Interesting Semester

Giving speech

In all of my classes, I am being asked to make youtube videos or to make a powerpoint and then youtube that. If I'm not youtube-ing answers to questions, then I'm putting up Indesign and Photoshop posts on a website.  So I'm having a very graphic semester.  Hopefully I can speak more fluently and well, but so far I haven't seen any measurable difference (for the better.) So here is a list of the newest youtube reports:

Hotspots of Pakistan: (probably boring as they are answers from class)
https://youtu.be/0rrPmiU4zvI

https://youtu.be/GIzfq32Rgsw

Public Speaking: [you know this is a REQUIRED class, and boy do I need it.]

I asked the Fehlberg's to come and help me out with my speech and be my audience. This comes in three parts because, well......life doesn't always work as planned. For my 10 minute speech I have

Murphy's law:
https://youtu.be/YWQLsB_RWBM about 3 or 4 minutes

Speech given with camera set for 10 minutes....kids didn't want to stop and switch out bowls, adults seemed entertained so catering to my audience the speech ran over. Here is the 10 minutes: https://youtu.be/l_rnTA8xE9g

If you are interested in the conclusion here is the 3 minute finish: https://youtu.be/--EqpgNGkAQ

This clip was taken by the children's mom (Kaedi Fehlberg) and she posted to youtube.

Loads of homework

Last week was really interesting as I had two major assignments due in one class. I am in a class called Hotspots of Pakistan. We are learning about the history, cultures, lifestyles, and different peoples of Pakistan. Discovery has been enlightening and emotional at times. So since I've spent so much effort and time on these videos I will share them with you.. It is nice for me that I won't see you shut them off when you get bored. It's a win-win as I get to share with someone else besides the teacher my hours of work.

https://youtu.be/bGojVSdPM4w
Six minutes 8 seconds
This was my first assignment due on Monday, the 16 page paper group project was due on Thursday. No way am I going to copy that paper for anyone to wade through again.

But I did have another video I made this week too. I was too stressed out and anxious so it is choppy with a few missing thoughts, but it is what it is!
Answers to question -
https://youtu.be/tqdIY5WU9VU
Four minutes 18 seconds

Gratitude to the Lord

Blessings from God
Despite the fact that I have mountains of schoolwork to figure out, I have to stop and witness to my Heavenly Father the many answers to prayer that I have been given this week.
Jeffrey and I gave talk in Sacrament Meeting in another ward and of course I prayed that we would do a good job. My ideas flowed and I didn't get stuck - thank you Lord. Jeffrey sounded polished and reasonable - thank you Lord. He accidentally left his scriptures on the stand. He didn't discover the fact until we arrived at the Singles Ward to listen to Andrew speak. I prayed for Andrew and he gave a wonderful witness of the Savior and in the last efforts of his mortal life - thank you Lord. I gave a silent prayer that Jeffrey could find and get his scriptures efficiently as we drove back to the other chapel. A man at the door of the Sacrament meeting waited between ordinances and retrieved Jeffrey's scriptures - thank you Lord.
I have prayed recently to not be in an accident or cause an accident. The car coming as Rachel and I pulled out missed us entirely. Thank You Lord. All summer daily prayers have been answered daily.
In the Philippines it is Family Week that is sponsored by the church every year there. They have family parties, activities and events. The wards and families will post and witness the goodness of the family unit. Here is a clip of the Bishop's family in our Philippine ward. Anya is the oldest son who has developmental challenges since birth. He used to sit by Jeffrey in church. Shoti the little boy in glasses asked us to sit with their family and we love them and miss them so much.
My adopted grandchildren reached out on facebook messenger this week. The oldest son who was serving a mission the same time we did said this, "My mom told me that she miss you. And every night i hear my brother and sister always pray for you and elder adam.
Jeffrey and I are humbled that a family who has so many needs of their own would pray for us every night and we have so much abundance already.  Have I been protected, blessed and aided so quickly because of the prayers of young children half a world away?

