MaeLyn's Musings

This morning, as the boys and I were walking to school in the rain, Peter and Josh and I huddling under my extra large umbrella and John wearing a rain jacket with the hood up, a small, dark sedan stopped in the road and the young Hispanic lady in the drivers seat rolled down the window. "I want to give you this." She said, holding out a small black umbrella. "Really?" I asked in surprise. "Yes. You take it!" She insisted.  "Well, thank you! Thank you very much!" I took the umbrella, and thanked her again. She nodded, rolled up her window, turned her car around and drove off. I handed the umbrella to Josh to hold and we continued on our way to school a little less crowded. As we walked, Peter was exclaiming about how fluffy it was. (It was small, therefore it was cute. Everything cute is also fluffy.... isn't it? Peter likes fluffy.) I have no idea who the lady was. I didn't ask her name. But I appreciate her kindness. To see ...

Saturday was Colorado Cares Day. Every year, this is a day of service all over Colorado. Our family joined with other members of the Westminster Stake to gather supplies for A Precious Child . Together, we loaded 117 backpacks with school supplies, and sorted and labeled piles and piles of linens - sheets, bed spreads, etc. All the materials were donated by members of the stake. After the backpacks were filled and double checked, Steven, Hannah, John and Peter got to help deliver them to A Precious Child. Here are some pictures Steven took with his phone camera while they were there. It took a while to unload all the backpacks even though they loaded up well. All the linens that were delivered The backpacks I'm glad that we have opportunities to be part of awesome service projects like this one, and that our kids can learn that it can be fun to serve!

We spent most of today downtown at the Denver Convention Center helping the Salvation Army serve dinner and hand out gifts to thousands of people. Here are some pictures taken with my camera phone. The whole family in front of the gift tables We pulled gift bags from the boxes by the wall and set them on the tables so families could grab one for each child. Peter got to be one of Santa's elves. Hannah helped with the gift bags. Josh got a piggy-back ride from a friend. (You can see some of the food tables behind him.) When Peter got tired, Josh got a turn escorting families to see Santa.   Josh had fun handing families their gift bags. After the crowds were gone, we got to eat before we cleaned everything up. We were tired, but enjoyed the experience. This may become an annual tradition. After we left the Convention Center, we took some time to explore downtown a little bit, stopping at the library and taking a free shuttle up and down the 16th St...

I taught in Relief Society again this last Sunday. This week's lesson was chapter 22 of Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow, entitled Doing Good to Others . I began by asking the sisters to think about a recent act of service they had done. They didn't need to tell me about it right then, but I wanted them to have something in mind. I told them about an experience I had the day before when I helped a bewildered looking older man find something he needed in a JoAnn store I was shopping at. I mentioned the lift I felt as I walked away. When we serve others, we feel good, and we are blessed. I asked the sisters to list some of the blessings that we receive when we serve others. This list included things like feeling good, peace, fulfilling covenants, friends. I pointed out that while the lesson is on serving others, the point that Lorenzo Snow repeats over and over again is that we receive blessings as we do good to others. I referred to some of the lines from t...

In Sunday School yesterday, we were discussing self reliance, and we came across a scripture that I found interesting: Wo unto you poor men, whose hearts are not broken, whose spirits are not contrite, and whose bellies are not satisfied, and whose hands are not stayed from laying hold upon other men’s goods, whose eyes are full of greediness, and who will not  labor with your own hands! ( D&C 56:17 )  We discussed for a little while the importance of work, and why it is important not to be idle. My thoughts are that most people do want to work: most people want to feel useful, and to be appreciated for their contribution to society. I think that it is when people feel that they have nothing to contribute or that their contribution isn't appreciated that they lose the desire to work. On the other hand, work is more satisfying and brings more joy when it provides an appreciated service or when it satisfies our creative urges (I wrote about these last week ). Before...

The phone rang yesterday, about an hour before church was to start. I answered it. It was the executive secretary of the ward, asking if I could meet with the bishop briefly, fifteen minutes before church. I said, "yes" and hung up the phone. Immediately the thoughts came pouring through my mind. Is it a new calling? Are they going to release me from one (or all) of the three I already have? The Young Women presidency changed last week... does it have something to do with that? I am really enjoying my calling as a Relief Society teacher right now, and I didn't really want to be released from that yet, especially since I've only been doing it for a few months. I could deduce that it wasn't' something really big, because they only asked to see me, and not Steven too. But whatever it was, I knew I would do whatever I was called to do. We arrived at the church fifteen minutes or so before it was to start. The bishop was still in a meeting, so I put down my boo...

Saturday was a busy day for us. We got up and dressed, then set out for the church to help with an Eagle project for a young man in our ward. For his project, he had collected pieces of fleece for blankets, so on Saturday, we got to cut strips on the sides and then knot them to make blankets for the Children's Hospital. The patients at the hospital would receive the blankets and even be able to bring them home with them. By the time we finished, there were about 68 blankets finished. Peter was bored a lot, but even he helped to tie knots around the edges of the blankets. When we left the church, we went to the home of friends in the ward who were having a garage sale. It wasn't for sale, but they had a tandem bike that they were kind enough to let us ride around. That was fun. After playing with their bike and their drum set, we eventually bought a stuffed cow, a hiking pack thing, and a fancy tricycle (a green machine). From there, we ...

I'm sure this will be a quick one, since I've got all the kids running around (literally) here, and we have parent teacher conferences in less than an hour. Last night for Family Home Evening I asked the kids what they would like to do as a family service project. (We've been talking about service in Primary this month, and I realized we haven't done many family service projects in the past.) The kids decided they wanted to give cookies to their school teachers. I had made sugar cookie dough earlier in preparation for cutting them out for activity and eating them for dessert, so we went ahead with our plans, setting aside the nicest (biggest, unbroken) for the kids to give to their teachers. It was fun, and the children are looking forward to delivering them when we go to conferences this morning. I'm thinking it would be a good idea to try to do at least one family service project each month. We'll see if we can think of lots of different ideas. Oops! Josh ...

Yesterday I found out about a family that very recently moved into our ward and is now living on our street. The mother was in critical condition in the ICU with the swine flu. She has three children, ages 8, 4 and 9 months. Our Relief Society president had asked one of my counselors to watch the children this afternoon, and she left our presidency meeting that morning with the intent to go buy diapers for the baby and then go watch the poor kids. They were in my thoughts that afternoon. Last night as we were putting our kids to bed, I received a phone call from the RS president telling me that the children were now being watched by a couple of 18 year old girls in our ward, but that the baby was running a fever. She asked if I had baby Tylenol, and if I knew what dosage to give him. I have children's Tylenol, and I found a dosage chart, so I grabbed the medicine, the book containing the chart and my bathroom scale and headed up the street to their home. The baby was warm, but had ...