3-3-08

I have to pass this on quickly before I forget it. I just talked to Annette and she said Heather was fixing breakfast for Dianne, (Dianne has been testing all week at school) Dianne said she needed a good breakfast so she could do well on the tests. Heather said she would peel an orange for her, Dianne said she didn't need a whole orange, Heather said yes you will be smart all day, to which Dianne responded I only have to think until noon. So Heather gave her half of the orange. I laughed and laughed. She is so smart for only 8 years old. She also asked her Mother if was ever going to get baptised before she was 9. I told her mom I would see if I could get permission from President Halverson to go home for her baptism. Can you tell if I am looking for excuses for warm weather.
We had crazy weather on the weekend. It was nice and warm all day Saturday, I pulled into the car wash and it was 55 degrees out side. I pulled out and headed home and it was 45degrees. Soon it started snowing like a blizzard. It snowed until about 11pm. It was a very wet snow. On Sunday AM I was going to get in the truck and had a hard time opening the door, it had frozen shut. There went my wash job. Oh well, the windows are clean.
Sunday was a special day. At 9AM we met at the hospital as Sam was going to bless baby Benjamin Alexander Harrison. Wow, What a long name for such a tiny baby. It was fast meeting and the hospital has a branch on Sunday mornings. It is in the Murray Stake and 38 couples are assigned to the hospital. They are to visit the patients in the hospital each day and see to their needs. On Sunday there were 101 members in the hospital. The Branch President announced that this was the first time they had ever blessed a baby, the older women who usually came to the hospital had stopped having babies. (everyone laughed). The nurse brought Sam in to the meeting, he wasn't in his fancy wheelchair, he was in one they could lay him down in as he still gets tired quickly. He blessed the baby and both grandfathers were there, friends, cousins, brothers. It was a very special blessing. You could feel the spirit so strongly in his voice. If you did not see him in a wheel chair, you could not tell from the sound of his voice that he was ill. Afterword, we went to the 12th floor and everyone met there. We took pictures of them holding the baby. He is such a good baby, never a wimper from him. We left around 11 and went home and grabbed our salad fixings and headed over to the luncheon. The luncheon was at Ashley's grandma LouAnn's club house. It was very nice there. The food looked delicious, and they had cheese cake, too bad I was fasting. I stayed until 12:30 and went to my ward down town.
Sterling was there, I haven't seen him in some time, he looked real good, He is getting all grown up and mature looking. I forget he and T are going to be 25 this year. I guess its ok if they begin to look mature at that age. They probably think 25 is getting up there, but from my point of view is looks pretty young, I can't even remember back that far. I was just trying to think what I was doing when I was 25. I was married to Dan, and we lived in ABQ, I was working at the Buick dealership there that was 1970'. Other than that, I can't think of anything significant about that year.
Everyday at work, I distribute the mail. All of the mail that comes to this floor. We (the audiovisual department) occupy the west side of the 21st floor, and the translation department has the east side of the floor. Every work day, a young man on the translation side receives the BYU news paper "Daily Universe". Well, not wanting to waste paper, I help him recycle it by reading it before I give it to him. Anyway, there was an article in there about Sam. I went online and copied it so you could read it.
Here it is:
BYU student Sam Harrison was just adjusting to his role as the father of a one-month-old baby boy, when his life took another dramatic turn.
Feb. 16 Harrison was seriously injured in a snowboarding accident and was life-flighted to the University of Utah hospital.
An MRI and X-rays showed his neck broken in several places and damage to the protective layer around his spinal cord. Though his spinal cord is fine, Harrison is currently paralyzed. Doctors said it would be a miracle for him to walk again.
Thankfully, Sam and his wife Ashley said they believe in miracles.
Friends said Harrison mistook a large jump for a hill, caught too much air and landed on his head.
"Thankfully he was wearing a helmet so his head was protected," Ashley Harrison said. "Sam is not a daredevil."
At first, Harrison only had feeling just past his elbows and from his sternum upward. By Feb. 19, he had feeling down to his wrists in both arms and was able to breathe without a ventilator.
It was on this day that Harrison told his wife, "Ashley, I am not going to be a cripple. I am going to walk again."
Harrison was then moved to the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray to begin rehabilitation. He will be there for at least three months.
The story of Sam Harrison is available at www.donateforsam.org where donations can also be made. By the fifth day after being established, $10,000 had been donated. Sam, Ashley, and baby Benjamin greatly appreciate all prayers and donations.

It was a long day, I went to YLonni's after church and veged. She went over to her Sons for a while and I just sat there thinking through the day. We watched "Persuasion" on Masterpiece Theater. I went home about 10:30 and got to bed by midnight. Not to bad, but a full day.

Today, Juan has grouted all of the tile he has laid so far. He still has the hallways and a small piece in the North bedroom. The cabinets are supposed to be here on the 4th and will install on 5th or 6th. The contractor finished with the wall repair and stucco today. They had a difficult time matching the brick color. I think it will be OK.
This morning for our Monday morning devotional Elder Coleman spoke to us. Elder Coleman was my seminary director when I taught seminary in Grants. He told of his conversion. He had been a good member of his church and was an alter boy for 12 years. He said he had been looking into mormonism for a year and no one gave him a Book of Mormon. He said finally a missionary gave him a marked one. ( I don't know if you remember the blue Bof M with the picture of the Angel Moroni on the front.) He said he only read 87 verses, and he received a testimony. He said the markings started him on page 19 and then on to page 59, and some others inbetween, then on to 3 Nephi 11, and finally ending in Moroni with the challenge. He said he took the challenge and received a significant testimony. It changed his life. It was very moving. I had tears, of course, he had tears, and many others all of us remembering our precious testimonies when the spirit witnessed to us the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.