Friday, November 18th, 2022: 4:42, Syabira wins, In the Shadow of a Queen, The Royal Nanny, Love @ Thnksgvng Day Parade, Inventory, Wrpng cntr, 3 gifts, "Call of the Sea"

 

Accra, Ghana

117th operating temple

Dedicated: 11 Jan 2004

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Son of man

Mark 9:12

And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought.

Book of Mormon

Mormon 1:1-19

"Come Follow Me"

Obadiah 1:21 Who are the "saviours ... on mount Zion"?

Amos 8-9

OctGenCon

"Lifted Up Upon the Cross"

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

One reason we do not emphasize the cross as a symbol stems from our biblical roots. Because crucifixion was one of the Roman Empire's most agonizing forms of execution, many early followers of Jesus chose not to highlight that brutal instrument of suffering. The meaning of Christ's death was certainly central to their faith, but for some 300 years they typically sought to convey their gospel identity through other means.

I was awake at 4 a.m. Because I went to bed at 9:30 I decided to stay in bed until 4:30. It turned out to be 4:42. My internal alarm is a little slow, especially when I am tired. 

Scriptures and prayers with James before he left for Barbara's. I was not feeling very well so after eating and taking some Tramadol I went into the family room to watch the finale of "The Great British Baking Show." Sometimes it's called "The Great British Bake Off" but today it's the first one. The three finalists are Syabira, Sandro and Abdul. I want Syabira and if not her then Abdul. I'm not a fan of Sandro's. The three challenges went something like this:

Signature - A British Summer Picnic - six mini cakes, six mini pies and six finger sandwiches. Everyone did well on this challenge and they never tell who the winner is. 

The Technical - A Summer Pudding Bombe - Abdul one this challenge with Syabira coming in second. Sandro's gelatin didn't set because he didn't know to put it in boiling water. 

The Show Stopper - Make an Edible Sculpture of something representing our planet. 

After all was said and done, Syabira, my favorite, was the winner!

Syabira

Finalists:

Syabira, Abdul, and Sandro

Maxy, next to Syabira on the front row was my favorite but since she didn't make it to the finale I went with Syabira, my second favorite.

After the show I began to feel better and did some walking while listening to "In the Shadow of a Queen." While I was working on my blog, and while walking some more, I watched a new Christmas movie, "The Royal Nanny." It was quite entertaining. 

I decided to set up a gift wrapping station in our bedroom for wrapping Christmas gifts. I went outside on the deck and cleaned off the table where we have been storing our paint supplies. I washed the table off and set it up behind the recliners. After the table was set up I went downstairs to get the wrapping paper, bows, and scotch tape. While I was downstairs I set my timer for 20 minutes and worked on counting #10 food cans and moving those in the hallway back in the storage room. Everytime I went back upstairs to work on my blog I would take a couple of rolls of wrapping paper, etc. Finally I was done! Just in time to fix James some dinner. I fixed pot stickers, pot pie tots, and cabbage. After dinner I did the dishes. I finished walking and watching, "Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade". This movie was made in 2014 and it is my favorite Autumn Reeser movie. Antonio Cupo is the co-star. I love the two of them together. I have seen this movie several times and still enjoy it just as if it was the first time. 

While cleaning downstairs I found the children's book I bought when I went shopping at Harrod's in London. It was written by Sarah Ferguson the Duchess of York. She was at Harrod's that day and she signed the book for me. Karen Schneider bought one too and "Fergie" signed hers too.

Candace Cameron Bure is receiving a great deal of criticism right now for talking about GAF (Great American Family) network making "traditional marriage" movies. She gave a response on Instagram and I loved it. I hope she stands firm with what she believes and doesn't retaliate or back down. She basically told her enemies that she loved them and would never intentionally hurt anyone. She recently moved from Hallmark to GAF. She is very religious and reads from the Bible daily.

The older girls are Teagan and Makynli.

They are Autumn'a nieces.

Girls weekend

Queen Victoria loved Frogmore. The guy from my

movie today, "The Royal Nanny" supposedly

lived at Frogmore.

Sunset

We need a new way to clean logs

Thursday, November 17th, 2022: Class on Grace w/Emily, Inklings, Errands, Panda, James's mtg, "Christmas at the Golden Dragon",

 

Redlands, California

116th operating temple

14 Sept 2003

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Son of man

Luke 9:26

For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.

Book of Mormon

4 Nephi 1:23-49

"Come Follow Me"

Amos 8:11-12 The word of the Lord can satisfy spiritual hunger and thirst. Amos 6-7.

OctGenCon

"Drawing Closer to the Savior"

Elder Neil L. Andersen

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

The Savior commended His valiant disciples: "Blessed are you eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear." May this blessing be ours as we listen closely to the words of the Lord through His prophets and others in this conference.

