The Simple Woman's Daybook - "Believe, Love and Do!"

For Today

October 20th, 2018 

It is night time here. I am using my laptop to try to get a post finally off. I have been up since 4:30 am this morning. Today is the day we serve in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints's Jordan River Temple. I have wanted to take a nap but instead, have been playing catch up with various things. 

It's been a great day but with lack of sleep; I hope I make sense. 

This link has wonderful blog posts from others to read and share. Drop by and enjoy some unique posts. 

/ http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com

Looking out my window

Today has been a lovely fall day. The temperatures have been in the low 60’s. Rain and lower temperatures are coming. Today is the most beautiful day we have had for a while. I wanted to be out in it; but alas that didn’t happen.

 I am thinking

I have been thinking a lot about the things I spend my time on. I recently did a ten-day Social Media fast. Doing this was an invitation from our Prophet, President Russell M. Nelson to the sisters of the church to take a break from social media for ten days. I learned some valuable lessons from not spending time on Facebook, Instagram, My Blog, and other sites. Although I don’t think I spent a lot of time on social networks, I can see where doing it less has been a good thing. I love knowing how my friends and family are doing through these kinds of social sites, but on the other hand, I am tired of all the extra stuff that goes on in the Social world. I am very tired of politics and additional useless information.

I see the good that comes from social media contact, but I also see the bad stuff and harmful things that pop up. I think I will be more careful about what I read, like and comment on.

I do know that Social Media has its place in our ever-expanding world of communications. However, I think with texting, Facebook, Instagram, and other sites we have lost true connection. I love a good old-fashioned telephone call. I like to hear the voices of good friends and family members. I miss that a lot. In the text world, you can’t express the feelings that are felt. I worry about the upcoming generation knowing how to communicate in person.

I note that children of today don’t go outside and play, or get with friends as much as they text friends and use social media to fulfill their friendship hours.

 It’s all sad.

While I was growing, up, I spent the entire day outside playing with friends. I loved riding bikes, going swimming, ice skating, roller skating, sledding, playing outdoor games and indoor board games. Although, I think some children experience this it isn’t the general rule of play. Most of them like to be busy with computer games, and TV.

In my own life, I have found myself with less reading novel time, playing my piano on a daily basis, spending more talking time with my husband and children. The list goes on with what I could be doing rather than spending time looking at Facebook pages.

That’s enough of my tirade. I know that you get the gest.

However, I love my friends and family so I will continue to do Social Media on a more limited scale.

I am thankful
I am deeply grateful for every Saturday morning when I serve in the Jordan River Temple. Being there fills my soul with needed nourishment. I love the temple and the peace and joy I find within those walls. The patrons that come to serve are lovely, and the atmosphere is something you almost can’t describe. Some blessings and miracles happen on every shift that I work. I know beyond doubt that the Lord is watching over His temples and blessing the work that goes on there. 

One of my favorite things

I love spending time with my sweet eternal companion. We love serving in the temple together. We aren’t with each other, but we know we are there together. I also love our dates. We often go to movies and sometimes out to dinner. We love holding hands and taking a walk together. We have a spectacular relationship, and I feel so blessed to be his. He is a true disciple of Christ and loves to help others and is always helping me. He is an incredible man.

I am creating

Ok, I am not building a thing at this moment of time. I guess I could say; I am creating this blog post.
I am wearing

A black, white, different shades of the blue long comfortable skirt. I have a casual black shirt. I am wearing some comfy slippers.

I am reading (Read)

I belong to a book club, and I enjoy meeting monthly with a fantastic group of women. We have a fun lunch and then a discussion on the book we read for the month.

This past month, we read a book entitled: “A Night Divided” by Jennifer A. Nielsen. This story is about a family that lived in Germany at the time that the Berlin wall went up. The father and one son left to find work in West Berlin and left the mother and two other children in East Berlin. Then the wall went up dividing them. It is all about how two of the children on the east side started to build a tunnel to get to the west side. It was a great story of this period and easy read but very descriptive and had my attention immediately. I loved this book.

