Angelica's funeral

Today was Angelica's funeral. It was wonderful. All three of her sisters spoke, her dad & her grandma Luana. LuAnn accompanied the girls & their families in their songs. The spirit was sooo strong. She was buried in the Preston Cemetery, on the same end of the cemetery as my family, but a road further on.

Ramen noodles was Angelica's favorite food. We had ramen noodles for supper tonight in memory of Angelica.

Update on the white chili

Kim asked if I really put cinnamon sugar in it. I really did, but … the cinnamon sugar was sitting there on the cupboard by the stove. I usually just sprinkle some salt in, but I had already painstakingly measured the salt in. My family is always accusing me of not salting the food. I thought cloves was an interesting spice to use. In my mind cloves & cinnamon go together, so I picked up the cinnamon sugar shaker & sprinkled some on. The original recipe didn't call for salsa either, but I thought it sounded good, so I added some.

For lunch today I had a bowl of leftover chili. It had gotten stronger over night. I choked almost from the first bite. Nick told me he added salsa to it last night. I told him I had put a whole cup in it. He said it needed more. So, in telling Don tonight, he said he added more salsa, too.

Angelica

I am sitting here in shock. I want to cry, but I'm just numb. This is what I found when I logged into Facebook this morning on her sister Mary's status:

Thank you everyone who prayed on my family's behalf. Our beautiful Angelica died this morning. She fought for 49 days at Primary Children's Medical Center, but Heavenly Father must have needed her more than we do. We know we will see her again someday. Now we have extra motivation to live our lives the right way.

Now Cleve & Sylvia need our prayers. Luana has expressed many times she thinks the only reason Cleve is still here is because of Angelica.

I'm going to let Luana tell Mother. Luana said yesterday she could tell it was a bad day as soon as she heard Sylvia's voice. Yesterday I was wondering where they would bury her. The cemetery here in Preston is full.

So, what is it?

A common question when I cook. Don makes the old familiar favorites. But when I cook, the fam comes out, looks at my concoction & asks, "So, what is it?" Tonight it is from cooks.com

WHITE CHILI

2 med. onions 1 small onion, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic (I didn't bother with the garlic, I was in a hurry & didn't want to peel it & I don't have the dry stuff)
1 tsp. oil (a dollop, enough to cover the bottom of the Dutch oven)
4 c. cooked chopped chicken (3 chicken breasts, already crockpotted from the last bag of chicken breasts I bought on sale)
6 c. chicken broth (only used 4 cups water, which was PLENTY!! & 4 chicken bouillon cubes which I had to send Don to the store for)
2 cans white great northern beans (Don picked up while he was at the store)
2 (4 oz.) cans chopped green chilies
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
2 tbsp. ground cumin (we have cumin seeds, I only used 1/4 tsp. I had the 1/4 tsp spoon out, why dirty another?)
1 1/2 tsp. oregano (4 scoops of 1/4 tsp spoon)
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp. salt and pepper to taste

Saute onions and garlic in oil. Add remaining ingredients (plus cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top, 1 cup salsa & 1 can cream of chicken soup) and simmer until heated through. Serve with sour cream and Monterey Jack cheese (shredded).


I work half a day on Tuesday. This morning, knowing it was DUP day, I got out a 1 lb. package of dry Northern beans, the crockpot & water. I dumped the beans in, turned the crockpot on high for 45 minutes, turned it off & hurried out into my day.

Tonight the beans were as hard as when I dumped them in this morning. It was going to take hours to cook them soft enough to eat, so I sent Don off to the store.

Nick gave it an OK, Don said it was good & I LOVED it! I kept helping myself to a little bit more.

Nine months later

On June 30, 2010, I started reading the Old Testament. It was the course of study for 2010 for the auxiliaries of the LDS Church. It has taken me all this time to finish it. There were very few nights when I missed reading. I set a goal to read it by Dec. 31, 2010. I obviously missed my original deadline. I reset my goal a couple of times. I wanted to be certain to be finished by the beginning of Lent, or Ash Wednesday. And I made it!! I read the Book of Mormon for Lent. Don't worry, I won't be using this blog to document my reading this year. I started a scripture journal.

It took me almost 9 months, minus 3 weeks, to read the Old Testament. I could've had a baby in that time. My babies were both born 3 weeks early.

