WHAT IS THE GREATEST LESSON IN LIFE YOU HAVE LEARNED?

I went over to the Trevenan's home, so Sister Trevenan could teach me how to smock. We went through one of her old books. Isn't this dress amazing? I have to make one for each of the girls for Christmas. I am scared to death but I am going to smock their Easter dresses. I know. I know. I am excited too.

The next day Friday, Madison and I went back to the Trevenan's home. Sister Kay, their daughter, had the day off and we were meeting to work on the quilt. Nate had to take me because the car was smelling like burnt rubber. When we got there, Brother Trevenan convinced Nate to come in and tie flies with him. I thought it was cute that we were hanging out there as a family. Nate back with Brother Bob Trevenan, who is really like a grandpa to us. I sitting there with Sister Trevenan, who is like a my grandma, and Sister Kay, who is my second mother, quilting while Madison is on the floor playing with vintage toys. I was so happy. Their home really is my happy place and to see Nate enjoying it the same way I do made them even more family to me. (Brother Bob has Nate involved in a program called Healing Water's. They teach war veteran's fly fishing, how to tie flies and build fly rods. He is really excited about it.)

Well, us ladies were laughing and chatting over top of the quilt. Sister Trevenan got Madison to join her over at the kitchen table. They made a natural bug repellent together, out of cloves, cinnamon, and whole black pepper. Madison hammered the spices and filled little socks with them. They laughed like they were the best of friends.

Sister Kay and I are laughing about this and that and then the conversation turned. She said one of the great things about her ward in Craig was this woman who was in charge of the Sunday Program. She used to ask a handful of ward members each week what was the greatest lesson in life they had learned. Then she would put it on the back of the program every Sunday. Sister Kay thought it was so fun to read. She then went around the room and asked us all what lesson in life we had learned. We said a lot of silly things and laughed.

Then she got serious. (If you have hung on this long then you get to hear a very special story.) She said, "One night I was working at the VA hospital. There was an old man there who was 89 years old and had suffered a stroke. I was checking in on him and asked him where he served." He said, "World War II on the Indianapolis." (I am no history buff. I didn't know about Indianapolis. The Indianapolis was a warship in WWII. It delivered crucial parts of the atomic bomb. It was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. There were 880 men that lived through the blast and floated in the water but by the time they were rescued four days later only 316 were still alive. The rest died of exposure, dehydration, and shark attacks.)This man lived. He said, "It was the morning of the third day and the sun rose on the horizon. It was the most spectacular sunrise I had ever seen. I heard my mother's voice, who had passed on years earlier, and she said, "Hang on. Don't give up. You have a good life ahead of you." He then turned to Kay and said, "I think of all I would have walked away from, if I had given up in that moment. I have lived such a full life." We both cried as we thought on the man's word. Her story reminded me of this talk.