My adopted grandchildren September Family Week

Comm 102 Welcome

I have posted this here so I can "un-private" and share my intro to my class.........let's see if I can figure out how to get it back on my school page.........

I JUST LOVE THIS LEARNING CURVE...........OH SO PHUN!!

It has almost started........looking for that important piece of paper

There was a commercial with a woman peering into a store window. She is pacing around saying, "Open, open, open." She comes back to look in the window every once in awhile.  I can relate to that feeling.

I'm excited to begin classes again in my quest for a college degree.

So I'm not sure what my immediate future holds besides lots of work and something that will expand my mind and stretch it out of shape. One teacher has already written to us and told us some of the things we need to take care of ahead of time. One of them is to open a blog and write out assignments on it. She wants us to use WordPress - too bad, as I am so familiar with Blogger, oh well, new learning curve in store. Just in case you want to know what I'm doing here is the address: https://mediacomm130byui.home.blog 

I have a few fragile ties with my friends in the Philippines and this is one of them. One or two people still read this blog so I will try hard to write something at least once a month. Feel free to contact me on Facebook, gmail or text. I don't want to lose any friends I still have!!

Thanks for the support and encouragement!

Waiting for classes to open, open.......

Newborn love

Last week I visited with Julia and Michael to see our newest grand baby Makynlee. She was born big for an infant, but holding her she is just little.  Julia is a devoted mom and Michael has bonded with his daughter. They share her care and love her very much. Michael will be heading back to school, so Julia will have the lion's share of the effort of taking care of Makynlee very soon.

This is Makynlee's favorite place to sleep. 

Julia held the baby in the bath, washing her all over and transferred her to Michael to take out of the bathroom and then they both dried her off and dressed her. They share a lot of the labor.......at least until Michael goes back to school.

We visited with Grandmama and showed off her newest great-granddaughter

Michael and Julia are great parents and are happy and doing well.

Susie, I and Michael looking over the building he works in.

Susie came to visit and I was grateful she made the effort when I came to Utah because she is so busy in her work travel and taking care of her grand babies that is was really a labor of love to come down and visit with me and Michael's family.
I really enjoyed my visit and loved watching the love Michael and Julia have for each other and their new daughter.  My heart is full of gratitude for the many blessings I have from the Lord.
I realized that I am not a working mother anymore and I don't have the muscle set of an active mom. I had forgotten what it is like to hold a baby for long periods of time. The rocking, soothing, patting and just plain holding 10 pounds in your arms works out muscles. I am tired, happy and love being a Nona.

Makynlee and I

Happy Anniversary

Debbie reminded me earlier this week that she and Matthew would be having their 5th wedding anniversary on Friday. She wanted to know if I could come up so they could go on a hike and have a meal together.
Rachel and I headed over from Redding to Sacramento early in the morning so they could go on a date. We were both surprised when Debbie and Matthew came home at noon. For some reason I thought they would be gone for a longer part of the day. It looks like Matthew wanted time with his wife and just to be home with his family. His residency program is eating up most of his days and he just wanted to be with his family. As Rachel and I left to go home, this is the picture I have in my mind of his wedding anniversary.

Debbie, Matthew, Corina and Oliver

How do you acquire favorite aunt status?

I talked to Jayson soon after coming back from the Philippines and he asked where Rachel was and informed me that she was his favorite aunt.   How do you acquire favorite aunt status?

1. You have to be frequently or living in your niece and nephews lives. Which might be difficult for aunts living in say Alaska or Utah.
2. Time and creativity with a bit of love thrown in.

Every morning of our trip to Redding, Rachel would be out playing what the boys wanted to play

On Friday we headed over to Sacramento for a quick visit

Rachel is willing to actually play with her nephew

She takes the time to let her niece and nephew enjoy the things they like

She is willing to take the effort to show them she cares

But favorite aunt status can be had by entering into the children's imagination

And of course go down the slide endless times

With whomever would like a ride

Time, taking the time, effort, and care to show love

And reading books to book lovers will do the trick too!

