Tender Mercies. I love to identify these sweet moments when I realize Heavenly Father is aware of me and my righteous desires.
Friday I had volunteered to drive marching band members from the high school to Lehi for their "band tour". I knew from past experience that this would take all afternoon and evening. I had prepared for that eventuality by bringing two books and my knitting. I was actually looking forward to having nothing to do but read and knit. I knew that there would be a big enough time slot that I could attend a session at the temple without being missed so I had put on a skirt and brought my temple gear. I had even brought a plate of my favorite chocolate chip cookies to share with my riders. But when all the students were loaded into the various cars and vans my car remained empty. Parents came who were not expected and their students and their friends filled those cars first.
I was able to go directly to the Provo temple. I ate some cookies along the way (thank goodness it was a short way :)) and Bus and I were able to go out on a long overdue date to a play at BYU. I still smile when I remember the love I felt.

This is a blog to encourage passing readers to take a moment and peruse the good self help link on my blog. I love what this guy writes about. I love his perspective on life. Tell me what you think.

Too Beautiful for Words

Here is a picture of our newest granddaughter Anna Lynne Gaines. She is just beautiful and very calm. She weighed 6 pounds and 7 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches long. Toni did a great job.

Great looking family!

Here is Anna in her grandpa Gillespie's arms. We are so glad to have her here with us.

This is the start of Matt and Mom and Dad's excellent adventure. The snow was perfect for walking/skiing on. We had a wonderful time and we are excited to show you our neighborhood as we discovered it today.

Side shot of Toni's favorite ski hill

Home sweet home

It may look like a sarcophagus but is really the picnic table.

Where the fire usually sits.

Such a beautiful day

Matt is standing on top of the picnic table...

For illustrative purposes

Newest kid on the block

Yeah it's pretty deep

Getting ready to head back The end of a

wonderful adventure.

Dad bought me a new car this past Monday. Subaru Outback and the maroon color isn't lame which I really like. I felt pretty sporty as I drove to the BYU family history library this morning. I parked in the MOA parking lot and felt pretty awesome. After finding some new ancestors I came out and put the key in the lock and much to my amazement and horror the car alarm sounded. I haven't ever had to deal with this annoying safety feature before. I have no remote control to deactivate the loud honking. I tried putting the key in the ignition but that didn't work. I tried to turn on the car, that didn't work. I got out and locked the door again. It went silent. I looked around. People were smiling to themselves. I took a deep breath and put the key back in the lock and immediately the honking sounded again. I went through this crazy pattern several more times. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to when it would start or stop. I started thinking that maybe I was on some bizarre reality TV show with a camera hidden somewhere. I'm sure I would have laughed had I been an onlooker. Finally a man came to my rescue. We tried disconnecting the fuses. Nope. We tried locking and unlocking, key in, key out. Nothing. Finally he disconnected the horn wires. There was still one honking after that. The one in the back of the engine was finally located and disabled. I got in the car, turned the key. Nothing. Turned on the headlights to see if it was battery related. No lights. He guessed the battery was dead. (Don't the horns use the battery???) I told him I would call my husband, not to worry. He left. I put the key in once more and the stupid thing started right up. I was befuddled but grateful.
When I got home I called the dealer. This is what I learned. When you lock all the doors at once using the handy dandy lock that is conveniently on the driver's door panel when you leave the car it will activate the alarm when you come back and put the key in the door. To disable the alarm one must put the key in the ignition and click it 3 times, not turn it on all the way, just click it 3 times to get the alarm to stop. The 4th time will turn the car on. The handy dandy lock is for use while IN the car. Otherwise just manually lock the doors when leaving the car (very convenient). Now we know.

One of my favorite quotes from President Hinckley is the one that says everything will work out. I have found this very helpful during times of stress and trial. I think he is right. Things do work out. Even when sad or bad things happen time seems to heal those things as well.
On the way to class this morning the car's engine stopped. Luckily it was at the top of a hill and I was able to coast until I found a convenient parking lot to stop in. When I turned the key after putting the car in park it started right back up and off I went.
I picked up my new friend to take her to class (she's over 80 and doesn't like to drive on the snow-packed roads) and it happened a couple of more times. On our way to her house after the class as we were passing Timpview it started making a very awful noise then clunked and stopped again. I was able to coast for quite a while, running the stop sign but this time when I stopped and turned the key it didn't make a sound.
What would I have done if Emily hadn't been playing basketball at Timpview? She came to our rescue which was nice because my friend Louine had an appointment at noon and this happened about 11:30. She took Louine home then she dropped me off. I was able to finally get in touch with Bus. He was able to call Larry's towing. I had to be at work at 1:00. Emily came home just in time to take me to meet the tow truck. She proceeded on her way to take her friend home then returned to take me to work after I had finished my business with the tow truck driver. I was even early today for a change.
See, it all works out. I even have faith that I will find a way home from work and will be able to get to Jethro and Robyn's before 7 to tend Lincoln. What a great day!