I read the Old Testament in the Old Testament Seminary class I took as a senior in high school, but as I read through it this time, I'm shaking my head in disbelief. I wondered many times where my mind was in seminary. (Of course, I also realize that was over 40 years ago.) I read the LDS Institute of Religion's Old Testament Student Manual 1 Kings–Malachi - Religion 302 along with the Old Testament this time. I still have a couple of chapters left in it.

I chose to read Isaiah last & I'm glad I made that decision. Now, as I read the Book of Mormon, I will read parts of Isaiah again; only this time it will be the pure scripture because it was taken from the Brass Plates of Laban & will not have gone through all of the translations. I can't wait to see how the Institute of Religion's Book of Mormon manual will treat Isaiah.

Some updates

I've updated Mother's Caring Bridge journal a couple of times since I've made an entry here. She's doing much better. She's been sleeping in the recliner for the past month. She's doing so well, she may soon be able to go back to sleeping in her bed.

I, on the other hand, spend way too much time in bed. I need to be more faithful in taking my potassium. Perhaps I wouldn't be so tired all the time.

Luana is going down to see her granddaughter Angelica tomorrow. Angelica had surgery on her sinuses & she is sitting up. She can't sit up for very long, but it's better than being in a medicated coma or restrained so she won't pull tubes & things. I can't wait to hear what Luana has to report.

I found out some interesting things about my 3rd great-grandfather, Thomas Marshall. The story goes that Sarah Goode Marshall wanted to emigrate to the United States to gather with the Latter-day Saints in Zion (Salt Lake City). Her husband Tom didn't like the Mormons. She would go to church & sometimes the spirit would whisper or sometimes the other members would see him coming to get her & warn her. She prayed that a way would be opened for her to come & Tom died.

One history I read said that "Brother" Marshall had poor health.

OK, we now have proof through four newspaper articles published at the time that Tom committed suicide. He was having an affair & had been saving money so he & his paramour could emigrate. Sarah got that money. She also had to borrow from the Perpetual Emigration Fund so she, her children & her younger sister could come.

I can't wait to find out more. I never did like Thomas Marshall.

Mononymous

Is there a term for when people go by a single name? Yes. A mononymous person is an individual who is known and addressed by a mononym, or "single name."

In the West, mononymity, as well as its use by royals in conjunction with titles, has been primarily a privilege of famous persons such as prominent writers, artists, entertainers, musicians and sportsmen.  ~ Wikipedia

 So, where did this come from? Today in Sacrament Meeting during the ward business, Tim Golightly, the counselor in the bishopric who was conducting, released a whole list of people, using both first & last names. When he came to Don-Mikel, he didn't use a last name, he just said his first name. Well, ok, Don-Mike's name is hyphenated, but that's what he goes by, so it is a single name.

I don't know how many people noticed, but Del Rumsey told Don & I. I loved it. Not that he was released from the Primary, because he has loved teaching the Valiant Boys for the last several years. Actually, he was teaching Valiant Boys in 2007, because I taught Valiant Girls & he taught the boys. I was released when I started having chemo in '07.

When we lived in Grace, Idaho, the boys were on a T-ball team. Nick would sit out in the outfield & pick grass or roll around. Don-Mike got to play bases. I remember in one game he was playing 2nd base. We were playing a team from Soda Springs. At one point in the game, a boy from the opposing team was on 2nd base. A coach from the opposing team was yelling, "Run, Don Michael, run!" So, Don-Mike started running, as did the boy on 2nd base. We had 2 little blond boys running hard for 3rd base. The coach from Grace yelled, "Stop, Don-Mikel, stop!" They both stopped. Needless to say, the boy from Soda who was running the bases got out.

Afterward, a lady came up to me very angry. How dare I name my son Don-Michael? Ummm, his father's name is Don & his uncle's name is Mike. I didn't want to go into any detail that Michael really wasn't because of his uncle Mike. I figured it wasn't any of her business. I asked why her grandson was Don Michael. It seems his father was Don & his grandfather was Michael. Mike McCulloch was the head of Monsanto at the time.

After the game, a cluster of ladies from Grace was standing out on the field laughing about how unusual it was for 2 little boys with the same name on opposing teams. One of the children was standing there & he said, "What's so unusual about that? We have 3 Nicholas'." Which, of course, made us laugh harder. How often do you find 2 children with the same double first name?