When reading in the Old Testament book of Joshua this week I found a lot of beautiful scriptures. Joshua 1:9 is my pick for this week.
Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Fortunately my son-in-law Ross has to work in the Bay Area once in a while and so often the whole family comes with him and stays with us. This has made for some fun adventures. Our most recent adventure was across the bay to a beach that Mariah and Ross knew about. It included a slightly uphill hike with a beautiful view. The beach was made more of pebbles than sand, which were pretty but a lot harder to walk on. I ended up crawling my way up the smallest little incline from the water to where we were sitting. Reggie and I were reminiscing about the great beach chairs our condo provided in Hawaii and how we wish we had them now. I told him I had seen some just like them at Costco, so we left soon after to get ourselves some. We had to go to two Costcos to find them, but they were just what we wanted for almost half the price on Amazon. Can’t wait for another adventure in which to try them out!
Besides blossoms of blue: I enjoy eating blueberries all year long, but for this month of blue I have been baking them too. Because I see the ocean everyday I have especially noticed how it’s shade of blue changes from day to day - sometimes a light-ice blue, sometimes a deep dark blue, and sometimes a greenish blue. I think of the color baby blue when I think of our three male descendents, Luke Elijah and Bear, and how much fun they have brought to this family full of girls. Blue is a color that is often used as a first name, and brings back memories to me of how much Samantha loved “Blues Clues” as a preschooler, and how much I love the “Jurassic World” movies where one of the main characters is a velociraptor named “Blue”. And finally, one of my favorite children's books is "Blueberries for Sal". It's been a good month.
A few weeks ago I played the piano for the primary children to sing in Sacrament Meeting for Mother's Day. I've never liked playing the piano in public, and even though I was fine while they were practicing, I was really nervous for at least a week before the performance. I thought of how my Mom also did not like playing the piano in public yet she played for her congregation in Argentina while she and my Dad were on their mission.
I also found a way to be brave by remembering a scripture from Doctrine & Covenants, section 84 vs. 88. I love how it literally talks about hands, and I knew it would help. So, it is my scripture for this week.
"I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."
So, how did it go? IT WAS HILARIOUS! When they called the children up to the stand I went up to the piano. I had to move some hymnbooks out of the way which had been used by the Sacrament Meeting pianist. I started playing the introduction and thought to myself "What is wrong with this piano?" I meant to start playing at middle C, but I was an octive too high. It sounded like a lullaby or music box - which was actually kind of sweet since it was children singing. But I had to do three songs and I kept wondering if I should try to move down and find the right octive or not risk it and just keep playing. Well, I didn't risk it and it was sweet and all was well. I went to the piano later in the day and tried to figure things out. I made the mistake again and realized the piano bench was just moved over more than I was used to. Since I will probably be the one playing for the whole children's program in the fall I need to acclimate myself to that piano and maybe put a marker above middle C. But it all worked out.
When Emmy saw me on the computer recently she climbed on my lap and asked for songs. That reminded me that it’s time to pick a “Grandma and Lillian’s song”. (I have a Disney -type song for each of my grandkids which I've blogged about before.) It also occurred to me that Lilly is the first of my grandchildren to not meet my Mom/ her Great Grandma Chandler. Our one year olds met her and were so important to her - she loved all the babies and all her descendents. Though they will not remember her, I want to make sure they know that. And I like to imagine that, like in the movie COCO, there are a string of grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. that know us by name and are watching over us and will recognize us in the next life. That is why I have chosen the following as mine and Lillian’s song.
The night before mother's day Reggie and I were invited to cruise the bay for a college graduation party for Leilua Lualemaga. We have known the Lualemaga family since Leilua was a toddler, and they have become some of our dearest friends. We have enjoyed raising our kids together, playing volleyball, going to church and activities together and feeling at home in each other’s homes. Mae has been an important person in my girl’s life as she was one of their YW leaders and she has done the flowers and other decorations for the three weddings. Luke has enjoyed having a family full of boys to hang out with. Hillary and Andrew have given their only boy the middle name of Leilua, after the oldest in this family. Leilua Lualemaga is a wonderful person to look up to.
