Miracle Baby

Before I go on to tell about our "miracle baby", a few more memories of our time in Novato have come floating into my mind. It was here that we made one of our first big purchases, a piano. Music has always been important in my life. I have never been blessed with musical talent, but I have always had a love for and an appreciation of good music. I had always wanted my children to have the opportunity to develop any musical talent or interest that they had. Debbie had continued on with her ballet lessons in Novato and showed real talent. Now we started Jeanie with piano lessons.
It was a part of one of our Family Home Evenings that we made paper mache puppet heads using balloons for the mold. We painted faces, added yarn hair, and made clothes. Jim even built us a stage with curtains and lights. When I was the public safety chairman for our school's PTA the older children and I put together a little safety puppet show for the children at the school. The characters were school children, a policeman, and a crossing guard. I don't really remember the story line only that it was to teach children safety in coming to and going home from school. Speaking of school, I'm sure Jeanie, Debbie, and maybe even Kathi (I think she was only in kindergarten at the time) remember the "rod" method of teaching math that surfaced at this time, and the questionable value they had in Dad's mind. That technique didn't last too long.
Because of Jim's job as a field engineer with the responsibility of teaching military personnel he had the status of an officer on base with all it's accompanying privileges. These included the use of the officer's club and swimming pool. I was able to take the children to the pool any time. They loved it! I think more than loving the pool, they loved the snack bar next to it.
Now let's talk about that miracle baby. I guess I have to begin back in Klamath Falls right after the twins were born. Although we wanted at least one more child in the future, my plate was pretty full right then. So we decided to try the brand new birth control pills that had just been introduced. And wouldn't you know, I was that one in ten thousand (or more) who had a negative response. The pills threw me into pre-mature menopause and I stopped ovulating. (I hope I'm not making any of my readers uncomfortable by talking about such a personal subject). The only good thing about that was that I also stopped menstruating. The doctor said that without a reversal I would not be able to have any more children. I was devastated! I remember telling Jim (my husband) how awful it would be to have our son Jim grow up in a house full of girls without a brother. I will never forget his wise words, "If that is the worst thing he has to face in his life, he will be one lucky guy." I'm sure that was supposed to make me feel better, but it didn't.

Now fast forward five years to Novato, California. It is 1965, five years later. The twins have started kindergarten, Jeanie is in fifth grade, Debbie in fourth, and Kathi in second. I have long since reconciled myself to the fact that we would be forever a family of seven. I hate odd numbers! I never wanted to have an odd number of children. It should have been four, or six, or even eight. But not five. But I had no choice. That was until Jim was called to be the Elders Quorum President of our ward. I went with him to be set apart by the stake president, and I confess I wasn't listening as close as I should have to the blessing which he bestowed upon Jim as he was set apart. But on the way home, he said to me, "Did you hear what President Allred said in his blessing?" I had to admit that I didn't know what he was referring to. He answered (and I'm paraphrasing), " He said that the deepest wishes of our hearts would be realized." I didn't know what Jim's deepest wish was, but mine was to have one more baby.

Nine months later on Sunday, March 20, a son was born to us, weighing in at 9 lbs. 2 oz. We felt it fitting to name him John (Jon ... Jim insisted on dropping the the "h" ) which means "Gift of God". He was truly our special gift from God. The doctors couldn't explain how this was possible, but we do. He was truly our "Miracle Baby".

And I was happy. We now had an even number!

More Memories of Novato

The nearly five years we spent in Novato holds many special memories for me. Here are a few that come to mind.

• Watching the twins grow up. Twins have a totally different way of maturing than a single child. It was fascinating to watch. They were best friends and never needed any one else to play with. They developed their own language which only they could understand, and communicated with others when necessary by pointing and sign language. I learned a little of their language, but others couldn't understand a word they said. This was a problem when they were nearing kindergarten age and we wondered if we should hold them back.
• The trauma of disposing of Jimmy's (what we called Jim Jr.) "blanky". Jim loved his blanky, especially the silk binding. He would stuff the whole corner of it in his mouth and chew on it. I had to keep replacing the binding because it would become so stinky and worn. The blanket became smaller and smaller as I kept cutting it down to replace the worn part. One night when we were barbecuing with charcoal in the back yard Jim was standing there watching, blanket in hand. Daddy said to him as he took the blanket from his trusting hands, " I wonder what would happen if we put your blanket on these pretty red coals. Little Jim looked on with horror as his precious treasure go up in flames. No more "blanky".

