When I first moved to Pleasant Grove, I brought with me my two daughters and my mother.  It was a big step.  I had moved into a town where I knew almost no-one.  I had purchased this big old home that needed work but I loved it. I had spent many hours dreaming of how to fix up and decorate this home and had so many ideas!   I remember one specific day, really wanting to go shopping.  It was a Saturday, and I wanted to get out of the house and go shopping.  Maybe to a yard sale.  Or maybe to the Deseret Industries.  I was hoping I might get…

In April of 1961 my family was on vacation visiting family in Idaho. They were heading back home to Riverside California going through Oregon. My mom was 34 weeks pregnant with me at the time and she was getting antsy.  She was hoping that if she drove that would help her. My dad pulled over and let her drive and he then took a nap on one of the seats of their VW van.  Several miles down the road, the Axel of the van broke and my mom lost control. The VW ended up rolling a few times which threw my father out and killed him instantly. My siblings had…

I have the most beautiful tender mercy I thought I’d share with you, prefaced with a little background.   When I go to church every week, I always just slip in the back usually because I’m either right on time, or slightly late and can avoid any kind of disruption of the worship walking in front of people, having people scoot over, etc.  In the back of the church, the chairs are hard, with the softer benches at the front of the chapel.  They are uncomfortable!  There have been more than a few times I’ve complained to my friend how hard the chairs are, longing for padded chairs. This morning, as…

Miracles big and small all come from the same place.  The difference is that we often claim the small ones as lucky, something that just aligned in our lives for no reason.  We celebrated the gift giving part of Christmas late, since some of us were sick the day of actual Christmas.  There was one son I hadn’t purchased a gift for. I had really pondered what I should give him.  He has a partner now and so it was even more challenging choosing what to get them both that would be thoughtful.  Finally, after much thought, I decided to get him a gift card at one of the local…