In his October 5, 2008 conference talk President Monson quoted a well-known author: "Both abundance and lack of abundance exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend....when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present---love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us happiness--the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth."
I have learned during the past month to be grateful for the abundance that's present and choose not to focus on what is missing!
Louise picked up our book from the printer and was delighted at its appearance. She called me and said that it is "gorgeous". I was so happy that it was finished and that it turned out so well.
Then I received a second call from her and she informed me that page 197 was missing from the book....there was simply one page that was blank. The dialogue was not there...page 196 and 198 were there but not page 197.
I was sick as I wrote an e-mail to the technical support at Memory Press and explained the situation and that we would hope that they could print page 197 and we would glue it in place. My contact at memory press said that she was sorry and that the PDF file that I had approved was also missing page 197 and so it is virtually my fault. She also stated that they would not be able to print again until after the second week in January. I typed the dialogue and we inserted it in the blank page. We will replace those pages when it is reprinted on the matching paper and print.
There were also typo's that we were sure we had corrected that were in the book so all in all, we have a gorgeous book that is not perfect!
The last week before printing was frantic as there seemed to be problems with the software program in Memory Press, but my contact person worked so hard to correct them and we felt that all was well. Too bad it wasn't!
I was assured by many that the spirit of the biography is still there and the story is intact, and the expressions of love and appreciation by children and grandchildren are priceless and so we have chosen to focus on the abundance that is present and choose not to focus on what is missing!
I have learned much from this experience!
During the final weeks before Christmas my eyes began bothering me, especially after working for long periods of time at the computer. I noticed some blurring in my right eye and after checking my vision on a chart that my eye doctor had given me because I had been diagnosed with the beginnings of macular degeneration, I recognized that the lines on the chart were wavy and distorted. At church, when I closed my left eye, the faces of the people on the stand were distorted and blurry so Monday morning I called my Dr. and he sent me to a retina specialist and we discovered that indeed the macular degeneration in my right eye is getting worse. It seems that all that can be done is to take mega doses of "eye vitamins" and come back next year for further evaluation.
WOW!! once again I am learning to be grateful for the abundance that's present!
How amazing is the human body. We have two eyes and somehow the body compensates for what is missing. I hope that there will be some way that a new prescription in my glasses in the right lens will be able to help the distortion some...but I don't know.
In the meantime I'm so grateful for the vision I do have and there will be some way that I can prepare for the time when I lose the vision in both eyes. I wonder if there is such a thing as "Blind School" where I can go to learn braille. Our daughter in law has offered to train a service dog for me and in the meantime I'll be looking for good books on tape.
We are so blessed to have a living prophet to guide us in all the concerns and problems that we have and help us to be happy and live abundant lives!
I have learned during the past month to be grateful for the abundance that's present and choose not to focus on what is missing!
Louise picked up our book from the printer and was delighted at its appearance. She called me and said that it is "gorgeous". I was so happy that it was finished and that it turned out so well.
Then I received a second call from her and she informed me that page 197 was missing from the book....there was simply one page that was blank. The dialogue was not there...page 196 and 198 were there but not page 197.
I was sick as I wrote an e-mail to the technical support at Memory Press and explained the situation and that we would hope that they could print page 197 and we would glue it in place. My contact at memory press said that she was sorry and that the PDF file that I had approved was also missing page 197 and so it is virtually my fault. She also stated that they would not be able to print again until after the second week in January. I typed the dialogue and we inserted it in the blank page. We will replace those pages when it is reprinted on the matching paper and print.
There were also typo's that we were sure we had corrected that were in the book so all in all, we have a gorgeous book that is not perfect!
The last week before printing was frantic as there seemed to be problems with the software program in Memory Press, but my contact person worked so hard to correct them and we felt that all was well. Too bad it wasn't!
I was assured by many that the spirit of the biography is still there and the story is intact, and the expressions of love and appreciation by children and grandchildren are priceless and so we have chosen to focus on the abundance that is present and choose not to focus on what is missing!
I have learned much from this experience!
During the final weeks before Christmas my eyes began bothering me, especially after working for long periods of time at the computer. I noticed some blurring in my right eye and after checking my vision on a chart that my eye doctor had given me because I had been diagnosed with the beginnings of macular degeneration, I recognized that the lines on the chart were wavy and distorted. At church, when I closed my left eye, the faces of the people on the stand were distorted and blurry so Monday morning I called my Dr. and he sent me to a retina specialist and we discovered that indeed the macular degeneration in my right eye is getting worse. It seems that all that can be done is to take mega doses of "eye vitamins" and come back next year for further evaluation.
WOW!! once again I am learning to be grateful for the abundance that's present!
How amazing is the human body. We have two eyes and somehow the body compensates for what is missing. I hope that there will be some way that a new prescription in my glasses in the right lens will be able to help the distortion some...but I don't know.
In the meantime I'm so grateful for the vision I do have and there will be some way that I can prepare for the time when I lose the vision in both eyes. I wonder if there is such a thing as "Blind School" where I can go to learn braille. Our daughter in law has offered to train a service dog for me and in the meantime I'll be looking for good books on tape.
We are so blessed to have a living prophet to guide us in all the concerns and problems that we have and help us to be happy and live abundant lives!
