I've been looking and waiting for a week or so for the new visiting teaching message to come out on line so I could make my handout. It finally dawned on me today.......there is no message this month. The visiting teaching message for May and November are messages of choice, taken from General Conference talks.
Choosing a Conference talk is difficult for me as I tend to have more than one talk that I find I needed to hear and yet, choosing one that I think has a great message for everyone.
As I was reading through different talks, there was something from Elder Neil L. Andersons talk, The Voice of the Lord, that hit home with me. Elder Anderson stated that the First Presidency had told Elder Hales that he could give a brief message in the Sunday morning session if his health permitted it. While his health did not permit it, he prepared a message.
The part of the message from Elder Hales talk that Elder Anderson shared and the quote I chose to use for my handout, was this: "When we choose to have faith, we are prepared to stand in the presence of God."
Where November is Thanksgiving, I chose to use Elder Hales quote plus add in a touch of Thanksgiving. It fit perfectly, reminding me that having Faith in God helps me to have gratitude in all things. There are days that I'm not as in tune with the Lord as I should be, and not being grateful for all that I have and showing gratitude, taking things for granted........I surely need to work on that!
I then went looking on the internet for quotes that incorporated the two subjects together. Here are a few I found that I really liked:
1. Being grateful in our circumstances is an act of Faith in God. - President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
2. Gratitude is our sweet acknowledgement of the Lord's hand in our lives. It is an expression of our Faith. - Bonnie D. Parkin
3. Gratitude is deeper than thanks...Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts. - David O. McKay.
4. The greatest test of faith is when you don't get what you want, but still you are able to say...."Thank You Lord." - John Hagee??
Here it is, almost the end of October........................I actually see my life passing right by me the way time just seems to disappear.
This month has actually not been a good month for me. A very dear friend passed away and my oldest daughter and her family moved to Forest Grove, Oregon.
I did, however, take the time to decorate my entry way desk. I do find joy in decorating this desk each month, although I am running out of ideas from one year to the next. I try to add something different each year and each time I walk past my desk, I find joy.
This is what my desk looked last year.......
And this is how it looks this year..........fun......I love this time of year! I would have liked to put the orange bow on the horseshoe tree again this year, but for the life of me, I searched my home high and low but could not find where I put it. But looking on the bright side, I'm sure it will turn up around Christmas time.
Once again, we had water problems, but this time it only lasted one day. As I was standing at the kitchen sink on October 12th, I noticed that our water pressure was very low and then...........NO WATER.
Thankfully, I filled a pitcher of water before it totally gave out, giving us some drinking water. We also have water storage, which gave us enough water to fill ice cream buckets to dump in the toilet bowl to make it flush and enough water to sit a large container on our vanity to use for washing our hands.
But looking on the bright side, it wasn't nearly the disaster that we had back in November of 2015. That is something I don't think I would like to do again! Did I say, "DON'T THINK I Would Like To Do Again!".......I meant, I WOULD NEVER LIKE TO DO AGAIN!
We had our local area "pressure tank fixers" come to our home the next day to look over our situation and they found that the mag on the pressure switch had blown and we also had a leak in the pressure tank. We decided to get a new, bigger tank, while we were at it because it would cut down on the amount of times the tank would kick our pump off and on.
They band-aid, fixed the problem so we would have water to use until they returned with the new tank. They came back within a few days and here we are back to normal, as normal as normal gets for us, and things are good.
Through the entire process, we only had one, slight mishap and if that's all that occurred, I'll take it. While trying to get our tractor close enough to the well house to lower the new pressure tank, the 2nd step on our cement stairs, leading to our back door got nicked with the tractor tire, leaving a 9-1/2" x 2-3/4" mark.
Last night, somewhere around 8:45 p.m., the moon was absolutely beautiful. And of course with my point and shoot camera, I have as yet to figure out how to get a nice picture of the moon. I took many pictures of the moon surrounded by clouds, which gave me a double moon (not sure if it was window reflections, or just what it was). I also took pictures of the moon by itself. I know the photos aren't the best, but sometimes, not the best just has to be good enough......good enough that you can still see the moon in all it's splendor.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and this flyer came in the mail, Thursday, with our local newspaper. In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and to raise awareness about early detection of breast cancer and the importance of mammography, many health care facilities and hospitals hold an annual "Brake for Breakfast.
In our little town, all we do is drive up to the location, roll down our windows and nurses, secretaries, etc., are standing outside with goodies in hand.
