funerals and tender mercies

a few weeks ago i got a phone call from a woman in my ward i don't even know. not because she's inactive, but because her husband is in the presidency of the single's ward so, of course, she attends church with him across town. her father had recently passed away, and they were looking for a piano player for two family musical numbers. she was given my name by the woman who has played for them in the past, but was out of town. i am so, so glad she gave her my number.

i'm always so flattered to be asked to play at funerals because they are so special to the people involved. i feel like there's a lot of trust placed in me to do it well. it's something the people involved remember for a long time to come. not that they remember my playing particularly, but the overall feeling. if i played really badly though, they probably would remember that! 

it was a group of about 25 people or so (bigger than our ward choir!), all children and grandchildren of the deceased. talk about a musically inclined family. i like to think that mom will live for another 20 years at least, and that will be our family someday at her funeral. :)

anyhoo, i got with them sunday evening to learn the song. it was a beautiful arrangement of "i stand all amazed". they learned it super quickly. i got with them again early(ish) monday before the funeral. they were amazing. there was also a small group of 3 women who sang "pie jesu" which was also just beautiful. 

they were talented, quick to learn, and the song was so much fun to play. it was a piano part with real substance. it was full of notes and dynamics and tough parts. on top of that, everyone was, of course, so super kind to me. basically, it was the most enjoyable time i've ever had playing for a funeral. they were all saying "thank you" to me, when i felt like i should be thanking them for the opportunity to play! 

today, i got a "thank you" card in the mail from one of the daughters. i don't even know which because there were so many of them and i didn't really have time to put names and faces together. thank you cards are always nice. it's nice to be acknowledged. but on top of that, there was a costco gift card inside it. wow. talk about twice blessed. it probably wasn't that big of a thing for her, but it's a huge thing for me!

how did THAT happen?

today i went to volleyball, like i always do on thursday mornings. when i got back, i hopped on fb. i'd gotten a wall post that said: 

"I have a package for you. Apparently the post office can't tell the diff between Christina West & Christine Wood...lol!!"

when i read the first sentence, i thought "oh, looks like she's been hacked." then i kept reading, and my confusion grew. 

you see, christine wood is in my ward, but not my neighbor. in fact, she lives about a mile away. on a street called white oak. i live on siskiyou. not at all similar. her address: 300. mine: 2595. also not at all similar. sure, her first name is christine, and her last name starts with a w. and has four letters, but i was always under the impression that they processed mail by first looking at the state, then city, then street, then house number,  then possibly name. but let's face it, even if everything else matches except the name they still deliver it to the address on the envelope/package. heck, mail doesn't really even have to have a name for them to deliver.

so, how, on earth, did my package wind up a mile away from my house at someone's house i just happen to know?

and the weirdest part: in the box was the garments i had ordered from slc for myself and paul! i assume that if it had ended up at maybe chrissy's neighbors' house they would've looked at the address said "wth?" and circled the address on it before stuffing it back in their mailbox to give the inept USPS another chance to get it to the right house. 

but maybe not. and that could've been awkward. plus, then i would've been annoyed that my stuff never showed up.

i'm not sure where the breakdown in that whole thing happened, but i don't think it was mere "coincidence" that it ended up at a ward member's house. even if said ward member does live a mile away.

'course, next time it would be nice if they could just get it to my house the first time. :) and i did get kind of a kick out of it, even if it was really bizarre.

are you there autumn?

it's september. in oregon. for some reason, i really expected it to be a little cooler by now. 

it's supposed to be 98* for the next two days. what's up with that?? i'm very very ready for cooler weather, soup, hot cider and sweatshirts. 

oh, and rain. i'm ready for rain.

the warmer weather is nice for exercising very early without freezing, but i'm not sure that's worth the trade-off of everything else. if i had a pool, i'd be happy to take it, but now, not as much.

come on autumn! the leaves are starting to turn and it's still in the 90s. that feels wrong. i hope it gets cooler soon!

unexpected blessings

when paul and i realized we were going to have to move to give us any hope of survival, i mentally prepared myself for a large sacrifice. see, i love the valley. well, mostly. i love what the valley has to offer so close. i love that you can make a day trip to the beach, or be up in the giant sequoias in less than two hours. i love that it doesn't get really cold, but there's enough to give me a break from the summer heat and to make me happy for the summer heat to come back. i love that so many kinds of fruits and vegetables don't just grow there, but thrive there. i don't so much love the smog and the dry, ugly nothingness of the undeveloped land. i also don't love the crime and the taxes.

so, though i was ready to move, i was worried the lord would need me someplace that i liked far less than the valley. and i would've gone willingly and cheerfully, but wasn't necessarily looking forward to it with excitement. and when paul got a job interview with a company in texas (which was the furthest he'd gotten with any company, sadly still is) i was steeling myself for a new adventure. i was even starting to get excited about it, looking at houses online, reading up about things to do. i wasn't happy about the distance from any family though, and it still in my heart didn't feel quite right. but i wasn't sure if that's because a part of me really didn't want to go or because it wasn't right. well, now i know. but because of that slight uneasiness i was a little relieved when he didn't get the job. disappointed too, of course, but relieved. and yet, i still felt like there was some big sacrifice coming.

