Category Archives: My Life Stories!

Beautiful Places

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Conservatory Gardens in Central Park, New York City.

Absolutely amazing!

It’s a little bit heaven, in the middle of the city.

I need just one (or maybe a few) of these in my yard.

I’m sure my darlinest

would be happy to accommodate me.

The pink and yellow are my favorite.

How does God do that?

He is amazing!

I think He made these just for me!

Have a great day!!

Look for the beauty in all of God’s creations.

Fireflies!

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The first time I saw a firefly was on my mission. I’m not sure fireflies exist in Utah. When I was serving in Austin, Texas we had just arrived at a teaching appointment and gotten out of the car. It was dusk, which is about when they appear. I saw a flash, then another, then I said to my companion, “Look!” She wasn’t as excited about them as I was. I think she’d seen them before.

Why do they do that? What is the purpose? Maybe the creator has a sense of humor. “Let’s make these cute little bugs, and let’s make their bums light up at night fall.” Maybe that’s what He said. Well, it makes me think about the scripture in Matthew 5:16,

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

What if I were like this little bug, pleasant and did my best to be beautiful inside and out, and what if my actions and example caught someones eye. What if they said, “I like her! What makes her special?” And then they asked me why I have a little light? Why I am the way I am? What if I was able to tell them that I am special, but so are they! What if I told them how much our Father in Heaven loves them and that they have a little light, too?

I have been told I’m an example. I hope I’m a good example. I know I’m not the most spiritual, I’m just doing my best. I know I sometimes do silly things, but that’s not wrong. I hope I’m the kind of example who loves others, and brings a little laughter to life. I hope when others see my example they think, “She’s doing her best. She is good. She loves others.” And I hope that makes them want to do their best, be good and love others.

I’m so grateful for that little bug with the bum that lights up.

It just makes me happy!

Dishes: a necessary evil!

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Since my kids were small, I have encouraged (really insisted) that they make a contribution, in helping clean up around our home. I mean, they live here too! Actually, they were more helpful in their own special way, at about 3 or 4 years old than they are now. (Remember, my baby is 15) One thing that everyone has the hardest time with is- dishes. We have tried all different ways to get ’em done. It used to be everyone takes a day. Of course, no one is going to do the dishes that were supposed to be done yesterday by another family member. Our latest is-everyone has dishes a week at a time. Trust me it’s still a challenge, if they do a lousy job, they get another week. Does anyone else struggle with this? or are we the alone?

One thing that has helped us have a true perspective is this… I have a poem laminated on the fridge, that has been there for many years. It was written by Edgar A. Guest. I love him. It goes like this:
Thank God for dirty dishes,
They have a tale to tell.
While other folks go hungry,
We’re eating very well.
With home and hearth and happiness,
We shouldn’t want to fuss.
For by this stack of evidence,
God’s been very good to us.
I know the kids have it memorized, because sometimes I make them read it. Especially when they are giving me a little ‘tude! (that’s attitude for those of you who don’t have teenagers)
I am thankful for dirty dishes! And I thank God for the food that we have to eat off them!

My Heroes!

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I really admire Andrew Carnegie. He is one of my heroes! His life and example are a testimony to me of hard work and giving back. He is an example that to earn your own way in life and to be loyal to family and God are most important. I love that he used his wealth to bless all.

“Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community.” -Andrew Carnegie

The government didn’t take it from him with taxes and such, so they could decide what to do with it, and who to give it to. I like the idea and I believe that we are stewards of our own money. We decide how to share it and how to bless others. And I do believe we should, and have an obligation, to bless others with what God has given to us.

Andrew was born in Scotland in 1835. Things changed in their life and his parents became unable to provide for the family. His parents and younger brother moved to America. He got his first job at twelve years old, earning $1.20 a week. He worked hard and became a multi millionaire and in the year 1901 sold his business to JP Morgan for $480 million. Morgan created US Steel and Andrew became the richest man in the world. Can you imagine $480 million in the year 1901!! Wow, richest man, I’d say. By the time he died in 1919, he had given away 90% of his wealth. He didn’t just hand the money over to people, he made an institute that would make money available to universities and colleges, as well as, many other organizations and philanthropies. He made a way for the money to bless others, if they put an effort in to be blessed by it. I love that. You can read more about it at the link at the bottom of the post.


We came across his grave on a recent trip to New York. We visited the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, and there it was. Bonus! I read a little about him and his life and was fascinated. What a great man!

