Donna's Journey

When my daughter, Jennifer, married Alan Walton, the sealer was his maternal Grandfather Ivie. As a prelude to the actual sealing ceremony, while they were at the altar, Grandpa Ivie said that he was not “just sealing” them together but joining two families together.

After the sealing and pictures in front of the temple, we went to Grandpa Ivie’s brother’s home, Uncle Ray’s, for a potluck dinner. We were there for about 4.5 hours. This was a good thing. It helped the uniting of two families. I am glad we did not do the reception that night, and are holding it in April. Both families needed that time together to become familiar and draw closer. I would recommend it to everyone getting married. It makes the wedding day much more focused on the ceremony and the after celebration does not detract from the ceremony. This was a relaxed and happy time!
Yeah, uncle Ray and Aunt Meribeth!

On that note, Jennifer and Alan have decided that they will have no in-laws. They do not like the concept of sound of it. We are all family.

We have been embraced by them. My children have gained four new grandparents in the deal. Grandpa Walton ended up in the hospital with open heart surgery. Jennifer, Alan, and Julia went down to visit him. He introduced them to his staff as his grandchildren.

Alan has one sister, Sarah; Julia and Mary have bonded with her, as sisters.

Everyone loves Alan’s little brother David. He is a jewel.

While we were involved in the bridal showers a week ago, Alan and his brothers Patrick and Nicholas came and played Risk with Jeremy and James. It was cute. My boys thought of it as a bachelor’s party! Alan has set the standard for good clean fun with the men of the family, as a bachelor’s party.
I guess I should call it an un-bachelor’s party, as Alan was already married.

I love the parents and families of my two married sons. I have a good friend that happens to be the cousin of Ki (my son, Adam’s wife). We helped with the wedding reception of the brother of Tiffany (my son, Jon’s wife). However, all of the siblings of my son’s wives are adults. They are kind and accepting of my children. They will even horse around with my boys, sing around the piano on Sundays when they visit, and are wonderful. However, this is not the same as having someone your age, or close to it.

The Waltons still have younger children at home. Our children get along. On Saturday, Alan’s mother Ann, picked up Mary and took her with them to Thanksgiving Point to watch Patrick in a band concert. Afterwards, they went back to their house. They printed off the weeding invitation envelopes. Soon they decided to stuff them, while they could. They put invitations in envelopes as a family team. Afterwards, they visited Grandpa Walton at his home. Yeah! He is home from the hospital. He gave Mary an assignment. She was to go home and ask Julia to round up pictures of my children for him to place on the piano top with the rest of his grandchildren!

Mary told Sarah that we were selling our home and moving to Monticello. Sarah, told her she can’t because she finally had sisters. I assured Mary that the move won’t change that and perhaps Sarah could come down to visit. Meanwhile, we can enjoy being in close proximity. We are building a home that can welcome family and friends.

The move is rushing forward. I came home from a Bridal Fair and found my stained glass table and equipment packed up and taken out. All my sewing and craft notions too. Roger and Jeremy had been busy! Roger and Jeremy got Alan and his friends to help move the heavy equipment, We followed it with a pizza party. Wow, this is happening. I even got a phone call on what the price is. It is not even on the market yet.

I received approval of my new prospectus on Friday to move ahead on my new thesis! Yeah!!!!

Today, we arose early and headed to Ogden to hear Justin Galvez speak, he is going onto the MTC this week.

I left without breakfast, thankfully Jennifer and Alan brought homemade trail mix of dried fruit and nuts. I got to listen to Alan memorizing Moses 2 7-14, as we drove to Ogden. I was amazed at how memorizing can expand spiritual and mental capacities.

He is leaving on his mission Wednesday and spoke in church today. He gave a wonderful talk on six points of his testimony. He sang a Child’s Prayer, A Cappela, in the middle of his talk.His sister played a lovely harp solo. We stayed for the block of classes. Sunday School was active. Some false doctrine speculation was given, but was handled by several of our group in a very clear and scriptural way. The third hour was a joint Relief Society and Priesthood class where we were addressed about the current counsel on food storage.

