Friday, July 5, 2013
FAITH, FAMILY, FREEDOM
I attended a 100th Anniversary celebration of a little country community church. They put on a party like you would not believe such a small group could do. First, we saw the above words plus a few more, placed Burma Shave style along the road leading to Venersborg. When we arrived we saw about a dozen white-uniformed Sea Scouts directing traffic. They had contacted the county road department to let people use half of a 2-way road for parking and provided a shuttle bus for people who needed to park further away. Inside the little church people signed in, received a paper plate [not a wimpy one] and utensils prewrapped in their own napkins. We went through a line where several food handlers placed [free] picnic style food on the plates, then outdoors for hot, grilled sausages [not the cheap ones] or hamburgers, and soft drinks. We ate at red, white and blue decorated tables while a 4-piece string band played tunes from the old days. In the stained glass sanctuary we read newspaper clippings, saw photos of early settlers and were treated to a 20-minute video history. On the adjacent community building grounds was a display of antique autos and farming equipment. There were kitchen antiques to see and children's crafts. They had games and contests after we left, and of course, buried a time capsule for the next 100-year celebration. It was an amazing event for just a few people to put together. They deserve a standing applause for their efforts. We were proud to be Americans, no matter what our personal differences were.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
What's a Clean Birthing Kit?
What’s in a clean birth kit? This little headline at the top of page 11, of the May 5, 2013 Deseret News, caught my attention. 57 million women worldwide give birth without the help of a trained helper according to the World Health Organization. Often women give birth on the dirt floors of their homes. Women and children die from the infections contracted from unsanitary births.
Here’s what’s in a $2 clean birth kit:
. Small piece of soap [for the birth attendant to wash her hands.]
. One pair of plastic gloves [for the birth attendant to wear.]
. Five Squares of gause [to wipe the mother’s perenium and baby’s eyes.]
. One sharp blade [to cut the cord.]
. Three pieces of string about 10" long [two for tying the cord, one “just in case.”]
. One plastic sheet, approximately 1-yard square [for clean birthing surface.]
. One sandwich ziplock bag [to pack the contents.]
That’s it! No soft blanket. No diapers, or diaper rash cream. No onsies. No cap. No socks. Nothing else.
I kept thinking about recent births in our family. We are so blessed! And they need so little! [See Family Reunion ideas on my Pinterest page]
Pre-assembled kits can be sent to: Adriel Brooker, Bloggers for Birth Kits, PO Box 6221, Townsville, Queensland, 4810, Australia. Consult the web page at themommyhoodmemos.com/2012/08 /bloggers-for-birth-kits-faq United Nations Population Fund and Worldwide Healing Hands are two more groups who can forward clean birthing kits.
Here’s what’s in a $2 clean birth kit:
. Small piece of soap [for the birth attendant to wash her hands.]
. One pair of plastic gloves [for the birth attendant to wear.]
. Five Squares of gause [to wipe the mother’s perenium and baby’s eyes.]
. One sharp blade [to cut the cord.]
. Three pieces of string about 10" long [two for tying the cord, one “just in case.”]
. One plastic sheet, approximately 1-yard square [for clean birthing surface.]
. One sandwich ziplock bag [to pack the contents.]
That’s it! No soft blanket. No diapers, or diaper rash cream. No onsies. No cap. No socks. Nothing else.
I kept thinking about recent births in our family. We are so blessed! And they need so little! [See Family Reunion ideas on my Pinterest page]
Pre-assembled kits can be sent to: Adriel Brooker, Bloggers for Birth Kits, PO Box 6221, Townsville, Queensland, 4810, Australia. Consult the web page at themommyhoodmemos.com/2012/08 /bloggers-for-birth-kits-faq United Nations Population Fund and Worldwide Healing Hands are two more groups who can forward clean birthing kits.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
#21 - How I Got My First Computer
LDSW #21 - How I Got My First Computer
In the early 1980s while I was working as a secretary at Clark College, I had a sick day off work when I sprained an ankle, so I spent the whole day reading a book I had recently purchased on doing family history by computer.
