A Firework blast from the past....

A lot can happen in 11 years! 

Hard to believe Amy and Logan's 5 older kids are married now!

Happy 4th everyone 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

You can't help but love him

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If you are, please follow Andre Polonski



He lives in Ukraine, one of the few who seem to be left there. I haven't followed him long enough to know why he chose to stay. 

I suspect it has something to do with this mother. When the bombing began, he moved in with her. 

He has much food storage because he took his church leaders' advice through the years and built it mightily up. 

Since the bombing, he spends his days gathering and delivering it to those in dire need. Many of these are elderly who didn't have the strength to get out of Ukraine. They are hungry and alone and scared. He brings them food.

He's very inspiring. He gives daily reports.

So amazing to see how God works through others.

We pray for him everyday. You can't help but love him. 

Wonders of this week #18

 1.

 

Amen to that.


2. Our March 8th birthday twins celebrated this week. 

Born by different parents on the same day, three years apart....

Erin


McKay 


McKay was in New Orleans on business that day 
and I sent him this...


3. Finally organizing ALL of our pictures through the years. I found a system I think I'm going to like. More later if it turns out.


4. In the process of all that, 
I found this funeral program of my pediatrician from 1969. 
He was killed in a plane crash along with his son and daughter in law. 

It was such a very sad time.
I remember my Dad saying he found out while at work, 
and then looked for a place to be alone and cry.


Side note: Mary Thompson also played the piano for my Mom's funeral 48 years later in 2007.

5. I also found this amongst the pictures.
I must have saved it from years and years ago, because it is so true!



6. Also this. 1973, visiting a friend on the job.
And don't those prices look lovely.




7.
From The Friend magazine


This picture speaks to me.


Violet

Erin texted this to me yesterday:

"Violet found your blog! She made a video of her favorite post. Watch her tiny finger." 



Thank you sweet Violet! You made me so happy. 💜

Wonders of this past week....



1. This was a big deal. When I asked Erin if I could share it here, she said she believes Cami would want her family to know. 

First Erin's text to me:



2. If you ever have left over frozen pancakes.....
No preheating. Just pop in oven for 8 minutes. 








3. If you are looking for a decent clean family show, try this one....
Den and I watched episode one this week, and we're onto the 2nd.







4. Elora drove to Mill Valley this weekend to spend it with her 2nd cousin Hailey.
I love it when these girls are together!




And Hailey's bedroom is magical. 
She gave me permission to show it here.

  
Enjoy your movie, girls! 
Nighty Night!



5. The one below reminds me of Mom. 
Before I got married the first time, she gave me some advice. She said try having dinner ready when he comes home from work. And if not, to have the table set so he will have hope! 






6. Thursday night I had plans to make chef salad for dinner but I forgot to hard boil the eggs for that. So I quickly threw the pan on our couch right before our zoom class thinking if the pans sits there with us during class, I'll remember to make the eggs. It worked. 


It wasn't until later I realized this was a Mom thing. 
She was known for putting her car keys on top the salad in the fridge 
so she wouldn't forget to bring it to the potluck. 

7. I saw this at Hobby Lobby a few days ago.
I thought I wanted it in my kitchen 
until I realized there's no room for it. 
However....
 The very best part of being in Hobby Lobby was the song that played, "Israel Israel God is Calling.." 

Forget the shopping, I just stood there in awe listening. 

Especially love the 3rd verse:

"Israel, angels are descending. 
From celestial worlds on high
And to man their powers extending
That the Saints may homeward fly.
Come to Zion. Come to Zion
For your coming Lord is nigh."



Be nice even when someone looks different



So Scarlett wrote a story. After her mom (McKenna) read the story she said, "Grandma Honey will love this. We need to make her a copy."

Scarlett went right to work, and wrote it all out again!

Here's my copy:


"The Buter Fliy and the Tiger"


"The moral of this story is to be nise even wen some one looks difrent. The end."


Wonders of the week


While our thoughts and prayers are with Ukraine making it hard to focus at times, I'm trying to treasure, even more, the blessings in my own life...

Just a little of what's going on around here....


