Quote Project

So, I've always been an avid quote keeper. I think it started when I was a young teen when they gave us quotes in Sunday School our in our Young Women's classes, but I don't know. My journal contains a few from before that time.

Either way, they've collected over the years in paper form. Most of my life in the past 20 years has been electronic from the days of my Brother typewriter for some journal entries to completely digitizing EVERYTHING now (except I've reverted back to my little notebooks for daily to do lists).

But, I'm catching up with my prior past (0-22 years old).

I'm down to 4-5 little plastic bins of journals that I'm re-typing, random certificates and forms I'm scanning and ....all my stories and quotes. Luckily, many of these are now available on the Internet with a simple word search.

Perhaps it was the fire at work, where at the end of the day, all the electronics, photos, and personal belongings ended up strewn about on the lawn for us to pick through.

Or, perhaps it is just me realizing that I'm getting old and it is time to take care of this now and it will never happen. Or, probably most likely it was me realizing that I needed to get all this done before having a family, even though that goal went through a temporary disappointment.

Either way, I'm at it again. Documenting, uploading, tagging. In fact, you can take a look if you want at http://bloggerpickles.blogspot.com. I've had the blog for a few years, but I'm adding LOTS more over the next month or two. They are my favorites and so they aren't there to impress, but rather to act as my personal resource. But, if you ever need to leverage it...go right ahead. At some point I'll turn it into a blog book for myself (like this blog), but for now I'll just keep the stream flowing.

Side perk: Our house is getting simplified! Less paper dust. Fewer plastic bins to lug around. More space.

But,  I will take a picture of a couple of the dittos - remember those? So awesome when they came off the machine all white with purple ink and a bit damp. Memories....

Memory Lane - and licorice surprise

So, around 4:15 p.m. today I had just finished taking one of the online training courses that I have to finish and there was a knock at the door. I was a bit delayed getting there, but there was a box! A box for me! A box that I had not ordered!

In it was a wonderful card from a friend in college. She had sent me Canadian Twizzlers, some oven mitts that had a bit of a licorice color with gelled stripes and a handmade apron with licorice pattern on the fabric.

What a wonderful surprise!



Laurel and I used to go on walks and talks called "licorice runs." I think I've written about her before - http://rebeckeronline.blogspot.com/2010/06/true-gifts.html.

Periodically over the last 15-16 years she's sent me a package of licorice with a nice note.

What an amazing friend!



Totally out of the blue. Totally appreciated. Totally bad for my teeth. Haaa.

Thanks for making my week Laurel!

Lil Thanksgiving Roadtrip

During the last few years I've taken off the entire Thanksgiving week from work to focus on my own special projects - exercising, scanning photos, typing in old journals into the computer, etc.

However, this year has been crazy busy at work and many of us just used the Monday - Wednesday part of the week to actually get work work done instead of coordinating so much of it. So, though I was teleworking on Wednesday, I was working all the way up until 6 or 7 p.m. and fully expecting to pull in some hours on Friday and Saturday while lounging around the house.

But, no...we ended up taking a lil roadtrip. We had intended on doing a 24 hour stint to visit J's kids, but weren't quite sure what part of Thanksgiving that would fall on or how that would work.

So, at 11 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning we went to the local Cracker Barrel and had a lil Thanksgiving meal and then came home, packed quickly and hit the road.

We found out along the way that we couldn't actually see the kids until Friday and so we took a detour and late evening we were nestled into a not so great hotel in Kirtland, Ohio. By the way, is it just me - even the four and five star hotels gross me out now.

But, I digress.

On Black Friday morning we arose fairly early and went down into historic Kirtland and saw a lot of older couple missionaries and a younger missionary all up and about getting the place ready for visitors. We walked around the Newel K. Whitney  storefront, by the School of Prophets, and near the mill. It all was in great shape and it had obviously been updated since I was last there over 20 years ago.

We then drove up the hill to the Kirtland Temple which is still owned by the Community of Christ church.

Me with the brother and sisters at Kirtland, OH. Wow, and to think three more boys were born after this point!

I clearly remember the moments in the photo above. Besides liking that purple shirt (rare for me because I've just started liking purple recently), I distinctly remember the feelings I had when we had the tour with the Community of Christ tour guide and the tour we had with our LDS tour guide. Both were kind and good, but I felt powerful spiritual feelings with the LDS tour guide. It is just a reminder that children are not exempt from feeling the Spirit in their lives and may be closer to it than most of us having grown into adults.

It was great to walk the grounds alone. No one from the Community of Christ was at their visitor center and so we assumed it was closed for the day.

Right as we were walking toward it, the church across the street had an organist start playing "Till We Meet Again." That, along with the crisp (warm) morning air and being alone made it an especially peaceful experience.

The neighboring graveyard had many grave stones with familiar names - Smith, Stevenson, Pratt, etc. Standing among the graves of people who made great sacrifices brought feelings that I've felt at Gettysburgh, PA. Gratitude, respect, peace and a desire to push myself a little harder in life to stand for something and be something more than merely living a status quo.

