FINALLY!

All is well here in Zion!

Just haven't blogged or gotten on Face Book for quite a few weeks. After working all day and being on a computer, most of the day, it's one of the last things I want to do when I get home from work. Not that I don't love and miss you all ... because I do ... but I found a way to blog from work! My boss insists that I get away from my desk to take my lunch because if I don't, I never get to eat my lunch because of phones and this and that happening. So now, instead of a working lunch at my desk, I physically remove myself from my desk and go into another office, sit at an empty desk, eat my lunch at the computer and blog and catch up on personal e-mails. It's great!

Lots of neat things have been happening in our lives. Of course you all know that Lynn got a great job. We're just waiting for his benefits to kick in. Just pray that he remains healthy cuz he doesn't have any health insurance. BOOOOO! But hopefully he will in November. He loves the company he works for. His company was one of the drilling outfits who drilled one of the three holes to rescue the miners in Chile. Their drill hole was considered to be the safest of the three. That was one of the most amazing events to watch 'live'. I remember watching the first man to land on the moon, but in all honesty, this was even greater. What a joyful reunion with family and friends. It was a miracle that they all survived!

Wanna know what I learned after 61 years? I learned how to lock and unlock a door with a key! Seriously, all these years I've struggled which way to turn the key in the lock to lock or unlock the door. I was with my daughter Linz the other day trying to unlock the house door and I commented to her, " I never know which way to turn the key to open the door." She said, "Mom ... think about it. Look where the door frame is. Now imagine where the post is going when you lock the door. Just turn the key towards the door frame to lock it and turn it away from the door frame to unlock it. DUH ...! Can you imagine that I've NEVER figured that out. I knew to turn the lock to the Left on my Mom's home because in my mind I had remembered "Left" for "Lock". But that didn't always work on other doors. DUH!!!! Now every time I unlock a door with a key, I feel so proud of myself, and thankful to my youngest daughter for teaching her mother how to use a key.

Let me tell you about a neat experience I had this last Saturday. I had been asked to sing at a Regional Conference that evening. Linz and I were going to sing a duet, one which we had sung years ago, but hadn't practiced for years. I just didn't feel comfortable with the song. It just didn't seem like the right song to sing for the meeting. The theme was "Growth Through Service". Saturday morning I was doing a workshop and the hostesses' husband is a wonderful musician friend. I asked him if he had a piece of music that would work for the theme in a duet arrangement. He smiled and said that he had the perfect piece and he was dying to have someone perform it. While playing it for me, goosebumps came out on my arms and I got tears in my eyes. Listening to the words and hearing the music confirmed that this was the song we were supposed to do. He printed me out copies of the arrangement plus a CD with accompaniment and voice on it so I could practice in my car on the way home. I was really nervous because Lindsey didn't get to my home until after 4:30 p.m. and we were to sing at 7:00 p.m. Our accompanist hadn't even seen the music either. We met around 5:00 p.m. and went through it a few times. When we got up to sing, I looked at the music and thought to myself, "Sheesh, I don't even remember how this goes!" Well, Linz was thinking the same thing. We sounded wonderful together but had a few timing problems and sang a few wrong words. But all in all, did a really great job. The audience was spell-bound and the song set the spirit for the meeting. The meeting was terrific and the speakers were wonderful. One of my good friends, who had lost her husband to cancer in January, spoke on the blessings of charity in her life. She did an amazing job. Such a great spirit and such a wonderful speaker. She shared with us how hard it was to accept help, and then gave examples of small acts of service that neighbors and friends did to help brighten their lives. After the meeting, our Bishop came up to us and told us how wonderful our song was and then told us that we needed to sing that same song on December 19th in our Ward. He said that it will be perfect for the Christmas season. We were so happy to be asked because now we'll learn and perfect the song and do an even better job! Oh ... the song is called "Make Us One" by Sally DeFord. You can access it on the internet and print it off for free. It's marvelous!

It looks like it's time for me to get back to work. Lunch break is over. I'm doing well ... keeping the weight off ... exercising occasionally ... loving my job ... and loving life.

Cheers --- Linda