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!