Angel #1

30 years ago this weekend I was in the Idaho Falls hospital.
Many things led up to my brief stay, but on that special day I was given the most amazing gift.
Today instead of focusing on what led up to that day, and why the Forth of July would never ever be the same for me; I would like to focus and what happened that day and why it changed my life forever.
On the Forth of July 30 years ago I met an angel.
I didn't plan for her to come on the Forth, and to be quite honest I was pretty sure that my Angel was coming in the form of a BOY.
I had no idea what was happening to my body. I knew that it was getting increasingly difficult to perform my usual tasks, and I was having a hard time sleeping. My grandmother Thomas was visiting, and her words of wisdom have stuck with me all these years, "Oh honey, it's going to get worse before it gets better." I noticed that something funny was happening to my tummy and I called Suzie and Becky in to watch. I said, "Watch this, it gets hard for a while, and then it gets soft again, it keeps doing it over and over."
Fortunately my Mother was standing close by and heard my description, she said, "Hollie, you are in labor."
Things started to change really fast then. Suitcase packed, hustle, bustle, it would take at least a half an hour to get to the hospital.
We loaded the car and off we went.
Back in those days we didn't have the beautiful birthing rooms the hospitals have now, I wasn't hooked up to all the IV's and birthing monitor. I got a shot in my behind. Then the staff helped move me onto a flat, cold table. I remember them telling me that I had to move down and all I could think was, "Are you kidding me? I can't even breathe and you want me to move..."
We were wheeled into a cold, sterile labor and delivery room.
During 9 months of pregnancy you think you are prepared, you think you know what your body is doing, you think it will happen exactly how you read in the books. The things they don't tell you start to happen. The pain comes and everything else doesn't matter. Some women get mad and yell at their husband, not me, I get real quiet because I don't have the energy to focus on anything but breathing. So the incredible journey begins. As that precious baby moves closer and closer to this life the pain increases. It becomes purely basic, primal, you just let your body do what it was made to do.
And then the reward...
All the sticky black hair on top of the perfect round head of a beautiful baby girl, with the biggest, blackest eyes I have ever seen.
The doctor held her up and I cried.
That day Tiffany Marie Hammack, an angel straight from heaven left the premortal existence to be with me.
Right then I knew that Heavenly Father loved me; how could He trust me to raise, love, and teach such an amazing creature? I'm sure that I had not done enough good in the world to deserve her.
Independence Day took on a whole new meaning for me.
Learning how to be a parent, making all my best mistakes on my firstborn.
But she has carried her amazing independent personality into all that she has accomplished, in spite of me.
She is a remarkable person. She is smart. She is kind. She is strong. She knows the difference between right and wrong. She knows how to make people feel special. She knows when to shine and when to step back so that others have the opportunity to shine. She is the big sister; to not just her siblings, but to everyone.
When people would ask me how Tiffany was doing I would often say...
"She is who I want to be when I grow up."
Today she a wonderful mother. Teaching her son with love, patience, and kindness.
I was once told that the sign of a great teacher is when the student surpasses the greatness of the teacher. I must be the best teacher ever...
I love you my Tiffany Marie. Heavenly Father sent me an angel 30 years ago, I didn't deserve you then and I don't deserve you now.
You are everything I ever hoped you would be.
You are my Sunshine.

Of Dads and Heros...

My Dad....where do I begin?
Dad has a way of telling a story; he can make the story come alive. I'm sure that some of my best memories are stories that I have heard over and over and are not my memories at all, but they are his.
I love the way he remembers me. I always seem to be so much better than I am, when seen through the eyes of my Father.
I'm sure the first crush I ever had was on my Dad. He was always the most handsome man I ever knew. He always smelled so good, the way men are supposed to smell, like 'Old Spice', 'English Leather', and shaving cream.
My Father laughed with me and cried with me.
He rescued me when my world came crashing down.
I'm sure that there where times in my life that he wanted to strangle me, like the time I filled my little Austin Marina up with as many girls as would fit to go to a Stake dance in Mesa. We would cruise main street playing the radio and yelling at all the cute boys. Then when the car could take no more dad would have to drag out of bed in the middle of the night and drive all the way to Mesa to rescue me.
The rescuing actually began at a very early age, when I was playing with Ben and fell into a ditch. I would have died that day if dad wouldn't have reached the ditch in time.
I'm sure that Dad didn't know that when I became his there would be a lifetime of rescue duty.
Dad never had to clean his guns when boys picked me up for dates, or have 'the talk' with any of them, I have four older brothers, they handled all that stuff.
My Dad never loved anything or anyone more than he loved my Mom.
A couple of my favorite 'little girl' memories...
Mom always made me the most beautiful dresses, I had one once that had "Button, Button, who has the Button?" embroidered on the skirt with two great big buttons on each side. All my dresses had great big bows in the back. When I was little and getting ready for church I would always stand in front of my Dad and he would tie the most beautiful bows.
I would sit next to my daddy in church. He would take out a big white handkerchief and roll it up on each side and make me two little babies that I would gently rock to sleep.
Oh, and then there was the...
A U C M puppies?
L M N O puppies,
O S M R C M?
O S I C M....P N.
He still gets a kick out of that. :)
Dad didn't preach with words, but with the way he lived his life. He was respected by everyone in town.
Several years ago when Echo married Marc I got to dance with my dad while Ben danced with Echo. We danced to "Daddy's Hands". It was a very special day for me and I will always be grateful to Ben and Echo for sharing the floor with my dad and me.
I'm sure it broke Dad's heart every time Bob would leave me and the kids. We would sit alone in an empty house waiting for him to come pick us up, with everything we owned tied up in a bed sheet. Having daughters of my own now I can't even imagine how hard it must have been for him not to hunt Bob down and kill him. But for Bob it was just the opposite. Bob always knew that Pa Hatch loved him, even to this day after all that has happened, the perfect 'Christlike' love is felt by Bob.
Dad never judged me, never told me that he was ashamed of me. He let me live and learn, and that I did.
Never has there been a better example of the pure love of Christ.
I love my Dad. I am so blessed to able to be with him for Eternity.
I am grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for the sealing power of the Priesthood that makes eternity possible.
I am grateful that my dad holds that priesthood and bears it with integrity and humility.
Happy Fathers day Dad. I love you.

