Greetings: 1986

What? Has another year left us so quickly? It seems like I just picked the first red tomato. And it seems I just recently took the Halloween witch from the front entrance. Now I find the door cold and bare, pressing me to adorn it with the Christmas wreath!

And what do I have to show for these almost three hundred sixty-five days.......

January through April I became a Snow-Bird in St. George, Utah. The very biggest part of every temple day found me there, away from the world. The big bedroom, my private abode in a rented condo, held my sewing machine. So you might say I spent my first four months sewing and sowing! (Mostly sowing, I figure I can reap a better harvest that way).

Early daffodils and blue skies invited me back home. And then again, I went into sowing countless seeds, too many. Why is a person's back so strong and enthusiasm so peaked by the spring time? Our long, golden, Indian summer yielded forth the many blessings of my labors and they were spread too many.

1986 also brought forth an increase on my family tree -- three little grandsons! Matthew Aaron Edwards arrived too early and was only permitted to remain with us thirty hours - just long enough to touch his footprints here in earth-life, leave a permanent imprint on our hearts, then take his flight heavenward. His older brother, Greg, took flight earlier to the Sweden Stockholm mission. And oldest brother is now stepping into matrimony, December 19, 1986!

College, careers, new adventures have become so demanding, enticing, to my first crop of grandchildren that I'm left waiting here with a cookie jar that has lost it's popularity. Thank heaven the little new set is clamoring to it that I may keep the sweet spicy smell alive in my kitchen.

Yes, my posterity is moving on, covering their spacious miles, discovering their own trails. Time, experience and distance pulls us apart but how beautiful that deep rooted love, thoughts, hold us warmly together! This year has given us our good times and our bad times - hospitalizations, surgery, births, a death and a marriage!

I, myself, missed them all. I have no vital statistics to report. I almost got close to one. Wow! Dating has been a highlight year. How refreshing to have my systematic, perfected routine disrupted! Right now, however, my glass ball tells me I'll have no one to touch goblets with, nor affectionately whisper "cheers" to, to complete my year. And 1987 is chuckling and saying she will not release her hidden secrets to me! I would really like a peek.

But now, as I drop into my serious mood, I am searching out what really lies deeply within. I find my heart filled with devoted gratitude. What lies behind and what lies ahead is cherished - no matter what - and shall ever be. Because I have my Savior's constant, encircling love I know my cup shall continue to runneth o'er. I offer my praise and dedication to him.

May you too, as you reflect upon your innumerable blessings, find your cup to be overflowing!

With love