A Beautiful Setting Sun

 Our friend Shawna sent us this picture of a beautiful setting sun.

I think the fires in the area and their smoke created this beautiful sight.

Is Dad Okay?

 From the Proclamation on the Family:

"By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families."

Ken has always done all three of these "P's" for our family.  He presides in a loving way.  He calls us to family prayer which was a challenge when our house was full of teenagers.  He would call and we would come.  He was an excellent provider.  It allowed me to stay home and not work.  And he took his role as protector very seriously.  He ALWAYS checked that doors were locked at night, set the alarm and that the stove was not left on.  I rarely even check those things when we go to bed because I know he did.

When our daughters were here visiting, we were all preparing for bed.  Ken had already gone in to go to bed.  Shonna looked over at the front door and found it unlocked.  She came to me and asked, "Is Dad okay?"  "Why do you ask?"  "Because the door isn't locked."  Something must be wrong if Dad didn't lock the doors.  That's how consistent he has always been.

I am grateful for a husband who presides, provides, and protects.

Injuries

On the way home from the Prince's we stopped in Beaver for dinner and a potty break.  As I was walking back to the car, I tripped on a broken curb and went down hard on the cement.  Ken was a bit behind me and tried but couldn't catch me.  Immediately, six people ran to help.  A man gathered my belongings that flew from my purse.  My knee and elbow hurt, but luckily, I had on long pants and a sweater.  Both were skinned, but inside of clothing so there wasn't dirt and debris in my skin.  I hurt. I was embarrassed.  The kind people and Ken helped me up and Ken helped me to the car.  Then we had 1 1/2 hour drive home.  I could feel my knee swelling.  I made a makeshift icepack with ice from my drink and a plastic bag.  I don't think it was very effective.  I was so anxious to get home and ice elevate my leg.

I have been nursing my injuries, but they have lingered much longer than I would have expected.  My elbow turned purple and was swollen. My shoulder has been so sore.  I'm hoping I don't need surgery to repair it.  My knee has been swollen as has my lower leg.  There is much bruising on my knee and ankle.  I try to ice it and keep it elevated for some time each day.  It has been an ordeal. But as almost always is the case, it could have been worse.  I am grateful I can walk and still serve in the temple.  

I am pre-posting this, so by the time it posts I may be all healed.  Here's hoping!  

Comforting

 This is so comforting to me.

Five Elect Women

One Sunday I came into Sunday school class and sat on the back row.  I looked up and saw who was sitting in front of me.  I realized I was in the presence of greatness.  Tears sprang to my eyes as I thought about each one of these five elect women in front of me.  I had to take a picture.  These are five of my very favorite people.

 

Sadie- beautiful Sadie and her family moved into this ward when she was a youth.  After serving a mission, she married and lived elsewhere for awhile, But later, she and her husband and family moved here and bought a home in this ward.  She is a faithful, wonderful person.  She and her family feel like family.

Sherrie- dear, dear Sherrie.  Sherrie is one of the oldest members of our ward and is such a loving, cheerful person. For many, many years, she has sent me a birthday card every June.  Last year it was a beautiful paper flower bouquet.  She is thoughtful and kind. When she gets to church each Sunday, she finds me and gives me a big hug. How I love dear Sherrie.

Ginny- I think Ginny is the second oldest person in our ward.  She and Sherrie are good friends.  Oh how we love Ginny.  I think she is 92.  She is strong, happy and faithful.  We are her ministers.  A couple of months ago she fell and broke her pelvis.  Remarkably, she has recovered.  We have prayed earnestly for this dear sister.  How I love her!

Terri- Terri is a pillar in the community and in our ward and stake.  When I need a substitute for any calling I have had - Any calling - Terri is the first person I think of: teaching, playing the piano, leading the choir, etc. She can do everything (way better than I can) and she always responds so cheerfully and willingly.  She has served in every leadership calling: ward RS president, ward YW president, ward Primary president, and on boards of all of the stake auxiliaries and currently is stake Primary president.  She is amazing.  I love Terri.

Meredith- Meredith will do anything for anybody.  She is so service oriented.  I admire her love for others.  When we're asked to donate a bag of groceries for the food bank, she donates five bags.  When her neighbor needs help, the first person they call is Meredith. She is the first to sign up to take in a meal when someone is in need. She serves so faithfully and is so kind.  She was a stellar YW president for many years. She was my minister for a while.  I got to know her well then.  I love Meredith.

I am so grateful for the examples of these five elect women. There are many others that could have been on that all-star row about which I feel the same way.  We are so blessed to be surrounded by wonderful people. 💓

Moon Turned to Blood

 Earth recently experienced a Blood Moon.  We got up and viewed it in the middle of the night.  It was beautiful.  I have been fascinated with the beautiful pictures posted from all around the world. I have copied and pasted some of them here:

A Home Full of Books

 This pretty much describes our house:

Farewell Grass!

 The children in our neighborhood love to play in our yard.  They are here often.  They are upset that we are taking out some of our grass in the front yard and replacing it with terraced xeriscaping.  The day the workers started on the project, they spent the day making signs and cards and staging a bit of a protest.  They all sat across the street in lawn chairs and watched and mourned. They each collected grass to save and framed some of the grass for us.  They're a funny bunch.  

