End of May favorites

Time for another round of Friday Fave Five with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

The end of school each year brings goodbyes and thank you.  The flowers and card were given to me by our school's National Honor Society officers because I served as one of the club sponsors this past year.

The students of my first hour class all decided to write thank you notes on the white board after they were finished with their final. 

I was very touched. These notes came from one of my "remedial" classes and some of the students can be a bit "hard core," but we made it through the year together and each one of them worked hard and passed with a C or higher.  

A quick impromptu service project this week had great response from my students, colleagues and friends.  I read about a local cancer treatment center asking for donations of chocolate candy, books, magazines, crossword puzzle and Sudoku books, and adult coloring books for patients receiving chemo therapy.

I only had three days to collect donations and was overwhelmed with the response.  Here is my trunk filled with items for the cancer patients.

I delivered the donations to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Mesa, Arizona. Although my grandson is not receiving his cancer treatments there, I donated everything with thoughts of him and what he is going through as he has undergone round two of chemo therapy this week.

My new MacBook Air came this week!  I decided to get a lap top to take with me when I go to help my daughter and her family this summer, and after some research, I decided on a MacBook Air.

It is a very nice machine, but a little different than the PC I am used to, so it is taking me a little while to get the hang of it, but I hoping to be able to blog and stay in touch throughout the summer, no matter where I am.

In getting ready to be gone from home for while, I wanted to make sure that Charly had plenty of laundry detergent, so I spent one evening grating up bar soap and combining the ingredients for this detergent which is better than any commercial detergent I have ever used.  Making it is worth the extra effort.

With everything going on this week, I am glad I was able to take some time out and go to the Gilbert Temple.  The peace of the temple recharges my batteries during stressful and busy times.

And in just a short while, away I go again. Some of this summer's travel will be by car with Charly and some will be flying by myself.  I have been traveling much more than usual this year, but I am glad that I have the time and means to help my family when they need me. 

Airports and flying are certainly not one of my favorite things, but with a little help from my "friend" (shown above), I can get through it. ;-)

Finally, a thought for the weekend:

Finding God in the Hard Times - Book Review

With everything my family is going through right now, I was immediately attracted to this book by it's title, Finding God in the Hard Times. Subtitled, Choosing to Trust and hope When You Can't See the Way, this little book by Christian music recording artists,  Matt and Beth Redman,  explore how we can offer praise and gratitude to God even when life is really hard.  The Redmans draw on personal experiences of themselves and others and focus on the prayers found in the Old Testament book of Psalms to reveal how we can weather the storms of life while believing and proclaiming "blessed by your name" to God our Heavenly Father.

Using the lyrics of their worship hymn, "Blessed Be Your Name" to guide the text of the book, the Redmans show the reader how praise and gratitude during times of trial is an essential part of our spiritual journey, and can bring us through difficult or tragic circumstances to a realization that the love of God is always present for us.

The uplifting and inspirational book is divided into five quick and easy chapters with discussion guide questions and biblical references at the end.  I give it **** four stars out of a possible five.

Bethany House publishers provided me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Testimony

My grandson, Thomas, is back in the ER this afternoon. This time he has a sore throat. He is undergoing chemo to fight the cancer and so his immune system is suppressed and any small, otherwise harmless virus, could cause big problems, so this afternoon, he is back in the ER.

The amazing thing about this guy is that with everything he has been through and continues to go through, he has a great attitude,

Almost every picture his mom posts of him shows him with a big smile.  Even at six years old, he is an amazing example to me and many people much older and much healthier.  Thomas truly reminds me of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament, who wrote to the Philippians:

"I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content...

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

~Philippians 4:11, 13

This morning, my daughter posted this testimony on Thomas' facebook Page, Fight Like Thomas:

"While we do not understand why God allows children to get cancer, we do know He has been with us. We found this tumor before we should have, it's all gone, even though it's a really nasty type of cancer it isn't anywhere else. All of what we have read says the cancer should be all over, we shouldn't have found it before it was causing seizures, the neurosurgeon shouldn't have been able to get all of it out. Even Thomas' scar is healing amazingly well.

It didn't take cancer to show us God lives and loves us, but cancer did remind us all that He is always with us and that miracles still exist today."

Five Favorites on Friday

Joining with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday Fave Five!

This week has been incredibly busy, as the end of the school year usually is, however, this year, I am also getting ready to spend a considerable portion of my summer helping my daughter and her family as they deal with my grandson's cancer diagnosis. There was at least one appointment or commitment every night and several nights I had several places I needed to be. Tonight, however, as I look back on the week, I can see that throughout it all, there were blessings and much to be grateful for. Here are a few:

• Mother's Day:

The best thing about Mother's Day is, or course, hearing from the people who made me a mother, like this guy, who called on skype from Mexico.

I got some lovely pictures of my oldest daughter and her family.

My younger daughter's family sent me with this sweet card and also called for a nice long Mother's Day chat with everyone!

