Happy Birthday to Me!

"Are you doing anything special for your birthday tonight?"

"Well, I have 4 visiting teaching appointments, so....that's special!"

Although I initially said this tongue-in-cheek, it turned out to be quite prophetic. This was a new route with a new ("greenie") companion. During our first visit, we got to hear the sweet story of a new convert who recently lost her spouse and found the gospel. At another home we were able to inform an elderly sister about the upcoming opportunity to hear an apostle (Dallin Oaks whose birthday is also August 12th!) speak and invited her to join us. As we visited and got to know one another at the last home, we realized we were all three converts to the Church, were all formerly Catholics, and all had family members who have chosen to not participate anymore in church activity. The Spirit was strong and I testified that we were the "middle" links in a chain that connected back to our ancestors and forward to our children. It is important that we be strong for them. I know I was led to find the gospel because those who have gone before me were praying for someone in their line to take on the task of finding them and providing saving gospel ordinances for them in the temple. I was the first in my family to join the Church and the only one who really was blessed with the Spirit of Elijah, motivating me to seek after my ancestors. So I truly needed them as much as they needed me. And we have been promised that if we remain strong, our children will also be blessed...

We cried, hugged and enjoyed the newly formed bond between us, making plans to get together so I can help her with her own genealogy research.

On the way home I had the opportunity to relate my conversion story to my new companion. We expressed gratitude for an inspired Relief Society president who put us together! So, yes, I had a very special birthday!

late bloomer

As I went out to water the garden this morning, this sight awaited me. I had thought this wisteria plant hadn't made it through the winter, yet here it is, suddenly sprouting new leaves! It made me so happy! I had stopped watering it even, thinking it was a lost cause, but it has persevered and triumphed! You can be sure it got a hearty drink from the hose first thing!

Ultimate Torture

I was on assignment for my husband during my lunch hour today: purchase 6 pretzels for a Home Teaching lesson tonight on prayer (the pretzel looks like folded arms....get it?). So I ran over to Wetzel's Pretzels in the mall and had to wait "7 minutes" so they could make up that many at once. Mission accomplished, I'm in my car on the way back to work and suddenly am hit with one of my favorite aromas: warm, soft, fresh bread....and here I am on day 5 of being gluten free (which may warrant a blog post of its own in the near future...)

Happy Birthday for a special granddaughter

Make your own digital greeting card

Whole foods

My haul at the Tuwmater Farmers' Market today: Local, raw honey, organic strawberries, oatmeal-molasses bread, organic carrots. A total meal in itself! I just got a new app for my iphone that lists for me the Clean 15 and the Dirty Dozen that I use at the grocery store, but buying local simplifies it.

cobblestones

Just finished reading Beatrice & Virgil by Yann Martel. Which led me to want to read Dante's Divine Comedy, which led me to recollect that I had seen all 3 parts in the library booksale this week....yes! still there! Interesting, also, that Dante was from Florence, and I will be in Florence in a few months. I hope I can get through all 3 parts of the Comedy before then! By the way, Beatrice and Virgil is a very disturbing book--(hmmm...also an allegory, as was the Comedy...) about the Holocaust.

When asked what book he wished he'd written, Martel said, "The Divine Comedy." Just as Beatrice & Virgil guided Dante through Hell and Purgatory, so Martel's Beatrice and Virgil guide the reader through the Horrors of the Holocaust.

Make Your Own

Read this article in Psychology Today that I found interesting. Want to increase the incidents of serendipity in your life? Try the following:

1. Change your routine. Be flexible.

2. Think of yourself as "lucky."

3. Be open to possibilities.

4. Enlarge your circle of friends and acquaintances.

5. Relax. Anxiety gives one tunnel vision.

6. Slack off (a bit!) If you are too conscientious, (see: tunnel vision) you may miss out on the unusual, and hidden opportunities. Think of it as fostering creativity.

7. Say, "Yes!" Follow the opportunities. Don't ignore the negative, but don't let it cripple you, either. When in doubt, ask yourself, "what's the worse that can happen?"

8. Embrace failure. Seizing the moment may not always work out, but it will at the least add variety, which will increase happiness and stimulate those little gray cells!