Went to tackle the aftermath of the ‘Jaymie and
friends’ birthday visit. You don’t want to know – suffice it to say that it is everything
you would ever have imagined. Hadn’t thought of it before but it makes sense
that, of course, everybody wanted to be as close as possible to the celebrity
birthday boy, meaning the majority of the chaos was concentrated in the room he
inhabited. The other three bedrooms were barely touched – and, as would be
expected, the girls’ room was left perfectly acceptable. I’ll let ‘pictures
speak louder than words’ – see below.
Here’s a funny thing: so last week as I was
cleaning the worker boys’ rooms I came across a pair of bright blue earbuds under the bed. Didn’t really think much of it
– didn’t seem that substantial of an item, so having tried them out to make
sure they functioned okay, I plugged the cord into my mp3 player and popped‘em
in. Worked like a dream; in fact, I LOVED the way they didn’t fall out of my
ears every few seconds like the ones I have. Today I happened to be standing in
front one of the cleaning cupboards, assessing my supplies, while listening to
BBC radio 4, when one of the laborers (I ‘ve developed face recognition for most
all of them as they return week after week) came up and asked if I’d found any
earphones. I said, pulling back my hair, ‘you mean like these?!’ Turned out he
had borrowed them from his mate – I said to please tell him, not to worry, we’d
been taking good care of them till he got back. (Way to get caught with egg all
over your face!)
Random observation: I love that Loraine has placed
a Book of Mormon in every night stand, ALONG with Gideon’s Bible – many times
two, if there are several of the right pieces of furniture. You just never know
when some random person might pick up something that piques their interest.
How God works in mysterious ways his wonders to
perform: I had been telling Loraine this morning, as she had had to leave
yesterday after Sacrament Meeting and missed Relief Society, about the Dadds’
blessing – and challenge – saying that I really wanted to contribute to Tom’s
mission, financially – in case there was any chance she might be seeing them in
the next couple of days. Nothing came of that, and I assumed my desire would
get no further than a good intention. If ever I go out shopping it is most
often around 5 or so, which I did today. I usually start at M & S (for food
bargains) and then if I’m needing more, go on to Aldi’s. Close to that store is
Matalan’s, a department store similar to Kohl’s, I’d say – a place I occasionally
pop into if I have a few spare moments. (On this particular occasion I was
looking for some inexpensive black slacks to use whilst wearing my various ‘hats’
at the Richmoor.)
As I entered through the front doors, who had come
in a moment before but the Dadds – Tom, Liz and John – and I knew just what
they were there for! I walked up and told Tom how happy I was for him (for all
of them, actually) and then dug in my purse. And sure enough, the denomination
that I thought had been there was – making it possible for me to help in the very
way I had wanted to do. How amazing is that?! While dad and son went off to
begin their search, Liz held back to speak with me. She had been very intrigued
with my talk, particularly as I spoke about my own especially heart-rendering ‘new
beginning’ that had befallen me at the young age of 36, at which point I had
had to return to work. She and her husband are about to end their 30-odd year marriage,
a case of mid-life craziness – their youngest two still at home: sad! I have
spoken with John at church; he is the nicest guy. What happens to people – how do
they lose their way? Well, at least he is still coming out – and in a small
branch like ours, you can imagine what challenge that would be! I admire him
for that – as that’s got to take some kind of courage. No one – and I mean, NO
ONE – would be oblivious to whatever missteps you’d made.
Photos_
what teenagers do:
see this
nice picture of a windmill
see this
nice room