We decided to head down into Ohio a bit more to see some Indian Mounds J had been hearing about. Sometimes it is more amazing to read about these things than actually see them in real life. But, again, I know that I had been to these mounds, or those that were similar, on one of those past family trips when I was young. Yet, I don't have a picture to prove it.

You can't go on a trip without visiting a local diner and we did just that - and sat up where we could talk to the waiters and waitresses as they shouted at each other and quite possibly us.

Notice how J also had to indulge in a Dairy Queen even while I try to be good. And, yes, the chocolate covered cone IS bigger than the vanilla cone he is eating. It isn't just bigger because it is closer to the camera.

A fun moment was seeing the Longaberger Baskets offices on a random drive near Newark, Ohio. The building looks like a big basket.



We ended up seeing J's kids after all this and the drive home was mostly in the dark through the mini-mountains of West Virginia and Virginia.

Trips are the best! They get us out of our norm and most important to me - I see people living life and they are OUTSIDE of the DC racket. Yes, there is a life out there and I'm excited to hit the road more to see it!

P.S. You will probably see another post above this since our moonroof decided not to close during our trip. Ugh. It was in the 60s and sunny the entire time, but now it is raining and presenting issues. More car sagas!

Memory Lane and Friend Good-byes

A few years ago,  I took a little trip by myself to get away from a lot of stress I was having in a new job. I was able to stay with a friend's parents most of the time and did a little non-tourist type traveling around the south of France, Spain and Andorra.

It was slightly before spring and so everything was on the verge of being beautiful - you know what I mean?

We went to restaurants where the regulars went, watched old men play boules in the local green spaces, saw people from near and far bring jugs to fill with holy water at Lourdes,  visited old farmhouses (over 300 years old) with very old people (100+ year olds), drove through the Pyrenees, dodged wild boars on the winding countryside roads and ate some pretty decent bread. (-;

All through the trip, a little dog named Tiny traveled with me. And, though the picture is up close, she really was tiny.  She had to sit by me, follow me, and perform tricks for me. She ate what the family ate for dinner on an actual human plate which further displayed the fine tastes of the French culture and French dogs. Ha.

On a regular basis, she would run to catch a knotted up rag that I would throw down the hallway to her, dash back to me and lay the rag at my feet followed by my throwing it down the hall again - you know the drill.

On the day of my departure, my bags were all packed at the end of the hallway and Tiny brought the knotted rag to me to throw off in to the distance. I threw it toward my bags. She dashed happily off to catch the toy.

And, stopped. Once Tiny saw the bags, she looked back at me, wandered in to the bedroom I had occupied and back out by the luggage...then slowly made her way back to the living room and sat on the floor beside me. No knotted rag.

It was in an instant that she realized that this novelty in her life (me) was no longer going to be there. Her countenance completely changed in a matter of seconds! The next few hours she wandered around with a sad look on her face before we headed toward the airport.

This was quite shocking for me because I'm not that clued in to dogs.

However, here I am years later having one of these same type of Tiny moments.

This morning one of my good friends drove off in to the ....sun rise. She's been my roommate about four times over the past 11 years. We've gone through some of the fun and a lot of the difficult parts of life together. She had moved closer to the city a few years ago and so we would catch up every month or two. She's been living with me the past few months as she prepares for her new opportunity - teleworking in another state.

Late last night and early this morning I woke up crying with a profound sorrow. It was like my body had that same sudden change as Tiny had when she realized that someone that she spent time with would be gone for a while.

I've had this feeling at the end of each year of college, or whenever my family moved, or whenever I moved. It was the realization that an experience had ended and it would never be the same after that point. For some reason the soul has to mourn this change for at least a few moments before it can embrace the next set of experiences, challenges, adventures, etc.

These are good, though difficult, moments. It causes reflection. It reminds us of all that we've gone through with a person, place, or thing. It gives meaning to our lives as we realize how many of these experiences with friends, families, acquaintances - and even dogs - become interwoven in to who we are and what we will become.

So, thank you for your friendship Harrison! Here's hoping that wonderful adventures await! Perhaps this journey will be difficult, but there will be some joys and surprises along the way. Plus, it is 2011 - which means we have modern technology to keep in touch while remembering some of the fun moments of the past.

To sum it all up - one of my favorite little poems of all time:

"You are the piece to the puzzle

of someone else's life.

You may never know

where you fit.

But, others will fill the holes in their lives

with pieces of YOU."

New Years - a moment of reflection 45 minutes in to a better year

It is dark out and quiet. I've turned off the tv because the mediocre performers on Dick Clark's show were polluting all the good ideas I had at the gym earlier this evening. Yes, my resolutions are "rolling resolutions" and they don't start today. However, those resolutions that continue to roll over multiple years have now become a priority.

Here I am in the dark, in my bed, and on the laptop. I cannot sleep. I want to pursue all ideas now and feel hope of their success in this 2011.