Really? A gun?

Wow. It's already 2008 and a month since I blogged last. So much fun in the last 4 weeks. We made quilts for the humanitarian center, 8 of them. We hosted a party for the ward family that was pretty nice. Fun family parties as well. This was our first Christmas with grandchildren. They are so much fun and so handsome. We were able to see the Bells Concert at the Conference Center but not the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert with the King's Singers; we did get close to seeing it though. Christmas Day was a little traumatic for me. I think I'm recovered though. I didn't want a gun. Santa was just a little confused I guess. We enjoyed having all the children home for Christmas and before and after. I love the anticipation of Christmas the most. I loved doing sealings with the family. It was an incredibly warm and cuddly feeling that afternoon even though the weather outside was kind of cold and blowy. I loved playing games with you all as well. The present yesterday was so much fun too. Another little one in August/September. Sooo good. Thanks for all you do to enrich my life.

The yearly ritual of decorating for Christmas is an interesting phenomenon at my house. We dread getting everything out of storage and hauling it all upstairs. It tests our patience to put on the lights, try and find the right combination of decorations for the available nails already in the wall, and then find a place to put our regular decor while the Christmas stuff is out.

We enjoy the decorations if they stay put and the lights stay on. But after Christmas we can hardly wait to take it all down and resume the normal boring life. Why do we bother?

Last month I agreed to work for Audrey for today and even though I realized it would be a crazy week I said I would. She called me last Thursday to tell me her surgery had been canceled and I wouldn't need to work. I was quite relieved actually. I had agreed to work at Utah Valley Wednesday morning so that would be two days in a row working full time, not leaving much time to get stuff ready for Thanksgiving. I had planned the day out carefully so I would have time to get everything prepared.
This morning when I returned from my walk with the girls there was a phone message waiting. Apparently, unbeknownst to me I had been scheduled to cover a shift in urgent care at BYU in place of my being canceled by Audrey. I was already 40 minutes late and I still needed to get showered and dressed. Somewhat begrudgingly I hurried and got ready, packed a left-overs lunch and got in the car. Turned the key and nothing. Tried multiple times over the next 10 minutes with the same result. Got under the hood, jiggled some wires still nothing. Called my trusty visiting teacher to bail me out. She came quickly and drove me to the Health Center. When I arrived and explained my situation to my co-workers it suddenly occurred to me that I had a hair appointment at 2 and now I had no way to get there. My boss had said he would cover for the hour I needed to go. I think he felt bad about what had happened.
When I told him about my dilemma he offered his car for the appointment. Nice guy.
When I pulled into the hair salon my friend and stylist Robyn hurried in to apologize that the lady before me hadn't told her that she wanted her hair colored so she was double booked for that hour. But she would see what she could do to expedite my haircut. Between three of them I was finished and back to work in an hour. Things always work out. I just hope I can get a ride home from work.

I got a call from the A-1 Uniform store yesterday. They had my phone. The battery was dead so they took it to a Cingular store to get recharged. She looked in my directory and found my "grandma", called her and she gave them my home phone. So nice. Apologies to Jan for missing the calls. Kudos to A-1 Uniform store for going the extra mile.

On the off-chance that anyone has tried to call me on the cell since last Thursday this is just to let you know that my phone has been missing since then. If I haven't returned a message that would also be my excuse. I am on the lookout for it but I'm sure the battery is dead so it is more of a challenge. Please continue your patience with me in this matter.

ISFJ - "Conservator".
Desires to be of service
and to minister to individual
needs - very loyal.
13.8% of total population.

I find these tests very interesting. We took several during our nursing training. I'm never sure that I answer the questions the way I really am or the way I wish I was. Anyway, thanks Jan for the momentary diversion. Now I'll get back to my service project...

