Gloria!

About a month back, our family was asked to sing in Sacrament meeting. Of course, we waited until Sunday morning to pick out a song and practice. We decided on Angels we have heard on high. After much threatening and bribing, we got Madelyn and Spencer to sing. Spencer remembered, "Angels we have mountains," and, "Gloria." Madelyn sang the words from the hymn book but gave us all of the 9 year old attitude she could muster during practices. Then sang well duing Sacrament meeting. Why couldn't she do that the whole time? We asked another single lady from the ward to join us and sing alto. Somehow when someone sings an actual musical part, it makes the rest of the singers sound better. Thank goodness Heavenly Father had mercy on the Overtons. The spirit was there even if the practices had been less than stellar.

Baby Explosion

Lots of babies are coming to our friends and family

Friends:
Ben and Erin Tracy - Boy (May)

Family:
Cousin - Jon and Angela Williams - Boy - Landon Fredrick Williams (Arrived a week before Christmas)
Sister - Rebecca and Geoff Neilsen - Boy (January)
Cousin - Lisa and Joel Brown - Girl (March?)
Sister - Liesel and Cody Moultrie - ? (May)
Tod's Brother - Dan and Sherri Overton - Boy (May)
Cousin - Amy and Andrew Bang - ? (?)

Our family is being blessed many times over. Imagine the noise when all of us get together next!

I have the Christmas Spirit

Today we decorated the house for Christmas. Spencer was so excited! He skipped around the house singing, "I have the Christmas Spirit! I have the Christmas Spirit!" Madelyn said, "What's the Christmas Spirit?" Spencer said, "It's that you know that Santa Clause is real and he loves you."

Yes Spencer, there is a Christmas Spirit.

Earthquake!!! The trail was shaking!

We just had an earthquake here, 11:42 a.m. Here is a link to CalTech that I though was interesting. http://www.seismolab.caltech.edu/earthquakes.html Take a look at the shake movie to see just how fast the earthquake moved and how far it could be felt.

Right now our local TV stations are saying it was a 5.8. That is big time stuff. It is not a 7 earthquake but it is more than enough for you to sit up and take notice. My parents live in Chino Hills, the epicenter of the earthquake. As of now, 1:37 p.m. I have not personally talked to them but I have had word they are fine. I couldn't get a hold of my uncle who lives in WA State so I called Tod's father, who also lives in WA State. He called my parents and spoke to my father. According to my father, it was really shaking there. He said it felt like the epicenter was directly under their house. My nephews from Provo, UT are visiting at my parents house right now and they are doing fine also. Thanks Bryon for doing that. I appreciate it.

In our house, I felt the earth start to shake. I froze a second to see if it really was what I though it was. Oddly enough, one of my first thoughts was, "Wow, it has been a while since we have had one of these." Then I realized what I was thinking...THIS IS AN EARTHQUAKE, AND I HAVE KIDS IN THE BATH TUB. GET UP MICHELLE AND GO GET THEM OUT OF THE BATHTUB. I was sitting on the couch at the time and trying to get the Disney Channel Games turned off so that I could go wash two kids. I quickly got up, told the kids we were having an earthquake and they needed to get out of the bathtub. Spencer instantly started freaking out. He started panic crying...you know the kind that 5 year olds do when their senses get overloaded and the only thing they can do is to cry hysterically. It took me a few seconds to stop the freaking out. I promised him that he would be fine because I was there with him. I quickly got the kids out of the tub and dressed them even quicker. Pants, shoes and socks were a must, just incase an aftershock came. If glass broke, I wanted them to be safe and also have their legs covered. Again Spencer freaked out. Madelyn started to freak out in the Madelyn way which was to try to relate to the situation and make sense of the even that way. She wanted to tell me some kind of story about this or that having to do with water shaking and splashing. I looked at her squarely and spoke in a serious voice. Madelyn I need you to get dressed now!! She got what I was saying and dressed very quickly. At this point you could still feel the house rolling here and there. Once they were properly dressed, we all sat out on the couch and watched the news. When I found out the epicenter was in Chino Hills, I tried to call my parents with no success. Inbetween trying to contact them, I was also trying to contact Tod and my grandparents in Santa Ana. I got through to them first. They were fine but had been trying to contact my parents and my aunt in Chino Hills as well and were not successful as well we decided I would continue to try and let my grandparents know when I heard something. It took a while but I finally got through to Tod. He was the one that suggested calling his dad in WA state. Somehow it is easier for me to reach WA state than it was to reach Chino Hills. Bryon got through. I was so glad to hear that someone had spoken with my parents. When I called my grandparents back to tell them, the told me that my uncle had also been incontact with my parents and my aunt who live in Chino Hills. He also confirmed that they were all fine.

