Bearing Gifts

I spoke in church today about the wise men, who were seekers of light, and how I found both physical and spiritual light in my life. But I forgot to say very much about gifts, which are also a major part of their story. And there were some good gifts this week. 

1.On Sunday M'Li had my kids and grandkids and Dad and Marj over for dinner with her and Azya. I love that she loves so many people so easily!

2. On Monday my husband took a day off of doctoring to be my husband while I had my vein procedure done. And my doctor came out of it smiling. I think it went as well as it could have. Thank you for praying! (And Tammi came and took care of my kids and making dinner. She is the best!)

2. On Tuesday I took it easy and did some Christmas decorating. Fenty liked it.

3. On Wednesday we were going to chip the stick pile but our chipper stopped and we decided to just SELL it!  What a gift! Someone named Ranjit came and paid us a little to take it away today.

Also our Christmas cactus is blooming!

4. On Thursday Eve got a thank you note from our mailman because she made him cookies because he is working so hard right now. I love everything about this.

6. On Friday, we celebrated Buddy Keller's first birthday from afar! We sent him a slide. Maybe he can bring it to Juliet's house and slide into the ball pit. Willa and I also went shopping together. She is so much fun! And so is Taco Bell.

6. On Saturday I worked. I took Eve with me to an event I was covering for The Telegraph. We had so much fun interviewing people and seeing what went on with the Christmas Because We Care Event! And that night we went to my work party, which felt sneaky and fun and delightful. We brought home an excellent Kansas City puzzle and a gift card to Strips Chicken. Lol!

This is Sharece, mother of 12, in line to pick up gifts for her kids.

This is Santa in blue, honoring police chaplains. He was a volunteer from International House of Prayer

This is part of the mile long line to get presents for kids.

This is the toys separated by age and volunteers ready to dash them out to the cars.

In red is my friend Julie who gave way too much of herself for this event.

8. And then today plenty of people kindly gushed about my talk. Kind words are one of my very favorite gifts of all. Griff knows this about me and lavishes them on me when he isn't hungry.

There were dark spots too, but the light and the gifts really help you focus on seeing what is really important instead of the storm. I said this in my talk, but I wanted to reiterate here how thankful I am for parents who taught me from birth to seek for the light. I remember singing this song with them in sacrament meeting when I was tiny in Boulder City, Nevada:

Teach me to walk in the light of His love,

Teach me to pray to my Father above.

Teach me to know of the things that are right.

Teach me, teach me, to walk in the the light.

Thanks for teaching me, Dad and Mom. You are gifts to me. I love you!