The 70 yr old picture that made my day/week/month

This was Gracie three years ago.



Gracie came into my possession through my cousin, from my aunt, but she was really my Granny's. I don't know how my aunt got her. But when my dear auntie passed away, her daughter came into possession of the doll. She sat in a plastic bag somewhere for a couple of years. And then the CUZ came for a visit and brought her with her. She asked me if I wanted her. Oh yes, I really did want her, even though she was in a pair of boys shorts and a boy shirt and had tube socks on to help keep her surface from falling off. I just knew some day, I would figure out what to do with her.

And one day, I read an ad in the Sunday magazine that comes in the paper about a lady who had a doll hospital in Texas.

http://www.aaadollhospital.com/dallas_morning_news.php

I emailed the lady and contacted her to find out if she could do anything with my doll. She said I would have to send her in to find out. So, I held my breath and sent her off to Texas. Before I did, I named her Gracie. The lady told me she could fix her. She took the picture of her there at the doll hospital. You cannot see in the picture that her face was very cracked as were her arms and legs and a good portion of her finish had broken off. Her hair was dirty and matted. And I told you about her clothes.

It took almost a year for Gracie to be finished. The nice lady at the hospital spent months putting each layer on one by one and letting it dry and cure and whatever else it had to do after each application. And then she sent her home to me. How do you think she looks? With a pretty new dress and her hair all done. Little black shoes and rosy lips. Her eyes still work and she even had a new momma box inside.

This is Gracie now.



From the day I got her, I made a wish. Oh how I wished I could find/have a picture of my Granny with her dolly. I told a couple of people here and there how I would love to have a picture. And the little magic fairies began working. A few months ago, I was at my uncle's and he mentioned his cousin, my Granny's niece, had sent him a whole bunch of old family photos. Oh, I would really love to see those, but he does not DO email. Even though that is how he received them. And then a few weeks ago, my dad mentioned that the same cousin had sent the same pictures to him. Oh, I would really love to see those. I asked him to send them, and today, he finally did. They were in the form of a slideshow that was going by way too fast to see the pictures and read who was in each picture. So, when it was finished. I went back through them one by one, enjoying each picture. When what should my eyes behold? I literally gasped as I saw the picture below.

This is Gracie in 1930.



There were many treasures in the slide show of old photos and family. Dates and a few people I had never seen pictures of. But the greatest treasure of all, to me, was the picture of my Granny with her dolly.

Faith and works, thought and action

I had a couple of nice pictures to post, but try as I might, they won't post today, so maybe I will add them later. I'm a big fan of positive thoughts, gratitude, and other helpful techniques to make my life happy. A few weeks ago, I received a lovely 8 page letter from the Superstar aka The Mish 2. I was so happy to read of what he felt I had taught him and his encouragement to me to do those things necessary to receive the life I am seeking. His wisdom touched my heart. His basic message is faith without works is dead. And works without faith isn't worth much either.

"You taught me that if I believed in myself, did what God asked of me, and then put in the effort, He would do the rest. Well, I put that to the test and it worked. I never thought it would take me as far as college ball...you helped me believe in myself, to gain confidence, and then to learn that if I went to God with my desires and believed it would happen, they would. They have come true so far and I know they will continue to come true as long as I believe...Our purpose here on earth is to be happy, and God wants to give us what makes us PERSONALLY happy. I know you have many goals, dreams, and desires because you've told me many of them. Well why haven't they come true? I think it is because you are doing the same thing I did. You attract and believe and put forth the effort, but when the results don't come right away, it's hard not to quit. (me: ouch!) I know where I got it from now. :-) It's so easy to get discouraged when success doesn't come right away, but like you helped me to see, your time is on it's way. You helped me to see our thoughts control everything that happens to us...If we do the small and simple things, God will give us anything we desire and ask Him as long as we have faith that He will.

