Just When I Thought

Mark was out of town last week--preliminary work on the Cedar City temple.  He worked out of Salt Lake and I stayed home.  Silly me, thinking I could eat a little bit of ice cream and stay on my program.  (It was Rocky Road, by the way, not even my most favorite).  I bought it for Mark, but he didn't have any.

About 1/2 way through the half-gallon carton, while watching TV (always a big mistake!), I decided enough was enough.  I threw the rest away (it was mostly marshmallow anyway, ugh).

So, when we went out to dinner last night and he expressed his desire for some of his Rocky Road ice cream, I had to confess that there wasn't any left. (sigh)

I'm happy to say I ate much better for the rest of the week.

I continue to work on Grandma Bartholomew and Great Grandma Riley’s history.  I’m learning a few things I didn’t know before, which makes this journey interesting.  I also decided to pull out a book I wrote and finished in 2000, while taking a class with the Institute of Children’s Literature.  It was fun reading it again.  I’ve become interested in polishing it for publication.  However, it will need some updating.  It’s amazing the technology even in 13 years. 

So I’ve learned how to get to and from the Ft. Lauderdale airport.  It’s a lot easier than I thought it would be.

It’s been interesting trying to find places to eat out that offer gluten free choices.  Last night we went to Pei Wei.  They had a sweet and sour that was gluten free.  It was pretty good.

Friday when I went out to the car to pick Mark from the airport, I happened to notice a baby duck near the back of my car, just sitting there.  When I went around the back to take a look, there was a whole group of them plus the mother under the back end of my car.  I had to start it up to get them to move, but I’m so grateful I saw that baby!  Had I pulled out with them all under there I’m sure I would have killed some of them and I would have been devastated.  That was a tender mercy.

We see those duck “families” everywhere.  It doesn’t matter how often I see them, they are still absolutely adorable.  It has been raining so much here that there are many puddles close to the road where they go to swim each day.  And when they go anywhere, they are all lined up in a straight line, following their mama.  Too cute!

Can you see the iguana?

That mother has a HUGE family!  I counted 17 little ducklings!

Aren't they adorable?

Music Calling

It's been interesting the past couple of weeks.  The Relief Society presidency was changed and a new music leader in Primary was called.  This left the Relief Society with no one to play the piano.  So...since I am the Ward Music Chairman, I am doing it.

So church is a musical experience for me and I have to say that I'm rather enjoying it.  I lead the music in Sacrament Meeting, then play in Primary, (prelude, opening, singing time) then go to Relief Society for prelude and opening hymn, then back to Primary for opening and singing time, then back to Relief Society for final part of lesson and closing hymn.  I have to say that I'm noticing an improvement in my playing and that's a good thing. 

It's interesting because every person who plays has been called to other organizations.  In September I'll be starting up choir again!  It's kind of comical, but for now, this is where I'm needed and that's just fine with me.  It feels so good to be needed. 

Jimmy

Jimmy, our neighbor downstairs, is just the nicest guy.  He's a single dad with two grown kids.  He's always been so friendly and such a good neighbor.  I baked chocolate chip cookies one time and took him some to thank him for being such a good neighbor.  On another day, he mentioned that he loved brownies, so the next time I fed the missionaries, I made a big pan of brownies so I could share some with him.

For some reason, I got it in my head that I had somehow offended him.  I happened to mention when I brought him the brownies that I had also made them for the missionaries.  After that, it seemed to me that he pulled away a bit.  I got it in my head that he felt that I was only doing those nice things so he would meet with the missionaries.  It's funny how I started reading into his actions to justify my belief.  It finally bothered me so badly I wrote him a note to let him know that we weren't being nice to him so he would see the missionaries.  (I worded it much better than that).  I was trying to apologize for offending him.

One night after getting home from the Family History Center, I felt prompted to go visit Jimmy.  So I went upstairs and dropped my stuff off and then went down and knocked on his door.

I’m so glad I did, because he really had no idea what he had done to prompt my note and apologized all over the place, while I tried to tell him I had misunderstood, and I apologized too. I found out that he had come up to talk to me a couple of times, because he felt bad that I was feeling bad.  We sat on his porch and visited awhile.  I found out he is quite a religious man, although he is not currently affiliated with any religion.  I invited him to see the temple when it’s done, but he said no.  (I hope he will change his mind.)  When he was a teenager, he had attended LDS services because his best friend was a Mormon, but he didn’t seem to know that the church is really The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  And he didn’t know why we are called Mormons, although he did remember about the gold plates and Joseph Smith translating them.

He was so complimentary about Mark and me, saying what good neighbors we were--the best.  So when I apologized, he said “How could you offend me?  You brought me treats?” 

During our visit, the skies opened up with a major downpour, so I just stayed to talk until it was over.  When I finally left, I gave him a hug.  I’m so grateful I was prompted to talk to him and it turned out to be a misunderstanding that we were able to talk out.  I felt really good afterwards and I hope he did too.

One thing I found out about Jimmy was he belonged to a church called the “Foursquare Church.”  Their “pastor” left his congregation to go to Tennessee after claiming he had a vision.  Sadly, this left the congregation without anyone to lead them.  That’s when Jimmy decided not to belong to any church.  Interesting and sad.