I didn't even know she had written this.

Late Thursday night I decided to pull out my old baby book….to see when I had measles 
(since they are so much in the news right now here in California). 
Sure enough, it was June 1958. My Mom kept such good records.

But I also found something in my book that I don't think I'd ever seen before.
My Mom must have put this in there years ago….all nicely typed and slipped into a sheet protector. 
Why had I never noticed it before now?

She wrote this when she was 32.
I have sons older than that now!

She wrote about what it was like the very first time she attended the Mormon church.
The hopes and dreams she had for her children at the time. 
And what it was like the day the Mormon missionaries knocked on our door in 1955. 

My brave little mother. 

The happiness and joy that has spread to all of her children and grandchildren, 
and now great grandchildren,
 since that day in 1955 is immeasurable!



Mom and Dad in front of the St George temple in 1959

Mom and Dad with Derald Bates, one of the missionaries who baptized them in 1955.
She kept in touch with their missionaries all throughout her life.
I am so thankful for my parent's courage. I owe them so very very much.
They chose a life different from their parents, their friends and everyone they knew at the time.



But wait, there's more….
Last month my brother John found some things of Mom's he thought I might be interested in.

These apparently are the very pamphlets Mom wrote about in the paper above….the ones the
missionaries left her in 1955, plus a stack of notes they used to teach her from on her kitchen table. 


There is no title for this one.

There is this blog I read regularly…
but I cannot get this one post from last week off my mind. 
I just can't. I even lie in bed at night and think about it. 

The little girl that post is about was named after 
her Great Grandmother, Marjorie Pay Hinckley.

You can go here to read it. 




"as surely as there had been mortal death, there will be immortal life; 
and as certainly as there had been separation, there will be reunion. 
This is the faith which comes of Christ, who brought to all the promise of immortality.''

Gordon B. Hinckley

My Mom knew this

Do you ever hear something and immediately you just know it's true and right and good? 

That's how it was last Sunday when our bishop said in the midst of his talk to us…..

“...Perhaps raising our children should be our hobby. 
Perhaps that's where we should spend our time….Time 
does not roll back...”


Made me think of my Mom. Made me think of what my sister had written on her grave. 
It's what she lived by. It's what her life was all about:




Mom cut this out and brought it over to me one day:

She loved her pinking shears!
Don't know why, but she kept them handy, always in a drawer near by, 
ready to whack off whatever she wanted to keep.

Jessica and that voice of hers

I think our granddaughter, Jessica, was not much older than this and….

...she was in the back seat of our car as we were on our way to Savemart, 
when suddenly we heard this sweet little voice singing. 

Den and I quit talking to just listen. I remember saying something like , 
"Can you believe what a good voice she has, and she's just a little girl!"

Now Jessica is 17, and Kris, her mom, sent us this video from last week. 
She sang our National Anthem at her high school basketball game in Logan, Utah.

She amazes me!







We are how we treat each other, and nothing more.

Yesterday our stake president came to speak to our congregation.

He mentioned in his talk about a music group called 
Alternative Routes 
I don't know anything about this group, or their religious 
beliefs….but that's not the point.

President Nef said he was quite impressed with their song, 
"Nothing More." So I googled it when I got home, and this is 
what I found. It speaks to me! Listen to the words.


Kylie


Our granddaughter, Kylie, and her boyfriend, David, 
stopped by the other night.


I asked that she bring him over so we could meet him...
even though we have known David since he was 3. 

I know every parent and grandparent says this…
but seriously how does the time go by so quickly?

A little pink princess one day, and dating the next. 


This little girl knows what she wants

The other night, Violet and I discovered the program made in the UK called Little Princess. 
(on Netflix by the way)

Each 20 minute episode is about one problem. 
Some of the titles are:

I Don't Want Help
I Want a Surprise
I Don't Want to Comb my Hair
I Don't Want a Cold

The characters on the show talk simply and mostly calmly.

Violet sits glued to each episode. 
During about the second one we watched together she turned to me and asked,
"Is this show about me?"

Why yes, I think it is!

It's rough being 3 1/2. Just ask Violet. 
But she makes the best of it.

While Cami and her parents were in San Francisco this week….

Violet said she wanted to go to bed rather than go to Elora's dance class Tuesday evening.
She said she was tired.

