It’s been a few weeks since I shared the hand of God in my life lately. So here is a recap of the blessings, tender mercies and mini-miracles in my life since I last shared, in February, over here. (Then some other posts about the hand of God in my life are here, here, and here.)

-I got my St. Patrick’s Day and Easter decorations up, including my Easter books. (You can see all the rest of them here, and get an Easter picture book list there as well.) These all just make me so happy! I found the St. Patty’s sign shown above, which is actually a table runner, in my thrift haul last August. I’ve been saving it to use in March, and now the time is here! I know it could use some ironing but oh well, it’s probably not going to happen, LOL.

-We fasted and prayed for snow and rain on Fast Sunday of February, after hearing one of our local church leaders in January tell us that so far, we were having the driest winter on record for Utah. Ever since then, we have had some rain, and a tiny bit of snow.

-Because of the rain, I looked for my umbrellas. I have two, and they were both lost. So I walked in the rain with a scarf wrapped around my head one rainy day. Just in the past two weeks, I found both lost umbrellas! I also found another umbrella at the Provo Deseret Industries, for only $2. I will put that one in the car and keep it there. Then the other two I will keep in the same spot with my gloves, instead of the other place where I had put one where it got buried under other stuff. That way I will never be without, even if I forget to take one to the car.

-My married daughter and her husband and three little boys moved to live within 10 minutes of me in the same city. When I think of how they lived two states away, in northern CA, over four years ago, and now they live less than 10 minutes away, I marvel at the miracle! I never thought such a thing would happen for them to live within the same city as I do, and now they do! Look at the cute fake little apple tree above that my daughter found at the Provo Deseret Industries (DI) to grace her new porch. So darling!

-My husband and I got to go see the new movie Solo Mio with Kevin James as the lead. Jonathan Roumie (Jesus in The Chosen) plays a supporting character. It is weird to see him in a comedic role. My sister-in-law gave me a Cinemark movie gift card for my birthday last fall. I’m so happy that a super romantic, clean movie came out for us to use with the gift card. It was such a fun movie with two bonus surprise cast members. I won’t say who they are. Go see it if you want a feel good, romantic movie for date night, with two cherries on top as surprises!

-I have been badly in need of a dental visit as it has been about 8 years since I last saw a dentist. Ever since we moved to Utah five years ago, we haven’t had dental insurance and can’t afford a regular visit by paying the costs of a visit out-of-pocket. I didn’t even pray about it, I just had a silent wish in my heart that somehow I could see a dentist. Then in my neighborhood/church congregation email group, one of my friends sent out a message. She said that anybody could sign up for a dental exam and cleaning for only $25 through the Utah College of Dental Hygienists. I can afford $25! The trade-off for the low cost is that it takes a long time to get this all done, as students of the UCDH have to have every step reviewed by supervisors, but I have more time than money so it was worth it. I so want to be figure out how to do dental cleaning at home beyond daily brushing and flossing. I’m hoping the above book will help. If anyone knows how it aligns with Weston A. Price teachings, please comment in the comments below.

-Elder Cook’s BYU Devotional last week. He talked about how we are entering the AI Age. Because we are entering that age, it is more important than ever to cultivate the Holy Spirit as our guide. I will be revisiting this speech. It’s so good!

-RootsTech 2026! I love watching this every year online. My preview is here, and a recap will be coming soon, after I finish watching all the 2026 online stuff. It’s so fascinating to see the good use of AI in making family history research so much easier and faster. Some of my viewing was interrupted by the next listed blessing below. So I will finish watching RT this coming week. I have watched Day 1, which is above. I so enjoyed it! It’s fun to learn about these different people from different walks of life and why their family history means so much to them.