After church we went to the Galvez home for lunch. We sat in the family room and each introduced ourselves and how we met Justin. While eating lunch, I could hear music but did not realize it was live, at first. I finally walked into the living room to see Jennilyn playing the piano, a young man on a flute, and young adults sining Come thou Fount of Every Blessing. Not too long then all the youth had gathered in and we sang Come Thou Fount, Amazing Grace, several hymns, A Child’s Prayer, and then we ended with God Be With you Until We Meet Again. We were accompanied on the piano and violin. What a spirit!

We sang hymns A Cappela most of the way home.

Last night I listened as my daughter met the friends of her new husband. One of his friends said, “lets have the story!”

It was powerful for peers to listen to the story of a chaste and pure courtship, from my daughter. She shared her thoughts and what she had been thinking and hoping as things unfolded. I watch these good young men as they reflected on their dating experiences. These young men got to see the difference between dating and Godly courtship.

My daughter got to the day before the engagement in the story, so they decided to join together for homemade cinnamon rolls after priesthood next week and hear the rest of the story.

I do not think these young men have ever seen things from the girls perspective. Her purity came across in the telling of their story. They shared their perspective, as well. Which was enlightening to my 25 year old daughter. I am not biased, I feel she really is beautiful and intelligent. Enough so that I feel most guys are intimidated. So, rather than be told no, they do not bother to ask.

When chaste young people share their story, it can touch lives, and give others courage to be chaste and pure.

Jennifer and Alan arrived home for the weekend on Friday with Jen’s old roommate Ann and her boy friend. The final selection was made of the announcements that Alan’s mother created, and had printed, ready for stuffing envelopes on Saturday. Alan’s mother, his siblings, and Mary put the announcements in the envelopes, while were at a bridal fair. Lots to do. Very little time.

Lesson One
It is nice to learn how to think outside the box, but when it comes to packing moving boxes of books, magazines, art supplies, and equipment, smaller cartons are easier to lift. So, yesterday Roger brought home some boxes that were small enough to pack and handle. I was able to pack 16 boxes of art, gardening, sewing and craft books and magazines. I also packed 2 crates of beautiful, stunning antique, wispy, opaque, baroque, and water glass. They revealed their beauty and glimmered like sheets of jewels. That was almost a show stopper. Oh, it stirred my heart. I wanted to stop and actually create something. I have not packed my sewing and paper supplies, so there is still a chance!

We were trying to pack up what we do not intend to use for three to four months. That is hard, as it takes us right through spring. I did convince Julia to hold out my nature notebooks. Even if she had not I could have created a new one with little expense. Not many people try to fit a studio and business into their home. They take up more space than people do. So, we need to pack up that space so people can see how big and spacious our home really is.

Lesson Two
When you come across a package of photographs, do not stop and look. Now is not the time to reminisce. Just pack them with like materials and move on, or you won’t be able to get much done.

Lesson Three
When you move things in the van at night and use the overhead lights in the car, we need to take care to turn them off. Last night my husband filled the van, one more time with boxes and left the inside van light on. This morning, the van would not unlock with the button on my key. So I did it manually. No big deal. Then none of the car doors would unlock from the console. No problem, I can do that manually too. Then I tried the key in the ignition. Not a sound. Oops. My husband came and jump started me. The horn started blaring. I could not get it to stop. Then I looked at the console and realized that the electronics had reset and I needed a code to get my van going. I tried to put the van in drive so I could drive it down to the Honda place with horn blaring as a parade. It would not budge. I had to turn it off and let my husband drive the truck to the Honda place to find out how to get the van moving. Ha! This three ring circus got my heart really fluttering. Needless to say, I did not get to the gym this morning.

