More Faith In My Savior.

Relief Society helps prepare women for the blessings of eternal life as they:

• Increase faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement

• Strengthen families and homes through ordinances and covenants

• Work in unity to help those in need

• What greater blessings than those we receive as Sisters in Zion.  Each encounter increases our Faith In Our (My) Savior.   Look to your sisters for strength, love and joy.  You will always find what  you are looking for.

More Sorrow For Sin

What is more sorrow.  Is it more than saying "my bad" the popular shirking off of sin as if saying, "Oh,Well."  To me that isn't even an apology.  It is not even some sorrow.  Saying "I'm sorry" often becomes meaningless especially if it is spoken too often for the same mistake.

Godly sorrow is more sorrow for sin.

Sorrow for sin. Study and ponder to determine how serious the Lord defines your transgression to be. That will bring healing sorrow and remorse. It will also bring a sincere desire for change and a willingness to submit to every requirement for forgiveness. Alma taught, “Justice exerciseth all his demands, and also mercy claimeth all which is her own; and thus, none but the truly penitent are saved.” Alma 42:24 ^{, from Finding Forgiveness, Elder Richard G. Scott, General Conference, April, 1995., Italics added.}

 The Lamanites that were converted by Ammon and his brothers exemplified godly sorrow and submitted to every requirement asked of them even unto death.  (see Alma 24)  

 11 And now behold, my brethren, since it has been all that we could do (as we were the most lost of all mankind) to repent of all our sins and the many murders which we have committed, and to get God to take them away from our hearts, for it was all we could do to repent sufficiently before God that he would take away our stain—

 15 Oh, how merciful is our God! And now behold, since it has been as much as we could do to get our stains taken away from us, and our swords are made bright, let us hidethem away that they may be kept bright, as a testimony to our God at the last day, or at the day that we shall be brought to stand before him to be judged, that we have not stained our swords in the blood of our brethren since he imparted his word unto us and has made us clean thereby.

This is godly sorrow.  They are changed through repentance. More sorrow for sin is more than just "sorry".  It is a change of life.

HAPPINESS THROUGH REPENTENCE


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Back To Beading

I am anxious to start beading again.  Last summer I made many pieces of jewelry to sell at the Sandy City festival at Bear Park, but I was unable to attend due to a late summer trip.  On that road trip I beaded in the car for miles after long miles across the states of Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa.  It was better to be beading instead of sleeping through my book.

  There is so much more to do, but I cannot run downstairs to do it.  Last trip to the clinic I checked out my craft room before going upstairs.  It is topsy-turvy with Christmas sewing fabrics and November through December totes of decoration storage waiting for the big sorting I always want to do before putting them away in the black hole storage space under the stairs. Before surgery I injured my back and couldn't even move the totes, and now after surgery I cannot lift over 10 lbs or be running up and down stairs, and am not sure  how long that indictment will last.  I am chomping at the bit to get back to my craft room to work.  The body governs itself and lets you know when to stop or suffer the consequences.  I have noticed that already this week. "You think you can do this, Nemo, but you can't". 

I did gather some recent bead orders to sort through upstairs when I am 'resting'.  It is time to enlist a photographer--you know who that is--the man with the fancy camera, and start posting jewelry on my blog.  After all, the name of my blog is about daily beads. Let's put some beads on here.  These are not his.

All the beads I ordered that came in December.

You may notice a lot of Swarovski crystals and pearls.  They were on sale at 30% off.  I like those sales and I love Swarovski Crystals.  

I made this simple stretch bracelet with 10 mm Swarovski pearls and a Stirling Silver bead.  I plan to make more to sell.  I love the combination of colors.

To the orthopedic office today to discuss what to do about my deteriorating back discs. Poor me. 

HAPPY BEADING


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More Patience in Suffering

More Patience in Suffering.  How appropriate this is.  As most of you know, I had kidney surgery last Tuesday.  Even though I had intentions to plan my blog ahead and have them ready to post, there is more to intentions than thinking about it; and it just didn't happen.