Some days my brain doesn't work as well as others. Today for instance. After our walk I thought I had a free morning. I was doing some work on the computer for a while. Then Emily came down the stairs about quarter to ten and announced she was ready for our class at the church. I was still in my walking clothes. Plus, I remembered at that moment that I had told Kathy Shumway I would come and tend her two little kids while she went to the class. I didn't have time to change so I went to Kathy's as I was. She called soon after she left and asked if it was OK if she went to the store after class to get a couple of things. I thought for a moment and said it was probably OK, not remembering the conversation on our walk that we would all meet at Tahitian Noni cafe for lunch at 11:30. Thankfully she didn't go to the store after all but came home. I visited with her for a few minutes, still not remembering that I had the lunch date. After I came home and put the hamburger in the microwave to defrost I suddenly remembered the lunch date. I was supposed to be there in 15 minutes. I still needed to shower and get dressed. I was 10 minutes late for lunch but enjoying the company and the terrific food when it hit me that the hamburger was still in the microwave. I did make it safely to work after stopping off at home. I'm almost afraid to go home to discover/remember the next disaster.

OK I'll play. I've been tagged by Robyn.

Here's the rules:
A. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
B. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog, for these rules.

1. I walk 5 days a week with some of my favorite people. We walk from 2-4 miles a day. Very good for the body and the soul.

2. Reading is one of my escapes. A new series I am working on is the Great and Terrible series by Chris Stewart. I have finished the 4th book and am waiting impatiently for the next one to come out.

3. Genealogy is a true passion. There is a special spirit that attends one who does this work. I try to get some time in every week to bolster my spirit.

4. A new quest is the Medical Reserve Corp which is just starting up in Utah County. I attended an organizing meeting last night and ended up on the board as a nursing specialist. Maybe I will learn some new skills.

5. Keeping up with the new grandchildren is going to become a new obsession. I can't believe I'm old enough to have grandchildren!

6. The favorite time each week is when we eat Sunday dinner and then play games together. I so enjoy my family and their entertaining ways.

So now I will tag Bus, Jethro, Matt, Jolyn, Ben Gaines and Ben Francisco. Take it and run guys. Let us hear your stories.

I feel some prompting to share some insights I have gained lately. Granted I have been reading a lot of books lately on the subject but that isn't abnormal. I have always had a fascination with end-of-the-world stories. But then as I was reading through a conference talk issue from last October (Our bathroom is a lot like the doctor's offices...)I read the talk given by Larry Gibbons in the Sunday afternoon session. It was a confirmation of what I had been reading in the books. I recommend that you read his talk but this nugget he had in his talk was something that I felt had a strong message for us.

President Heber J. Grant said: "There is but one path of safety to the Latter-day Saints, and that is the path of duty. It is not a testimony, it is not marvelous manifestations, it is not knowing that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true, . . . it is not actually knowing that the Savior is the Redeemer, and that Joseph Smith was His prophet, that will save you and me, but it is the keeping of the commandments of God, the living the life of a Latter-day Saint."

Think about that. Keeping the commandments. Doing your duty as a Latter Day Saint. Staying strong so the priesthood you men hold is ready for use at any time. That is what is going to save us. The other things will of course not hurt us at all. In fact, I think they serve to remind us of why we do our duties. The saving is in the righteous, obedient action.

Here is an excerpt of an interesting time in Utah history by Davis Britton in Meridian Magazine. We think its bad if we have a few spiders or flies in our houses...

It was January 1849. The Latter-day Saints in the Salt Lake Valley had survived their first winter and were now in their second one. Thanks to the gulls, they had avoided a complete crop failure, but it cannot be said that their crops in the fall harvest had been overly abundant. They were grateful for what they had.But the pressure was still on. Incoming wagon trains had boosted the population of Saints in Utah to perhaps four or five thousand, which of course meant many mouths to feed. They would have to be frugal to make their limited supplies last until the next summer.
As for lodging, you were lucky if you had a cabin. Many were still housed in cramped quarters in the fort, and of those who arrived in the fall many decided to make do by living in a dugout or in their reinforced wagon box until spring. Without good insulation, all of these habitations were often drafty, wet, and cold.
It was in this context that the community leaders organized a community pest hunt. It was not kindness-to-wild-animals time but a struggle for existence, and certain animals, identified as "noxious vermin," posed a threat. The more of these that could be eliminated, they thought, the more food would be available for the struggling humans.
To add to the enthusiasm, the leaders organized a competition between two teams, one led by John D. Lee and the other by John Pack. These two team leaders ended up by quarreling over the numbers. The hunt stretched over the month of January 1849.
And we have the total animal victims: 2 bears, 783 wolves, 409 foxes, 2 wildcats, 2 wolverines, 331 minks, 9 eagles, 530 magpies, owls and hawks, and 1026 crows.