In some ways, I feel like a bit of a failure this year. So much work and most didn't work out the way I planned.

I only lost 10-15 pounds. I still have no self control with cookies. Even bad cookies run across the room into my mouth. They pester me from distance places.

I stayed at my job, in a role I created, though I thought I'd leave for bigger and better things. Should I say that here? Not a problem. I've said this for a couple of years at work and no one believes me.

I'm still single.

My debt didn't go down, but my 401k went up. Not a lot of good that does right now. Golden handcuffs don't seem so golden, aye?

Friends had big issues. I helped a few and not others.

My soul despaired and went through lessons I had to learn.

But, like all tunnels, there are bright lights in the distance.

Yes, bright lights.

Humility
Humility was learned. Humility I didn't know I needed.

Job
I did stay at my job. I very good job in a bad economy. A position I created myself. A position where I learned that I am the strategist, the coordinator, the puppet master, the implementer and ....not the numbers keeper. A position that requires me to create entire strategies and plans out of nothing and I find that I LOVE that freedom! I haven't moved mountains (yet), but I've been managing some pretty big initiatives and helping an organization through culture change. Changing from old school rigid thinking to implementing new approaches for capturing and sharing knowledge. Uncomfortable approaches for some. My approach isn't perfect, but we are further along than we were last year by a long shot and gaining a lot of buy-in. Plus, I've been able to work with some great forward thinkers along the way. So, why was/am I trying to leave?

Good Gifts
I'm learning to give good gifts. Truly giving. Some giving hurts because they are truly from the heart and take a piece of me away from me. But, I see the wisdom and depth it gives my soul.

Pivotal People
Certain people were there for me at pivotal moments. They helped me help myself...if only through listening as I verbally worked through a problem, or to say "it will be ok" or "I have full confidence in you."

Exercise
Exercise is a key element of my life. No matter what I weigh, I exercise at least five days a week, if only a long walk. This year had many, many, many walks. Many were at a local battleground park where I could think and see the horizon. Sometimes I was quiet with my thoughts and other times I listened to scriptures, books, music or podcasts. All helped increase my knowledge and open my spirit to the possibilities that we sometimes forget are there.

Voices, or lack thereof
More than ever, this year, I learned to tune out all the voices at important times and listen to the one voice that mattered - inspirations from Heaven. My soul trying to figure out what my Heavenly Father wanted me to do with different situations, with moments, with goals and with my life. I experienced more than ever "pure intelligence flowing through me" and "inexplicable joy" in isolated and overpowering moments. Those are the moments that carried me through moments where I could feel nothing.

Relationships
I learned to love some people at church and work that I didn't love before because I allowed myself to reach out OR I accepted their reaching out to me. How beautiful to re-realize and understand that cycle of giving and receiving love, gifts of the heart, etc.

Entrepreneurial
Finally, I've pursued some of my entrepreneurial ideas. One idea was to promote other entrepreneurs, which is a fairly common practice by now, but I'm ok with that. Another is a company I set up six years ago, but couldn't move forward on because it was a conflict of interest. Now I'm moving it forward in different ways. I'm starting some other side work that will hopefully grow larger as I devote more time to the efforts.

Religious and Spiritual
Many people separate these out, but for the most part I put them in the same bucket in my head. Either way, I've grown in all kinds of areas related to understanding the core principles of my religious beliefs, but also learning and growing in other spiritual ways. I've found that my love for reading about psychology, marketing, customers, innovation, learning and related topics help me understand scripture better because I develop better mental models to take the information into my brain in the way I need to use it. And, I continually learn that God loves Rebecker....much, much, much.

Miracles
I continue to experience and witness miracles. And, hope for more to come.



So, perhaps last year was more light than tunnel than I realize. Or, more likely, once you get closer to the light some of the darkness falls behind and seems smaller.


This probably should have gone into my personal journal (and it may well be added), but sometimes it helps to publicly expose trips down memory lane because it can make us accountable to ourselves and others.

Here's to a great new year in 2011!

It will be a great one ....just like how all the others ended up being ...after I forgot the details. (-:

Personal Purpose Journey

As they say, I really think the "universe combines" to take you where you want to go...even if you are only sure of the fact that you need to go somewhere else and no other details.

For the past six months or so, I feel like I've been in the "depths of despair" (Anne of Green Gables) and at the height of inspiration - often in the same day.

Lucky for me - God puts people in my path that continue to help me along this journey.

A simple discussion on the phone, a spiritual breakfast (or dinner) at the Silver Diner, talking with a former co-worker at Border's bookstore as we brainstorm ideas for our future, quotes from different church meetings, drive by cubings at work that turn into heartfelt sharing and innovative solutions, taking a break from the DC traffic to go on a hayride with some good friends.

These are those moments that tell me that I am blessed and must be grateful.

As I make all of the changes that have been swarming around in my head for the last while, I will need all of these moments to reflect on, act on and express gratitude for since all will contribute to who I become and how fast. Note: I'm trying not to say slow because that is not an option. (-:

Either way, this evening I'm experiencing immense gratitude for the people in my life, the possibilities that are ahead and how I can better serve others.

