A week of miracles

The Sunday before we left on vacation I had the privilege of speaking in Sacrament. First, some background.

Shortly after our new bishop was called, he told the ward council that he had been strongly impressed that we needed a focus on the Savior leading up to Easter. He asked one of the former seminary teachers and her husband to design a monthly curriculum with appropriate scriptures for two talks to be given either the third or fourth Sunday of each month through April. The topics and scriptures were printed ahead of time in the bulletin so that all who wished to could come prepared for the talks.

I was asked to speak on the topic of the days following the raising of Lazarus from the dead through the days leading up to the Last Supper and the betrayal of Judas. I love this topic! If there is one thing I learned well growing up as a Protestant, it was the details and significance of the events of Holy Week. I prayed and studied and prepared and presented my testimony on this topic, and I was blessed with insights and clarity by the Spirit.

In the process, I learned of a moment that I had never before known--even after teaching Gospel Doctrine class, Institute courses, and Seminary for years.

In John 12 there is a brief mention of small moment after the triumphal arrival in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The Savior and his party have come to the temple where many other pilgrims of the day have come. Elder Talmage recounts the lesson in Jesus the Christ, pp. 518-521. He describes the appearance of certain Greeks who wish to meet the Savior. They approached Philip and Andrew with their request, and were invited to come to Him. In verses 20-26 Jesus tells them "The hour is come," and teaches a lesson about death preceding life in the example of a corn kernel. The next verse, 27, is the first mention of His own sorrow, and a conversation He considers having with the Father.

The beautiful gem that I did not remember ever reading starts in verse 28:
"Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered; others said, An angel spake to him."

This plea was real, and as Talmage says, "The voice was real; it was no subjective whisper of comfort...People who were standing by heard the sound,..."

I bear you my testimony, that again as at the baptism, the man Jesus and His (and our) Father in Heaven spoke with distinct voices and are unique personages.

I love my Savior and the reality of His Atonement and Resurrection is without question.
Happy Easter.

The quintessential Dad

Yesterday I drove over to Philadelphia airport to pick Dad up after a trip to Brussels. He was a speaker at one of the events of the Philadelphia Science Festival (www.philasciencefestival.org) that evening. He landed at 1:30, and we decided to take a few minutes together at the Liberty Bell. Doesn't this picture remind you of multiple vacations with Dad? (Think, "Yosemite.")


He loves to learn new things!! The trip through the visual displays was very emotional for us both. I am so grateful for the blessings of living in this country where the Lord's hand is clearly evident. I selected books about the Underground Railroad, since this is the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and the "railroad" and its quilts were a prominent piece of our area (and even into LeRoy!, but more on that another time.) Dad selected a book by W. Cleon Skousen that I am now very excited to read. (More on that later, also.)

We had dinner at the Parc on 18th and then Dad made 2 presentations at a chocolate cafe up the street. I always love to listen to him! His passion for what he does is so contagious. (Notice that Ms. Green and Red attended, too!)

Home again, home again, jiggedy jig

All the laundry is done, and the Hawaii bags are repacked and ready for August. The house is restored to order, and the mail has been collected and dealt with. The cats are starved for attention and underfoot at every step. And I have returned to my beloved quilting.

I am very bad at taking pictures of my quilts. This is Kennan's "Puzzle" and the only reason there is a picture is because Bill took it! As soon as I get pictures of Ilana's "Flower Garden" and Aidan's "Goblet of Fire," I will post them. (Hint: Send pictures, girls, please.) Courtney's "Horses in a Midnight Meadow" is on the frame and ready to be quilted next week.

In the past year I have completed several other quilts--all without pictures. I made a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" quilt for Aspen because I fell in love with the pattern and the fabric. Shelby and her puppy Patch got quilts when I went to visit in March. And there were baby showers and crisis quilts for members of my ward.

