Today, I hang up my cap...

Today, I begin a new journey. I don't know where the road ahead will carry me. I only know these are new emotions I am feeling as I look forward to new experiences. I also know I'm not going to spend the rest of my days lounging around the house in my pink bath robe, watching Soap Operas, or Oprah, or game shows, eating bon-bons and putting on 50 pounds.

I still have dreams.

Looking back, I cannot believe it has been 35 years since I first contemplated entering the field of nursing. THIRTY-FIVE YEARS! Half of my lifetime! I think I always knew I would be a nurse. Some seed was planted inside of me that was dormant for the first one-half of my life and only needed the slightest nudge from a dear friend to step onto the path that led me to where I am today.



I shall forever be grateful for Colleen Brown for giving me that nudge. I'm grateful, too for a good husband who supported my decision to go back to school and for the patience of my children who had to sacrifice so much. Without their support and encouragement through those tough school years, I don't think I could have ever done what I did at the age of 35.

I'm grateful for a mother who taught me how to listen to my "gut" and gave me intuitive knowledge about taking care of the sick and wounded. She should have been a nurse herself, because she was so good at taking care of us when we were growing up. Her mother was a midwife, as was her grandmother. She learned many valuable lessons from them.

Yes, today I hang up my cap and my stethascope and feel so many wonderful emotions connected to my career in Nursing. I have been up to my elbows in blood and other bodily fluids as an ER Nurse; I have been gratified to participate in many code situations in which life was returned; I have sat by the bedside of the dying and the recovering and held hands and listened to their stories and shouldered their fears; and I have flown the blue skies over Utah, transporting many patients who needed our services in order to survive one of life's onslaughts.

I pray that for whatever is left of my life that I will find joy in my unknown future. God bless all of those Angels of Mercy who remain in the practice of nursing. I pray their careers will give them as much fulfillment as mine has given me.

And Aubrey Was Her Name...

When did this beautiful baby become an amazingly beautiful woman? Aubrey Dawn Messick won my heart from day one and has been winning hearts ever since.





I watched her grow from that beautiful baby to a precocious child. I watched her grow through the gangly teen years and on into womanhood. I followed her journey through college and her mission to Saskatchewan, Canada. And I watched her blossom just as the beautiful flower arrangements she is so gifted in creating.



I followed her "Mormon Bachelorette" journey with interest and amazement as she found her "forever" soul-mate as that story unfolded.





At long last, the culmination of all of this growing and blossoming and taking the risks on her journey has been wrapped in one glorious package called "the bride!" There are no words left in me to adequately describe my feelings as I watched once again with awe my little Aubrey kneel at the alter of marriage on March 19, 2011 and accept so willingly the new member of our family, Matthew Laidlaw, as her "forever" husband. The tears that welled in my eyes and spilled over to run down my face were tears of joy.





The day was one out of Cinderella's own story. Aubrey found her Prince Charming. They were sealed in the beautiful Temple in Los Angeles, where her mother and father were sealed; and both grand-parents were also sealed there. And though this is news to Aubrey, even her great-grand-parents were sealed there.

They hosted the wedding reception of the century at the Messick home in Laguna Niguel and when all of the festivities were done, Prince Charming rode off with his bride, Princess Aubrey not on a great white steed, but on his big, loud Harley through a sea of sparklers into the night. It was amazing!



Aside from all of the festivities and the joy for the happy couple, I think the most touching part of the evening was to watch our "little" Aubrey dance with her daddy to the tune of "And Aubrey Was Her Name" and to see the tears streaming down Kenny's face. Priceless! That is one vision I will keep with me for a very long time!



God bless the happy couple! I love you Aubrey!

Consider the brick...

My great-great-grandfather, Thomas Davenport, was a potter. He was sent by Brigham Young to Parowan, Utah to not only help settle the area, but to find a high quality of clay for his pottery to supply the needs of the Saints in a growing community.


















My husband, Gerry Henderson, was a Geologist. He also worked with clay. He found high quality clay that could withstand extreme heat to form long-lasting bricks for Interpace Brick Company in Salt Lake City, Utah. He found the clay, mined it and eventually, made bricks that would be used to build our first home in Salt Lake City. This home would keep his growing family safe.



Our Savior, the creator of this world created the clay that can be heated and formed into pottery and bricks. The finished product may go through many, many failures before the right combination of elements would produce a brick or pot strong enough to be useful. He also formed man and said he would be tested and sometimes the heat of those tests would be very, very hot; and sometimes he would crumble and fall apart until the right combination of experiences would produce a stronger man! In the process, our testimonies would grow and we would grow stronger.

