The Lord blesses us with Good People

People are great

I’ve always known that, but this trip has shown me that fact again.

We have met some wonderful people, at home depot, at a restaurant, camp grounds, bike trails….all over and there are still very friendly people in this country… Sometimes depending on where we live….at least living in the East it doesn’t always seem that way, that hard new england character doesn’t always radiate friendliness….usually its more like, why are they talking or smiling at me!!!  On this trip, it couldn’t be more opposite.  We have met many people who were born, or lived in Ct at one time and they are like long lost friends, striking up a conversation and then talking for a long time…I also love the fact that in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints no matter what service you attend, what building, what state, the love of the Savior radiates and the spirit is felt.  

But since we have gotten here to Coeur d’Alene it has never rang more true…when we arrived it wasn’t exactly what we anticipated, we thought the building site would be conducive to a camper. well, not exactly…it would have worked but no water, or electricity and no shade…truly beautiful land though.  Within 20 minutes we were introduced to the adjacent property owner. An older gentlemen who was so kind and friendly. We followed him home, as he was driving equipment on a very windy road and he woke his sweet wife out of a sound sleep and asked her if we could put the camper on their property…She was originally from Boston, we talked and 15 minutes later, we had a shaded site, with complete hookup and one of the most splendid sites here in Coeur d’Alene.

Don and Chris are wonderful people. They had us over for dinner and told us all about their lives….very interesting stories, and laughed….It was as if we had been friends for along time.  The Lord knows our needs and gives us opportunities to share our lives with others.  There is every kind of animal here, just a few weeks ago friends of their's were in the same spot we are and woke up to big cougar prints on the camper, there are moose, elk, eagles, hawks, wolves, deer and bear.  I asked Chris the other day if she walked.....her answer " NO, I'm from Boston, its like animal kingdom out here!!!!"   Jeff and I on the other hand have been exploring he does bring his machete ........and me just my emergency whistle I am going to invest in some bear spray.....

June 23, 2014

Scattering sunshine or cheer or blessings on a cross country trip is interesting.  The Lord did his share and more of scattering all of those on our trip, and we just held on and kept driving…..

There are so many friendly people across America…When we started to lose the box on the back of the trailer we stopped at a home depot to get materials to fix it…one of the older employees came out and chatted and talked for quite a while.  It lasted a few hundred miles and then we had to stop again and take the whole box, contents, frame and bikes off and fit them all in the trailer!!  

It was funny seeing our bikes laying so contently on our bed for the trip. It wasn’t so funny at night when we would stop and have to move them and rearrange everything to sleep at a rest area, Oh and it is very difficult to scatter cheer when you are dead tired and pull in to sleep and a truck pulls in so tight next to you that I could reach out and touch it, only to have him leave his truck running all night…hard days night!!  just kept saying how grateful we are to truck drivers who have thankless, never-ending jobs…one I would not want…..

First of all Hillary shared her talents with us before we left. She helped do a trailer make over…and it turned out wonderful, here are some before and after shots.  It looked like the 80's, I said been there done that, not again...so she worked her magic and it is beautiful.  

Jeff loves it, and he so happy to feel like he has a piece of home when he's on the road for a build.  It will make such a big difference.  Cade also gave a contribution...he was enthralled with the camper, he explored every inch of it.  He drew this picture and we had to put it up...Jeff and Chris had replaced most of the material with tin from my grandfather so we could hand magnets, for messages...it was a perfect spot for Cades handiwork...I included a sign Quinn, one of my preschoolers gave me underneath...this is what I felt the excursion would say if it could talk ....check out the detail in the drawing....

This is our destination, Lake Coeur d'Alene....it is so beautiful...more to say on that on another post.

Scatter Sunshine My New Mantra......

June 22 2014

Summer and Sunshine Go Together like Strawberries and Chocolate…with that little thought in mind I have adopted a personal mantra for this summer and maybe longer. What is a mantra? 

A statement or slogan repeated frequently, synonyms may be : slogan, motto, catch phrase, catch word,watchword, byword,buzzword…

Scatter Sunshine…Cheer, and Bless and Brighten, every passing day…. 

I have been traveling across this wonderful country of ours and I am so grateful for the blessing of living here. The Savior created a world of beauty and wonder….each mile bringing something different to enjoy. 

I have thought about so many songs and quotes about the sun, or The Son, or Sunshine or Light….they all fit together so well. 

What does it mean to scatter….disperse a small amount of something….. a small dispersed amount of sunshine, cheer, or  blessings…. how can I do that??? Will it make a difference?

Will it help me feel the spirit of the Son? I think it will, no, I know it will…..So I am on this quest to scatter sunshine, see sunshine, enjoy sunshine, share sunshine, to scatter cheer, see blessings, show gratitude for blessings, brighten life for others, things that will bring me closer to the Son….things that will bring joy, of course with us, humor will also be a part of this quest and mantra….

I am not sure how many times I will post, maybe daily, twice a day? or maybe yearly, although I'm not sure I will be connected enough to do daily and by yearly I will have forgotten my passwords!!, but however I use this blog it will be to help me and hopefully those I love to scatter sunshine, to see it and share it and learn how it works for me and for you.....

The sunshine in these photos came from a sunrise at a rest stop in Minnesota...It was beautiful and then about 20 minutes later it was raining.....so glad I forced myself out of the camper with camera in hand to capture the beginning of my scattering sunshine experiment....