I went with a friend who also wanted to go to the grocery store, which doesn't open until 8:00am, so we decided to leave at 7:45 so we could do "Break for Breakfast" then head on over to get groceries. As we left this morning, it was lightly snowing but by the time we got to the grocery store, it was coming down in big flakes and at a fast pace.
It wasn't until we left the grocery story that the thought came to me that I should blog about this so we headed back to the medical center. We drove up and I rolled down my window and told them all we wanted was a picture of them so I could put it on my blog. They were happy to do so, all smiling and posing, even though the snow couldn't have been much fun.
We headed for home, the snow kept coming, and it was sticking to the roads..........
Besides handing out breakfast burritos, they also gave us a little pink tote, loaded with all kinds of fun stuff.
To begin with, I just dumped everything out and took a picture, with very little arranging.
But then I thought..........nah..........I really need to show EVERYTHING that was in our little totes. The totes were small, but they really had them packed with a little bit of everything. We received a tooth brush, window scraper, key ring, bandage holder, slap bracelet, flashlight, eyeglass cleaning rag, pink ribbon pin, granola bar, and a little women's breast care diary that contained some great information and an appointment tracker.
After I'd been home a little over 30 minutes, I decided to go out and take more pictures. I love the snow as it's falling, leaving everything so pretty..............BUT, I do not like the cold that feels like it needs to tag along.
As I was looking back at my blogs, I noticed that I never wrote about the last weekend in June, when my high school friends came up for their yearly visit. We have so much fun together and I actually start counting the days, when I see their tail lights go down the road, till next years visit. We talk, snort laugh, sight see, and travel...............................
One of the first places we checked out was the Lost River Museum....(Be sure to click out the Lost River Museum photo tutorial. You can do that by clicking on "Lost River Museum", written in red, above) This is a must see for everyone!
That same day, we also went to see the Smelter site. I find it hard to believe that I have lived in this area for 37 years and have never been to see this site. The following photos are pictures I took of posted information where the smelter used to be. For any picture you would like to view on a larger scale, just click on the picture and it will double the size.
These next photos are actual photos of the site that I took that include what is remaining of the stone retaining wall and the brick-lined draft tunnels which connected the smelter to an iron draft-stack that was 10 feet in diameter and 120 feet tall.
Another day was spent traveling to Salmon, Idaho, to shop at the Baker (Amish) Country Store, visit the Sacajawea Interpretative Center and eat a late lunch at Bertram's Brewery.
The Amish Country Store was a fun experience. I loved all the homemade goodies they had in the store. You could purchase anything from fresh baked to bottled to.....................
The Sacajawea Interpretative Center was wonderful. It was a stormy day and we contemplated even going there, but I'm sure glad we weathered the storm, so to speak, and decided to go. Besides a visitors center, they had paths that you could walk to see many cultural structures and historical items. I have a picture overload here but it was hard selecting only a few of the many photos I took of this place.
Then it was off to eat. My husband and I had eaten at Bertram's Brewery before and from what I could remember, it was good food..........and, it was so again this day. The front of the Brewery is family dining with the brewery being in the back so you actually never see the bar part unless you choose to.
On my friends last day visiting, we (my two Utah friends and a friend from my home town) chose to drive separate cars to go see the Shoshone Falls. Another landmark that I had never seen before. By driving separate cars, after we were through playing, my friends could just leave from there and travel back to their homes in Utah.
Before seeing the falls, we decided to stop off and see the Perrine Bridge (height: 486' - Lentgh: 1,499'). My one friend and I actually walked across it.....pretty freaky.......all the way across! We also got to see a paraglider jump off the bridge..........CRAZY!
Then it was off to the Falls. To really see the Falls in all their splendor, you need to go earlier in the year before the water is used for ranching/farming, as so I was informed. But what we did see was spectacular, to say in the least. Beautiful, just beautiful. These Falls are actually higher than Niagara Falls, at 212 feet.
My friends are going to love the picture of the three of us. It was pretty windy and I was the only one wearing a hat so you could say my friends were having a bad hair day - Ha!
As we were leaving, one of the paths that led to another view of the Falls was blocked off. The reason for the blocked path was due to a swarm of bees hanging in a tree right over the path. I asked the people in charge if I could get in closer to get my photo and they actually let me. I was still a little ways off and I had to zoom in on the bees but I really don't like bees and close enough was close enough....BUT anything for a picture, right?!
Now for the hard part..........waiting another 8 months until we gather together again for our yearly, make us feel younger, adventures!