Now, consider the brick.

In the hands of some it can be a building block, something that is of great use. On the other hand, in the hands of another it can be a weapon of destruction, thrown at will in order to injure.

I would like to consider a metaphore that I call "The Parable Of The Brick." I would propose that we liken the brick to the gifts we received from our Heavenly Father as part of our earthly inheritance. What will we do with our gifts? Will we bury them in a useless heap? Will we sling them at our enemies (and sometimes our friends)? Or will we use them for their God-given purpose--to build?


And what shall we build? Will we use them to build our homes to shelter our children? Or will we use them to build walls either to keep our families safe or to shut others out?


Or will we use these bricks (gifts) to build bridges to cross over rivers of doubt and misunderstandings. Or build bridges to span gulfs of harsh judgements in order to embrace those we love the most in our lives?


What will you build with your bricks? Walls? Or Bridges? The choice is yours.

Welcome 2011...

A New Year...365 days of 24 hours each...to plan, live life fully, and face together whatever lies in the wings.

I have looked over the past year's activities and have come to the realization that life is full of gifts. Each new day is a gift. The sunshine, the rain, the wind, and the snow are all gifts. Flowers in spring, warm days in summer, the colors of fall and the bleakness of winter are gifts.

My friends are amazing gifts sent to bless my life. To borrow words from a well known poem, some come into my life and stay the whole life through, others only touch my life for a moment, but all are gifts and help shape my life. My amazing family is a super-sized gift that I shall treasure long past this life and into the eternities. Our lives have intertwined in such intricate and meaningful ways, that one day does not go by that I am blessed by them.

When I recount the recent celebration in December of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, I realize He is the greatest gift of all. For by Him and through Him and because of Him, all of these other gifts are made possible. I shall forever be thankful for His gift of eternal life given to me at such a great cost to Himself.

I go forward in this New Year, a year older (yes) and a little slower than I used to be, but each and every day brings to me a new discovery about my life, about the path I have chosen, about my friends, about my family, and about my Savior. And, in spite of a troubled world, stumbling in the mire of unbelief, I can smile and say, "This is going to be an amazing year!"

I have set goals to read more Scripture, work at treating this gift of my body a little better, and search out my ancestors lives more. So much of their work has already been done, but I have a yearning to find out WHO THEY REALLY WERE!

God bless everyone throughout this upcoming New Year of 2011.

Another Year, Almost Gone...

I find it hard to believe that yet another year has come and gone and I am reluctant to let it go. There is just so much yet to do and so little time to do it in. I must say, however, that it has been an excellent year. Yes, I have grown another year older and who knows how much wiser; and I have accomplished a great deal more of my goals than I ever dreamed possible. God has been very good to me and to my family.

I want to highlight here our most recent trip to Orlando, Florida where we played as children play and thoroughly enjoyed the break from reality. Our first flight to fantasy was to Orlando Florida's amazing world of Universal Studio fantasy. We visited a great representation of Whooville, right out of Dr. Seuss's "How The Grinch Stole Christmas." We lunched with the residents and played in their magical land for a very long time. They were all so jolly and brought a great deal of the Christmas spirit to life for us.



Next, we ventured into the magicaL world of Harry Potter in the new feature for Universal. It was like a trip right into the world of magic. I had to taste the amazing Butter Beer (which I absolutely adored) and bought myself a magic wand. I guess I will have to register for classes in order to make any magic come out of it. Oh! We had a grand time. We had to hurry, though, because we had to run over to Universal Studio's section to watch the Macy's Christmas parade, complete with giant balloons and bands. Then, we made sure that we had great seats on the lawn for the outdoor performance of one of the best Christmas Concerts I have ever seen. It was "The Manheim Steamroller's Christmas Concert" right there in Universal Studios. We loved every freezing minute of it. (Yes, it was freezing cold in Orlando!)

DAY THREE:




We spent a wonderful, cold third day traveling to the eastern Atlantic coast to Cape Canaveral to visit the Kennedy Space Center. Oh, my we had such a wonderful time there. We had lunch with an astronaut and saw all of the exibits that we could possibly fit into one day. We took a bus ride out to the launch pads and saw the next Challenger poised on the pad and ready for launch sometime in February.

