"Our joy now and forever is inextricably tied to our capacity to love."
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Making a Little Boy Smile
Every week Rob (World's Most Amazing Dad) takes David to the downtown mall. Not because David likes to shop. But to let David ride all the elevators and escalators he can stand.
Along with elevators and escalators David is crazy about ceiling fans. He is enthralled with watching them spin around at top speed. He quickly memorizes which stores have them.
Along with elevators and escalators David is crazy about ceiling fans. He is enthralled with watching them spin around at top speed. He quickly memorizes which stores have them.
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory is one of these stores. It has a ceiling fan!
However, depending on the weather and time of day the fan isn't always turned on. As part of his mall ritual David always runs inside this store and looks up to see if the fan is spinning.
However, depending on the weather and time of day the fan isn't always turned on. As part of his mall ritual David always runs inside this store and looks up to see if the fan is spinning.
The staff have picked up on David's affinity for fans and know he will be disappointed if the blades aren't spinning. So when he bolts into their store looking upward they kindly turn the fan on for him.
Not because doing this will improve business for them. They know David isn't going to buy any of their fudge and sometimes in his enthusiasm he may even bump into one of their customers.
They do it because they don't have to.
They do it because they choose to be kind and make a little boy smile.
They do it because they don't have to.
They do it because they choose to be kind and make a little boy smile.
THANK YOU ROCKY MOUNTAIN CHOCOLATE FACTORY
YOUR STAFF ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, February 1, 2014
All Minds
"All the minds and spirits that God ever sent into the world are susceptible of enlargement."
(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith, Salt Lake City:Deseret Book Co., 1938, p.354)
Monday, January 13, 2014
I Hurt For Him
There are moments when David's eyes find mine. Filled with earnest intention and pleading they hold onto my gaze. His hands move about as he babbles, "Aa, da, da, da."
He's trying to tell me something.
But like a bud, unopened, his thoughts remain tightly wrapped within. I long to get inside his head. To know what he's thinking. How much he understands.
I want to see the world through his eyes. Know of his pain and fears, his hopes and joy.
If only I could break through that wall of silence and frustration.
Then, maybe, I could really help him.
I provided him with physical, speech, occupational and feeding therapy--sometimes all in the same week. I consulted with the best and most acclaimed therapists in the valley. We even attended a five week behavioral feeding program in New Jersey.
One of the many doctors I saw said, "I admire a mother who is prepared to go to the ends of the earth for her child."
"We recognize you're a force to be reckoned with," another doctor said.
Maybe so.
But I didn't cure David of autism.
I can't fix him. I can't make it better. I can't give him a normal life.
He's trying to tell me something.
But like a bud, unopened, his thoughts remain tightly wrapped within. I long to get inside his head. To know what he's thinking. How much he understands.
I want to see the world through his eyes. Know of his pain and fears, his hopes and joy.
If only I could break through that wall of silence and frustration.
Then, maybe, I could really help him.
I provided him with physical, speech, occupational and feeding therapy--sometimes all in the same week. I consulted with the best and most acclaimed therapists in the valley. We even attended a five week behavioral feeding program in New Jersey.
One of the many doctors I saw said, "I admire a mother who is prepared to go to the ends of the earth for her child."
"We recognize you're a force to be reckoned with," another doctor said.
Maybe so.
But I didn't cure David of autism.
I can't fix him. I can't make it better. I can't give him a normal life.
I get to stand by, knowing of all he'll never do and all he'll never become.
Maybe he's unaware of his many losses, but I'm not.
So I hurt for him.
He'll always depend on others, never knowing the satisfaction of caring for himself, or the freedom of independent living. Confined to his own lonely world he'll never know the joy of marriage or the tenderness of holding his own child.
As he struggles to reach out and connect with others, I wonder if he'll ever have a friend.
I asked a 70-year-old friend of mine who has a disabled child if the pain ever goes away. She smiled wisely and shook her head, recounting how she now feels sad her 40-year-old son will never get married and have a family of his own.
"Each life phase brings a new reason for mourning," she explained.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
A Mother's Arms
"Many a mother's arms and heart have ached years on end, giving comfort and relieving the suffering of her special child."
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Christmas and the Temple
It didn’t seem like there was time for Christmas that year. I was in the middle of moving, with one house to organize and unpack and another to clean and fix up. Weighed down by many responsibilities I felt a little resentful of the holiday season. I wasn’t ready to feel any Christmas cheer.
A week earlier I’d tried to keep my monthly commitment to attend the temple. After getting up at 5 a.m. on a frozen Saturday morning, I made my way to the Jordan River Temple, only to discover it was closed! I turned my car around and headed for the Salt Lake Temple. But icy roads and a freeway detour brought me home again.
Weighed down with frustration and a sense of failure, I promised myself, “Next week.”
Weighed down with frustration and a sense of failure, I promised myself, “Next week.”
But as Saturday approached, the last one before Christmas, I wondered if I’d make it. There was still so much to do—clean, decorate, bake and wrap. Maybe the temple would just have to wait.
Fortunately commitment triumphed as I took my seat in the chapel of the Salt Lake Temple. Quietly I waited for an endowment session to begin. In the background I heard the tune of a familiar Christmas carol.
Christmas carols in the temple?
