Happy Easter

Happy Easter Dear Blog Friends

I hope that you all have a wonderful day. We are going to visit Mindy’s ward (congregation) for church because Claire is singing a solo and Ernie is directing the choir…. and since we are attending their ward, Mindy asked me if I would teach Austin’s primary class. (That is what happens when your daughter is the Primary President). I guess their regular teacher is away for Easter.  I’ve spent most of this afternoon getting the Easter lesson ready for them. There are 13 little 7 and 8 year olds. I’ve also made an Easter goodie bag for each child with a Easter spiritual thought attached. I hope they will like it.

After church we will have Easter dinner at Mindy’s home. Because I will not be home all day, I won’t have a chance to post a Sunday blog. That is why I wanted to wish you a Happy Easter tonight.

I have a testimony that Jesus took our sins upon Himself and died for us so that He could atone for our sins. I know that through Him, we can repent and become worthy to live with our Heavenly Father again.

I know that on the 3rd day after his death, Jesus was resurrected and that He lives today and loves us. Because of His loving sacrifice we will be resurrected too and have eternal life.  For this I am eternally grateful and joyously celebrate this Easter season.

“I know that my Redeemer lives…. What comfort this sweet sentence gives.”

Have a great day.

 

Missionary Smiles

I have many sweet smiles to share with you from our trip to visit family in Utah. Today I will concentrate on our Missionary Smiles.

We had planned to leave Utah last Monday but we got a call that morning that our 18 year old grandson, Jalen, had received his Mission call in the mail. That meant that we would need to unpack, stay an extra day and back track 62 miles to our daughters house…. which we were happy to do in order to be a part of this important event.

Jalen submitted his missionary paperwork to the church several weeks ago. We were hoping that his call would come while we were there. We all gathered together that evening at his home in anxious anticipation of where he would be asked to serve. Lynell had put a chart on the wall with all of the missions listed. We all put our names by the area we guessed that he might be called. I did not win the prize for guessing right.

(To learn more about the LDS Church (Mormon) missionary program click on the “I am a child of God” icon on my side bar. We have over 55,000 missionaries serving world wide at their own expense. Our young men are ask to serve 2 years. Our young women are welcome to serve if they desire to do so. )

With good wishes and cameras ready…..

Jalen opened up his letter and found out he will be serving in ….

… The Osorno, Chile mission which goes from the city of Osorno all the way down to the bottom of Chile. Is that anywhere near where you live Gloria?

We were all excited for him…. especially Erin’s husband, Patrick who served in Chile also. He said that Jalen will love it there. (Of course most missionaries think their mission is the best area in the world…. and I guess for them it is.)

We shed a few tears and gave lots of hugs to our new Elder. It seems like just yesterday that we were welcoming Justin home from Guatemala…. and now Jalen is leaving.

Grampy and I were so glad that we could be with Jalen for this special occasion. He leaves to go to the Missionary Training Center April 24th. We were all shocked that he is leaving so soon. There is much to do to get him ready to leave.

For one… he needs a new wardrobe….pants, white shirts, ties, shoes, suit, etc.   We rushed out to get him a new suit. As I saw him standing there getting his suit fitted,  I was amazed how the Lord turns these young men from boys into missionaries…. willing to give up 2 years of their life, learn a new language, live away from home and family and work hard and sacrifice as they serve the Lord and try to share His Gospel with the world. To me our missionary program is amazing and marvelous.

I Know that Jalen will be blessed the rest of his life because of his willingness to serve the Lord in this calling. I know that he will love the people of Chile. I know that it will be hard work but it will be worth it. I know that our whole family will grow in faith and testimony as we share his missionary experiences through his letters.  My heart is full of smiles for Jalen and for the testimony I have that this is the Lord’s work.

I hope that you are having a good week and that your heart is full of smiles too. We are back home now and I look forward to getting to get caught up on reading your blogs.   Hugs, Grammy Lura

St. Patrick’s Smiles in a rush

I hope that you all had a happy St. Patrick’s Day yesterday. We did. We all met at our Patrick’s house and had a lovely dinner and time together. I only have a few minutes to be on the computer because we are on the run making the most of our last day here with family. I’m going to throw on some pictures and call it good. I will be back to read your posts when I’m family free.

After church we all met at Erin and Patrick’s for dinner. They don’t like cornbeef and cabbage like I do so they opted to have a green dinner instead of the traditional St. Patrick’s day menu. We had potato and ham soup in green bread bowls and a green salad…. That worked for me.

Even our little Evan said “ This is good stuff”

Grampy forgot to pack a green shirt to wear so Jalen fixed him up with the hat Cal made in preschool.

Our meal ended with green dessert.  Jordan and Johnny weren’t sure about eating green dessert but it tasted yummy.  We licked the bowl clean.

We spent the rest of the evening visiting and enjoying each other’s company. The girls couldn’t seem to leave Justin alone….. but he is great to play with the kids.

Erin and Lynell are such fun daughters. It is a joy to be with them. I miss being with Mindy’s family while we are here but I’ve had a great time being with our Utah kids and grands.

