My Angel Baby

I had the best lunch date yesterday! Agnes and Laura came to my work to get me and then we went to lunch. Wendy's twice in less than a week (once with Karen and Caleb last Saturday).

Before Agnes came to Utah, she was in California. Laura took these pictures and shared them with me. When I saw this one it took my breath away.



Look at the happiness this picture brings with it.



You can't be grumpy when you see a picture like this. Oh that I could become as a little child. Let the cares of the world melt away, I have an angel baby at my house.

Agnes' visit

Have you ever met a sweeter girl than little Miss Agnes? The answer has to be a resounding no. I have two other absolutely adorable, precious, delightful, unbelievably wonderful grand daughters, but they're not currently at my house, so that makes Agnes the winner of sweetness this week.
I went to the grocery store to come home and find this painted lady. Doesn't she look like a kitten?
Here she is pointing at the yellow slide in my backyard that she's anxious to try out.
She likes to get in the shower in my bathroom. Somehow, that is fun for her.
What a cute girl this is. I'm smitten. Agnes is standing in front of "Utah Na-mah's" house. That's how she says Grandma. I like the name Nama better than Grandma. I hope she never says it the right way!

Caleb's visit

Lucky me, I was able to spend yesterday with Karen and Caleb. It was Caleb's nap time and while he slept, Bud and I went to pick up some furniture. There's been a debate running through my brain whether to buy bunk beds for the babies' room or a trundle. Why debate? I found a bunk bed with a trundle! Now I need to get it put together before Agnes arrives. That may not be such an easy task, all by myself. Karen can't lift anything heavy right now, not even Caleb (which is why I get to have them with me since Brandon is in CA) and Bud is working today (no, no, certainly I can't work, I have to help Karen with the baby). When we got home, Karen and Caleb were in the babies' room playing on the floor. Caleb saw me and grinned his biggest grin and charged gangbusters to get to me. I've never seen him crawl that fast before. It was great.

This morning Caleb found a roll of dental floss (after all, he does have ONE tooth) and hasn't let go of it. He likes to put it in his Ikea stacking cups and take it back out again.


Here he is eating his banana with a death grip on the floss in his right hand.
Yesterday, I showed Karen how to split a banana. She was impressed. Now she can touch the banana once and she's done! Peel the banana, take out the nasty black thing at the bottom and gently push your finger into the place where the black thing just came from. The banana will split into three sections. just the right size for feeding to Caleb after cutting into slices. No more cross-sectioning into an X from the top.

After all, Nanas should know about bananas!

Good Stuff!

Last week while shopping I found something I had not previously seen before. I was skeptical about trying it, but I had nothing to worry about. It's delicious. Just don't burn your tongue.

Stephen's Gourmet Hot Cocoa, Orange Creme. Mmmmm, good stuff!

The other good stuff is that I get grand babies this weekend! Hooray! Karen is bringing Caleb here on Friday (today by the time this is read), and Laura and Nick are bringing Agnes here on Saturday! I get to keep Caleb until Sunday and I get to keep Agnes for over a week! Awesome.

Look how little they were last time they were together!

President Hinckley's poem

Many LDS members didn’t recognize one of the songs sung at President Hinckley’s funeral. That’s because the song was actually a poem written by President Hinckley at least 20 years ago and recently put into music by Janice Kapp Perry.

Here's the poem.

"What is this thing that men call death,
This quiet passing in the night?
'Tis not the end but genesis
Of better worlds and greater light.

"O God, touch thou my aching heart
And calm my troubled, haunting fears,
Let hope and faith, transcendent, pure,
Give strength and peace beyond my tears.

"There is no death, but only change,
With recompense for vict'ry won.
The gift of Him who loved all men,
The Son of God, the Holy One."

LDS composer, Janice Kapp Perry did not write the song specifically for President Gordon B. Hinckley’s funeral. She actually wrote it for her niece who died of cancer. Her niece found the poem to be uplifting and inspiring. When Janice put the poem to music, she never thought it would be used as a touching piece at the Prophet’s funeral.

“It’s the most beautiful accompanying poem that I’ve ever heard,” said Janice.

She has been an accomplished LDS composer for quite sometime now but putting Gordon B. Hinckley’s poem to a song seemed overwhelming at first.