When do we suffer more that with surgery?  There is mental suffering that comes with the anticipation, worry, fear and many other negative emotions associated with an upcoming surgery. The worst case scenario replays over and over.  Some things will not occur, but that niggling thought that they may occur is persistent. Recall the last words of the surgeon as your are being locked and loaded telling you all the life threatening things that have a slight possibility of happening.  You can change your mind.  Seriously!  You are transferred down that infamous hall of overhead lights, through locked doors and into that sterile operating room with modern machines poised around the room waiting to pounce.  Everyone has their last minute preparations buzzing around you.  On one side a doctor is connecting a table full of  Laproscopic tools, The Robot, that, at this point, resembles a newly opened erector set. Toys for Doctors. Nurses and technicians pull you off the bed onto a narrow surgical table that feels like trail across Angel's Landing.  Don't lean to the right or the left.  The busy hive hooks you up to the myriad monitors nearby and the Long Sleep drug is administered before you can take in any more terror. One second you are there and the next you are gone into the Dead Zone where nothing exists anymore.  I am not sure it is existence--my heart is beating and my lungs function, but where am I?  Am I in a waiting room deprivation tank? There is no feeling of peace, or oneness with the cosmos--just nothing.  Three or four hours go by unawares.  (Gratefully, as they push my muscles and organs out of the way to get to my little, not so innocent kidney.)

Then I awake to the most physically painful part of life ever.  This is the real foreknowledge that I have been dreading the past week.    My experience with being awakened in recovery is too horrendous to think about.  Those who have out of body experiences say that the moment a spirit returns to the body is very painful.  It has to be the same when the mind goes from no sensory perception to all sensory perception at once.  Every hurtful, painful, awareness part of life comes into focus all at once.  The filters created by the mind are all turned off and everything crashes in. Every scent, taste, sound, touch and nerve pain sensor turns on at full volume.  This is the time I want to scream at the nurse, "GO AWAY!  Never talk to me again."  This is the only time in my life that I really wanted to die.

Not so this surgery. I  do not recall a recovery room and most of the first hours of being in my room. Dan said I was mumbling in and out of consciousness. If this is the new post-op procedure I am all for it. I don't remember anything.  I am so glad.  My first memory is so foggy I cannot really pinpoint it. I have spent hours trying to recall anything, but nothing is there. Someone introduced herself as my nurse and wanted to take my blood pressure and it was downhill from there.

Now the Patience in Suffering takes place.  The previous part is not under my control.  Practice makes you more paranoid.   Mindfulness or cognitive behavior points out your inability to fix things thus leads to more self deprecation.  Why add suffering to suffering?  Physical suffering takes patience.  I really try not to bite the nurse that pokes me, or throw things at the  phlebotomist at 5 AM, but when the pain killers have worn off it is not a good time for pleasantries.  When my whole back is attacked with needles and I painfully work myself onto my side for some real sleep time, please don't pull me back to squeeze the life out of my arm.  Let sleeping patients ly.

After two or three days of endurance; fill me with pain killers so that I can endure the giddiness of going home.  It will call for all my strength to painfully lift my rubber legs to dress, then convince myself to stand steadily on those legs to prove that I am not dizzy. Lastly, I must patiently wait for that last IV to come out and for that glorious ride to the front door.  Good-by, nurse.  Good-by help to the toilet.  Good-by sleeplessness.

It still hurts at home, but not in the same ways.  No one wakes you all day and night.  Miraculous strength gets you moving again.  Neighbors bring food and good cheer.  Husbands are attentive and concerned and also relieved to be home. No matter the circumstances, There's No Place Like Home.

May your suffering be quick and gone.

HAPPY TO BE HOME


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More Striving Within

In touch with my 'More" mantra for 2016.  More striving within.  I am interested in this concept. I checked for some ideas from the words of the General Authorities and no one talked about this particular pairing of words.  One would be quoted in the first part of the talk, and the other may fall at the end.  Here is an example:

 This season also helps us realize what matters most in life and often is a time of serious personal reflection and evaluation as we consider the past and contemplate the future.

Sadly and far too often this wonderful season of reevaluation becomes “the time of good intentions,” when our resolutions to be better end in “sudden death” within a few days or weeks into the new year. . . 

