September Saga

Here is some writing from the Ross kids. The Saga has writing from many children, but I’m just spotlighting my own children in this post, thank you. Some of the art will look familiar to you. Daniel and Timothy have been studying about Egypt. It brings back good memories of my own Egyptmania when I was in 6th grade.

[book id='7' /]

General Conference

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

I wish to say that I side with Elder Jeffery R. Holland, an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, as to the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. On Judgment Day when the books are opened, I want it recorded that I stand with Joseph Smith. Because the Book of Mormon is true and it has changed my life. I hope all my friends will read it and learn for themselves.

Here are two of my favorite talks from the weekend General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (each is an ordained Apostle, and special witness of Jesus Christ):

Elder Jeffery R. Holland

President Dieter F. Uchdorf

And some of my favorite music:

O Divine Redeemer

Come, Come Ye Saints

Have I Done Any Good?

Taking Time

I love showing the world to my children. I love having time to sit in the exhibits at the desert museum so they can work on sketches. I love these little memories from our last trip to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. In other words, I love how they show the world to me.

Desert Museum 038

Timothy bird in treeTimothy duckTimothy hummingbird

A Decade

Daniel's birthday 001

A Decade of:

Light blond hair and blue eyes with pretty speckles
Vocabulary surprises
Library trip after library trip
Lego acquisition
Piano compositions and performances
Insights well beyond his years
Rocks, screws, pieces of plastic, air soft pellets, and legos in the laundry
INVENTIONS!
MACHINES!
SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS!
Drawings of space ships and factories
A helper in the yard
Someone with a screwdriver handy
Baseball
Rock collecting

A Decade of… Daniel. We love you!

Do you know this ancestor?

California 322

Dear Family,

I’d like to share some of the research I have been doing about an ancestor. I’ve written this post as if I were her. See if you can guess who she is. -A.R.

This is a picture of me when I was a baby in San Francisco. My parents were Wilhelmina and Emil. People called my mom, “Mina,” which rhymes with “Tina.” Papa worked as the first officer for the Southern Pacific Ferry. I was born in America after my parents left Sweden. I was their second child. Their first child passed away. These were my shoes:

California 288

We survived the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. Here is a silver pitcher which was partially burned.

California 291

This is a picture of me and my mother, Mina. My dad passed away in his early fifties. My mother worked hard to support the family. She was a wonderful cook.

California 254

I trained as a nurse. I kept detailed journals and photo albums, newspapers, magazines, and letters. I always lived a frugal life and enjoyed the benefits of saving money. I married a widower and raised his daughter. Her mother had died of consumption. Here is a picture of me during the 1920’s.

Cerie

Here are the war ration books from WWII that I saved. The two stars on my pin represent my brother and cousin who went to war. My cousin Harvey died suddenly after coming home from the war from some shrapnel in his body. My brother, Lloyd served in the Philippines. I spent time making USO scrapbooks.

WWII war rations books

I wrote notes to Presidents, including Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy and kept each reply. I wrote to Jackie Kennedy when her husband died and she sent a thank you note. I wrote to J. Edgar Hoover and had a letter signed by him, as well.

I loved animals and kept birds and cats. I took very good care of my husband and daughter. We lived in Berkeley. My husband worked in the hardwood flooring business. When they built the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), they tore down our home to make a path for it. This was heartbreaking to me.

Here is a picture of me in 1975, near the end of my life.

Do you know who I am?

I am Cerie, the wife of Axel, mother to Ruth.

Answers coming

Newport Beach 09

Doesn’t this picture just deserve a post? What shall I write about? Hmmmmm….

It’s been a week of spiritual highs for me. I’ve been savoring some of the moments and inspiration that have come to me this week but these things are not something easily shared. They’re still simmering, you see? If I were living where I’d rather be living (I’ll just keep the location my little secret), I’d be out walking right now and there would be colorful leaves on which I could gaze. I’d wander to my favorite spots, visit the old trees and smile at the people I met along the way. I think more deeply when I walk. Are you that way, too?

I think I live in Sahuarita to work patience into my soul. I find myself waiting… all. the. time. Don’t worry. We’re not waiting for life to get happy or something like that. It’s just that we have had to learn to wait weeks at a time to get a book we want or to find the time to “drive up tuh town fer supplies” (our neighbors say this in fun). There are other less trivial things for which we wait, too.

Maybe I’m in my last steps to the purchase of a Kindle. Or maybe this post is a reminder to be thankful for the little things, like a corner fabric store nearby or a book supplier near you.

Or maybe this post is about remembering this little truth: Even if I lived in the place I wish I could live, it wouldn’t change the essentials in my life. My real treasures are within my home & church. Living here has helped me focus on my family and that was exactly the thing for which I prayed just before Raytheon contacted Richard. My prayers have always been answered, so I try to be careful not to ask for anything too selfish. And this doesn’t mean answers have been immediate, or the way I thought they should be. But that’s a lesson in patience, too, isn’t it?

Patience without faith, though, is like trying to be warm without fuel. So, while I wait for many things, I’m trying to stoke my faith… So perhaps I’ll be ready when I don’t have to wait anymore.

Maybe you are having similar lessons in patience.