They even had a picnic on the edge. (They often have picnics on our yard.)  

We have asked them not to play in our yard until the project is completed to protect the equipment, etc and for their safety.  It has been a nice reprieve from the noise. It was increasing as more and more children joined the group and they were here many hours a day (and night).  I will post pictures of our project.  We have been taking them day by day as the work progresses.  It's exciting!

A Sweet Marriage\ Sealing

Ken has had the opportunity to perform several marriage/ sealings, including four from our ward.  He married this precious couple this month.

I wanted to post about it because of the connections we have with them and their family.

• Ken's father and the bride's great-grandfather served in a stake presidency together many years ago.

• The bride's grandmother and Ken went to high school together in Hurricane.  She and their family moved into our ward a few years after we did  We raised our families together..
•  So the bride's mom grew up in this ward.  She was an impressive, sweet girl.  She grew up and went on a mission speaking ASL.  She came home, married, and lived out of state while they had their children.
• Later, she and her family moved here and bought a home in this ward, so the bride grew up here, too. 
• The bride was one of my Mia Maids.  
• Ken and the bride's father served in an elders quorum presidency together and we have been close.
• The groom is our stake president's son. 
• The groom's father worked for Ken years ago.

Ken did a beautiful job in the sealing.  It was a very special experience.  There was such a strong spirit there.  We love these people.

  Sometimes family extends beyond blood relatives.

The Most Important Decision We Make

 Elder Bruce R McConkie's oft-quoted statement on marriage is powerful and worth pondering: 

I am grateful for the decision I made in my youth to marry Ken:

A Calf-Off

 One evening Michelle texted and challenged Ken to a "Calf-off."  We're not sure what prompted it that night, but we have known for many years that Ken and Michelle have big, muscular calves.  They are both very athletic and exercise regularly which maintains those large muscles.  Michelle is a dancer and keeps in very good shape.  So anyway, she wanted to know who had the biggest calves.  

It's a tie!  Both 17 inches!  I guess Gabbi thought she could compete, but hers were only 15".  There's still time Gabbi, there's still time.   You might catch up!  Anyway, it was a fun little challenge.

How big are your calves?

Dr. Seuss' Advice

 

A Chid's First Tithing

 Ken recently found a talk outline he gave a long time ago on tithing.  He started the talk by telling this story about Kristen and the first time she ever paid tithing.  She was probably about three years old.

She gave the envelope with her tithing to the bishop.  He asked, "Is this your tithing?"  "No," was her answer, "It's Heavenly Father's."  "Oh, so you're giving this tithing to Heavenly Father?"  "No," she said again, "You have to!"

I'm Not Old-Fashioned

 

The Dogs Finally Won!

 Our neighborhood mailbox finally fell.  The dogs who have been working on it for years finally won.

The timing is bad- Christmas card season.  We now have to go wait in line at the post office for our mail.  

Word Nerd

 

Just a Nasty Chant?

 

This touched me deeply.  Our words can greatly affect others.  Be kind.:

Jared and I got to sneak away this weekend for a much needed date night. We went to the BYU vs. Cincinnati football game. This is us trying to move on from the attack on our church two months ago. Trying to do something fun where the attack is not at the forefront our our minds for once. This is us at the game before all the heaviness and fear still found a way to creep in and overtake my emotions and thoughts the next few days as the Cincinnati fans chanted hateful words directed towards us. This has got to stop.

I emailed the University of Cincinnati athletic director and assistant atheltic director yesterday and shared my thoughts with them. I am going to share that email here as well, in hopes the message can extend farther than just this incident because it happens at a lot of football games. It is unacceptable.

“Dear Mr. Cunningham,

I am writing to you from my heart as a disheartened college football fan. More specifically, as a BYU football fan and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints commonly know as “the Mormons.”

As a BYU alumni and huge fans of college football, my husband and I took the opportunity to travel 4.5 hours from our little city in Grand Blanc, Michigan to come spectate and enjoy our favorite pass time at the BYU vs. Cincinnati football game at Nippert Stadium last night.

I want to provide a little bit of background for you in order to portray the strength and courage it took for us to travel to this event and really try to enjoy ourselves.

You see, just eight short weeks ago, while attending church, we were attacked at our place of worship simply for being “Mormon.”
Someone with hatred in their heart rammed their truck into the front of our church building, entered the chapel, and began shooting us and setting our church on fire while many people were still hiding inside. As my family (me, my husband, and our three young children), ran for our lives, my husband and my 5 year old daughter were both shot. I was also running with my 15 month old baby and my 3 year old in my arms as I was struck in my back with shrapnel. I will spare you any further details about the nightmare we lived through that day and the recovery that has followed, but miraculously, me and my family all made it out alive.

The anxiety and fear we have felt since that day has been debilitating. We have put in a lot of work in that short 8 weeks so we can try to feel some sort of safety and normalcy again and enjoy the things we used to, including football games.

