Families Are Forever

Today I was privileged and honored to be invited to a very special event in the Provo Temple.

Katelyn Marie Thelma Mikolasy was sealed to her mother Patsy and her step-father Bruce. President Merrill J. Bateman officiated.

The ceremony was brief, but beautiful and the Spirit was so strong. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room.

When Patsy invited me, yesterday, to be present as she was sealed for Time and All Eternity to her beautiful daughter I was so touched that I cried for about half an hour. My feelings have been tender all day in anticipation of the creation of this powerful and eternal family link.

I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the restoration of the Gospel that makes this amazing blessing possible. I love the Temple and the ordinences that bless us so greatly.

It is always an amazing thing to watch the power of the priesthood as an eternal family is created. Be it joining a man and woman together in a marriage, sealing a previously civilly married couple, sealing an adopted child to the parents, or in this case a proxy joining of deceased member to other family members I love, love, love the feeling and promise of this sacred ordinance.

I have been present at several marriage sealings, for some of my siblings and cousins.

I was also privilaged to be present as Shawna and her husband had their youngest daughter, whom they adopted sealed to them which in turn also sealed her to their other four children.

I have participated in proxy sealings as a wife and as a daughter.

Every sealing ordinance is wonderful and special. But some are especially poingant.

The sealing of Katelyn to Patsy and Bruce was one of those poingant sealings. I know that she is as happy as we all are that she is now eternally linked to her wonderful mother and family.

Chocoate Wisdom

Recently someone gave me a miniature candy bar that had a message printed on the wrapper. It says: Treasure the Moment.

This is good advice. We all have those little moments every day that come and go with no fanfare but they are important and often fleeting. Time moves quickly, things change.

It does not seem that long ago that my children were small. When Kimberlee, the youngest, was born I had five children under the age of 7. This was a challenge, obviously. It was also a lot of fun. Each child was busy in their own way and kept life interesting.

John David learned to ride a bike in one day. He also was the victim of the "long distance tickle" I could stand across the room from him and wiggle my fingers in his direction saying "tickle tickle." He would collapse into fits of giggles and roll around on the floor.

Shanna had an imagination that would not quit. One day she was telling me about the mud room at school. She said it was full of mud and that they played in the mud. Thinking that I, of course, was much smarter than a kindergartner tried to trip her up by asking her questions about why when didn't come home muddy etc. that girl had an answer for every thing I threw at her. It was amazing! She also wanted to go live with her school teacher because she loved the teacher so much.

James walked about five miles from several blocks north of downtown Provo to Grandpa and Grandma's house because his uncle Joseph had said no Utah Jazz fans could ride in his car. James took this literally and was able to find his way home. He also made such good friend with the playground supervisor that she bought him the Mr. Bucket game Santa forgot to bring

Michael was obsessed with Barney. Totally resisting wearing shirt that did not have a picture of Barney on it. He curled his toes and refused to even try on a new pair of shoes that were not "Barney Shoes". We had to drive to the next town to find a shoe store with Barney shoes. He could not ride in the car without listening to Barney CD's screaming "Barney talk" repeatedly until it was turned on. I had to sing the brushing teeth song from Barney to get him to brush and it goes on and on.

Kimberlee just cried and ate and slept, she was a newborn. ;) As she got a little older she loved to play hide and seek. She met Donny Osmond and was surprised that he was at the bookstore because she thought he lived inside our TV. She also learned to spell her name when she was only two.

It seems as almost no time has passed, but now Kimberlee is almost ready to start high school, Michael has one year before graduation, James is a missionary, Shanna is going to be a mother herself, and John David is the family handyman.

These little moments from my children's lives exist now only in memory. Time and life march on, relentlessly. Someday Shanna's first pregnancy and James' mission service will also be memories. I hope I can enjoy these experiences vicariously through them and savor these unique times.

Treasure these moments. Experience the daily joys those little bites of time and events that make life rich and delicious.

My preferred method of eating chocolate is to let it melt on my tongue savoring the sweetness and flavor. Chewing ends the episode too quickly and diminishes the opportunity to really taste and experience the sweetness, the creaminess and deliciousness of the candy.

Life life like you are eating chocolate slowly, notice the moment, savor it, treasure it.

Hearing Voices

One of the time honored traditions for moms of missionaries is that the missionary gets to call home twice a year, on Christmas and Mother's Day.