I had drawers full of family group sheets, pedigree charts and hand written notes hastily scribbled on various sizes and colors of notebook paper. The collection, all too often, spilled out on the floor every time I tried to access a particular item. I thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could organize these things so I could access them quickly? Then I read the book. It had long been a goal of mine to do a thorough preliminary survey to determine which of my ancestors still needed their temple work done. Computer genealogy seemed to be the answer I needed.
I was also spurred on by a passage in the Doctrine and Covenants Section 128:24 which was imbedded deep in my mind, “Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto he Lord an offering in righeousness; and let us present in His holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead which shall be worthy of all acceptation.” How was this even possible?
A few of my prayers had been answered from time to time, so I began praying for how I could purchase a computer. It didn’t seem possible at the time. All our regular income was dedicated to other obligations. Desktop computers in the homes were just becoming a reality, and costs were somewhere around $2,000, which was too much for our budget. Then came the miracle.
We had invested in a limited partnership, which owned and operated apartments and condominiums, several years earlier. So far we had seen very little return on our investment. But this year the company sent us a dividend of $900 dollars. It came at the same time as a local retail store was offering new, affordable home computers with 64k memory for only $800. We jumped into the car and headed for the store. I got there in time to buy one of the computers. Within a few days, a man my husband worked with, mentioned that he had one of the rachet type printers he wanted to sell so he could upgrade to a newer model, and he was asking just $100 for his old printer. We bought it!
I was then able to purchase a copy of Personal Ancestral File (PAF) software from our church bookstore, and began entering family names into my own database. It had been only a few weeks since I had read that book. I was convinced that the Lord does hear and answer our prayers! [And we never got another large dividend from that investment!]
In the early 1980s while I was working as a secretary at Clark College, I had a sick day off work when I sprained an ankle, so I spent the whole day reading a book I had recently purchased on doing family history by computer.
I had drawers full of family group sheets, pedigree charts and hand written notes hastily scribbled on various sizes and colors of notebook paper. The collection, all too often, spilled out on the floor every time I tried to access a particular item. I thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could organize these things so I could access them quickly? Then I read the book. It had long been a goal of mine to do a thorough preliminary survey to determine which of my ancestors still needed their temple work done. Computer genealogy seemed to be the answer I needed.
I was also spurred on by a passage in the Doctrine and Covenants Section 128:24 which was imbedded deep in my mind, “Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto he Lord an offering in righeousness; and let us present in His holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead which shall be worthy of all acceptation.” How was this even possible?
A few of my prayers had been answered from time to time, so I began praying for how I could purchase a computer. It didn’t seem possible at the time. All our regular income was dedicated to other obligations. Desktop computers in the homes were just becoming a reality, and costs were somewhere around $2,000, which was too much for our budget. Then came the miracle.
We had invested in a limited partnership, which owned and operated apartments and condominiums, several years earlier. So far we had seen very little return on our investment. But this year the company sent us a dividend of $900 dollars. It came at the same time as a local retail store was offering new, affordable home computers with 64k memory for only $800. We jumped into the car and headed for the store. I got there in time to buy one of the computers. Within a few days, a man my husband worked with, mentioned that he had one of the rachet type printers he wanted to sell so he could upgrade to a newer model, and he was asking just $100 for his old printer. We bought it!
I was then able to purchase a copy of Personal Ancestral File (PAF) software from our church bookstore, and began entering family names into my own database. It had been only a few weeks since I had read that book. I was convinced that the Lord does hear and answer our prayers! [And we never got another large dividend from that investment!]
Saturday, April 6, 2013
On Being a Perfectionist
In one of my recent blogs I wrote about things I started doing but didn’t take them to the next level and went on to try another craft or hobby. Now, I’ve been thinking about some things I do that are done well.
I can make real fir Christmas wreaths and boughs like a professional. I can knit baby caps on a rake loom, and I’ve even sold a few. I can write a book about my husband’s white-water rafting experiences. I have a full notebook containing articles I’ve published. I can play the piano well enough to accompany congregational singing. I could even hold my own in a Jeopardy quiz on music and musicians. At 50 years of age, I earned an Associate Degree in Arts and Sciences from a community college. My emphasis was on Technical Writing and computer applications. I can layout and print out newsletters. I can make up lesson plans, and teach how to do genealogy, and how to write your personal history.
