Thoughts and stories, by Pal

I thought this may be interesting to any of you who have challenges like this!  I grew up in a generation which didn't even know of autism.  If someone seemed different, we just learned to love them as they were. I have a great grandchild or two with some handicaps, one very severe, and one mild.  My own children seemed normal as children. Your Hardest Family Question: How Do I Navigate My Fears About Autism in My Future Children? By  Geoff Steurer, MS, LMFT  · September 21, 2023 Question I’m engaged to be married to the man of my dreams. This next line will undoubtedly make me sound shallow and unkind. But his brother is severely autistic and I’m afraid that we’ll end up having a child of our own with autism too. Both he and I want to have children very much. We’ve talked about it and he’s very excited. He’d make a great father and will be a wonderful provider. That’s not the issue, I’m just so afraid of the challenges that will be placed on us if one of our children has autism. H

  Celebrating the 99th Birthday of President Russell M. Nelson By Savoring His Teachings By  Scot Facer Proctor  · September 10, 2023 Photography by Scot Facer Proctor   Many years ago, a little girl walked up to the venerable President David O. McKay when he was in his nineties, looked up into his face and said very emphatically, “You’re going to die!” Without skipping a beat, he quipped back very decisively to her saying, “No, statistics show that very few people die in their nineties!” We can say the same about our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson: Statistics are in your favor! Happy birthday to you, President. We love you. We honor you. We sustain you as a prophet of God. We ever pray for thee, our prophet dear, That God will give to thee comfort and cheer; As the advancing years furrow thy brow, Still may the light within shine bright as now, Still may the light within shine bright as now. I have carefully studied, restudied, pondered about and marked up not only Presi

  My Plans, At close to age 89!   I realize I haven't been very busy on this blog!  I went through a really difficult time during February and March, and I gradually got my health back to the place I feel normal again, except for my back and leg!     The photo below was given to me by my Navajo friends Julia and Daniel Smallcanyon many years ago..  It was taken about 1950.  The ladies are from left to right:   Big Lady, Daniel's great grandmother, Lady Yellow Hair, who is Julia's great grandmother, and Lady One Salt.  I have wanted to paint them ever since I got the picture, but haven't   got around to it.  So I did it in watercolors just earlier this summer, and took it down to Julia, who lives in the town of Washington, near St. George, Utah.  It would have been better to do it in oil paints, but that takes a lot more time and effort, and I guess I'm losing my ambition.  I have made it a practice for many years to give an oil painting to each of my children, and g