I wonder if they had a ward dinner after this...

I found this very interesting letter written by Orson Spencer, my great-great grandfather to the leaders of the church. He was on his way home after serving as the president of the British mission in 1849. He had left to go to England just after his wife had died in 1846 outside of Nauvoo, leaving his 6 children in Winter Quarters. They came to Salt Lake without him in the second group in 1847. He returned home with his new wife Martha Knight Spencer and their new baby Martha in the spring of 1849. The following is an excerpt of his report to the brethren about their trip on the ship Zetland and now on a steamship going up the Mississippi from New Orleans.

During the passage, we baptized one very promising young man, and confirmed more than a dozen, who were baptized after they entered the ship at Liverpool. Four infant children died on board the ship, and three infants were born, and a fourth child has been born on the steamer since. In every single case the mothers never did better. William M`Hendre, who begged his passage at the moment of our sailing form Liverpool, proved himself an infamous wretch. His iniquity found him out, and made him loathsome to the senses. I hope no other company will be disgraced and annoyed with such a contentious, lewd, filthy person. Two young females married sailors immediately on their arrival at New Orleans. If they had been married sooner, it would have been some apology for previous conduct. However, the spots on so large a company were very few. General love and union have prevailed. Nearly the whole of our large company are on their way with me to St. Louis. The cholera prevails in New Orleans and river towns to a considerable extent. It pleads with emigrants to hasten forward to the mountains for safety. Several deaths occur during every passage to St. Louis. We have already buried seven persons, and one or two lie waiting for the same rite. One brother and one sister have died, and are buried at the island "82." The brother's case was very much like cholera brought on by imprudence. The wife of William Eure had been in poor health for many months previous to her death. Very much of the sickness and death now prevalent may be traced to imprudence and gross mismanagement. I venture to say that it is not prudent of English emigrants to change their habit of diet too suddenly upon their arrival in New Orleans. A free use of strong drink, to which the emigrant is tempted after long restrictions at sea, is disastrous and often fatal. If our companies that are now actually emigrating through the midst of pestilence, that walketh in darkness and wasteth at noon day, plunging its thousands into death, with little notice, will use due circumspection and follow counsel, they will escape the pestilence to the astonishment of all that behold them as our company has done. And, as a caution to forthcoming emigrants let me say, some will transgress wholesome rules and be drunken and gluttonous. Then the transition of climate and change of water and food, in some instances destroy the unwary: Two Irish people have walked out of the boat, or from the shore into the river, to return no more, under the influence of strong drink. One of our own brethren even walked into the Mississippi upon a plank of moonshine (to use his own expression) taking the moon's reflection upon the water for a plank, but was fortunately rescued from death by brethren at hand. Strong drink was the sole cause of this perilous adventure! Others will overcharge their stomachs with brandy in order to keep off the cholera, to which course, they are often advised by strangers. The company under my charge however, have thus far excited the admiration of all observers for their extraordinary cleanliness and good order, and wonderful measure of health. It was confidently said by officers of this steamboat, that at least fifty of so large a company would die on our passage to St. Louis. We are now within fifty miles of St. Louis, without any apprehension of another death unless a Gentile doctor on board kills them with his favorite dose of 20 grains calomel, laudanum, camphor, and brandy. This dose was given to our deceased brother and sister, contrary to my wishes, (F. Ryder and Mrs. Eure) and to many others who died immediately within a few hours! Several Saints I rescued from this dose who were as mortally seized, and they now live.

I have many things to be thankful for. I am thankful for a loving family that helped me have a really wonderful conference weekend. I am thankful for the outstanding conference addresses given by gifted and spiritually mature individuals who show us a better way.
I'm also thankful for my oldest son Jethro who turns 28 years old today. He has been a joy to raise and now he has his own little boy to raise with his beautiful and talented wife. The circle of life is incredible.
We just returned from a band competition. Beautiful music beautifully rendered by high school students who enjoy doing hard things, making them look easy and earning praise and adoration of the parents who love them.
These are the things that make life worthwhile and good. Too bad the world newscasts like to focus on the ways a few people die instead of the worthy ways a lot of people live.

I know I'm a cry baby. I accept that. But why is it that every year when I walk into the stadium to watch the marching band and hear their initial yell and see them looking so sharp in their formed lines and their uniforms do I start to sob? It is so embarrassing. I hope I can control it somewhat this year though because I will be helping take the percussion equipment in before the show. Maybe that distraction will help...
Is there any hope for me?