Church – Page 29 – Letters from Home

Weekend Recap

The weekend was good. I hope yours was, too. Richard and I went to Lamb’s Grill (est. 1919) after I picked him up from his business trip. We watched the documentary, Mitt. We went to the temple. We took the kids out for Italian food because Mark wanted bread sticks. Richard was busy with church stuff and I worked on the family album. Timothy had a friend over most of the time. Daniel kept the house filled with music from his computer. He’s been listening to movie soundtracks lately. Paige worked on projects in her room. We miss her a bit. Mark began a new piano piece called Creepy Crocodile and changed clothes every few hours, as usual.

I am looking forward to a visit with my parents tonight and reserving tickets to attend the Sacred Gifts exhibit at BYU.

Trying to compete with Hallmark on a dime

I made birthday cards for the Young Women last weekend to save a little money. The supplies were donated and I took the challenge of making something from a box of paper I didn’t choose. I cut out all of the flower embellishments and made each one a little different from the next. As I gazed down at my finished creations, I wondered if the girls would even like them. What if my idea of a cute card is a little outdated, but in a non-cool, un-retro way? And they took so much time to make!

There was a time several years ago when I would create handmade cards and scrapbook pages, but I’m just not into it lately. Digital scrapbook making is so fast that I now see how time-consuming paper crafts can be. If I loved doing it, that would be fine, but I seem to be moving on. I see many others doing the same. I hope that with all of the time-saving technology that I have, that some of my extra time is dedicated to reaching out to others in concrete ways, not just through wispy texts and social media.

I mourn the loss of real, tangible correspondence. If these cards can extend the life of a sweet tradition of card giving, maybe it wasn’t a waste of time to make these, after all.

Impressive

Daniel’s Teachers Quorum presidency stopped by on Sunday to get to know him better. Echoes of their conversation and laughter from the living room were welcome additions to our Sunday afternoon rest. I was so impressed with this visit that I took a photo of these 14 and 15 year olds as they walked away so I could remember the moment.

They came without an adult leader.
They asked questions about Daniel’s life and interests.
They were dressed in their Sunday best.
They were polite and cheerful.

Just, wow. These are the kind of missionaries this world will need when it’s time for them to serve.

20 Activity Pins and a Bridge

Timothy is a “Webelos Super Achiever” because he earned every activity pin. We are pretty proud of him! We attended his last Cub Scout Pack Meeting last week.

He walked across the bridge to Boy Scouts…

and got to sign his name on the bridge.

I enjoy seeing the older version of Timothy’s personality emerging through his work in scouting, piano, school, and among friends. He LOVES to ski. He would go every weekend if he could. He plows through the books. His bedroom is decorated with Hobbit-themed Lego sets. We like him quite a bit.

Angels We Have Heard

I keep a copy of this photo close by. My great-grandmother is on the far right. My great-great grandmother is on the far left. My grandmother is the little girl.

I keep this photo for several reasons.

It’s a gathering of the powerful Howard women.
The hats
My great-grandmother (far right) looks so superior, and she WAS.

I wrote the following post a few weeks ago, but I have been afraid to post it for a few reasons.

I don’t want you to see how self-centered and insecure I can be.
I don’t want you to read too much into the angels thing. I believe in angels and they have a work to accomplish, but I’m not obsessed with the doctrine.
It’s *another* post about how scared I am to play the violin at church.

You can read it or skip it. If you don’t like it, that’s ok because I’m pretty sure all of these women in the photo have my back and they think that I am darling.

The Post I Was Hesitant to Publish goes like this:

We attended a party one day before the big church Christmas program in which I was to play the violin. As the entertainment for the party a violin professor with a PhD in violin performance played for us.

It’s not logical and it’s immature, but my confidence plummeted after hearing this violinist.

The next day I was moody and I had a bad rehearsal. How was I going to get my head back together so I could play that evening?

Then came the angels. They were people in my church congregation who stopped me in different settings throughout the day.

“What have you read lately?” one person asked, initiating a discussion that we began earlier this year. Our conversation turned to talents and gifts versus faith as we serve God. He said something like, “God uses people because of their faith, not necessarily their gifts.” This was something I needed to hear. He was the angel sent to remind me to have the faith to be an instrument, and not focus on proficiency alone.

All day people from the choir for whom I was playing the accompaniment were so kind and encouraging.These were the angels who lifted me over my insecurities.

Just before the performance, I ran into my friend who played Tevye in the production of Fiddler on the Roof earlier this year when I got to be the fiddler. We laughed over the adventures of that show. Here was the angel who got my mind off my troubles.

