"We are woven together like a beautiful tapestry"

I loved being in Relief Society today. The lesson was on honoring the sabbath and keeping it holy. It was a fantastic and inspiring lesson, and one I needed to hear as I haven't been at church it seems like in weeks. We went to the Brigham temple dedication, then Stake Conference, then General Conference, then our trip to Bear Lake. I needed to partake of the sacrament, get a refill, and recommit myself. When I go that long without the sacrament, I just feel myself slipping spiritually and feeling down. I also loved being among the sisters and especially sitting with my spunky senior sistas (Darma, Rae, and Joella) They're such gems...so accepting, so easy to talk to and be with. I have no living grandmothers left, and everyone needs a grandma even if they are adopted. Losing Toby's mom last year and then his Grandma the same day this past Spring has been so hard. We love and miss them more than words can express. Our neighbor Darma is a lot like Grandma Dorothy, also in her 80s. Our bedroom window faces down on her kitchen window and I see her reading her scriptures at her kitchen table like Grandma used to do. She also sneaks late night snacks and watches TV like me. Haha! (I promise I'm really not a stalker Darma!) She's also very active, social, and involved with many things like Grandma D. She likes to be out doing things, she loves to garden, and she just won 2 more gold medals in golf at the senior games in St George last weekend. She is like a grandma to me and great-grandma to my kids. She has come to our house for dinner, gone to George's band concerts and performances, and invites our kids to join with her grandkids every easter for their egg hunt. We love her so much and she has blessed our lives and filled a hole in our hearts in many ways. I could also mention so many others who have been a strength to us here and I hope we have been in some way a strength to them. I know that even in the hard times with everything breaking down in our old house and some things in our lives, that we were guided here to bless others and to be blessed by them. Like Pres. Hinckley said in one of his great sermons...(and this isnt a direct quote because I couldnt find it)but it went something like this: We are each a colorful strand woven into eachother's lives like a beautiful tapestry, we all need one another. :) As I thought about this quote it reminded me of an experience we had when we visited my parents on the Navajo Reservation serving their mission at the time in Ganado, Arizona. They took us to visit an old trading post and inside the post was a beautiful old Navajo woman weaving a Navajo rug on a loom. As we watched her weaving in amazement with how focused and undistracted she was on each strand and how she knew exactly where each strand went in the pattern she was weaving. She knew the pattern by heart and made it look effortless. We stood there for quite some time just quietly watching, and then politely requested and generously paid her for her photo with Maya and George together. I wish I had a copy to post because its a beautiful picture. But this photo is very similar to the one we have with the weaver and our kids.

I think God is a lot like that old, wise, talented, Indian woman. He knows each of us by heart, so well, he doesnt even have to look at the pattern because he created the pattern. He is weaving us into something beautiful, strand by strand. We may not know the end from the beginning, but each of us are strands interconnecting through God's hands, and he does know the end from the beginning. Each of us can bless each others lives as he guides us and uses us in His hands. I'm so grateful for all those who bless and teach me by their example daily. I have needed your guidance, strength, friendship, forgiveness through my faults, unconditional love, smiles, prayers, and hugs. :)