Meanwhile, I have been reading a book entitled: “The Nightingale.” by Kristin Hannah. It is another war story about two sisters and how they survived when Germany invaded France. I have just started this one, and I can tell it is going to be a good one.

 After this book, I think I will read something a bit lighter. I usually like a good Christmas novel.

I am forever reading my favorite book of all time: “The Book of Mormon.” My husband and I are reading ten pages a day of this marvelous book of scripture. We started a year ago last September and had read it six times. We have already read and studied it many times before this challenge.

This book is powerful and tells the story of ancient America and the people who populated North and South America. My favorite part is when the Savior, Jesus Christ appears in America’s to the people after His resurrection. His time spent with the people and the teachings given is priceless. My greatest desire is that everyone would read this book and appreciate and learn of Jesus Christ’s dealings with those ancient people. It indeed is the most influential book on the earth today.

I do love all the other scriptures too. I love the Old Testament, New Testament, Doctrine in Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. These books are filled with marvelous teaching, also.

 I am hoping

I am hoping that tomorrow will be a spectacular Sabbath Day. I look forward to the weekend, but I always enjoy the opportunity to go to church to worship my Heavenly Father and Savior. I love the messages and hymns and especially the sacred moments of the sacrament.

I am learning

I am learning to play some hymns and a new piece for Christmas on the piano. I have played the piano for many years. I am shy about performing in public. I do play for family events but not for others. I get nervous when I play in front of people. However, I am hoping on working to overcome that.

I love playing the piano, and it brings me great joy.

Right now I am teaching the three grandchildren that are living with me basic piano. It has been a fun adventure.

In my kitchen

To be honest, my sweet husband spends more time cooking than I do. However, my daughter and I have divided up the nights we will cook for the family, and I am working on preparing a little bit more.

 Favorite Quote

Closing Thoughts For Today

I have a profound testimony of the importance of ministering to one another. Watching over and caring about the people that are around us. There are many lonely souls out there that need an extra smile and or a hand of caring. 
One of the drawbacks to giving service is not being aware of needs. 
I have found in my own life and that of others that we are sometimes glued to our phone. Adults and youth alike are frequently on their phones. 
Perhaps, it is time to re-evaluate our time and learn to look up from our phones, look out at others and look around to those we might lift. Let us open our eyes, ears, and hearts to make a difference in the lives of others. 

An Invitation To Women~

On Saturday Evening, we had the General Women's session of our semi-annual General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This conference had some beautiful messages from our women leaders and the 1st Presidency of the Church. We were encouraged in our role as women in the church, mother's in the home and as precious daughters of God. Our beloved Prophet, President Russell M. Nelson then asked us as sisters to follow the invitations above.  In a separate message on his Facebook page; he shared the following:

"I spoke to you dear sisters about your special spiritual gifts and propensities. Sisters, I urge you, with all the hope of my heart, to pray to understand your spiritual gifts—to cultivate, use, and expand them, even more than you ever have. You will change the world as you do so.

As a starting place, I extended a prophetic plea to you to shape the future by helping to gather scattered Israel with four invitations. This gathering is the greatest challenge, the greatest cause, and the greatest work on earth today!

My dear sisters, we need you! We need your strength, your conversion, your conviction, your ability to lead, your wisdom, and your voices. We simply cannot gather Israel without you."

I have accepted all of the above invitations. I will report back on how this affected my life. 

Therefore, to all you dear friends out there if you don't see me reading and commenting on your posts, it is because I am following the Prophet to not use Social Media for 10 days.

Love to you all! 

Here is the link to the messages by our Prophet.

Like Fireworks, Nature's Colorful Display Celebrates The End Of Summer~

Autumn is here, and you can feel it in the air. I love this time of year. As this past month of September flew by, I could tangibly feel the end of summer and the beginning of fall. I love this time of year for many reasons. One is that it does display fireworks of color. It is a season of change. I love the football games, the hot dogs, hot chocolate and other fall favorites. This is a cozy time of year. Time to snuggle up with a light blanket and enjoy a good book. Soon we will add the light of a fireplace to this fun moment. 

