Sharing Life (and maybe Liberty and the pursuit of HAPPINESS too)

It seems that getting behind is enveloping me once again. Not sure what last Sunday brought, but I didn't get to this blog.

And I still need to add pics....to previous blogs. Maybe I will do that today. Today I have MUCH to write about. First, the StoryWorth questions and then the wonderful weekend I had in a meeting with Elders Klebingat (of the Seventy) and his wife, Julia, along with 

  

Elders Uchtdorf and Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It was a Spirit filled, uplifting two days for sure! And I got to be in a face to face Leadership meeting with them as a member of the Stake YW Presidency!

  
Though BOTH of these pics were NOT taken by me at our meeting, this is how they taught...as a discussion more than a General or Stake Conference talk. However, today, Elder Uchtdorf DID make mention of the size of the For the Strength of Youth wallet sized card and a temple recommend being the same size. If we follow what is in the For the Strength of Youth guidelines, we will be worthy to hold a temple recommend.

I will share just ONE experience, though the ENTIRE afternoon yesterday, and Stake Conference today, was MAGNIFICENT, to say the very least.

I wrote this about the event.....

January 27, 2018

Today will go down in history, written in the fleshy tablets of my heart, etched in my spiritual memory bank forever after. And though I know I will never forget this moment, I want to write it down….I have learned that all memories fade with time.

Elders Uchtdorf and Holland came to our Stake Building for a 5 stake leadership meeting. It wasn’t really a training, like it was announced. Instead, Elder Holland said they were just coming to be WITH the saints, face to face.

What a GREAT meeting!!! So much could be written, but what I want to share is MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH ELDER HOLLAND!

After the question and answer period Elder Holland announced that each of the general authorities present would bear their testimonies again. Elder Kliebengott of the seventy went first. What a strong man of God! Then Elder Uchtdorf. He is magnificent, candid, and full of love. Then Elder Holland. He was candid as well, in characteristic style. He left us a blessing….but he didn’t say the words ‘apostolic blessing.’ Instead, he said that he leaves a blessing “as if we, Elder Kliebengott, Elder Beheshti (our Regional Rep), Elder Uchtdorf, and myself have our hands upon your heads.” Wow…I had never really heard that before. It was cool! But at the end of his testimony he changed a bit, stopped, and said something to this effect

Now there will be some of you who have children who struggle. Or maybe if you don’t, you are the ONLY stake in the church that doesn’t have families with children that struggle. To you I would say, remain faithful. Do not underestimate the power of faithful (or maybe he said righteous) living on someone else. Vicarious blessings come when we are faithful. This is a church made up of vicarious offerings. Christ’s atonement was the first….He was crucified for our benefit. He was perfect and His perfect life and ultimate sacrifice blesses OUR lives. In the temple, we do vicarious work for others. You be faithful and your children will be blessed.

I wish I had it recorded so I could go back. But …. Maybe it is good that I don’t, because this is what the Spirit told ME personally. I wept. Tears running down my face, I knew this message was just for me! And I was grateful!! So very very grateful!

Then as I shook his hand, he held mine tightly. I thanked him for his message, but especially his testimony at the end. I told him I had a son that is struggling. He looked into my eyes and said (not sure if this is EXACTLY….but pretty close….and it was powerful),

You be faithful. Your son will be ok. You remain righteous and faithful. Stay faithful. Your son will be ok. Your son will be ok. I love you.

This I will never forget! I felt the Spirit so strong. An apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ, looked me in the eye as he held my hand and told me my son would be ok if I remain faithful!

Lately I have been feeling that something would happen and Jordan would return to church and serve a mission. I have no idea if and when or really even IF, but the Lord’s timing is not my timing and I must have faith in it.

What a GREAT experience!!!

And this is the only picture I could take, since we are not supposed to take pics in the chapel. I was standing outside...but this is them talking with people as they came to shake their hands.

And now for some stories...me sharing my LIFE and truly part of my pursuit of HAPPINESS!

What were your favorite toys as a child?

Let me think, I had a lot of favorite toys. I remember being very young with a car that I could get inside and either it had peddles to move it along, or I just had to use my feet on the ground. I LOVED that car. I even would let Krista ride in it with me. But one day after breakfast I remember going out to get it only to find that it wasn't there. I ran in the house crying asking my mother where it was. Sadly, it had been stolen :(

I also remember hot wheels. We would jump the fence to the dirt hill and make garages and roads and small towns for our cars. We would play there for hours. I also remember getting my first ball glove. I think I was 5. I can still remember the smell of the leather and the feeling I had of pure joy, or at least what I considered pure joy at that time. 

But mostly, I played outside. I remember riding our bikes a LOT. In fact, we had this challenge to see how far we could ride without hands. We lived at the bottom of a cul de sac. You turned onto our street and drove up a short hill, maybe 2 or three houses. Then you would go back down the same distance and drive straight into our driveway. We would start at the top of the hill and head down the hill OUT of our street, towards the main road. We would turn right and head the 1/4 mile (goodness, I have no idea how long it was....it probably seemed longer then than it actually is) to a MORE main and MORE busy road (this road was 2 lane with a median in the middle). Again we would turn right, go about 100 yards and turn right again. Our school was down that street (the back side) and our friend's house too. We wanted to see HOW FAR we could go while riding with no hands. What a crazy notion we had, and I know of at least ONE time when I tried the FIRST right turn and crashed into a bunch of metal that was at the corner. Probably not the safest activity....but such it was. Life was a lot different back then. 

