A Wonderful Experience--It Officially Begins August 31, 2011

                             Cindy, David and their missionary son, Elder Kevin Call. 

Sunday was a special day of listening to three missionaries talk in sacrament meeting:  two missionaries assigned to their area and Kevin as a brand new missionary.  Kevin will be serving in the Idaho Pocatello mission.  Lucky guy, he gets to go where it is a lot cooler than Arizona!  It was a privilege to be in the room when the stake president set Kevin apart for his mission last night.  Among many wonderful blessings that were pronounced on his head, I remember the first thing that was said was a blessing for Elder Call to become known as the Elder with a smile on his face constantly.  A joyful happy spirit will help him to be successful.  Standing in the circle was Kevin's father and his two grandfathers, Fred Call and Tom Farrell.  As we said good-by and gave Elder Call a final hug in the parking lot, it was a bittersweet moment.  We were thrilled to have him choose to serve his fellowman in the Lord's work in this mission but we will miss him.  Vaya Con Dios, Elder Call.  Remember these Call grandparents are praying and fasting for your success. 

Goal Accomplished with a Small Miracle

About a week ago I decided I needed to upgrade my computer from Windows Vista to Windows 7 and from a 32-bit operating system to a 64-bit operating system.  This was not an easy decision because in order to upgrade I had to do a "clean install" which meant my hard drives had to be wiped clean.  After doing a lot of research and making a few phone calls to Dell and Windows, I was ready to become a real computer geek and do the job myself. The process entailed the following:

• First I had to decide which Windows 7 program to even buy.  I didn't realize that there were a number of "different" Window 7 program options.  Fortunately, after having several sales clerks give misinformation, I found a very knowledgeable clerk who could explain the differences to me.
• It  took me two full days to transfer all my pictures, video clips, family history data, documents, settings, bookmarks for the internet and email contacts, in other words everything I had saved to an external drive.  Because my pictures and family history files are so important and irreplaceable, I also saved all of them to DVDs.
• I made a list of all the programs and downloads I had installed.  I downloaded a program from Windows and ran it that indicated which of my programs would be compatable with Windows 7 and a 64-bit operating system.
• I also checked out all the devices I hook up to the computer such as printers, scanners, etc. and made sure they were compatible.  Sometimes this was as simple as downloading a new driver.  I have to admit that while I knew a driver for a device was essential I had no idea why or what it did.  Then there is your DVD/CD disc drives and your drives where data, programs and systems that help your computer operate.  This was a real learning process for me.
• Finally bright and early Thursday morning I was ready to take the big step and make the change.  I put the disc into the DVD disc drive and guess what nothing happened!  I tried all the solutions to this problem but nothing worked.  Thank goodness, for a technician at Windows who walked me through how to essentially bypass the normal way a computer powers up and instead start the installation process directly from the DVD disc drive.  Interesting but it worked!  From there everything went smoothly.  By afternoon I was ready to set up my, in essense, "new" computer.  
• The setting up of preferences; reinstalling virus protection; getting a new email set up (Windows Live Mail, which I like a lot better than what I was using); setting up the Internet and reinserting all my Bookmarks and getting my home page back; plus reinstalling several other programs and started to transfer data files back to my C and D drives took the rest of the day and into the night.
• Much of the day Friday was again spent transfering files (video clips take a long time but I wanted them saved in two different places for archiving purposes), and downloading things like Adobe Reader, Quicktime, etc.  Since our scanner wasn't compatible and the printer I used for making printable discs wasn't functioning properly as well as being incompatible, I bought a new Epson printer that is known for printing of pictures, but also has the capability of printing on discs, scanning, copying and faxing.  The best part though was it was on sale, the picture printing paper was on sale and if I turned in my old broken printer I got $50 more off.  The evening was spent setting up the printer which was a little more involved since it is wireless.  It is certainly nice to have eliminated some cords and be able to set up the printer across the room.
• Of course, throughout this whole process, I had to remember all the user names and passwords for different applications.
• Yesterday we took a break and went to the Temple for a session and then went over to visit David for his birthday, which is today.  Tonight I installed my new Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Premium Production!  I am really excited about these new programs especially Photoshop, Premier Pro and Encore.  Now I can get back to making DVDs and learn how to use Photoshop effectively.  Another goal--I'm sure glad I have the opportunity to grow and learn!  One would never have thought this grandma would become a computer tech--well, sort of.

It is wonderful to have a computer that runs faster, smoother, more efficiently and have my files all neatly organized.  I have been blessed in many ways in my life and a few miracles have come my way--a few big and several small miracles but a miracle none the less.  As I have done family history work for the last forty-five years I have accumulated thousands of records, names, pictures, documents, events, stories and other significant data.  All of this accumulated work is organized and stored in a program called Legacy.  I very carefully always make sure I have a backup of all of that work on a continual basis, so when I made this change with my computer, I made not just one but three backups of the data.  Here is the miracle.  Once I reinstalled Legacy on my computer, I knew I had to restore all the data back into the program but the data, pictures, everything were already there.  Somewhere, some how that family history data was saved on that drive that was supposed to be wiped clean!  Out of all the many, many files I have, these family history files were the only ones saved; the program wasn't saved but the data was!  A miracle, it was to me!  A testimony that family history work is an essential part of the Lord's plan.

Report on a Two Year Goal

I was about fourteen the first time I read the Book of Mormon all the way through.

In January, 2010, I set a goal to read all the standard works of the Church in two year's time.  I made it with five months to spare!  During 2010, I read the Old Testament and the Pearl of Great Price and started on the New Testament.  I took on a challenge of reading the Book of Mormon by the end of April, so I read it concurrently while finishing the New Testament.  On July 31, 2011 just before attending church I finished reading the Doctrine and Covenants.   I read all the standard works from cover to cover, marking verses that were personally meaningful for me as well as taking notes.  Since my youth, I had read the Book of Mormon a number of times and the New Testament several times but not as often as the Book of Mormon.  The Pearl of Great Price is short so I covered that many times as well.  The Doctrine and Covenants and the Old Testament, I have to admit, I have never read cover to cover.  I had read many parts of both books many times over but not all of either book.  Since we will be traveling in the Mediterranean this fall, I want to read the New Testament again especially from Acts on so my travels will be more meaningful.

A Lesson Learned At Sunset

One evening a few nights ago as my husband and I were driving home in a westerly direction a beautiful scene was displayed before our eyes. Much of the sky was dark with clouds and the sun was hidden by a large cloud but the sun’s rays were able to burst forth both from above and below the cloud. The sun’s rays were pure white, almost iridescent, streaming upward from the silver lining that edged the top of the cloud and illuminated the clouds above it. The rays pouring forth at the base of the cloud were golden in color and shown down on the tops of the mountains. The base of the cloud was much darker in color yet was edged in a deep hue of gold.
As I meditated on this beautiful scene, it struck me how our life here on earth and our relationship with our Heavenly Father can be depicted in this same way. The pure white rays and the silver lining of the cloud reminded me of the promises of eternal life and the celestial kingdom. I thought of how while here on earth, we can bask in the golden rays of our Heavenly Father’s love even though there is a veil of clouds that hides him from our view and dark clouds of gloom may come our way. It was a testimony to me that even when life is dark and cloudy I can still feel of His love. Heavenly Father is there and He does love us.
Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me and so I was unable to capture the beauty of this scene on film.  The picture above is of my husband and me standing on a beach in the Netherlands a a number of years ago.  Cheryl, a teenager at that time, snapped this picture.  The beauty captured is another example of this wonderful world God created for us to enjoy.