By the way, in particular, "people" actually boils down to a lot of awesome women right now - OK, and a few men. Let me take a moment to name a few:

• My parents - who have learned patience through our lives not going the way THEY planned
• Brothers and Sisters - for being my best friends even if we don't talk every week or even month!
• Nieces and Nephews - that allow themselves a special "Aunt Rebecker" spot in their hearts. All 19 of them...so far.
• My Neighbors - who I'm spending more time getting to know based upon a quote I read on Erin's blog. Come visit and I'll introduce you - we've got some characters.
• Ms. R - for being my mentor, having confidence in me with all the program management "junk" I deal with on a daily basis.
• Angela - for giving me confidence for outwardly expressing that "I am a Woman of God" and talking about religious things with me, though we are of different "faiths."
• Pam - always thinking of ways to keep up, enjoy time shared and talk through the challenges of life.
• Ann - virtual support who I still need to travel the world with since I'm much delayed on delivering my promises. (-:
• Tiffany - my cousin that boldly shares her beliefs (politically and spiritually) on her blog.
• Anthony - a work kindred spirit who loves to talk ideas, forward thinking, politics, and religion.
• Harrison - is still willing to meet up with me for long walks and talks and to share photobooks. And, honestly never judges.
• Heidi - another great conversation that took my thoughts even further on the path toward realizing who I want to be and to get to it!
• Erin - constantly writing and sharing ideas and the ups and downs candidly and with a fierce desire to keep moving forward and making a difference in the world.
• Mrs. L - a new friend who is a bit intimidating (retired Chief Learning Officer for part of DoD) that realized before I did that I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life and was comfortable telling me so.

Wow, I truly did not mean to get carried away here! Thought it was going to be just a couple of people and the list just kept growing. I'm sure I'm forgetting quite a few too.

I am one lucky lady!

Let's all keep on this journey together -side by side. Hmmm - do you remember that song from a long time ago? (I just went and looked it up here - http://visit.elysiumgates.com/rag.html)

Well we ain't got a barrel of money...


We may look ragged and funny...

But we're travelin' on...

Singing our song...

Side by side.

Through all kinds of weather...

What if the sky should fall?

As long as we're together,

It doesn't matter at all.

So we ain't got a barrel of money...

We may look ragged and funny...

But we're travelin' on...

Singing our song...

Side by side.



Through all kinds of weather...

Drought, flood, rain and snow,

We will be together...

So it just don't matter at all...

Oh we ain't got a barrel of money...

We may look ragged and funny...

But we're travelin' on...

Singing our song...

Side by side.



Don't know what's comin' tomorrow...

maybe it's trouble and sorrow...

but we'll travel the road...

sharin' our load...

side by side.



Oh we ain't got a barrel of money...

We may look ragged and funny...

But we're travelin' on...

Singing our song...

Side by side.

When they've all had their quarrels and parted...

we'll be the same as we started...

just travlin' along singin' a song...

side by side.

Notebook Prayers

I love having beautiful notebooks! I'm a firm believer in having one notebook that you carry around (regardless of how digital you are in life) to write thoughts, notes, to dos, and ....to rip out a page or two here and there for other people.

Here's one of my latest beautiful notebooks that I purchased at either Border or Barnes & Noble. They have to be interesting, beautiful, classy or whatever because you have to WANT to carry the notebook with you at all times.

However, this post started on a big ole tangent because of the picture.

 

The reality is that this post is about prayer. And, how my notebook is essential to some of my prayers.

Back in the day....long time ago in a far away land, but not so far away, I was a missionary. The people felt foreign, but the land was Oregon. And, most of the people spoke English.

I don't know when it happened, but at one point I started to kneel down to pray with a notebook (or a blue planner). These were the prayers that were all about being led to know what to do, who to visit, how to help, etc. At first it was awkward praying and writing, because I typically keep my eyes closed during these types of discussions with my Heavenly Father. But, then it became easier and before I knew it there would be a page full of things to do, little inspirations to seek people I'd forgotten or a simple idea.

It really wasn't about the notebook, but more about the willingness to immediately write down promptings and being willing to follow them. And, then more would come.

Back to 2010 - years later - I suddenly remembered the notebook prayers and decided I needed to start doing them again. I tried it last week and came away with a page full of people to contact, simple ideas and little inspirations. I acted on as many as I could the next day. It felt good. It gave me hope to keep doing it knowing that somewhere in this process I will gain insights previously un-obtained and hopefully help a heart in need.

It is time for the day to end and it is time to pull out the notebook. Yes, the cover is "pretty," but the words on the inside and the upcoming actions will be what makes it beautiful.

Memory Lane - Clouds and the Big Sky

This picture doesn't do justice to what I'm trying to convey, but hopefully it supports my idea.

