Friday morning, I had the day off as a personal day, because my daughter, granddaughter and I had been planning for months to attend BYU Women's Conference. The day started cloudy and rainy. BYU is about 25 miles south of where I live. The drive went well. Traffic was light and there were no problems on the freeways.
The BYU campus is beautiful, and right at the foot of the mountains, On Friday morning, the clouds were super low on the mountain and the temperatures were only in the 40s.
We gathered with thousands of other women at the Marriott Center for the first keynote speaker of the day.
BYU Women's Conference is always very well attended. Women travel from all over to be here for two days (Thursday and Friday) of fun and learning. We only attended on Friday because my granddaughter, who is still in high school, didn't want to miss more than one day of school.
Here we are waiting for the first keynote speaker of the day.
After the excellent message given at the keynote address, we decided to help out with a huge service project. The goal of this service project was ambitious - prepare 400,000 food kits to be donated to the needy and those with food insecurity.
In the end, about 380,000 food kits were prepared. Here we are helping out. The food kits consisted of beans, rice and spices for flavoring.
After helping with the service project, we met up with my son-in-law and my youngest granddaughter for lunch. The rest of the grandkids were in school, but it was great to have lunch with the youngest. We went to an all-you-can-eat venue on campus and the food was excellent. With all the available choices, my granddaughter opted for cereal.
After lunch there were more excellent speakers. This is John Hilton III, who is an author and professor at BYU. Charly and I have been watching his scripture master class every week on Youtube. His message was about giving our worries and cares to God and trusting Him to work things out for our good. So good!
After his excellent message, he mingled with the audience. My daughter and I decided to talk to him and get pictures with one of our favorite "Christian celebrities."
Here is my daughter with John Hilton III. He was so nice and took the time to talk with everyone who wanted to see him.
The next class was taught by two professors, who also do a weekly scripture study podcast, and write lots of books. Here we are with John Bytheway.
Here we are with John's podcasting partner, who is also an author, Christian speaker and professor at BYU, Hank Smith.
We learned a lot and had a great time together! We really do love Women's Conference!
By the end of the day, the sky was blue and the sun was shining. I had walked almost six miles all over the campus to different locations for the speakers and service projects. I was tired, but very happy. We had a really nice time and enjoyed the entire event. I am already looking forward to next year's conference!
Saturday morning, I met up with a couple of good friends and we went to breakfast at one of our favorite restaurants.
I almost always order the homestyle potatoes, bacon and scrambled eggs. The food is delicious and the portions are big enough that there are always leftovers to bring home. My friends and I had a nice time chatting and catching up. We have plans to get together again soon.
When I got home, I worked in the yard, digging weeds out of the garden and helping charly dig up a bush we don't want in our front yard.
I then transplanted my miniature lilac bush from the front yard to the backyard. I still haven't planted my tomato plants or any seeds in the garden because our temperatures are supposed to drop again in the next few days, that some nights the temps will drop into the 30s.
After coming in from the yard, I did some laundry and dusting, then hung a couple of Mixtile pictures I had made up a couple of weeks ago. Mixtiles are pretty cool - they are so easy to hand and some mess up the wall because the pictures are actually magnetized to the wall. They are perfect for this 70-year-old house with lath and plaster walls. The pictures are of some recent outings with our grandchildren and they are now hanging in our living room.
When we went to church Sunday morning, it was cloudy and breezy. By the time we got home from the worship service, it was pouring rain, which continued most of the afternoon.
I did some indexing after church. I indexed 105 records which was twice my goal of 50 records for the entire month. The records were from a city directory of Reading, Pennsylvania back in about 1935. I listened to some uplifting podcasts and Youtubes while I indexed.
After indexing, I took a little nap. When I woke up, I found that the rain had turned to snow and this is what the front of our house looked like Sunday afternoon. The snow was very heavy and wet. I quickly ran outside and put the little tomato plants I had purchased, but not yet put in the ground, in our garage.
This is the lilac bush I transplanted Saturday afternoon. I hope that it can withstand this unexpected spring snow and not suffer permanent damage.
Sunday dinner was slow cooker chicken and stuffing with French bread, steamed broccoli and a green salad.
I also made some chocolate "Soda Pop Cake' which was super easy. Charly (and I) enjoyed it for sweet dessert treat), It is so easy to make. Simply add a cand of Dr. Pepper (I had zero sugar Strawberries and Cream Dr. Pepper) to a chocolate cake mix. Mix well and bake according to instructions. For an even lower calorie alternative, you can make this with a no-sugar chocolate cake or brownie mix.
After dinner, we watched our weekly scripture class on Youtube. It is taught by one of the professor/authors I heard and met at Friday's Women's Conference. I am learning so much from these classes.
As the new week begins, I am reading an old memoir, written in 1980, A Soul So Rebellious by Mary Frances Sturlaugson and a current mystery suspense book, She Says She's My Daughter by Lauren North.
I didn't do a separate post about what I read in April, so, better late than never, I will do a quick recap of my April reading here at the end of this post. I only read four books - all non-fiction. One was an audiobook. Here's what I thought:
1. The New Testament Made Easier by David Ridges *****
I honestly LOVE David Ridges verse-by-verse scripture commentaries. They are so helpful to scripture study.
2. We've Got Issues by Phillip McGraw Ph.D. ***
This book was basically a 400 page rant about all the things wrong in our society. I don't disagree with Dr. Phil, but this book could have been just as effective with half the number of pages.
3. Emptying the Nest by Brad E. Sachs Ph.D. *****
This was an excellent book about family dynamics and communication, especially in families with young adults venturing out on their own. This is not a quick read, but it has some valuable information for anyone entering the phase of life when the nest is emptying or has recently emptied.
4. The Law of Love by Steve Young ***
This is a book about the vital importance of love with a lot of football stories thrown in to illustrate points. Of course, it had to have football stories because author Steve Young is the former NFL Quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers. I agree that God loves us and that we must learn to love others - ALL others. Love is important, even vital in just about every situation, but this book is basically the same thing over and over and over again with a lot of football stories. Yawn. It was not a game changer for me.
Weekend gratitude:
- Being able to attend BYU Women's Conference with my daughter and granddaughter.
- Meeting up with friends for breakfast.
- Getting a lot done in the yard.
- Having a nice conversation with Josh Sunday night.
- Have a restful and uplifting Sabbath.
That's all for this post. Thanks for stopping by. Have a good week!
Until next time,
😊Deb💖
"Faith tells me that no matter what lies ahead
God is already there."
~anon.
