Hey, Don't Write Yourself Off Yet....

Back in 2011, I turned 52. So, for that year, I intended to really make an effort to do one new thing each week to commemorate that year of turning and being 52.

2011 was a very eventful and memorable year but, I have to admit, I didn't quite have a great adventure each week. However, the effort increased my consciousness of how my life is playing out. With that, I've decided to continue the blog and to keep seeking out new and fun experiences in my life as long as I possibly can.

So, keep checking back now and then I try to find adventures in saying yes to new.


Sunday, March 27, 2011

Week 12, Visiting Sisters in the Ward -- A New Committment

The blessings and burdens of being a Relief Society president


Along with my commitment to write regularly on my blog, I’ve also made another goal this year and that’s to visit with at least 52 of the sisters in my ward by the year’s end. Like the blog, it may not be exactly one a week – I hope it’s actually more on most weeks, but that way, with vacations and illnesses, I still want to say at the end of the year, that I’ve visited 52 sisters in their homes this year.

I’ve keep a list of the sisters either I’ve visited either alone, with the entire presidency or at least one other member of the presidency. So far this year, among those that we’ve visited are a woman with 3 young special needs children whose husband has been unemployed for at least a year. Another sister, a convert, just recently started coming back to church after several moves and life found her in inactivity. She’s raising a grandchild as her own, has cervical cancer, and works nights as a janitor. Another sister was attacked and raped last month; another mother of 5 children was abandoned by her husband. She isn’t in the country legally and has to work jobs at which she’s basically abused because they know she can’t complain. Another sister is a single mother of five all of whom live in very small mobile home -- along wtih her sister. Another one of these sisters is losing her house and is desperately looking for any kind of work – cleaning houses, offices, anything, as she is housing several of her teenage and young adult grandsons. Another sister has never joined the church but is one of the wards most regular attendees and volunteers her time for many of our events. And, I'm pretty sure that one very skinny and frenetic lady I helped one time had to be on meth.

And on top of that, we have the usual blessings of new babies and the occasional funeral (we fed over 250 at a huge funeral last month) and general illnesses, injuries and hospitalizations. The list goes on and on and now that I’m writing it and thinking about all of the need and heartache, it can seem overwhelming. One of our sweetest sisters lost her husband this week; another sister no longer comes to church because of a doctrinal issue, another one subsides on intravenous nutrition, and yet others are bed-ridden by illnesses or pain. We have two residential mental health facilities within our ward, and we almost always have at least one sister living in one of them.

Even as I’m writing this, my heart aches and I wonder if all wards have such issues and pain. I want to help and yet feel frustrated that I can’t “fix” it all. What we can do, I guess, is just provide love, support, education and even resources. Last month our ward Relief Society prepared survivor kits and donated them to the Rape Crisis Center in Riverside. Next month, we’re having them come and teach all of our sisters self-defense and safety. I’ve prepared a resource sheet of church and social services available in our area to try to help in any way possible -- see below.

We listen and counsel with them and pray for these sisters, and always pray with them at every visit as well. We plan lessons on the importance of education, setting goals, of faith and of overcoming trials. We count on the love and service of good teachers and counselors, visiting teachers, friends, neighbors and a very loving, caring, and busy bishop.

On top of all of this, it’s our common love of the Savior that unites us all and as he taught us: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33.) We’ll keep visiting, listening, praying, teaching and organizing ways to help and ask for Heavenly Father’s guidance and love as we do so.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Week 11, A Hockey Game

Ontario Reign Hockey


One of the last times I went ice skating, I broke my tailbone (yea, falling again) and couldn't run -- or slouch -- for a year. So, I'm not so free form on the ice any longer. I did try outside ice skating at the Riverside Festival of Lights a couple of years ago and stayed upright the entire session.


But watching other people who know how to combine skating, hitting a puck with sticks and, best of all, fighting -- all while on slippery ice -- now that's worth the price of admission! But, one of the nice things about my new job is that we place ads with the Citizen's Bank Arena and with The Reign so our company gets tickets every once in a while for the employees to use.
Last week on Wednesday night, after a long day at work, it was a fun mid-week break to kick the old routine and go on up to the arena and watch a fun hockey game with John, Hayley and Ryan. Our seats were on the third row just a bit off the center of the ice. The Reign beat the team from Idaho, we enjoyed popcorn and pop and had a great night!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Week 10, New Routes



April, Sarah and I signed up for the Fontana Half Marathon in June. So, with that, we have to train and train and train. Sarah and Heidi trained and ran the St. George Marathon back in 2003 before either of them began their families. I've run several 5Ks before and 3.2 miles is about the farthest I've ever run up until last week.

I found a half marathon training plan on-line which we're making a decent attempt at following. Until Saturday, all the runs on the plan have been within our comfort zones of 4 miles or under. This was the first week we plotted out and ran a route over 5 miles. Heidi, April and I met at Heidi's house out in Perris on Saturday and began our big circle route. Once we reached a certain point, you just have to finish....that's why I like big circles better than "out and back" routes. The five miles took us an hour because I'm still pretty slow at the run and I still need to build in walking breaks now and again -- especially after about 3 or 4 miles.

Still all the daughters I run with, April, Heidi and Sarah, are nice and patient with me -- saying they're just happy to be out getting fresh air and exercise. But, I think they're just trying to be supportive of me and help me out...and, I love 'em all for that. Five miles wore me out and next week, I think we're supposed to be up to 6 miles. Its good for me to know I can go farther than I ever thought I could -- or would want to -- but there's a lot of satisfaction in these long runs -- especially when they're OVER!

Hayley and I decided to go for a hike up Mt. Rubidoux this afternoon. Instead of taking our usual main paved trail off of 9th Street, we set off up the side of the mountain from the Dog Park by the Santa Ana River. It was a challenge getting up that way, but the real fun was coming down off the beaten path. Hayley slid and fell on her butt twice and then when we were at a pretty good clip, I tripped over a rock and just found myself airborn. I flew about 5 feet forward and during those split seconds of being airborn my brain remembered how I tried stopping a fall once before (1998) with my arms and broke both the radius and ulna (both the lower arm bones) of my right arm.
So, this time, my experienced instincts told me just to kept my arms forward, like superman and just fall on my chest and stomach. It wasn't so bad at all! In fact it was pretty dang funny. I wish I could have seen it from an outside perspective -- my sunglasses even flew off my face!

If I didn't fall all the time, I guess my ego might be bruised, but, if you know me well, its quite likely you've seen me fall at least once -- so, I have no pride along these lines -- this is what I do and who I am. And, really, I'd rather be falling on my butt than sitting around on it!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Week 9, An UnBirthday Party

On Sunday, after dinner, we decided to have an "Unbirthday" Party. Some of the grandkids have been watching and reading Alice in Wonderland and, since we have no birthdays between Carter's in December and William's in March (and we happened to have a large cake left over from Ward Conference), we decided this would be a fun idea.
We started by singing "Happy Unbirthday" but it sounded pretty bad. I've never even seen the Disney version of the cartoon so didn't even know how it was supposed to sound -- but, really, that wouldn't have mattered anyway. (If you've heard me sing, you know what I'm talkin' about.)
The fun part is that every kid around the table got to blow out candles. (I buy them in bulk at Smart & Final. They come in 500 packs there so you can birthday or unbirthday party all you want!)
Asher asked to have his picture taken and then did this pose up all by himself and then smiled when he saw the results.
(He must know how doggone cute he is!)
And, sweet Carter just loved being able to dig in to a nice big piece of chocolate cake!