Donna's Journey

Happy Birthday to my new son-in-law, Rory is 28 today.

Funeral March for my trees. The almonds from our trees were so hardy we could not crack their shells easily, even with a hammer, and when I missed, OUCH!!!. I loved the Filberts, but they got some sort of blight and are dying, only a handful of nuts this year. One apple tree produced worthless apples no matter what pruning and thinning I did. One apple tree gave delicious fruit, but is dying from fire blight. The ash only produced shade over the shed, not even to sit under.

Today Roger and the boys cut Two almond and one of the apple trees down, and got one trunk dug up. More this weekend. Though they were great for shade, we needed to plant some more edible trees. I will miss the visual display of spring blossoms. So now there are branches everywhere!

While my husband and the boys worked, I trimmed the Butterfly Bushes on the North side of the front yard. I topped the dried old flower spikes from lt season. I took out much hollow dead wood. I trimmed the overhanging branches. I slipped off the dead leaves to reveal clean stalks with soft new growth. I raked dead leaves from the flowerbeds, to open space for new growth. Crocuses, daffodils, tulips, and violets are bursting forth.

Birth to a new landscape: We bought two Jonathan apple trees which will bring good apple pie and canning apples in a few years. We also bought an Elberta peach tree and an early Elberta Peach tree. Roger is looking at Gala for eating, Apricot, and possibly a Nectarine tree. We will plant Concord Grapes at the top of our tiered garden. We also want to plant raspberries, straw berries, and black berries. Grapes will take a few years and so will the fruit trees, but the berries will produce this year. We grew Fruit trees, grapes, and raspberries when we lived in Littleton, Colorado.

We still look for fruit that others are not harvesting. I also know that this summer we will notice the lack of mature trees in the back yard. They shaded us from the hot summer sun all afternoon.

We still have the tall trees out front, as well as, the huge Maple in the Secret Garden. So, I still have cool shady areas to retreat to for times of reading, socializing, outdoor meals, and I can even use my laptop out there and do my business in the afternoons. The trees were 15 years old when we moved her 16 years ago. It will take a while for these trees to catch up. Perhaps my grandchildren with get their full benefit.

I have purple crocuses up, daffodils are about to spring open, Catkins are ready to burst on the trees, chervil is up and so are the chives. Soon my yard will be a riot of color and scents. I love each change of season, especially the season that is upon us (whatever that season might be). Spring is a time to prepare and plant, but first to clean. Clean our gardens and remove the leftovers of autumn and prune branches. Time to clean our homes, air them from winter’s stagnation. Even detox our bodies from the heavy winter food, with succulent spring greens.

This all coincides with the wedding this last week. Those preparations are past. What a joyous event!

Now my family has new dynamics. There are only five of us at home now, one ten year old daughter emerging toward womanhood, a fourteen year old son hitting his growth spurt, and a seventeen, soon to be eighteen emerging into adulthood.

So the process begins again as one has left the nest to help create her own. What process, the process of finding the new order out of the chaos that change brings to us all. Some call it a “six month purge” I do not like what that conjures in my mind. For me, Spring cleaning will suffice, as I move from zone to zone and decide what to keep in my life. What to keep in the garden? What to keep in each room of my home? What outside commitments will be there? What will life look like now? What are the essentials? Thinking beyond the veil gives eternal perspective now and helps in the choosing process. What will I say yes to? What will i say no to so I can say yes?

I so much like the adventure that awaits! So, I am Marching into Spring, and springing into action. I love the creative challenge as I create space for growth in our lives by choosing to say no to some things and choosing to let go of others. If I hold on to things that I no longer have need of or use that could be blessing others, I am sending a message to God that I have no space to receive Him, or His abundant gifts in my life.

I will not run faster than needful. Been there, done that. Why think it needs to be done all this week? I have all Spring! No worries. One foot in front of another. One room at a time. There is time for spontaneity . There is time for slow living and long walks. There is time for front porch brunches, and backyard lunches. There is time to enjoy my secret garden.

The word for Create in Genesis 1 means organize and is always a divine activity. I am a daughter of the Heavenly King and part of my divine inheritance is my ability to create and organize. The ability to be responsive to the promptings of the spirit means I must be spontaneous as well. The fewer distractions and outside commitments I have allow those Divine attributes to flourish. So I have choices to make. I am glad. I think I will start with the garden of my soul, and my outdoor garden, then press forward.

I really am excited to see what this adventure yields!

“And it came to pass that [they] lived after the manner of happiness.”(Book of Mormon | 2 Nephi 5:27)

A joyous occasion!! Rory Robert Groves and Julia Ann Goff were sealed for time and all eternity on Saturday 14 March 2009, in the Salt Lake Temple. The sealer reminded them that “Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. ” They are on that path!

God bless them and bring them everlasting JOY!

Julia is still quite ill. There is improvement, though.

What was going to be a week of working together has been a week of caring for her, while preparing for a wedding. Roger stepped in and helped with cooking while I ran around getting cooking ingredients and plastic/paper for the reception yesterday. Plans have had to been simplified as there is only one of me. I struggle to make her day special as she has worked for this her entire life, and I do not want to short her in anyway.

No time to continue this blogging. Breathe and get to work! I am on the run…

Another school shooting. Tragedy mounts.

I have so many questions:

Is there something about mass schooling that sends some personalities over the edge? Is it too impersonal? Are we ignoring the individual in efforts to mass socialize and indoctrinate? Do students feel like objects without a voice? What is really happening?

How many of these mass killers have been on SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors)? At least one of the Columbine killers had been on SSRIs, as was Andrea Yates (she used a bathtub). Is there something missing in how we respond to and treat depression?