Playing with Rachel

Rachel pitching to Caleb and Jayson

Throwing it back

They all came in from the smoky air and played indoor games

Each age requires different needs

Rachel has an idea, Nona set up a Treasure Hunt

Rachel decided I would get involved with the boys instead of just Lilly and so I set up a Treasure hunt.

Rachel reads a long story while the hunt is being set up......first clue is already in the room

The boys ran indoors and outdoors

Sometimes Rachel would help out with the clues

Even dad's office had a clue

Some clues were hard and some were easy

Most importantly the boys had a lot of fun - though the 'treasure' was cookies they made the day before.

Rachel and I headed up to Redding

Caleb waving his flag (rug burn down his nose  - I decided not to inquire how) Rachel, and Jayson

So we love to make chocolate chip cookies whenever we get with Jayson and Caleb

The first ingredients are always smooth and easy

The dry ingredients tend to cover Caleb from the chest down

Adding the chocolate chips....

Caleb has to test them out until they are all incorporated

Rachel was nice enough to empty a 25 pound bag into smaller containers. She got decorated  from chest to foot too!

After making the cookies, Jayson figures out there are 7 people in the house. If you give each person one cookie, use the plate on the left, if you give everyone two cookies, use the plate on the right. If everyone has three cookies there will be zero left.  Jayson is being home-schooled but going to the classroom twice a week. He even figured out that there were 21 cookies in all and took turns deciding which plate to "eat" and how many would be left.

Oh so many blessings!!!

While running around the beach with Oliver and Corina, I would watch for texts and calls from Michael. Julia was in a slow labor all day Saturday and Sunday and finally Sunday night at 3 pm she had contractions close enough together that they went to the hospital. On Monday afternoon she gave birth to a beautiful 10 pound 8 ounce girl that was two inches shy of 2 feet.  Now a few days later all are doing well, though everyone needs a little more sleep.
I am so thankful for the technology that lets me watch this miracle in real time. Instead of getting pictures five or six days later, Facebook and FaceTime let me interact and watch her stretch, look around and notice life.  It is fantastic!

Julia's mom Trina Little sent me this picture along with the information that Michael changed, burped and bubbled Makynlee and put her to sleep.

Beautiful Julia with her firstborn

Michael got to put her in the carseat to take her home from the hospital.

My heart is pretty full of the blessings given to all of us from the Lord.

Mother-in-law grandmother

I am getting all the skinny and scoop of Julia and Michael's baby via FaceTime and Facebook. Michael has been great about letting me know what they are doing and all the details that go along with his beautiful baby girl being born. His mother-in-law has been there every step of the way and has even sent me a few pictures of Michael with his little girl Makynlee. It sounds like it has been a fascinating, exhausting and wonderful party!  She looks adorable and just a little older than a newborn at only 2 days old. I will go visit at the end of August and I'm looking forward to seeing them again. Next week I will head up to Redding and visit again with Kelsi and Nate and their weeks old baby Lilly. Such joy to be with all the newborns!!

Fascination of a newborn

Lilly and her family

Lots of fun and excitement in the Adams household.  The television station KCRA 3 reported: "The Carr Fire, which sparked July 23 in Whiskeytown near Highway 299, had charred 176,069 acres and was 50 percent contained, as of Wednesday evening. (August 8)"  Nate, Kelsi, her mother and the two boys came to our home because the air quality was so bad at their home and they feared to bring a newborn into air she could not breath well. It was so fun to have the boys back again. They asked for pancakes or waffles every morning, I just added a bowl of fruit.  
Nate was restless as he waited because he could not go to work. He was so good to take the boys on outings and play endless card games with them. Dani Betridge, Kelsi's mom was fun to be around and worked on her school work a lot. She is into family history and showed us a 15 generation spreadsheet that was very interesting. She had the boys in her room at night and kept them entertained in the morning so they wouldn't wake the rest of the household.  That whole family can play a great game of Skipbo. 
But the highlight of the week was the birth of Lilly.