I also remember that each neighborhood had its own swimming pool. The one closest to us was actually NOT for us. But we were at the pool probably every day - either there or at our neighbors pool.

Back to toys....and outside. Yes, mostly I played with a ball. Because we lived on a cul de sac, we used it as our field for EVERY sport. During baseball season, it was a baseball field. We even painted bases. We used an aluminum bat and a tennis ball. We used baseball cards to set up the world series and played 2 on 2 or 3 on 3 depending on how many of us there were. During other seasons we would play touch football. No soccer, and I don't remember a basketball hoop - though I think one was on our house???

My first EVER purchase was an $11 skateboard. I loved it and got pretty good. We had another little challenge (yes, we had a bit dangerous challenges). We started at the Niksic's driveway and pushed off. We rode down the hill to our house. If we rode at JUST THE RIGHT angle, we could get UP the curb at our driveway (it had to be perfect....otherwise, you kept going but the skateboard stayed put). Our challenge was to see who could get up the driveway, around our station wagon, and then jump off the curb and see how far UP the road you could get without pumping at all after getting off the Niksic's driveway. One time....yes, you see what is coming. I was going to WIN this challenge. I pushed off hard and way sailing down the road. I was going pretty fast and just knew it was enough speed to make it around the car and further up the road after jumping the curb than ANYONE else. Not sure why this happened, whether I was gloating, or looking ahead past the execution of EACH maneuver, but after a million times of getting UP the driveway, this time I didn't .... well, I did but my skateboard did NOT. I flew up the driveway, landing under the car. I still have ONE of the scars.

Childhood!

I'm sure I had more toys, but mostly I remember adventures, experiences, and MAKING fun. For instance, my dad always brought wood home from work sites (at least I THINK that is where he got it) and he ALWAYS had nails. I think we would build a new "fort" every day...and sometimes multiple forts in one day. Why? Because we did. One summer we started digging a tunnel. It was AWESOME!!! That is until mom came out and found us IN the tunnel, which admittedly was probably not too safe since it wasn't too deep. 

Childhood!

Our adventures were many! In California there were a LOT of snails. They would really come out when it rained. We walked down to the school and found about a million....but couldn't carry ALL of them home. When we got home, we filled the wheel barrow with water and put them in. Like snails like water!!! hahaha  We didn't know that ... not sure who laughed at us when we told them they had all died the next day. And who in their right mind would have pet snails? My mom allowed a lot, as long as it was OUTSIDE. I do remember that on that side of our house (near the garage in the backyard) a nice little section of wild California Poppies grew. I always loved that. 

Another adventure was salamander catching down at the creek. I traveled to Twin Creeks Elementary just a couple year ago. I had NO IDEA even HOW to get to the creek. The elementary school had been all turned around....probably torn down and rebuilt up. Where the baseball fields were, they still had a field. But the school was on the opposite side of the field. The back was now the front with huge fences and gates. Times were different when I was in elementary school. The creek was so fascinating. I'm sure it was tiny, but to us it was huge with endless places to explore. Trees would fall and cover portions where we could cross. We'd wade through some parts and walk the edges in others. The salamanders were so exotic to us!

What a fun walk down memory lane. If I sat here long enough, I'm sure I could share more and more. I had SUCH a fun childhood in California. Wow, and this is to say NOTHING yet of Utah or Idaho. I remember spray painting cacti in Idaho and trying to sell them - hahaha. Like anyone would venture off the beaten path near our house, let alone even contemplate purchasing such luxuries. But we, again, MADE our fun. My brother and I would play a lot of catch. We LOVED baseball. I don't remember too many toys there, though I am sure we had them. Adventures awaited every day after our chores up on the hill. And in the winter? Oh boy....snowmobiling and SNOW in general was so much fun. Dad would pull us on a sled behind the snowmobile. It was so much fun. He was teaching me how to drive it (goodness, this was prior to me turning 12). When he was satisfied I knew, he let me and my brother ride alone. He was 2 years younger than me. I knew how to push the throttle and go forward. I knew to only push it lightly to start out. Only something went wrong. My lightly did nothing in the way of moving the machine forward. So I pushed it a little harder with still no forward motion. So I pushed it all the way....and it stuck in that very position. We took off 0 to however fast (too fast) in about 2 seconds. It took about that long for my brother to fly off. He was only holding onto me. I stayed on a couple more seconds since I was holding onto the steering column. I, then, flew off too. But the snowmobile kept on going - the throttle was stuck. It flew out of our yard up onto the road and then flew off the other side heading up the hill until it met with a mound of snow that flipped it. It was scary and super cool all at the same time. I'm sure my mom was scared to death. My dad, on the other hand, made sure we were ok and went to get the snowmobile. 

What a fun childhood! And WHAT a GREAT weekend!!!