Of those who had been on SSRIs, how many have been tested to see if they are Universal Reactors and cannot metabolize them properly?

How many had a thorough health, diet and lifestyle assessment? How was their exercise (considering that over 80% of people suffering from depression and/or mental illness do not engage in any regular exercise? How were their electronics habits (as extended artificial lights can mess with serotonin and melatonin cycles, effecting sleep patterns and contribute to depression)? Do they have Mitral Valve prolapse? What are their tissue levels of essential minerals and hormones? Were their hormones balanced?

Of those, how many were treated a a whole person with spiritual, psychological, and physical dimensions.

What are their school lunches contributing to their health?

What is the physical fitness program of the school contributing to health?

Are our schools respecting the developmental needs of students? Or are they guilty of practicing “education” as much as many in the medical profession are of “practicing medicine?”

So many questions…

We are in the straightaway before the wedding. A combination of events has taken its toll. It all adds up! This last week was pretty rough. We hit the week running and ended the week with collapse. Just reading this may exhaust you. Things add up. We began with finishing up the group tickets for the forum, a physical, a run to engagement pictures, preparation for the new website/launch of our company (a partnership between Julia and I), and then the week ripped into high gear. What follows is long, a week worth of posts in one long narrative.

On Thursday Julia packed up her room and Rory and his dad came to help move her into their new abode. We finished at midnight and rushed home to bed. Friday morning, early, Julia arrived at the book store to load up our truck with boxes of books for the Forum. Friday moved into ultra high gear. We rushed to get final things together and headed to Salt Lake for the annual meeting of the TJEd Marketplace. We arrived a few minutes late. I got to hear the introductions of everyone and looked forward with anticipation to meeting and getting to know these people. AH, but this got interrupted, as my printing was done and I needed to run to Orem to pick up the printing and my suitcase, stop for a quick late meal at Arby’s, and return to Salt Lake in time for Julia to help unpack the bookstore and set it up for the forum. We returned to the hotel in time to be setting up, but that was delayed when we were called down to join the banquet. After the banquet, Rory and Julia helped bring in the boxes and set up the book store. They finished near midnight. Rory was literally staggering from exhaustion. We retired by 1 am.

Saturday was a long day. We arose at 5 am because the venues were to be set up and running by 6:30 am. We had no time to stop for breakfast. Julia and I, got lunch around 1:30 in the afternoon, and it was none too soon for me. I had Rory’s sister Alexi, assist me. I was grateful for her presence, cheerful attitude, and that I was able to get up and move around, so I could have some breaks in the 13 hours I was at the booth. Alexi got her first exposure to TJEd by listening to the keynote address by DeMille. I did not get to hear it, so I will be listening via audio download.

The forum went well for me, as I enjoyed meeting the women and talking with them. The moms had waited so long to see, hold, and thumb the pages of my thesis. The young girls wistfully looking at the tiaras, and some coming back to buy them. Then later that evening, there were sweet young ladies sporting their tiaras and shining at the ball.

We packed up our booth at 7 pm. That last hour was intense, but wonderful. We made it to dinner about 8 pm. Roger took us all out to Sizzlers. I was concerned, knowing we had eaten only once and it had been about seven hours since. Julia lost her appetite and had to pack up her steak dinner in a box for later.

We hurried back to the hotel and changed into our formal attire and went to the Family Ball. I was grateful to be in my sweetheart’s arms, to dance, and feel the security of his presence and love. We finished around 11 pm and Julia changed so she could go finish packing up the store. She returned to our room about midnight with the store’s printer. Her boss said she would be up in 5 minutes, but never came. We gave up and retired at 1 am. Ah, it was spring forward, so it was actually two. Julia was agitated about news from her boss that could impact her wedding plans this week. In this exhausted state Julia does not deal with surprises well.

We arose at 5:30 am so Julia could get home, shower, and be at her stake president’s interview at 8:30 am, then come home to finish preparing her Sunday School lesson. Well, we still had the printer and no room to take it home. So, she called her boss. Her boss’ cell phone was off. We had no choice but to put the printer in the hall, outside her door with a note on it and let the people at the front desk know, at check out.

We made it home and Julia made it to her live ordinance interview with the stake president. We then crashed. I slept until two in the afternoon, had a sandwich, unpacked my duffel bag and fell back asleep. I woke briefly when Julia came home from Sunday School at 4:30. I knew our home teachers were coming at 8 or 8:30ish. I woke again at 8:30 and came to the kitchen to find food awaiting. I ate and tried to wake Julia on the couch, she was incoherent. My son walked through the kitchen with our home teacher’s young companion, his son. I asked when his father would arrive and found out that he was downstairs and they were finished home teaching. They prayed for Julia and for me.

I saw Julia’s phone on the floor near her. I knew it needed charging. I did not want her to be disturbed so I plugged it in in my room. I knew Rory would call. He did. I reported on her status when he did. At this point, we are all worried.

I went back to bed, only to be awoken by a phone call at 10 pm. I tried to sleep, but Roger’s snoring woke me. I went to the trundle bed in Mary’s room, in hopes that I would find rest there. It was fitful at best.

Everything has combined. The dust from packing books for the store and belongings for her own move, the events of the week, the forum and all that happened. Julia has a heart condition. I do not know that Julia even ate anything yesterday. I heard her coughing, I think from dealing with dust, as she is allergic. Basically, she collapsed and just shut down.

It has all added up and combined. Her courtship began with Julia taking Rory soup when he was ill. Now, approaching the wedding, she is the one who is ill. Today, a prayerful vigil I keep. I will need to call her boss, as I doubt she will even be coherent enough to arise and go to work. This week they unpack the store. This week we do the last preparations for the wedding. So much happening.