"As The World Turns..."

I feel like I should use the title of this or some other soap opera, because I feel that it must seem that way to someone as they read through this blog at some future date.  Like a soap opera, this feels like a story where each week a new tragedy strikes or some type of drama happens.  Seriously, if this was a book, I would probably stop reading it.  It is just too much.  However as I share the events of the past few weeks and the intertwining of our heartaches, the message that I want to leave for my posterity is that God is so good, that He is always mindful of us, and He provides sufficient succor for each day.  If you look around, even in the dark times of life, you can see His hand and feel His love.  You must intentionally look for it at times, but it can be found and it will provide the hope and anchor to your soul to bear what must be borne. 

I actually don't know how we managed to do what we have done over the past two weeks and I lived it.  I share these things not to show how amazing Gary and I can be in a crisis, but to show the power and goodness of God and to acknowledge and praise Him.  We will always remember!

Two major things have happened over the past two weeks:

Gary's sweet mother, Holly Quigley Hall, passed away at home on the morning of September 28th.

Ben after spending 10 days in the CRU was discharged on September 26th and had to be readmitted on September 28 because his schizophrenia had spiraled out of control.  That led to a couple of trips to the ER including one stay of 96 hours in the ER until being admitted to a behavioral unit of the same hospital.  Ben is currently still there as they are adjusting medication.

And now "for the rest of the story"---see the following posts.

Dejunking and Reorganization Continues

In the middle of the birthday week, I continued to work on reorganizing and cleaning up closets and other places in our house.  My goal of getting the whole house cleaned in September was not working out but I did make some progress in the storage room and in my desk area.

Some "gems" I discovered along the way:

This can has sat on my office shelf to remind me to do my visiting teaching since.....

around 2004.....since we no longer do visiting teaching--out it went! It serve its purpose well!  I bet I was the only one that still had this can in their house.

This isn't quite as old, but as worthless.  This is my study guide for my Social Work license exam which I took and passed in 2017.  I don't ever need to take it again unless I let my license expired---I don't intend for that to ever happen because I am not take that test again.

And as I sorted and cleaned up my party supplies, I found this reminder that at one time, we were celebrating the arrival of 2020 with parties, kisses, and cheers!  It has been a year for sure, but not what we expected on January 1, 2020.

What do they say about hind sight-- it is always "20-20"!

Progress is being made, although slowly, on getting our house ready.  It is a big job and I am so glad that we aren't actually leaving our house on October 26th.  That will allow us extra time to finish house prep and also the yard.

Happy Birthdays--Ben, Gary, Jena, Elessia, Carter, and Alex

From Ben's birthday on the 17th to the twins' birthday on the 30th, we have a bunch of birthdays in September.  We had made a plan to go over to Gary's sister, Vonette's home, on Saturday the 26th for a picnic and swim party.  Vonette and her husband live up in Ogden Valley on a hillside which is beautiful this time of year and they have an indoor swim pool which we thought the kids would love to swim in since swimming opportunities have been limited during the pandemic.

After my fall on Tuesday, we had to cancel that plan as I wasn't totally recovered.  We changed to having a picnic at our house and to enjoy playing outside one more time.

SO--

Gary spent his birthday playing games with his mom, Vonette and Gary Kerr, and his other sister, Charon joined them.  As a surprise they had ordered him a little cake--I had gotten a coconut cream pie for him as well--so they had a fun celebration (while Jena and I spent the day watching old movies).  Happy 65th birthday, Gary!

Gary's mom was using O2 so they couldn't light candles in the house, so their solution was to put Gary, cake, and candles outside on the front porch while Mom Hall stood inside as he blew out his candles.  One of those priceless moments!

Jena and Elessia share a birthday.  We didn't see Elessia on her birthday, but we had a quiet celebration with Jena.  Her main gift was a new bedspread which she calls her "adult bedspread."  She chose it and is very pleased with how it turned out when it arrived from Amazon.

Happy 24th Birthday, Jena and Happy birthday, Elessia!

Friday Jena and I completed all of the shopping and prep for our combined birthday party.....  presents for Ben, Elessia, Carter and Alex arranged in our usual gift spot in the front room .....  

(Ben had not opened his presents yet as he had not been doing well and had spent the past 10 days in the  CRU-Critical Care Unit--at Davis Behavioral Health--more on that in a later post.)

.........and buying these cute cupcakes with unicorn horns--

And then poor Elessia got sick so Friday night, we decided to cancel the planned gathering and wait for her to get better before gathering together.  In this time of history, it is hard to know what to do and what not to do, but because Elessia had a cough, we chose to be super cautious.  And you wondered what happen to those cupcakes--slowly they got eaten over the next week--and none of them by me!

SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAYS-

BEN, GARY, JENA, ELESSIA, CARTER, AND ALEX!

even though our plans to gather and celebrate never happened--

and actually Carter, Elessia, and Alex just got their presents late last night,

and we are  hoping to do a Facetime opening sometime today.

We do love you and are happy to have you in our family.  You each add your own favor to our family and teaches us many things.

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Maybe next year we can celebrate in Aunt Vonette's pool!

Third Time the Charm????

The third fall of the season....

Tuesday, September 22nd was a regular busy day as we continued to try to cross things off our to-do list and to also support Gary's mom.  As a result, I only walked about 30 minutes in the morning.  In the evening, I decided to take a break and take a walk around the neighborhood to get some extra steps in and meet my self-imposed goal of walking an hour 4-5 days a week.

Dusk was just during into night so I decided to just walk around my neighborhood.  As I was getting my shoes on, Gary came in with his shoes and offered to walk with me.  Often evening walks do include Gary and usually Jena.  However I was thinking that I was going to "finish" my morning walk which is a much faster pace of walking.  I also knew Gary had things to do and I didn't want to interrupt his evening just so I could meet my goal.  So I told him I would be fine and would just walk in our neighborhood, so he stayed home.  Even as I walked out the door, the thought came to me that I should take Gary with me, but I "shook" it off, thinking Gary would think it was odd that I changed my mind (I didn't want him to think I was afraid of the dark, after all!).  So off I went.  The feeling that something wasn't right persisted as I walked--so much so that I decided not to walk around our block which would have taken me along 2700 South, a much busier road, but walked a loop around the inner cul de sacs along our own street. I made a couple of loops around the area but still with a slightly uneasy feeling.  

When I saw that I had reached my target of 30 minutes, I decided to head directly back home rather than to finish my current loop.  As I crossed the street and stepped on our neighbor's driveway, I missed judged the curb and tripped, landing first on my knees, then my hands, and then with my face (which fortunately landed on one of my hands instead of directly on the cement.)  My third fall since mid-July and certainly the one that left the most damage on my body.  Poor Gary as I limped into the house with a swollen lip and bleeding legs.  Rest and ice became my new best friends over the next 24 hours.

I know that this is a weird experience to share but there was some interesting things I learned during this experience:

*the human body is amazing!  The way that it can heal is  incredible.  It has been a very long time since I had hurt myself like that and I was struck by the marvel of it all.

*I was so lucky.  I could have been hurt worse.  I was walking too fast, crossing where I shouldn't have crossed, and especially in the dark of our quiet neighborhood.

*I had been warned and I didn't listen.  I discounted it as general worry due to current life events, even though I felt the difference.  I disregarded the warning because basically of pride--I didn't see a danger, I didn't want Gary to think I was afraid of the dark, and I wanted to walk fast!

*Because of that small experience, I renewed my personal goal to listen and obey with exactness when I feel the promptings of the Holy Ghost.  THAT became critical for the events of the next few weeks.

It reminded me of an experience that I had years ago when we lived in Plano.  One Saturday night I was making the almost weekly run to the grocery store to buy milk and whatever last minute things we needed for Sunday.  I backed out of my driveway and started heading south on Mission Ridge.  The thought popped in my head that I should go left to a store a bit further away rather than turn tight and go to the grocery store just down the block where I was planning to go.  And it started this argument in my head--"Why should I do that?  It is further away." "You felt a prompting." "Maybe it wasn't a prompting.  Maybe I just thought it in my head." "I wonder what would happen if I turned right instead of left." "Maybe I should do it to see what would happen." "That is dumb.  Turn left." and so the thoughts in my head went as I made it down to the light where I needed to make a choice--turn left and follow the prompting or ignore it and turn right as I had intended. I decided that I wanted to follow promptings and so I turned left and drove the further distance to the other store.  I fully expected to run into a friend who needed to talk or that some other thing would happen that would show me WHY I had to come this direction rather than the other.  NOTHING happened nor was there a car accident or a robbery near the other grocery store.  I have no idea why that night I was prompted to turn left rather than right.  Years later, I still don't know, but I believe it was a practice time for me--to listen and to obey, because many times in my life it has made a huge difference in my life and/or in the lives of others.  Sometimes I think God gives me these practice runs so that I can renew my determination to follow promptings quickly and with exactness.

I think this was a practice or "tune up" of my commitment to listen and to response with exactness to the impressions I receive from the Holy Ghost.  I am so grateful for that reminder on September 22, 2020.