I asked Richard to sit near me while I played, just off to the side. His presence was angelic and helpful. My mom and Paige sat in the congregation and gave me another reason to play my best. Daniel, who was singing in the choir, always gives me a private encouragement before I play. It’s a tender gesture that always goes to my heart.

There were also probably unseen angels who helped me to play without shaking.

I cringe at this fear and weakness that I show when I have to play, but I have learned about faith, true friends, and angels through these experiences of working through it. Someday I’ll be able to get over myself.

The performance came and went. I played and it was just fine… not perfect, but sufficient. Looking back, how could it have been otherwise with such a team rooting for me?

Little Women

Paige and I watched this movie late into the night last weekend. I always watch this movie with my girl. The first time I watched it was in a theater with my mom and two sisters in December 1994, just a few days before I got engaged. That’s a sweet memory.

It was a weekend to celebrate women. My mom spoke at the Missionary Training Center to all of the sister missionaries on Sunday morning and she invited me and my sisters to attend.

We were told that 39% of the missionaries at the MTC this weekend are sisters. That’s a lot of women. There was real power in that enormous arena. There were other sisters assembled at the “west campus” and we waved via satellite. When they all sang I cried.

They took lots of notes and told me they were excited to go to Taiwan or Scottsdale, Arizona and all over the world. My mom’s words were beautiful and reminded us that The Gospel Blesses Families. It’s quite something to be invited to speak to such a unique and historic audience. It might have been the largest gathering of sister missionaries ever. It was a special thing to see my mother speak with confidence and power to that audience.

I went home to my Young Women at church and told them that they look like the sisters at the MTC. They are nearly the same age and they have the same countenance. Do they understand that they have power through their obedience to covenants? I hope so. Do they understand that they are respected and valuable in their roles at church? I hope so. Do they know that it’s a blessing to be a woman? Oh, because it is!

An Evening of Excellence

The Young Women came together to display some of the goals that they have been working on this year. We served a nice dinner for them and their parents. The evening was full of sweet moments as the girls shared honest, real experiences and accomplishments.

I keep smiling as I recollect their words, their courage, and the things they chose to display. Striking themes were the lifeline of scripture study in their lives and the huge opposition they feel to gospel living. There were talents shared, such as piano pieces and crafts, and each girl was given the chance to speak. I felt happy when one of the young women stood up and talked about the experiences she and I have shared this year working on her project to make soft and cute hats for cancer patients. She keeps mentioning how much fun she had doing it. Hooray!

Paige was there and she displayed her concerto music and her scriptures. She has done so many incredible things this year, from ballet to piano, and academics to painting. I am proud of her for playing the organ at church. I am proud of her for working so hard in school. I am proud of her because she studies the scriptures carefully and keeps a journal of her thoughts. She sacrifices a lot to study; she is a great help to our family.

It was a beautiful evening to celebrate the lives of our Young Women.

My buddy

Here is Mark in his new suit and fresh haircut. I couldn’t resist taking a picture of him. At church this week I let him skip Primary and come to class with me. In the hallway someone reminded me that it’s good for kids to face their troubles, which is a good insight… but not for us today. I have learned that sometimes a child just needs a little break and he can face his troubles better next time. Also, I can’t discount the effect that Richard’s absence is having on the little hearts in our family, and I think that extra love is needed.

Family Home Evening

Mark taught our Family Home Evening lesson this week about the Armor of God. He gave each person a piece of armor and asked us to look up the scripture in Ephesians and explain how each piece of armor represented something spiritual we can do to be protected from evil. We placed the armor on a disproportionate picture of a little man. We called him Pippin.

The next morning I found our visual aid thus arrayed:

I’ve had to trust that our armor, however hastily or incompletely placed, will be enough this week because I can’t do any more than I’m doing. I have felt lifted physically and mentally even though I’ve fallen asleep every time I’ve tried to read the scriptures this week. I’ve felt like I’ve been carried. The grace of God is amazing like that. We turn to our Father in Heaven in our weakness, and that act of turning (however incomplete or imperfect) puts us in a position to receive great blessings.

Roadshow pictures

Paige and Daniel were in a roadshow production in October with their church youth group. Daniel had the part of Jaws and he played the ominous theme from the movie on the cello as he made his entrance.

There were heroes and there were villains and they danced and sang.

Paige played the part of Mary Poppins. Paige 1 “Practically perfect in every way.”

Photos by Janine Clarke and Jolynn Sorensen