So my last post was a little sad, I was in the slump. Fridays we work in the temple for 10 hours and I saw a lot of white hats:) White hats everywhere, people who are absolutely wonderful and working just because they love the Savior. So today I will be happy again and try to keep out of the slumps.
I never was a good roller coaster rider. I don’t have the stomach for it! Life is like riding on a roller coaster at times. I love the wind in my face, but the drops do me in.
‘Brothers and sisters, one of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought great company for our little version of that path—the merciful care of our Father in Heaven, the unfailing companionship of this Beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy Ghost, angels in heaven, family members on both sides of the veil, prophets and apostles, teachers, leaders, friends. All of these and more have been given as companions for our mortal journey because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His gospel. Trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone nor unaided, even if sometimes we may feel that we are. Truly the Redeemer of us all said, “I will not leave you comfortless. [My Father and] I will come to you [and abide with you].”
About ten years ago, we were also going through a trial that I considered almost insurmountable. I could hardly find comfort at that time. Others were receiving persecution because of our family and it was overwhelming. I searched and searched for comfort and finally found what I was yearning for by reading a talk given by President Jeffrey R. Holland. It was entitled, “ Cast Not Away Therefore Thy Confidence.” It was so elemental to my being enlightened. Because of it, I wrote to him and told him how important his thoughts had become to the way I was trying to handle life. I actually got a note back from him and he said, “Remember the white hats always win in the end, always.”
So as we are here in another seemingly life altering trial, I once again have turned to his counsel and inspiration to see me through.
I pray I may not lose my confidence, but I sure am getting tired. All I see are black hats………………..
I just love saying that word and actually getting away with it! So we are sitting quietly yesterday afternoon, playing Canasta with Jacqui, and all of a sudden the dogs start barking and all hail breaks loose. 
It has come a gully washer and there goes my flowers..
See my earlier post to understand my dismay…
So for the record, we have made snow balls in April, (see Cousin Camp), snowballs in Montana for our reunion in July, and now August. It's a hail of a life, but it's my life! What will October bring? Stay tuned.
I have worried a little on occasion if I could possibly, just maybe, or by chance be a little OCD. Not that I think that is all bad, considering I get a lot done, and I love, absolutely love a clean and organized house.
I would love to say that I am a compulsive shopper (be quiet Richard!), that I work out non-stop, that I dress like gangbusters every day, or that I can’t go to sleep unless I have everything done for the week, but alas no. I can just say that I love a clean and organized house.
I think that RIchard has more vitamins than we have food, but those Jardines’ are long-lived……This is one room that I would not want to do without ever again. PANTRY!
The spices of life……
So maybe I should try to excell in something besides food!
Richard has been begging Jacqui and I to go hiking with him in the Rocky Mountain National Forest. So Saturday was the day. It was glorious, the weather was cool, we took jackets, and the scenery was magnificent. You have to consider the state of the hiking crew. Jacqui is five months pregnant, Richard is still limping from his ATV accident and I have two rods, four screws, and a metal cage in my spine. What a crew. We however thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. And it was up hill both ways! :)
There were horses going up to the top of the mountain, I wish we could have hitched a ride! But where is the pain in that?
Actually, my favorite part of the hike. This little fellow climbed up on our hands, legs, and arms to get the PIstachio nuts that I had. I am sure he has enough food storage for the winter. I couldn’t stop feeding him.
Thanks RIchard for the adventure. I would do it all over again, but six miles! surely I will loose a few ounces…….
I would like to acknowledge my brother. I am going through an extremely difficult time in my life right now. Probably one of the most challenging trials to date. I am an emotional person on a good day, so you can imagine my dilemma. I have done all of the things that are important, praying, studying, improving the quality of my faith, counting my blessings, and doing everything that I can think of to help me through. But my Father in Heaven continues to know what will strengthen me. Yesterday morning my brother sends me this song and it was a port in my storm………………..
I have been greatly blessed in so many ways and I acknowledge my Father’s loving hand in all things. That however does not seem to make this battle easier. And so to remind me, he sends me a gift, a comfort, an answer to my prayers through my loving brother. The song that you are listening to as you read my blog today, is my brother. He knows just how important music has always been in my life, but no music is more beautiful to me than that, that my brother sings. I could listen to him forever.