Kelsi and Lilly

I did get very tired of cleaning up, making meals, doing laundry, and shopping. So worth it to hold my newest granddaughter. There is really something spiritual, healing, and fulfilling when holding and taking care of a newborn. I had the privilege to care for her on two nights so mama and papa could get some deep sleep. I'd just bring her in to be nursed. Kelsi is such a devoted great mom. I love watching her. Life is good

Experience or Undistracted?

So is it experience or the fact that I don't have any children distractions?  We have an appointment for the missionaries to come over for dinner. I am ready to go and I still have 10 minutes to twiddle my thumbs.

In my past history, missionaries have come while I'm still scrambling, or trying to figure out why something didn't defrost, or dinner just wasn't done on time.  Is the fact that I only have one thing to think about or calculate timing the reason dinner turned out fine?

I guess the only way to find out is to have the grandchildren over when I invite the missionaries over for dinner again.

I Ask

I ask the Lord for protection while driving - I'm in one piece and no one else has been hurt.
I ask the Lord to arrive home safely and quickly - the traffic keeps flowing.
I ask the Lord to support and aid Jeffrey at work - he comes home with stories of miracles.
I ask the Lord to give me a meaningful mission -  "Are you the manna we have been praying for?"
I ask the Lord what should I do today - someone to visit comes to mind.
I ask the Lord to guide the dentist's hand - the missionary thanks us for the job done.
I ask the Lord for help in teaching children - there comes one moment of connection and learning.
I ask the Lord for help with accounting - Sister Stewart comes up with a new plan of action.
I ask the Lord to help me through software program -  pieces of enlightenment filter in my mind.
I ask the Lord for understanding how children learn - Sister Stewart teaches sign language - miracles.
I ask the Lord for directions when lost - memories of Jonah's main street guidelines come to mind.
I ask the Lord to heal quickly - Sister Whitehead arrives with a remedy.
I ask the Lord to protect my children - Michael tells of happenings and asks if I pray for him.
I ask the Lord about curiosities in this land - I see wild monkeys!
I ask the Lord what is going on in a neighbourhood - I am invited to visit a home there.
I ask the Lord for help living in a different country - Sister Lorraine "localises" me.
I ask the Lord for a sewing machine - Jeffrey finds one and buys it.
I ask the Lord to bless specific people - the answer, "you are the blessing you are praying for" - I adopt some grandchildren and children and have a "family" to love and care for in this country.
I ask the Lord to protect and help me find my credit card - the vendor had it in her till.
I ask the Lord to protect and help me find my credit card - I found it on our apartment floor.
I ask the Lord to protect and help me find my credit card - No one has used it.
I ask the Lord to help me sew up some skirts I have never done before - 10 beautiful wedding skirts.
I ask the Lord for help to to make a bride feel beautiful on her day - She is radiant.
I ask the Lord for the best apartment at an affordable price - big, nicely decorated, views on all sides.
I ask the Lord for help negotiating a new world - He sends me Jonah who shows me her country.



This was a draft of a post while on my mission of the miracles happening. I never finished it, but the idea comes through so I'll post it as is.

"That's for the young people......"

When I first started Pathways to figure out how to get back into school to get my degree, there were several things that I heard but in my mind discounted due to my age and previous inability. One was this promise given by Elder Eyring concerning the students.

"They will be natural leaders who know how to teach and how to learn … those graduates of BYU-Idaho will become legendary for their capacity to build the people around them and to add value wherever they serve" (Elder Henry B. Eyring, A Steady, Upward Course, Brigham Young University-Idaho Devotional, September 18, 2001). 

When I got back from Manila I realized that I had contributed to the Dental Clinic and to our ward and added value to my workplace. This was a promise fulfilled.

Another promise was the fact that we were to take a characteristic of Jesus Christ and work on it for a semester then watch our own character change. In my mind I said, "Right. Work on this characteristic for 4 months and presto your life will change? I don't think so."  I felt I was too old to change and that these promises were for the younger students.

Could I have been more wrong?  In four months I went from being Linda Ann Adams to Sister Adams. Being a student to serving the Lord full time. Yes, this was another promise that was fulfilled and I can say my perception of people has changed completely. *Poverty, challenges, and culture produces an entirely different people who have so much to offer that of course I had never been aware of before.

