-Not flower being a symbol of what makes life joyful and sweet.  He mentioned that each of the five petals could represent things we should not forget: 1. Do not forget to be patient with yourself.  We are generally very patient and kind to others, but not always to ourselves.  Sometimes we compare ourselves to others--our weaknesses to their strengths--and thus never seem to measure up. 2. Do not forget the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice.  One example of a good sacrifice is losing sleep to help comfort a child who is having a nightmare. One example of what could be a foolish sacrifice is stayin...

Every weekday, I am at the church at 6 a.m. to drop youngest daughter off to seminary class.  This morning, three cars arrived at the same time, dropping off 2 girls and 1 boy.  I noticed the boy jump out of the car, hop up the stairs, and hold the door for both girls.  I smiled as I realized that this is a common occurrence.  The boys follow the men's examples and hold open the doors; the girls follow the women's examples and thank those who hold open the doors.  When I got home from the church, I started reading the newspaper.  One of the editorials was lamenting the state of societal manners.  The author was upset by unsupervised children in stores, by the general sloppiness of dress, and by the coarseness of language.  She concluded her editorial by asking if she was the only one who had noticed this decline of decorum.  In answer to that question, I will say that it seems that society is more divided now than in the past; more e...

Today is my parents' 48th wedding anniversary.  Individually, each of my parents is a good person.  Together, they are a great team.  They aren't exactly complete opposites, but they each definitely have their own personalities.  They complement each other well, and it is obvious that they love each other. Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad!  Thankful thought:  Thanks to my parents, who provided a very stable, loving, calm, and fun environment for my siblings and me, and who are now not just great parents, but also wonderful grandparents!