Grandparents Visit Primary Sacrament Meeting Program

Today we attended another ward Sacrament meeting program for Annie and Jeremy's ward in Kennewick, Clearwater Ward.

Kaylie and Adam participated and it was very spiritual and uplifting. They each had their parts prepared and did a great job. I just love going to hear the songs, and how well prepared all the children were for it.

They had several favorite songs that I love anyway. One was about living at the time Jesus was on the earth, and the other one was "When He Comes Again."

It was the fourth Primary Sacrament Meeting program we had attended. Our ward's was last week, and then this one, with the Lindon Third ward, and Tracie's ward in Highland in September. Each one was different, but good. The Spirit is always so strong and sweet.

Our Ward met at the same time as theirs so we went to our ward for Priesthood and Relief Society afterwards. It was combined for the fifth Sunday. The lesson was given about the "Worth of Souls", a conference talk by Elder Deiter F Uchtdorf.

Guests for Dinner from Yakima

We had dinner ready for Ronnie and Adrienne's family. We had Chicken Enchiladas, Greek salad, Mexican rice, Guacamole, frijoles refritos (refried beans), pico de gallo (fresh salsa). Ronnie and Adrienne called earlier to see if we could watch the kids while they went to the temple tonight.

We were delighted to have the kids here, and hadn't seen them since the wedding a month ago. The kids were great and were glad to help take care of them. It is wonderful to be able to be grandparents.

Manna From Heaven. . .Rest of the Story

Re: Michael's comment:

This is the rest of the story. Joanna and Heather came to help me purge and organize my house in Orem. I had left a tithing envelope on the desk by the phone in the kitchen. The envelope was gone and missing when I got back after they cleaned. They cleaned so good they could not remember where the envelope could be or was put. I did not have a return address on the envelope, but it was sealed. I felt, at the time that maybe the envelope was thrown away by mistake. I did not know. It just disappeared.

That is why I was bewildered to find it in a file no less, one that I had not put there myself, so I still cannot figure what happened back then.

So the mystery is still unsolved. Was it a matter of not throwing anything away? Maybe,. but it wasn't me that made that decision.

Love, Mom

Manna From Heaven

Yesterday while going through boxes and files, a familiar pre-addressed envelope surfaced. I recognized the envelope as my tithing. It was sealed, but had no name on the outside.

I then remembered that I had misplaced a tithing envelope that contained a cash donation, with the slip all written out and dated too July 24, 2005. It contained a single $100 bill. When it was first misplaced I told the first counselor in our bishopric, Scott Kirkland. It was traumatic to me and I told him I need to pay it again. I had just started a new job and wanted to be sure to pay my tithing even though the envelope just disappeared.

He said, the Lord knew my intent and I didn't need to pay it. I disagreed, so I paid it again. Now I have the $100 and can do anything I want to do with it. I think I will save it for a special item yet unknown.

I have no idea how the tithing enveloped ended up in the file I found yesterday.

Clearing Clutter, Discarding Unneeded, The Excess

The last two days have been spent going through packed boxes from the move from Lindon to West Richland. Ron has been helping me keep going and sorting out the papers, genealogy, pictures, books, rubber stamps, stamp pads and stationary galore and what not. It is the "what not," that kept us so busy.

Ron made some shelves for me to put the books, journals and notebooks. The pine wood planks were 12" by 6'. He used brackets to place the wood and turned out well. It is nice to have a place to have them where I can access them, instead of being put away in boxes, who knows where!

Ron has been very patient and a big help to get the family room tidy. We did that for the living room, and it looks great without the boxes or like we just moved in. There are only a few boxes left to shelf, but lots of stacks and piles to put on the shelves. Tomorrow is a new day.

I am grateful to Ron for his assistance to get the project closer to the finish. Pictures of the final product to be posted later.

Our FIrst Guests for Dinner

We invited Annie, Jeremy,Kaylie and Adam for dinner and family night . We had roast, potatoes, spinach salad, and chard from the garden. Dessert was homemade chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream.



Jeremy gave the family night lesson on the scriptures and the Book of Mormon. We had a fun time and enjoyed having our first guests over for dinner.