Up at 4:08. One of the first things I did was update my Iphone to ios16.1.1. After planning my day, I said my morning prayers and wrote them in my prayer journal. 

Every third Wednesday evening of the month, as part of our Inklings study, Emily does a class on Grace. Last night was the night for November. Since I forgot to listen last night I listened this morning. Here are some notes that I took. Emily's book "Grace Where You are: was the source of most of these notes:

What is my definition of Grace? Divine help through the Atonement of Jesus Christ to overcome.

See Bible Dictionary

Hesed - Kindness that prompts action.

Saving Grace - Exalting, Hesed. Heals wounds, brings strength, rescues, delivers, and saves. 

(Story of Emily's son Joshua who got diabetes when he was 3.)

2 Nephi 25:23 - We are saved by Grace after all we can do. What is all we can do? Believe in Christ!!

Charis - Greek - His touch on our hearts, a reflection in our lives, most likely in our weakness.

John 8 - Woman taken in adultery. Jesus met the woman where she was, as she was as he stopped in front of her. What was "all she could do?" Believe in Him.

Acts 9:1-15 Paul on the road to Damascus. Jesus asked Paul to believe in Him.

Mark 9 - If you can believe. Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief.

Believe in Christ!

Charles Blondin crossing Niagra Falls.

Jesus meets us where we are but He has no intention of leaving us there.

Faith requires action and trust. Belief requires me to engage and give.

Western Wall at Jerusalem.

What does it look like to believe in Christ?

I read the section in "For the Strength of Youth", Love God, love your neighbor. I read this first paragraph and shared it in our family group text:

To help you make good choices, God gives commandments. He does this because He loves you. And the reason to obey God's commandments is because you love Him. Love is at the hart of God's commandments.

Before James left for work this morning he was complaining about sores on his fingers. I asked why he didn't wear his new gloves while he worked and he said they were too bulky. I went into my bedroom closet and got the other pair of gloves I bought him for Christmas. These are Isotoner, lined with fur. He loved them and wore them to work all day.

James came home for lunch. I had already cooked some eggrolls and he was happy with that. After lunch James said he didn't have time for a nap so he went back to work. I got ready to go to town. My first stop was at the Vernon post office where I mailed a sunflower birthday card to Michelle. I also picked up some packages. One had the grill top for our rocket stove and the other two were more of my purple with white polka dot kitchen accessories. On to town where I dropped off three boxes full of donations at Goodwill. Walmart here I come. 

Wow! The price of food and other necessities is staggering right now. I spent a third of my monthly budget in one week. This is not good.

I did buy James a cheap hearing aid and I am totally out of makeup and I bought a Finishing Touch Flawless facial hair remover for myself. I also bought a couple of Christmas blankets. Things do add up. Next time I will use a calculator as I go along. 

Even though the high today was only 45 it was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine and no wind. I enjoyed the weather while I loaded my car in the Walmart parking lot. 

Before going home I went through the Panda drive-thru and got each of us a bowl of chow mien, mine with orange chicken and James's with mushroom chicken. 

When I got home it was 5:00 and James was already showered and getting ready for his meeting. His meeting is at six. I sat down with him and we had dinner together before he left. He brought in the groceries for me and I put them away. I had thought I had a turkey in the big freezer left over from last year but apparently we already ate it so I bought an 18 lb. turkey. Don't ask me why I got such a big one. Lot of turkey tacos after Thanksgiving. I also bought two chickens so I could make chicken tacos for the MacArthur's. 

James's meeting was almost three hours long. It was almost 9:00 when he returned home. Under the bishop's supervision, they redid all of the ministering assignments. In other ministering new, Virgil Cooper had a stint put in today. It was in a rather obscure place so a specialist in the valley performed the surgery. I wonder if it was Dr. Memon, James's cardiologist. The procedure went well and Jerry Scott is with him and will bring him home tomorrow.

I was exhausted when I got the groceries put away. I sat down in front of the TV in my bedroom and finished my Christmas movie for the day, "The Picture of Christmas." 

James wanted to listen to a chapter from "The Call of the Sea" while he walked. As a result, it was almost 9:30 when we went to bed.

Love my new teapot!

My breakfast. Ready to study Grace only

that's the wrong book.

I wonder if Trina went on a hike today.

Today was Scarlett's Thanksgiving Program

Christmas caroling at Grandmothers 2021

Razr ridin'

 

Wednesday, November 16th, 2022: Michelle's Mountain Microschool visits us, R&R, Dinner w J, Blog, Walk, "The Picture of Christmas", My book

 

Brisbane, Australia

115th operating temple

Dedicated: 15 June 2003

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Son of man

Mark 8:38

Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Book of Mormon

4 Nephi 1:1-22

"Come Follow Me"

Amos 4-5 Seek the Lord and ye shall live. Amos 4-5.