So that is the update as of 1:58 p.m.

From Mormon to Methodist and back again; trail marker #3

Trail marker #3 Lovingly endearing

So you have made it half way down the trail. Good job. It really is the scenic route isn't it. Oh well scenic is good now and then.

Lovingly endearing is the title for the next marker because after spending a morning and afternoon with the people of this church, they have endeared themselves to me. I can't help but feel that when I hear their stories of how they have lovingly cared for each other and the church throughout the years. Here are a few of their stories.

After the worship services were done, the lady I was sitting next to pointed out to me that of all the beautiful stain glass windows in the chapel, they have 3 original windows. She was very proud of those three windows. It struck me as a little odd. I know stain glass is beautiful but it seemed a bit of a random bit of trivia. Why would this woman know exactly how many windows were original. She could point them out to me as well. Well here is how she knew. During the 80's the parishioners began a massive renovation of the stain glass all over the church. The wooden frames had deteriorated and the glass was looking bad. A gentleman in the congregation went to school to learn how to make and repair stained glass. Then he came back to the church and started a 3 year process to replace/repair the stained glass. This was a project taken on by the entire congregation. They all learned how to make stained glass windows. Of all of the stained glass, (and there is LOTS in that chapel) only 3 windows didn't need to be replaced. You can tell the difference between the old and the new by looking for bubbles. The old stained glass has bubbles because old glass had bubbles. Furthermore, they painted color over the glass. They didn't have colored glass. The new windows are made from colored glass. In the historical room, there are drawings and patterns for the windows. This was a uniting experience for the congregation. They served together for the benefit of the congregation and for the beautyment of their sanctuary. It reminded me of the efforts made by the Saints as they built the early temples. So that woman, she knew exactly how many windows were original and which ones were original because she had worked to put them together. In the picture above, you can see some of the stained glass on the sides of the church and the front.

Around the chapel you will find a few small gardens. Those were donated and maintained in the memory of members who have passed away. They are small little patios of flowers and plants but they mean the world to the congregation. They know exactly who the garden was memorializing and what they did in the church. One garden in particular was to memorialize the woman who had been in charge of wedding coordination at the church for many years. It is now the backdrop for pictures for couples who have married in the church. Another garden is called the bible garden. It is planted with species mentioned in the bible. This too is a memorial garden and the first one that greets people as they walk into church. A couple of benches are there with a waterfall. It was a lovely little place.

Another touching thing was the recognition of a woman that taught Sunday school to children for 40 years. We complain if we stay in the same calling for more than a couple of years...she choose to teach bible stories and the truths contained in them to children for 40 years. At the celebration, she was there and took a group picture with every person in attendance who had ever been in her class. It was a very sweet moment.

The stories are endless of how the people of the church served each other, the building and ultimately God. I couldn't help falling in love with all of these people, their history, their service to God and service to each other. When I tried to put words to what I was feeling for and to the congregation, the description that fit best was lovingly endearing.

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Keep watch for the last trail marker, "Faith Confirming"

From Mormon to Methodist and back again; Trail marker #2

Trail marker #2 Historically Fascinating

In the United States and more specifically, the west coast, it is a rare thing to enter a building that has been in use for more than 50 years. It is just not our culture to 1. Keep the building around that long, and 2. Our history in the west doesn't reach back very far. That may be why I am so very interested in old buildings, old photos, history etc. Surely both of our parents taught us to love, honor and respect history. Mom through her family history dating to the beginings of the restored gospel. Dad through his love of all things historical. It was no surprise to me that I was so taken in by the history of the First United Methodists Church. At the time it was built, there was nothing else around it. The city of Costa Mesa exited but it exited in the form of farms all around with just a few small stores where Triangle Square now sits and across the street. Harbor Blvd. sported a few stores as well.

The minister told us, at the time the church was being built, people scoffed at it as folly. It was too big. Who would come? In comparison, it is now considered a small church.

