MaeLyn's Musings

I'm so very proud of my daughter. "What's next?" you ask. She has been accepted at BYU-Idaho, and will attend there in the fall. She plans to study elementary education and would like to teach second or third grade. This summer she will be busy working and saving and getting ready to leave the nest and make her own way in the world. I have no doubts that she will do well.

Yesterday afternoon, it was just about time for me to head to the school to walk my younger boys home, and it was starting to rain. I grabbed my rain jacket, and contemplated grabbing an umbrella, but my good, big, sturdy one has been missing (I might need to add that to the list of things stolen when the van was vandalized?) and the only one I have available is a cheap, wimpy one with two spokes broken that turns inside out with a good breeze unless angled just right. I decided to skip the umbrella and just put up the hood of my rain jacket. Then I stepped out onto the porch. In the time I had been putting on my jacket and contemplating bringing an umbrella, the gentle rain had turned into a torrential downpour! Lightning flashed, thunder roared continuously, and pea sized hailstones were pelting the grass. I didn't want to go out in that! Hoping that the storm would pass quickly and praying that my children would stay safe, I waited there on the porch watching the hail cover th...

Thursday evening was Hannah's final high school orchestra concert. As part of that, she got to perform a senior solo, and she chose to perform a variation of "Danny Boy" that I arranged earlier this year. I call it "Londonderry Duet". I got to accompany her on the piano as she played her viola. (It's amazing to me that playing something in a high school auditorium is so much more intimidating to me than playing in a chapel at church, but it is. When I sat down afterwards, my hands were shaking terribly.) Hannah did a fantastic job combining her acting skills with her viola playing skills. Unfortunately, I didn't record the actual performance, but we did film a practice so she could show it to her conductor for approval. If you are interested, you can see the piano sheet music and the viola music . One of the challenges of this time of year is that there is so much going on. Joshua had a band concert the same evening, and Peter had scouts that night....

Wednesday evening, the curtains opened for Northlenn High School's Spring One Acts. Both Hannah and John participated, although in different productions. Hannah was in a play called, " 4 A.M. " in which several people are portrayed at 4:00 in the morning. Hannah played Juliet, a girl wondering whether or not to text her boyfriend at that hour, as well as an officer who came about the monster under the bed. John played Eugene Spooner, a seedy farmer with some attitude, in " A Play With Words ". They both did a fantastic job!

A week ago, I received a phone call from one of the counselors in the bishopric. He told me one of the people who was supposed to give a talk on Sunday wouldn't be able to, and he wondered if I would be willing to speak. I said yes... and spent the remainder of the week studying, praying, pondering, writing, and revising. I felt guided as I worked on it. This is the talk I ended up giving on April 30, 2017: In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln passed the Homestead Act . This act allowed American citizens to receive 160 acres of government land. All they had to do to get this land was pay a fee, improve the land by building a dwelling and cultivating it and reside continually on that land for five years. When the five years were up, the land was theirs. When I imagine those early homesteaders setting out to tame the frontier, I picture people like Laura Ingalls ’ family of “Little House on the Prairie” fame. (Hers were some of my favorite books when I was a little girl.) These wer...

Yesterday, Steven and I took Steven's car for a short drive. We didn't go far - just a few miles north, a quick u-turn and back again. But just before we got home again , we were able to pull over to take this picture. 😊