I think the most impressive thing to me was that his grave site was so humble. There were housekeepers and others who were employed at the Carnegie household who were buried there too. Other families buried at the same cemetery had quite large mausoleums and extravagant head stones and such. I didn’t even know who they were, although their last name was familiar. What did they do with their life? I have no idea…but I know what Andrew did.

Here is a sample of the way he thought and his humble beginning.
Taken from The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie.
Introduction-
….”The eldest son of parents who were themselves poor, I had, fortunately, to begin to perform some useful work in the world while still very young in order to earn an honest livelihood, and was thus shown even in early boyhood that my duty was to assist my parents and, like them, become, as soon as possible, a bread-winner in the family. What I could get to do, not what I desired, was the question.”
“As the factory system developed hand-loom weaving naturally declined, and my father was one of the sufferers by the change. The first serious lesson of my life came to me one day when he had taken in the last of his work to the merchant, and returned to our little home greatly distressed because there was no more work for him to do. I was then just about
ten years of age, but the lesson burned into my heart, and I resolved then that the wolf of poverty should be driven from our door some day, if I could.”
The question of selling the old looms and starting for the United States came up in the family council, and I heard it discussed from day to day. It was finally resolved to take the plunge and join relatives already in Pittsburg. I well remember that neither father nor mother thought the change would be otherwise than a great sacrifice for them, but that “it would be better for the two boys.”
“In after life, if you can look back as I do and wonder at the complete surrender of their own desires which parents make for the good of their children, you must reverence their memories with feelings akin to worship. On arriving in Allegheny City (there were four of us: father, mother, my younger brother, and myself), my father entered a cotton factory. I soon followed, and served as a “bobbin-boy,” and this is how I began my preparation for subsequent apprenticeship as a business man. I received one dollar and twenty cents a week, and was then just about twelve years old. I cannot tell you how proud I was when I received my first week’s own earnings. One dollar and twenty cents made by myself and given to me because I had been of some use in the world! No longer entirely dependent upon my parents, but at last admitted to the family partnership as a contributing member and able to help them! I think this makes a man out of a boy sooner than anything else, and a real man, too, if there be any germ of true manhood in him. It is everything to feel that you are useful.”
“I have had to deal with great sums. Many millions of dollars have since passed through my hands. But the genuine satisfaction I had from that one dollar and twenty cents outweighs any subsequent pleasure in money-getting. It was the direct reward of honest, manual labor; it represented a week of very hard work – so hard that, but for the aim and end which sanctified it, slavery might not be much too strong a term to describe it. For a lad of twelve to rise and breakfast every morning, except the blessed Sunday morning, and go into the streets and find his way to the factory and begin to work while it was still dark outside, and not be released until after darkness came again in the evening, forty minutes’ interval only being allowed at noon, was a terrible task. But I was young and had my dreams, and something within always told me that this would not, could not, should not last – I should some day get into a better position. Besides this, I felt myself no longer a mere boy, but quite a little man, and this made me happy.”-Andrew Carnegie

Well, if you want to know more about my hero Andrew Carnegie, google him, or you can go here! I have his book “The Gospel of Wealth and Other Timely Essays”. It is very interesting and I have enjoyed reading it.

I resolved to stop accumulating and begin the infinitely more serious and difficult task of wise distribution. -Andrew Carnegie

My Heroes!

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When I was 5 years old, my best friend lived next door. We lived in the country so friends were few and far between, as they say. I spent quite a bit of time alone, not wanting to be too much of a burden to my friend, but once in a while I would go next door and he would be in the back of his house taking care of something important I’m sure. I really had a great time with my friend, when he could play. Sometimes I’d be gone for hours and my mom would wonder where I was. She would eventually find me…out in the field, plowing with my best friend. In case you couldn’t tell by now, my best friend wasn’t another 5 year old. It was Mr. Chard, a grandpa type who, like I said lived next door to me. I used to stand on the fence and say, “Mr. Chard, can you play?“ Even now thinking about him I miss him and his sweet and gentle way. This was many years ago; you could trust your 5 year old daughter with a man like Mr. Chard. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. I remember he never had time to “play”, but I remember riding the tractor next to him and plowing the fields for hours. It’s too bad that the world has changed. I would have never had a best friend when I was five if I didn’t have Mr. Chard. He has been gone for years, but this little girl will never forget his kindness and love.

Lessons from the Mountain!