A lesser known part of this is that some missionaries get to do a "pre-call" where they call at a random time to arrange the time for the real call. I had never heard of this before.

One day in December I was talking with a co-worker when my cell phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and it showed a call from Kentucky not knowing anyone in Kentucky I hit the ignore option and continued my conversation. A minute later the phone rang again and my friend said "I guess Kentucky really wants to talk to you. I answered the phone with a tentative "Hello..." expecting some telemarketer or something. Then I heard one of the greatest sounds I could imagine "Hi Mom!" It was James, my missionary son, doing a surprise pre-call! It was almost bouncing with excitement. Exclaiming over and over "I just love hearing your voice."

I got another pre-call the Friday before Mother's Day. It was short, but again it was so wonderful to hear his voice that it made my day.

Sounds are all around us. The hum of the computer, the whisper of the fan blowing the air that is either heated or cooled to a comfortable temperature, the rhythmic beating of rain on the roof and pavement, music, birds chirping, leaves crunching in the fall, laughter and so much more. The sense of sound is such an amazing gift!

One of the best sounds we can hear is the sound of a loved one's voice. Memories linger, photos capture frozen images of moments in our lives, but voices seem to fade which is sad.

After Katelyn passed away Michael made a tribute video of her to give to her mother, Patsy. I was fortunate enough to go with him to deliver it. Patsy watched with smiles and tears. Part of the video was of Kat talking for a few seconds before bursting into her wonderful infectious laughter. More than once we saw and heard Kat saying a few words then laughing.

When the video was finished. Patsy looked at Michael and said "Thank you for giving me her voice. I have lots of pictures, but now I have her voice"

We listen to many voices each day, but how often do we stop to think how precious those voices are to us?

Just as we can easily recognize and identify people by their faces, we also can identify a voice, especially of someone we love. The sound of one of those voices can make our day.

I am waiting with eager anticipation to get to hear my wonderful missionary son's voice tomorrow. Music to my ears.

What's In A Name

I am still pondering the whole grandma name thing.

Has it ever occurred to anyone that the tradition of calling a grandmother "Grandma LastName" is weird and a bit warped?

Think about it, to your kids (if you follow this tradition) your mother-in-law is Grandma LastName. When your children have children why do you suddenly have to take on your mother-in-law's identity. This is seriously flawed logic.

The way I figure it no one is ambivalent about their mother-in-law. Either you think she is an angel or you think she is the devil!!

If you are one of those lucky women who love and get along with your mother-in-law suddenly having her title seems to me that it would feel like a coups or that you have usurped her position.

If you are one of those who plans on seeing your mother-in-law rot in a very dark place where snowballs do not survive, why on earth would you want to take a name/title she has used for years. You don't want to become anything like her or be associated in anyway.

With that in mind why do so many continue the bizarre custom of transforming (by name anyway) into your mother-in-law?

Maybe this is the reason so many grandmas' are breaking from tradition and choosing titles like MeeMaw, that is certainly better than Grandma Saint (too hard to live up to) or Grandma Satan (wouldn't want to "live up" to)!

Just a thought...

Of course all the MeeMaws and Nonnies may just be because the word "Grandma" feels to darn old.

What ever the case I prefer Nana Lisa. That's my name and I'm sticking to it

Please Don't Call Me Grandma!

Remember I promised this was not going to be a blog only about death? Now I am proving that by posting about life!

A new life to be exact. My beautiful daughter just found out that her baby, due in October is a boy! She texted me and said "It is a little Robbie" this is exciting news.

I am eager to start the adventure of having a grandchild. I just am not too sure about accepting the title of "grandmother," that word just feels so old to me and I do not feel old enough to fit the paradigm I have of that word.

I have decided that "Nana Lisa" is the title I would like to have. I am excited to start gearing up to love another amazing little life and be as involved with him as Shanna(h) would like me to be. I already bought a fun little gift for him.

Thinking about it, the process of prenancy is amazing! To grow from two almost microscopic cells to a fully formed and viable human being in just nine short months is absolutely miraculous! To be a woman and have the ability to grow a life inside of you is so amazing.

I eagerly await seeing this amazing life that is my first grandchild enter the world in a few months and then see him grow and learn and pass all the milestones babies all reach.

I know that Nick and Shanna(h) are going to be amazing parents. Shanna(h) was born to be a mother. I love her and know she will be awesome as Robbie's mommy!