“I just knew how he would have wanted it to go just by thinking it through,” Janice says.

What resulted was a beautiful simple melody that accompanied President Hinckley’s poem about death.

Janice was encouraged to write the Prophet and ask his permission to publish the song. She wrote him a letter but he died soon after she had sent it.

“Mostly I was sad to lose him. But as a secondary thought, I wish that I could have heard from him first,” says Janice.

The next day the letter came.

“I thought, well how can that be? He’s gone,” says Janice.

The letter was written right before the prophet died and in it, he thanked Janice for the music.

Days latter, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang the song at Pres. Hinckley’s funeral.

“This has been an extremely significant experience in my life,” says Janice.

You can get a copy of the music at Janice’s web site by clicking this link.

Elder Richard G. Hinckley shares insights

A friend of mine sent this to me and I wanted to share it. Last Sunday was Fast Sunday and the son of President Hinckley bore his testimony in his home ward. This is what he said after thanking everyone for the notes, calls, food, flowers, and all they had done for their family.

President Hinckley had been diagnosed with cancer early in 2006, and was not expected to last until the end of the year. He and his five children met with Dr. Ward, his cancer doctor, to discuss options. The doctor said they did not know how chemotherapy would work in a 95 year old, as they had not tried it before. President Hinckley said he had three questions, and had them written down on a paper. The first question was "Will I still be able to live on my own?" "Yes", the doctor answered. The second question was "Would I still be able to put in a full day's work?" "Yes", the doctor answered. President Hinckley's final question was "Will I lose my hair?" "No", the doctor answered. President Hinckley then agreed to have chemotherapy. He said his life belonged to the Lord, and He would take him when He was ready. President Hinckley said he needed to do all he could do to prolong his life, for he had work to do.

The doctors discovered the chemotherapy was not working in January (2008). Again, the Hinckley family met with the doctors. At 97 years of age, recommended President Hinckley do nothing. President Hinckley replied again his life belonged to the Lord, and that he needed to do all he could do. He received the more aggressive chemotherapy the Tuesday before he died. On Wednesday, he went to the office and did a full day's work. Thursday morning, he did not get out of bed.

Elder Richard Hinckley was scheduled to go preside over a stake conference in Henderson, Nevada that weekend. Before he left, he talked with his dad, and felt prompted to give him a blessing. He also said he would take his cell phone, and keep it on. Saturday, after meetings, around 4pm, President Packer called and told him he needed to come home. He did, and stayed with his father and other members of his family until his father died.

Sunday afternoon, Presidents Monson, Eyring, and Packer came and gave President Hinckley a blessing. About 7pm, President Hinckley took his last breath, and passed away peacefully.

Elder Hinckley shared some anecdotes about his father. He said one of his dad's favorite pictures was a picture of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, with a photo of a singing President Hinckley electronically placed right in the baritone section. He would show it to everyone who came to visit. Elder Hinckley said this photo was something family members would fight over. Thursday night, after their practice, members of the Tabernacle Choir asked for their own private viewing. After, they presented each member of the Hinckley family with that photo.

Elder Hinckley spent a lot of time at the Conference Center during the viewing. One of the ushers shared a moment with him, which he thought was sweet-a small boy came through with his father. he asked his dad "Do you think President Hinckley has met Nephi yet?"

Elder Hinckley said true to form, his father had his funeral planned down to the last detail, leaving no decisions to his children. He planned the speakers, the hymns, everything. He said his father had "every button buttoned, and every knot tied"-as always, prepared.

Some of the things Elder Hinckley said about his father were that "he was reverent, faithful, humble, and true". As a family, the Hinckley's said, "We hope others will turn their hearts to the Savior".

He said a new prophet would be announced tomorrow (Monday Feb 4), around 11am, and, although the Hinckley family had never tried to be in the limelight, they were ready to step back and fade into the background as this new prophet takes his place.

Elder Hinckley said there were many flowers at the funeral, so he brought up two arrangements to our chapel for us to enjoy. One arrangement was from President Hinckley's counselors; the other from the quorum of the seventy. He said they didn't need all of the flowers at home, and that they were going to die anyway, and invited all of us to come up and take a flower after sacrament meeting. Many did so after the meeting.