Ma's Place: A fantastic birthday!

I have enjoyed a fantastic two weeks! Kristin and Jake came to spend my birthday week with me. We spent 6 fun filled days. We talked into the wee hours and we walked a lot which helped off-set (but not totally) all of the food we ate: pizza, ice cream, deli sandwiches, pizza, sushi, pizza, more ice cream and of course, pizza. We visited some sites I have not visited before. A picture in this case really is better than 1000 words.

Kristin and Jake waiting for a train

Lights of the "tree" changing color

Rockefeller Plaza skating rink and scaffolding around the tree being decorated.

It was only about 4:45 PM but dark already as we walked through Riverside Park on our way to Grant's Tomb.

Misc pictures on the subway, on a street in Upper Manhattan, and night time in Times Square.

Looking up at the dome in Grant's Tomb. (Info about this monument)

Final resting place of President Grant and his wife, Julia. (Info on Ulysses S. Grant)

Flag flown at first dedication of the tomb.

The mall at the tomb.

Our flag and one of the eagle statues.

Riverside Church from steps of Grant's Tomb (Info on Riverside Church)

Window in the Riverside Church

Looking at front view of the nave and Kristin

Rear and balcony of the room with Jake in the pew

Riding the Staten Island Ferry

In the subway this young man was playing and singing. Jake asked him to sing happy birthday
to me and then the next song he played Jake asked me to dance. What a great honor for me.

Flowers from Ruma. I also received other flowers but I didn't get a picture.
My friends know of my appreciation for flowers. I am spoiled!!

The sisters and elders in my area gave me balloons, cake, messages of good cheer, and lots of love.

They didn't have candles for my homemade German chocolate cake (DELICIOUS) so since
I'm only 17 they used matches. Good thing they didn't have 70 of them on the cake.
It would have charred it!!! Love these missionaries.

Cones makes their own ice cream with lots of flavors to choose from.
We managed to hit the place at least twice.

Lunch at Katz Deli

Pizza at John's

Soup dumplings at Joe's Ginger Restaurant-same owner as Joe's Shanghai.

Looking toward the Rose Window in the nave at St John's Cathedral.
(Information about St. John's)

Sitting in pews. Jake told me these pews are very old.

Cathedral of Saint John the Divine

Organ pipes and carvings

We visited the Met where we joined George Washington

Ducks in the window in Chinatown

Looking down Pell Street

I liked this Street. Looks like a painting

Wall art

The three musketeers

Freedom Tower from Brooklyn Bridge

View from Central Park

Opera singer in the plaza at Bethesda Fountain in the Park.
She brought tears to my eyes with her voice.

82-70 Austin Street is the scene of a murder which occurred in 1964. There are numerous
articles about this happening. Kristin saw a documentary about it and wanted to see the actual site.
The event had an affect on legislation involving the Samaritan Law and 911. You may
Google "Kitty Genovese" and read about this terrible murder. (link to a newspaper article).

The apartment building across the street.

Looking down Austin Street

Probably the strangest monument in Central Park is the 71 foot, 244 ton Obelisk, or Cleopatra’s Needle.
Easily the oldest man made object in the park it is located in what is now a secluded bower directly
behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The obelisk was erected in Heliopolis around 1500 BC
and was moved to Alexandria around 12 B.C. by Rome’s Augustus Caesar. By then, the lower corners of the
stones had been broken off, so the Romans had bronze supports in the form of sea crabs placed under them.
(Two of the original crabs are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the other two were stolen in Egypt.)
There it remained until 1879 when it was shipped to the United States. This was either as a gift of the
Khedive of Egypt, who offered it to the U. S. as a token of good faith to help stimulate economic relations
between the two countries. Or it was swiped by William H. Vanderbilt against the wishes of the Egyptians.
It depends on who you ask.

I had gifts of chocolate and flowers from my mission family and friends here in New York and lots of well wishes and love and gifts from my family and friends at home. My deepest gratitude to all who care for and support me.

On Wednesday this past week, I was invited to dinner with my dear friend from home, Paulette Takata and her husband, Ken, and their daughter, Kim. We had Chinese at Joe’s Shanghai in Chinatown which is famous for their soup dumplings. I was treated royally and had a most delicious dinner and enjoyable time with them.

With the celebration of Thanksgiving, I am reminded of all of my blessings. I don’t have space to write everything for which I am grateful but topping the list is my family: Kay, my children and my grandchildren, my Savior, the Gospel, the guidance and companionship of the Holy Ghost, my dear friends, my home, my country, my health, the opportunity I have to serve my mission, the wonderful missionaries, and the list goes on and on.

On Thanksgiving Day our ward, the Rego Park 1st, served a potluck meal from noon to 2:00 for those, member or not, who had no family nor a place to go to eat dinner. There were turkeys prepared and many dishes from other countries as people brought traditional dishes from their home lands.

The Timothee family

Then three senior couples, the Williams, Shapiros, and Johnsons and I prepared a traditional American Thanksgiving meal for the missionaries in our immediate area who were not invited somewhere for dinner. I roasted the turkey and made the stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce. The others brought mashed potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, rolls, salad and more pies than we could eat. We all enjoyed the time to share how we celebrate Thanksgiving traditions at our homes and to be thankful for all we have.

My week ended perfectly with an invitation to a baptism in Little Neck. I love going to baptisms. It is such a spiritual experience to watch a person make covenants with the Lord and become a new member of the church. This baptism was for Jon, a 17 year old high school senior who bore his testimony filled with enthusiasm for his new life.

Sisters Tarnsky and Young

The sister missionaries were driving down a street one Saturday when they passed a garage sale. They wished they could stop but felt they had other things to do so they kept going. A few blocks later they both agreed that it would be okay to go back to see if there might be something in the sale they could use. They went back and bought a cutting board for their apartment and found Jon. They joked about finding the newest member of the church at a garage sale.

We have a nasty cold/cough going through the mission. I managed to catch it too. I didn’t feel sick but I sounded rather “froggy” and the cough was annoying. I am on the mend and the symptoms are almost gone. I can truly empathize with the missionaries though when they call and need help.

As I was studying the other day, I read a talk by President Monson about developing an attitude of gratitude. Another talk I read was about keeping a positive attitude. I began to ponder the importance of our attitudes. Once in a while I talk to a missionary or others who seem to feel that nothing ever goes right in their lives. They often look at life through a negative lens. It made me think of a thought I once read.

ATTITUDE

by: Charles Swindoll

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes.

As I browsed through LDS Media Library looking at some Mormonads that I thought I might use for some missionary training about how our attitude can affect our lives for good or bad, I came across these photos among others:

My favorite Mormonad!
This is my daughter, although technically she is a daughter-in-law, SheaLynn Bailey Petersen.
I had forgotten about this but was really happy and proud to see Shea's Mormonad again.