Somethin is a changin in the sky in my neck of the woods. Either that or I'm just suddenly more observant. Yet, I don't think that is it because I've always been a sky watcher. I took this picture sitting in traffic the other day. So, it may be a little grainy, but look at those clouds!

The clouds are not east coast clouds. Suddenly we've got the clouds of Big Sky Montana and the Nebraska plains hovering above us. These aren't little wisp cirrus clouds that have just barely made it over small mountain ranges. These aren't the nimbostratus grey flat oppressive boring clouds that just make for an overcast day.

These are the mammoth cumulonimbus thunderstorm clouds that make statements in the sky. Sure, there are some cumulus and Cirrus clouds mixed in just as supporting cast, but there have been some amazingly large clouds coming through here on a daily basis.

That has been one thing I've missed around here all these years - amazing sky formations and broad expanses of universe. Now, it is here. I don't know what that means. Has the weather pattern changed that drastically?

Either way, I am rather pleased. I don't have to fly out west to get my fix of wide open space and glorious sky views.

For some reason, these are those experiences that remind me that there is a God. I remember taking a walk one day a few months ago and the scene before my eyes was so heavenly I felt like I was in a movie watching the universe revolve around my place of standing. It was, well, "glorious."

In the Midwest the onset of the cumulonimbus usually meant a late afternoon thunderstorm that would break up the hot muggy days of summer, and also meant that it was even more critical your family remembered to pick you up from your summer job. Yes, I've been forgotten before - one time at 11:00 p.m. at night, before cell phones, and with a thunderstorm raging. I started walking and praying for my life that I wasn't a target of the skies.

Then there are the clouds of a bad day in Michigan where the clouds were that light brown color of A&W root beer foam and a weird chemical smell loomed in the air. Hmmm. I'm still wondering if something at Dow Chemical caused that situation. It was eery.

Family trips across the United States in the beat up station wagon provided unlimited opportunities to survey the skies, but the best views I remember actually come from the airplane. Lucky for me, we flew a lot when we were young and I still remember wanting the window seat to peer out the window at the friendly skies. Yes, it is fun to see how many people in any given neighborhoods have pools, or watch as the grid work patterns start to emerge on the farmers fields of the far west of the Midwest, but truly magnificent are those moments where the plane shudders and makes it's way above the really thick clouds and suddenly you are in the eye of the cloud (so to speak) with the sun pouring down and the huge billows of fluffiness below you and forming a wall in different directions. I often imagined jumping out of the plane and landing on those billows because it looked like it would feel like a bed made of millions of cotton balls. It was awe inspiring to me then and I become fixated when I see it now. Only problem is now I find the windows so low that I have to be in a row by myself so I can situate myself over two seats to get the right angle to be able to even see out of the window. Growing up definitely gives us different views and not all good!

Well, enough about clouds. I've got a day job and this was not the reason I couldn't sleep last night, but has somehow morphed into a huge post.

We'll see what the skies provide today...

If you are a little interested, and don't already know about clouds, here's a kids link that I found that is a fairly simple and straightforward explanation of the different clouds types.

http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/cloud3.html

Memory Lane - puffy photo album covers

Back in the 1980s, when bad fads were abundant, I started one of my many entrepreneurial ventures.

Besides mowing lawns, paper routes and lots of babysitting, I also created chocolate suckers (chocolates from cool molds) and made a few crafts.

Shocking, I know. I do not make crafts at this point in my life. Only take pictures, re-type journals and make cool MyPublisher books.

But, I digress.

Though many people were creating photo album covers and photo frames with calico type fabric and cheesy patterns, I refused to do so. I would only buy silk or fake substitutes.

Here is one that I made for my grandmother. She gave it back to me a couple of years ago and as I de-junk around the house, the realization that this must be captured in pictures and then given away to Goodwill is upon me.

I can't believe I was a glue gun expert and liked making these things, but it does look classy in a 1980s kind of way.

Wish I had a picture of the lacy little jewelry basket top that I made. These are all during the time of the "Victorian" craze that some of my sisters went through while I desperately tried to be interested, but was not.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, off to Goodwill I go....

Memory Lane - Were you praying for me?

A long time ago (1992-1994) in a land far away (Oregon Rancher Country, USA), I was a missionary for my church. Though Portland was beautiful, I loved being out in the great open spaces of eastern Oregon.

My companion and I were in charge of 15-20 small towns. We actually lived in the largest of the small towns (John Day - approximately 2,000 people) and would travel all around eastern Oregon since our area was about 2.5 hours wide by 2.5 hours tall (I'm referring to a map in my head).

Anyway, we would teach a small family up in a mountain town called Seneca, Oregon. I think it was about 30 miles from John Day and we would drive through mountains, pine forests and windy roads before we would hit the high plateau of this town of 200 people. The surrounding were attractive, but the town itself seemed destitute. I still don't remember why the town even existed.

However, we taught lessons to this family and their life seemed to transform before our eyes as they felt the Spirit of the truths being taught. The mother was especially anxious for her husband and 10 year old child to learn more and accept the teachings.

