So even though yesterday was Sunday and I put my typical sappy, crying, grateful post onto Facebook.......tonight I have yet ANOTHER life story to share! Lol. I started writing this on FB, but then remembered I haven't started to blog like I've wanted to. I decided to pop onto blogspot and start one. Here it goes! My very first one.
Yesterday, the kids and I sat down to talk about doing kind acts daily, starting today and throughout the month of December. I thought that this would help us appreciate the little things and make others happy (including ourselves!) I know that when I am in the service of others, I am blessed more than they are!
 17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn ^awisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the ^bservice of your ^cfellowbeings ye are only in the service of your God.
Mosiah 2:17

So tonight we dropped of Marquesa at volleyball practice in Antioch. We had 2 hours to kill while waiting for her and I needed to go to the grocery store. I usually go to Winco, but it was too far. I decided to hit up Save Mart on E. 18th St. That area is older and I haven't been to that store in a long time. The boys and I went inside and took our time loading up our cart. When we finally got into line, we got behind two men who were probably in their 50's. They reminded me of my dad in so many ways. They were white. Lol. My dad was an okie to the max! He called us Mex-Okie's! They looked a little scruffy/dirty. My dad looked like that all the time. They had all generic items on the counter. I remember taking my dad to the store and him always being on a budget. He bought mostly generic items. For some reason, looking at their generic orange and brown bag of bread reminded me so much of him. 

I took him to that store every once in a while since it was close to where he used to live off of Hillcrest. As a matter of fact, the last time that I saw my dad in person was when I took him to that store. He was sick and could barely push the cart. I wish that I would have known then just how sick he was. I told him that I would take him to the Dr's and he said that he had an appointment scheduled a few days later and that he would be ok. I took him back home after helping him shop, and helped him unload his groceries. I remember being in a hurry because we were feeding the Missionaries that night and I had to go home and cook dinner. 
My dad ended up dying a couple/few days after that. It turns out that he had fluid in his lungs and was having trouble breathing. He went to his friends house to get his hair cut for my sister's wedding in a few days. While he was there, he did drugs (as he had done for years,) and it ended up killing him. It's funny how bad my memory is, but as I'm writing this, I'm remembering so many things. The night that he died, we had spent the night at Mori's sisters house in Hayward because we were going with some of his family to Hawai'i the next morning. Sometime while we were gone between that night and early the next morning, my dad had called my house phone and left me a message asking if I could take him to the Dr's. I don't know why he didn't call my cell phone. I don't know why we had to be gone THAT night. I can only assume it was part of Heavenly Father's plan for him to leave this earth and if I was home and had answered my phone, maybe I would have interfered with that plan. 

Anyways, now you know why I called my blog If you give a mom a blog. Everything I do leads to something else, which leads to something else. Just like in those books, If you give a mouse a cookie or If you give a pig a pancake or If you give a moose a muffin. The mouse wants a cookie, then some milk, then the milk reminds him of something that ends up reminding him of something else, which then reminds him of the next thing, etc. That's how I feel like my life is. I'm at home and start doing something and get side tracked. Then, remember something else and start doing that, then I go back to the original thing until I'm side tracked again!

Getting back to the main story of the guys in Save Mart. SEE!!! Lol. Looking at that bag of bread and seeing them made me think of my dad. I wanted to help them because I know how it is to be broke and buy only the generic necessities. I pictured my dad in his place. I almost said something, but stopped. I waited another minute and spoke up. I told the guy that I wanted to pay for the remaining groceries that he had on the counter. He looked at me in confusion and didn't say anything. Then he asked me why. He didn't say yes right away. I hoped that I hadn't offended him. I told him that the boys and I had just talked about doing kind acts today and when I looked at him, he reminded me of my dad and I wanted to help him. I then asked him if it would be ok and he said yes. Him and his friend looked super surprised. He said that he had to figure out if he was going to tell his roommate about this since he had given them some money to buy the food. Lol. He asked my name and I told him. We shook hands. He said thank you to me and the boys. He kept saying that he didn't believe people did things like that. I was kind of embarrassed and didn't want them to think that it was a huge deal, but it felt really good to help them out. 
We put the groceries in the car and I took the boys back in to play the claw machines. They LOVE them and will spend 100 quarters there if I let them. They each had a couple of bucks and played until they each won a small bouncy ball. They were so happy. I thought to myself, the kids were so lucky to each win a ball (these were small/plastic balls, not the tiny/rubber ones that they usually win.) Then I realized that they too were being blessed from serving others. We all drove away happy and I started telling them about how the guys reminded me of my dad and of course I started crying. I told them about how much I miss my dad and how we can all be a family in Heaven one day if we followed the  gospel of Jesus Christ. I told them that they would be able to see Grandpa Jim in Heaven and that they would know and love him. I talked about how crazy and fun my brother James (Tio Jaime) is. I said that he gets that from my dad. I talked about how if I died tomorrow, my one wish would be for them to ALWAYS live by the gospel of Jesus Christ and to never stray from its teachings. I know that my life has changed for the better because of it. I certainly isn't perfect, in fact, it's harder. Brother Zamora mentioned in his testimony yesterday at church that being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints is a lot of work. Life was much easier before, but it sure wasn't happier. Isn't that funny? True happiness comes from trying to live life as Jesus did. 

So, here we are driving to pick up Marquesa and I'm crying my head off and making the boys cry, too. I'm talking about doing ordinances for our ancestors that have died and didn't get the chance to do them themselves and how important family is and how our choice to come to earth was the best choice that we could ever make. Blah, blah, blah. If you give a mouse a cookie.......

Hopefully my rambling on made some kind of sense. I try to go back and check my writing, but what makes sense to me might sound crazy to you. Thanks for reading. My house is quiet. The Christmas lights are on the window and the tree. My boys are all asleep in bed, healthy and warm. The heater just turned off. I have a warm blanket and rice pack keeping me cozy. 
I have so little, but much more than others, and for me that's just enough. I need to remember that every day. I hope you all have just enough, too. 

See what happens when you give a mom a blog. She'll talk your ear off!

Night friends!