Just So You Know. . .

Read this in a newspaper column (Joseph Walker's "Making Ethel Smile," Deseret News, 7-29-11) the other day and just loved it:

There are angels all around us and miracles happen all the time. I was reminded of this while reading an column in the Deseret News this morning. It was written by Jason Wright (author of Christmas Jars, The Wednesday Letters, and other popular books). I've never read any of his books, but I often read his column in the newspaper. Today's struck a chord with me. He wrote about an experience his mother had while traveling on a train to meet her sister. She was very nervous but sat next to a young man from Puerto Rico who was very kind to her. If you want to read the entire article, it's called "Trains, Angels, and Miracles" and you can find it here. I've copied the conclusion here:

My sweet mother doesn’t remember his name. She only remembers how he well he cared for her. She has no other way to thank him, nowhere to send a plate of cookies or a card; she only has the memory of a young man from Puerto Rico who treated her as if she were his own mother.

Recalling the experience to me, mom knows her nameless friend wasn’t some light and pixie-dust angel. He didn’t have wings and he didn’t cure her arthritis. He was nothing more than a good man living his life with his eyes open and his soul tuned in to the needs and circumstances of people around him.

Her friend from Puerto Rico may never discover this column. But if he does, I hope he knows how grateful that funny little lady on the train was for his gentle kindness. Her children are grateful, too.

Perhaps he doesn't believe in miracles or angels, but he should know a woman in Charlottesville, Va., sure does.

And so do I.

When I read this I was reminded of so many angels and miracles that I've seen. I thought of so many kind people (many of whom I don't even know) that donated money for my kids when Gary passed away last year. I thought of tender-hearted teenagers who anonymously brought my son uplifting thoughts about his talents and what they like about him. I thought of kind people who offered my dad and stepmom places to sleep out of the elements while on their cross-country bike rides. I thought of a kind woman in a restroom who helped my mother clean up her feet and clothes after a bout of vomiting due to her chemotherapy. So many angels and miracles that I can't even recount them all.

I only hope that I can be an angel to others and bless their lives.

Today I received the official release date for my awesome missionary son! He will be home December 13, 2011.

Thanks to all of you who have listened to me patiently the past several months about this. And for those on my email list and who are my facebook friends, sorry for the double (& possibly triple) repetitions--I'm just SO EXCITED!

I am so grateful to receive this answer to my prayers for Aubrey to have just a little time to adjust to the realities of life without Gary before school starts on January 4. Our Heavenly Father is truly aware of our needs and desires and blesses us as He sees fit.

ps JSYK it's 132 days

My cute, cute daughter has been volunteering at Utah's Hogle Zoo this summer. She LOVES it! She has always loved animals, and although as a docent she doesn't get to actually work with animals, she certainly knows a lot about them. She does get to prepare their morning diets--including doing things like cutting up fish (yuck!) and scooping up a handful of mealworms (disgusting!!) and preparing other tasty treats (for animals that is). She also gets to interact with the public by showing biofacts and talking about them. Biofacts are things like an elephant tooth (which always "bites" her--you'll have to get the details from her), a jaguar pelt, a gorilla skull, stuff like that. She's a natural at this kind of stuff!Isn't she cute? She was so excited when she got her official badge to wear a few weeks ago (before that it was a temporary button that just didn't look as official). She also loves her zebra-striped bandana.

Well, I survived! It was fun, but LOTS of work to be a camp cook. The girls all seemed to have a good experience and they were all grateful for the food, so let's chalk this one up as a winner! We were blessed to be camping at Heber Valley Camp, a very special place.

Here are several pictures, most of which are of Maren. There were lots more with cute cute girls, but they aren't my daughter, so I figured I shouldn't post them to my blog.