Thursday, August 12, 2010

Experienced Personnel Convention

Today was the Experienced Personnel Convention at work. Kate planned the whole thing, but I was on the committee with her. This event is held annually for retirees of Seminaries and Institutes of Religion. For the past 2 years, it has been held at the little theatre in the Conference Center. The longer I work here, the more people I recognize at the convention. This year was the best ever. Kate had arranged for the Nauvoo Pageant to present "Our Stories Go On" which was so touching, there wasn't a dry eye in the theatre. This play was about the phases of life that we go through and the generations that follow. The music was fantastic. I felt it was a life-changing experience. Then we were privileged to hear from Hilary Weeks. Her voice is beautiful and her songs very inspiring. We also heard from Heidi Swinton who is the author of President Monson's upcoming biography. She told a lot of stories about him. I knew Heidi and her husband, Jeff from many years ago. We had dinner together when I was dating Derek. They remembered me and asked me what happened. I explained it to them and they were supportive of me. It was nice to know for a surety that Derek had remarried - and to an age appropriate woman. I think all worked out for the best. After Heidi spoke, Elder Paul Johnson, our Commissioner of Education spoke. It was wonderful. He started out talking about his family and how they had created a time capsule 10 years ago. They opened it January of this year and laughed about what the children had predicted. All in all, the day was a memorable one that I will never forget.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Random Thoughts

Evan had a "Night to Remember" last week and it was very special. He had invited all his closest friends and family to the cultural hall of his ward building for the event. Tables were set up with table clothes and the entire back wall was filled with every dessert you could imagine. There were microphones at the front. No one knew what was going to happen because it was a total surprise. Evan mentioned that he sometimes thought it a shame to not be able to see your own funeral, so he gathered those that were closest to him to share an evening of song with a group called "Mercy River". He had listened to them before and really loved their music. One song in particular touched him deeply. It was called "The Robe". I too found it to be very moving and could see how it would touch Evan at this time in his life - fighting cancer. All in all it was a wonderful evening. Evan loves life. He wanted to celebrate it while he is doing well. I think it was a classy thing to do. He definitely created a great memory for all of us.

On to the apartment. Just a few thoughts. Malek and I are finally settled in to our new apartment. Everything didn't exactly fit, and even though Evan took part of my stuff to his house to store in the basement, there are still some residual items that have no place to stay. I have stuffed them under my bed, behind dressers, squished in the closets, etc. For the most part, I think I did pretty good considering what I gave away. When I moved from Tooele, I gave about half of my stuff away (I sold a few items). When I moved from Murray, I gave away about another half. All in all I have paired down considerably. I feel good about that. I figure you can't take it with you anyway. Sometimes less is more, right?

The apartment complex is interesting. There are so many ducks and geese. There are probably over a hundred. They live there year round. It is so funny to watch them just sitting on the ice pond. They even sleep on the ice. The geese are really big and when I take Rocky out for walks, the footprints of the geese look like bigfoot compared to his little paws. They are funny looking too because they have the lines in them where the foot webbs. Rocky thinks he's big and ferocious when he sees them. He charges and growls at them. It is amusing to me to watch a hundred geese and ducks fly away from my little 6 pound beast. Those geese are at least 3 or 4 times his size!

On to the ward. We have been introduced to our new ward. It is the Chevy Chase ward. The people there seem nice. They are friendly. Malek went to priesthood meeting two weeks in a row. That made me happy. The Relief Society presidency came over lastnight to get to know me a little. It was a nice visit. All in all, I think we will like it here. Now if we can just get Malek working, that would help immensely.

Malek started school this last week. He has been accepted to the Pharmacy Tech program and seems to like it. I think he will be successful at this field. It is something that we feel he will do well in. He is still whittling away at the generals so he can complete his AS degree.

I am getting excited for JayDee's baby to be born. I love to hold those little infants. It won't be much longer. I saw her pregnant for the first time at Evans "Night to Remember". She looked so cute with her tiny pudgy belly. She is going to make a great mom.

There is a lot to look forward to in 2010. I hope and pray that it will be a happy year for all of us.