What is your Favorite?

Today in Church we sang some of my favorite hymns. I love the hymn "Come Unto Him" #114. It is such a comforting hymn. I fell in love with it at a time when my soul was in turmoil. I had gone to the Manti Temple and as I sat in the Chapel waiting for the session to start, the organist was playing the hymn. I opened the book and started reading the words. It brought the answer to my prayers - literally in the hymn. I did the session and felt peace for a time. I find that when my life is in turmoil or even when I am incredibly happy, a hymn will pop into my head. I love all of the hymns but I do have several favorites. I had not sung them for quites some time and it will more than likely be a long time - if ever- before I ever sing them again.

I love "In Our Lovely Deseret" # 307. This used to be a Primary song but it is no longer in the Children's Songbook. As we sang the words today I realized that it is a very dated and very much a Utah song. It will be long time before I choose it again but it was so much fun to sing it today. Also - it was kind of fun to watch people' faces as they sang. Several investigators wanted to discuss the song because it was so blunt. One way to discuss the Gospel.

The Closing song is another that will be a LONG time - if ever - before we sing it again and that is "The Wintry Day Descending to It's Close" # 37. This was even more archaic in the wording than "In Our Lovely Deseret" and it was written after. It is very much a Utah song and not only that it is 'pioneer' song. It is beautiful and I love it but very few people - even those from the West really understood or liked it as much as the organist and I did. For those of you that do not have a hymnbook, go to LDS.org and you can look up the words and music there. If nothing else - maybe you will learn to love "Come Unto Him" as much as I do.

So my only winner of the day was the opening hymn. They were all 'known' but just not the most familiar of the hymns in the hymnbook. One of the things I do when I lead the music is we sing all of the verses or at least as many as we can. If there are 8 or more verses, then I select the verses we will sing but always we close with what is intended to be the last verse of the hymn. It seems ridiculous to me to read a poem and quit halfway through. If you were singing any other song, would you quit before you finished? Then why in the world would you stop singing a hymn on verse 4 when there are 3 more to go? At least sing the first couple of verses and quit with verse 7. Then you have at least completed the storyline. OK - enough of my soapbox.

I love the hymns of the Church. I love that I think in the music that is around me. My favorite memory is of my niece Christina Dittmar and how she would sing or hum when she was little. Usually it was a Church hymn or Primary song but she always has had music in her soul. How blessed we are to have beautiful music all around us!

I am so Spoiled

Even though it isn't quite my birthday yet, my sweetheart gave me my birthday present already. It came in the mail yesterday. It is a Bose radio and CD player with a place to put an Ipod if we ever come into the 21st century. It ALMOST equals last years gift but not quite. I am not sure how he will every top my Kindle but I have to admit that this is a pretty close second. Tomorrow is our temple day, so barring illness or foul weather - we will go have lunch and spend the day in the temple to celebrate my actual birthday. It will be so fun because we are dragging MaryAnn and Gary Kohl with us.

Last night at book group, it was hosted at my Visiting Teacher's home. She surprised everyone with a birthday cake for me - a beautiful chocolate torte. I have started back on my diet with zeal but I couldn't disappoint Shirley so I had a piece. I have to admit that even if I don't lose any weight this week - it was worth it. I have wonderful friends and this has already been a fun birthday.

Tuesday's Book Review

"Sweet Tea and Jesus Shoes" is a series of short stories by various authors about living in the South. Perhaps because of our roots with the Baileys and also from living in Texas for so many years - I really identified with so many of the stories in the book. Some of them could have come from our family archives! It was a delightful read and written by many of the same authors that have written my beloved "Mossy Creek" books.

"Summer in Mossy Creek" was about the older inhabitants of Mossy Creek and as always a delightful read. A few different authors than the other 3 books I have read but still as wonderful.

"Creola's Moonbeam" was a wonderful book! I didn't remember ordering it from our library and wondered why I had it when I started reading it. I am so glad I read it. Milam McGraw Propst is an author that I will read as often as I can find her books. This was a book that gushed memories from my younger years with our black housekeepers in San Antonio. When I was little we had Birdie and then we moved to Germany. When we came back from Germany the second time, my parents had Leola. This books was a happy a reminiscence of these two great women.