At first this music seemed a little out of place. But as I allowed the words to fill my mind, the Spirit spoke to my heart and opened my mind.
Sitting in a room filled with waiting people, I imagined what it must have been like to wait for the Savior’s birth. A thrill of joy surged through me. How exciting it must have been for the shepherds in the fields and the choirs of angels to know of His birth.
I felt a little of the joy they undoubtedly felt. Then I realized how exciting it is for me today, right now, to know of His birth—a cause for celebration! And that’s what Christmas really is—the excitement, the joy and the thrill of having Christ come to earth.
At the end of the endowment session I headed out of the celestial room, and then halted. Towering above me in the air on the right was a magnificent painting of the Risen Lord.
As I stood there in awe of this beautiful artwork, it felt as if I’d been greeted by my Savior. The Spirit reached down into the depths of my soul and filled me with peace and joy—this was His house and He was there.
I thought back on the joy I’d felt earlier while sitting in the chapel, the excited anticipation of those who waited for Christ’s birth. Then I realized the anticipation of waiting for Christ to come had been fulfilled for me that day. Through temple worship, He had come into my heart.
As I headed home into the congested traffic, I felt untouched by the frenzy of last-minute shoppers around me. Overcome with love for the Savior, I’d been filled with the true spirit of Christmas. Not to be found in the busy shopping malls or under a perfectly decorated tree, but within the quiet walls of the temple.
There I discovered: we celebrate the joy of Christ coming to earth by allowing Him to come into our hearts.
Friday, November 22, 2013
Book Review and Giveaway: Carol of the Tales and Other Nightly Noels
Carol of the Tales and
Other Nightly Noels:
An Advent Anthology,
Volume 2
Anthology authors include: Shirley Bahlmann, C. David Belt, Rebecca Carlson, Loretta Carter, Madonna D. Christensen, Danyelle Ferguson, C. Michelle Jefferies, Theric Jepson, Ryan Larsen, Angie Lofthouse, Betsy Love, J. Lloyd Morgan, Janet Olsen, Teresa G. Osgood, Brian Ricks, Jennifer Ricks, Peg Russell, and Michael Young.
Carol of the Tales is the 2nd book in the Advent Anthology series. Both anthologies are available in paperback and Amazon Kindle
formats from Amazon.com.
Purchase “Sing We Now of Christmas”: http://amzn.com/1479266248
Purchase: “Carol of the Tales”: http://amzn.com/1484145526
To kick off the release of the second anthology, a Christmas
concert will be held at American Fork Junior High on December 7th,
2013. The concert will feature the Saltaires Barbershop Chorus. All proceeds from this concert will be donated to charity as well. Purchase: Tickets for the Concert: https://tickettool.net/en/index/eventpopup/b54dab4bd0a13fa6975068f4784dfaa5
Blog Tour Giveaway!
Use the rafflecopter below to enter to win wonderful prizes, such as tickets to the concert and copies of the anthology.
Blog Tour Giveaway!
Use the rafflecopter below to enter to win wonderful prizes, such as tickets to the concert and copies of the anthology.
Other Blogs on the Tour:
Friday, November 15, 2013
Living in Hope
"I bear witness of that day when loved ones whom we knew to have disabilities in mortality will stand before us glorified and grand, breathtakingly perfect in body and mind. What a thrilling moment that will be! I do not know whether we will be happier for ourselves that we have witnessed such a miracle or happier for them that they are fully perfect and finally 'free at last.' Until that hour when Christ's consummate gift is evident to us all, may we live by faith, hold fast to hope, and show 'compassion one of another.'"
Friday, November 1, 2013
The Kindness of Others
It was Sunday afternoon. We were in
our usual spot. While the rest of the congregation enjoyed sacrament service
from the chapel, we occupied the foyer. Emma ran around gleefully, enjoying the
independence that comes with being two. David was strapped into his blue Graco
stroller. The one we used for him when he was a toddler, now a few sizes too
small. His lanky five-year-old legs sprawled past the foot rest and touched the
floor. Although a tight fit, he was contained. Our only assurance he wouldn’t
make a mad dash from the building.
He was
chewing a small, white towel. The one we used to manage his chewing compulsion
and keep his Sunday shirt from developing holes.
Jeff, an
especially kind man in our ward, passed by. After greeting Rob and I, he
hunched down in front of the stroller and attempted to connect with David.
Immune to his attempts, David stared away.
Jeff then picked up the dry end of the towel
hanging from David’s mouth, and put it in his own mouth. David’s eyes widened
with delight. Jeff now had his full attention.
Together they played a game of
tug-of-war, each clenching a corner of the towel between their teeth.
Rob and I
smiled at each other and then we laughed as the game ended. David took the
well-soaked, soggy corner from his own mouth and held it up to Jeff’s—rewarding him with his favorite oral companion.
Not only had Jeff taken the time to
connect with David, but he’d won his heart.
I loved Jeff for loving David.
I loved Jeff for loving David.
When people are kind to David I feel
Heavenly Father’s love for me. It’s easy for others to look away and pretend they
don’t notice him. Some refrain from interacting with him out of feeling awkward
or uncomfortable. They politely keep their distance out of not wanting to
interfere or give offense.
Then there are those who amaze me.
They go out of their way to interact with my son, even when he doesn’t respond
or tries to avoid them.
I feel God’s love through their kind actions.
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