Nothing makes me feel more blessed than seeing how the Lord has blessed me and always gotten me where he wanted me to be. On my trip back to Indiana, my dad and I drove out to see the house where I was raised in Indiana from the ages of 7-18. What a flood of memories!
My Indiana Home
My dad's uncle Gerald farmed the fields surrounding our home. I would have loved to see the fields full of corn ready to be harvested. As a child, I spent hours in the corn field. We built a fort on this corner every year with blankets. I spent hours in the field reading. My uncle would always call to warn us when he was getting ready to harvest, so we could remove our fort first.
I went back to Clinton Central Elementary and High School to see what few teachers remained there. I saw Mrs Wyrick (the nurse who retires next year), Linda Barnett, Connie Campbell, Melea Kercheval, JoAnne Spitznagle , Rene' Rogers, Aaron Charles (one of my brother Chad's friends who now teaches PE at CCHS), Mr. Hauenstein, Pat McQuinn, Mrs. Rule, Mr. Scofield, and Janet Thorley (who taught me how to cook in Jr High). I really wanted to see Andy Robertson, but he was out for the day.
The pool where I learned to swim.
How many kids are blessed enough to have a pool in their elementary school?
I love the hymn "Each Life That Touches Ours For Good."Each life that touches ours for good
Reflects thine own great mercy, Lord;
Thou sendest blessings from above
Thru words and deeds of those who love.
What greater gift dost thou bestow,
What greater goodness can we know
Than Christlike friends, whose gentle ways
Strengthen our faith, enrich our days.
I believe that I am who I am today in great part to the wonderful people who have touched my life through the years. While I was in Indiana, my dad and I were able to visit both of our churches in Lebanon and Frankfort before my grandma's visitation that Sunday. To my left,
Georgean Griffith taught me for 3 years in Seminary. What a difficult calling that must have been to teach a rowdy group of teenagers. In her class, I felt the Spirit and gained a love for the scriptures!
To my right, Lorrie Monn was my young women's president. She loved me no matter what and made me feel as if I could accomplish anything I wanted! I had never gotten straight A's. My first semester Lorrie encouraged me to put that as a short term goal for that semester. I worked my tail off and did it. Then, Lorrie taught me about long term goals. She said, " I bet if you could be valedictorian if you really wanted to." She encouraged me to set it as my goal. Two of her young women became valedictorians. Paula Brackett Taylor was one of them, and I was the other. Lorrie had gone to BYU and we loved hearing her fun stories. I think she was a large reason that both Paula and I went to BYU!
I can't say enough good about Patty Brackett. She was basically my 2nd mom. My senior year they changed Seminary from Home Study with a once a week class to early morning. Monday through Friday at an unmentionable early hour, we would go to her house in Frankfort to learn from the scriptures. Patty was a great teacher, and many times I felt the spirit testify that what we were learning was true. She made us breakfast every morning. She always went above and beyond whatever she was asked to do.
Aleeah Livengood has always been a tremendous example to me of doing hard things! She brought all of her boys to church pretty much every Sunday by herself before her incredible husband Mike joined the church! She is a true woman of faith. Once her boys got older, she worked hard to her bachelors then masters from Purdue.
I was able to see my favorite Home Ec teacher- Janet Thorley. I took a foods class from her and loved it! She got me so excited about cooking. I gave her a signed cookbook as a THANK You while I was there. I wish I could have seen Andy Robertson, my history coach. I was blessed with so many great teachers!