I also read "Daring Chloe" by Laura Jensen Walker; "Fireworks" by Elizabeth White and "Peculiar Treasures" by Robin Jones Gunn. These were all free downloads on my Kindle but are all available in book form and are in my library. Of the books I read this week "Daring Chloe" was my most favorite book. It was about a woman that was stood up at the altar but how she rallied with the friendship of her book group. I highly recommend it. It is from the Christian Genre but it wasn't an in your face book. (I would have posted pictures but for some reason the internet is not allowing me too).

"Peculiar Treasures" was my second favorite book this week. It was about a girl on a Christian College campus. I think the thing I like the best about these books is I don't have to worry about language or content. Until I read "Daring Chloe", "Peculiar Treasures" was my favorite read.

"Fireworks" was a great book - also from the Christian genre but it was a mystery that didn't quite explain itself. I am still wondering why the person that was the mastermind - did what they did. Oh well. I felt it never really explained why.

This and That

I know I wasn't going to do a Monday's hero again but as I just finished the most incredible book called "Creola's Moonbeam" by Milam McGraw Propst - I decided to do one more. This could also be called a Memory Monday because of who it is. "Creola's Moonbeam" is about the protagonist, Honey's nanny named Creola and about Honey too, who is an author with writer's block.

Maybe because the name was so similar but the whole time I read the book, I kept thinking of my mothers' cleaning woman that came like clockwork every Friday for many years, Leola. Leola was an amazing woman. She would come and clean my mother's home, change all the sheets and wash the bed linens she had removed. She would iron if my mother needed her it done. Rarely did we hear about her family. She knew everything about ours. As I think about it now, we often made a point to be there on Fridays so we wouldn't miss her and at least get a hug before she left for the week. When my mother was in the hospital or even gone on vacation, Leola would come in and still follow her weekly ritual. When I was in bed at my parents trying to hang on to my pregnancy with Carianne, my parent left me for several weeks while they went to my sister Marianne's graduation and move her home. This trip had been planned for months. My uninvited intrusion had not been. Leola actually came by a couple of times a week while everyone was gone and would bring me treats but more often just a visit and a hug. She was more than a maid - she was a true friend. So I wanted to end my heroes and heroines on a big TaDa! I would like to pay tribute to Leola - a woman that I am ashamed to say at this moment I cannot even remember her last name - but a woman who taught me about caring in a way that no one else ever has.

Tuesday's Book Review

Because I am reading "John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace" by Jonathan Aitken, and last week was a temple weekend plus a holiday weekend, I have not completed as many books as I usually do. "The Apothecary's Daughter" by Julie Klassen was a free download on my Kindle (as is the John Newton book). I thoroughly enjoyed "The Apothecary's Daughter" and have in fact ordered the other books by Julie Klassen. It was a fun book - written in the Regency period. It did have few very blatant quotes from Jane Austen but who cares. It was fun and clean and delightful. What more do you need in a book?

"M. C. Higgins, the Great" by Virginia Hamilton is a Newbery Award winning book. It was not my favorite book that I have ever read. However I am probably a better person for having read it. I also ordered "The Slave Dancer" by Paula Fox. It turned out I had read it somewhere along the way. Probably something Carianne had brought home years ago. Also a bit of a downer. I need to read these kinds of books in summer and not when we are getting snowed in and there is no sun.

I Love the Jaine Austen Books! Laura Levine is a wonderful author and I find myself laughing out loud while I am reading a murder mystery. I got "Killing Bridezilla" from the library and loved every minute of it. I think part of the reason I love the books is in the last few, Laura Levine has a sub-plot going of emails from her parents in Florida that are really funny. They lighten up an already funny book. I do wish though, that Jaine wasn't quite as hard on herself and accepted her for who she was. But then it took me a LONG time like me for who I am.

I really enjoy the 'Mossy Creek' Books. "Reunion at Mossy Creek" was not a disappointment. It was written by a few different authors than "Mossy Creek" but the original flavor is still there. The thing is, even though it is a series of short stories, there is a plot that runs throughout the book. It is really a well devised and well written book. It is great 'trip' book because you can pick it up and put it down - the plot is retold in every story but not to the point where you get tired of it. It is just retold in a new voice. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Hopefully I will finish the biography of John Newton this week. It is quite a long book but it is fascinating to know that the man we can credit the hymn 'Amazing Grace' heard 'The Messiah' at its premiere and listened to Isaac Watts preach and sing his amazing hymns as he wrote them. It is a 'heavy' book - so I cannot read it very long before I literally fall asleep. But it is written from his journals and sermons so I think I can believe it. More on it next week.