We both love gospel music. I think it is in our souls. My great-grandfather was a music maker and played at his church. He loved to sing, my grandmother loved to sing, Uncle Gary loves to sing. And so my brother was blessed with this talent as well. (NO one is more talented at listening than I am!) So not only do I have great gratitude for my brother at this time and his sensitivity to my spirit, I feel the comfort and peace of those of my family who have gone on before me. They are all telling me to hang on, this is but a moment and if thou endure it well, we will all be together again and then I will be comforted by them as well. So Mike, my dearest brother and friend, Thank you, Thank you, for standing by me, loving me, and being in tune enough to know that at this moment, you are an answer to my prayer! I love you.
I was born on the 20th of July, around 5 AM in the morning, at the Epworth Hospital, in Liberal, Seward County, Kansas. That is a story all in itself but for now, Jerianne has asked me to describe the place that I grew up, including sights, sounds, and smells.
I loved growing up in a small town. It got it’s name from what I understand, by a particular man being very “liberal,” with the water from his well, in a considerably dry part of the country.
Liberal is famous for the annual Pancake Day Race with Olney, England. That was always a highlight of the year with parades, a pancake race, school was always out, and my mom was famous worldwide because of it. She and her best friend Sally Warden, were the prettiest girls in town and they used them on a postcard that is still sold to this day.
Uncle Gary in the Liberal parade, he is on the left holding the gun on his shoulder. He used to make me cry when he would walk by looking so handsome.
Liberal is on the very plains of Kansas and is dry for the most part. Not a lot of moisture to remember. The feeling I have climate wise is one of dirt, in my teeth, on my face, and sunburns. Oh, my sunburns were a plague to me. I never tanned and had freckles a bushel. I don’t remember a lot of snow, or rain but do remember a lot of threats for tornadoes. Running to the cellar or basement, or being stuffed under the bed while my mother stood and danced in place. Dark funnel clouds and anxiety. The song from Oklahoma, which was four miles from Liberal, is that there is corn and wheat as “High as an elephant’s eye,” and you can see for miles and miles. Cows, everywhere, the smell of cows and my daddy would always say, “Verlinda, that smells like money to me!”
Growing up in Liberal was fantastic for me. I loved it and look back on it with nothing but pleasant memories. Maybe it was the small town that I loved. Mike and I and Diane and Kelly, and our friends would play outside all day long. LIterally, and into the night. Our mother was never worried about us, there was nothing to worry about. My grandparents both lived within blocks of us and that is where we spent most of our time. Mostly, always over at Grandma and Granddaddy Upchruch’s. No phones really, party lines I remember. No cell phones, we didn’t watch tv and there were no computers. Just wonderful friends and the big outdoors. We would ride our bikes, play ball in the fields, draw houses with rocks in the street, (they weren’t paved) play in the lumber yard, Uncle Bud’s big old truck, games galore in our yards and used our imaginations.
Liberal was dry as I said and some of the feelings of the place is that my feet hurt! They had goatheads, huge, hard stickers, that would get in your feet and you had to literally pull them out. Your feet were sore for days, but we really didn’t wear shoes a great deal. There were also sandburrs, stickers on a stem that we would throw at one another, and play tag. We played all of the old games, Annie-Over, Hide and Seek, Kick the Can, The Bears, Blind Man’s BLuff, Red Light Green Light, Mother May I, and on and on. Always we were outside.
On Saturdays, during the summers, we could go to the Tucker Theatre, downtown for 25 cents. We would buy a series of tickets from school. We would walk all the way downtown, by ourselves, across the train tracks, and go to the movie and to Duckwall’s, where we could spend 10 cents for a candy. We could walk all over town when we were younger and no one ever worried. We were safe back then. What a wonderful way to grow up.
Liberal was synonymous with family. Family all around me and memories so close to my heart. Grandmother Upchurch would put Mike and I in the car and we would “ride around,” Liberal for hours on end. Looking at houses, waving to friends, going to the grocery stores, shopping at the Gibson store, visiting their friends, riding, riding, riding. I never got tired of it.
Liberal is bible school at the neighbors house, going with my grandmother to so many different churches, family dinners, the smell of fried rabbit, walking to and from school twice a day, Rainbow Girls, wanting to fit in at school, McDermott,UFO’S, tinsel Christmas Trees that turned colors, security, laughter, friends, happiness, joy, and gratitude and so much more. Liberal is part of who I am.