God blessed me with opportunites that I wanted, but I then left it at that. I know I could have performed better and played more ball if I just would have asked and let God know these were my desires. I could have made 10 times as much money for my job this summer if I would have let God know that's what I wanted. I attracted those things and once they came, I left it at that. I was happy I made the team, but I left it at that. I was happy God blessed me with that job, but I left it at that. That's two examples I was given the opportunity to be extremely successful, but because I settled for just being on the team, lucky to have a job, God left it at that."

I thought he expressed it eloquently. What is our heart's desire, that we take only so far and leave it at that? Why don't we ask God to bless those desires? Anytime we combine our faith with God's purposes and will, we cannot lose. What are you leaving at that?

Not long after I got this letter, I took some action I had been putting off forever and had such wonderful, blessed, pleasing results that I think I will do it again. I don't want to leave it at that anymore. How about you?

*I'm* the MOM--just me

So, here's a little funny. See that worried look on the arteest's face. I accidentally put it there. Last month, the Bish performed his second wedding. He married a couple, one of which goes to our ward. But I have been walking around saying, he "married" them. The bride forgot her dress and I have had it in the back of my van. I finally asked if the Bish would take it and put it in his office last week.

The kids then all wondered why I had this wedding dress in the back of my van. So, I explained how their dad had married this couple. After several minutes of quiet coloring in the back of the van, Olivia exclaimed a litte exasperated, "Wait! Does this mean we're going to have two mommies?" Whoa! Oh no. I had to do a little explaining. And I now refer to her dad's responsibilities as PERFORMING a wedding. Haha.

In the THICK of THIN things

I have a motto. "Life gets in the way of living." We walk down our path with a plan and then something unexpected throws us off course. The question is, how do we handle it? Do we learn from it? Or do we just throw a big fat tantrum? I have been blessed to learn many things to help me deal with life's interruptions of living. But recently I realized something was very wrong. I had a week that sidelined me. And normally when these kinds of things happen, I find a way to be grateful and I plow forward.

But this week, a whole bunch of things got together and collaborated against me. Professional, personal, and family challenges all mounted and I responded unhappily. Still clinging desperately to gratitude, I began asking myself some questions. Some of the experiences were in truth of my own making. Others just completely sidelined me. But if I truly believe in you reap what you sow, and I do, then I guess they were all of my own making, in the thought seeds that I had previously planted.

Time to start weeding the weed patch, because I either planted them, or they drifted in when I wasn't paying attention or delibearately planting flower and vegetable seeds. Ouch! It's hard to take responsibility for that. But I realized some things this week. For one thing, I have been attempting to run faster than I have strength. I can either embrace it and plant seeds to help me handle it happily or make a change, which seems so much easier.

So, I have been pondering how best to do that and I am excited about the possibilites. Because, in the end, I will begin to pursue the things that make me happy, not just the things I think I have to do. And I have realized I am not having any fun anymore. Oh sure, there are rare moments. But I am not living my life intentionally. I am letting the millions of little details get in the way of true joy with those I love. And it's all about relationships in my book. Because I truly believe that, I had to humble myself and apologize to someone who really wronged me. Why would I apologize? Because the relationship, no matter how small, is more imporant than the shared experience and I had a part in it.

So, I am planning to have some planning time and find ways to sieze the day, live in the moment, laugh and enjoy the precious gifts in my life. And to heal the wounds of the week and move on with happiness. Life is so short. "Note to self" Live it.

RS Retreat

About a month ago I was asked to speak at our annual Relief Society retreat. Here are the thoughts I shared this morning.

Standing Strong and Immovable in Families

There was so much good information I came across this month while pondering the assignment I was given from Juie Beck’s talk in General Conference in Oct 2007. I was walking one morning last week and just asked if I could be inspired what to focus on. And a question and an image came to mind. The question was, how do you stand fast and immovable in families if you are not strong yourself. And the image below came to mind with the words (spiritual, physical, emotional, social).



In this month’s First Presidency message in the Ensign, I found the following quotes.

President Heber J. Grant (1856–1945) said, “Without the devotion and absolute testimony of the living God in the hearts of our mothers, this Church would die.” Think about that.