OctGenCon

"Are You Still Willing?"

Elder Kevin W. Pearson

Of the Seventy

One Sunday, while I was preparing to partake of the sacrament after several weeks of stake conference assignments, an interesting and powerful thought passed through my mind.

As the priest began offering the blessing on the bread, words I had heard so many times before pressed forcefully upon my mind and heart."And witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them." How many times have we witnessed unto God that we are willing?

"Courage To Proclaim The Truth"

Elder Denelson Silva

Of the Seventy

 In my search for the truth, I asked the missionaries which church was true and how I could find it. They taught me that I could obtain that answer for myself. With great expectation and desire, I accepted their challenge to read several chapters from the Book of Mormon. I prayed with a sincere heart and with real intent (see Moroni 10:4-5). The answer to my question was clear, and several days later-more precisely on May 1, 1983-I was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

 4:45 I got up. What happened to 4:00? I slept right through it!

In the governor race for Arizona this is one of the headlines: 

Should Kari Lake concede to Katie Hobbs or challenge the election results?

Today Michelle's Mountain MicroSchool students are coming to do service for us. They are scheduled for 10:00. James went to work at Barbara's but said he would be back at ten. A few minutes after ten Michelle's pickup truck drove up, filled with kids in the back. Soon the doorbell rang and in marched ten kids along with Michelle. I knew some and called them by name and asked the names of those I didn't know. Here is a couple of pictures of Michelle's class:

Devin Jameson is missing in this photo

From left to right front row to back:

Colter Hunsaker, Devin Jameson, Dagny (Chimi) Tesarek, Xochitl Ung, Elijah and Damion Hernandez

Back row: Resten Tesarek, Chance Hernandez, Michelle Tesarek,

Tanner Kenyon, and Georgia Jameson

James met with the kids around the fireplace and gave some assignments. He wants kids outside in the backyard picking up pine needles and putting pine needles and pine cones in containers and rake and sweep excessive pine needles and burn them in the fire pit. 

The kids loved doing the fire but the smoke was terrible! 

Tanner and Georgia washed windows. Colter soon joined Tanner to help him. Michelle and I were in the kitchen making refreshments. I had made chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting. Michelle made the Rice Krispy treats I had set out. I got the hot chocolate cups filled with hot chocolate and the water heated up. I washed some apples and set them in a bowl. Thank goodness, something healthy!

Here are some fun conversations I had:

With Michelle: 

They have a paint horse named Cricket who paws the ground and snorts when she is hungry

They call Dagny, her daughter, Chimi because when she was a baby she would wrap her in a blanket and she looked like a chimichanga. 

I asked Dagny what she wanted to be called and she said, "Chimi please!"

One of the Hernandez boys, I think it was Elijah said, You have a Minecraft door but you probably don't know what that is. I said I have grandkids so I have seen Minecraft being played. He pointed out the three doors in the alcove in the hallway and explained to me why they were Minecraft doors. Don't ask me what the explanation was.

Michelle said the three Hernandez boys built a house with their mom out of pallets. James said that Chance was the best worker. 

Georgia Jameson said: "You have a beautiful home."

Tanner to Michelle: "Since we worked so hard here can we rest when we get back to school." 

Michelle to Tanner: "Tanner I think you have a book report to finish."

You can tell that Michelle loves these kids and they love her. They call her Michelle. I think she is doing a great service for our community even though I know this is her job. Some of the kids are underprivileged and shy and she is bringing them out of their shells. She is pretty darn amazing and I love her so much!!

Everyone finally left before noon. I was exhausted. The dishes will have to wait. I grab a cupcake and head for my bedroom recliner. James is back at work so I am home alone. I turned on a Christmas movie: The Picture of Christmas. After some rest and recuperation I got up and went in to clean the kitchen. I started my walking and blogging rotation routine every 20 minutes. 

James came home from work starving because he missed lunch. I fixed some shrimp and steamed some fresh broccoli for our dinner. After dinner I finished my steps before seven p.m. I listen to "In the Shadow of a Queen." This chapter was the one where Albert dies and it was sooo sad. He was only 42 and his family loved him so much.

I also listened to the first lecture in Hillsdale College's "Constitution 101" series. I have a leather bound book entitled "The Constitution of the United States of America and Selected Writings of the Founding Fathers." I will be using this book in conjunction with these lectures. I used it tonight to find some answers to the quiz at the end of the lecture. 

I made some Family History files and did some research on Family Search. All this including a shower and washing my hair and we were in bed before nine. James was in a talkative, funny mood so we laughed and talked before going to sleep.

Kinda gross, but so true!

Alex

Sister Porter & Sister Craig

DWTS Happy Couple

Danielle & Pasha

You have gotta love 4 yr olds!

This reminded me of Charlie!