Springtime is coming, is coming today...

This is my letter for today:  and I am a little reluctant, because there is so much to say and so little time.  Now I know what it is like to be a misionera joven (young missionary!)  I give praise to nieces who can make me laugh and cry and sing in a three minute period as they write their guts out during a 30 minute internet stab.  

Sister Wagner told me she could read my blog because she was allowed to take a picture of it, and read it later.  Hooray for resourceful sisters!

Maria told me that her life is dreary, because she wants to write to her missionary friends who send their address and beg her to write.  This is for those of you in that boat, who think, I haven't written, I need to write, I have zero time.

This is Nefi, keeping Dia de Reposa (day of rest!)
(so much to dream about, so little time)

The trick is to be wrapped up in whatever season you are in!

My take:  I love a one liner.  I love a hello.  I love a highlighted sentence from a previous letter with the reason that someone liked it.  I like a "like" on my Face book page post, or simply remembering how much we love you, serving the best you can as you watch water travel under the bridge--and wish for time to write. 

Speaking of Maria and BYU and bridges and boats, I have a quick picture of the Colorado Concrete Canoe Contest, 

and Maria's claim that because there was only a single "deduction" for duct tape, the bottom of their whole canoe got plastered, and I am guessing that could be a description for some of us, who are taping as we go, trying to finish our "four minutes" with a semblance of valor (referring to how long it takes to race a skeleton sled in the Olympic runs, Elder Gary Stevenson, Conference April 2014.) 

And for those of you who were blinking last week, we are proud abuelos (grandparents)  to a healthy, 9 pound 8 ounce baby Kevin with copious quantities of pelo rojo--red hair.                                                                                                                       

(Amidst many birthdays--if you have time on your hands, you can climbafamilytree123 and read them all!)  Meanwhile, we will share William's comments of the week.  When he went to the hospital to see his new brother, his eyes jumped from his mother, to his new little brother, then back to his mom :  

"Oh!  He got out!" 

I told him later that we would visit him, two weeks from Friday.

"Friday, Saturday, Sunday..." 

"What do you do on Sunday?"

"I go to Primary."

"What do you do in Primary?"

"I sing."

"What do you sing?"

"Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam."

"Are you a Sunbeam?" 

"I am not a Sunbeam.  I am a Child of God!"  

No identity problem with us.  Seattle cousins visited Arizona sunshine this week.

 

 Auntie Amber scooped up Savanna for some special time, before she and her sweetheart take the world by the tail, advancing toward flight school.

 

 Our Monroe munchkins made it from Mount Vernon tulip time to hiking and more.

But our blog today is really for grand kids who like bugs.  It took courage for me to get these pictures because they required putting a reference point nearby, namely a finger, which is creepy! One time wearing a different name tag, I worked to catch a Florida palmetto bug to send to a friend at college.

 All was a go, until the insect crawled on my hand! Yikes!!

So here is our walking bug.  I like this little friend...he is a little like Grandpa, thin, tall, and good at walking!  

This little friend is called a gorgojo--he likes beans and rice.  One day, I spotted a gorgojo on a lady's clothing,  as I was trying to help her remember something in the temple.  I had a big decision--to kill the gorgojo or to "let it go." There are some oft used words in the scriptures--and it came to pass!  So I did!

Speaking of friends, on Dad's birthday, our friend Laura Barrientos, and her mother and daughters and grandchildren invited us to their home for a beautiful tilapia luncheon.  Melissa (curls, music teacher) fried the fish.

Behind Sister Barrientos is a tapestry that she spent weeks embroidering to celebrate our new temple.

               

I was thinking this week, why I love who I get to work with, and about the word community, how its root is from the verb "to commune."  A group with whom we associate that labors together to be lifted closer to one another and a common Maker.  What a lovely thing to treasure in family and friends far and near.  May our hearts be buoyed and the corners of our smiles curl as we see color,  

                                                                      springtime,

 and remember the meaning of birth, 

the promise of Easter! 

Much love,

Laurene and Val

Sleep, my child, and peace attend thee...

Since we cannot be there, exactly in person, I am sending my favorite lullaby to a Utah hospital that is celebrating a new 9 1/2 pound little boy with a head of red hair. 

"Sleep my child and peace attend thee
(click above blue for accompaniment)

All through the night

Guardian angels God will send thee,

All through the night

Soft the drowsy hours are creeping

Hill and vale in slumber sleeping,

I my loving vigil keeping

All through the night.

(Just had to review some of the photos from my files of another mother, 

feeling a little sluggish after a long day!)

 While the moon her watch is keeping

All through the night

While the weary world is sleeping

All through the night

O'er they spirit gently stealing

Visions of delight revealing

Breathes a pure and holy feeling

All through the night.

You deserve a long rest dear daughter.  Enjoy tonight.  We love you!

Rocked, Cradled, Embraced

Recently, during a night walk on the south of the temple grounds we looked up to see a new moon.   I hunted to find the poem I used to hear Grandma Gee quote, whenever we would see one together.

This is what I found in Ellen Lee Follen's book Little Songs (1832)

THE NEW MOON

Dear mother, how pretty
The moon looks to-night!
She was never so cunning before;
Her two little horns
Are so sharp and so bright,
I hope she'll not grow any more.

If I were up there
With you and my friends,
I'd rock in it nicely you see;
I'd sit in the middle
And hold by both ends;
O, what a bright cradle 'twould be! 

I would call to the stars
To keep out of the way,
Lest we should rock over their toes,
And there I would rock
Till the dawn of the day,
And see where the pretty moon goes.

And there we would stay
In the beautiful skies,
And through the bright clouds we would roam;
We would see the sun set,
And see the sun rise,

And on the next rainbow come home.