President Gordon B. Hinckley counseled the women of the Church: “It is so tremendously important that the women of the Church stand strong and immovable for that which is correct and proper under the plan of the Lord. …

Matthew 22: 37-39, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Implicit in the two great commandments is the commandment to love THYSELF! There is no way we can stand strong and immovable in families if we don’t have what approaches self-worth. Satan would have women of our day believe we are anything but a child of God, a daughter of God. As my dear husband would say, and did in his testimony recently, “if momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. “The strength and success of your family is directly proportional to your own inner strength which comes from faith in Christ.”

Spiritual, physical, emotional, social. These closely parallel, wisdom, stature, favor with God and with man.

Spiritual- faith, obedience, covenants. Sister Merrill focused on faith this morning. The only thing I will add is a question. Are you a woman of faith or a woman of fear? Elder Kevin Pearson in his excellent talk in conference on Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, pointed out. “We get what we focus on consistently.” What are you focusing on? He said some of the forces that erode our faith are self-imposed “personal tendencies, attitudes, and habits we can learn to change.” And he gave the 6 destructive d’s. “ Doubt, discouragement, distraction, lack of diligence, disobedience, and disbelief.

Obedience- the older I get, the more I learn that the key to blessings is obedience. If I want more blessings, I need to be more diligent as a follower of Christ. In the Doctrine and Covenants section 130, we learn

20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—
21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

Wouldn’t it be great to know which commandment brought which blessings, so that when we see a lack, we can just beef up our obedience in that area and get the blessings? Well we can do that without knowing. I think the story of the stripling soldiers and their mothers is one of my favorite in the Book of Mormon. And for a long time I wondered, what did their mothers know? One day I got tired of asking myself that question and read the story thoroughly to find out and here is what I found. In Alma 57,

21 Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them.

I want to be like the stripling warriors and their mothers. And this is the advice I give my sons as they enter the mission field. Obey with exactness and you can ask the Lord for His blessings with confidence. When we are obedient we can as in Hebrews 4, “come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” I know I need that.

Covenants—I wish I had more time to discuss the importance of obtaining and keeping our temple covenants. There is so much power in doing so. In Elder Christofferson’s talk in conference, he gave three ways that keeping our covenants can help us “smile through hardships, convert tribulation to triumphs, be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and bring to pass much righteousness.” 1) keeping covenants provides "a continual flow of blessings promised by God in His covenant with us, 2) they produce the faith necessary to persevere and to do all things that are expedient in the Lord, 3) come what may, we can face life with hope and equanimity, knowing that we will succeed in the end."

Physical- exercise (15 min a day is better than nothing), eat right (less sugar, less fat, less meat, less junk, less prepackaged food, more fruits, more veggies, more fiber, more whole grains—unless you are retired. Like Sister Hinckley ), relieve stress. Get a massage, go for a walk, listen to uplifting or happy music, read a good book, call a positive friend, spend time with a little person, hold a baby (preferably sleeping), laugh, cry, forgive. Take 3 deep breaths, tense and relax, let muscles go head to toe.

Emotional- mental too. Thoughts, gratitude, personal proclamation.

Some of this is a repeat for Duncan ward sisters. We can control our thoughts. Over four years ago I read As a Man Thinketh, by James Allen. It had a powerful impact on me.

"MAN'S mind may be likened to a garden, which may be
intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether
cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful
seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds will
fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.

Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds,
and growing the flowers and fruits which he requires, so may a man
tend the garden of his mind, weeding out all the wrong, useless, and
impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection the flowers and
fruits of right, useful, and pure thoughts."

First fill our minds with good things, good music, tv, reading, computer time, etc. Next erase bad thoughts and replace with good. When a negative thought appears and I recognize it, I immediately reverse it. So, when I started this, I often had thoughts like, “I’m a bad mom, I’m so stupid, what an idiot, and so on.” (Not to mention all the judgmental thoughts about others) At first I started just noticing how often I was quietly voicing these kinds of thoughts and then I began waging war on them. I often found myself arguing with myself. I’m a bad mom—oh no I am not. I am a good mom. I’m stupid—I am not, I am smart. And so on. When you argue enough with yourself, you lose, and then you win!