1.  Logan and Amy's 17th wedding anniversary just a few days ago....


Thank you Jonas for taking the picture!
And to her friend Katie who told her to take a picture on each anniversary. 



2.  Some sister love in Idaho...Juliet and Daisy




3. My niece's son, Roland, got pecked in his eye by one of their chickens. Eye doctor said no permanent damage. 


Just another day being raised on a farm.
Grandma Gaynor would understand.
She grew up eating her pets, too. 



4. My dear friend Darlene, made this very lovely rice pack for me.



I put it in the microwave for 3 minutes, 
and I can't tell you how wonderful it is after we turn off our heat each night.


5. And we so enjoyed Violet's birthday as she turned 11 over zoom!


Is that not a genius way to blow out her candles pandemic style? 


Right after the party Dennis asked me, 
"Do you think you can ask Erin if she would save a piece of cake for me?

I said, "Sorry, I can't ask her that." 



Well apparently Erin had it planned all along




...because it was soon delivered to us by Brock.
And Dennis wasted no time.


6. I follow this young mom in her stage 4 cancer journey. 
Very sad, yes, but she has such a richness to her soul.


People who go through really tough challenges, know things the rest of us may not.
I try to learn from them. 💙



Respect makes a difference

I saw something this week at Savemart I'd never quite seen before. 

This was the first time Den and I had been out in public, except for two dental appointments, in weeks and weeks. 

We were wearing masks. 

While standing in line to check out, this one woman gets in line behind us. She was maskless (as were about half the customers.) Then suddenly she backs up at least 6 feet, but more like 10 feet, and waits there instead. 

This was particularly noticeable because no one else was distancing in any of the other lines.

It was obvious to me, that while she was maskless and most likely believed differently than us in that regard, she showed respect for our beliefs or concerns, and gave us space. 

I was very touched by her kindness, and also by her character. I was hoping to tell her so but we were soon put in another line and I lost sight of her. 

It was a sweet experience I'm thankful we got to witness. 

Quite different from how we both felt last November coming home from the UPS store. As we were getting in the car, we noticed a sign in the window of a small business...


If you can't see the sign, it reads:

MASK USE STRICTLY
PROHIBITED ON THIS
ENTIRE PROPERTY

IF YOU ARE SCARED
STAY HOME

I guess it's no wonder there were no customers inside.

We do have rights, and we can make choices.
But kindness with those choices makes a HUGE difference.



I understand better now

It finally occurred to me yesterday why my Dad loved the hymn Love at Home so much. He had us sing it every single time we had FHE. Always off key. So grating to my ears. 

I would cringe each time it was the chosen hymn at church. Oh no, not that song again.


Yesterday it was our closing hymn at the end of Sacrament meeting and that’s when it hit me. He heard this song differently than I did.


After his Mom died when he was only 6, so went his happy home. His Dad quickly remarried and his step mom was not very nice to him, or his 5 siblings. They began quickly leaving home as soon as they could. But Dad was only 6, so he had to endure it the longest. 


I’m sure he yearned for what he didn’t have. 


“Roses bloom beneath our feet, All the earth’s a garden sweet.

Making life a bliss complete. When there’s love at home.” 


“There is beauty all around when there’s love at home

There is joy in every sound. When  there’s love at home.”


There is not joy in every sound when you grow up with 7 siblings. Or later, when you parent 4. 


That song always sounded so beyond reality, and laughably sweet, but I’m finally getting it. It sounded like heaven to my Dad. 


I’ve never known anything but a happy home. Growing up, and the ones I raised my kids in, and the one Den and I have together now. 


What I took for granted, my Dad yearned for.  While I didn’t hear “joy in every sound” he probably thought that's how it would be if he just had a Mom and Dad who were there for him. 


What he didn’t have, he wanted for all of us. So he married our angel mother and worked as hard as he could so we could have her with us every day. He learned about family life from her, and then gave it his all as best he could.


This made a huge difference for his posterity after him.


He graduated from this life on Valentine’s Day three years ago today. 


I didn’t thank him enough while he was here, for all he gave to us. Somehow, I hope he knows how grateful I am.


Anyway, that's what I've been thinking today.


Hugging one of his many great grandchildren (Téa) the week before he passed.








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 ...