Grandmother Bates

My Grandmother Bates

I attended my grandmother's funeral this month.  She was 98-1/2 years old.  I was with her when she passed away peacefully at her home.

As I sat and watched her a couple of hours before she passed (she had been in a coma for 2 days) I contemplated on her and her life. 

She loved to create.

This was a passion deep inside her, one that had to be satisfied.  Her creations brought her great joy and fulfillment. They were an expression of who she was and her love for God's resources.  She blessed the lives of others with her creations and her many talents.  At her funeral I thought - what do we take with us from this life - nothing material, none of our possessions.  We take our talents, our knowledge, and our relationships with others.  We take our memories, the good things we did, unfortunately we also take our poor choices but hopefully we have overcome some of those things and put them behind us. 

I can learn a lot from my grandmother's life.

She had extreme perseverance, a strong testimony, she was blind the last 16 years of her life but this did not stop her from creating - she did it by feel and touch and by determination.  2 days before she passed away she made a wreath from a cottage cheese carton lid and wool felt.  She was amazing!  Throughout my life I have wished my grandmother was more interested in me personally and how I was doing - but I have come to realize that there are many different ways of loving others. Not everyone can give the way we might need but that doesn't mean they don't care about us or love us.  We just have to learn to accept the different ways people show love.

I am understanding this concept of different ways of showing love more as my own children have families and have communicated their need for more attention from me.

I realize that I am alot like my grandmother.

I show love by the things I create and care deeply in my heart and think about my children a lot but don't always take the time to communicate that love.  So as I have learned a little bit more about the way I show love - I am able to understand my grandmother a little better and realize that it's not that she didn't care - it's more that she cared differently.  We judge things in life the way we see and feel them and it is not always the most accurate view.  So I guess I have learned to judge less and love more.  And that also applies to me - I need to judge myself less and love myself more.  I have such a hard time with this concept.  I love others and give them the benefit of the doubt but am so hard on myself. 

Grandmother I love you!!

You lived a good life - you made the best of your situation and kept on going to the end.  You fought a good fight and you won.  You are back in the presence of our Heavenly Father and moving toward your eternal reward.  I know you have seen my father and rejoiced in that reunion.  I know you are with your ancestors - all those you loved and did genealogy for.  I know they are eternally grateful to you for those efforts you made in their behalf.  I know heaven rejoiced when you came home because you were a valiant daughter of God.  I know you did the best you knew how and I applaud you for that.  You touched many lives. 

I am grateful my mother was able to be your caretaker for the past 2 years.  I know it added a richness to your life.  This ability to endure to the end and make the best of situations is a quality I see in my mother, she sees what has to be done and does it.  I know this was a quality you had also - a trait you passed on and I am grateful for that gift as it has blessed my life many times.

So - to my own life!

I am so blessed.  I have beautiful children and beautiful grandchildren.  I recently spent a few days with my daugher-in-law Katelyn and my 3 amazing grandaughters.  Kamryn - 3, Brooklyn - 5 and Lauryn - 7.  I was very humbled at how excited these girls were to have me come. All those things I am so hard on myself about they don't even see.  To them I am grandma and they truly love me.  This is such a blessing in my life.  As I watch these beautiful children and spend time with them, I am truly committed to make sure that they know that I love them and that I care about who they are and how they feel.  That is a piece I can add because I know how much my grandmother would have given that to me if she had understood it and was able to do it.  That I know - if she had known how, she would have, and that heals the pain because I can now feel how much she loved me.

Life is full of joy and sorrow, ups and downs.

I know that if we live our life close to the Savior, Jesus Christ that we will be able to weather life and its trials and that we will find much joy in the journey.  We can't control this world and other people's decisions but we can control how we live our lives.  We can control who we choose to follow. We can control where we put our efforts and our trust and our faith.  I know that if we choose to follow Christ we can have peace, joy, love, charity, hope and all that is good because that is who Christ is - everything wonderful, virtuous, lovely and of good report.  I will seek after these things!!

I am a daughter of God who loves me and I love him. 

I will stand as a witness of God in all things and in all places as I strive to live the Young Women values which are:  Faith, Divine Nature, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works, Virtue and Integrity.  I believe as I come to accept and act upon these values - I will be prepared to make and keep sacred covenants, strengthen home and family, enjoy the blessings of exaltation and live a good life.  I truly believe this!!  Life can be good and wonderful and marvelous.  That does not mean that we won't have trials because believe me - we will - but we will have strength to endure those trials and be stronger in the end.  This is my testimony!!  Love your children, love your grandchilden, forgive those who have wronged you.  Live a life of happiness, of faith, of love!!  Be Happy!!        

