Tied Down?

This sculpture was made to move with the air currents 

by

Anthony Howe from nearby Orcas Island

Click the image for examples of Howe's kinetic sculptures in motion

Ever since we moved here the sculpture has been tied down so it doesn't move. 

Why is that? 

The other day when I walked past the sculpture I likened this to us. How many of us are tied down figuratively so we can't fulfill our potential? We are children of God. We have divine heritage. We have unlimited potential. 

What's keeping us from being all that we can be?

Bring on the Zucchini!

Recently we bought this spiral vegetable slicer & are enjoying vegetable noodles with all sorts of toppings. This model of slicer works great with zucchini and OK with potatoes. We're ready for the summer zucchini crop, are you?

Her Story - My Story

“What if her story were my story?” I often ask myself this question when I’m reading a book. What would I do if I were in her shoes?

At our church’s recent world-wide general conference we were asked to consider the refuges throughout the world and ponder “What if their story were my story?” What can we do to reach out to refugees? Said Linda Burton, Relief Society general president, “This is an opportunity to serve one-on-one, in families, and by organizations to offer friendship, mentoring, and other Christlike service and is one of many ways sisters can serve.”

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were often refugees at the beginning of the church in the United States. Driven from Kirtland, Ohio, they gathered in Missouri. In 1837-1838 they were forced out of Missouri and fled to Illinois. Kind citizens in Quincy, Illinois took in the refugees. Eventually settling in Nauvoo, Illinois, they enjoyed a few years of prosperity before being being forced to leave Nauvoo in the middle the brutal cold of February 1846. This was the exodus of thousands of people who eventually ended up in what now is Utah, but then was outside the United States. 

Click here for video "When We Were Strangers"

A highlight of the meeting was a women’s choir made up of women, many of them refugees, from more than 50 countries. They are our sisters. Their stories are important for us to learn – for they could be our stories. We are all children of God. 

Click here for video "I Was A Stranger: Love One Another"

Learn more about "I Was a Stranger"

website 

articles here and here 

Beautiful Feet

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!"  Isaiah 52:7 

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(photo & name used with permission)

In Awe

On a morning walk I was so focused on my destination that I almost walked past this tree without noticing it. Believe it or not, this giant redwood tree is squeezed in between two buildings and was easy to miss amidst the hustle and bustle on busy Lake Street. 

I stood in front of it trying to take in its size and its beauty. 

How old is it?

Sometimes I see and feel God in nature. This was one of those times. 

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The tree is located at what used to be the edge of Lake Washington. When the Lake Washington Ship Channel was cut in 1916, the lake lowered by about 9 feet to match the level of Lake Union. This created quite a bit of land between Lake Street and the new shoreline. That land became Kirkland parks and building sites for waterfront homes. 

Browne - Floyd - Graduated Together

Mom's parents Harry Edmond Floyd and Mildred Jane Browne Floyd were in the same graduating class in Saginaw, Michigan June 1913

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Thursday, June 19, 1913 Saginaw News (Saginaw, Michigan)

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(OFFICIAL)

BOARD OF EDUCATION

Regular Monthly Meeting of the Board 

Of Education of the City of Saginaw,

East Side, Michigan, Held Wednes-

Day Evening, June 18, 1913

“The annual graduation exercises of the High school will be held in the Auditorium Thursday evening, June 26, at 8 o’clock. The address of the evening will be delivered by Hon. O.T. Corson, ex-State Superintendent of Public Instruction of Ohio. Members of your honorable body are respectfully asked to be present and to occupy seats on the platform.

  The following names pupils have been recommended to me by the Principal and teachers of the High school as having completed the required number of hours of work to entitle them to receive diplomas. I therefore, recommend that they be granted diplomas by your honorable body. The total number is: boys 62, girls 69, in all 131. I have the honor to say that this is the largest number ever graduated in one year from the High school, the next largest class having been 115 in number. The pupils recommended are as follows:

… [all 131 students are named]

Mildred Jane Browne

…

Harry Edmond Floyd

…

Respectfully submitted,

E.C. WARRINER,

Supt. Of Schools.

