How Do YOU Worship on the Sabbath?

This is the best story/correlation I've heard about Sabbath worship.  It came from the February 2013 Ensign, p. 80:

Remembering Him on the Sabbath

Our Sunday School lesson on keeping the Sabbath day holy had gone well—until somebody mentioned television.

As people chimed in with their opinions regarding whether watching television on Sunday was appropriate, some class members became prescriptive. Before long, other class members became offended. The Spirit, which at first had accompanied our discussion, was replaced by a palpable tension.

Observing the growing discord, Kenneth Payne, a member of our stake presidency, asked to speak. He stood and began telling us about his son Brian, who had served in the Japan Tokyo North Mission. When President Payne and his family greeted Brian at the airport upon his return from his mission in March 2003, he complained of a stiff, sore jaw. Within weeks, Brian was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

A month later he began a regimen of chemotherapy and then radiation. President Payne said doctors had planned a bone-marrow transplant for September 22, but just after the first of that month, “Brian began having difficulty.”

He was hospitalized the second week of September. By then, because of the cancer’s aggressive nature, doctors determined that it was too late for a transplant. The family brought Brian home from the hospital on September 21. He passed away the next morning.

“September 22 is a special day for my family and me,” said President Payne. “On that day we slow down and think about Brian, his contributions to our family, and how he gave the last two years of his life to the Lord and to the Japanese people, whom he loved. We miss him, and on that day we reflect upon his life and honor his memory.”

For all of us, President Payne said, Sunday is a day to slow down and remember.

“We take time out to attend our Church meetings, partake of thesacrament, sorrow for our sins, and ponder the Savior’s suffering on our behalf,” he said. “We serve, we love, and we try not to be distracted by activities that would prevent us from worshipping Him.”

President Payne said that if Sunday activities are in keeping with that spirit, then we can feel right as we engage in them. But if they distract us from remembering the Savior and ministering on the Sabbath as He would minister, then perhaps we should reconsider our choice.

He then sat down and said no more. He didn’t need to. The Spirit had returned to the classroom, and we were all listening.

The kids come home. . . well, SOME of them!

President's Day Weekend brought a lot of people from up north to the warmer climes of St. George. . . .including Kristy, Christopher, and Natalee!!  Hooray!!  It was a whirlwind weekend with way more stuff to do than there was time for.  But we got in as much as we could!!  FUN FAMILY TIMES!!

We started off with a neighbor's horse getting stuck in the "bog" down in the gully.  It was a great rescue effort!!

 When everyone managed to get together in one place for more than a couple of minutes, it was at Wal-Mart!!  Luckily there weren't many shoppers there and we had the pharmacy area to ourselves.  We came up with 4 scavenger hunt lists, divided into couples, and had 20 minutes to find each item, take a picture of each, then meet back and see who got the most.  It was a lot of fun, and a few of us were only told a couple of times to "don't run in the store!"  We weren't!  Just walking quickly!!

Sunday was a great day to be in church together!!  Rhet Williams was home for the first time in about three years, and he sure looks good!  Was a sweet reunion it was for so many!  Sure love that boy!  After our meetings we came home and had our FAMILY Valentine's Dinner...everyone was sad they couldn't be here for the dinner on Valentine's Day, so we just had a late one!  Sooooo, fun!

 And Nat made a darling three-tier Valentine's cake!!  Of course there was lots of piano playing

and enjoying being together!  And the chimichangas, Spanish rice, taquitos, beans and salad were tasty!

After dinner we thought it a good idea to walk down to the horses to feed them...

and give us a little exercise!  Perfect night to be out and about!

 Monday morning Nat and I managed to get a horseback ride in with Kristy's "boy."  When we were saddling the horses he made the mistake of asking, "Did I put the saddle too high on her withers?"  Uhmmm, dead giveaway that he was NOT a normal "dude."  I've NEVER had an inexperienced rider ask if the saddle was on correctly, let alone on the horse's withers!!  Yeah, turns out Chris had ridden English (hunter/jumper category) for several years!!  The only problem Chris had was learning how to not sit so stiffly and just "roll" with the horse!!  But he did catch on and it was a fun ride, even if he did slit his pants open on a nail protruding from the saddle!  Oops...my bad!  But we had fun looking at some of the petroglyphs on Anasazi Ridge in spite of the "breeze."

"The Boy" knows how to ride. . .  REALLY!!

Dezmond got his FIRST RIDE WITH GRANDMA!!

And Grandpa tended while Dezmond's  Mom and Dad went riding with Grandma!

Millie and Hans got to ride up on Paradise Rim!

After all the horseback riding, teaching a few piano lessons, feeding horses, and eating dinner together, it was time for good-byes, and getting the "northern folk" back on the road.  We'll just have to 

have some more fun in MARCH!!

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 BLAST FROM THE PAST. . . 

Here are a few of the pictures I was able to find from Valentine's Day Dinners Past. . . 

Valentine's Day 2006...with Grandma Hunt AND Jaimi!!

2011 Valentines Dinner - with Korean student Min Tae Kim

Valentines Dinner 2012 - 

2012 Valentine's Dinner held "early" at Brandon's & Tannya's.  SO grateful Denzel & Anna were there!!

2012 Valentines - continued!

Valentine's Day 2013

What a good, fun, hard, emotional, memorable, and great day!! 

