SPENDING TIME IN THE PRESENCE OF AN APOSTLE OF THE LORD

WOW!  That's my first response!  'COOL!' Was my second response, etc., etc., when we first found out that Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles was going to come to our Stake Conference.  The last time I remember being at the same meeting as an Apostle was, maybe 20+ years ago now???  I'm not sure.


Anyway, tonight was the Adult Session of our Stake Conference and, you can bet we made it a point to get there early.  Our Stake Building is about 45 minutes from our home. We sat in the 3rd row.  We'll be leaving the house by 6:15 a.m. tomorrow to make it early enough to get a good seat in the morning session.


The meeting was TOTALLY AWESOME!!!  Elder Cook, one of the newly called Quorum of Seventy is Elder Oaks' companion on this assignment.


When we started singing the opening song, it was VERY EVIDENT that there were many more voices singing with us than were actually in attendance at the meeting.  I could hardly sing for the stirrings of the Spirit I felt.


We just got home, and we're both pretty tired, but I took some notes and I'll likely share some maybe tomorrow or later in the week on other posts.  The messages from all of the speakers were awesome and, of course, the Spirit was there in abundance.  A great experience, that's for sure. Wish all of our loved ones could have shared it with us. 

Hugs to all!

Missing My Family

I'm very new to blogging, so if I blunder through, please forgive any mistakes.  And I'm sure there will be quite a few!! :-)

Although I am loving living in Salmon Arm, British Columbia, as I mentioned in my last blog, it is taking some getting used it.  Of course, it always does when moving to a new place, that's just a fact of life.  You have to leave many loved ones behind while you struggle to get to know new people who will become special and loved as well.

Salmon Arm is a lovely place, mostly considered a tourist area, but the people are generally very friendly, much like Medford & Grants Pass.  Our Ward here is very, very special.

I am so blessed to be married to the most wonderful man I could ever have dreamt of having.  We are so perfect for each other, sometimes is scary!  He is so precious and I cannot complain in any way, shape or form. But there is still something missing here in this beautiful Canadian world of ours.  At least for me.  But not for of any lack on Keith's part at all.

Some VERY IMPORTANT BIG THINGS feel like they're missing.  Having been so spoiled in my most of my career as a mother of grown children and grandmother (Nana as they all call me), the transition from living merely minutes from my children & grandchildren, and being able to see them on almost a daily basis since Madison (age 12 1/2) and Annabet (age 11) were 2 & 1 respectfully, is wearing on me.  Oh how I miss their precious little hugs, kisses and constant encouragements.

Then in the past year (prior to marrying Keith & moving to Canada) I had the wonderful opportunity to live merely minutes from my other grown daughter & her lovely family as well.  How blessed I was to be so close to all of them.  And I am missing them like crazy right now.  I guess it's a motivation for me to earn plenty of spending money so I can travel to visit them OFTEN.  

I just never envisioned not being part of their everyday life.  I hope they will always know how very much I love and miss them.  How much I pray for them everyday and how I wish I could be there for every success and disappointment in their lives, so I could be their greatest cheerleader and most loving encourager. I will be in spirit.

I constantly remind myself about the old days, when people moved away from family to make a life of their own and very often, they would never see each other again.  So how can I complain?  I've had over 10 years of constant almost daily contact with them and I know that somehow, someway, and someday, soon I hope, I will be able to put my arms around them and hold them close again.

Daughters, you are my very best friends and I miss you so much!  Really, the only other friends that even come close to our relationship is my Angels, Michelle & Heather and I miss them too. Of course, I pretty much count them as family anyway.

So, as you can see, this is a sad day for me.  But things will get better, I'm sure of it.  I'm in the process of switching some medications and it wreaks havoc on my psyche so I am sure that what I am feeling and writing is only temporary. Or at least only part of it is temporary.  I don't think I'll wake up any day soon and miss my family any less.  It just might be a little less close to the surface anyway.  

Don't we all have those days where we feel like we're in a funk?  I think we all do--at least I hope I'm not the only one!  EEK!  That would be WAY TOO SCARY to contemplate.

LIFE IN CANADA

Wow!!  Life in Canada in so many ways is VERY DIFFERENT than the states!  Although I am loving it, it is taking a little getting used to!

Keith & I arrived here on Jan. 10, 2011, and so far things are going pretty great!  We are still crazy in love with each other and acting like normal newlyweds!

I miss my kids & grandkids like crazy, and I miss my precious Angels in Oregon.  But you can't have everything, they say, so I feel pretty darned blessed.

I miss MEXICAN FOOD!  They don't know anything about mexican food here.  And, let me tell you, Canada is DEFINITELY NOT KNOWN for it's fast food.  Strangely enough, even McDonalds doesn't serve the same things here as they do in the States.  Just another something to get used to!

Kieth started a new job this week and we have high hopes.  He is selling Advertising for a local free paper called 'TidBits'.  So far he is getting very good response and doing well.  He's done this sort of thing before, and done it well, so, as I said, we have high hopes.

Well, that's the latest 'short' of it.  Maybe I'll really start blogging properly sometime soon! :-)