• Jimmy deciding he wanted to find out what smoking a cigarette was like. Dad obliged by bringing home a pack of cigarettes, lighting it up for him, and watching him put it in his mouth. It was when Mom told him to suck in like using a straw that we saw the reaction that cracked us up. I'll never forget that look on his face as he choked, turned green (almost) and began running around the house ... the outside of the house. He made several round trips before he finally stopped. I don't think Jim ever tried smoking again.

• It was here that we received the news of President John Kennedy's assassination. I remember I was shopping for Christmas, and had just purchased a large stuffed bear that came with a little cub in its' paws. I just knew Deborah would love it. Then the news came over the loud speaker of the store. It's funny what we remember when traumatic things occur in life.
• Adding on to our small church building, the work being done by members of the ward. Jim spent many hours up on the roof of that building. But it was so nice now to have a real chapel with permanent benches, and a separate cultural hall.

• Putting on an original children's Christmas play based on the the story of "The Little Drummer Boy". I talked my my friend, Betty Schmidt, who was a gifted writer to use her skills to come up with this cute play for the Primary to perform for the ward Christmas Party. It has since been performed by several other Primarys in other stakes. I still have a copy of that play.

• Special friends, Wanda Dunn, Lorna Burdette, Irene Laycock, and Betty Schmidt.

• Jimmy and Shelly starting kindergarten even though no one could understand them. We took them to a specialist to make sure they didn't have a learning disability that coused their speech problem. We were assured that as soon as they were split up by placing them in different classes, and with some speech therapy, they would do just fine. It only took several months of therapy and being around other children and they were talking like any other five-year-old.

• Lots of fun church activities.

• Some "not so fun" Officer's Club parties that we were obligated to attend. We once won a prize for the couple that seemed to be having the most fun. Actually we were the only ones who weren't stoned ... and we were great actors. Our prize? ... bottle of liquor.

• Making one of the most important family decisions of our lives - committing to having regular Family Home Evenings. We were motivated by the words of a prophet which were in the introduction to the new Family Home Evening Manual we received. These words were: "If fathers and mothers will faithfully discharge the responsibility of Family Home Evening, not one in a hundred of your family would ever go astray." I liked those odds, I liked that assurance, and I was willing to do my part receive that promised blessing. FHE became, from that time on, a top priority in our lives.
• Being named Novato's "Mother of the Year" in 1966.

• Being blessed with our "miracle" baby, Jon, that same year. More about this miracle and special blessing in my next blog.

Wake Up And Smell the Roses

I’d like to fast forward forty-six years for this blog because of the significance of an event a week or so ago that has had a definite impact on my life … an impact in the sense of how it has changed my perspective on what is really important and the changes I need to make in my life even at this late date. Two weeks ago I had a TIA (mini-stroke) that landed me in the hospital for three days. It wasn’t serious … no brain damage … just a real wake-up call. These kinds of strokes can be pre-cursors to future more debilitating or life threatening ones. I, as was everyone who knows me, was taken totally by surprise. I was advised by my doctors to make some life-style changes … reduce stress, lower blood pressure by losing weight, exercising more, using less salt, etc. etc. You know the drill. These things I am starting to do. But the most important thing I plan to do is to look at my world through different eyes.

I was inspired by the following true story that appeared in our little local newspaper, The Loop:

“On a cold January morning in 2007, in a corner of the Washington DC Metro station, a young violinist took up his instrument and began to play. Just like any other street musician, he opened his violin case in hopes of tips. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes and during that time, approximately 2,000 People went through the station. Six people stopped to linger and listen for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk at their normal pace. Several children stopped to listen, but in every instance, the parent pushed the child to move on. For his morning concert, the musician collected $32. After the hour was over, the young man stopped and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded. Unbeknownst to the DC Metro patrons, the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the finest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell had sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100. (If you’ve ever seen the movie, The Red Violin, Bell is the soloist of the soundtrack. He was only 18 at the time!) Joshua Bell playing incognito in the Metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities. The question raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? “

This experiment reminds me of the trite proverb: “stop and smell the roses”. But “over-used” as that statement might be, it has a whole new meaning to me. I have come to realize how fragile our individual mortality is. None of us can know when or how our Father will call us home, and when we face our maker I can’t help but wonder if one of the questions He may ask us is, “Did you take time to appreciate and enjoy the beauty of all the things I provided to make your journey on earth more peaceful?” I know now that I will be able to answer, “Yes! Thank you!”