The list of "to-be-dones" gets longer and longer. I finally finished the lavender sampler tops, and Es and Bill's is ready to cut. There is a surprise quilt for a "house warming" (perhaps "house cooling" is a better name, since the previous house got too warm!). And I had made Dad a quilt top for Valentine's Day called "Chocolate Cherries" but I disliked one of the fabrics I had used throughout, so I ripped it apart and now need to put it back together with a better color.

There is also one 10-year quilt in 2011, Cami's, and I know Carter and Forester are in the wings. Actually there is a master schedule with everyone listed for 10-year birthday, graduation, and wedding quilts--for some of you that will be an anniversary quilt since I couldn't quilt back when you were married! I told Dad I was going to be sewing until I am 130 in order to finish everything. He observed that would only work if I quit buying fabric right now!!

Bill once asked me why I would take a big piece of cloth, cut it into small pieces, and then sew them back together into another big piece of cloth. I could only smile and say, "Because I can." I want my quilts to be hugs for all those I love for all the times I can't be there in person. My sewing machine is calling....

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig,...

Sigh, we are home, and as always returning is a challenge. Saturday as I followed my email weather alerts from the National Weather Service, I worried about what we would find back here. I had received 19 advisories, watches, and warnings covering flash floods, high winds, severe thunderstorms, and even tornadoes--all in one day!

The landing was really bumpy through the remnants of the storms, but we got home to find almost everything okay. The cats had not set off the alarms (I know Jen appreciated not getting a call at 4 am), and they only broke one thing. There was some minor wind damage to the yard, but the real problem was in the basement.

The GFI circuit had been tripped, probably because of water in the post lamp out by the mailbox which was out. Unfortunately, our freezer in the basement was plugged into that outlet, and it had all thawed. We decided to reset the circuit and refreeze everything to make it easier to toss. Fortunately, there was only a small puddle on the floor because everything had been securely sealed. Unfortunately, we lost all the vegetables from last year's garden and ultimately threw out 5 big garbage bags of food. Hence, the need to go "to market, etc." today.

I honestly cried, not because of the cost or the mess, but because of all the work that had gone into that garden. I was really proud of what our little raised beds had produced over the summer! (The meat is in a different freezer, so it is fine.)

Oh, well, it is just about time to put in this year's plants, so there is another season forward to look to (yeah, Pennsylvania Dutch). I am just grateful that we have grocery stores as a backup plan for self-sufficiency.

And tomorrow Dad (ever the globe-trotter) takes off for Brussels for the rest of the week. Vacation is over!

Green and Red do the tourist thing

We took these pictures the last day around the resort. Lots of people passed us and smiled or commented. One guy thought it was great that we "brought the kids along." Enjoy our doppelgangers. (And, yes, they did get the sales pitch to buy another timeshare week, but they controlled themselves!) It is time to shut down and clean up to head to the airport for the 10:45 pm to LA and then on to BWI. We get home Sunday at 5:30 or so, but we will be back to Kauai in August, and back here in January--just in time for a new tan!

Sunrise, sunset

Here is the challenge: Which is which?? (hint, this is looking across the channel from Ka'anapali toward Lanai--answer at the end)

This is our last full day on the island. It has been a great vacation for me, not so much for Dad.

I am reading a book that I can only stand for a couple of chapters at a time. It was recommended to me by a lady at the Lahaina B&N, with the caveat that the locals swore by it and at it depending on their particular heritage. The book is The Last Aloha by Gaellen Quinn. Although it is historical fiction, it is much like Hawaii by Michener in recounting a very real piece of history not taught in school. (For those who smile, this one does NOT begin with the creation!)

Poor Dad has had to endure my frustration and outrage with the book. I have slammed it down and cried in anger at the story as it is depicted. I vow not to pick it up again, but the author writes so well and the story is compelling. I set it aside and read something else for a while. (I have finished Kate Jacobs' Knit the Season as fluff to decompress with, and I go to the Kindle for The Centurion's Wife, so that is a good thing.) But I have to return.

