Friday, May 30, 2014

Visiting the PA DeSpain Gang



 We've had a great time here in Philadelphia.

Becky and I hit the pavement, doing some serious shopping,
while the guys went golfing.

 We've been able to watch number 10 (Hogan) play some baseball.


 We've seen beautiful gardens
We've strolled through history.
The best is spending time with these guys.  Watching them as they go through their everyday lives.  It's so much fun seeing them come and go.  Love being with the eastern despain gang.  Sorry that our time with them is coming to an end.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

I Love being a Mom

I love being a Mom. 
 How could a mother be so blessed to be given the opportunity to have such great kids. 
 Having children can be a difficult, exhausting job, but it is also the most noble and grand adventure that a woman can ask for.
  I chose to have five children. 
 I have been blessed over and over again with the birth and life of each child.  
What I have done for them is nothing  compared to what they have given me.  
I always felt it was important to give my kids a feeling of security and warmth as they moved forward in their lives. 
 I had that growing up and I wanted them to have that same sort of childhood.  
My thoughts wander to summer time.  
(The best time to make memories)  
We spent many longs days at the racquet club.  Oh, those lazy fun days when we'd pack up a lunch and a few snacks and be gone for hours.  
Swimming, getting their little bodies warm by laying on the hot cement, that creamy frozen yogart. 
 Packing up to go home just in time for little league or a game of kick the can.  
I've never done anything that noteworthy, I've never been in the limelight.  
But I have rocked and sung to my children. 
 I have taken them swimming, played with them and watched them grow in to adulthood, 
cheered and encouraged them.
  I have loved them.  
I have been a mom. 
 I would rather sing and tell stories to my kids and grandkids than to any audience in the world. 
 When I feel my little grandson's arms wrap around my neck, 
when they cuddle in my lap and entertwine their little fingers in mine and say "hold me grama polly", I think my decision all those years ago.
 That of being a mother.
 It  may have been the hardest, most exhausting, most heartbreaking, ..most rewarding experience. 
 I chose wisely.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

I Went from Sunbeams to Choir Director!! OH NO!!!


When I was a little girl, my grandmother was in our ward.  I remember sitting by her in church.  As she sung the hymns she would point to the alto line and have me sing along with her.  It is my first memory of singing.
I've always loved to sing.  I sang while my dad played the piano.  I loved to belt out "Won't you come Home Bill Bailey," or "Show Me the Way to Go Home."  I sang in the church choir from the time I was twelve and always in school choirs.  When I was fifteen I was the youngest member of the Mormon Youth Choir.  
.  As I've said,  I've always loved singing.  
When we moved to this ward 36 years ago I immediately joined the choir. 
 It has been a blessing in my life.  This ward has the best ward choir around!  So many talented musicians living so close to one another.  
What a blessing.
I love to sing, but am not a great musician.  I never was good at timing.  I've always had to sit next to my neighbor, Betty, so I could follow her and get my notes right.  
And I hate to be in front of people.  I like to be in the back. 
 (I'm short, so it's easy to get lost among the taller choir members.)
Singing in the choir is my joy.
Not standing in FRONT!!!!

After teaching five little boys in my Sunbeam class I didn't think I would find 
a calling more challenging ..
But my new calling is much more challenging, terrifying, headache giving than any five boys in any Sunbeam class could ever be!!!  
I am now the Choir Director in our Ward. 
Nothing prepared me for this!  
I felt that I could do most callings in the church with my eyes closed.  
Well, I certainly can't close my eyes in this calling..except when I'm praying, which will be all the time now.  

The one thing I am sure of.  Heavenly Father is there for us when we are serving Him.  
(I'm counting on it!)