We had been planning to come see this game for months as we don’t get the opportunity to see many BYU games in person since we moved across the country for my husband’s medical training. We almost didn’t come because it felt scary and overwhelming since the attack on our church. However, we know we cannot live in fear and we need to enjoy the things that used to make us happy. We decided to come and that took a lot for us both mentally and physically. I was nervous putting on my BYU fan gear that day because I knew it would identify me as one of ”the Mormons.” I did it anyway.
I was apprehensive when I walked down to my seat and saw that the nearest exit was pretty far from me. I continued to my seat anyway. We came. We smiled. We cheered. We enjoyed ourselves….Until the University of Cincinnati fans began to chant “F*** the Mormons.”

This is not a new chant. This is not a chant that is specific to your university. This is a chant I’ve heard before while enjoying a football game whether in-person or on tv. It’s always disheartening to hear. However, now that we Mormons have been quite literally targeted, attacked, chased, shot at, and some of us have been killed simply for being “Mormon,” this chant is no longer just disheartening. It’s crippling. It’s personal. It’s unacceptable. Period.

While I did hear the announcer give a warning over the speakers at the game that such chants will not be tolerated, it was simply just that- a warning. It was not just a few fans, it was tens, possibly hundreds of the university’s student fans chanting “F*** the Mormons.”

Please, Mr. Cunningham, do not tolerate it. Remove them from the game. Don’t let them come back. Educate them on the seriousness of their actions. Set that standard and expectation moving forward and enforce it. We are hurting. Badly. We just want to enjoy the things that make us happy again without the fear of being targeted and attacked for our religious beliefs.

I know you have no control over the Cincy fans on the shuttle after the game ranting about Mormons and how awful we are and how we must have just paid off the refs because we’re corrupt and evil. I don’t get it, but I am used to it. It’s not new to me to hear this stuff and these huge misconceptions about my faith. But now it is personal. Now it is me fearing for my life everywhere I go because someone decided to take it there. Someone tried to kill me, my kids, and my husband. Someone killed 4 of my friends. Now the chanting means something more than it used to.

I know you can’t control the actions and words of the fans on the bus. However, I do believe you have the ability to get control of the students’ hurtful and hateful chanting.

If you made it this far, thank you for listening. If I am mistaken about any actions that were or were not taken as a result of the chanting, please feel free to correct me.
I would welcome the reassurance.

Sincerely,

Brandi Hicken
A fellow college football fan
A Mormon
A Christian
A mass casualty hate crime survivor
A human deserving of respect”

Books for Uzbekistan Schools

A friend of mine (we've sung in Keynotes together for 35 years) is serving a mission with her husband in Uzbekistan.  They are the first missionaries ever in that country.  They both teach English in public schools.  They saw a great need for children's books in English.  There is no mail system, so they couldn't have them sent.  Their daughter (who is now singing in Keynotes) went to visit them there.  She sent out a plea for children's books.  She created an Amazon wish list, asking for book donations.  Many, many, many books were contributed. She and her sons took suitcases full of children's books to donate to the schools.  

 I love this picture- especially since the woman is holding one of the books I donated.  

Today I Met the Good Morning Guy

 

Ken goes on a 4-5 mile walk every morning except Sunday. He uses our wonderful trail system.  He is friendly.  He always says good morning to everyone he passes- some walking, some running, some riding bikes.  He often sees the same people day after day.  They are also victims of positive habits.  

He often sees the same lady on her bicycle as she speeds by on her way to work.  A couple of weeks ago, she stopped her bike to talk to him.  He found out she is a local doctor and rides her bike quite a distance to work each day.  She also coaches a mountain bike team at a local high school.  For several years, Ken passed and greeted a young girl who rode her bike to school every single day- rain or shine.  Somehow, he found out her name and would greet her by name. She would never respond to him (probably thought he was a creepy, old guy!) but she knew him.  Turns out, this Dr. was her high school biking coach.  She went on to ride for Utah State University's mountain biking team, taking many medals.  She and her coach had talked about Ken and labeled him "The Good Morning Guy."

So, Ken has a new handle.  Feel free to use it on him!

Ken found his new friend on Strava and saw this post.  I asked him to copy it so I could share it here:

It's kind of fun to be married to the Good Morning Guy!

Your Dad was My Doctor

 I work at the temple with a sister a few years older than me on our Friday shift every other week. There are three of us that work together on that shift.  As we have had time to visit, we discovered we are both from Treasure Valley in Idaho.  I am from Caldwell and she is from Parma, about 20 minutes away.  We both married Hurricane boys that we met at BYU.  In both cases, our spouses were our family home evening brothers at BYU.  We have a lot in common.  I truly love this dear sister.  She has come to be a good friend.

One day she asked me my maiden name.  Then she asked me what my father did.  I told her he was a doctor in Caldwell.  Dr. Gabrielsen. "Your dad was my doctor!"  What?  When she was in high school, my father was her doctor.  She described what he looked like to me and said he was very nice.  What a sweet miracle!  Even as I type this I get tears in my eyes.  She knew my Daddy!  This is such a sweet connection.  I just had to share!