This is me today.
And this
is
why.
Sam’s home. (Hurray!)
Full nest again.
Hugs!
clipart image above found here.
A few friends have asked about a Young Women Conference our Stake held back in October. (Stake: Organized group of LDS congregations typically comprising 8-10 congregations called wards.)
Our theme , “Up! Look Up, Step Up, Cheer Up!” was taken from this talk given at our October 2011 General Conference. Balloons symbolizing “Up” were the focal image for our conference decor, invites, program book and even food.
Traditionally, these conferences are for mothers and daughters, but this year we decided to mix it up a bit and made it a father/daughter event; and I am so glad we did. Seeing the girls interact with their dads (or another significant male in their life) was as sweet as it was fun.
We started off by having all 80 fathers and young women meet together for a keynote address from the wife of our Stake President. Following that incredible 20 minute talk, the girls attended 3 different workshops with their dads. Each workshop concentrated on a part of our theme:
Each workshop lasted about 40 minutes and was given by 3 of the many extraordinary women from our stake.
Our grand finale was to be a massive helium balloon launch in the church parking lot. We would ask the girls to take one of the 100’s of balloons we inflated and think of just one way they can look up, step up or cheer up that very day or in the coming week. When they discovered what that one thing would be, they would then release the balloon “toward heaven” with a commitment to do it as a gift to our Heavenly Father.
But, it didn’t go quite like we planned.
Literally, 15 minutes before the balloon launch was to take place, one of the fathers attending that day informed me that it is against the law to intentionally release a large group of helium balloons in the state of New Hampshire.
Oy!
I had no idea that law existed – and now had 15 minutes to decide if I should a.) respectfully ignore the law and proceed as planned or b.) come up with an entirely new activity. (In 15 minutes? Right!…or so I thought.)
I confess, for a few minutes there, I was leaning toward choice a. After all, we put a lot into that final activity and had previously announced it to the girls who were really looking forward to it. Besides, I didn’t know about the law when the activity was originally planned, so I could technically plead innocence, right?
I offered a quick and, frankly, a bit of a desperate prayer. I wasn’t prepared for what happened next. An activity more amazing and wonderful than the launch came to my mind. Choice “a” wasn’t even on the table anymore.
We gathered the girls and their fathers in the foyer of the church. I explained to them about the balloon law in NH. From the expressions on their faces and the chorus of “Awwww!’s” echoing around the foyer, I knew they were a bit disappointed at that announcement. On their own accord, nearly all the girls and their fathers (including the Dad who informed me of the law just minutes earlier) quickly tried to put my previous “option a” back on the table. Surely, it would be alright they reasoned if we justified this one release because its ultimate purpose was good.
But one of our articles of faith is “We believe in…obeying, honoring and sustaining the law.” We need to live what we say we believe. And they all agreed.
So, here’s where that more amazing and wonderful activity comes in.
Instead of asking the girls to think of some-thing and then release the balloon as gift to God, we asked the girls to think of some-one who needed cheering up and then take their selected balloon to that individual in the next few days. From the expressions on their face and the chorus of “Ahhhh’s” echoing around the foyer, I knew they had that same “a-ha” moment about this new activity that I did.
A much better gift to our Heavenly Father than releasing a balloon into the atmosphere if you ask me. And total prep was way less than 15 minutes. (Love those quick answers to prayers!)
After all was said and done, the young women and their fathers gathered in our building’s cultural hall (shown above) for a delicious authentic Mexican lunch.
The balloons in this photo - which were our main centerpieces - were HUGE! 3 feet in diameter to be exact. The girls loved them. (btw: those are not the ones they took back to their special person. We used regular sized balloons for that.)
The entire cultural hall was decorated like a carnival. Bright vintage soda bottles, colorful gumballs in a small, clear plastic container and yummy homemade lemon cookies decorated with icing balloons donned the tables.
I had a great time with the girls, their dads and my dear adult women friends and leaders who worked tirelessly to organize this event.
I left definitely feeling Uplifted.
Hugs!
Invite and photos by the amazing Amy Edwards of our stake yw presidency.
Like an amusement park ride, life has it’s ups and downs for sure. But mostly, I hope I face it like the ladies on the front row, rather than those on the third.
Hugs!
He’s here to find relief
from the incessant pain in his back.
Not a cure…
…just relief.
The radiation’ll do that.
It helps him;
gives him relief.
Sitting in a reclined position
also helps.
Not a lot…
…but enough,
so it’s good
the chairs’ll do that
during treatment.
It helps him tremendously,
unlike the
cold
hard
flat
metal table
he has to stretch and twist his body out on
then lay perfectly still
while they scan him.
He says, “Now, that’s pretty tough”
and for him to use those words
means sheer agony to the rest of us.
The nurse calls him back.