When I was 18 years old, and recently graduated from high school, I was hired as a clerk-typist for a custom house brokerage. I worked for a boss who demanded perfection. Though it was after World War II, it was sort of “known” about the office that he and his wife were Jewish and had escaped from Nazi Germany, which had something to do with their not having any family. He was a proud Prussian and used to demanding what he wanted. There were some nights, after dinner, when I helped my mom by wiping dishes, that I would complain to her about how mean Mr. Adolph Carr was.
I became able to meet his demands. We had a complicated 4-digit file numbering system. Over time I had the important account numbers memorized and could put my hand on a file as soon as he called for it–usually during a phone call. It was in the days when we made Consumption Entries on purple ditto masters that could not be erased. The masters were run through a cylinder with an alcoholic solution to print out copies. If I had a strikeover it would eternally embarrass me. When I had “down” time at work, Mr Carr would hand me a big book full of addresses for freight forwarders. I think he must have known every freight forwarder in West Germany. It was my job to type up business solicitation letters to each of them. The letters had to be perfect–no erasures or “white-out” or correction tape marks added. One particularly slow day, I didn’t have any other work to do but the solicitation letters. That day I typed 40 letters and envelopes–my best record.
Mr. Carr also dictated letters which I wrote down in shorthand. One day I missed a spelling error. He held the letter up in the air, and in a booming voice called out, “What is this? I can’t read it. Is it in Spanish or something? All eyes from the office staff were on me as I hurried back to his desk to see what he was so excited about, and with a red face, assured him I would retype the letter.
I remained at this office for two years, until I got married and moved to California. What did I learn from all that harassment? I learned basic double-entry bookkeeping from Mr. Carr. I learned to look words up in a dictionary, and became a good speller. When computers came along I could type over 100 words per minute. When my husband and I are in strange cities I am able to memorize street names, routes and directions quickly. I have ways to remember people’s names.
I still use my shorthand skills when I go to meetings and classes. I became more organized and efficient as I went on to learn more computer applications. There’s one more thing I can do to perfection. I can type professional resume’s without a blemish. As a writer using a word processor, I will reprint a page, several times if necessary, to correct even one tiny mistake. Now I am a perfectionist too! As I think back about Mr. Carr, I’m grateful that he pushed me to do my best. And my mind echoes back, “whatever’s worth doing, is worth doing well!”
I can make real fir Christmas wreaths and boughs like a professional. I can knit baby caps on a rake loom, and I’ve even sold a few. I can write a book about my husband’s white-water rafting experiences. I have a full notebook containing articles I’ve published. I can play the piano well enough to accompany congregational singing. I could even hold my own in a Jeopardy quiz on music and musicians. At 50 years of age, I earned an Associate Degree in Arts and Sciences from a community college. My emphasis was on Technical Writing and computer applications. I can layout and print out newsletters. I can make up lesson plans, and teach how to do genealogy, and how to write your personal history.
When I was 18 years old, and recently graduated from high school, I was hired as a clerk-typist for a custom house brokerage. I worked for a boss who demanded perfection. Though it was after World War II, it was sort of “known” about the office that he and his wife were Jewish and had escaped from Nazi Germany, which had something to do with their not having any family. He was a proud Prussian and used to demanding what he wanted. There were some nights, after dinner, when I helped my mom by wiping dishes, that I would complain to her about how mean Mr. Adolph Carr was.
I became able to meet his demands. We had a complicated 4-digit file numbering system. Over time I had the important account numbers memorized and could put my hand on a file as soon as he called for it–usually during a phone call. It was in the days when we made Consumption Entries on purple ditto masters that could not be erased. The masters were run through a cylinder with an alcoholic solution to print out copies. If I had a strikeover it would eternally embarrass me. When I had “down” time at work, Mr Carr would hand me a big book full of addresses for freight forwarders. I think he must have known every freight forwarder in West Germany. It was my job to type up business solicitation letters to each of them. The letters had to be perfect–no erasures or “white-out” or correction tape marks added. One particularly slow day, I didn’t have any other work to do but the solicitation letters. That day I typed 40 letters and envelopes–my best record.
Mr. Carr also dictated letters which I wrote down in shorthand. One day I missed a spelling error. He held the letter up in the air, and in a booming voice called out, “What is this? I can’t read it. Is it in Spanish or something? All eyes from the office staff were on me as I hurried back to his desk to see what he was so excited about, and with a red face, assured him I would retype the letter.
