Sunday, April 20, 2008

YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN JOY


I just heard this quote on a podcast and thought it described Garth and I lately. However, I must add a disclaimer because I'm well aware that not everyone is retired and able to do as they please which is our happy joy at the moment. I feel the fast approaching time coming when we won't be quite as free as we are now, so we're reveling in the moment.
My special joy at the moment is my brand new sewing machine-a super deluxe model which I unashamedly feel is my reward to myself for putting up with Middle School kids' shenanigans for the last few years. The scene on the left is a quilting bee at the Community Hall. There were 25 to 30 women there for 3 1/2 days. They sewed from 8 in the morning until after midnight. I went one day for about eight hours and thoroughly enjoyed myself! The icing on the cake was that eight of the ladies were former students--all beautiful women, grown up and quilters to boot! The other picture is a few of the colorful quilt blocks for Andrew's birthday quilt. Life is good.


Garth's joy has been the underground sprinkler system he installed and I can't figure out what kind of picture to use. He really has our lawn looking nice. He's been very busy on it. The system has a couple of small glitches which he's going to work on today. I'm not sure when he'll be coming back inside. He's still enamored with Miss Nips. Recently, she came creeping in from her night ramblings with a major problem--a cat fight! I thought she was going to die under my sewing table (I would never have forgiven her!), but she lived through the night and went to the vet. For several days after that she didn't venture outside. Then we discovered that someone, probably Ashlynne, had locked the cat door! She's fully recovered now and sleeps most of the time in a chair in the office.

Our other joy has been genealogy. I was called to be director of a big project for the ward and Garth's been my #1 helper, of course. We've spent a lot of time working on it. Garth's computer crashed and we lost some of his hard work, but he's now trying to duplicate it. I've included a picture from my Cochran ancestors. Twins run in our family until now. Who's going to carry on the tradition? Joe? Janeen? Julirae? Jennie? Jeff? Jaime? Susan? Steve? Darla? Marie? Tom(mie)?

Our final and greatest joy is each other. Next Monday is our 42nd wedding anniversary. We decided to go on a nostalgia trip to Idaho Falls where we were married. We're leaving Saturday and plan to visit the temples in Idaho Falls, Boise and Rexburg. Our love is eternal and it has changed a lot in the years we've been married. Girls, granddaughters, whomever: if you marry a good man who honors his priesthood and his blessings as a father you will be eternally grateful. My husband is such a man and he's had more than his share of trouble putting up with me all these years! Good men are hard to find so pray fervently about it. We're still in love, by the way!































































2 comments:

Susan said...

I would have loved to have twins, but it doesn't appear to be in the cards for me. I guess one of my siblings or cousins are going to get that blessing :)

Thanks for your thoughts on good, faithful husbands. I am blessed by mine every day.

Your favorite sister said...

I think I will leave the blessing of twins to someone else also! I wanted to tell you Happy Anniversary. Ben and I celebrate 10 years this July and I can't wait until the day we reach our 2nd!