Thankful Me

  Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS streaks across the night sky My time here in California is coming to a rapidly approaching end, and I'm busy trying to cram in all the things to do before moving (including going outside to view a comet). I don't want to neglect writing a Ten Things of Thankful post, though. Time to jump "write" in! Last Saturday, John called me to tell me that as he was driving home from work, the car made a knocking noise, then there was a big boom and a sudden loss of power. He was able to get the car to the side of the freeway. A man in another car pulled over behind him and excitedly reported that John's car had been shooting flames out the back! The car has 215,000 miles on it and is 16 years old, so we decided that given the circumstances, we'll call it a DNR.  1. I'm thankful that John is OK and that the car's death didn't harm anyone. 2. I'm thankful that we hadn't gotten around to replacing the tires yet. 3. I'm thank...

  The congregation on both sides of the aisle leading to the Conference Center platform. source  Those of you who have followed my blog for a while know that I look forward to every April and October, when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds its General Conference . While I am thankful about many things from this past week (more time spent with my oldest daughter, a beach day with my grandchildren, etc.), I thought for this Ten Things of Thankful post, I'd share 10 quotes that stood out to me in General Conference.  1. "Divine love never runs dry, and we are each a cherished favourite. God's love is where, as circles on a Venn diagram, we all overlap. Whichever parts of us seem different, His love is where we find togetherness." --Elder Karl D. Hirst 2. "Whenever we seek to bless the lives of others, the Lord takes mercy upon us even more; He strengthens us and helps us in our lives." --Elder Gregorio E. Casillas 3. "We need to avoid c...

  My daughter and I stand in front of the dome car of the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad train I recently returned from a vacation to Missouri and Arkansas with my oldest daughter. We flew out of Seattle to St. Louis, Missouri one Saturday and returned the next. In that one week's time, we packed in a lot of sightseeing: some typical, "touristy" places, and some highlights that were meaningful to us, but perhaps not on the state tourism board's top ten list.  1. I'm thankful to have been able to spend so much time with my daughter. She is a kind, intelligent woman and she is my friend as well as my daughter.  2. I'm thankful we got to visit with my cousin. I hadn't seen her in years, and it was really great to spend some time with her.  3. I'm thankful we were able to find several cemeteries where relatives are buried, and to be able to find the gravestones. The smallest cemetery was on the property that used to belong to my g-g-g-grandpa. It was dow...