One night we were home and praying for this family and were interrupted by a phone call. It was the mother.

"Are you praying for our family right now?" she asked.

"Um, yes, we were just praying for your family" I replied wondering where this was going.

"Well, I just called to tell you that I felt you praying for our family right now." She thanked us and we were left in slight amazement at the situation.

That happened a few more times, but the first time was the most powerful.


The other day I was praying for someone and asked them if they felt my prayers. They said no. I told them that that was too bad. I would keep it up and maybe one of those times they would feel my prayers.

Either way, it made me think - there are people out there praying for each of us. A parent, a brother, a sister, a friend, or maybe even a co-worker or someone just passing by that recognizes we have a need.

Just knowing that somehow makes me have more faith to move forward.

After all, God wants the best for us and why not take advantage of that by trusting in our own prayers and the prayers of others.

On the other hand, it is a reminder to me to 1.) live right and 2.) pray for others a little more.

How does that radio commercial go - "Not a sermon, just a thought."

Just a thought.

Memory Lane - Independence Day

It's 4th of July time of year again and with it brings lots of memories of picnics, city fireworks and ....my personal firework purchasing endeavors that were a little too bold for my teenage years (though I didn't realize that until recently). I would regularly purchase quite a bit with paper route, lawn mowing and babysitting money. I liked the ones that popped about 20-30 feet in the air ....and I'm talking about the actual firecracker and not just the spring of fire. What were those called? It seemed like they were called "flowers" or something to that effect.

For some reason, by far the most memorable July 4th was in Pasadena/Glendale, California in 1976.

The bicentennial year.

I remember sitting up on a 2nd story deck of a home or hotel and watching a parade and fireworks.

Even better, we got little flags and special hats to where to celebrate the occasion.

I had to lighten up the dark pictures a little bit, but it was a pretty festive affair for a five year old (me) and my little sisters. Of course, dressing up was always a festive affair at that point in life, but somehow I think we were involved in making some of these hats. But, memory could be off at that point in life.

Either way, this one still sticks in my mind even though I've participated in the celebrations for the National Capital a few times while I've lived out here.

Happy Independence Day!

Memory Lane - Sunday journal entries

I had to give a talk in church on Sunday and it was about Sabbath day activities.

Thought I'd go through a few journals to see what I did in the past. Here are some of the entries I found. These are from my first journal and so they are fairly fun.

Fun little trek down memory lane...


February 5, 1980 - At primary I learned about a prophet named Wilford Woodruff. It was fun. All the prophets are good ones.

April 13, 1980 - Today I went to church. We learned about Heber J. Grant in my Targeter 8 class. I am Vice-President in my primary class.

July 20, 1980 - Today is Sunday. We went to church. My church teacher's name is Sister Shepherd. The primary president is Sister Pulsipher. She's a nice lady. We have big meals on Sunday. We can't play outside on Sundays because we have to keep it holy. Today in Sunday School we talked about testimonies. I had fun. We have a new church program not to go to primary on Tuesday. We have primary on Sunday now.

January 25, 1981 - I got a new paper route this week. I deliver 37 houses. I like my route. We have a new rule at home. We have to say our prayers at night AND MORNING. And we are all going to read some books for a contest we're having at home. I like reading.

April 5, 1981 - Today is Sunday. Our family just got back from Sarnia, Ontario, Canada on Saturday. We had to do genealogy. We went back seven generations. I enjoyed it. Today was general conference. We watched it on TV at the church. I think that the President of the church is getting pretty old.

August 7, 1981 - Today was fast Sunday. We were eating breakfast as a family. When all of a sudden my mom said, "Oh, no it's fast Sunday" when my dad was on his 6 or 7th helping of cereal. We have to fast next Sunday instead. Good-bye. Later - today is still Sunday and I had to talk in Sunday School on the Godhead. It wasn't very good.

February 2, 1982 - The church reading the scripture assignment is still on. I'm done with the Book of Mormon and I have read 66 chapters in the Bible. I want to be done with the bible this September 1982. I want to be done with all the books by March 1983.

March 14, 1982 - I am in Leviticus in the Bible. It's not interesting at all.

April 4, 1982 - Today was world wide conference. We watched it at the church for two hours. Then our Dad said when we got home "Decide whether you will go to the next session our not. I'm not going because it's too long.

September 26, 1982 - Today is Sunday. It is 65 degrees. That's pretty warm. At church we are going to have a sacrament meeting presentation. My part is: .....Tonight at 6:30 p.m. the new missionaries are coming. They are as nice as Elder Shirtlift and Elder Brady. And I hope they bring a film for us to watch.

October 3, 1982 - Today was world wide conference. the speakers were: 1st Marion G. Romney, 2nd Boyd K. Packer, 3rd Derek A. Cuthbert, 4th Howard W. Hunter. They gave very good talks.

April 23, 1983 - L. Tom Perry came to speak today and he gave me his signature on this little piece of paper.