I remained at this office for two years, until I got married and moved to California. What did I learn from all that harassment? I learned basic double-entry bookkeeping from Mr. Carr. I learned to look words up in a dictionary, and became a good speller. When computers came along I could type over 100 words per minute. When my husband and I are in strange cities I am able to memorize street names, routes and directions quickly. I have ways to remember people’s names.
I still use my shorthand skills when I go to meetings and classes. I became more organized and efficient as I went on to learn more computer applications. There’s one more thing I can do to perfection. I can type professional resume’s without a blemish. As a writer using a word processor, I will reprint a page, several times if necessary, to correct even one tiny mistake. Now I am a perfectionist too! As I think back about Mr. Carr, I’m grateful that he pushed me to do my best. And my mind echoes back, “whatever’s worth doing, is worth doing well!”
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Memorizing Preserves the Past
Memorizing Preserves the Past
The power of recalling memorized materials has awed me. I didn’t set out to memorize many things but those I did commit to memory are not only still with me, they are teaching lessons I didn’t get the first time around.
Take the Gettysburg Address, written by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, for instance. My third-grade teacher, Mrs. Nelson, divided this famous speech into four parts. I got the first section to memorize: “Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation can long endure...” Then the person reading part two took over, followed by persons three and four. At the very end we chorused together, “we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain–that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth.” What a great message to give a rising generation surrounded by doubts and fears about the future!
I was a little girl with a big book of Nursery Rhymes. I could recite the verses before I could actually read them. This prompted me to ask, “Why couldn’t Humpty Dumpty be put back together again?” And “Why would anyone put four and twenty blackbirds in a pie? In my book they were all chirping their heads off while singing.”
My dad decided I should memorize the multiplication tables. Every time we went somewhere in the car, he would fire off a set. “What is seven times six?” I was expected to fire right back with “forty-two.” I can still answer the questions quickly. After I perfected the times table he started drilling me on the names of the forty-eight states and their capitols. “The capitol of Michigan is Lansing.”
In church every Sunday we said little verses called Sacrament gems. Six of those verses are now words to a Sacramental hymn we sing. “In memory of the broken flesh, we take the broken bread. And witness with the cup afresh, our faith in Christ, our Head.”
I learned the thirteen Articles of Faith by memory, when my Sunday School teacher, Mrs. June Skyles, offered a prize to the first person who memorized all thirteen. Guess who won? I was given a sweet picture of a cottage surrounded by flowers, to hang on my bedroom wall. Maybe that’s why I love flowers so much. Maybe that’s why I can still do a pretty good job of reciting them today!
Other things I was around a lot just sort of seeped into me. Our newspaper had a little quote by Voltaire, “Though I disagree with what you say, I’ll defend to the death, your right to say it.” That was noble. Now its important.
Then there was a radio station that started out the morning news with, Salutation to the Dawn. That poem was in a book my husband and I were reading a few days ago. He had learned the same verse and we both recited it together. “Look to this day for it is life, the very life of life. In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence–the bliss of growth, the glory of action, the splendor of beauty. For yesterday is but a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision. Look well, therefore to this day.”
Another radio program that I listened to on Sunday nights right after Mystery Theater, and just before I turned off the radio, stayed in my memory. Lying there in the dark, I still recall the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. “Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace, where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sorrow, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I shall not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved as to love; for it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Another character building poem I recall was written by one of my favorite authors, Edgar A. Guest, called Myself. “I have to live with myself and so, I want to be fit for myself to know....” This is one of the truths I have lived by.
At a recent stake conference in Peoria, Arizona, a visiting authority, Gregory Switzer, taught the audience a quick way to learn the Ten Commandments. (See Deut 5:6-21) The first four deal with God. (1) No other Gods, (2) No idols, (3) Don’t take My name in vain, (4) Keep the Sabbath Day holy. The fifth (5) commandment says to honor our parents. The last five deal with others. (6) Don’t murder, (7) Don’t commit adultery, (8) Don’t Steal, (9) Don’t Lie, (10) Don’t Covet. Since we can’t display these signs in public anymore we were told to “Teach them to your children.” He also said to use our walls and refrigerator doors to teach children. I used to display the framed testimony of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon near my front door from D&C 76:22 “This, last of all is the testimony which we give of him. That he lives!...” I think this left an impression on my children though nobody mentions it.