-One of my married sons got to attend the wedding/sealing ceremony of one of his missionary companions this past week, in Mesa AZ. The same companion attended my son’s wedding four years ago. It’s wonderful to see this young man find his wife, hopefully for eternity. Even though it was out of his way, my son chose to travel through UT on his way back home to TX after the wedding. It was so wonderful to see him this past weekend. I picked him up from the airport on Friday morning. It felt like Christmas in March! We had a great time visiting for a little less than two days. My married daughter and her little family came over Saturday morning and we all gathered in my front room/dining room/library. I had my basket of little toys and games for the grandsons, almost all of all which I’ve bought at thrift stores. Usually the grandsons lose interest when we are gathered upstairs as an extended family, even with this basket, and want to go outside or play downstairs within 30 minutes. So one of us has to go off to be with them and supervise, which means missing out on the adult conversation.

It was so amazing that this time around, these two little boys stayed upstairs for maybe two hours while we all talked. I played Slamwich with the oldest, Memory with the younger, and Logic Land with the younger. The younger one did the Swish Jr. game on his own and Geobrix. Both tried Sologic on their own and played with the star cubes and the Rubik’s cube. All that happened while my two sons, son-in-law, two daughters, and husband talked, laughed, and connected, sometimes with me. It felt like a piece of heaven. I love seeing my grandsons’ eyes light up when I play games/puzzles with them. It is so delightful! I will always cherish this memory of an ordinary Saturday morning when time stood still while we visited. I drove my son to the airport a few hours later and had a great visit on the drive there as well.

-Speaking of which, the same son and his wife are expecting a baby girl the end of April! Our first granddaughter, after four grandsons!!! I love my four grandboys, and I’m super excited about having a grandgirl! This son and I had such fun shopping for baby girl clothes at the Provo DI while he was in town. I sent him home with three cute pink things, asking him to wrap them up and not let his wife open the package until after the birth. I plan on getting more clothes to bring with me when I come to do Granny Nanny duty after the birth. My son and daughter-in-law are naming her in honor of my deceased mother-in-law, so that’s sweet. See this cute fuzzy pink bathrobe I got for the baby below. I’m squealing in delight, it’s so darling! That’s one of the things I bought for her. I know it won’t fit her for long so I hope they send me photos of her in it before she outgrows it. Totally worth it for only $2!

-My last homeschooling child in the nest and I joined a new-to-us homeschooling co-op, which started up after winter break in February. I’ve actually known about it for over two decades as some of my Utah County homeschooling friends helped start it around 20 years ago. We moved away right when it started otherwise we would have been a part of it for all these years. God had other plans for us as we moved to northern Utah and then Arizona. Then finally back to Utah. Anyway, after leaving a co-op two years ago for various reasons, we have been on the waitlist for this one for two years. At this co-op, I have enjoyed making new friends and connecting with an old one. I’ve also enjoyed that my assignment in the co-op is to be in charge of the children under 12 while their moms are teaching, for one of the class periods. I love bringing picture books, a related craft, and games to play. Over 30 years ago, I met one of the moms at this new co-op when we were young moms with just one baby boy each while we were living in the same apartment complex in Orem UT. Now 30 plus years later, we get to be in the same homeschooling co-op and connect again! Talking to her felt so natural, like we hadn’t ever been apart. I love having kindred spirits and being able to pick up where we last left off like nothing has interrupted the friendship.

-My child I just mentioned is learning to study harder and longer with the two scholar phase classes he just added to his plate. It’s amazing to watch!

-Same child took part in a science fair project. See photos above. His project relates to drumming, which is his passion. I’m mentoring Pyramid Project, which is a class that LEMI, a homeschooling curriculum company, trains parents in how to teach/mentor the class. One of the requirements for earning the PP award is to participate in a science fair. Since we only have three students in my class, including my son, I knew it wouldn’t be very fun to have a science fair with just three students. I felt so blessed that at the beginning of January, I found out about a Utah County Homeschoolers’ Science Fair. Two of the moms in our new homeschooling co-op organized it. This was positively Providential! My son didn’t really want to do the science fair at first. I kept encouraging him, and pushed him a little to do it. He stepped up to the plate and took over and finally owned it. He passed at that level/the homeschool county fair and got invited to do the Central Utah STEM Fair at BYU on March 19. I’m excited about this all because it helps opens his mind up to a whole new level of intellectual challenges. I’m excited to go see the fair as well and have both of our visions expanded as to what teenagers can do with science. Cash prizes totaling $75K will be awarded!

