A special blessing this week


While we were happily eating our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday...



...I read McKay's post on Instagram to everyone, as he had written about a very unforgettable blessing this past week. 

Since not everyone gets Instagram, or looks at it, I wanted to also include McKay's post here.



"autism_understanding  After a difficult weekend with
Grant, Sunday night concluded with one of the sweetest 
experiences I have had with him in a long time.

As I was putting him to bed we watched one of the 
Book of Mormon videos on YouTube and then I asked
him if he wanted to say a prayer. He began his prayer
with the same few lines he has said since he was 2
years old.

"Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for Elsa, thank you
for Mommy, thank you for Grant."  (I don't know why 
he says thank you for Elsa. He doesn't even like 
Frozen. It's just a routine thing.) 

I then interrupted him with a prompt to try and derail
him from his routine prayer with the words, "Please
help..."

Grant then continued my sentence slowly and 
deliberately and said the following, "...me to 
remember potty. Please help me to be kind. Please
help my medicine. Please help me to learn to spell. In
the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

If you know Grant then all of these words and
complete sentences should come as a huge surprise.
They were unscripted. These were his thoughts and 
were not part of any rehearsed routine. He wasn't
parroting or saying what I wanted him to say. It was
one of those rare moments of clarity for him. All I 
could do was hug him tightly and tell him how proud I
was of him."



People doing good in the world


One day last week Den and I went to The Habit for dinner. 

He ordered....uh, I don't know what he ordered.
But I got the southwest chicken salad which I pretty much love.


(If you order this salad there don't expect it to look like mine. 
I brought some of those toppings from home.) 

But that's not what this post is about.

I noticed 3 people of various ages, 
sitting in the booth near us.

They were all wearing yellow shirts that read across the front, 
"Good News Club."

And they smiled alot.

So I walked over and said, 
"You all look like you must be doing good things in the world." 

They explained they are volunteers that teach about the Bible as an 
after school program in an elementary school. And that this 
program has been around since 1937.

I was thinking this and then I said, 
"Really? I didn't know that was legal."

They assured me they have to get written permission from the 
parents before the kids can join the club. Then one of them said, 
"Many children don't go to church anymore. 
And many don't even know who Jesus Christ is."

I said I was in awe by them and I applaud their efforts. 
I told them, "Can you imagine children who don't know about 
baby Jesus born in a stable? That is just so sad to me. I am so 
happy you are teaching them."

They all nodded with the sweetest smiles on their faces.  

I believe people doing good, any and all good, 
have the light of Christ with them. 

Tonight as Den and I watched this new 17 minute video about Christ's birth, 
I thought of those "Good News Club" people.
I wish I had their email address so I could send this video to them. 
They would love it.

My favorite part is the very end.   


The best day to go to Costco

Den and I discovered a secret about Costco several years ago, 
that either no one knows about...or no one cares. 



If you want to have the whole store practically to yourself, 
go on Black Friday in the evening. 



We usually go about 7pm, the day after Thanksgiving. 



It's just so pleasant strolling through the empty aisles.



I took these pictures last Black Friday, just for you.
You're welcome. 

PS  I have no idea what's it like there on Black Friday afternoons. 

The solution could be worse than the problem...

A speaker at church last Sunday mentioned how here in California, ever since January 2018, when we had to start bringing our own bags to the grocery store, shop lifting has sky rocketed. 

People bring their own bags, back packs, whatever, making it SO easy slip stuff in there.

The speaker made the point that the solution is turning out to be  worse than the problem. 

He compared this to raising children. Sometimes our solution is to make life so easy for them that they grow up not knowing how to handle adversity. They end of having more problems in the long run, more pain and heart ache. 


So he gave these tips:

This generation is use to instant results. Teach them delayed gratification.
Teach that it's hard to wait and be patient for good things to come.
* If we make their lives too cushy now, later when life doesn't go well, they won't know how to cope and think they have failed. 
Losing proceeds winning.
Praise efforts, not just results
"Prepare the kid for the road, not the road for the kid." 
Our lives are filled with adversity. Resilience comes through patience.
"Smooth seas does not make skillful Sailors."
Teach with an eye of faith to our Savior Jesus Christ.
LOVE them as Heavenly Father loves us.

Well what do ya know...tonight I was at church sitting in the hallway waiting for someone. I looked down at the chair next to me and saw this (probably left from Sunday, 2 days ago)...

Do you want to see what pure joy looks like?

Our little 10 1/2 month old granddaughter, Daisy, is SO proud. 
And SO happy!

I love how Daisy looks to her left, where her Dad is, 
making sure he is watching, too!

It's a done deal...onward and upward.

The week before escrow closed on Amy and Logan's house, 
I wandered around to look over the empty rooms.

I could only do this a few minutes. I don't like goodbyes. 
Even to houses. 