The Church is the Same Wherever You Go, Only Different

Having grown up in Salt Lake City I was used to our many church buildings being being only a few blocks apart and they were all complete buildings with a chapel, cultural hall with stage, multiple classrooms, junior Sunday School room (Primary was during the week)and offices for several bishops. It had been a little different in Klamath Falls where there were fewer members and only one church building. But that building was a complete complex with the same chapel, cultural hall, etc. that we had in Salt Lake. But when we moved to Novato, we were surprised to discover that our building had only one large room that served both as the chapel and the recreation hall, maybe a half dozen classrooms down a single wing, and a bishop's office ... even though we were a ward and not a branch. Because the large room had multiple uses, it was necessary to have folding chairs which were placed in rows on a cement floor for sacrament meeting. There was no carpeting in the building. As you can imagine, it was a bit noisy. Because there was no custodian for the building, the cleaning was done by assignment to families. Our little family spent quite a few Saturdays cleaning that little building. It was at church that I discovered that one of our close neighbors was a member. I was excited about that. And even more excited when I found out that she had two teen-age daughters that were more than willing to babysit. Loved it!!

As is usual, especially when a ward is small, we were immediately given callings. I was called to the Primary as a teacher of the Firelights, who were the 10-year girls. The nine, ten, and eleven year old girls were then collectively called the "Merry Miss" girls. The nine-year olds were called "Gaynotes", the ten-year bolds, Firelights, and the eleven-year olds, "Merryhands".

Not only did this group of girls learn the Articles of Faith, work to fulfill a number of other requirements each year, but also learned simple embroidery, knitting, and crocheting. I had only been working in this assignment for about a year when I was called to serve as a counselor in Relief Society. That was a real surprise ... but I guess not really ... because my LDS neighbor,

Dunn, and I had become good friends when she was called to be Relief Society president. But I was still in my twenties, and that is pretty young to be working in what I saw as the Church's organization for "old ladies". I felt pretty uncomfortable accepting that calling, but how could I turn down my good friend? Turning down the Lord didn't even enter my mind at that time.

Once I began learning what my duties and responsibilities would be in Relief Society, I kind of figured out why Sister Dunn wanted me in this position. The organization and assignments of the different members of the board differed greatly than today. Part of my job was to organize the nursery and find a suitable leader. This was a paid position and the one holding it did not necessarily have to be a member of the church. Since there was no manual for lessons and activities, part of my job was to write the lessons and discussions, provide pictures and teaching aids, find organize activities and crafts, plan and bring the snacks, etc. I had to do all this in more detail because the teacher we had was not a member. I had to write all the dialogue she should have with the children to reenforce the lesson. It was a big job for me. As I think about it now, I should have saved all those lessons plans. This was the first of my many many callings in Relief Society. Except for a few short stints in Primary, nearly all of my responsibilities in the Church throughout my life have been in this organization.

All was going well in Novato. We were enjoying our new friends, our children had adjusted well to their new school, Jim was enjoying his work at the base and we loved going there to swim at the officer's club anytime we chose. Then came a real shocker!

And Then There Were More ... Frogs, That Is.