Each New Day Brings New Experiences

Columbia River Temple--Kennewick, WA



I talked to one of my sons today and was asked how I was acclimating to married life.

Great!! It is so wonderful to have a companion with me when we go to the store shopping for groceries, going to the temple, fixing dinner, eating meals together and Church to name a few. We have gone walking this week and last week. The weather as been agreeable for walking.

It is also nice to have a sweet companion near me and snuggle with to sleep. Waking up and having Ron there is also a great comfort. We cherish the time we have together. I count those blessings every day and thank my Father in heaven for a sweet husband who cares about me and loves me dearly.

I let him know how great it is; he knows I love him and adore him as well. We give to each other and I am so thankful for a beautiful courtship that continues and savor each moment.

We are developing a good habit to have our daily morning and evening prayers together, reading our scriptures [Book of Mormon, and Pearl of Great Price]. We went to the temple, Columbia River Temple this morning. It was the first time we went since we came back to Washington. I am getting acquainted with the temple and maybe next time I will know where the ladies room is located and how to get to the ordinance rooms. It is a smaller temple than I am used to. It is so compact, mini-size compared to Mt. Timpanogos temple. It a beautiful temple, the Celestial room has beautiful chandeliers, with a sweet spirit throughout the temple.

We volunteered at church this next week to go help clean the temple on Monday morning. It is more or less surface cleaning, like the bathrooms and vacuuming. It is a joy to be able to go with Ron together on these assignments.

I met a woman in the temple who is a new convert, and was endowed a year after her baptism in June of this year. She and her husband were there as she told me a little about herself while we waited (quietly) in the ordinance room where we were to wait for the session to fill and begin around 9:30 am. We later exchanged emails and phone numbers. I offered to help her with her genealogy and show her how to get sealed to her parets. She was born in Texas, so we had that in common as well as our heritage. More about that another post.

I also met a temple worker who knew Ronnie and Adrienne in Yakima, who are in their ward. She recognized the Walser name and asked if we were related to them. It is a small world!

A Day With My Sweetheart

I just decided to keep up the daily activities and work the back blogs in as time allows.

We went to an incredible movie, "Courageous." It's theme is about moral choices and fathers being true to themselves, God and Family.

It is at the theater now, and comes highly recommend by Loni,in Cincinnati.

There a lot of true situations we can all identify. Many tender ones too about parents and the choices made good, and not so good.

Enough said. Make an effort to find out where it is playing. It is one you would want to see with your teens, after you see it yourselves. Check out the review online.

We had a great time and then went to dinner at "Anthony's." It is a seafood restaurant. We had steak and prawns. Delicious. It is so nice to have a dear companion to go and enjoy each day, together. How blessed we are. I count my blessings. : )

Go see the movie!

Anna Walser

I promise to post all about our courtship and marriage, soon.

It has been a wonderful whirlwind of love and romance with Ron, my husband.

We have kept notes and I plan to update the blog as soon as we get more settled.

We have been on to go constantly for the last month, September and October.

We are back "home," now in West Richland, Washington.

We were able to go on a short honeymoon to Cincinnati. Highlights and photos to follow.

Thanks for your patience. Anna and Ron--

Our Story~Shared at Our Reception Family Dinner

I am just going over in my mind what to say, and where to start, "Our Story,"

Honestly, I think I was Ron's first choice when he started looking around to date.

The funny thing is that I was a little slow to respond to him, and he took it as 'not interested." However, when I was back from out of town from Seattle I jumped on board to find he had some interest. I shot an apologetic message and explained the delay to respond.

He scolded me at first until he realized it was unavoidable. He was first attracted to my "roots." I was also attracted to his upbringing in Mexico, speaking Spanish all his life, his dedication to the Lord and education. He came across as a gentleman and a very hard worker. He and I started talking on the phone and that first conversation was like a bishop's interview! He was very thorough in what he wanted to know, like where I was from, and how did I have a Latina background with my name, which was a very common name in that culture. I spelled out my last name in one of our first emails, R-O-D-R-I-G-U-E-Z, when he hypothethically cornered me into confessing my heritage!

Be a bachelor, he had the upper hand in choosing his lady friends and when to seek out the one to make his final choice. I supported him all through his ups and downs, and was quite persistent and he would tell you himself. I felt a strong divine intervention along the way, and even asked for a fair chance in the beginning to "tug at his heartstrings.