Because Leilua is the first college graduate in Matafanua and Mae’s families they wanted to celebrate big time. They chartered this yacht for about 100 people. It was formal attire so I squeezed myself into one of my mother-of-the-bride dresses, and honestly, found it fun to have an occasion to do so. The view was beautiful - we enjoyed the sunset over the bridges and the view of the full bleachers at AT&T park as a Giant’s game was going on. We had a lovely sit down dinner, and I especially enjoyed the dancing. Reggie and I got out there for a song or two, but the best part of it was watching all these next generation cousins having a blast with each other. The most quiet of the Luaemaga family has always been Fesuluai, but now a freshman in college, he was on the dance floor the entire time.
I just got some pictures off of Reggie's phone. I was going to go back and try to match them up with the relevant posts, but it's just easier to put them here.
If you grew up like me you spent each May singing a mother's day song about blossoms of blue. For me, May has always been the month of blue. I have been looking for blue flowers in my neighborhood and surprisingly not come across very many - except for the flowering patch pictured below. Ironically and beautifully and appropriately they are called “forget-me-not”. It’s been 9 months now that my Mom has been gone. Blossoms of blue remind me of her.
Lyrics:
I often go walking in meadows of clover
and I gather arms full of blossoms of blue.
I gather the blossoms, the whole meadow over.
Dear Mother, all flowers remind me of you.
Oh Mother I give you my love with each flower
to bring forth sweet fragrance my whole lifetime through.
For if I love flowers and meadows and walking,
I learned how to love them, dear Mother, from you.
Though Reggie has some business trips coming up, it’s been really nice to have had the last several weeks with him at home. This has made for some unexpectedly nostalgic weekends. As time goes on there are more years of being with each other than without each other. Sometimes I forget that we’ve known each other so long, and sometimes I forget that we’ve ever been without each other.
Recently we went to a celebration of life for a friend who passed away. We came across so many friends in common with her - people we haven’t seen for years: people we knew at Serramonte High School, people we knew through church and people we knew through family. We were reminiscent of the parents of these wonderful friends who were such an important part of our lives, many of whom have passed on to the next life.
Regarding Flo, I will repeat myself from facebook:
Flo Matsu was a beautiful light in this world and it was fun to reminisce with a chapel full of people about all the aspects of who she was - happy, friendly, outgoing, a little wild and crazy, and a spiritual giant. We are so blessed to have known her for most of our lives, through generations as my parents and her parents knew each other; as Flo's daughter and a couple of my daughters were teenagers together. It was fun to be with so many people in the chapel, in her honor - people we grew up with; people who touched our lives for good. Some we hadn't seen for decades, but most we recognized because we are connected on facebook. I am so grateful for that. So anyway, thank you Flo for being you and for being our friend. Till we meet again.
One thing that warmed my heart was talking to her daughter, Jouilani. She kept telling me “I love your girls so much”. And then I told her one of my memories of Flo - that one day, though she was without transportation, she took the bus to visit my Mom. My Mom loved that. Then Joui said “I just loved your parents so much”. She told me that as she was going through her Mom’s things she found a book of my Dad’s - it is old and rare and classic and beautiful and she said “and I’m keeping it!”. That made me feel so happy.
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About 8 years ago, at this time of year, I was teaching an early morning Old Testament class to the teenagers in our church. We held the class in our home. My favorite part was when I displayed gospel art pictures on our living room wall of all the stories we had learned. We kept it up for several months as it was just something wonderful to come home to each day.
A few years later I had the idea to display a favorite scripture on the wall - each family member taking turns choosing one from something they had read or studied that week. Well, that idea didn't last as long as I had wished. So now, as a personal goal, I've decided I'd like to display a scripture once a week on my blog's "wall" - something to get me through. With all the worries that sometimes prey upon my mind, this scripture has lately been bringing me peace.
Psalm 46:10 - "Be still and know that I am God"
And, I love remembering that I played these videos for the kids throughout our class. Life is good!
The Food - I love malisadas, Dole Whips, pineapple and guava! Reggie and Samantha enjoyed that too, and Giovanni’s shrimp truck and Ted’s Bakery’s chocolate pie, and they ate musubi every day.
The Wanderers - It was hilarious to see chickens wandering all over the neighborhoods on the north shore, and we visited with Harry the Gecko (Death in Paradise, if you watch that show) while eating lunch one day.