The scenario of frogs at our new location continued on when the girls discovered that rocks next to their sandbox was home to a bunch of adult frogs. It didn't take them long to figure out that by spraying the rocks with a stream of water from the hose the frogs would hop out of their safe seclusion right into the hands of happy waiting playmates. The frogs soon had names and elaborate tunnels and "buildings" built in the sandbox for their "enjoyment". The kids spent hours playing with their frog friends in that sandbox. When the play was over for the day the frogs were gently returned to their home in the rocks. While I'm on the subject of frogs, I'll fast forward to the next spring when we realized what a real plague they would become. We woke up one morning to discover thousands ... yes, I truly mean thousands, of tiny little frogs covering the street as far as you could see, and just as many hopping all over the grass in the front yard. This went on for about a week. You couldn't drive down the street without running over hundreds of frogs, and when you tried to mow your grass, you had automatic fresh red fertilizer for your lawn. It was HORRIBLE! After that first year frogs just became a part of living in Novato and was no big deal ... especially since they became the kids' favorite playmates.

The children also enjoyed opening up big cardboard boxes and using them to slide down the hill behind our house. We had easy access to that hill because we had a gate in the backyard fence. The boxes slid easily over the weeds on the hill especially in the fall when they would dry up and become even more slippery. All the kids in the neighborhood would join in the fun.

Another playmate was added to the family when we bought a Collie puppy for the children. I have always loved Collies, I guess a carryover from my childhood when Lassie was a favorite movie star. For those too young to know about Lassie, she was a Collie dog who was the hero that always saved the day. When we saw a sign in the neighbor's yard, "Collie Puppies For Sale", we just had to go take a look. It happened that the dogs were all pedigreed with papers so that made them very expensive. We just couldn't put that much money into a dog, But when the owners saw how disappointed the children were they told us that one of the pups had "droopy" ears instead of the straight "perky" ones that tipped over at the top. They told us that even though this defect could possibly be corrected by taping round rods in the ear to hold them up as the ear grew, it made this puppy less valuable than the others. They said we could have the dog for "$50.00, a bargain we quickly accepted.

In order to register a dog with with the AKC it had to have three names. Since we had the pedigree papers for our puppy we decided to go ahead and register him, even though we knew he would never be used as a show dog or for breeding. He was just to be the family pet. We names him Prince Cooper of Lynwood ... "Prince" because that was the name we planned to call

him, "Cooper" because that was the last name of an astronaut who that year was the first to circle the earth in a spaceship ..., and "Lynwood" because that was the name of the tract that we lived in.

Once through that puppy stage, Prince became a beloved member of our family for about thirteen years. He loved and protected the children, and was their constant companion and playmate. They could sit on him, tease him while he was sleeping, take toys away from him and he never even growled his displeasure. When the twins were old enough to play outside he would walk along side of them and not let them into the street. He was big enough to just push them away from the road. Once he even chased a motorcycle that had frequently been racing down our residential street, scaring the children (he was not a car chaser) and tried to bite the rider. The rider kicked at him and swerved his cycle so that it would hit him. His hip was injured which resulted in his having arthritis there as he aged. He was so lonely when the kids were gone for more than a day that once when we returned home we found that he had opened an unlocked sliding glass door, gone to Jeanie's room, removed a stuffed cat that was made of real rabbit fur, and took it outside with him. When we returned home we found it between his front paws with his head resting on it. He was one special dog, even if he once he opened that same sliding glass door and ate an entire gingerbread house that we had just purchased for Christmas. He didn't even get sick! That's what we get for leaving that door unlocked once we knew he could open it with his paw.

There were more special lessons we learned during that four years we lived in Novato. We made some of the most long-lasting friends there and experienced one of the first of several real miracles in our life. More to come.

Frogs, Frogs, and More Frogs!!

As we walked closer to our motel room door with its' overhead light, we could see what had been moving in the dark. It wasn't just a thing. It was many "things" ... many, many, many things. I felt like I had just walked out into one of the Moses' plagues in Egypt. There were frogs everywhere ... hopping up and down the sidewalks, in the grass, and in the parking lot. The kids were ecstatic. "We need a bucket, we need a bucket", were the simultaneous cries. Fortunately we could not find a bucket or anything else that could hold a frog, but promised the kids we would see what we could find in the morning. By morning, most of the frogs were gone, but enough remained that we were able to capture a few for the girls to "observe". We were soon to find out that frogs would play a big part in our children's lives.