One day while going through a self help book I have on how to reverse negative emotions, I read this affirmation. “I am God’s gift to the world.” And it sank deeply into my heart as truth. And I share it with others whenever I can. Just like we pour our hearts and souls, hopes and dreams into our children and send them out to kindergarten and later college, job, mission, marriage, our Father has sent us here to be a gift and a blessing. I rarely criticize myself anymore. Sisters, YOU are God’s gift to the world. More importantly, you are God’s gift to your families. Embrace it, and know it is true.

As I have tried to integrate positive thought and gratitude in my life, one day I was reading the Relief Society Declaration (read here) and was very moved by its statements. I compared it to the Young Women’s Theme (read here) and found that these were the kinds of things I wanted to be and do in my life. I decided to write my own “Personal Proclamation.”

A personal proclamation is a statement of who you are and what you want to be. It is all written in the present tense as if it were already accomplished. It’s been proven that writing goals enables us to better accomplish them. A goal not written is just a dream and while the Personal Proclamation is not a goal it is a direction or focus for your life. It can cover any and all areas of your life. Mine covers ten and I will share a few of them. Here are a few topics that could be covered in a Personal Proclamation. Self, life (role), attributes, education, finances, blessings, ideas, goals, worth, physical/mental health, relationships (divine and other) and so on.

1-I am a precious daughter of God (who loves me and I love Him) and my life has meaning, purpose, and direction.

4-I am faithful, joyful, peaceful, pure of heart, and compassionate.

8-I share my ideas and feelings in a way that supports my thoughts, goals, and self worth, while recognizing the same in others. 9-I am a peacemaker.

10-I enjoy vibrant health, positive emotions, wonderful relationships, and meaningful spiritual experiences.

Gratitude- The Doctrine and Covenants (59) tells us: 21 And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.

If you want to get on the wrong side of God, forget to thank him and forget to keep His commandments. 1 Thess. says to give thanks in all things because it is the will of God. Gratitude is another attribute I have sought after the last couple or years. At times I have kept a gratitude journal. I try in the worst of circumstances to find something to be grateful for. And I have found that over time, I am happier because I am focusing on what I have and not what I don’t. Most recently I have begun to attempt to be grateful truly for all things. Positive or negative. And in that practice, I have found that because I am still grateful even if I am stressed, or angry, or disappointed, or grief stricken, that I am so much more able to see my Heavenly Father’s hand and to move much more quickly through that trial and receive needed answers because I am not wallowing in those negative emotions. Sometimes the answers are obvious but we are so bogged down in the thoughts and emotions that we cannot see them right in front of us. Elder Eyring said in a conference talk some time ago,

You could have an experience with the gift of the Holy Ghost today. You could begin a private prayer with thanks. You could start to count your blessings, and then pause for a moment. If you exercise faith, and with the gift of the Holy Ghost, you will find that memories of other blessings will flood into your mind. If you begin to express gratitude for each of them, your prayer may take a little longer than usual. Remembrance will come. And so will gratitude.

Social-spend more time with those you love (including your Heavenly Father) and less time with those you don’t. Less time with media. Spend time in real life not pretend computer life. Face to face contact. (Elder Bednar) Serve others, think less of yourself, reach out. Don’t participate in gossip. If you have all the appeal of a corpse, the person trying to share the information, will get the message and stop sharing.

Sister Beck— In a recent talk to seminary and institute teachers said, Anything anti-Christ is anti family and any message the world has that is anti family is anti-Christ.

She also taught that the creation/fall/atonement were all for the establishment of eternal families. Without these blessings,

D&C 2: 1-3
1 Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
2 And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.
3 If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.

Elder Uchtdorf: “As you live up to this mission, in whatever life circumstance you find yourself—as a wife, as a mother, as a single mother, as a divorced woman, as a widowed or a single woman—the Lord our God will open up responsibilities and blessings far beyond your ability to imagine.”

“You are the real builders of nations wherever you live, because strong homes of love and peace will bring security to any nation.”