So I tucked her in. I got a book out to read to her but she said, 
"Don't read it, just tell it to me." 


Then she said, 
"I need a nightlight. I can't go to sleep without a night light on."
So, I found one and turned it on.

Then she asked me to close the bedroom door. So I did.


After Elora left with Grandpa for her dance class, 
I heard all kinds of clinging and clanging of dishes and pots and pans in the playroom. 
Our little girl was having a really good time in there. 


Later on I noticed she was playing with real food she had 
taken from the closet which I use as a second pantry…..
 She's a resourceful child. She knows her plan and how to carry it all out.



Next morning she got up and climbed in bed with me,
 ready to watch another episode of Little Princess. 



But after we got up and dressed, Violet became distressed that there were no more straws.

"But I need a straw Grandma Honey!"
We are all out of straws.
"But I need one."
We don't have any.
"But I need one."

Something tells me...whoever wrote Little Princess, had a 3 or 4 year old.


Book Clubs 2015


So here are the books we will be reading, for both clubs.

(I finished reading The Walk last week, and I really enjoyed it. 
I wasn't expecting to. It just didn't sound all that good. 
Even the title sounds boring. But it wasn't. )

Have you read any of these books? What did you think?



#1 Book Club List 2015
January 8th  
Book: The Walk
Author: Richard Paul Evans

February 5th
Book: Storm Clouds Rolling In 1860-1861
Author: Ginny Dye

March 5th
Book: The Inheritance: A Story of Love, Legacy and Lost Opportunities
Author: Michael K. Parson

April 2nd  
Book: Love and Glory: A Novel of Women Soldiers in WWll
Author: Jeane Westin

May 7th 
Book: What Will My Mother Say?: A Tribal African Girl Comes of Age in America
Author: Dympna Ugwu-Oju

June 4th 
Book: The Wind and the Waves
Author: Dean Hughes

July 2nd 
Book: Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board
Author: Bethany Hamilton

August 6th 
Book: Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good
Author: Jan Karon

September 3rd 
Book: Happier at Home
Author: Gretchen Rubin

October 1st 
Book: The Quilter’s Apprentice
Author: Jennifer Chiaverini

November 5th
Book: The Soft Reply: Ideas for Christlike Communication
Author: Barlow L. Packer

December 3rd 
Book: The Mistletoe Promise
Author: Richard Paul Evans

January 7, 2016 
Book: Miss Buncle’s Book
Author: D. E. Stevenson





#2 BOOK LIST FOR 2015





Jan. 21           Dreamers and Deceivers                                     Glenn Beck

Feb. 18          Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet             Jamie Ford

Mar. 18         Thank You, Jeeves                                         P. G. Wodenhouse

Apr. 15          The Circle Maker                                                Mark Batterson

May 20          Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story                Ben Carson

June 17         The Boys in the Boat                                   Daniel James Brown

July 15           What Make Olga Run!                                     Bruce Grierson

Aug. 19         The Importance of Being Earnest                     Oscar Wilde
                        (selection of the Common Core State standards)

Sept. 16        Eat, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation                                                     
                                                                                                            Lynne Truss

Oct. 21          The Trident                                         Jason Redman/ John Bruning
                        (October 13 – Anniversary of the Navy)

Nov. 18         False Alarm: the Truth about the Epidemic of Fear   
Marc Siegel

Dec. 16          God Who Weeps                               Terry L. Givens/ Fiona Givens

Jonelle

Den and I went back to my childhood church building yesterday 
to attend the funeral of a friend from long ago.


 
 There were 3 talks and then an open mike…..and every one of them basically said that Jonelle was
best at loving people. She knew how to love. She loved through rejection, through disappointment,
through hurt. One speaker even said she loved others more than she loved herself. 

 Not sure when this picture was taken. Jonelle surrounded by her 5 children.
Brianna, Melanie, John, Melanie, and Nicholas


 The bishop conducing the service talked about a study conducted through hospice. 
People were asked during the very last days of their lives, "Do you have any regrets?" 
Here are the answers they heard over and over again:

1. I wish I had spent more time with the people I love.
2. I wish I had lived up to my potential.
3. I wish I had let myself be happier. 