Our first concern after arriving in Novato was finding a place to live. After searching a few days were able to find a house which we could purchase without a down payment using our G.I. bill ... a benefit program that was available to veterans of the Korean War. The house was in a quiet little isolated subdivision containing only a few streets entry to which was by way of only one of the streets. The best part of this choice was that the grade school was right at the entrance to the area ... a short and safe walking distance from our home. The house was an Eichler designed building, recognizable by its large ceiling to floor windows. These windows comprised two walls of our living room. The kitchen was small but had a DISHWASHER, my first ever dishwasher. I really didn't care that there wasn't much cupboard space because it had a DISHWASHER! There was a small dining area off the kitchen, and there were three bedrooms and two bathrooms (another first). The best part was that there was a bathroom right off what would be the girl's room which had a door that lead to the back yard where the girls would spend a lot of time. The back yard had been divided into several planter boxes with rock pathways between them. One of these boxes we turned into a sandbox. In the corner of a the yard was a rock "wall" which I think at one time must have been a small fountain and water fall. A sliding glass door between the dining area and the living room lead to the side yard where there was a nice patio and grass area. On the other side of the house was the sidewalk

that led to the front door, and a small slope covered with ice plant. All you could see from the street was the garage because the rest of the house was secluded behind fences on both sides of the garage.

This was the first home that we had lived in that was OURS. And, my first thought was to decorate it the way I wanted. The house came with white drapes that covered those two windowed walls of the living room. We had bought our piece of new furniture in Klamath Falls which was a white Naugahyde (imitation leather) couch. With all that white, I knew I needed some color. All the floors throughout the house were asbestos tile, pretty common back then. There were no carpets. The first thing we purchased was beautiful bluish green tweed, wall to wall carpet for the living room. Then I purchased blue and green pillows for the couch. My creativity then kicked in and I decided to make planters to go on to of the bookcases that were built half way up the wall on both sides of the white brick fireplace. The fireplace and the bookcases comprised the whole far end wall of the room. Dad built the metal planters and I covered them with blue, green and white Mosaic tile. When filled with silk greenery, they really added to the beauty of the room. My next purchase was a large gold sunburst clock which I hung over the fireplace. I just loved the way it all turned out. I felt that this house was now really my "home".

Novato??? What the Heck is Novato?

Things got a bit easier as the twins grew big enough to sit and play in a borrowed playpen. They seemed happy to just sit and play together with their toys unless, of course, they both wanted the same toy at the same time. Jeanie and Debbie were now both in school for part of the day, and Kathi was still taking an afternoon nap which meant that, if I was lucky, the twins would go to sleep at the same time, and I could have an hour or so all to myself. But I'm sure that time was not spent taking a nap myself. There were other things I'd rather be doing than sleeping.

As I look back now at the Easter picture of my five little treasures all sitting together on the couch dressed in matching homemade dresses (and little suit for Jim), I wonder how on earth did I have the time to make all all those clothes. They were not simple dresses, either. Each dress was made of a different colored gingham check with a white pinafore over it. The pinafore was trimmed in matching check and had matching little flowers which were hand sewed on each pinafore. Each little girl had a matching gingham-covered head band except Shelly (as we called her) who had a matching bonnet. I made little Jim a blue gingham romper with a white vest and I purchased him a little boy's hat. I have to admit they looked pretty cute. But I still can't believe I had the time and patience for this project that now looks HUGE to me at age seventy-five. Oh, to be young again! I guess I know now what I did with that one hour or so that I had to myself each day.

It was the spring of 1962, when Jim received a notice of transfer from his company. We were to leave that summer for his new assignment to Hamilton Air Force Base in Novato, California.

I had never heard of Novato before, but was told that it was in the northern part of the state in between San Rafael and Santa Rosa. It was a good time to move because of the summer break from school and after looking on a map, it seemed a favorable place to be going. I had never been to that part of California, and that would be new adventure. We would be close to San Francisco with its' cable cars, China Town, and the Golden Gate Bridge. That was all exciting to me.

The company packed us up, and put all our things in storage until we could find a place to live. We stayed in a motel while looking. But it was that first night's stay in the motel that excited the children SO much, but scared me to death. As we headed toward our room that first night, it was getting pretty dark. Suddenly I saw things moving on the sidewalk ... lots of "things". I stopped dead in my tracks and the girls started squealing. What kind of town were me moving to?