Let Them His Glory Also Show

We have had enough crisp nights that our garden vines have given up and our trees are just starting to show hints of fall.  My flowers in front are still blooming, but the tomatoes in back will probably not ever be warm enough to ripen this year.  It's glorious and perfect! (In case you were wondering when would be a good time of year to visit me, this is totally a great one!)

My best things are my people. I got an excellent date with my husband (we biked to the Village Shops for dinner and dessert and watched Dune). I got quite a few Face Times with my grand kids and daughters. I got a lovely long phone call with Wyatt while he walked. I got PLENTY of time with Griff as he was sick for the latter half of the week. And I got some great Eve time too. AND the Best Book Club (I like to abbreviate it as the BBC. We talked about The Wright Brothers by David McCullough.). AND podcast club (we just talked, but also the podcast we shared was excellent.) And I got to hang out with Tammi Iba when we went to stake women's conference together (where I forgot to bring the salad I promised SMH). 

This is from the ward trunk or treat and chili cook off. Griff was a bunny, Eve was a woodland elf, Gretchen (bishop's daughter) was a devil (lol!) and Meyer (bishop's son) was Moses (again lol!). 

Griff and Owen at Meadowbrook park on Tuesday. We also talked to Mariah then.

And my callings are a consistent best part of my life too. As brother Daines said in conference just a few weeks ago, to serve in the church is to stand in the river of God's love for His children. The temple feels like a Niagra Falls kind of river of love. And I also got to do other cool things. I went to a faith club lunch at YaYa's Bistro, where I met so many lovely women of faith and offered a prayer for what is going on in Israel and Gaza because no one else stepped up. I went to a Friday prayer service at a Mosque and felt both totally out of place and totally welcomed. After the prayers, where I stood when they stood and sat when they bowed or prostrated, and prayed silently my own kind of prayer, a dear Muslim woman touched my arm and said Allah was pleased by my prayer and she hoped I would see the light of Islam. It was just wonderful. I keep thinking about it all the time. I think about the message the imam gave--trust God even in your worst circumstances. I keep thinking how we members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints live the five pillars of Islam in our own way. (They are 1. Profession of faith--one true God and His prophet, 2. Prayer--five times a day facing Mecca, 3. Alms, 4. Fasting, 5. Pilgrimage). And I keep thinking of the love and light I felt there. 

Our guides were the ladies in the white and pink scarves. Almost all the rest of us were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from two different stakes. The lady in center front was the Muslim neighbor of Michelle, who was next to her.

The rough parts of the week were mostly about Griffin feeling terrible. He stayed home from school Wednesday and Thursday and Friday, although there was no school on Friday for teacher conferences. It was fun to visit with their teachers and see how well they are doing academically and how much those teachers love them.