-I have been reading this book above, about the provenance of the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ. I am loving it so far! It is so fascinating! This is a great way to lead up to celebrating the Book of Mormon’s birthday on March 26th.

-I went to the Provo DI in hopes of finding a few things, on the trip with my son from TX, and found some of them! First, some books that are perfect for certain people who I was looking for to give as birthday gifts, and the Qwixx game, which I might give away too (still figuring that one out, as to who will appreciate it the most)

the aforementioned baby girl clothes, some Easter/Christian books

Christmas picture/chapter books,

The Christmas Chronicles chapter book, my favorite Christmas classic, which I’ve always wanted for over a decade (we’ve always only ever listened to it), for $2,

and a few more surprises! Like a knock-off Rubik’s cube for $1, some classic Little Golden Books for 75 cents each, and an aqua blue Pioneer Woman Mason jar for $1.50, to be a companion to one I already have that my daughter gave as a birthday gift years ago (I’ve kept it pristine, as it seemed too pretty to use. Now that one with the original straw and lid can strictly be for water, and this new thrifted one can be for other drinks. It’s missing the straw and lid but that’s OK. My husband drilled a hole in a regular canning lid for me and I’m just using a disposable straw)

and last, but not least, a Jane Austen jigsaw puzzle! Only $2! It’s over $20 in amazon. (Please note that this an affiliate link. I receive a small commission if you buy the puzzle from that link.) I just found out that Jane Austen is my 6th cousin 8 times removed, according to FamilySearch! No wonder I feel like having a party for her, every year!

I have been wanting to find a Jane puzzle at a thrift store, and it happened! Truly a magical thrifting moment with my thrifting angels helping and singing over me! The puzzle also has a seek-and-find feature to look for the characters and books shown on the side of the box.

-the next day I went thrifting at the American Fork DI and found one of my intended products, some casual shoes for my son. I noticed last week that his current pair he has are wearing out. These are great replacements. Only $4! Yay! We’ll pop them in the wash and they will be as good as new!

-Something happened in my life in one of my relationships where I felt so incredibly mad, hurt and frustrated. After it happened, I fell to my knees in anger, pain, confusion, bewilderment, frustration and sorrow. I begged God to help me with this situation. After about 20 minutes or so of prayer and meditation and my mind wandering and then going back to prayer and meditation, I felt God directing me with an immediate plan. I felt some peace. Then I acted on the plan. Then the next day, in the morning, I asked God for help again in how to navigate this issue. I wrote down a question I had for God regarding this issue, then I prayed the question, then I read the Book of Mormon with that question in mind. I then felt an answer as I read. I wrote down the answer. I prayed and asked God if that was His answer. I got a confirmation from the Holy Spirit. I then went about the day. This thorny issue came up later in the day with this person. I felt the Holy Ghost put words in my mind as to what to say exactly. I said those exact words. It completely allowed the relationship to turn two corners, and go 180 degrees from where it was going. So I’m extremely grateful for the Holy Ghost guiding me. Those were words from the Holy Ghost, ultimately from Heavenly Father, and not from my own mind. I never would have thought those words on my own. I’m so grateful to know that I can pray to God anytime, anywhere, and that I can receive inspiration from the Holy Ghost to guide me through pitfalls and trials. Life isn’t always a bowl of peaches and cream! With God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost, I am learning to get through life when it feels like rotten fruit. This was definitely a huge blessing, a tender mercy/bordering on a miracle, that I will always remember.

I am just so grateful for my Savior who truly is my rock, my solid foundation, especially when torrential chaos swirls around me, threatening to suck me up. I can always feel peace with a solid foundation under me by praying in His name to my Father in Heaven. Praise the Lord!

As it says in Helaman 5:12 from the Book of Mormon: