I have been looking for something to sew, in a large quantity, that would be useful to someone. Today Allyson sent me a link to a fabric holder for the YW personal progress books. They are so cute and so I got busy to see how long it would take me to make one. They are very easy so I have plans to start by making forty for the YW in her district in South Africa. She is the district YW president.
I bought two Sonic gift cards so I am sending the other one to another busy mom so she can take her kids for a treat sometime.
On December 29 I talked to one of my former cub scouts at church. He was in town visiting his family. He works for Goldman Sachs and lives in New York. He is much the same as he was back then. Handsome, bright and shiny. Shiny is the word I use for those who have “that light” in their eyes. He told me how another young man who lives in New York and has family in our ward asked him if he hated the city yet. Aaron’s replied, “No, I love it!” I totally understand his feelings. I have long said that I am a city girl an although I do love Kingwood and it feels like home, I truly miss living in a big city. I spent 11 years living in London, Singapore and Tokyo. I miss the diversity and being taken by surprise at something I saw almost everyday.
A few months ago I started following a Facebook page called Humans of New York. A photographer takes pictures of people all over the city and posts them on his blog and his Facebook page. Then in December I discovered that the photographer had a book with photos and comments either by him or the subjects in his photos. I immediately bought one for my daughter-in-law and funny thing she bought one for me and herself.
After talking to Aaron that Sunday I decided to send the book to him. It’s wrapped and ready to go, I’m just waiting for his address.
An interesting side note (to me at least)-he knows one of my favorite seminary students, Elisabeth Evans, who also lives in New York. (She has “that light” in her eyes, too.)
Today I decided to write a letter of gratitude to someone who influenced my life greatly. I had planned to send this on my birthday, but it seems I was prompted to write and send it today.
When I was fourteen Ardeth Kapp spoke at my ward’s New Beginnings program and said something that changed my life’s focus. She said, “You should pray everyday that you will be worthy to go to the temple.” For a girl who had the crazy idea that just because her parents hadn’t been to the temple that she wouldn’t be allowed to go, this was a revelation. So that night I began to pray for that every time I prayed. I did go to the temple and so have all of my children. That one sentence influenced generations and I decided to thank Sister Kapp. I have written the letter to her in my head a million times. Tonight, it has be written, stamped and is ready to mail.
Today Rick and I spent the entire afternoon shopping for the supplies the missionaries need. We have been doing this monthly shopping trip for quite awhile. We have it down to a bit of a science. We divide the list in half and I get cleaning supplies and equipment and Rick shops for office supplies, kitchen supplies and auto. It usually takes about 30 minutes for us to shop and at least that long to check out. Yesterday we started at Sam’s, but the mission membership card wasn’t working so we went to Walmart. Although it seems like mundane work, it is great service that allows the missionaries to do the work that they came here to do.
And just because I do this shopping every month I find it hard to count this. I have been thinking about my friend Tina and decided to write her an email hoping to bridge the 18+months since I have seen her. She was grateful to hear from me and sent an update about what she is doing and where her girls are. I need to set a goal to do better at staying in touch with the people I care about.
This project has been harder to do than I thought it would be. I am trying to do things that don’t always involve giving away money. I want to do things that involve my time and one on one contact with others. It has also been challenging because I have been doing many good things, but they aren’t things I wouldn’t do anyway.
Today I prayed that I would find something good to do. I didn’t see my friend Becky at church today. She had knee replacement surgery last month and is still recovering. After church I decided to make a pot of chicken pot pie soup and bread. Then I decided to make some pumpkin muffins. I packaged it all up and called Becky. I dropped off breakfast and lunch for her tomorrow and stayed for a visit. I am grateful for her and the time that she spent visiting me while I was going through chemotherapy.
-It is hard to write about acts of service like this when I should be doing it anyway.
My grandchildren* love Shipley’s donuts and in my effort to satisfy all their food cravings, (Wendy’s, Chick-fil-a, Sonic, Starbuck’s hot chocolate…) I got up and made a run to Shipley’s this morning. After I paid I noticed that the tip box had 13 cents in it. I dropped in my change along with a $5 bill.
*This applies particularly to my 9 grandchildren who live outside the US and do not have access to these fast food venues for up to a year at a time.
Maddie and her cousin Rorey
When my granddaughter Maddie arrived from South Africa last month, she told me she wanted to try making a cake with fondant. Maddie loves watching cooking shows and especially shows about cakes. Yesterday we shopped for fondant and today we baked a cake and covered it with fondant and flowers. Maddie did all the work. I love helping my grandchildren with projects and I learn new things, too. I have never worked with fondant before.
Maddie’s Fabulous Fondant Cake
Around December 21 I found out that a very good friend from my time in London was diagnosed with a brain tumor. My heart broke! She had a biopsy on December 24 and has been moved to a skilled nursing facility. The doctors said that due to the advanced state of the tumor she only has 1-3 weeks to live. I am so glad that her son and daughter are with her. I feel a bit helpless being across the country. Today I sent her a message expressing my love for her and my gratitude for her friendship.
Today I made some Kiva loans and then sent gift cards to my children and some of my older grandchildren so that they can make loans.
Kiva is a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Using the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.
The thing I like about Kiva is that 100% of the money I loan goes to the recipients. Kiva does not charge the micro finance institutions it works with interest. The money necessary to run Kiva is donated separately. With each loan I make I can choose to donate to Kiva’s operating expenses or not. When my loan is repaid I can choose to re-loan the money or I can have redeposited into my Paypal account and I can use it how I want. I always re-loan the money.
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