Reflections on Easter Sunday

Resurrection
Photograph by Mark Mabry
from his book
"Reflections of Christ"

This morning when I partook of the sacrament, my heart was filled with love for the Savior - so full that I felt a need to share my testimony of Him. I know that Jesus Christ came to live on earth to minister and teach and show complete and perfect love for mankind. I have felt of the blessing of His atoning sacrifice both as one who has fallen short and as one who has felt great pain through the actions and choices of others. I can't explain exactly how the atonement works, but I have truly felt Christ with me as I have been freed from sorrow both as one repenting and as one needing to forgive. I also know that He truly knows me and my circumstances and that when I gain full confidence in Him and lay my burdens at His feet, He blesses me and my family in ways I could not have imagined. His perfect love has buoyed me up and helped me to love and minister to others. It has provided me great peace. On this Easter Sunday, I also marvel at the resurrection and the gift of eternal life.

Each time I read the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ, I find joy in His great mission. I especially love 3rd Nephi when the Savior comes to the Americas after His resurrection and ascension to His Father. While nursing baby Nathan, I determined to read the Book of Mormon as I sat quietly with him in my bedroom. As I read of the Savior ministering to the people and especially His great love for the children while holding my baby, the tears just flowed. My heart was full of love and great tenderness, just as it is this day. Since that experience, the tears always flow when I read 3rd Nephi. My testimony continues to be strengthened each time I read.

Last week I finished my first ever reading of "Jesus the Christ" by James E. Talmage, the 1967 version leather bound and presented to Glen by the Hawthorne Ward before he left on his mission. I love books that display a history of the reader or readers. It was a pleasure to see what Glen had underlined or starred as he read. I loved his written notes in the margins. Most of all, I loved this detailed account of the life of the Savior with the many footnotes providing so much background information. I have also been blessed as I have attended the Mesa East Stake adult education class on Thursday mornings this school year as we have been lead by Joyce Wold in our study of the New Testament. As I come to know and learn more of the Savior, His life, and His mission; my heart can barely contain the great love I feel for my Elder Brother.

Glen and I wanted our children and their families to have a framed print of "Resurrection" by Mark Mabry for their home this Easter as a reminder of the great gifts provided by our Father in Heaven through His Son. He lives!

House guests

Meet this weeks house guests. They emerged from their chrysalis on Monday.

Yesterday afternoon, the grandkids came to help set them free. The painted ladies seemed hesitant at first, but once they realized their visit with us was over, they skedaddled up and away.
(Thanks to Janae for the picture.)

Here are my house guests of a couple of weeks ago. Simone and her friend were here to spend their spring break shopping! I merely provided a place to sleep and shower, oh, and a good breakfast to send them off on their long drive back to Albuquerque with Eveline.

We've had other guests as well recently. Nate and Nichelle spent a weekend. Farrell drove Simone and friend over and then he and Eveline did a Sunday switch out at the airport. Both TJ and Heather have had separate overnights. We welcomed them all!

We were not so welcoming to the cockroaches which appeared in my compost pile. Glen showed them the door pronto!

For Glen

My sweet hubby made a special request of me this week. "Could you take some pictures of my bougainvillea blooms before the wind blows them to smithereens?" I obliged. Enjoy the color!



And this last picture is for me. Gardening magazines often have "container recipes." They show a flower pot, etc., with beautiful plants and then list the plants (ingredients) used. I especially like this combination or recipe of plants that I recently combined in hanging baskets placed on plant stands instead.

I think I will call it "Citrus Morning." I love all the citrusey yellow and bright green with a splash of burgundy.

Hanging with the ladies

It has been a busy week, too busy for blogging. I rode back to Provo with Nate and Nichelle after their weekend visit on Monday. They patiently listened as I chatted away pointing out all the family history sites in southern Utah. Nate drove me to downtown Salt Lake City on Tuesday morning so that I might meet up with these ladies, my new partners in service. We attended Relief Society Auxiliary Training in the Tabernacle that afternoon. Then we enjoyed 24 hours of bonding together as we talked and ate and slept and visited some more while becoming true sisters in the gospel in downtown Salt Lake City.

April Wiezbowski - Education Counselor, Lisa Compton - President, Kellie Bowman - Enrichment Counselor, Laurel - Secretary

These are the women whom I will now serve with in the Relief Society Presidency of the Mesa East Stake.