Here are our last beginning autumn events. 

I love the photo above because it has my daughter and some of our grandchildren in it. My Daughter Tiffani hugging her daughter Sarah. This one warmed my heart. Upper middle is my dear missionary granddaughter, Sariah with two companions. She is the cute short one. Then there is my lovely Taylor Jo whom I cherish; followed by my grandson's Joshua and Jackson, who brighten my life. 

Here is our Grandson, Benjamin. He was playing chase on the playground at school and fell and broke his Collar Bone. He was so brave. When our daughter Jenni went to get him, he told her that another boy was in the office with him was trying to comfort him. I thought that was amazing. He later gave this as an example when he gave a talk in Primary about being kind. 

On September 11th, we attended a remembrance for those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on 9-11. Over 3,000 flags were representing each of the lives lost that day. On each flag were written descriptions of each of them and what they were doing that day.  We all shed some tears as we read these various stories. We had a great discussion of this memorable day with our Grandchildren. We told them exactly what we were doing when we heard the news report and saw the destruction that happened that day. It was a significant time to share our love for this great country and our patriotic feelings. 

I had another fantastic lunch with my dear High school friends. We have such a good time when we are together. If you heard us, you would think we were back in High School. We are the same except our bodies are not. 

Happy 9th Birthday to our Grandson, Benjamin. We had a grand celebration with him. We love having this sweet family living with us. It gives us an opportunity to attend more birthday parties. As you can see he had a great time. 

Next, our cute Great Grandson came over to pick up his birthday gift for his 6th birthday, so we had a spontaneous celebration. His sister Katalina is our youngest Great Granddaughter. Aren't they just the cutest. He had fun opening his gifts from us. 

We had a cherished moment with our dear friend Jean. She was a convert when my husband was on his mission in 1965. He and his companion taught, and then he baptized her two children. We have been close friends. We feel so blessed that she moved here from California a while back and now we can have more time with her. 

We attended the Soccer game for our Grandson, Joshua. He plays the goalie and is really good at it. Their team won 6 -1. It was an enjoyable game to watch. He is a very talented player. 

This is my dearest friend, Toni. We have been close friends for many years. When we lived in Spokane, we used to walk a lot together. Now we just have lunch and talk as fast as we can to catch up with each other. We both live in the valley and try to get together as often as we can. We never seem to be able to get through all the things we want to discuss. We are forever friends. 

Our ward had a fabulous craft night at our Relief Society activity. It was a fun night. We had some delicious appetizers and enjoyed a lot of crafting and visiting. My dear friend, Debbie brought her bird Bella; which was fun. 

I find that my life is filled with family and friends and that is precisely how it should be. I feel so blessed, and this was a delightful month. I'm looking forward to some spectacular times in October. I am sure we will have a few scary people surrounding us on Halloween. 

(From left) Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, Young Women General President; Sister Jean B. Bingham, Relief Society General President; and Sister Joy D. Jones, Primary General President, meet in the Relief Society Building in Salt Lake City on September 4, 2018.  Photo by Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News.
On Saturday Evening we have our Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints General Women's Conference. All the women, young women and girls age 8 are invited to attend. It is broadcast throughout the world. Here we receive beautiful messages for our day to help us as we raise children, work, or whatever stage we may be in. This is one of the largest women's organizations in the world. The General Presidency above travel and serve throughout the world.  Here is a link for this meeting.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will hold it's 188th Semi-Annual General Conference on Saturday, October 6th and Sunday, October 7th. The sessions are held at 10 am and 2 pm MST. 
This conference is broadcast throughout the world; here is the link for this conference. 
#LDSConference 
Here we are privilege to watch and listen to our beloved Prophet, President Russel M. Nelson, and the 12 Apostles along with other general authorities of the church. We believe that our Prophet is the prophet to the world and that our church is lead by our Savior, Jesus Christ. I invite you to tune in  and hear a Prophet's voice.