An expression of anticipation and hope
for the relief he’ll get in a few minutes
spreads across his face
until
she tells him
today will be a scan instead.
A friend recently forwarded a funny email to me. It listed a variety of collective nouns for groups of animals…you know, like…a pod of whales, a pride of lions or a gaggle of geese.
Those are commonly known.
But there are many that are not so well known…at least to me.
For instance:
The punch line of the email my friend sent me was the irony that the collective name for Baboons is Congress. (get it?) At first I didn’t believe it, so I looked it up.
It’s true. A group of Baboons is indeed called a Congress.
Well, the creative and amazing folks at Woop Studios took the most curious, cute and crazy collective animal group names and put them in a beautiful book called A Zeal of Zebras.
Here’s a sneak peak:
I could frame these and hang them on my walls.
One of the most beautiful collective nouns, in my humble opinion, is a Murmuration of Starlings. After viewing this video, I think the name fits perfectly.
What do you think?
Hugs!
Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.
Did you ever think there was a difference?
There is.
Etiquette is defined {ahem} as being the “rules of conduct or behavior typically as an indication of good breeding.”
Manners, on the other hand, are “the method, way, style or habit” of doing something.
So in essence – while etiquette makes up the rules, manners are how you carry them out.
For example, I turn your attention to this clip from one of my personal Top 10 Ultimate Chick Flicks “Pride and Prejudice” (the Matthew Macfadyen version)
Notice that Mr. Collins is in possession of excruciatingly polished & practiced etiquette – but his manners…tsk, tsk…are seriously lacking.
Hugs!
For the last three years, my good friend from Colorado has been organizing, what she calls, a Tri-in-Two or a Triathlon in Two Weeks. The idea is based off the old How to Eat an Elephant theory.
Friends and family from all over the country join in. This was the first year I decided to give it a go. I had a blast!
Essentially, each participant chooses which course they want to complete and then has two weeks to finish. The choices are:
I decided to try the Half Ironman.
It. Was. Incredible!
I especially enjoyed getting back in the pool. I’d forgotten how great it feels to work up a little perspiration while swimming. It’s been a long time since I did that.
Last night was the celebratory party at her home for all those who participated, not just finished. Each got a certificate (see above.) Wish I could have been there.
Want to join me next year when my friend starts it up again? Let me know. I’ll be happy to post the information here and we can all do it together. Think about it.
Hugs!
I am standing upon the seashore; a ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch her until – at length – she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says, “There! She’s gone.”
Gone where?
Gone from my sight – that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of her destination.
Her diminished size is in me – not her; and just as the moment when someone at my side says, “There! She’s gone,” there are other eyes watching her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, “There she comes!”
~ author anonymous
Brenda Hopkins Johnson 1964-2011
Raising a pint of Sprite, Brenda! Erin Go Brach!
Hugs!
You may have seen this already, but I’m hoping it’ll make you laugh again.
Hugs!
“People can say what they like about the eternal verities, love and truth and so on, but nothing's as eternal as housework.” ~Author Unknown
Hugs!
If you happen to be wondering what I’ve been doing since my last post I’ll give you three guesses…
Need another hint?
Sam is now officially a college student.
Wonder what a mom thinks after dropping off a child to begin a new, huge, threshold of life? Well, this is what went through my brain and heart.
For you, beloved reader, who may be approaching this time of life (and if you have an infant, believe me – you are closer than you think) you may appreciate these:
Hugs!
Photo of Sam above by Brittany Soucy. Images above found here, here and here
Thank you to everyone who has asked about Sam and his broken ankle.
As many of you know, he broke it last month the day before the big semi-final lacrosse game against one of Exeter’s top rivals, Pinkerton Academy.
Despite being placed in a temporary cast and relegated to a couch potato for a few weeks, his bones were not healing properly and it turned out that surgery was required. That happened last month in Portland, Maine.
At a post op appointment this month, he was placed in a hard cast that he’ll wear for another 3 weeks. He is still supposed to be immobile during that time - which we all think causes him much more pain than the broken ankle.
That’s what it looks like on the outside.
And this is what it looks like on the inside.
His band of brothers surround him as the nurse removed the staples.
We’re hoping for a speedy recovery before he has to hike around a college campus every day starting next month.
Hugs to Everyone
Since this blog is more of a personal one than a commercialized one, I tend to think of each of you, my dear readers, as friends and family just checking in.
So imagine my surprise when one of my recent posts was seen by Taoist author Brian Brown Walker and then posted to his own personal blog {blush – I think I like his format of my poem better than mine.}
Reading it there made me think to reiterate my little notice that unless links are sourced to images and words here on Everythingish, it’s all something I either captured through my own camera lens or wrote {typed} on my own computer - or both. And it is all yours to borrow, forward or copy & paste to your own sites.
No need to ask permission.
My blog stuff is your blog stuff.