Lesson Four
Every little bit helps. Yes, there are a few things that need to be dejunked, but not much from the studio, and not much from the family library. None the less, A little evaluation and letting go goes a long way. It lets the universe know you have space to grow. The way to do that in art and sewing is to be creating. As you create, it creates space for more inspiration.

Lesson Five

If you are too busy to do something like moving right, then you are too busy. So, the biggest part of moving can be in letting go of non essential things that fill your time and rob your creative energy. A move marks a new direction in your life. A blank slate to write. What really stays and what really goes? What is not there that should or could be? A move by its very nature can be transformational.

We live in a world saturated with xeno estrogens, man made compounds that act like estrogen. Add those to diet and lifestyle, and you have a time bomb with your health (Xeno-estrogens combined with diet, and lifestyle can spell disaster for a person’s health). For women it can lead to breast and uterine cancer for men it can lead to prostate cancer.

My mother died 5 April 1994. When she died, we did not know why? Prior to her death she told us to do an autopsy on her to find out what killed her, so we could protect ourselves. So, when she died, we honored her request. She died of copper in the brain. At the time her copper in the brain was diagnosed as Pick’s Disease. That may be, but I have long felt that there was something else at work there.

Two years after she died, Dr. John Lee published a book called What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause: The Breakthrough Book on Natural Progesterone. I came across this book in 1999. Dr. Lee coined the phrase Estrogen Dominance and this book discusses what is known about estrogen dominance syndrome.

As I read Dr. John Lee’s book, I became increasingly aware that my mother had estrogen dominance and that I too had it. In discussing it with my sister, she had to deal with it too. My sister has since been able to balance her hormones.

High levels of estrogen can result in copper in the brain. My mother had suffered from fibroids that resulting in a hysterectomy. Fibroids are caused by estrogen dominance. About that same time period she had thyroid issues and they were going to surgically remove her thyroid. My sister, some friends and I fasted for her. When she went in for surgery, the thyroid was normal and the surgery was not performed. High estrogen levels can interfere with proper function of the thyroid.

Mom lived under a lot of stress and she took HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy). Basically, she was on extra estrogen for decades and her stress levels would have left the extra estrogen un-apposed.

What about me? My estrogen dominance is escalating, from dealing with fibrocystic disease to adrenal issues, to thyroid issues. It is an ugly cycle, really. As I study more I learn that the modern world is hazardous to my health. The question is, can I make the necessary changes to reverse this?
I am only half way through life and this is effecting quality of life. This is not as simple as just a few dietary changes. Better late than never. Diet is important and easy to change, as the change there will need to be minimal. It is the environmental factors, and life rhythms that must be altered, as well.

Environmental?

Xeno-estrogens are a bi-product of the petroleum and pharmaceutical industry. That includes shampoo, cosmetics, plastics, medicine, and even gas for our cars. I never liked plastics. I am not big on pharmaceuticals, as many cover symptoms of disease brought on by lifestyle and diet, and most often could be reversed by simple changes, I avoid medicine when I can. Rather than be exposed to chemicals in plastics I prefer to use ceramic and glass. I have always been a minimalist when it comes to cosmetics. Shampoo has so many chemicals that are absorbed through the skin. I do try to lesson chemical use by using my steam cleaner. Petroleum is what most automobiles run on. Utah Valley is so polluted. Ah, a plus for windy Monticello! So, I need to consider my xeno exposure.

Light pollution is another contributing factor. Our bodies run on circadian rhythms, which are regulated by daylight and seasons. Most of us have habituated ourself to life rhythms that totally ignore our body clock. We actually begin to think we are night people. It is the indoor light pollution that is the worst. Bright light suppress melatonin production. Melatonin suppresses the body’s manufacture of estrogen. Melatonin production is low in daylight and bright light. As night falls and light decreases, Melatonin should increase. Melatonin not only suppresses estrogen, it enhances the immune system. Ah, and when we are at sleep, at our highest Melatonin levels, our body repairs itself. We want our bodies to produce Melatonin! Ah, early to bed, and early to rise… I’ll follow the sun.