June 18, 1913

************     Genealogybank.com, accessed April 18, 2016

Mildred Jane Browne

This might be her high school senior picture - 1913

Harry Edmond Floyd ca 1918

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The article was on this page, columns 1, 3, 4

Check out the stove & dress!

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11/14/20 removed notation that it might be Mildred's senior picture; it isn't

Together Forever

September 2015

April 8th is the anniversary of our "for time and all eternity" marriage.This eternal ordinance took place in the Washington DC temple, the House of the Lord. Our marriage will continue after death. 

"... the New Testament reference in Matthew 16:19 records Jesus Christ telling the Apostle Peter: “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”" (source)

So It Is With Life

Life is always a mixture of good/bad, happy/sad, sun/rain, ...

Early one morning I walked towards the Seattle Temple. I noticed the beautiful sculpture of people playing. I observed the beautiful temple and thought about the sacred work that takes place there. I took in the petal-strewn sidewalk. Only then did I notice the drizzly rain. The rain and lack of sunshine didn't take away from all the beauty around me. 

So it is with life. 

His Day

Click here for video

Each week He gives us a day

For the most important things

For coming together

For fresh starts

For lifting our voices

And lifting each other

For guidance

And joy

For coming closer to Him

His day is for 

Questions, answers, service,

Family, gratitude, growth, ...

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I love the Sabbath. Honoring the Sabbath has helped me develop a testimony of  and a relationship with Christ and His gospel.  

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More about the Sabbath here. 

image & quote

Christ in Art

Putting Christ at the center of our lives brings 

richness, depth, purpose, perspective, and blessings. 

Click here for beautiful art featuring Christ

image LDS Media Library

Friend & Brother

Ray Emerson Pepper was born 6/19/1915 in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County OH. Ray lived in Cleveland until about age 10 when his parents were divorced. He then lived with his grand or great grand Mother Roe in Lima for a while (year or two) Mr. Roe was a picture on the wall; Ray never met him. Ray then left for California with his Father who was an accountant. 

He lived with his father in California until his Dad’s death in 1932. They lived in a room and mostly ate out. In fact they were eating in a restaurant when his Dad dropped over on the table dead from a stroke. At age 17 he got on a bus back to Ohio.  He then lived one year with Charles Pepper (William’s brother) for his junior year of high school but they didn’t get along at all. Ray then lived with the Ailes (a teacher) family who befriended him for his senior year. The Ailes family, Mother, Father, and children were life long friends of Ray’s. (Joe Todd) 

This image from the 1940 census shows Ray living with the Ailes family in Pemberton, Ohio - Sidney & Lina with their sons Wayne, Ned & John. They had three lodgers - Ray Pepper, Frances Newhouse & Nettie Mendel. Ray was working as a nickel plater. 

See the PepperRay label on the right for more information & photos of Ray Pepper

census image - familysearch.org

Mary Elizabeth Neely Todd Pepper

April 11, 1905 - July 16, 1983

Mary Elizabeth Neely in 1927 as a junior

at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

Joseph Robertson Todd was in the same class at Indiana University

June 1928 Mary Elizabeth Neely graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. Her area of study was French. This diploma is about 19" x 16", a bit larger than today's diplomas. 

Atonement - Individual

 The Atonement is an awesome gift to us. Christ's act of the Atonement allows us to have immortality. The following thoughts helped me as I pondered the Atonement during this Easter season. 