I always enjoy mixing the history of something specific, like the Methodist Church, with the general history of the day. Your understand of the general history becomes so much more personal and your bubble of understanding about the specific history becomes so much more alive when inegrated with the general history. When I consider what the church has seen in its 80 years of exitance, I gain a real sense of awe for the people of the past eras, their lives, their exitences, and find myself appreciating them for the efforts and sacrifices they made. I feel connected to the past when I can physically touch something that was touched by the people of that day.

One of the members who was quite, um aged, talked about the early days of the church. He said that had the builders of the church known what was coming, they may have considered not building the church. He said 1 year and a few months after the church was dedicated, the great stock market crash of '29 happened. He said it was way more devistating than what we would consider devistating today. Then on March 10, 1933 a big earthquake happened in Southern California that caused great damage all around Costa Mesa. The church had some cracks but nothing serious. The man recalling the events said we could draw our own conclusions on that. And finally, WWII broke out. Nearby the Santa Ana Army Base was established and sent men off to war. Neighbors and parishners went on food rations, victory gardens were grown, loved ones lost. Through it all, there was this church. It stood as a sanctuary each week for the people of the community to come and worship God.

I wonder how many families sat in the church and silently prayed for relief from the devistating stock market crash and the rippling effect it must have had. I wonder how many families and store owners walked up the center row, sat in a pew and prayed for guidence on how to rebuild after the earthquake. I wondered how many servicemen and servicemen's families sat in that chapel to look for heavenward for protection.

I sat in that chapel just as they did. I prayed in that chapel just as they did. I worshiped in that chapel just as they did. It was an honor.

Today when you look at the church you will notice two things. The first, many buildings around the area have the same architectural look as the church. As you can guess, because the church has been around for so long, it influenced the building styles of many of the buildings around it. The office buildings right next to the church that share a parking lot look like they were made for eachother. Triangle Square across the street has echoes of the same style. The Costa Mesa Courtyard shopping center also echos the same style. The second more subtle thing you will see when looking at the church, and not know you are seeing it, will be the remnants of other buildings that stood by this church. Next door use to be a school. It was built in the same style as the church. When the school district decided to sell the land, the church got permission to, "gleen," what they needed from the building before it was bulldozed. Members of the congregation climbed on the roof of the school and removed the red tile roof. The church had the same type of tile roof. The members knew at some point the tiles would have to be replaced. A reroofing project happened in the 60's as well as the 90's. Tiles that were broken or damaged were removed and replaced with tiles from the school. In the 50's a social security office stood where triangle square is now and when the government decided to move that office to another location, again the parishners were allowed to go in and remove what they needed for the benefit of the church. This time they took wiring, switches lighting etc.

The population of the church grew, or rather boomed, after the end of WWII. Families moved in to Costa Mesa and sought a place to worship. At one time the church offered baptism by emersion. There is infact a font under the floor between the front pew and the stage. It has been covered over now and they instead perform the sprinkle method. As a side note, they have estimated over 800 weddings have taken place in that chapel.

It is at this point that Tod's family becomes involved with the church. They moved into Costa Mesa in the 50's and began worshiping there. Tod's uncle Kern remembers each Sunday, Grandma Barbara would make pancakes for breakfast. No one was allowed to leave until they had finished their pancakes. Consequently, they were often late for church. It is comforting to know, family dynamics seems to stay the same no matter what age or time you grow up in. Melinda, Tod's mom, remembers attending Sunday School in the tower of the church. She says that the tower has small little classrooms. The older you were, the higher you got to go in the tower. She also participated in the choir. It was a big deal to be able to don the choir robes and sing on Sundays. She said when she was a girl, she had a Mormon friend who invited her to go to the Mormon church. The girls made an agreement that each would attend the other's church and see what was there. Melinda remembers the Mormon church as being very informal. There wasn't a lot that impressed her at the time. When it came time for her friend to attend the Methodist church, Melinda was very proud to show her friend that the pastor wore special robes, there were candles lit, people said formal prayers together, etc. etc. Funny that in her early 20's Melinda would end up leaving the Methodists to join the Mormons.

There is a lot of family history in that church. For that reason I took a picture of Tod, his mother and his grandmother in the chapel (It was allowed) because so much of what Tod's family is, had it's roots and beginings in this church. Personally, I believe that is one of the reasons Grandma Barbara does not convert to Mormonism. She, I believe, knows we Mormons have something. She won't delve too far though because It would require leaving the parish and people that are her church family.