Percy Jackson and the Lighning Thief

This afternoon, Clyde and I went to see the movie. First of all it is the first time we have gone to the local theater and it has been full. That was a bit of a surprise. We have gone to movies that are popular that have just come out before and been the only ones in there. I was quite delighted to be in a full theater. Call me weird. The other thing is that people were coming in late and the audience was getting annoyed. They were yelling for the people to get seated! I liked that too because that meant that we were with people that truly wanted to see the movie and not just waste the afternoon.

I go to movies based on books with no expectations of the movie ever being close to the book. The ONLY movie that has ever come close or beyond my expectations with a book was "Jumanji." What could you possibly do to mess up a picture book?! Plus the author helped write the screenplay. I have a question? Why don't authors get to help write the screenplays. For "Holes" the author helped and you could tell. Anyway - back to Percy. I was terribly disappointed on one major front - 'Camp Half-Blood'. It looked like a Boy Scout camp not a Roman Arena - like I imagined. Not only that - it looked like a forgotten Boy Scout Camp. The story meandered around from several books. I wasn't sure which book we were following. But on other hand for pure entertainment - it was fun. You did have to kind of know the books because there was no character development (or know mythology). They sort of explained Percy, Annabeth and Luke but not really. Grover was great! I loved his characterization. Percy was led immediately to his cabin and told he was Poseidon's son. Dionysus and Clarissa are not in the movie at all (or Aries or a bunch of other characters that I thought were important). Apparently who I thought was important were easily merged with other characters or eliminated all together with this screenplay.

For 2 hours of movie going - it was fun. Be sure and stay through the credits. As always Chris Columbus keeps the movie going 1/2 way through the credits. I am glad I saw it and yes, it will probably be added to our DVD library.

Happy Birthday Brandon

This is an old picture but you use what you have (Bella was 2 when this was taken I think). This is our second daughter's dream man. She has been in love with Brandon for as long as I can remember. Fortunately for her - she married the man of her dreams. We are so luck to have Brandon be a part of our family. Not only did he marry Heather but he and Heather also gave us two beautiful granddaughters. We love you Brandon. Happy Birthday!

Also a Happy Anniversary to my sister and brother-in-law, Marianne and Frank Dittmar. I love you!

Tusday's Book Review

I have decided it isn't good to read several books in one day. Yesterday I read "The Westing Game", "The Great Gilly Hopkins" and "On Grandma's Porch" all in the same day. I think that is why I had a hard time with the "Westing Game - because I had read so much and my books were running into each other. I just barely finished "The Crossroads Cafe" by Deborah Smith. I loved this book but it took me a few pages to get into it because it was in essence my 4th book of the day. I only read a few chapters last night before bed though. This is a story of an actress that loses her looks because of an accident and architect that has lost his family. The story line is their finding each other and the romance that follows. It is a beautifully told story. There is some language and it is a bit explicit on occasion without warning but not like some books where that is part of the story line. It was a wonderful story and well worth my time. It in essence teaches you that life is not worth giving up on.

"The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin was not what I expected. The dedication says "For Jenny: Who asked for a puzzle mystery." I guess that I thought it would be something different than what unfolded. It is definitely a puzzle and it is a mystery. At first I thought I was disappointed in it but the more I have been thinking about it - the more I realize that I really liked it. I can't stop thinking about it and the twists and turns it took. It was a good book. Oh and by the way it is a Newbery Award Winning Book.

"The Great Gilly Hopkins" by Katherine Paterson was an interesting book. It is about a little foster girl that searches for her mother and then finds out that just because you have a mother doesn't mean that life is perfect. It was an interesting book. Like most of Katherine Paterson's books - it was kind of a bittersweet tale. This was a Newbery Honor Book.

"On Grandma's Porch" is written by a bunch of different authors about their experiences with their grandparents in the South. It was a wonderful book. At the heading of each story is a quote by a famous 'Southerner'. One of the quotes that made me laugh was, "The biggest myth about Southern women is that we are frail types - fainting on our sofas...nobody where I grew up ever acted like that. We were about as fragile as coal trucks. " (Lee Smith, author) Between the chapters are things as they were - such as comments made by older people when I was growing up and what things were like when I was a girl. I loved this book and I highly recommend it.