Then way down at the end of the speech the line:

. . .  strive to obtain sacred and eternal blessings. Erich W. Kopischke, What Do You Envision In Life?, BYU Speeches, Dec 2, 2014. 

I add a little more because the talk does add to the concept of striving within even if it doesn't put the words together like I wanted.

. . .  dreams and visions are important. They determine the directions, goals, and priorities we are setting for our lives. The scriptures teach the following: “Where there is no vision,the people perish. ”4Proverbs 29:18.

 Sometimes our understanding of a principle is enhanced if we reverse the phrasing, which in this case would read: “Where there is a vision, the people flourish.” I truly believe this to be true because I have witnessed it in my own life and in the lives of many others around me.The scripture then continues, “But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”5This brings me to ask you two very personal questions: What is your personal vision for your life? and What are you doing to fulfill it? Ibid BYU Speeches...

This is a good talk about striving within oneself to be more.

Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our vision of what we can accomplish. Through goals and plans, our hopes are transformed into action. Goal setting and planning are acts of faith.22Ibid

More striving within,  the inner self needs to try harder, to do more, be more and live more.

HAPPY STRIVING WITHIN


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Pantone Color(s) Of The Year

This year is the first time that Pantone set the Color Of The Year as two different colors.  They are "Rose Quartz" and "Serenity"  which is baby or light pink and baby or sky blue. 

 
So who is Pantone and why should I care about The Color Of The Year?

The Pantone Color Institute provides color trend forecasting, brand color development supported by brand color stories, and product palette development. We help companies make the most informed decisions about color for their brands or products to gain a competitive edge.

 Fashion designers in decor and clothing pay a lot of attention to the Pantone Color of the Year.  The fashion trends tend to follow these colors--some years more than others.  You may see a lot of pink or sky blue in clothing stores.  I like to know what is forecast.  If it is a color that I like then I know to buy basic styles in these colors to use for years to come.  

Real Rose Quartz Gemstones

The one time I noticed it was in Monterey, CA  the year of the color Tangerine Tango which is a really bright orange.  The dress shop was ablaze with orange, which is not usually a popular color. The year it was Emerald, I searched all over for green tops and it was hard to find, at least in Utah.  It didn't catch on.  I wanted to renew my St. Patrick's Day wardrobe that year, but it was just not happening here.

Some of my lighter pink and blue beads.

Pantone is the Great and Powerful OZ from the movie version of "The Wiz."  They dictate what color will be fashionable each year.   "The color is Red." "Wouldn't be caught dead in Red"  "Gold is Gold."   If you grew up in our house you knew "The Wiz" by heart ("Not the flying monkeys!) just as much as "Goonies, Super Girl or Princess Bride".   

So.  (my 9th grade English teacher would roll over in her grave if I started a sentence with So)----  So, I am looking forward to these colors.  Pastels are my colors.  I look great in pink, especially if I have a slight sunburn.  I like sky blue but not so much because it is a cool color.  I look better in warm colors.  It is my year.  Let's hear it for the Type 1 person.  Hurrah! 

Check out studio5.ksl.com under the tab "misc" on January 4th and 5th for some suggestions for matching to other colors--charcoal, camel, black, grey and cream.

HAPPY PASTELS


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All About A Bean

How many dried beans do you have in storage?  Enough for one year?  Two years?  Eternity?  If you eat them as often as most people do, you probably have enough to last through at least your own lifetime and probably the lifetime of your children.  There are several schools of thought on the shelf life of dried beans.

The dry pack canneries associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints suggest that they are good for  thirty years, I believe.  That is 29 years longer that I would like to use them.

My aunt who lives in South Western Colorado on the plateau near the border of Colorado and Utah where pinto beans are dry farmed (whew) says that you should keep beans one year from harvest then throw them out and get new ones. 

The grocery store beans may be over a year old when you purchase them,  It would be really difficult to know unless you understand the packing codes.  What does the 'use by date' tell you about when they were packed?