It is my testimony that as we place our faith in Christ and seek to be stronger in our own self-worth that we will also create stronger families. Our families are only as strong as we are. If we are a weak link, then it is more difficult for our families to have the strength they need. Some children do find a way to rise above their environment and resolve to be successful in their family life, but outcomes are generally better in families grounded in gospel principles. May you be blessed in your efforts to strengthen your selves and your families whatever your circumstances.

New webpage, so busy

I have updated my webpage and changed the domain. See www.dailyabundance.net. I am in good company. I wanted .com, but Donald Trump owns it. Haha. Check it out. Life can be good. Really good.

Attachments

I have this forum I go to for uplifting support and today the forum leader posted this excerpt below. So much to ponder in it. If you think about it, most of our ups and downs, fears, disappointments, come from our attachment to things or ideas or people. What would happen if we just chose to let go of our attachments? Wow! Great things would happen. I believe God supplies every need and He does if we let go of our attachments. Enjoy.


Tony de Mello This is from a lovely little book, The Way to Love, by Tony de Mello.


"Now if you look carefully, you will see that there is one thing and only one thing that causes unhappiness. The name of that thing is Attachment. What is an attachment? An emotional state of clinging caused by the belief that without some particular thing or some person you cannot be happy.

"This emotional state of clinging is composed of two elements, one positive and the other negative. The positive element is the flash of pleasure and excitement, the thrill that you experience when you get what you are attached to. The negative element is the sense of threat and tension that always accompanies the attachment.

"Think of someone gobbling up food in a concentration camp; with one hand he brings the food to his mouth, with the other he protects it from neighbors who will grab it from him the moment he lowers his guard. There you have the perfect image of the attached person.

"So an attachment by its very nature makes you vulnerable to emotional turmoil and is always threatening to shatter your peace. So how can you expect an attached person to enter that ocean of happiness called the kingdom of God? As well expect a camel to pass through the eye of a needle!

"Now the tragedy of an attachment is that if it's object is not attained it causes unhappiness. But if it is attained, it does not cause happiness -- it merely causes a flash of pleasure followed by weariness; and it is always accompanied, of course, by the anxiety that you may lose the object of your attachment.

"You will say, 'Can't I keep just one attachment?' Of course. You can keep as many as you want. But for each attachment you pay a price in lost happiness.

"Think of this: The nature of attachments is such that even if you satisfy many of them in the course of a single day, the one attachment that was not satisfied will prey upon your mind and make you unhappy. There is no way to win the battle of attachments. As well search for water without wetness as for an attachment without unhappiness. No one has ever lived who has come up with a formula for keeping the objects of one's attachments without struggle, anxiety, fear, and -- sooner or later -- defeat.

"There is only one way to win the battle of attachments: Drop them. Contrary to popular belief, dropping attachments is easy. All you have to do is see, but really see the following truths.

"First truth: You are holding on to a false belief, namely, the belief that without this particular person or thing you will not be happy. Take your attachments one at a time and see the falseness of this belief. You may encounter resistance from your heart, but the moment you do see, there will be an immediate emotional result. At that very instant the attachment loses its force.

"Second truth: If you just enjoy things, refusing to let yourself be attached to them -- that is, refusing to hold the belief that you cannot be happy without them -- you are spared all the struggle and emotional strain of protecting them and guarding them for yourself.

"Has it occurred to you that you can KEEP all the objects of your attachments without giving them up, without renouncing a single one of them and you can enjoy them even more on a non-attachment, a non-clinging basic, because you are peaceful now and relaxed and unthreatened in your enjoyment of them?

"The third and final truth: If you learn to enjoy the scent of a thousand flowers you will not cling to one or suffer when you cannot get it. If you have a thousand favorite dishes, the loss of one will go unnoticed and leave your happiness unimpaired. But it is precisely your attachments that prevent you from developing a wider and more varied taste for things and people.

"In the light of these three truths no attachment can survive. But the light must shine uninterruptedly if it is to be effective. Attachments can only thrive in the darkness of illusion. The rich man cannot enter the kingdom of joy not because he wants to be bad but because he chooses to be blind."