Jonelle and I knew each other as teenagers. We were both in a Roadshow together 
(back in the day when we had those with our church youth group) 
She had a lead and her voice was to stunningly beautiful, that for over 45 years I remembered the song 
she sang and would often hear it in my head.
I could remember many of the words to the song too, 
even though I'm not sure I'd ever heard it anywhere else. 

It wasn't until I heard on Tuesday that she passed away, that I actually googled the song's words that I 
remembered ("Doll on a Music Box"),  and found out it was from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. 
I'd never seen that movie. I never knew where that song came from. 
I just discovered it was popular in 1968, and I think that was the year 
(or close to it) that she sang it in that Roadshow. 

Fast forward several years, and Jonelle and I were visiting teaching partners when our kids were babies. 
Then I lost touch with Jonelle and found out later she moved to England for many years. 


The last time I "talked" to Jonelle was last Thanksgiving Day through messaging on Facebook. 
We talked about our lives and grandchildren. Her hopes for the coming year. 
Then very unexpectedly she passed away last Monday.




Besides raising 5 children, here's what else Jonelle did through the years:
(I know there was more but this is what I got.)

Trained to assist in search and rescue
Tupperware lady
Attended Heald college and got certified to be an executive secretary
Worked at Turner Property Management
Did transcribing for Dr Van Wagenen
Seamstress
Sold Meadow Fresh Powdered Milk
Joined La Leche League and offered support services there
Had a floral arrangement business
Took a sign language class
Was involved in the school's Parent Club and was president for 3 years
Worked a lot in Family History
Made things as gifts to give, such as Mop Dolls and crocheted blankets
Sang in the California girls choir with her daughter Melanie
She cared for her aging mother until she passed away
She sang in a choir in England and served as their choir president
She also designed the choir's logo
Worked at a hospital in England in the public relation dept
She was a certified massage therapist
Sang in the World International College Choir with her daughter
She had recently secured a job as a model and planned to work as that in 2015.

Amy and Logan basically dropped everything, and drove the 12 
hours to Mesa to check on Grandma Heasley. They got word she 
had been in the hospital there for 11 days.  


So they put their blow up air mattress in the car and took off. 

She was much better by the time they arrived…..

 But her leg looked "horrible" so…..


Logan took her to see the doctor. 
Some kind of bad looking infection. 


(You probably can't tell, but Logan is wearing his Grandpa Heasley's shirt 
who died about 3 years ago.)

Grandma still felt well enough to do her Wi bowling.
 She has many opportunities in the facility she is living in now. 
 Blurry, but I wanted a picture of where she eats every day.
Amy and Logan were also able to take her to church right there in the facility.

The view from her 8th floor room.


Logan and Amy's blow up bed where they slept for 4 nights. 
I know Grandma Heasley LOVED having them right near her. 

 For the last 3 days of the trip the twins stayed with us. 
Téa woke yesterday morning and said she was sick.

 She coughed and said she did not feel up to going to school. 


It was a very strange illness. 
She was so hungry and ate almost constantly over a 3 hour period: 

toast with honey
yogurt
blueberries
apple juice
2 small bowls of egg salad
a juice bar
a mandarin orange 
2 cookies
chips from Grandpa

and then she felt fine, and quit coughing.

This was the first time her brother went to school without her.
 He was just fine about it, and came home asking for 
a bowl of corn. So that's what he got.

I'm beginning to think they equate me with food.

Have you noticed this at Kaiser?


I was raised by very literal parents. (not to be confused with "liberal"). They said what they meant, and
meant what they said. There was no need to read their body language. 
No wondering, "What did he really mean by that?"

So the new policies at Kaiser lately are a bit difficult for me to decipher. 
Den and I have both noticed how they “ask” more and give instruction less. 
It's all about better customer service to them, but I think it gets a bit carried away.

Like, just recently when I went in for an eye exam.

Here's the conversation after having my eyes dilated in the first room I was brought to by the nurse.

Nurse: "It will take 15 minutes for your eyes to dilate. Would you prefer to wait in the next room?"
Me: "Versus what?"
Nurse:  "Would you prefer to wait where the others are waiting?
Me: "Oh, do you need this room for the next patient?"
Nurse: "Uh no….The doctor is not even coming in this room."
Me: "Oh, so you want me go where exactly?"
Nurse: "Would you like to wait in the waiting room where the other patients are waiting for their eyes 
to dilate also?"
Me: "I will go where ever you want me to go. Where do you want me to go?"
Nurse: "You need to go into the waiting area with the other patients."
Me: "Ok then. Let's go."