May I refer you to a little bean bible that I got somewhere, most likely stole it from my mother's cookbooks.  It is called "The El Paso Chili Company.   Beans."  It is hard to tell what the title is because one is written over the other on the book jacket and simply "Beans" on the Title Page.  Author is W. Park Kerr, a co-owner of the El Paso Chili Company at the time it was published in 1996.

I do enjoy this little book.  It gives lots of information on beans and bean cookery.  Kerr states:  "Dried Beans are virtually immortal, having remained edible (that is cookable and even growable) for hundreds of years."  He does qualify that statement with "they will just take a little longer to cook."

That is an understatement.  In my experience beans that have been in storage a while (two or more years)  do take longer to soak and cook.  A lot longer.  I soak my older beans for at least thirty-six hours and cook for all day or more in the crock pot.  

Here is a tip from one of my daughters who researches these things.  Put a tablespoon or so of whey in the soaking water.  It does something to the beans to make them more digestible.  I use whatever whey I happen to have on my cottage cheese, yogurt or Kefir.  It is the watery part that you probably throw out.  It is great for soaking beans and grains.

Some beans rehydrate faster than others, but they are not done until they are al dente and that does not mean slightly undercooked.  It means simply to the tooth [you bite them in half and feel how they chew.], and pasta may continue cooking after drained, but beans don't.  Undercooked beans are the major cause of gas.  In my experience the softer they are the less likely they cause gas or constipation.  They just have to be done or they don't digest properly.

A little antecdote my uncle used to tell.  He said my aunt always cooked a potato in the beans to soak up the gas.  Then she would eat the potato.

I plan to feature bean recipes for a while on Monday Soup Day.  When my family was young I always made soup or stew and hot homemade bread on Mondays.  I still make the soup, but not the bread.  I will heat up Costco's pitas slathered with butter or bakery French bread toasted with butter and sometimes garlic bread seasoning, make scones or biscuits.  It depends on the soup and what compliments it.

Enjoy your beans.  Learn to cook them and eat them.  They are good for you (says your mother).

HAPPY BEAN COOKERY


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More Holiness

I found a hymn that captures the essence of my 2016 mantra:  "More" that is coalescing each day as I think about it.  Do More.  Be More.  Live More.  That could sum it up.

The hymn is "More Holiness Give Me."  It has a lot of 'more' in it.  Holiness is that special light within us that shines so that others can see The Spirit of Christ whom we follow.

President Monson once told this story:

“‘For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.’”  Moroni 7:16

You and I know those who qualify for the Savior’s blessing in accordance with this definition.

Such was Walter Stover of Salt Lake City. Born in Germany, Walter embraced the gospel message and came to America. He established his own business. He gave freely of his time and of his means.

Following World War II, Walter Stover was called to return to his native land. He directed the Church in that nation and blessed the lives of all whom he met and with whom he served. With his own funds, he constructed two chapels in Berlin—a beautiful city that had been so devastated by the conflict. He planned a gathering in Dresden for all the members of the Church from that nation and then chartered a train to bring them from all around the land so they could meet, partake of the sacrament, and bear witness of the goodness of God to them.

At the funeral services for Walter Stover, his son-in-law Thomas C. LeDuc said of him, “He had the ability to see Christ in every face he encountered, and he acted accordingly.”

The poet wrote:

I met a stranger in the night, whose lamp had ceased to shine;

I paused and let him light his lamp from mine.

A tempest sprang up later on, and shook the world about,

And when the wind was gone, my lamp was out.

But back came to me the stranger—his lamp was glowing fine;

He held the precious flame and lighted mine. ¹⁰

Perhaps the moral of this poem is simply that if you want to give a light to others, you have to glow yourself.  (General Conference, Apr. 1999,  Thomas S. Monson, First Councelor in the First Presidency) 

For a while I dated a nephew of Walter Stover.  I met the man once for Thanksgiving Dinner that I was invited to at his home.   He and his wife were most gracious hosts. 

Some time later after I moved to Oregon the young man that I dated wrote me telling about how his uncle and he went to Germany to visit with their relatives who lived in East Germany.  They had an American automobile with a large trunk that they filled with garments to take to those that lived behind the Iron Curtain who were endowed in the Temple of the Lord. 

