Frohliche Geburtstag Sunflower!

I don't know if I spelled it right, I was singing the primary song in my head...Italian is pretty straight forward, they don't really do spelling bees there, pretty boring. What a beautiful day to celebrate a birthday, summer solstice. You are truly a Sunflower by all means!

As Wysteria gave some memories about me on my birthday, I would like to share some memories of you--

One of my last memories of you in France would be our train trip to the French Riviera... so many to pick from, the morroccan men yelling "Marseille!" at 2am or so in the morning, falling asleep on the beach before Jake and his mom arrived and getting so burned we swelled up like balloons (I don't think that can be very healthy) our faces were bloated!! noticing how the frenchies were so much more relaxed there, dancing after dinner, driving on the coast to Monaco through Cannes in a convertible!!! Holy moley!! What a birthday!! Those winding coastal roads reminded me of "Suspicion", an Alfed Hitchcock favorite and other movies with shots from the coast roads, eating our baguette and cheese on a Monacoan beach and having the police hand deliver a warning for parking, driving back to the hotel and going to dinner not realizing that we (or rather, I) had left the keys in the car, oh wait did I say car, I meant your family's really nice rented convertible that could've totally been stolen by anyone and been in Torino by the time we noticed they were missing at 11pm!! Wow, what a ride. What a blessing that the trip was not a fiasco. What fun we had!

I am thankful that you got the job taking care of Jake, I didn't know you well at all before that and you having the transportation, opened up so many options for us. Going to Giverny and the town where the Van Gogh brothers are buried. Do you remember the rainstorm in the cemetary? The broken chain in front of the famous church? What fun.

You met us in England, I think you took the chunnel while we took the ferry, thanks for that memory Wysteria :)

I knew I would laugh hard and think deep when I was with you Anna. You are beautiful in every way and I enjoyed getting to know Erin and see how you two compliment each other as siblings.
May this coming year be full for you. I love you so much.

Still Born

 

June 15, 2008. One year later. 2:47pm. My family and I drove up onto the hill where we could look out onto the Cook Inlet, Sleeping Lady and the Native hospital. It was a beautiful day. I am a better person today, thanks to my third child, Angela, born sleeping. In her memory, I include an Angela poem with my post. xoxo

Every Season by Nichole Nordeman

Every evening sky, an invitation
To trace the patterned stars
And early in July, a celebration
For freedom that is ours
And I notice You
In children’s games
In those who watch them from the shade
Every drop of sun is full of fun and wonder
You are summer

And even when the trees have just surrendered
To the harvest time
Forfeiting their leaves in late September
And sending us inside
Still I notice You when change begins
And I am braced for colder winds
I will offer thanks for what has been and was to come
You are autumn

And everything in time and under heaven
Finally falls asleep
Wrapped in blankets white, all creation
Shivers underneath
And still I notice you
When branches crack
And in my breath on frosted glass
Even now in death, You open doors for life to enter
You are winter

And everything that’s new has bravely surfaced
Teaching us to breathe
What was frozen through is newly purposed
Turning all things green
So it is with You
And how You make me new
With every season’s change
And so it will be
As You are re-creating me
Summer, autumn, winter, spring

Archive for Memories

Yellow Tulip:
I remember trying to play the keyboard in church. Between my nerves, that horrible keyboard, no real chairs, and that crazy chorister-wow am I glad that I had that experience. I'm a pro at playing for those dynamic branches who have their own styles. No more nerves for me!

Mamma Mia The Movie 2008

Sunflower....remember that all day ABBA music video fest we watched at Beth and Joe's house? I can't wait for this movie! I saw the musical in NY, but with MERYL singing her talented heart out, and Colin Firth in yet another white shirt (I thought P and P was steamy) and singing and dancing! It's the most fun I'm going to have all summer!

Bacon cookies?

Read the following blog post and then continue
http://neverbashfulwithbutter.blogspot.com/2007/12/experiments-in-deliciousness-bacon.html

Ok, I struggled to make it through all the description here. I'm with miss "I just threw up in my mouth". It was a hoot, don't get me wrong, I laughed and can have a sense of humour about it but the very idea haunted me. Bacon? Little slices of cruelly treated Wilbers wrested from their mother and raised in a jail. Slices of heart-attack waiting to coat your arteries and raise your blood-pressure? Added to what? Not an innocent salad but a chocolate-chip cookie! It's already a guilty pleasure! YUCKLYBLUCKYGAGGY!

So I kept coming back to this diverting post and saw the lovely zucchini freshly picked sitting on my kitchen island. Now THERE is a food that can go with ANYTHING. From cookies to mushrooms, really, anything is improved with zucchini. Then I had another strange thought. There are people in this world who would be more inclined to agree with the fatty-lady, the bacon-cookie lady than me about the zucchini!!!!!

Woah.

(Just as a side note. Here's another embarassing thought. My peanut butter obsession. While thankfully lacking the cruelty aspect, it's also a sinfully guilty addition to the already indulging foods I add it too. Ice cream, cookies, chocolate bars. . . And then there's the "why eat that if you're going to add that" catagory like apples, pretzels etc. Mmmmm, I'd better go make breakfast.)

Service

A member of the RS Pres. called me yesterday and asked me to give a service experience. "Sure, no problem." I didn't think twice about it. Then, when I started trying to nail down the experience I struggled so much. All of these acts of service were so sacred, emotional, and plentiful. I knew I would cry through many of them. And then deciding which one to tell seemed impossible.
So as I sat listening to each of the four other sisters cry through their experiences with service as they too tried to nail down just one ...or half a dozen rather I really gained a testimony of so many acts of service. Here's some of it.

1. Never feel embarrassed about serving others. I so often don't b/c I'm afraid of the imperfections or I'm not confident that it will be wanted.
2. Service touches our lives so deeply that I think a lot of who we become rides on giving and recieving.
3. Lynne's advice to me a long time ago is still true. Nobody needs to feel lonely or friendless because there are always people to serve.
4. No matter what your situation is(sunflower, you are also a very good example to me of this)you can find a way to serve. I am embarrassed to admit that I often don't serve because it seems to hard to pile my kids in and out of the car to deliever a meal or whatever but I could do it. Also, it doesn't have to be a meal. Maybe I don't sign up for the meal but I send a card or email or make a phone call.

I feel so much love for people and I'm guilty of neglect. I want to try harder! I'd love to hear about your experiences with service and being served. I'm curious to find out if unwanted service occurs very often to those with open hearts.