By recalling things I have memorized, and “how useful they’ve been in my life, I firmly believe you can’t start too soon. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 Babies can be taught with music.
Memory is the book that can't be burned, or confiscated, or hid in a virtual cloud, no matter how many ways they try to destroy it. And even those with memory loss retain long-term memory longer than other things they may forget.
The power of recalling memorized materials has awed me. I didn’t set out to memorize many things but those I did commit to memory are not only still with me, they are teaching lessons I didn’t get the first time around.
Take the Gettysburg Address, written by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, for instance. My third-grade teacher, Mrs. Nelson, divided this famous speech into four parts. I got the first section to memorize: “Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation can long endure...” Then the person reading part two took over, followed by persons three and four. At the very end we chorused together, “we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain–that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth.” What a great message to give a rising generation surrounded by doubts and fears about the future!
I was a little girl with a big book of Nursery Rhymes. I could recite the verses before I could actually read them. This prompted me to ask, “Why couldn’t Humpty Dumpty be put back together again?” And “Why would anyone put four and twenty blackbirds in a pie? In my book they were all chirping their heads off while singing.”
My dad decided I should memorize the multiplication tables. Every time we went somewhere in the car, he would fire off a set. “What is seven times six?” I was expected to fire right back with “forty-two.” I can still answer the questions quickly. After I perfected the times table he started drilling me on the names of the forty-eight states and their capitols. “The capitol of Michigan is Lansing.”
In church every Sunday we said little verses called Sacrament gems. Six of those verses are now words to a Sacramental hymn we sing. “In memory of the broken flesh, we take the broken bread. And witness with the cup afresh, our faith in Christ, our Head.”
I learned the thirteen Articles of Faith by memory, when my Sunday School teacher, Mrs. June Skyles, offered a prize to the first person who memorized all thirteen. Guess who won? I was given a sweet picture of a cottage surrounded by flowers, to hang on my bedroom wall. Maybe that’s why I love flowers so much. Maybe that’s why I can still do a pretty good job of reciting them today!
Other things I was around a lot just sort of seeped into me. Our newspaper had a little quote by Voltaire, “Though I disagree with what you say, I’ll defend to the death, your right to say it.” That was noble. Now its important.
Then there was a radio station that started out the morning news with, Salutation to the Dawn. That poem was in a book my husband and I were reading a few days ago. He had learned the same verse and we both recited it together. “Look to this day for it is life, the very life of life. In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence–the bliss of growth, the glory of action, the splendor of beauty. For yesterday is but a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision. Look well, therefore to this day.”
Another radio program that I listened to on Sunday nights right after Mystery Theater, and just before I turned off the radio, stayed in my memory. Lying there in the dark, I still recall the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. “Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace, where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sorrow, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I shall not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved as to love; for it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Another character building poem I recall was written by one of my favorite authors, Edgar A. Guest, called Myself. “I have to live with myself and so, I want to be fit for myself to know....” This is one of the truths I have lived by.
At a recent stake conference in Peoria, Arizona, a visiting authority, Gregory Switzer, taught the audience a quick way to learn the Ten Commandments. (See Deut 5:6-21) The first four deal with God. (1) No other Gods, (2) No idols, (3) Don’t take My name in vain, (4) Keep the Sabbath Day holy. The fifth (5) commandment says to honor our parents. The last five deal with others. (6) Don’t murder, (7) Don’t commit adultery, (8) Don’t Steal, (9) Don’t Lie, (10) Don’t Covet. Since we can’t display these signs in public anymore we were told to “Teach them to your children.” He also said to use our walls and refrigerator doors to teach children. I used to display the framed testimony of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon near my front door from D&C 76:22 “This, last of all is the testimony which we give of him. That he lives!...” I think this left an impression on my children though nobody mentions it.
By recalling things I have memorized, and “how useful they’ve been in my life, I firmly believe you can’t start too soon. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 Babies can be taught with music.
Memory is the book that can't be burned, or confiscated, or hid in a virtual cloud, no matter how many ways they try to destroy it. And even those with memory loss retain long-term memory longer than other things they may forget.
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