I want to quote one of the reviews to preface my problem with the book (well, not so much the book itself as the events it recounts):

" Some of the best accounts of Hawaii's past have come not from scholars, but from fiction writers, able to build on the historical records with acts of insight and imagination that bring them closer to the probable truths. Quinn's novel of Queen Lili'uokalani, is as empathetic and accurate a reconstruction of the downfall of the Hawaiian monarchy as it may be possible to get. Hawaiian readers, who already know so much of the queen's story, will be moved to see it once again so inexorably unfold. Other readers will have much to learn." --Elinor Langer, The Nation, April 28, 2008.

As I read this book (and I will finish it), I find myself furious at the shameful way the second generation New England missionary families conducted their not-quite-bloodless-coup in the name of sugar and greed. The intrigue, lies, deception, and bare-faced arrogance of these "Christian" businessmen drive me right up the wall. I know (as Dad reminds me) this has been over and done with for more than 125 years, but I wonder if we are not capable of doing the same type of things again, even to our own country. We ought to seek lessons from past mistakes, but if we never learn of those mistakes, we can never learn from them.

You have read Farewell to Manzanar and Snow Falling on Cedars, but do you realize that I had never heard of Japanese relocation camps in all my years growing up through California schools? I did not know they existed until you studied about them in school. We are very good at hiding our faults from ourselves and our children; but eventually what we do not acknowledge, we are doomed to trip over.

Okay, I guess I better dial it back a little. Calm, peaceful dialogue is preferable to bombastic rhetoric, no matter who is doing the talking. If anyone else happens to read this thought-provoking book, I would love to chat about it.

(answer--sunset on left, sunrise on right, both beautiful every day!)

More vacation books

When I come to Hawaii, I read. That's pretty much it--sitting on the beach with a book, sloshing in the ocean, sitting on the beach with a book, cooling off in the pool, sitting on the beach with a book, listening to the pounding of the surf, sitting on the beach restoring my tan but always with a book.

Dad teases me, but he is an enabler, as all of you know. He feeds my passions with suggestions at the bookstores of "Do you have this one?" This year was especially bad because we stopped at a Border's "going out of business" sale a few hours before we even left! Our flight was scheduled to leave early Saturday morning, so, like always, we were spending the night before at an airport Marriott and leaving the car there for the trip. For this trip we were flying out of BWI, so we decided to leave early on Friday and go to the temple first. After a 1 pm session we went to PF Changs for dinner and took a walk around White Flint mall. There was the big, sad sign announcing the closing of that Borders. I couldn't pass up a BOOK SALE, now, could I? I mean, I don't have enough books already (can you ever have enough books? I think not!).

We shopped and got some real bargains, paid for them, said we were sorry they were closing, and continued to walk around. When we went to the second level, we discovered the Border's was a 2 story one!! Wow, that meant there will still more bargains to be had! So, after many more selections, I had to make decisions about what to add to my vacation pile, and where to stuff them in. I am so glad Dad is Global Services and gets 3 70-pound bags!!

I usually bring enough to finish 1 per day, but we ALWAYS make a stop at Borders (on Kauai) or Barnes and Noble (on Maui) to pick up anything else that strikes me. And we usually end up having to ship a box home because I have overloaded the suitcases. This trip is no exception.

To date, here is my additional completed list:

• Leann Sweeney, The Cat, the Quilt and the Corpse and The Cat, the Professor and the Poison--Both are entertaining mysteries with a main character who has three amazing cat children and makes cat quilts for a living.
• Kate Jacobs, Knit Two--Another knitting club friendship book. Okay, but not too exciting.
• Stefanie Pintoff, In the Shadow of Gotham--A first historical crime novel with a feel like Caleb Carr's Alienist set in New York at the turn of the century so forensics is still in its infancy.
• Bernard Cornwall, Stonehenge--Quite an epic totally imagining the ancient civilization that might have built the temple, (shrug) not as good as the Marion Zimmer Bradley construct of the Mists of Avalon series.

So far there is no pattern to the things I am reading, but my tan is looking great! (BTW Dad got back from Dubai on the 12th, but he has no idea what time zone he is in.)