A Mothers Lament

Why did I leave the proven path,
what did I hope to find?
My heart, it aches, my tears, they fall -
for the souls that I left behind.

The warnings uttered by Prophets of old
pierce my troubled mind.
My heart, it aches, my tears, they fall -
for the souls that I left behind.

Numbed by the lies of worldly desires,
so subtly those cords did bind.
My heart, it aches, my tears, they fall -
for the souls that I left behind.

The evil one intends to destroy;
as hard red wheat to grind.
My heart, it aches, my tears, they fall -
for the souls that I left behind.

I do not know how to dry my tears,
nor ease my troubled mind.
My heart, it aches, my tears, they fall -
for the souls that I left behind.

Dieting

You all know that I am a fanatic dieter, one would think that I love dieting when the truth is that I LOVE food...thus the dieting.:)

So, it is time to pull out the summer clothes, do I even need to tell you that NONE, no NONE, of my summer clothes will fit on my winter body. So the least favorite phase of my existence starts, diet I must.
If the truth were told I would rather buy new clothes...but since money is not always as plentiful as my waistline the dreaded time has come.
So you ask, "Why is she writing about something as dumb as dieting?"

IT IS ALL ABOUT PERSPECTIVE

When things happen in our lives we have to make a decision; we have to choose which we would rather do, change ourselves to fit the circumstance or change the circumstance to fit our life. I had to choose if I wanted to change my body or change my wardrobe. I chose change my body.

Now we get to the good stuff...
The gospel is like my summer clothes, they are unchangeable. They have been cut from a pattern and the pattern has integrity. Our job, our decision is simple. Do we choose to live the gospel principles or not? The rules will not change to accommodate immorality, or dishonesty in any degree.
I think it is sad that so many of us choose the worlds way, we choose to stay fat and worldly happy instead of curbing our appetites and fitting into the heavenly designed plan.
My prayer this week is that we reevaluate our 'spiritual' diet. We need/have to change who we are and what we do so that we will be prepared to meet Heavenly Father again.
I love you all.
Make it an amazing week.

If The Savior Stood Beside Me

I have the most wonderful opportunity to work in Primary. I get to teach the 8-9 year olds. They are so much fun and I'm sure I learn more from them than they learn from me.
I have been trying to teach them how to listen with their spiritual ears. Every time I ask them where their spiritual ears are they touch their hearts. When we have a time that the spirit is exceptionally strong I stop my lesson and explain to them what they are feeling. I remind them that the real teacher is the Holy Ghost and they need to learn when they are young how to recognize His voice, or feeling.
I love to go to sharing time and singing time. One of my favorite songs is "If the Savior stood beside me". It is such a beautiful song. I am attaching it to my blog so you can listen to it. I tried to find a copy of a children's choir; the third one on the video bar is sung by children.
I know that I would act and talk differently if I knew that the Savior was standing beside me.
When I was first called to serve in Primary I had mixed feelings. I cried all the way home from the church. I just thought, "What are THEY thinking?" That was in our old ward, when we moved to our new house I was called to teach in primary AGAIN. This time I thanked Heavenly Father and wondered what I did so good in my life that this sacred opportunity would be mine.
I love the children, when they sit beside me and sing, "Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah." The spirit testifies to me every week that the full gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth and I am blessed to a part of it.
Let us all try to have the faith of these children, to sing at the top of our lungs, "Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah", and "If the Savior stood beside me".
Our Savior truly is always beside us, my prayer is that we remember He is there, and act accordingly.
I love you all. Have a great week.