Years passed and I heard on the news that Walter Stover was instrumental in making the arrangements with the East German government for the building of the Freiberg Temple behind the Berlin Wall.  He was truly a remarkable man. 

Let the light of Christ always shine in us, too.

SUNDAY INSPIRATION

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Life Is A Kaleidoscope.

Remember the fun of looking through a kaleidoscope as a child? I could do it for hours.  There was never the same collection of fragments and combinations.  I still love to look through them.  

Life takes on this sort of randomness most of the time.  You can never trust that today's view will be the same one as yesterday. Will there be a gorgeous set of colors filling the day, or will the day be a bland collection of colorless glass fragments that just sit there uninvitedly?  (Spell check says that is not a word, but if the world can -ize everything into a verb I can -ly it into an adverb.)

Can you say when the day is through that tomorrow will be as fun?  Or will you get the sniffles in the morning and a fever and the week takes on a different pathway than the one you planned.  Will you step sideways and put your back out of place which leads to suffering and delay?  

This is what happened to me.  Little did I know last Saturday night that on Monday I wouldn't be able to get myself out of a chair or pick up anything lower than my waist.  My end of the year week was filled with lofty plans to get the Holiday decorations put away and set up new possibilities that reflect the snow and ice outside.  I was ready to sign out of the 2015 year  of shining red and green crystals and switch to a glittering frosty new year and month of Swarovski-like dazzle. 2016 promised an invigorating assortment of hope and gleaming newness. Instead, the glass fell  to grey and muddy white and thoughts of hopelessness and bland same old, same old. 

"The best laid plans of mice and men..." If you ever wanted to know where that quote came from look up the poem "To A Mouse", by Robert Burns.  It will give you the origin of the often quoted phrase.  It is really quite a good poem.  I like the way he looks at the world.

Can you find the hidden angels?

Idaho Falls River

Lone Goose Chase.

(Life does have it's moments of joy.  Proof is in the pix of a birthday ride on an ordinary day.) Had to interject something not so depressing.

Now I am looking at the world through a fractured kaleidoscope and am taking charge of my blog while sitting around and rethinking it.  I may upgrade away from Blogger, but I will give you fair notice. There is much more to blogs than the simplicity of the one I know and love.  It is a format I understand at long last, and I am timid to go beyond this little world that I have created, but I need to grow.  Soooo...  I am considering turning that kaleidoscope myself and hope to see a beautiful assortment of colors and a lovely arrangement of glass.  Stay with me.  It won't be as painful for you as it will for me.


HAPPY JANUARY



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Pledging "More"

January 1  the day to begin a new year--2016--and a day to begin again in earnest, to tackle all the goals of the New Years Days of the past. It is not just a joke for serious people, those who really consider improving their lives.  What better day to make the decision to move forward?  No one plans to fail in a week, a month or less.  We don't make resolutions to break.  We all want to succeed.

The mistake I make every year is to create a monster schedule that can only be kept by a superwoman.  Please step forward if you resemble that woman.  No?  Think  you might be, might try this year?  Good luck, my friend.  Truly.

What to do: take baby steps.  See the movie with  Bill Murray,  "What About Bob?"  I never forget the baby steps.  

Here is my approach this year.  I broadened the scope of my blog last year by adding the words 'and More" meaning I do more than beads and wish to blog about those things, too.  

Today I wish to put more emphasis on the word  'More".  I wish to do more.  More blog posts.  More beading.  More sewing. More crafting.  More gardening.  More tips.  More sharing. Most of all, more consistent.  I want to be there, do that!

I don't want to do it all this week--it would be difficult since my back went out Monday and I can barely walk.  I don't expect to do much more even in January because I have surgery coming up on the 12th, but I am not quiting because of a few setbacks.  

Now I really need more sleep.  This is late because I couldn't sit up straight to write this blog.  For 2016 it is good to go. 
Whew, just under the wire for January 1.

HAPPY  2016


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PS:  Would love to receive 'more' comments.  Love you more.