Be very careful of the promises given from servants of the Lord. They will be fulfilled.

*Update: After posting this, the Quirino First Ward send this quote which I feel is any example of what I saw in the Filipino Saints.
"Adversity helps to develop a deep of character that comes in no other way." Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Saturday Fun!

Invited to a Luncheon

The four ladies in the front are all Filipino but I'm not sure which Evenlyn is which so we have Evelyn Briones, Geneline Advent, Rosen Stafford and Evenly Gutierrez. In the back Laurie Henderson is on the right (she is the hostess), Jeffrey and I and SueZann Wuthrich is on the left.

Laurie Henderson is Debbie Adams (my daughter-in-law)'s mom. She invited Jeffrey and I to a luncheon where we watched four amazing Filipino women make a speciality. I had so much fun and loved all the dishes. This time I watched very carefully and I think I figured out the adobe chicken. It is one of those recipes with simple ingredients but each chef does some little twist to make it great.  I'm still going to have to ask questions on the pancit, I really want to learn how to make good pancit.

In the above picture, notice that everyone is in the photo. For some reason a camera in the hands of Filipinos always includes everyone. I tried to take a photo of five people and kept cutting off heads and barely fit all in......is this an instinctive ability or learned?  Maybe it's the angle....it just feels weird to practice taking pictures of myself.....

Pancit....I fell in love with pancit my first month into my mission. Sister Albos and Sister Chan both make excellent pancit. I even had a crispy pancit that was very good. Learning how to make this dish is a goal of mine.

Yummy goodness!

We ended up after the meal was over putting together Halo Halo. I do not believe I have had this dessert the same way twice. EVERYONE has their own twist to it. This one was made with mango ice-cream, it was delicious!!

Mincing up the garlic for adobe chicken. I watched this chicken being made and heard another twist on how adobe chicken is made.......on Sunday I combined the two and made some chicken to take to a woman just out of the hospital. Hopefully it was good.

I love lumpia!  I loved it before I went to Manila. I haven't had Sister Chan's fresh lumpia here - I'll have to try it on my own.....

Rozen put the ingredients for Halo Halo together, made ice-shaving with a machine, and let us put our own together.

If this is how ministering works? I am all for it!! We had a nice hour or so of cooking. I brought fruit salad and SueZann brought her green salad mostly pre-prepared too. I loved watching the Filipino women working shoulder to shoulder with familiar camaraderie.

At the table the conversation fell to whitening soaps and Jeffrey said later he was very surprised that so many people want to whiten their skin when thousands want to 'tan' here in America. And then the conversation turned to conversion stories. I felt very blessed to be able to hear their stories.

One of the Evenlyn's asked if I knew Jimmy Albos! What a popular man he is. Lots of people know him in America and in the Philippines! I left a picture of our group on Facebook and Jim Albos said she was the daughter-in-law of Nanay Adviento. Of course I had to go look on Facebook for her to see if I knew her. I found this picture at a birthday of Charito Santos Alferez, that says Nanay is there so with the process of elimination, I think this is she. I did recognize  Angelo, his brother and family in the other pictures.

Is this Nanay Adviento?

Ah, I miss my friends in the Philippines and I love getting to know other friends here!

Deja vu Moment

I went to a Filipino store that a missionary recommended to me and realized I 'd been there before. I walked into a store that I had been to about eight or nine year ago. While walking through the store looking for snack items for another missionary, a particular smell hit my brain and suddenly I was back in the Philippines with all these memories cascading over me. I stopped in my tracks and almost started to cry. I miss my friends and Ate so much!
I laughed when I got in the car to go home because a similar situation happened when I went shopping in the Philippines in a reversal of locations!  What is it about smells?

I don't know how long this store has been around, but I have been here to get lumpia wrappers with my friend years ago - though I didn't know at the time that it is Filipino - they even have street food in the center of the lobby.

Having lived in Manila these two stores are very familiar!

Really!!!! There is a Jolibee's only 5 miles away from my home!!!