As the nurse was then taking me to the next waiting area I wanted to say to her (but didn't): 
“Don't give me a choice if there is no choice. 
If I can't choose where I want to wait, then don't ask me what I prefer.”

Kaiser has even started this new thing where instead of calling your name when it's your turn 
to see the doctor….the nurse now always steps out, wanders out into the waiting room,
 looking around and calling the patient's name.

Then when they get to the correct person they say things like, 
“How are you today? Can I help you in to see the doctor?”

 I don't mind that but it drives Dennis a little nuts. While I was seeing the eye Dr that day, 
Den said some of those nurses were so “sickeningly sweet” with the patients 
and were talking in high little girl voices in a what he thought was condescending.

I still love Kaiser. I think they are an extremely well run organization. And to me, if they are trying too
hard, I can live with that. I'll just have to practice more at reading their body language.

So anyone else notice these changes at Kaiser? 
Do you like the changes?

I wonder if offices outside of Kaiser have made similar changes….

The lesson that didn't go as planned


Sitting in Sharing Time at church last Sunday with five 8 year olds 
sounds easy enough, right? It wasn't. The girls sat there like angels, 
but 2 of the 3 boys were another story. One talking constantly, 
about everything and anything…often standing up to do so. The 
other boy practiced swallowing paper.

I was hoping for better once we got into our classroom for lesson 
time.

Since it was the very last Sunday of the year, the lessons in the 
manual had all been completed, so I got to make up my own. I 
decided since we just had Christmas and learned so much about 
our Savior, that I would focus on teaching them to be more Christ 
like.

Or so I thought.

My left eye felt dry and painful since I had woken up that morning. 
This is a common malady around here with our dry cold winter 
days (and having older eyes!). I tried to ignore it but by the time 
we were all walking to our classroom (after Sharing Time) I know 
I needed to do something to get rid of the distracting pain.

I didn't want to go into the bathroom and leave the kids alone, so I 
told them to just hold on for a minute,  "I need to put some eye 
drops in because my eye is hurting."

But first I thought we should at least have the opening prayer. The 
boy who offered to do that, included in his prayer, “Please bless 
Sister Shelley that her eye will feel better and it will be like a 
normal person's eye.”

So then I took my glasses off and placed them on my lap. I got the 
eye drop bottle out of my purse and told the children this would 
just take a minute. (As one of the girls saw the bottle of eye drops
her jaw dropped and she looked in shock….like I was going to do eye surgery.)

I leaned my head back, put one eye drop in and then realized I 
couldn't sit up right away or the drop would fall down my face. So 
as I was leaning back with my eyes closed I said, “Uh oh. I can't 
see. I need to just stay back like this for about a minute.” (meaning
I couldn't see from the drops clouding my vision but I didn't explain all that)


As I was in this position suddenly I could feel these little hands on 
my face and I could feel my glasses come over my ears. “Who is 
that?” I asked.

I heard this little voice right in front of my face say his name to 
me. He thought when I said I couldn't see that he would put my 
glasses back on for me. It was the sweetest thing!! I kept thinking 
about him and his simple kindness all week. He became much 
more to me than the boy who was trying to swallow paper in 
Sharing Time.

The children were all so protective over me.  And excitedly were 
giving their input. One of the little girls said, “Let's turn down 
the lights for her. The lights are probably making her eyes feel 
worse," and got up to flip the switch off.

The visiting boy even chimed in, "If you need me to do anything 
for you I will." 

Then another girl said, “What Sister Shelley really needs is some 

peace and quiet.”

One sweet quieter boy sat there looking very concerned for me. 

That tender empathy look.

So guess who taught who about being Christ like? They were 
perfect examples to me and I told them so. 

We spent the rest of the class time talking about how Christ lived 
His life to show us the way. And how already, at just 8 years old, 
they are followers of Him.  

They have been on my mind and in my heart, ever since. 
I keep thinking about those little hands on my face...


Look what happened last night

  Just a little pre-graduating gathering for our DIL Amy.... Not everyday a Mom of 7 and a Grandma of 7, graduates from college. It was not ...