A picture at our farewell luncheon at Sweet Cakes
Laurel, Linda Smith - President, Gail Evans - Education Counselor, Marsha Snow - Enrichment Counselor

I was called to take the place of a departing RS Stake secretary leaving to serve with her husband as missionaries at BYU-Idaho a little over a year ago. I grew to love serving with the women in the picture above. They were amazing women from whom I learned so much. They had already served together for four years, so I really couldn't expect to serve with them forever! But I truly mourned when I learned of their release. I was asked to remain. I feel like a foster child changing families. I am learning that the true blessing is that I will come to love additional sisters in the gospel.

I hope that you have enjoyed listening to General Conference as much as I have this weekend!

Garden tours

Laurel in the garden near Sugar City, Idaho

May 14, 1954

We never planned on giving garden tours when we began upgrading the garden upon my retirement from education. It has been a joy and so rewarding to have time to study and attempt to container garden in the Arizona desert. Now I find myself teaching once again, showing and telling others what has worked in our garden. And even better, meeting more of my neighbors as the color and projects draw them into the garden.

I always remember loving gardens. As you can see, I was hefting a garden hoe at less than 2 years of age. My parents' Idaho garden was huge. It bordered the length of the entire lawn. A hay field lay on the other side of the fence (a snow fence to help control blowing snow.) Every Spring, my father would disc it with his tractor and harrow. We would go to the Sugar City Merc, owned by my great uncle Emery Thomas, to buy the seed in bulk and by the pound. We brought it home in brown paper bags with the seed type printed on the bag. The corn patch of many rows made a great place to play hide and seek as it grew taller than we were. We ate peas by the mouthful right out in the garden. We were also allowed to pull the carrots and radishes at will. We were also expected to weed and hoe and harvest.

It made my heart glad to read of Michelle Obama and her White House garden this week. As I studied their garden layout, I imagined it must be as large as my parents' garden, although I might be remembering it through my little girl eyes. I also liked her comment that the whole family would be expected to do weeding, including Barack.

Laurel in her garden, Bountiful, Utah in 1978

When possible, I always sought to have a garden. I had a small garden in back of the detached garage when we were BYU students living in the basement of a house which bordered the garden of the Hugh B. Nibley family. Their garden was one to match that of my parents. Mine was small enough that I could mentally count each plant as I attempted an out of body experience during my first try at natural childbirth. My garden in Bountiful was fairly large and run across the whole backyard. Glen rented a sod cutter to cut me out a spot where I could plant my heart out. Utah summer gardens seem to grow at will. Gardening in Arizona has proven to be more of a challenge as I had to become seasonally adjusted over the years, planting a winter garden and a spring garden then resting during the hot hot summer. Here are a few shots of what caught my eye this morning.

Pomegranate blooms above the new garden gate.

Glen's golden coins which made it through last summer and are blooming again!

Glen's first lily of the year

Laurel's first day lily of the year

Don Juan climbing roses from under the arbor.

Happy Spring!

Coming up for air

We just returned from the doctor's appointment and the results of the CT scan. Glen feels like he came up for fresh air. I feel full of thanks to my Father in Heaven. I consider this a tender mercy and an answer to our prayers. Not only had the thumb size growth on Glen's kidney not grown any larger, it no longer had its own blood source. Thus, no need for surgery at the present time and it no longer appears cancerous. They will do another CT scan in a year to monitor things.

Glen feels like a dark cloud has lifted, one he has been been under since last August. As we entered the doctor's office this morning, we walked past a young man in a wheelchair, hair gone with the puffy face of one fighting cancer and his father following behind for support. I thought, "Oh please, don't let that be us in six months." It was so sobering and sad. And then Glen's doctor bounced into our examining room, "It's all GOOD news!" Good news that let Glen know he is back in the swim. I won't ever again make fun of him when he snorkels in the pool :)

Thank you everyone for your moral support and prayers as well!

Some green for St. Pat

Today I'm cooking something that I have never fixed before, corned beef and cabbage. The veggies are simmering right now and I will soon add wedges cut from the above cabbage, cabbages that I grew myself!

Glen walked in and said that all I needed was a baby in the cabbage patch. The baby wasn't near, but her picture was. Doesn't Julianna look great in the cabbage patch?

Do you think that we could give Anne Geddes a run for her money?

Happy St. Patrick's Day