Lauryn and Brooklyn's Birthday Party

Saturday, Jim and I went to Moscow for Lauryn and Brooklyn's combined Birthday Party.  Lauryn turned 6 on September 7, and Brooklyn turns 4 on September 13.  As we arrived we were welcomed by the new patio Bryan had just finished complete with a lovely party table and flag banner which added a festive atmosphere for this fun event.

The other guests had already arrived and were playing games inside when we made our appearance.

When the time came the we ate pizza.  

Then cake and ice cream were served and presents were opened. 

The Cake

The cake was the most amazing surprise!!  There were 2 tall layer cakes - 1 for Lauryn and 1 for Brooklyn.  Guess what the surprise was - voila  - Rainbow Cake.  

Kate - you really outdid yourself on this one!!  The guests (Jim and I, Grandma and Grandpa Thompson and Lauryn and Brooklyn each invited one friend) had cake and ice cream, the presents were opened - the guests left and Jim and I stayed and had an enjoyable afternoon visiting with Bryan, Kate and the girls.

Bryan's Yard - Bryan has been working very hard landscaping his yard.  It is so beautiful and I was amazed at how big his plants had all become.  Bryan - I am so in awe of your talent and ability to create beauty!!  The best part is how much you are able to enjoy your end results and the gift it is for your family and those around you!!

Kate - you are amazing also - the atmosphere you create and the magical feel is such a blessing and I benefitted from it greatly.  I don't normally post pictures of myself but thought this one was very sweet!!  Your love and acceptance of me have truly touched my heart.

All in all it was a wonderful day and it ended even more wonderfully as Jim and I and Kate and the Girls went to see Kelli and Jeremy and shared one of the 6 layer rainbow cakes with them. 

Blogging at 4:00 a.m.

Well - here I am again!!  It is 4:00 a.m. and I am awake again.  For the past 6-8 months I have woken up between 3:30 and 4:30 in the morning.  This is quite unusual as I have been a night person my whole life.  For years I have struggled to get up in the morning as I have gone to bed so late.  It seems the change of life has thrown me into another routine and actually - I kind of like it.  I am amazed at what I can get done in the morning when it is quiet. I seem to be able to focus on more contemplative things and actually have some pretty clear inspiration early in the morning!!

I wanted to write a little about what I am grateful for.  Yesterday was Father's Day and I am so thankful for my father who taught me so many things by his wonderful example.  I am writing this again as I had a long post written and it went off into cyberspace - so maybe this will be different than what I wrote the first time.  The flowers in this post are in honor of my father.  We hear talk of "Flower Girl" - my dad was "Flower Boy".  The pictures of the peonies are of plants that I got as starts from my dad's yard 20 years ago and whenever I see them in their full glory - I think of my dad!!

"Zowie" "Isn't that the prettiest color of pink you ever saw"  "Look at that petal - isn't it unique!!"  "If you look at them from this angle - you get a different perspective"

Dad always saw the unusual and the special qualities!!

I had a Sam Pearson experience on Saturday - the day before Father's Day.  I had gone to Goodwill to drop off some items and of course went inside to look around.  I was checking out and a woman came up to the register and asked if anyone had turned in a purse.  She had lost hers and was in a frantic state.  The clerk said no and she went around frantically looking for it.  She went out to her car to see if she had left it there.

I couldn't just leave without helping her and so I walked out to her car and asked her if it was there and she said no and I asked her how she got in her car and she said that her son who was with her had an extra set of keys.  And then she started telling me that her cell phone, her keys, her credit cards - all of her information was in her purse and that whoever had her purse had access to her home, everything and she didn't know what to do.

I said - let's go back into the store and look for your purse and retrace your steps of where you were.  So we went in and I asked her if she had gone down the aisles and she said  - no that she had not gotten that far yet.  She then made the comment that people just weren't honest anymore.  That instead of turning something in that they found they just kept it.  I assured here that there were a lot of honest people still in the world.  So we went over to the side of the store that she had been in and basically walked right to her purse that was hanging with the other purses.  A clerk must have found it and thought it was out of place.

She started crying and hugged me for about 2 minutes and then apologized for saying that everyone was dishonest.  She told me her name was Robin and I shared with her that my name was Robin and she thanked me for caring enough to help her.  I told her that my dad was a super sleuth and could find anything and I had learned from him.  I truly felt that God had blessed this woman through me - I left the store feeling very humbled.