Last, but not least, we rode in a space shuttle simulator that was supposed to feel just like being launched into space. It was a wonderful ride and when they opened the hatch and we looked at the earth (which was supposed to be far below us) it took my breath away. Both Dean and I wanted to sign up for the next space launch right then and there. Did you know that when you go out into weightless space that you loose calcium right out of your bones? That is one of the reasons that the Astronauts excercise so much while they are in space.

I'm going to stop here and come back to this another day. Our vacation was a wonderful one and there is so much to tell and write about. But, right now, I just want to reflect on an amazing year that has made it possible for vacations like this one to happen. We have truly been blessed. We have relatively good health, we both have jobs that sustain us more than we could ever hope for. The preparation that we put into our life's careers has paid off in so many ways. We are able to help Dean's son with extra $$ for college, Billy with whatever he needs to keep his chosen career going, and whenever someone in the family has a need, we have been able to help even if it was just in some small way. The Lord has been so very, very good to us and we indeed are so very grateful.

I don't know if I will get anything posted before the New Year actually gets here, but if I don't, I pray that if 2011 is half as good to us as 2010 has been, we will be amply blessed.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Kurt Bestor at his best...

What a way to begin the Holiday Season. On Saturday evening, November 27, 2010, Dean and I were treated to a top-notch Christmas Special by Kurt Bestor. In our minds, Kurt is among the top Christmas billings.

We last saw Kurt in Boise, Idaho at the beautiful Cathedral in the Rockies and were lifted to a new level of musical expertise by a gifted craftsman. We have been hoping he would come to Oregon and finally, he did. The venue was a wonderful little theater in Hillsboro called The Venetian Theater and Bistro. It isn't as grand as the Cathedral or as elegant as the Schnitzer in Portland, but it was a beautiful experience.


We came early, so we could enjoy the Bistro for an elegant Italian dinner before venturing upstairs to see the show. When we entered the building, who do you think was sitting at the bar, visiting with his co-star, Jenny Jordan Frogley, but Kurt Bestor himself. I smiled at him in recognition, and he returned the smile. I was too timid to walk up to him and start talking. That's just me!


We enjoyed a wonderful dinner and then headed up the stairs to be treated with dessert. Yes, it was a show worth skipping dessert for. Kurt arranges all of his own music and does an outstanding job with many of the standard Christmas favorites. His gift on the piano is something to behold. We learned that he hated piano lessons and hated practicing as a child. Then, one day his mother put away all of his music and told him to "play me a sunrise." And he did! His words, "It wasn't perfection, but that's where I began to love the piano."


We were also treated with an amazingly gifted singer, Jenny Jordan Frogley. We had never heard of her before, but she can really belt out a song. She was a joy to behold.


All in all, the entire evening was well worth the hour and a half drive to get there (and home). We were well fed both physically and spiritually. And so, the Holiday Season begins in earnest for us.

Is Your Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

I once knew a dear, sweet lady somewhere in my past who was badly crippled with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Every day was another day of excruciating pain just as it had been the day before, and just as it would be the following day. And yet, I never once heard her complain or saw anything but a broad welcome smile on her sweet round face.

She would say that her glass was more than half full of great blessings and the empty half was reserved for blessings yet to come. She was a marvel to me. Her positive attitude and her ability to take whatever challenges life brought to her as easily as she would receive a beautifully wrapped gift from someone special in her life was beyond understanding. Her wisdom and courage was an example to me.

Over the years, I have tried to emulate this lady, but, alas, I fear I have fallen far short of that goal on more than one occasion. I have allowed worldly woes to fill the empty void in my glass and threaten to turn the filled part into "murky forgotten blessings." I have oftimes failed to see my half full blessings.

My life is fractured in so many directions, that it is no wonder that I can't excell at any one thing. I am so involved with my work (it consumes me sometimes), my family (near and far), my home and the management of so many facets of its survival, my writing of written words and music, my newly found love for piano lessons, my participation in the community with choral groups and Church music that I begin to wonder, "Where in all of this chaos is there time for my creative side?" Things that I used to love to do, like scrapbooking, reading, sewing, quilting have all taken a backseat to everyday living.

And, "Where is my time for self?"

And then I stop, look at my glass, start counting my blessings again and again, and I remember that beautiful bent lady of my past and my glass is transformed into something beautiful.



I pray this Thanksgiving day will find you all praising God and giving thanks for each and every blessing that fills your glass.

Always remember this little quote that I received recently in these "Thanksgiving thoughts: Happy moments, PRAISE GOD; Difficult moments, SEEK GOD; Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD; Fearful moments, TRUST GOD; and Every moment, THANK GOD."



Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!