"Knit the Season" is a sequel to "Friday Night Knitting Club" - the book first book I ever downloaded onto my Kindle. I found this book at a book store while we were in Las Vegas and was going to read it on the plane but I didn't get to it until today. It was a great book. I love the way Kate Jacobs writes. It kept me engaged and though it took a few twists I didn't expect it also wasn't totally predictable. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this book.

"Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch" was a free download on my Kindle. It is Harlequin book and so I would never have picked it up if I had seen it in paperback. However it was a great story and very well told. Parts were quite predictable but until the very end you really didn't know the outcome of the mystery.

"Summer of the Midnight Sun" by Tracie Peters was a free download from Kindle. I would have never read it otherwise. It was one of those books that irritated me because there was a woman in that does not listen - does as she pleases and constantly gets everyone else into problematic situations because basically she is too selfish to see the big picture. The thing is that she thinks she is doing this wonderful thing but she is totally self absorbed and really a pill. It is from the Christian Genre of books and if I hadn't hated Helaina so badly - I may have gone on to read the next one (this book ends in a cliff-hanger). But frankly Helaina deserves whatever happens to her. I just hope no one else was hurt in the process.

The end of Monday's Heroes

Because of some complaints from some of my blogs about the heroes locally, (and not clearing them with the said people) I have decided that it has served its function. I will continue to blog about my family and how much love them on their special days but I will no longer do a special blog about heroes on Mondays. I will have to come up with a new idea now.

We Missed That One!

We have received several phone calls and emails about how we are. We are fine. We missed the storm (or Snomageddon as the meteorologists are calling this storm). We didn't even get any snow except for a few lost flakes floating around in the air. Our temperatures are cold - but they should be - this is February. We are supposed to get some snow on Wednesday. That will be the first snow since the middle of January. We missed that storm because we were in Vegas. So far this year I have missed all of the big storms because of my travel plans or because I have been sick - so I haven't had to venture out in any of them. Snow here is a nightmare. They do not know how to plow here and it is frightening to drive after a storm. I just wanted to say that we are doing fine. In fact we are behind on our snowfall. So all is well here.

Recipes

A few of you have asked me where my recipes went. Well for one thing, the last couple of weeks I have not been very good about posting recipes but the real reason is that our daughter Heather set up a family blog for nothing but recipes. All of the family members are contributing to it whenever the mood strikes. The address is ourfamilyrecipesblog.blogspot.com

I will not be repeating the recipes that I have already done but I will be adding my recipes to this blog from now on. Plus my daughters and my niece have put some pretty fun recipes on there - so enjoy!

Tuesday's Book Blog

I blogged earlier about girls bullying. This is what I usually blog about on Tuesdays. "Homespun Bride" by Jillian Hunt was a free download from Kindle. It was a beautiful story of a blind girl living in the Central Northwest just as the trains started coming. It was a bit predictable but still a beautiful love story and well told. I am glad I read it and look forward to reading others by Jillian Hunt

"Once a Cowboy" had two things that I related two well. It was set in Texas (up by Dallas) and was about man that was raised as an Army BRAT. This was a story that had a lot of unexpected twists and turns. Linda Warren really knows how to tell a tale! I literally could not put the book down because I just had to finish that chapter to see where she was taking me next. This was free download from Kindle but I will definitely be reading more Linda Warren books in the future.

Helen Mirren was nominated for best actress in the movie made from the book "The Last Station" by Jay Parini. I was intrigued by the interviews she was giving, so I decided to read the book. It was very slow going because the book is so sad. It is book of the Communist party breaking up the 50+ year marriage of Leo Tolstoy because they feel Tolstoy's wife is out of step with his thinking. They rewrote Tolstoy's last Will so that the profits of his books would go to the people (in truth these followers) and not to his wife and children that helped write the books. Very little is written of Tolstoy in the book except in a dreamlike state. I looks to me like he had dementia or Alzheimer's and that his followers were playing on this to get what they wanted. His wife Sofya was trying to do what was best for him but no one seemed to see that. I had to keep putting this book down and reading others in between because it was so sad and heavy. I doubt I will ever watch the movie, so I will never know how closely the book follows the film. It is just too tragic.