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See this mountain…I have been on top of this mountain.
I love this mountain. It represents so much. From the time I was a small child till now, I have looked in awe at it’s majesty.
One lesson I learned from the mountain is this — you can do more than you think you can. We have untapped abilities that are only used when we really push ourselves. My sweetheart and I decided one year for our anniversary to climb the mountain. That was about ten years ago. It was going to be a testimony to our marriage and the work and effort that got us to that point in our marriage. We started at about 8:00 am. We had a great time talking and enjoying each others company. We talked about our kids, our life together so far, our goals and dreams, and of course we talked about how much we loved each other. As the time went on the trail became steeper. There were many switch backs. There were also beautiful views and flowers along the trail. We had not prepared at all for this hike. No walking or special training to build endurance. We just went for it. I remember saying to my darlin, “Do you think I can do it?” and he would say, “YES! you can”. After 7 hours of hiking we reached the top. I was exhausted, and Brett was tired. Remember, we have to get back down. Some where in the middle of the hike I remember thinking, this is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I had given birth to 4 children and had gall bladder surgery, I was still thinking this is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. We hiked down for 5 more hours, using different muscles than we used going up. Toward the end of the hike we both really had to concentrate to put one foot in front of the other. It was more quiet than the hike up, because we were saving our energy for hiking down. Finally we made it. We were so sore, I mean soooo soorree!!! I couldn’t even look at the mountain for months without shedding a few tears. But I did it! I didn’t know I could. Now I know, I CAN do hard things. It takes alot of effort, but I can do what ever I need to or want to do in life. You can too!
(Oh, by the way the hike was 16.o5 miles)

Judge Not!

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While serving my mission in Texas, my companion and I found ourselves at the front door of our ward mission leader. Before we had a chance to knock or ring the doorbell, we heard what we thought was yelling and screaming coming from inside. My companion and I stood there with our mouths open, not knowing what to do. Should we leave? We would obviously be interrupting something. Honestly, the first thought that crossed my mind was…“Is he hurting his children? If he is, he’s not the man I thought he was…Hmmmmm.“ I came to the realization that if I left now, without at least knocking, I may never know what was happening and I would definitely always judge him. I wouldn’t really want to judge him, I just know I would always wonder. So I decided to knock. After knocking, I heard him from inside say, “Don’t open the door. I don’t have my pants on!!” Wow, that’s not what I was thinking would happen. Then his little girl, about 3 years old, came to the window by the door, parted the curtains and just smiled and smiled at us throught the window. My companion and I became more confused as the moments ticked on. His wife finally opened the door with this look on her face like, you will never believe what just happened. We were very interested in knowing what just happened. She told us the story of how as they sat down to dinner her husband was holding the baby (about one year old). As they were eating she noticed something on his leg, and said “Honey, I think you have a piece of meat on your leg”. He looked down to see a scorpion crawling up his leg toward the baby! He handed the baby over to his wife and swiped the scorpion off with his hand. The scorpion then started crawling back up his leg. Of course everyone is screaming. That’s about the time that we, the sister missionaries, got to the front door. As the scorpion crawled back up his leg, he dropped his pants, and killed it with a knife. About that time is when we knocked. It all makes perfect sense when you hear both sides, but to me, the concern and shock I was feeling in the beginning was very real. Can you imagine if I had left and never found out the whole story? I was ready to make a judgement that was very wrong. This was a righteous man, there was no reason to think otherwise. I made a decision that day, that I would not judge a situation like that again until I had all the information. In fact, I make a real effort to judge not!

Texas Bluebonnets

Family History Friday: Heirlooms!

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Most people have special things that they have accumulated in their lives. They’re usually calledfamily heirlooms. My parents and their parents are no exception. One thing that my parents did that I will always be grateful for, is this; they divided almost all the heirlooms up about six years ago. After moving from an almost 4500 square foot home to a two bedroom apartment, they didn’t have room for all the stuff, and felt like it was a great time to share with their children, all six of us. Dad opened up the garage and let all my brothers and my husband take a turn picking a tool to keep, till all the tools were gone. Mom, gave us our choice of what we wanted. If I wanted something the most, and no one else cared as much about that item as I did, it was mine. There were things that I wanted, that were not on the top of my list, but they were on the top of one of my brothers list, it became theirs. And guess what? I’m OK with it. Some things, like special pieces, my parents chose who they wanted it to go to. When they’re standing in front of all of you, telling you who they want it to go to, there most definitely won’t be a quarrel. I have heard of families becoming enemies over “things”. My parents are still living six years later, and if you were to talk to them about it, they would say how much they have enjoyed watching us enjoying our heirlooms. If you think of “the grand scheme”, things are not the most important anyway. We can’t take them with us, and they can be lost in the blink of an eye, but the bond of family and the love will last forever, if nurtured. I love my family. Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Mom

Dad