My father was loved by so many - he taught Industrial Arts at Freeman High School and I don't think I have heard a negative thing about him.  I have had grown men say to me:

"I loved your Dad"  "My father did not like teachers but he liked your dad" "What I really miss about your dad was his whistle"  "Your dad was my favorite teacher"  "Can I just hug you - I would love to hug the daughter of Sam Pearson"  "You got to grow up in the home of Sam Pearson?"  "My kids have the most beautiful projects they made in your dad's woodshop"

These are the kinds of comments I have heard about my dad since his death 15 years ago.  He was truly a light in the community.  If I can be even half the light my father was then I will feel that I have been successful in emulating the love of the Savior to others.  Dad I miss you - not a day goes by that I don't think about you - your spirit is all around me and I know you have been there for me as I have gone through some of my hardest trials - I have felt your presence - your love!!  Happy Fathers Day!! 

My Birthday - My Father - My Sister

I must be feeling melancholy because I have really been thinking about my father lately.  This post will focus on my sister Lori's yard.  Yesterday her son Jake graduated from high school and I went to her home for a party.  While I was there I took pictures of her yard which is glorious and this setting made me long for my father.  I feel my father's spirit in her yard.  One of the plants in abundance in her yard is a plant called spurge.  This was one of my father's favorite plants and we had a joke amongst us that every plant my father gave one of us came with a piece of spurge in it.  If you didn't see it that year it would usually appear a year or two later.  Spurge is one of my favorite plants - it flowers in the early summer and has a bright yellow flower - at least the variety that my father loved.  There are many other varieties I have found but the bright yellow is the one in my picture.  When we moved to Utah for a couple of years I looked everywhere for this variety and couldn't find it.  I did plant another variety that was a wood spurge and it had a lime green flower on it that was amazing.

Anyway, enjoy these pictures of my sister Lori's yard - it is my dream yard and being there makes me want to cry.  As I said earlier - it reminds me of my father.  One of his greatest loves was the earth and the beauty of it - he instilled this love not only in his children but in many that he associated with.  He shared plants from his yard with many of our friends and the only criteria he had was that you got to have a tour of all of the beautiful flowers that were blooming at the time.  He enjoyed each different attribute of the many flowers and would comment and point out the beauty of each individual plant.  This is much like life and people - we are all different and we have different talents and attributes that make up who we are, but we are all special in our own unique way.  That was a great lesson that my father taught me, and it has helped me to be tolerant and appreciative of each person.

Being surrounded at my sister Lori's house by the beautiful plants and flowers was truly like being in the Garden of Eden.  It made me think of a song "How Great Thou Art" and the part it made me think of is - When thru the woods and forest glades I wander, And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees, When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze.  Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee, How great thou art! How great thou art!  Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee, How great thou art!  How great thou art!

 Dad - my tribute to you on this my 53rd birthday is also - How Great Thou Art!, How Great Thou Art!  I miss you and look forward to the reunion we will have some day!!  Thank you for the things you taught me, the love for all things beautiful and the love for all things not so beautiful.  You used to tell me to not always look for the next thing to make me happy and that the grass was not greener on the other side - just different and I have found that this is so true!!  We have to find our happiness in whatever our situation and wherever we are no matter what.  I know God loves me - I know I have a Savior who loves me, died for me and will always be there for me!!

My last comment is this:  As I was driving home from my sister Lori's home I came down the hill toward my parent's home and saw the Crabapple tree in full bloom.  This is truly an amazing thing and such a beautiful site to behold!!  I grabbed my camera and took a shot -  Enjoy my picture of this splendid tree!!

June is my Birthday Month

Well - 53 years ago tomorrow - I was born - hip hip hooray!!  I'm sure my mother felt that way.  And then almost 1 year to the day my sister Lori was born, and almost 1 year to the day after that my sister Jeannie was born.  We were always very close growing up, but as you know 2 is company and 3 is a crowd - so it was usually 2 against 1.  Interestingly enough, Lori was always in the twosome!!  I have a lot of good memories of doing things with my 2 sisters.  Some of those memories revolve around my father who was such a fun dad.  I remember every night he would make up stories for us and we would take turns coming up with the topic for the story.  He was a fabulous story teller and I remember how exciting and real the stories were.  I could hardly wait for bed time so we could hear another story.  My father passed away unexpectedly 15 years ago the Sunday after Thanksgiving and I miss him dearly.  I have very warm memories of him and the things we shared and my birthday coming up makes me think of him.  We shared lots of other things, a love for beauty, nature, plants and we also shared some not so great things like - bad knees, arthritis etc.  (haha)  But one thing about my dad was that he never complained - he just kept plugging along and enjoying each day to the fullest.  He used to tell me that you have to enjoy the journey - and I truly believe that.  Each day will have its joys and challenges and the way you experience them will determine your quality of life.  So happy birthday to me - I have had some physical challenges this year but I am going to choose to enjoy the journey and not let them keep me from having a great rest of my life!!  I have been working on some painted furnishings that I plan to share with you.  I have before and after shots to show you what a difference a little paint can make!! So stay tuned.