Our Day in the City

Last Saturday was one of those perfect days, start to finish. After eating a good breakfast we drove to the Church to donate blood. Things went fine until someone forgot to clamp Roger's bag and suddenly blood was everywhere, including his pants. Luckily they were the kind that the lower portion can be zipped off so they are shorts. He zipped off the lower part and I washed them for him and no one could tell. I'm not sure what happened with his donation...

Then we drove to the Bronx where we parked on the side of the road and walked a little ways to where one of the subway lines starts. In half an hour we were in Manhattan where we picked up tickets at TKTS to see "Blithe Spirit" with Angela Lansbury, Rupert Everett, and Christine Ebersole.

On our way from the TKTS booth to the theatre, we passed some high school kids who were posing as mannequins from famous shows.





In memory of Jennifer's visit, I posed with Mary Poppins and Bert! (For free after my $1 donation.) They were actually quite good.






As we were walking along, suddenly we heard a lot of fanfare in the intersection ahead of us. For some reason, a big Chinese dragon parade was in procession.

I was shocked to see something new in Times Square. They've blocked off part of the road and it's like a gigantic block party. People bring their lawn chairs and sit around in downtown Manhattan like it was their back patio or deck. Dad had heard about it on the morning talk shows, but it was news to me and quite interesting!




We really enjoyed the show. Angela was fantastic! She is a mega- talented actress and even did a little dancing. It was fun. I recognized Rupert Everett from "An Ideal Husband" - He did a great job too. If you haven't see "An Ideal Husband" you don't know what you've missed.




After the show we thought we'd walk to the Brooklyn Bridge, but we were feeling a little low on energy after giving blood, so we caught the subway to the capitol and walked from there. The bridge is an amazing creation, and was being appreciated by a lot of people, including us.







After walking about 1/4 of the road across the Bridge, we turned around and headed to China Town.

It's full of open air fish markets and all kinds of shops. The smell was a bit too much for me, but Dad got right in there to check it out. We decided against purchasing, but it was certainly interesting to plug my nose and see what they had.





We concluded our day in NYC with a walk through Little Italy. Suddenly all the signs went from Asian to Italian :) Restaurants everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE !!!!!!!

Anyone want some pizza?

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways”

I know that blogs are better when they have pictures, but this time you might be grateful that I am NOT going to post a photo with what I write.

To make a long story short, a week ago my left thumb started to hurt and I knew that it was probably going to become swollen with infection. I started to soaking it in warm water, but the infection progressed in spite of my efforts. By the weekend it was pretty bad and getting exponentially "badder." Saturday morning we donated blood and then had a great day in the city, (which I will blog about tomorrow)in spite of the pain that sometimes made me want to cry. I had an impression that my thumb would start to heal as soon as I received a priesthood blessing, so I asked Roger for a blessing as soon as we got in our car to drive home. He did, and I waited, expecting it to look better that night or at least by Sunday morning. To my dismay, it didn't. It was so swollen that I thought it might be ready to drain, but no such luck.

On Sunday I showed it to a nurse after Church and called Amy because she had something similar a couple of years ago. When we got home, I called the 24 hour nurse-line and they recommended calling my Dr. who recommended going to the emergency room to get an antibiotic and some help draining it. Just as he suggested this, suddenly my thumb started draining. For the next hour I continued a process of soaking and draining it, and by the time I went to bed that night, it felt much better. It's not all healed yet, but it's on the way.

As I have reflected on what happened, I believe that my thumb did start to heal as soon as I received the blessing. It just didn't do it the way I expected and hoped. I didn't know that it would have to look worse along the way, or that it had to hurt more before it could start to feel better. I never doubted the blessing, because it was the Spirit that prompted me to ask for it, and I know that my faith is an active part of being healed. This experience reminded me that the Lord's ways may not be the ways I anticipate or expect.

I am experiencing this true principle in another way also. When we purchased our home 7-1/2 years ago I knew it was the "right" home for us. At the time, I thought our home was to be a financial investment that would facilitate serving missions. I watched over the years as its value increased, anticipating the financial gains ahead. As it turns out, I was wrong. In the 2 1/2 months it's been on the market, only once has anyone come to look at it. We lowered the price $40,000 in April and it looks like we will lower it by that same amount this week. At this point we are hoping that we will be able to sell it for as much as we bought it after paying the necessary fees.

What am I learning from this? I am learning that trusting the Lord is the ONLY way to go. It's the only thing that gives us HOPE and COMFORT and DIRECTION. We still don't know what's ahead for us, but we know that if we exercise our FAITH and TRUST Him everything will work out. And because of our knowledge and testimonies we are optimistic and grateful.

O Remember, Remember

I just watched this video on YouTube and remembered the impact Pres. Eyring's talk had on me at the time I first heard it. Since then, I have recorded almost daily in my journal how I have seen God's hand in my life and in the lives of my family. As Elder Eyring expressed, this process has opened my eyes and my heart to many blessings that I might otherwise have taken for granted. It has helped me feel more gratitude and love and joy.

I think you will enjoy it too, so here is the link. I still haven't figured out the correct way to link something or how to insert the video directly into my blog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF01BQAcj8E