Trials and Tribulations are a BLESSING

I was contemplating the story of Mary, Martha, and Jesus. I thought of how great it would be to be that close to the Savior in mortality. I know we can each know Him and love Him but to be a personal friend during His mortal ministry, WOW!! Then I started thinking of the POWER He has. He could have taken away all of the hurt, pain, despair, etc from all of these friends. He did not do that. Yes, He raised Lazarus but He could have healed Him before the death occurred. It is a gentle reminder to me that He did not take those mortal experiences from His friends because He loved them enough to let them learn and grow from them.

Trials and Tribulations are a BLESSING. They help the person grow and give marvelous service and charity opportunities for us to love and learn through service.

What is in a DAY!

So I was pondering the other day and the phrase "we are all given the same amount of minutes in a day" came into my head. This phrase has brought much angst to me on this mortal journey accompanied by guilt. Then it hit me. Yes, we all have equal time given to us in any given day. Every person on earth gets the same 24 hours with its accompanying minutes and seconds, etc. HOWEVER, the tasks assigned to each of us to use these days are very very unique and different. Let me explain....

To a nursing mother, the exhaustion and fatigue cannot be equalized to a working woman's desire to get one more load of laundry done cannot be equalized to the retired woman who wishes there were less aches to hinder the smallest activity to the mother with a child that has extra special needs, etc etc etc.

We are not equal and the measure of our lives I am learning is not in the day, minute, or second but how we meet our unique and diverse struggles. We must lean and trust on the Savior to get us through and do our very best each and every day. Today will be different from yesterday which will be different from our tomorrow. Just try a little harder to be a little better as President Hinckley is quoted as saying.

But...if you have the flu, the little better may just mean that you allow your body the rest it requires to recover.

That is better for you in this moment!

TODAY!

Different Type of Family Visit

Different type of Family Visit
We made our every 6 month pilgrimage to see Mom and Dad S. It was great to see them and make sure that they are okay. They are doing very well.

Saturday we stopped to see them on the way to the hotel. Went and checked in and then had dinner. We were pretty tired so went to bed early. Sunday we went and picked up Mom and Dad and spent a lovely day talking and catching up. On Monday we made our Sam's Club run. Tuesday we made our Albertson's and Walmart runs. On Wednesday we made a trip to the mall and spent the morning and early afternoon looking at all of the few remaining stores there. Thursday, legs hurt, bodies sore and we went for a walk along the river then returned to the rooms and rested. Friday is the drive back home. A great week was had by all.

EVENTS TO NOTE:We have a friend at one of the restaurants we frequent while there. She is the BEST waitress EVER. I just can tell that if she and I lived closer we would be the greatest of friends and drive my sweetheart absolutely bonkers Hee Hee Hee. So we exchanged emails. HELLO NEW FRIEND!

Walking to the parking garage one day I saw 2 roadrunners. Noone else was paying much attention so I was the only person with the privilege.

On one of the trips to the hotel from the apartment building, there was a "red ribbon" floating across the road. Turns out it wasn't a red ribbon but a beautiful redish copperish snake. Beautiful creature. It was probably about 6 feet long. Glad I didn't run over it. I cannot find it exactly on google. I am asuming it is a copperhead and I just couldn't make out the beautiful patterns at such a distance. The distance I am grateful for :-)

A lizard barely escaped death as he dashed in front of our car on one of the trips. He was pretty funny actually.

People watching was a lot of fun! We watched the people ski doing on the river. We suspect that many of them use the little islands for more than just resting. A few of them used them to "relieve themselves". OOOH YUCK!

In the gift shop there were these freaky little animals, mostly cats and dogs. They were toys but with a battery they actually look like they are breathing. I am not sure if they are more on the cute or freaky side of things.

Other than that not too much different. We had very safe travels and were blessed with health by a loving Heavenly Father. Much relaxation accomplished and it was a great vacation!

Family Visit

It was a wonderful joy to see my sister and her husband and the two oldest children last week. They were on a travel trip to celebrate their oldest's graduation from High School in a few weeks. It was delightful to drive to Anaheim and see them for even a few short hours. We made the most of the time together. We talked and talked and talked. Took a few pictures. Then we went swimming and into the hot tub at the hotel. It was so much fun! After swimming, we ate dinner. All of the guys went and grilled the meat and the ladies prepared the table, salad and pototatoes. YUMMY!!!! Then we talked some more and walked to the Cheesecake Factory for a delightful dessert. My sister and husband treated us and again I want to say thank you. It was a fun and light hearted evening! On the travel drive back home, my sweetheart and I were discussing the evening and could not help but think about what a wonderful family they are. Also, they have such amazing children! CONGRATULATIONS DEAR NIECE for your graduation and thank you for letting us share in some of the excitement.

SAN DIEGO TEMPLE

My Sweetheart has been wanting to put a nigh time picture of the San Diego Temple up in our Bedroom/Bathroom area. So, when I had to order some other items from the distribution center, I ordered a temple picture. $1.00 for an 11x17 picture. It is absolutely beautiful. We framed and hung it up this past weekend. Now there is a reminder of where he needs to take me someday so we can be ETERNAL COMPANIONS. I think I will do some vinyl lettering that says "Families are Forever" over our closet door to tie it all in.

WILDFLOWERS

This past Saturday, we dug and toiled the dirt and clay and put down some fresh soil. Then we sprinkled the area with wildflower seeds. The forecast for today was light rain and we wanted to plan ahead for this anticipated rain shower. Today it is rainy and sending goodness and sweet nectar from Heaven. Now we just have to be patient for a few weeks and see what these seeds are going to become. I just know it will be BEAUTIFUL!

SNOW in VISTA.....NOT

Last weekend it got really cold in Vista. There was talk that it would be cold enough to snow. It did snow in San Francisco and the snow levels dropped to below 1000 feet. But alas, Vista did not get the snow. That is okay. We did get lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of heavy rain the week and weekend before. The plants loved it. We loved it. Rainy weekends are an excuse to work on all of the home repair and cleaning jobs that have been put off. So we did some Spring cleaning during the rain and cold. This weekend it is supposed to be sunny and in the 60s so we are planning some errands and yarden work this weekend. Yea!

We are back on Saturday is Special Sweetheart day and the last few weeks have been a balm to my soul. I can feel the balance back in our lives. We just NEED that one day a week with nothing in it but what WE WANT! I am learning that it is not selfish but necessary.