Just before we left...
Amy calls out to me, "Look we're taking the desk out!" 


She knew this was the same desk my boys did their homework on.
And they used it for their boys too.

I didn't even ask if it's going to their new house 
or in a give away pile.


But this room.....

Amy said she told the new owners they will have to paint 
over the twins' room because she couldn't do it.

Then I went home and looked up an old video that I made in this 
room....just before they were born.....over 10 years ago!

A message from my Uncle


My Uncle Don (my Mom's brother) has always been an incredible 
writer, and still isn't missing a beat at age 94!

So yesterday he wrote this message to his children, some friends, and me:

"Read in the current New Yorker that the screenplay for "The Irishman" was written my my godson, Steven Zaillian, who I haven't seen since he was in high school. His father, Jim, was my friend at Sanger High and Fresno State. He died in 1978 at 51, a heavy smoker and workaholic. Went to the office seven days a week as news director of all-news-all-the-time KNX radio in L.A., a pressurized job if there ever was one. 

He married a Volga German girl, Alvina Schmidt, whose large family (there were at least 10 children) lived in a sheet-metal housing at a raisin plant across the road from us. She had an identical twin, Alvera. The girls and their betrothed were married in 1948 in a double ceremony at which I was best man for Jim. A month later I was in a tux for my brother. Best manning never happened again.


Steve Zaillian's great success was an Oscar in 1994 for writing "Schindler's List." I had read or heard little of him since, but a Googling today told me otherwise. He's been busy, and appears to have come back big-time amongst people named Scorsese, DeNiro,  Pacino, and Pesci. The movie opens soon.


Dad/Don"


Uncle Don and my Dad together about 18 months ago.

Uncle Don can't hear very well, and my Dad couldn't talk much, 
but I remember that day feeling they were still communicating.
I don't think words were even attempted. 

I guess we aren't the only ones...

Getting back to our dinner with Téa on Saturday night....

She kept saying she had a youtube video to show us when we got home. She actually then went on tell us all about it, pretty much word for word. 

Because that's what 10 year olds do. 

You know how they say when you become a parent you get to live childhood all over again? 

Ditto for a grandparent...because I could not quit laughing at this video. Maybe you have to be 10, or a grandparent to get it?

But, maybe it's not just the Grandmas and 10 year olds, 
because it does have 7,200,272 views 😉


Moving Day

It's one thing to know it.
But it's another thing to actually see it.






For 15 years Amy and Logan and their family have lived here. 

And yesterday was moving day. Or, moving week, as Logan calls it.

They asked if Téa could hang out with us for a few hours, 
so we took her out to dinner. 

 While we were sitting there waiting for our food I told her:
"Did you know that 15 years ago, all in the same month, your Daddy married your Mom, became a father to 5, became an RN, got a new job at the hospital, and bought a house and moved in?" 

She just smiled 
so I said, "Téa, this all happened the very same month!" 

Then she sort of woke up and realized what I just said, 
and tried to make sense of it. 


Then she announced, "But you said 5 kids....no, there's 7 kids."



"No, when your parents got married, there were 5 kids. 
You and Jonas didn't come until 5 years later, and then there were 7."


That's okay Téa, your Grandpa and I know about glitches in the brain once in a while.


But the move doesn't seem like any big deal to her. 

But someday it will be a big deal. 

She doesn't know it now, but she will spend the rest of her life 
looking back on memories of her first decade of life there. 

Or at least her parents will.
So many many good times there! 

Hard to believe this video was filmed EIGHT years ago!
Two are married with kids, and three are in college!

Just in case you want to follow along...

I found this couple through a friend of a friend of a friend.
So in other words, I don't know them.

And no, they don't belong to our church. 

But I have been fascinated by what they are going through. 

During my pregnancies I would sometimes have this dream that a foot or a hand of my little fetus would poke out through the top of my stomach. In utero is such a mysterious sacred place. 

And then years later they actually came out with fetal surgery. 
Can you imagine having someone do surgery on your baby before it's even born? 

I have never known one person this has happened to, so it still seems even sort of science fiction like. 

Then I found this couple, and I'm not even sure where they live exactly...but 3 hours from Cincinnati since that's where they needed to go for the surgery.

And that is where she has to stay for the remaining 4 months until she gives birth.

The very first video I watched of them was the day they learned their 20 week fetas has spina bifida, and that surgery was an option. 


This story is not continuing to be a sad one. I love how they are turning to prayer and their faith more than anything else. They are very optimistic about the outcome.

Here is a link to the video about their fetal surgery...
(the picture on the front of it may be disturbing to some, so I just put the link rather than the video...and they don't show the actual surgery of course.)
Fetoscopic surgery vlog

And of course you can go to their youtube channel and see the videos in between.

You can also follow on Instagram where they have daily updates. @lexiethiery. 

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 ...