A Treasure of Inspiration

Inspiration

We had a lot of mixed emotions this month when we took my brother and his kids to the airport to fly out to their new home in Virginia.

Two years ago this week we moved out here to San Diego to be with them after my brother's wife passed away, having fought an amazingly valiant battle against cancer. There were many times I felt inadequate, wondering what I could possibly do to help my niece and nephews and brother. In the end, I think they helped us far more than we ever helped them. Not only did they help us have fun in our new home and make us feel welcomed and loved, but their example of strength and faith was unbelievably inspiring.

As I went through their empty house, just gathering the last minute bits and pieces to be packed or cleaned out, I came upon a treasure: quotes that my sister-in-law, Juli, had written and taped to her kitchen cabinets.

Now, to fully appreciate this find, you have to understand the kind of person Juli was. For nearly eight years she was sick, but you would never know this by being around her. She ALWAYS had a smile on her face and laughter in her heart. Every birthday brought a hand-made card she had designed and sent. We all have dinosaur bath towels she made for each of our babies when they were born. Her Christmas gifts were something she created with skill and love that we will treasure forever.

She was a brilliant, kind, gentle, wise, and loving wife and mother. And we NEVER saw her get angry--not at her children, not at her husband, not at her illness, not at God. NEVER. We often asked her how she did it. She'd just laugh and smile.

Well, I think I found one of her secrets, or at least her inspirations. And I'm going to share them! Here are some of the quotes I found:

"We seldom get into trouble when we speak softly. It is only when we raise our voices that the sparks fly and tiny molehills become great mountains of contention...The voice of heaven is a still small voice; likewise, the voice of domestic peace is a quiet voice." --President Gordon B. Hinckley

"The stroke of the whip maketh marks in the flesh; but the stroke of the tongue breaketh bones." --Ecclesiastes 28:17

"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice;
And be ye kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." --Ephesians 4:31-32

"Be constructive in your comments to a child--always.
Praise each child individually for what that child is.
Speak hopefully. Speak encouragingly." --Elder Jeffery R. Holland

Clearly these ideals guided her home life, as well as her husband's. Even when her body was so weak my brother had to gently carry her from place to place in his arms, she had great strength in her spirit and her words. She was ALWAYS positive, ALWAYS kind. Her strength lifted and inspired others. It was a privilege and joy to know her. We have missed her. And although we will miss her family now so far away from us, we are excited for them and their new adventure! Good luck (I said that with a pretty soft shout)!

John's long-lost brother Don

Separated at birth?

The Mystery of the Perry Monster

Where are Scooby and that gang of meddling kids? I have a very important mystery to solve:

WHY do people think Rick Perry would be an outstanding, incredible president (because that is certainly what we need right now)???? WHY?????

Everyone in the world knows what a huge mess our nation is in economically. But, guess what Rick Perry got for his grade in his Economics class at Texas A&M--go ahead--guess-- D! That's right, a D! D, as in dumb, ding-a-ling, disaster, disgusting. D.

Perry joked this week in an address to students at Liberty University, about his poor academic performance, and the C's and D's on his transcript. Well, The Huffington Post printed this copy of Rick Perry's Texas A & M transcript. Here it is:

I don't think that is much to joke about when you are running for President of the United States. When we have someone like Mitt Romney, with a law degree and an MBA both from Harvard, who has proven himself extremely smart and capable of turning around failing organizations, whether it was businesses, the Olympics, or Massachusettes, why are we even considering someone, at a critical time like this, like Rick Perry? It's a mystery.

Scooby Doo, where are you?

The Most Interesting man in the World

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/09/vladimir-putin-action-man/100147/

(I'm technologically challenged, so I can't add this link. But I promise that if you go to the trouble to type this in and look up this site, you'll have the biggest laugh of your day!)

Why can't this guy be our president? I guess he's too busy being the most interesting man in the world!

Remembering September 12

For most of us September 11, 2001 is a date that changed our lives. But for my oldest son, the date that changed his four-year-old life was one week before—the day his “B” disappeared.

“B” was his little green security blanket. We had brought him home from the hospital wrapped in it, and he’d been attached to it ever since. Now it was gone.

We searched high and low, then re-searched again and again. He was certain someone had stolen “B”. We then began the search for the replacement. Nothing.

“I’ll never be able to go to sleep again,” he said and cried and cried. I cried too. I felt his anxiety as I imagined the sleepless nights. And perhaps even worse was the fact that in less than two weeks we would be getting on a plane and flying to our new home in London. I wasn’t sure either of us would make that nine hour flight without his “B.”

Just when I was losing hope, he pulled out his little, blue fleece jacket from the suitcase. “This smells like ‘B,’” he said. He wrapped a sleeve around his hand, pulled it across his face and fell asleep. He’d found security once again , and I’d found relief. At least temporarily.

On the one-week anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States my family got ready to begin our trans-Atlantic flight. I’ll admit I was more than just a little nervous. I don’t like to fly under the best conditions, but when passenger planes had just been used as weapons, I was feeling scared. It felt as if our nation’s security blanket had been taken, and we were still crying ourselves to sleep over it.

I put on a brave face. Next to me my son had his little blue jacket. He was set. I wished for a security blanket of my own. I watched him all comfortable in his seat, testing out his tray table. I just wanted to lean over and ask, “Can I borrow a sleeve?”

Now, ten years after “9/11,” it’s still difficult to think back to that terrible day. But the day I do like to remember is September 12. That was the day the healing began in full force. A blanket of hope was already wrapping our nation, woven with the threads of friendship and faith, of courage and kindness. Whether it was firefighters risking their lives or strangers passing out shoes and peanut butter sandwiches, we were bound together with the indomitable American spirit of strength and determination. That’s what makes us who we are.

We still stand now, not only the greatest nation on earth, but also the greatest hope for the world. I love this verse of our national anthem:

Then conquer we must

When our cause it is just

And this be our motto

“In God is our trust.”

May that spirit live on forever in America.