Monticello has less outdoor light pollution than Orem.

What about stress? Stress hormones are manufactured out of the same nutrients progesterone is made from. When in a stressful situation, instead of producing progesterone, the natural balancing hormone to estrogen, the body switches to manufacture adrenal hormones. These hormones bind at progesterone receptor sites, further exacerbating the the estrogen imbalance. Hence, less progesterone is made, and even less is used. This effects the thyroid, metabolism, weight gain, and insulin levels. All of which can lead to diabetes, low thyroid function, even highr levels of estrogen and more weight gain.

Can I reduce stress? Can I detoxify my body from the over production of stress hormones. Yes. A smaller life plate, simplifying my life. Saunas tend to detoxify the body of excess adrenal hormones, as does exercise.

Then there is another source of estrogen, excess body fat. Ouch. Well, estrogen dominance leads to excess body fat, and excess body fat causes the body to make more estrogen. Oh, and to make mattes worse, more fat means more xeno-estrogen storage is available. A mad cycle!

I have been working to address these issues. Yet, my family has been slow to see the need. They talk about the 80-20 rule, but do not realize that the they have reversed it to 20-80. As I look through my home, I see we are all effected by this, except my 13 year old. This can effect men too. I see more changes coming. They all thought it was just me. Now they are beginning to understand.

Egg 1

a silver coin

Matthew 26:14-15
Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

Egg 2

clear or paper nut sized cup

Matthew 26:39
And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

Egg 3

a piece of rope

Matthew 27:1-2
WHEN the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: and when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.

Egg 4

piece of soap

Matthew 27:24-26
When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

Egg 5

piece of red fabric and rose thorns

Matthew 27:28-30
And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.

Egg 6

a nail

Matthew 27:31-32
And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.

Egg 7

dice

Matthew 27:35-36
And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down they watched him there;

Egg 8

soil (because of the earthquake)

Matthew 27:50-51,54
Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

Egg 9

a piece of white linen or cloth

Matthew 27:58-60
He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.

Egg 10

a stone

Matthew 27:60, 65-66
And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed…Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.

Egg 11

spices

Mark 16:1
AND when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.

Egg 12

Empty! except for the scripture strip, because the tomb was empty

Matthew 28:6
He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

We had a full house today. Alan and Jennifer arrived early Friday am. Then later on Friday, I had five other GWC students arrive: Manike, Ann, Nick, Jocelyn, and Brian.

Today, Roger mad everyone French Toast for breakfast. We attended Easter Sacrament Meeting together.

To the guests that were here, we added more. My mother in law came, then my sister in law, Bea, and her two grandbabies, Samuel (Sammy) and Jamie, then my son Adam, his wife Ki and boys, Valor, and Zane. In the end we had 21 people here. I was thankful the weather was warm and we could open the windows.

I did a simple Easter Feast:
Ham that I baked last night
Baked potatoes
Organic Spring Salad
Garden Salad
Minted Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots, and Squash
Fresh Strawberries
Grape tomatoes
Williamsburg Orange Cake that I made last night

Basically the only things I real had to cook today was the potatoes and veggies. Ah, and we used paper dishes and plastic ware.

After dinner, the five GWC students headed home, Bea left with her grand children, and Grandma left, and the rest of us retired to the living room to do our Easter Program. I had a basket full of 12 eggs. Each egg had a scripture, and symbolic item in it. Then we sang several Easter Songs. I loved to hear my family sing A Cappella. We had enough to have a full range. I love to hear my family sing with their heart!

Alan and Jennifer went home to Cedar City tonight. With the help of our silver bullet luggage rack, they were able to get much of their things back to Cedar City. They left me a CD of their wedding pictures. next week they try to come home to help with invitations…