A few scribblings in church today...

As I listen in church I tend to doodle. I scribble down phrases and comments that catch my heart and mind as well, and doodle a bit in between. Helps me listen better somehow.
Today I wrote down 2 things said that I especially enjoyed.

One was a comment about President Monson...

"I don't like his style as much as President Hinckley," said one brother, "but I know he is every bit as much a prophet."
Exactly! I have felt that way as well, but never knew how to say it! It doesn't show a lack of respect or witness of his divine calling, but it does reveal a bit about my personality. President Monson is a bit more formal than President Hinckley was, and his humor, though clever just doesn't usually match mine. President Hinckley on the other hand spoke to my heart in so many ways. But as this brother said, I too have no doubt that President Monson is a prophet. I love him and will follow his counsel, knowing it comes from God.
Later in another meeting, I heard the comment - "Where is the gold we can save?" and a reference to the lovely poet Robert Frost...here it is...

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Lovely! Nothing of this earth is truly lasting... especially not the gold that men would hold and save and hoard and even kill for.
What gold can we save?
REAL gold, that is the love we develop through service and sacrifice for family and friends and all we come to know here on earth, and the testimony we gain as we study and follow and strive to emulate our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Fifteen!

Lel dans la belle ville de Toulouse

(Translation - Lel in the beautiful city of Toulouse)
Heard from my Lel today! She even looks French somehow, doesn't she?! Here she is with her German friend Hannah, another aupair on holiday before heading home. She and Lel really hit it off, and now she is on her way home. It appears Lel will soon be changing families which is a good thing actually and moving to another home in Paris. More to come... until then, enjoy these photos.

Hanna's family with Leslie


These are of a lovely chapel in Toulouse.

Harry Potter and my Lel

Went to see the final Harry Potter film last evening. (FAB by the way!!) The kids all had plans to see it with friends, so I went on my own. Guess I'd better get used to that after all...and really, there are some advantages to going alone... easy to find great seats for 1, don't have to share your sweeties, nobody whispering at you during the tense moments, and...well, I'll think on that some more...
As I came home and visited with Leslie while she packed the last of her things in her cedar chest, I realized it was Lel who brought home the first Harry Potter book. I remember it clearly years ago, as she excitedly described this book she checked out at the school library about a boy with a lightening bolt scar on his forehead, who was a wizard and an orphan and his bedroom was in a cupboard under the stairs, and he wore his cousins hand-me-downs and never had a birthday present in his life, and... WHAT IN THE WORLD?! I remember thinking oh good grief! This must be some sort of disturbed book series, and that instead of saying NO sweetie! without giving it a chance, thought it best I find out more about it before passing judgement.

Well, I read it and I loved it, simple as that! and waited with the kids in long lines for every subsequent book and film that followed until this final story... and now it's finished. Harry is grown and my Lel is on her way. I will miss her terribly, terribly!!

When I was 5

I am filling my 53rd year in just a few days, and am pensively reviewing the past.