Things started out REALLY good.  I made a good breakfast of fried eggs and bacon for Rod and I before teaching my morning piano students.  As soon as I finished teaching, I pulled out the “hidden” stuff I was taking down to the high school…M&M chocolate chip cookies I had made for “Mr. Hunt’s students” and a hot fudge sundae glass filled with M&M’s, and Styrofoam and straws to make it look like a soda…and a note that said, “Rod, I ‘SODA’ like you!!”  Anyway, I added a couple of balloons, and went into Rod’s class (AP Biology), and gave him his Valentine surprise…and the kids enjoyed the cookies!

  

 Shortly after I got home, I had someone come to the front door...it was Cameo Florist with a BEAUTIFUL flower arrangement from my sweetheart!!!  What  sweet surprise.  AND I was actually home for the delivery!!  Wow!!
Then it was time to start working on preparations for tonight’s dinner.  Millie and Dezmond came over to help and it was a lot of fun…Amelia got everything set on the table while I tied little candy "favors" that would go on each plate.  It really ended up looking nice, thanks to all of Amelia's help.  

But there was also the hard parts... Mil and I were on the same emotional page, and our eyes would fill up with tears over the littlest things…

We talked and processed, cried and processed, and laughed and processed some more!!

When Amelia first came over I was crying about a little email from Dallin, that kind of blindsided me,  and then realized I was really crying about Denzel…sheesh!!  Can hardly wait til this stops!!  Anyway, it was so nice having Mil and Dezmond here. 

Grandma & Dezmond rock each other to sleep!!

Julieann, Harrison, Gary "Kissy Lips" Zabriskie & MaryAnn "Don't mess with me" Zabriskie,
Julie Schram, and Rod Hunt

Devon & Faith Reeves, Julieann Williams (hiddin), Harrison Schram, Gary & MaryAnn Zabriskie, and Julie Schram (she's
going to kill me for this picture!!)

 We LOVE having our Hunt family traditions…especially our Valentine’s Dinner.  Good thing there aren’t kids left at home…so we can invite people over to celebrate with us.  Homemade chimichangas, Spanish rice, refried beans, salad, sparkling punch, and brownie dessert!!  Delicious!!

Julieann, Harrison, Gary and MaryAnn

Devon and Faith,  and  Julieann

Rod and Patrice

Julie and Rod

Patrice, Devon, Faith and Julieann

Sunshine or Snow...What was I thinking???

Tuesday evening after teaching my last piano lesson, I headed up north for a whirlwind trip.  Busy, but lots of fun!

The first adventure was driving up to Provo and hitting different places with lots of snow coming down.  Sheesh!   I sure was glad we put new tires on the Silver Sonata earlier in the day.  I felt very safe on the road, but was still careful.  I got into Provo about 10:30 p.m. and met up with Nat, Erika, Kristy and Chris at the bowling alley.  This was my first time meeting Chris, and when he hugged me and said, "Good to meet you, PATTI!" I had no problem drilling him in the ribs with my knuckles!  That will teach him to listen to Nat!  *_*   It was fun being there altogether, and loved having Erika there, too!!  We finished up around midnight and headed in 4 different directions!

Wednesday morning Nat and I headed out in separate cars to SLC.  We met up with Brandon for a shooting range "date."  And I got to try-out a couple of hand guns.  It was a great way to get an idea of what I like.  Then Nat and I went over to Kristy's work where we finished signing some documents.  Then Nat headed to Mapleton, and I continued up to Clinton, to cook dinner for my parents and spend some time with them.  My mom has severe dementia, and later into the evening the "sundowners" affect came into play and she started asking why I kept calling her "mom."  In spite of it all, we had a really good time together, and Dawn joined us for dinner, too!  Great evening!

Then I drove back to SLC and spent the night with Erika's parents.  It was so fun to be with them, to talk, and just be together.  I enjoyed playing their piano and getting a little more practice in before my students' piano recital!

Thursday was spent with Kristy, and by Thursday evening we were up in Layton at the Ellisons.  Linda made a wonderful grilled chicken dinner, and Cambria, Josh and Lynlee were there for dinner, too!  Fun times!!

Friday was a difficult day with lots of emotions running rampant.  It only took about 24 hours to sort through them, deal with them, and learn from them.  Even though it was "good," sometimes I wish things could be easier!!

Saturday, Kristy and I drove to Eagle Mountain where I had a two hour piano lesson from Shane Bowles!  What an incredible learning opportunity!  Kristy ran the video and also worked on some of her computer stuff.  But at one point, she payed close attention and was nearly as shocked as I was at what I had just learned and done in about 15 minutes of time.  I composed my first 16 bar piece in that amount of time, and it sounds really cool!  I was dumbfounded!!  It was worth every penny I paid!!

After the lesson, I drove to Saratoga Springs to visit with Matt and Angie Ferrell, who used to live in Santa Clara.  I was lucky enough to catch them both home, unannounced, and we had a wonderful visit.  We have a lot more in common than we once did, with the death of our oldest sons.  It was good to share some of our thoughts, feelings, and experiences together.  Even the difficult things make us better people.  Hopefully kinder, more compassionate, and more understanding.

I made a quick stop in Mapleton, to trade Nat cars, say hi to Tony (who's fixing Nat's car for her), and then headed off to warmer climes!!  I was definitely tired of the 6' high snow banks where snowplows had piled the cold hard stuff from off the roads.  Ugh!  No place to walk safely, or without stomping through lots of snow and water!  Time to go home to St. George and bask in the sunshine!!  AND to go be with my husband!!