I read "Better Known as Johnny Appleseed" by Mabel Leigh Hunt. This book is out of print. It is a Newberry Honor book. I got the one I am reading from the library. It is written in 3 parts. The first part is biographical. The second part is made up of the legends that surround 'Johnny Appleseed', and the third part is somewhat a combination of the two. It was interesting to find out that John Chapman was born in Massachusetts (though he never referred to it in any way other than the 'Bay State'.) He spent most of his planting time between Ohio and Pennsylvania. One of his largest orchards is in Greensburg, Pennsylvania (that is where Pam graduated and Chris is finishing up his degree!). Johnny Appleseed planted both eating apples and crab apple trees. Crab Apples were necessary for the pectin in jams and jellies - so he made sure that he planted both kinds of trees when he planted. It was an interesting book and a fun read.

As usual there were some other books that fell through the cracks. I thought I had written down the titles before I returned them to the library - but I didn't.

Girls Bullying Each other

Today is my book blog ordinarily - and I will do that later but right now I am jumping up on my soapbox. I was just listening to the 'Early Show' on CBS and they had a segment about how girls bullying each other and actually out and out fighting is on the rise. Balderdash! It is just being recorded on cellphones and stuck on the internet so it is made public more. I hated going to school because I was alway being beat up (it usually happened a couple of times a year) but no one believed me. It was usually by the most popular girls and the teachers pet - so no one could understand how these sweet innocent girls could possibly be so mean. THEY WERE! It wasn't until after I lived in Ephraim that I realized that school could actually be fun to attend. For that 15 months I never once worried about being hurt while I was at school. Interesting how everywhere else I lived I actually knew I would be punched, kicked and even thrown down stairs for one reason or another. The only peaceful years I had were in 9th grade at Ephraim, my sophomore year at Manti and my Senior year at Heidelberg and that was because I was only taking 2 classes - I was never there.

Girls are mean - especially when they think they can get away with it. I hope and pray that our daughters never took part in bullying and I doubt very seriously that thus far my grandchildren are because it is so horrific to their parents. I just cannot see how parents can condone it or close their eyes to it. If your child gets swept up in it because the other kids are doing it - then pull them aside and teach them Christlike principles. Don't praise them for following the crowd! Think as a parent how much happier you will be if your child grows up following in the ways of Christ and not in the ways of the world. I will now step down from my soapbox.

Monday's Heroes

I am sorry but this will a blog without a picture. I don't have any of this weeks heroes.

A couple of years after we moved into our house in Ephraim, a wonderful family by the name of Kilts moved in next door. They have to be hands down the best next door neighbors we have ever had in our whole lives. We all bonded with Katie immediately and in truth our families just became extensions of each other - even though Jeff and Katie's oldest was 6 and our girls were all teenagers at the time. Katie and Jeff had 3 boys when they moved next door, Joshua, Zack and Sam. Sam is the one that became the closest to our family. He just wandered in whenever he felt like. We all loved having Sam around. I think all of the girls had baths interrupted by Sam (he would just come in and sit and visit with them - he was 2 & 3-years-old by the way). Heather worked the night shift at a nursing home and if no one was home, Sam would open her door and wake her up, trying to get her play with him. The thing is that Heather is not the person to awaken. But with Sam, she was always sweet - even if he woke her up. A couple of times I went up there and he was in bed with her, asleep.

Sam would quickly get dressed on Sunday mornings and then come over to our house before Church. He would play with our toys while we were getting dressed. The first couple of times he did this - we were not even aware he was there. Katie called to see if we knew where he was because she couldn't find him at home. He just came in, found the toys in the hallway and sat down to play. After that it just pretty much became his habit.

One weekend, Jeff and Katie were gone. Our daughters were spending the night at the Kilts home. About 4:00 in the morning Sam came over and woke me up. He told me there were strange people in his Mom's bed and asked if he could get in bed with me. I could blog about Sam for hours. But tomorrow is Jacob's birthday. I think he will be 11. It just seems unbelievable to me that he is that old. We were so excited to have him become part of our extended family. Jacob is my special one. I have pictures of Sam and Jacob up still from just after we moved here. That has been almost 7 years but they are my special boys and always will be.

Finally in June of 2002 Emilianne was born and that made the Kilts family complete. We were all thrilled. I miss the Kilts. Since we have left Ephraim, they have left too. As life happens we lose track of each other. But these unbelievable people will always be my heroes. They made a big difference in our lives when we needed them. They have been a true blessing to each of us.