It has been going on a few days and the horns are getting less sharp, but when we look at the moon on our walks, it is easy to remember The Other Side of Heaven and how the missionary thought of his beloved in another part of earth seeing the same thing in the heavens, maybe a slightly different shape or color.  

Now we are riding our final six plus months on a downward slope, and working to cherish each day, we are seeing our assignment here with new eyes.  Dad/Val's frequent assignment, many hours, and days has become a talent.  Stationed in greeting position behind the escritorio, or front desk, he gets to meet the youth as they come from places as far as eight and ten hours away.  He introduces couples, and little families coming to be married and sealed, to our temple recorder and/or secretary, where they bring recommends, marriage records, and later find nursery help (sometimes me!) in happy blue "batas" or robes, 

Note, my obrera friends are wearing blue!

where we walk across the parking lot to the nursery in our little guest house to learn more about temples, dress in white, and find interesting activities

to occupy time, while parents prepare to meet children in the sealing room to kneel together and be sealed eternally as a family.  

Val ever loves to "watch out."  And he is appreciated in his job at the front desk and elsewhere… I can enjoy every assignment that comes my way.  However, when I get to help with or participate in a temple session, a nearly two hours instruction experience,  which comes after baptisms and before the sealing--it is easy to feel a bit like the child in this poem--wrapped, cradled, embraced. 

Especially if the previous night has been shorter than I hoped for, some words of another parent to his children jar my conscious to stay alert:

"Awake! and arise from the dust…behold, the Lord hath ^aredeemed my soul…; I have beheld his ^bglory, and I am encircled about eternally in the ^carmsof his ^dlove e 2 Nephi 1:14, 15

Grandma's poem also speaks of rainbows.  We have been reading in Genesis and came across a new view of this colorful gift.  We learned it was given to Noah because the Lord promised something to his grandfather, Enoch, after he was shown problems in the future.  Enoch asked the Lord to promise to look after his grandchildren. 

22 And this is mine everlasting covenant, that when thy posterity shall embrace the truth, and look upward, then shall Zion look downward, and all the heavens shall shake with gladness, and the earth shall tremble with joy;

(I found this in a resource where Joseph Smith had been praying for additional Biblical insight.   JST Genesis 9:22)  

The part I love is that when we teach our little ones to embrace truth and look up, the heavens promise to look down and shake with gladness--the earth will tremble with joy.  What a reward for loving truth and pointing up! 

Another "sky" thing we found:

When Maria, age sixteen, drove with us around the block to little William Jensen's grandpa to receive her patriarchal blessing,  Maria was asked to learn more about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the promises made to them.  We learned that through their choices, and choices of their children that "all the families of the earth may be blessed."

I have thought about the word inheritance since my grandparents died.  I inherited some of their things, 

including a mixer.  Grandma’s health was compromised at an early age, and Grandpa was extra careful to help his wife eat well.   

I remember Grandpa refining his whole wheat bread recipe with years of practice and mixing the flour and gluten by throwing it into a great stainless steel bowl on the floor.  I remember the smell and taste of the whole wheat toast and their delight in sharing it.  Tempting as it might be, for me to store the mixer in the cupboard, an unspoken mandate with the gift was to use it as Grandpa and Grandma would—first learn to make bread (or other delectables) and then, impart them as kindness would direct.  Our inheritances here , like the bread mixer, are enriched by learning how to use them, removing them from our cupboards of busyness, security, or sleepy storage, and offering happiness to those around us.

The verse that struck me, emerged as we followed Abraham out of Genesis from Ur to Chaldea to Canaan:   Therefore, ^aeternity was our covering and our ^brock and our salvation.  (Abraham 2:16 )

           

As we travel from Tegucigalpa to Seattle to Kaysville to Scottsdale to Seattle to Teguc back to the states, to Provo, then Coban Guatemala in the upcoming 9 or 10 months, we  hope  that “eternity” will be our covering--or protection, as translated into Spanish--what we can depend on and what will ultimately save us.  We can use eternity to love our family members.  The choices we make today and every day can bring protection and strength, via choices of an exactly obedient Son who offers a way to live in safety and extend such to our loved ones, as they are blessed through our reaching out and exemplifying goodness.

[Speaking of being rocked and cradled, Conference yesterday offered such, especially with music from Tabernacle and a young adult choir.  Tune in if you can, even just for Music and the Spoken Word at 8:30 PT, 9:30 MT or sessions at 9 a.m. PT, 10 a.m. MT or 1 p.m. PT/ 2 p.m. MT.  (or later, on lds.org.]

So, here we will stay

in the beautiful skies,

and through the bright clouds we will roam

We will watch the sun set,

And see the sun rise

And on the next rainbow come home!!!  

These are for Kaleb and Zoey--just want you to see
Hondurans have rainbow carrots, too!

These are for Eleanor, Thomas, and Evelyn,
 who may be planting right now!

We are coming--in less than a month!  Blessings, and rainbows,  as we watch for a new dawn and his family and aunties and cousins await a little Kevin to come, to cradle          

      as we hold to both ends                                  and see where the pretty moon goes.   

 

(Yes, we must hold to both ends; however, some prefer not to use hands!)

Embrazos (hugs) to you!  

A few colors in our Tegucigalpa rainbows:  

Happy beginnings of Spring to you!

 

(yes, "plastilina"--yes that would be play dough, and we are finding even adults like it!)

 
     (The frog is for Riley...the cat is for Zoey, or Eleanor...but not Savanna...no animals in the house!)

 

 Say unto the righteous that it is well with them; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. (Isa 3:10)

 We learned from Elder Anderson, hearing about a tornado, that we may not glide calmly into days of trouble and calamity, but we can develop deep roots and strong branches.  Thanks for being making choices to be connected. We love you.

Val and Laurene (Elder and Sister Starkey)