Journal Re-reads and Sunbeam Brett

I'm preparing a talk for church on Sunday and part of this effort includes me reading through some old journals. It is amazing how inspiring (and at times tear jerking) re-reading old thoughts can be. Many of my thoughts are still the same, but a lot has changed.

Regardless, I come across notes stuck in a page here and there and this one was cute. It was a note typed while my little brother Brett was a Sunbeam (around three years old) which was when I was on my mission.


(-: Dear Rebecca,

I love you! I usually play baseball and while the boys are playing baseball, I play one my swingset. I had my birthday on February and I show pictures of you and all of us and Scot at King's Island. I know the church; we usually go to every day that's Sunday. I feel the church in my body. Craig went toa movie with his friend and Dad got some new silverware and dishes (plates and bowls). He bought one heavy bag of chips. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. We love chicken and we love you. In Sunbeams i ate chocolate chip cookies; my new teacher, I don't know her name but she has black hair and wore red shoes and a red dress, brought them. I love my parents and my Grandpa and Grandma.

Love, Brett (followed by multiple wingding symbols that I can't replicate here)

Memory Lane - One cookie left

I like cookies. My family likes cookies. Many of us eat as many cookies are in the package. It doesn't matter what size the bag or what kind. We eat to the end.

There was one cookie left in a package at work the other day and it reminded me of when a roommate left one cookie in a package on our refrigerator. My brother saw it and said, "Well, it's obvious that it was your roommate because no one from our family would ever leave just one cookie."

He was right. It's easy to find who got into the cookies if there is one left. At our house, we'd just polish it off and throw out the bag and no one would have known that there were any cookies in existence.

Memory Lane - ADD Yahtzee

Sometimes when I go to sleep I give talks in my head. One of them this week was from a family memory that still takes place when a few of us gather at the homestead. I'm quite sure this doesn't take place at any other place on the planet, but at our home.

ADD Yahtzee! I can't wait to take a video of it when I'm home next time because this post just doesn't do it justice.

Basically, the game of Yahtzee is usually played with a few dice, the pre-made pad of score sheets and a big plastic cup which you shake the dice in before rolling them out on the table. You can play it with a couple of people and each takes a turn trying to get all sixes, all fives, all fours, a straight (run of numbers 1-2-3-4-etc.), etc.

Anyway, our family is kind of ADD (attention deficit disorder) which probably should be called AD - RID (attention deficit - resulting in disorder) if you really think about it.

Can we wait for each person to take a separate turn?

No way!

What do we do? - We bought a couple of extra Yahtzee games over the years (or perhaps dice were extracted from other games in the house/plastic cups borrowed from the kitchen) to create 4-5 extra Yahtzee sets. We sit around the table with our very own scorecard and start to play.

Amongst all of this are people eating, people arguing politics, people humming songs (or loudly thumping out a rhythm on the table), people shouting victory, people expressing dismay at their scores and people coming and going as they've finished however many games they've played.

The funny thing is - this is not at all weird to us. We laugh for a minute or two about our mutual lack of patience ...and then we all move forward with the shake-shake-shake of the plastic cup and the click-click-click of the dice across the family table.

ADD Yahtzee isn't the only game - I think Boggle has it's own special ADD Boggle rules and let's not leave out ADD Mexican Train dominos.

Perspective Funnies

It's Saturday morning and I woke myself up with my own snoring and got myself on the road to go to the post office, gas station and to the line up for the bi-yearly emissions test.

The emissions task was last on my list and I spent the 30 minutes in line cleaning out the car (found 4 hair clips, 7 hair scrunches, and 3 dental floss cases in the arm rest), sending emails and trying to access facebook on the iPhone. The entire time I felt like there was a gas smell coming from the gas station that was making me feel faint. It didn't seem like it was coming from the car, but it was definitely in the car. I kept opening the windows, but the smell wouldn't go away.

Finally, on the way home, I opened all the windows and drove like a crazy lady with wind blowing threw my hair to get air circulating through the car.

Still, the smell would not leave. Hmmmm! Perhaps it was my coat?

How embarrassing! I had zipped up my coat after getting gas and had gotten the smell on the collar of my coat and my left hand (left handed) and instead of it being a car problem, the problem was just one inch from my nose.

Haaa.

This reminded me of a time when I was a little girl. I went up to my parents bedroom in the middle of the night because there was a fluorescent green UFO outside of my window blinking in the night.

With adults at my side, and the light on, our further inspection revealed that it was merely a firefly caught in a spider web outside of my window.

Ahh, perspective. Perhaps I needed this experience today. Sometimes our pains, or observations, are very real (and may I add...very close), but sometimes they aren't quite from the right perspective.

P.S.
(Ok, I just put my left hand up to my chin to rest while I was proofing this and it still smells like gas! How many times does it take to wash that off of me? Goodness, the lesson must not yet be learned)

Primary - kid or secretary?

I'm the secretary in primary and sometimes I'll admit to forgetting that I'm adult.