"Our Savior’s Atonement does more than assure us of immortality by a universal resurrection and give us the opportunity to be cleansed from sin by repentance and baptism. His Atonement also provides the opportunity to call upon Him who has experienced all of our mortal infirmities to give us the strength to bear the burdens of mortality. He knows of our anguish, and He is there for us. Like the good Samaritan, when He finds us wounded at the wayside, He will bind up our wounds and care for us (see Luke 10:34). The healing and strengthening power of Jesus Christ and His Atonement is for all of us who will ask. Dallin Oaks 

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Staying to the End - Sometimes we are taught major lessons in very interesting ways. This happens to me frequently. Some of you may even wonder how I learned that from an experience I share here on the blog. Each of us learns differently. The Spirit can teach us in the midst of something that doesn’t seem very “spiritual.” That happened to Lee Middleton when he found himself washing dishes in the temple’s cafeteria. He had a dishwashing job as a teenager and had resolved never to wash dishes again. But he couldn’t say no when asked to serve that way in the temple. One night someone thanked him for “staying to the very end.” As he reflected on the person’s comment, “a thought entered my mind: ‘How could I not serve the Lord in this small way? He suffered in Gethsemane and hung on a cross for me. What sacrifice on my part is too great in return?” Then he had a special experience with the Spirit. As I read this I thought about the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, the ones who couldn’t stay awake. Three times Christ asked them to watch with Him. Christ stayed “to the end.” We can do the same.  Read Middleton’s article here. 

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Kate Hansen describes a very difficult time in her life. As she struggled she realized she needed to seek the Lord’s help and let Him help her through the trial. The experience taught her that “Jesus Christ was not just the Savior. He is my Savior. He bore my griefs and carried my sorrows, and with His stripes I am healed (see Isaiah 53:4–5). Article here He is MY Savior. Our lives change when we realize how much we are loved and known as individuals - that the Atonement was for each of us, individually. 

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That’s the glory and miracle of Christ’s atonement. It was universal but it was also very individual. 

Light

Light - what a difference it makes in our lives. 

This sight on a recent walk reminded me 

that I always want to be walking towards the light of Christ.

Seeing the light reflected off this window made me think 

about reflecting the light of Christ in all I think, say, and do. 

Larry Lawrence indicated the “real objective of our existence is to gain light. … Our physical bodies grow bigger when we feed them nourishing food. Our spirits grow brighter when we feed them light.

“God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). 

“That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day” (Doctrine and Covenants 50:24).

“One of the best ways to gain light is to learn to love as our Father in Heaven loves. We call this kind of love charity. Mormon exhorts us to “pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love” (Moroni 7:48) Love rapidly brings more light into our spirits; contention and jealousy take light away.

“… the first commandment is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37–38). The reward for loving God and for putting Him first in our lives is huge. Jesus taught, “If your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:67).” Read entire talk here. 

John 8:12: “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

Click here to see the many, many references to light in the scriptures. 

God said, "Let there be light."  (Genesis 1: 3) Let there be light in the world and in us. Let us share that light with others.

Unique Washington

See that patch of blue in the middle? Around here it's called a "sun break." On overcast days the weather people talk about the likelihood and timing of "sun breaks." More on sun breaks here. Every state has its unique phrases and place pronunciations. Here are some we've discovered. 

People talk about the mountains being "out," kind of like the moon's out tonight or the sun's out. Read more here and here. 

The term skid row came from Seattle. Originally skid road, it meant the road used to drag or skid logs down to the waterfront for transport.

Washington has many place names that come from the various Native American tribes in the area. We were very puzzled by pronunciation initially - and still sometimes come across names that make us wonder how to say them. Here are just a few. Check out the links below for more. 

Sequim - squim

Cle Elem - clay-ELL-um

Puyallup - pew-ALL-up OR pew-AL-up (In the indigenous language, it's pronounced poy-ALL-up. In English it's pronounced pyu as a single syllable, like the Japanese pyu. jht - I had a friend in Worthington who was raised in Puyallup. When she said the word, I could never envision how to spell it. 

Mukilteo - muk-ull-TEE-oh

Additional place names are here and here. This link has audio. 

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Bonus - here's a link to Washington symbols, nicknames, state animals, and all that kind of good stuff. According to the site we even have a state dance, the square dance! Does your state have a state dance?

High School Classmates

Marshall (Mo.) High School.

REPUBLIC SPECIAL.

   Marshall, Mo., May 21. – The fourteenth annual commencement of Marshall High School for ’97 took place before a large audience here last night. Following is a list of the graduates:

   With highest praise – Joseph Clinton Todd, Frank Clinton Barnhill, Misses Ella Stanley Goodsin, Emily Josephine Robertson.

   With praise – Misses Bessie Gertrude Corson, Frances Hereford Francisco, Emma Kelley Fisher, Mary Alice Montague and Bertha Alice Roberts.

   Graduated – Misses Eulalia Katherine Conway, Sarah Bella Highland, Daisy Martin Knight, Gertrude Ligget, Pearl Oldham, Archie Waugh Naylor and Robert Clarence Neville.

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Joe's grandparents Todd, Joseph Clinton Todd and Emily Josephine Robertson were in the same high school graduating class. They both graduated with "highest praise." 

I wonder if they were high school sweethearts? Joe's records indicate they were married in 1903, six years after they graduated from high school. 

Josephine Robertson - that's the origin of Joseph Robertson Todd, Joe's father, and Patrick Robertson Todd. 

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Emily & Joseph about 1939 

in Bloomington, Indiana

Newspaper source: Date: Saturday, May 22, 1897   Paper: St. Louis Republic (St. Louis, Missouri)   Section: Part II   Page: 4; genealogybank.com; accessed April 6, 2016

Love Underneath the Clutter

Way back around Valentine's Day a busy mother reflected on the stuff of the holiday and the love that sometimes gets buried underneath the "clutter" of holidays and every day routine. 

Says Saydi Eyre Shumway, "I just want to make sure that the stuff of holidays doesn’t get in the way of the real meaning behind them.  The stuff is productive, it’s tangible, it’s something we can see and measure and post. ... But love is the substance of everything.  If I step back to examine my motivations, love is the engine driving what I do.  ... that’s actually propelling my actions.  I’ve found that when I stop to love and to recognize the love embedded in the work I’m doing then even the mundane motherhood tasks become meaningful, become a part of the real magic of love." 

She quotes Richard A. Swenson,  “Love is the only thing that will exit out the other side. It will stand alone, vindicated. It will finally and clearly be seen for the dominant, unbeatable, infinite, glorified force it has always been, just obscured for millennia by layers of fallen clutter.”

Shumway concludes by saying she wants to cut through the layers of fallen clutter so she can focus on the love that drives all she does.  (Read whole post here)

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For God so loved the world [and each of us in it], that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3: 16

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you" John 13:34

World's Largest Virtual Hallelujah Chorus

I hope you came across this during Easter week. If you didn't, check it out. If you did, please enjoy it again.

Individuals and choirs around the world were invited to sing Handel's Hallelujah Chorus with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The choir received about 2,500 videos. Click here, here, here, here, and here to read more. Then enjoy the video again. 

Is it possible to sing "Hallelujah" without smiling?

Gethsemane

GETHSEMANE

Jesus climbed the hill

To the garden still

His steps were heavy and slow

Love and a prayer

Took Him there

To the place only He could go

Gethsemane

Jesus loves me

So He went willingly

To Gethsemane

He felt all that was sad, wicked or bad

All the pain we would ever know

While His friends were asleep

He fought to keep

His promise made long ago

Gethsemane

Jesus loves me

So He went willingly

To Gethsemane

The hardest thing that ever was done

The greatest pain that ever was known

The biggest battle that ever was won

This was done by Jesus

The fight was won by Jesus

Gethsemane

Jesus loves me

So He gave His gift to me

In Gethsemane

Gethsemane

Jesus loves me

So He gives His gift to me

From Gethsemane

Written by Melanie Hoffman & Roger Hoffman

sung by Claire Ryann

When 3 year old Claire Ryann heard this song, she asked her parents to play it over and over. Soon she knew the words and sang it constantly at home. Sometimes children say things that indicate they are familiar with God and things on the other side of the veil. Because they are young they often don't have the language to articulate what they know and have experienced before coming to this earth. But we can feel it, we can sense it in what they do say. That's how I feel when I listen to Claire sing "Gethsemane." She knows. 

Click here to read about Claire and how she came to sing this touching song about Jesus Christ.