We have had a lot of fun teasing with each others' sense of humor and have had a Bilingual courtship! Sometimes an expression would fit better to say it in Spanish and laugh ourselves silly about it. We have had a beautiful experience getting to know what the other is like. We like a lot of the same things . . . eating chorizo for breakfast, along with Mexican hot chocolate and Pan Dulce, (sweet bread). Pure Mexican style if you ask, me. we like to eat simple things together--like a warm bowl of just cooked buttered pinto beans, fresh cut and slice Mangos, or a sweet treat of chocolate turtles or chocolate covered almonds. I think I had him early on when I told him I fixed homemade tamales for my family here at home. He could hardly resist once he figured out I "was out to get him." LOL.

He occasionally gave me mixed messages when he talked to me on the phone or sent a text, On one hand he would say I was such a good woman and the Lord would bless me,then in the next breath tell me to not give up or send me sweet texts with lots or affection in his salutations. However, I never gave up or became insecure about him. He may have had to go through the process of elimination but I always had peaceful feelings about him. I am grateful he worked through some of his challenges with his selection process. I was always very supportive and had the thoughts, that "if it was meant to be for US, it would not matter if he had to go and find out on his own, which one was right for him.

As we talk about this and how things came together for us, I tease him to say, I was like the fable, The Tortoise and the Hare, but me being the tortoise. I may have been slow, (and steady) but I was the one and only one who crossed the finish line!

There was so much of a spiritual connection than one could even imagine. I had prayed (for years) for someone who could go on a Spanish speaking mission with me.
I knew I was not going alone, but still longed for the day for that desire to be fulfilled with an eternal companion. I made it a matter of many prayers to bless and keep that special man who was out there waiting to be found, and find me. Then, I prayed as if I already had a husband and thanked the Lord, for the most wonderful husband and companion. It worked. My faith was so strong that I knew God would keep his promises to me, and remember what he had told me over the years of what to expect and be happy forever.

I also put it in my thoughts for God to please allow my own father and mother to find him and "bring him to me." I knew my father would want the best for me, both my Heavenly and earthly father. I trusted completely that it would happen some day, in the Lord's own due time. [Sometimes that could mean a couple of decades]
Earlier this year, I put it out there to Heavenly Father, that I WAS READY, and to please bring me my Prince Charming. I claimed my blessings and persisted to prepare myself and keep worthy of that.

My ideal was to someday find a good man who, like Captain Moroni was so good that the very jaws of hell would shake at his presence. A few years ago, I told one of my sons that maybe I would have wait until the millennium to find a worthy companion. He told me that could mean he would be 700 years old. I replied, "I will take Captain Moroni then. “ So, that became my standard. Some would say those hopes and expectations were too high. But, not too high for me, nor for God.

There were a handful of men whom I dated at least once. That is really all I needed to know about them. I moved forward, and did not want to date just to have fun, or go nice places. I know I was guided to know how and what to do to make Ron my Sweetheart.


He truly is my Sweetheart. I am so very blessed and feel honored, as he asked me once, (in that interview) how I would feel coming into an already established family. My response was, "I would be honored." He then asked, "how would my family accept him?" I said, "They would LOVE YOU!" and they do, and I DO TOO!

There is so much more that could be said, but for now, this is sufficient. We will be making a record of all of this as we go.

God bless you all as we come together to blend families and go forward with faith, joy and happiness.

Anna


Post Script

A few comments about Connie:

It has been a spiritual experience to feel Connie's presence from time to time. I am thankful to her for all the things she helped Ron become who is he today. Even from the beginning of Ron and me getting to know one another, we talked about the contribution that she made to him too. We recognize the eternal partnership there and the future one as well. It feels like I know her too and know she is like a sister to me too. Getting know her children also gives me much to know about who she was in life as well. It is hard to separate the child from the parent. They are so much a part of us. I know I cannot help but to know Connie through her posterity.

I cherish those thoughts as I am getting to know each of you and appreciate the acceptance you give to me as being a part of it into the family. I know without exception that is how my children are comfortable about Ron, their "new" dad.