We also had a very nice meeting for all the women at church in honor of Mother's Day.

• A surprise from Mexico!

This picture of Elder Jones and his friend Elder Juarez showed up in my Face Book message box this afternoon, courtesy of a  member of the church congregation (ward) he is currently working in. Pictures of my son always bring a smile to my face and make my day a happy one!

• Doctor and Dentist visits:

I am not normally a huge fan of visits to the doctor or dentist, but I am grateful for check-ups that go well and have a good outcome.  I had a good check-up at the dentist (no cavities or other problems) and also a positive post-surgery follow-up with my podiatrist.  He said that the bones in my foot are completely and perfectly healed following last December's surgery. Good news to be sure!

4. An opportunity to help out and give back!

After the big fire and evacuation of our neighborhood last month, our town's fire department was running low on a few supplies, so our church held a community event to allow grateful citizens to donate water, Gatorade and different kinds of snacks for our fire department to have on hand.  I am always happy to help out in even a small way, and the community all together was able to fill a large tractor trailer with supplies for the fire fighters.

5. The end is near!

The end of the school year, that is.  My students have been working hard, but they are about done with this year and ready for summer break.

I did a lot of grading this week, but my favorite part is that when I left my classroom today, all 75+ essays turned in last week, were graded and we only have nine more days of school!

Speaking of the end of school, Charly and I had our last real estate class last night! (I took a surprise picture of Charly right before class started). Now we have finished the 90 hours required to get real estate licenses. I am not sure that we will go forward and get licenses and become Realtors.  I have too many other things on my plate to think about that right now. We took the classes because we were thinking about getting some income property, and...

We did! Yes, we sign the papers and close on this lovely little bungalow tomorrow at noon.  You might notice the traces of snow on the front lawn of this picture and that would be a clue that this house is not in Arizona.  We are actually buying this house to retire in, a few years down the road. It might appear that we are downsizing, and in a way we are, but looks can be deceiving because this house is actually bigger than the one we currently live in. It is an older home in the very neighborhood Charly grew up in (which has since become a "trendy" and "in" place to live). More important than that is that it is much closer to family and let's just say that when we walked in it, a few months ago, we knew this was the place for us (in a few short years).

Thought for the weekend:

After some recent "drama" among some of my colleagues at work, this thought really struck a chord with me tonight because it is totally true.

Have a great weekend!

A few favorites

As we get ready to begin another week, here are some of my favorite things about the one that has just passed:

1. Spring flowers. They are out in bloom here in Arizona. This is the bush at the side of our house.

2. Cactus flowers. Our Prickly Pear Cactus had some lovely blossoms as well. Look closely you can see a little be inside the flower. 

3. Purple sheets -  no, this is not some kind of tribute to Prince (RIP), but some awesome, cool, silky micro-fiber sheets I found on clearance for $5 for a King-Sized bed set of sheets.

4. New boots.  Speaking of getting things for a great end-of-season clearance price, I got these for $5 too.  I had been wanting some boots like this and almost paid $80 for a pair when we were in Utah for my mother-in-law's funeral in February.  Imagine my delight when I found the last pair in the store, in my size for over 90% less!

5. Fitbit Charge.  I tend to be one of those people who never win anything, but last week I won  Fitbit Charge, in a team walking competition that the school district I teach in is sponsoring.  

6. Good book.  I have been reading this Dollar Store find, Gimme Shelter, which I am really enjoying, probably because I relate to it so much.  It is one woman's experience of trying to find and then trying to buy a home for her family, right before the real estate bubble burst in 2008.  I love the author's authentic tone and humor and I totally know what she went through - it is kind of a "been there, done that" thing.

7. Relative finder. This is a fun website that I have been playing around with today.  It tells you who you are related to.  Today, If found out that I am related (albeit distantly) to the following historically significant people:  Emily Dickinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Davey Crockett, John D. Rockefeller, Walt Disney, Bing Crosby, Humphrey Bogart, Thomas Edison and Elvis Presley.  Wow!  I doubt that I have anything in common with any of these famous people (especially the rich ones) but it is rather fun and interesting to see just who you are related to and how you are related.  If you want to check it out, go to relativefinder.org.

8. Temple time. Charly and I had the opportunity of helping to clean the Gilbert Temple a few days ago. What a great experience to be in this holy place late at night, when the only people there are the other members of the cleaning crew.   I also spent some time there yesterday afternoon in prayer, and worship.  I always love the blessings and peace of the temple, especially during life's stormy seasons.

9. Grandson. Some of my prayers yesterday in the temple were for this young man, my grandson Thomas, who began chemo therapy last Friday. His doctors decided to begin chemo therapy immediately and delay radiation treatment until later in the summer.  

Although this is a huge challenge, my grandson has great doctors, loving and supportive family and friends, a happy and positive attitude and many, many prayers being said in his behalf.

Thought for the coming week:

Joining (late) with Susanne for: