The Scout Bandelo

Look very closely at those merit badges; they were all sewn all by RAH - not his mother, but by himself.

I had three sons; I sewed on every single merit badge!  And, grumbled the entire time I was doing it.  The pesky little buggers.  I always wished they had velcro for those badges!  My sons' bandelos were not neat and tidy like this - that's for sure!

But, look how neat and tidy these all are.  I'm so impressed.

Another thing that is impressive is that RAH did all the merit badge work himself.  He read the manual and learned what had to be done.  He was encouraged a little by Scout leaders, but he NEVER had any encouragement from his parents.

In other words:

HE LITERALLY DID IT ALL HIMSELF!

But, and here's the saddest part of all.  He earned all the badges he needed, but one final badge -
Citizenship in the Home.  His step father refused to sign him off on that one.

And, that breaks my heart.  RAH and his step father clashed from the beginning of his mother's marriage to him.  Who knows why?  What does it matter at this point?  But, HEH would not sign off on this last merit badge...was RAH a bad kid?  No!  Did he get in a lot of trouble?  NO....but he was a normal young teenage BOY.  And, therein lies the reason, I guess.  He was just a normal kid, who had a perfect older sister, so maybe HEH was judging him based on HER good behaviour.

But, RAH never missed a church meeting in about five years; he worked at several jobs, he paid for his own instrument, his car, practiced his music lessons, and he missed EAGLE by one merit badge that is no longer required.

I don't want to sound bitter because I forgave HEH several years ago for his mistreatment of my husband, but it does make me very sad.

Life - ah, what a challenge!
( And coincidentally LIFE (Scout jargon) is where RAH remains - HA HA!)

NEW MISSION RULES!

Holy cow!

It's truly amazing.  What a seismic shift in missionary policy.

CALLING HOME EVERY WEEK!

It's like, can this be legal?  Can this be REAL?  Can this be permitted?

Apparently, it can, and it's wonderful, for sure.

Elder Hackworth celebrating his 20th birthday in the home of his landlords, the Turnbulls, who feed them, and are so good to him (and all the other missionaries also.)

I hope he continues to fulfill this calling; he has opposition from part of his family, so it's a challenge, for sure.

Glad he decided to return; I do plead to God in his behalf for strength to stay strong, in spite of opposition!

Man, I love this kid, Elder Bridger!

March 2019, Elder Bridger Hackworth
West Salt Lake City Mission - Spanish Speaking

A Long Weekend to Remember

Oh, I LOVE these two boys; look how cute they look for St Patrick's Day and going to church.
This just made my heart sing that they would be festive on this day!

Oh, this kid; he loves catching lizards; even tho this one jumped out of the pocket and was in our front room for a few minutes.  It was eventually caught, but in the meantime, what an adorable picture!

UNBELIEVABLE!  Look at the hillsides in Southern California as we drove home on Friday morning.  People were stopped and parking and traffic was totally at a standstill as people wandered the hills.  I loved it, because people were not too busy to stop and smell the flowers.  A picture does not do this justice, but it was totally breathtaking!

Oh, God's world after plenty of rain is a sight to behold!

Sayre was just FABULOUS as Cosmo in Singing in the Rain... Truly, he was the STAR of the show!

We went out to eat after the performance, but dang it, he took off his costume! 

Man, I love this kid; he's got such a delightful, low key personality and he has a great sense of humor.

Playing with Calder on a Sunday morning before church!  What an adorable kid he is!

Personality plus is what I call this kid.....Loved playing this new game with Eli!

When the family gets together.  What do people do who have no family?  What a happy day!

For some of us, we are just heading off to church, for others, they just got home from church, but here we gathered for just a few minutes of food and fun.  Ah, nothing like family!

So, now you can see why it was such a memorable - if short - weekend.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the Gospel which encourages families to be together!

Advise From the Pulpit

He was our visiting authority in the November Stake Conference.

HE is someone I don't remember the name of.

Towards the end of his talk, he gave six pieces od advise for families to follow, but unfortunately, I don't remember them.  Probably, temple, family prayer, etc.

But, one I distinctly remember because

I HAVE NEVER HEARD ANYONE SAY THIS BEFORE;

SIT TOWARDS THE FRONT OF THE CHAPEL!

Since he said that nearly six months ago, I have thought of it frequently because I so much see the wisdom in this advise.

I look around on Sundays and see the families sitting up front and I realize they are truly the faithful ones.  They are definitely more engaged in listening to the speakers.

I have always been a back of the chapel sitter in most of my life...but now I realize

as I say to myself....

OH, IF ONLY!

Because, yes, I honestly do believe that makes a difference in a person's listening, engagement, attention, feeling, activity level.

Isn't it interesting that such a seemingly small thing would and could make a difference to a family's activity....

But, I believe it does.

And, so I say,

IF ONLY.....

When the Rain Falls....

...it makes beautiful cascading waters in Gunlock, Utah;

So, grab your friends, a bottle of water, and enjoy the incredible blue skies, stunning white clouds, red rocks, and the magnificent falls of water.

It doesn't happen often, but when it does, the people come in large numbers to enjoy
GOD'S AMAZING CREATIONS!

IF ONLY.....

I would stop judging.

Like when DC had knee surgery, and I thought she should lose weight.

And, then I realized that I cannot even lose five pounds.

It really ain't that easy, sister!

Anyway, I'm doomed, but I will keep trying to put a different spin on judgmental thoughts.

BRAG TIME.....

...about our daughter JENNI.

She was a nurse practitioner in New Mexico for four years.

She saw all kinds of patients suffering from a multiplicity of illnesses, which was her job to figure out what was wrong, what to do, etc.

Then a year ago, she moved back to Utah....HOORAY for me.

But, last week, she got a call from one of the other nurse partitioners who worked with her in New Mexico.

The lady said that one of Jenni's former patients had called her and said,

"I have stage four Esophogial Cancer.  THIS WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED TO ME IF FISHER WERE STILL HERE!"

SAD STORY, BUT WhaT A TESTIMONY TO JENNI AND THE KIND OF DOCTOR SHE IS TO HER PATIENTS.

Jenni said that she had helped that patient with a number of serious illnesses, but no one had recognized the cancer.  And, he felt so strongly that she would have.

Life is so short and so unpredictable.

But, what a thing to say about a good doctor.

And, I'm so proud of her.