Grandma Barbara has always been a faithful church attender. Each and every Sunday you will find her at church. If time or circumstances require her to be away from her own church, she will attend somewhere else. She will even go so far as to attend a church on Friday night if she know that she will be traveling on Sunday. The truth of the matter is, those occasions that she is away from her church are few and far between. She is a model of commitment.

The church as done a good job of preserving its past. It has a historical room where documents, books, photo albums, programs, pictures etc. are kept. One of my favorite items was an old wooden sign that stated the name of the church and the worship times. I loved it. I would love to display it in my home somewhere however the church didn't seem too keen to part with it.

Historically, this church is fascinating to me. It played a huge part in the lives of the members of the community as well as Tod's family.

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Keep watch for the next trail marker, "Lovingly endearing."

From Mormon to Methodist and back again; Reading the map, The trail head and Trail marker #1

So this is it, the begining of the trail. Thanks for taking the journey with me, I always love company.

Reading the map

This first trail started out innocently enough but turned into the scenic route so.... to give this trail its due, I think I will divide it into 4 different legs. Each leg will have a trail marker, a place that I stopped and contemplated on a different element of the journey. The markers are entitled...culturally interesting, historically fascinating, lovingly endearing and faith confirming.

Trail head

So, I got to be a Methodist yesterday. Tod's Grandmother, Barbara Haug (Grandma Barbara for those of you who know her), attends the First United Methodist Church of Costa Mesa. Yesterday they celebrated the Ruby Jubilee (80th anniversary...to the day) of the dedication of the building. The building was dedicated Sunday, July 24, 1928.

Trail Marker #1 Culturally Interesting

I guess somewhere along the line, I missed out on attending another types of church services on the Sabbath. I guess I have always attended the LDS Church on Sundays. I have however attended a Catholic Funeral Mass, and a born again Christian wedding but that is the extent of my, "Religious exploration." I have never really walked inside of a traditional sanctuary, sat down and listened to a sermon so I wasn't really sure what to expect. I knew before hand that the minster was a woman. I also knew they were not going to be using the LDS King James Version.

Well we were late, of course, but it was a very interesting feeling that I had as we were walking in. I felt a sense of reverence at walking into this church, maybe out of respect for all the people over the last 80 years that had walked through those same doors looking to get closer to God. There was a history and a tradition here of religious desires to find and follow God and his teachings. I very much felt that, respected and embraced that spirit. A couple of older gentlemen greeted us at the door and handed us a program and helped us get to our seats.

The next thing I noticed was the aging population. I was expecting an older crowd. Expecting and seeing are two different things. I kid you not when I say the median age was about 67 years old, and that was with all of the, "younger," visitors who came just for the occasion. Tod and I, His brother and wife Sherri and cousin Kern, were the babies in the group. There were NO CHILDREN. We choose to send our kids to Abuelo and Abuela's house because I didn't know how well they would sit through a sermon with no primary to follow. I didn't have a problem with taking my kids to a different church, just didn't want them to disrupt the ceremony. It turned out to be a good decision because there was lots of talking and remembering. Madelyn and Spencer would have been bored out of their minds and Tod said he would have been outside with the kids most of the time. All old people...no children...so different than what I experience each week at church. In some ways it was nice. I could hear what the Pastor was saying. I could concentrate on what the Pastor was saying...and I tried very hard to understand what the Pastor was saying. I think a little bit got lost in translation. Methodist transponder to Mormon receiver, not always a clear signal.

One of the things that I found interesting was the opening prayer spoken by the minister and congregation together.

"O Gracious Father, we humbly beseech thee
for they holy Church; that thou wouldst be
pleased to fill it with all truth, in all peace.
Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in
error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss,
reform it. Where it is right, establish it; where it
is in want provide for it; where it is divided,
reunite it; for the sake of him who died and
rose again, and ever liveth to make intercession
for us, Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
(from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer)


It made me want to say, "Well if you really believe that, I have the answers for you," but didn't feel it was appropriate at the time of the events. Ha Ha

It was culturally very interesting to see a glimpse of life through the Methodist's perspective. I am glad I had the opportunity.
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Keep watch for the next trail marker, " Historically Fascinating."