We will be packing up tomorrow and heading home. We were going to go today  but we just learned that Jalen got his mission call in the mail…. so we postponed leaving so we can all be together tonight when he opens it and sees where he will be serving as a missionary for the next 2 years.  We are excited for him.

I must run. I’ll be back to read your blogs and say hello as soon as I can. You are in my thoughts and prayers.  Have a great week. 

Hugs, Grammy

March Smiles week 1

I am smiling because this past week is over.  I think Tuesday and Wednesday were two of the hardest days I’ve had since the accident.

Both the manometry and pH test were miserable for me. By the 22 hour that I had the tube down my nose, my esophagus was so irritated that every breath caused a new spasm to start. I was in terrible pain. Thank you for your prayers and best wishes…. that is all that got me through it. I would not wish these two tests on my worst enemy (if I had a enemy). I am smiling that they are both over. Now, I hope they showed info that will help the doctor cure the problem.

This is Davey…. our son David’s oldest boy. He recently turned 8 which is a very important birthday in our church because he is old enough to be baptized.

We traveled 600 miles…part of it through a snow storm…. to attend his baptism. I was nervous driving in a storm since our last March trip up here ended with our accident, but thankfully we made it through just fine. Smile Smile

 I loved seeing my 2 Davids dressed in white. I’m glad that our son is a worthy priesthood holder and could baptize little Davey.

They looked like angels to me all dressed in white. The church was filled with love and smiles.

We were so happy to be there to share this special day with Davey and our family.

We baptize by emersion. I could not take a picture of the actual baptism but this is a picture of the font. If you would like to know more about Mormon beliefs click here.

After the baptism we went back to the house where we had a lovely lunch. We spent the rest of the day yesterday visiting with family and enjoying being together. Jalen entertained us at the piano. ….

…the kids played all sorts of games… you can see that Cal was well prepared.

It was a lovely day…. one that will warm my heart forever. Is there anything better than spending a day with loved ones???? I think not.

This cake sums it all up. Our family joined together to express our love for Davey, the Lord and each other. It was a wonderful day that filled my heart with smiles.

So the first week of March was one of extremes  for me. Tuesday and Wednesday I was extremely miserable…. and Saturday I was extremely happy.  With the help of the Lord I got through the miserable parts and was able to enjoy the wonderful parts.  I am thankful.

I hope you have a great week ahead. 

Hugs, Grammy Lura

I dread this coming week… but I’m trying to have faith and not fear. What should I do?

As I’ve told you in past posts, I’ve been having esophageal spasms since last November. The best way that I can describe them is that they are like having a “Charlie-horse” in my neck and jaw. The pain is severe but usually only lasts about 5 to 20  minutes. However, I have to sleep sitting up quite often because it hurts too bad to lie down.

Several of you have let me know that you suffer from the same ailment and have given me good advice about how to manage the pain and cope with it. Thank you.

The Endoscopy I had 2 weeks ago and biopsies  they took showed negative results which is a good thing…. but the pain continued.

The doctor put me on Nexium which really helps me. With Nexium the spasms come less often and not as severe. I am happy with that…. but my doctors want me to have the 2 tests next Tuesday described in the above pamphlets.

The Manometry measures the contractions of the esophagus. They put a tube (about the size of a cell phone charger chord) through your nose down to your stomach and have you to swallow to measure the contractions. The test takes about an hour to do.

 

The second test measures the acid in the esophagus. They put a smaller tube through your nose to your stomach and leave it in for 24 hours. After inserting the tube, they tape it to your face and send you home to monitor the pH level until you go back the next day to have it removed.

I HAVE AN OVER ACTIVE GAG REFLEX.

I SOMETIMES THROW UP JUST BRUSHING MY TEETH!

I told them I can not endure these 2 tests….. they ignored me…. and said I need to have them done.  WHY???? The Nexium is helping me just fine.

It reminds me of the day in ICU after our accident that they told me they were going to put a tube in my back and drain my lung because it had collapsed from the pressure of so much blood and fluid. 

I told them NO!  The doctor said I would die without doing it. I said “I don’t care… I can’t go through that”  The doctor said “Yes you can…. and he did it” My friend, Sil, held my hand and helped me get through it.

In that case I really didn’t have a choice and I couldn’t get out of bed to run away…LOL…. But now I do have a choice….. and I can run  walk away. 

The tests are scheduled for Tues through Wed. I know that faith and fear cannot co-exist with each other…. but I feel like this is just too much.  I know that God is always with me and has helped me get through harder things like 15 broken ribs, etc.  However, this seems so terrible to me….. I’ve had major surgery and kidney stones since the accident which I was blessed to get through OK… but this feels like “the last straw”.

And…. I have not been having spasm attacks this week.  What if I go through the tests and they don’t show anything?  Then all the misery of the tests would be for nothing.

I don’t want to do them …. but…. What should I do????  John thinks I should do what the doctors think is best.  I am praying for guidance.  Please pray with me that I will know what I should do…. and, if needs be…. the courage to do it.

Thanks for being there for me. Hugs, Grammy Lura