Little Bill

I recently found these pictures of Bill, my first husband, as a child. 

I'm looking at these with new eyes, since I can now see some of my grandchildren in him....





Not sure who he is with below, but I suspect it's his paternal Grandma. She died before I came into the family 46 years ago, so I never met her.





How I loved Aunt Martha, holding baby Bill in this picture. 
(Aunt Martha was Bill's Dad's sister and I've always thought Leo looks like her. Maybe not as much in this particular picture, but in others and from knowing her.)

Happy Birthday to Bill today!

(My 2 husbands are only 3 days apart in age....
which means they are both 5 years older than me. 
Which means they've always kept me feeling young.)





Happy Birthday McKenzie

Today is my niece McKenzie's 22nd birthday. 

I do believe in some way we celebrate or honor our birthdays in heaven. How can that not be? It was the day she came to earth to be with her family! 

Mackie was born on a Sunday. 



Two days later Dave brought 3 year old Davey to the hospital. He didn't just come to see his new baby sister, but stayed with Robin several hours while Dave went to work. 

Not every mom gets to have the toddler along with the newborn in the hospital.



Last September, Mackie's friend Ysabelle sang this at her funeral. Robin requested I put it on my blog today. I am honored. 



How to talk to a toddler...

This was just a simple everyday moment with Karen and Daisy, who was 22 months at the time. 

Taken right after Halloween. 

I asked Karen if I could post this because I think it's a perfect example on how to talk to a toddler. 

It also shows how vastly important parents are to little children. 

Daisy and Karen Nov 2020 from Jill Shelley on Vimeo.

Just what I need....

 

I think we could all use this song right about now.

Thank you Robin for sending me this today!
You were inspired. I know it. 

I'd never even heard this song before.



Hope is on the way?

Dennis is SO excited about getting the vaccine, he can hardly stand it. 

I've heard the question is no longer, "Should I get the vaccine?" Instead, the reality is more: "Do I want the vaccine or do I want Covid?"

I've read we can't count on herd immunity, because so many are opting not to get the vaccine. Many fear it was put together too quickly. But isn't that what we have world wide been praying for?

Dennis made a copy of this schedule for our county and keeps it in his office. It gives him hope!


A good friend of mine, age 92, has been in a care facility 10 miles from our home, for the past 3 years. They had a huge outbreak of Covid this month. Last I heard all but 5 of the 99 patients were tested positive. 

And most likely the other 5 are now positive also.

My friend tested positive, but very fortunately, asymptomatic. So she is doing fine physically. But she said it's so hard with so many of her friends sick and dying around her. 

They were all just days away from getting the vaccine. 

She said never in her life has she experienced anything like this.  

I can't help but wonder the vaccine schedules for other counties??

We're all trying to process this sad week....

Prayer is so powerful!



A 19 year old missionary from Lehi, Utah, died yesterday in a car accident in Arkansas. Ten days before that he put his testimony of Jesus Christ on Instagram.

The Simple Christmas that was

I told Den in early December we best not get our tree down from the upper garage this year. Too risky considering for the first time in our lives, hospitals have no more room. 

So instead he ordered a small one through Amazon. It was barely 18 inches, but we never did finish decorating it. I wasn't bonded to it. But just the same we had a tree in case our kids were to ask. And they did.

"Mom, did you get the tree up?

"Of course we have the tree up."


I didn't want Den climbing up to get our nativities either. But thankfully we had a very light weight sweet one McKenna sent us a few years ago. No climbing up for this one. I had one just like it when I was a little girl! So loved it, we did. 

We packed ours away already, so I snagged this picture elsewhere.



We didn't want to hire anyone to put our outside lights up. Den worried about them falling and getting hurt. So we put this one out on our lawn, and we loved it, and it was indeed perfect.


Grocery delivery doesn't deliver gift wrap, so we used what we had. 



We worried and prayed, and prayed some more, for Logan and Amy suffering with Covid. We asked others to pray for them, too. And they did. 

Christmas Eve we drove around, just the two of us looking at lights all around the neighborhood. "O Holy Night" came on over the radio. And that was perfect. 

How could one not feel the beauty and sacredness of Christmas...even if we couldn't be physically with our families.


What more could we possibly want? Our children and grandchildren would have been nice. 

But we spent most of the day Face timing, phone calls, and receiving photos and videos...We felt blessed and loved.

We had simple turkey sandwiches for dinner. 

Then bedtime soon came and it was time to take down my hair which hasn't been cut or colored since last February. I wear it on top of my head all day and then take it down for sleep. Just like my ancestors use to do, I tell myself each night. 

We didn't feel deprived on Christmas. 

Okay, maybe be a little. But at least we had each other, unlike so many out there. 




Elder David Bednar words gave us comfort, "...the lessons we learn because of the constraints and limitations imposed by the COVID-19 virus will live on long after the pandemic has been eradicated. As hard as it may be for us to imagine today, we will be better, stronger, and more capable because of the constraints, the limitations, and the deprivations we have experienced. Physical restrictions can expand vision. Limited stamina can clarify priorities. Inability to do many things can direct focus to a few things of greatest importance.



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 ...