During singing time I sometimes have to focus to try to learn the words. I get so focused that I forget that I'm supposed to help the teachers, take the roll, pass out the roll/flyers for the teachers and go check on the nursery.

It kind of shows the power of the primary singing and sharing time.

Growing up I had fond memories of this time. My mother was usually the chorister and she always had great posters, activities and hand motions for us. I even have journal entries about how we went home and "played primary" after church on Sundays.

Ah, good times. I do enjoy being in primary. After all, this is about the only place that I see children all week at this point in my life.

Secret Happiness AND Memory Lane - Reader's Digest

Typically I have either a secret happiness or a memory lane experience, but this time it is both.

My boyfriend brought over six recent issues of Reader's Digest for me the other day. He doesn't know how he started getting them, but figured I might like to take a look.

Yep, I did take a look and pretty much kept reading until I had finished all six. He couldn't believe how enthralled I was in them. Honestly, I couldn't tell you why either, except for the fact that it has little articles about health, finances, politics, life and jokes sprinkled between it all. In this day and age it is always good to break up information with a few good jokes.

So, here are some things I learned in this little endeavor:

• Missing Money - http://www.missingmoney.com/ - go to it and see if someone owes you money. Someone owes me! We went and put in my name and someone in the state of Virginia owes me. I submitted my information and we'll see what comes back. It should take a few weeks. It could be $5 for all I care. It has instilled hope in me that money can come out of nowhere.


• The BBC recently asked its online readers to send in their "best worst examples" of office jargon and management - speak. A few winners (the rest are at news.bbc.co.uk) - going forward, incentivize, loop back, low-hanging fruit, conversate, 360-degree thinking, not enough bandwidth, granularity, drill down. Why do I share this? We use EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE WORDS AND MORE AT MY OFFICE. Yes, that font was meant to be large.


• Joke - This was from Nancy Pelosi (speaker of the house - Dem) - One day, out of the blue, my daughter, Alexandra, said, "Mother, I'm really proud of you because you are a pioneer." I said, "Because I'm a woman member of Congress?" "No," she replied."Because remember when you used to cook, and then you stopped? Well, now hardly anybody cooks, but you were among the first to stop." *Loved this because I haven't even started to learn to cook and maybe I can just put off that goal indefinitely.


• Tuesday Nights/Wednesday morning - a good reminder that these days/times of the week are the best time to buy airplane tickets. Try travel search engine aggregators like Kayak.com for great deals or the airline sites themselves.

Memory Lane - I realized while reading these that we used to read Reader's Digest growing up. My mother had an aunt that would buy us all kinds of magazines...and I mean ALL kinds. Here are a few:

• National Geographic
• Yankee
• Ranger Rick
• Vermont Life
• Reader's Digest
• Owl
• Chickadee
• Highlights
• Arizona Highways - I loved this one - beautiful photography
• Probably others I can't remember

All of us used to sit around the house reading from these magazines, as well as our parent's old college books and Encyclopedia Britannica collection. This was, after all, pre-internet. And, we didn't have a tv. So, these were a big part of our awareness and learning outside of school and church of course.

Good memories and there are still some good magazines out there. They even have online versions and I should probably start referring to those. I always have these little piles of pages that I've ripped out that I want to remember or refer to later. As a result of this post I can now throw out a couple of those ripped out pages.

Good memories and glad that a little magazine like Reader's Digest can still provide secret happinesses, awareness and laughs.

Memory Lane - Library Treks

I wish I had a picture of us sitting at the big tree between our road and the library on Eastman road in Midland, Michigan. But, I don't and I haven't been back to Midland since 1990.

However, that tree holds lots of memories because we would often bike or walk to the library (around 1-1.5 miles from our home) to get books during the summer months. We would spend time looking at books or at those little film strips in the children's area and then select those that we actually wanted to check out and bring home.

By the time we started walking home we were a little tired and anxious to read the books we had checked out. Often we would stop and sit under that tree. My sisters and I would often start reading a book while we sat there and then the discussion would turn into decision making time. Do we keep walking home or do we return to the library to return the book (or books) we just read while sitting under the tree. Hmmm. Decisions, decisions. Most of the time we just kept going home, but I think there were a few times where we went back anxious to return the so-so choices and gather more options to take home.

Even if we didn't read any books it was still fun to stop and sit at that tree. I think we felt like we were on a little trek or something.

Either way, it was good times and I still remember it. Still wish I had a picture.

Memory Lane - Uncle Sam cereal

This past week I saw some Uncle Sam cereal and bought it. Those flax seeds were just calling my name. I still remember when I discovered it. I was living in John Day, Oregon on my mission. People kept feeding us fattening food because they spent all day working in the fields haying and would come home starving. We, on the other hand, didn't really need that much nourishment and so we would try to eat cereal all morning and afternoon so that we could handle heavy evening meals that often started at 8:00 p.m. at night during that summer.

It must have been a good choice because I lost about 20-25 pounds that summer. Hmmm. It's that time to lose 30-35 pounds again and so this will re-enter my "lifestyle change."