then, we had to start the process of trying to figure out where we were going to go because we were still definitely moving. when paul said he'd felt drawn to oregon, i was surprised. and excited. 

could we really be sent somewhere we'd already discussed living "someday"? it almost seemed too easy. of course, it hasn't all been easy. far from it, but there have been so many blessings being here that it has made up for, in large part, all those things we hoped to get just by being obedient moving. financially, we're still struggling. more in some ways than we were before we moved. but in other ways we've been blessed so abundantly, i can hardly believe it.

it's beautiful here. they have four, distinct seasons (i'm really looking forward to fall). there's a lot to do and see here (though, really that's true almost anywhere if you have a sense of adventure). our ward is starting to feel like home and the more i get to know the people, the more i love them. there's an awesome group of women whom i share so much in common with. more so, probably than any of the places i've lived before. we play basketball and volleyball together. we share and laugh and get along easily together. last night, we had a ladies night out. we went to dinner and played volleyball. i can't believe i got so lucky to find--or get sent to--a place where there are so many women who think that's as great a night as i do!

at times like these, it's impossible to deny the lord knows and loves ME. though this move hasn't solved the problems we thought it was going to when we moved here, it has greatly blessed and enriched my life in ways that i never expected a year ago. 

and i am so grateful.

Pear Harvest!

for those of my readers that don't know (are there any?), the LDS church is very self-sufficient and has many different kinds of farms all around the US (world?) that contribute to the church's welfare system. in the san joaquin valley we harvested grapes to dry and make raisins. a very hot, very dusty, and frequently juicy, affair. i loved it. i was sad to be leaving that when we moved away, but then was happy to hear that they have a large pear orchard here. 

and it is LARGE. they invite all able members over 12 to dedicate 12 hours or more to the harvest as early as possible in the harvest. i thought that was a lot of time at first, but now i understand why. 

monday morning paul and i went at 5:00 a.m. to pick pears for our first time. our ward had the platform assignment for the 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. shift. but we had a lot of people show up, so we did ground picking in front of the platform. it's pretty easy work, ground picking, that is. easier, i'd say, than grapes. last night sarah and i went out and got there early enough to get on the platform for picking.

this is the platform

it's massive, and quite impressive. four people stand on either side facing out. that closest platform raises up a lot higher than the other one so we can get the whole tree. they put a harness on you and hook up a rope to your back so you can't fall out because you really have to lean to get some of those pears near the center of the tree.

then they start rolling by. slowly, but when you've got a group of pears all at once, it can seem much too fast! you stick your hands out and grab everything you can before you get too far. then you try to move out of the way from heavy branches sticking way out. it leads to lots of scratches on the arms, getting whipped in the face with branches and i even had a pear fall on my neck at one point. that hurt.

sarah came with me and we did the 9:00-midnight shift. it's very tiring work. much harder, physically, than grape picking. 

all i had on me was my phone, but i wanted to capture the moment! you can kind of see how big the bins are there behind me. we filled 10 of them last night in our 3 hour shift. we matched the record.

last night, i got home and washed my arms because they were so filthy. the soap in the scratches all over made them burn profusely. i wasn't prepared for it because they don't really look that bad. today, they still smart, but only a little. my shoulders and clavicle on the other hand. oy. between the bucket full of pears pulling on them, and the harness while i leaned as far as it would allow, they hurt something fierce!

i'm not anxious to get right back up there (mostly due to the soreness), at least not for a full 3 hour shift, but i did really enjoy myself and will definitely do it again! glad i found a substitute for the grape harvest. and bonus, it's way less dirty.

the winds are blowing again

the winds of change that is. i feel like i just did this . . . big changes, i mean. but here we go again. i guess the winds of change are pretty much always blowing, but sometimes it's a gentle breeze and sometimes it's a gale. a forever-life-altering kind.


my sister and best friend has decided to make some positive changes in her life. and i can't tell you how grateful i am. i've (and so many others) missed her terribly in the last several years. i've thought about her frequently and wished there was something i could do to help.


and now i can. she's decided to get out of the valley . . . can't say that i blame her there. and she's coming here to live with us and start over. soon. like next week soon.


paul and i both feel really good about this decision, and though it's going to take some sacrifices and adjustments for everyone involved, i feel everyone can come out better on the other side. i find myself vacillating between apprehension and concern about this new unknown and my ability to handle the situation properly and excitement and joy about the possibilities that await and the desire to re-kindle an amazing friendship.


so, wish us luck, or better yet, if you're the praying kind, toss out a thought or two for everyone involved because we can definitely use some divine guidance in this venture. i know that's what's gotten us to this point.

Summer Fun

we have a picture almost just like this of keith at about the same age. i will have to find it and put them side by side.

he's finally jumping into the deep end all by himself (without bribes or threats)! YES!!

 i love this girl.

these two . . . they keep my life really fun.

look at him go!

i really like this one.

trying to dive . . . more like lots of belly flops, but we'll get there.

they were so happy on this raft. so many smiles! love these faces.

and on a side note, these are the first pictures i've seen of myself  in a long time that didn't make me think 

"yikes, that's what i look like to other people?" 

it's a good feeling.