Happy Easter

We are all in different places. But we got together over texting to say Happy Easter. 

In on of Debbie’s pictures Devon was behind the camera. In the other picture Nicko was behind the camera. 

The other siblings all said Happy Easter to us. Technology is an amazing gift that can bring us together. 

Saying good-bye to a sweet lady

She's been a part of my life for over 36 years. Dad's been gone for over 14 years. I'm sure they have a lot to talk about. She has her leg back and is free from pain. I'm happy for her that she's with Dad again, but I will miss her.

Stopping for a visit on our way to California

Dwarfed by my boys, but still somehow in charge

Sweethearts, back together again.

Ethan is home

Josh, Boaz and I drove up to Salt Lake City this past weekend. Craig had to work on Saturday, so he couldn’t go. (He was sad. But when you start off being employed at broken organizations, extra hour at the beginning are a given.) We left on Friday and that gave us Saturday to do some errands. We had a lazy morning and then went shopping. 

Shopping with boys is seriously no fun. They both hate it, but we went to Mr Mac to look for missionary clothes, so Josh was interested. I had talked to Carl that morning and gotten shoe recommendations, so off we went. The shoes were my biggest worry. It’s a walking mission. I wanted quality shoes that would be comfortable and would last a while. 

Ten white shirts; black, gray, navy pants; three colors of socks; the baptismal package: white pants, one pair of socks and a tie; two pairs of shoes; and a pouch to carry his passport later and we were set. I was experiencing a bit of sticker shock, but Josh was excited to have a majority of his shopping list conquered. 

Saturday night we had a nice chatty sibling dinner at Deb’s house. It’s always fun to just talk. 

Sunday I wanted a picture of the three cousins connected to Trujillo, Peru. I stressed until I got it after the meeting. 

Ethan blew me away. He had always been the one to hang back and observe. I was amazed during his talk. He spoke more words than I think I have ever heard him speak in his life. I’ve not been around, true. He explained how his mission had changed him. He talked about his previous confidence being shattered and how he came to rely on God as he learned to communicate. And I was destroyed. I thought about Josh going through all that in a different hemisphere. I remembered how hard it was for me. I remembered the stories Craig told about his mission. I know I want him to go, but tears leaked from my eyes as I thought about him struggling so far from home. 

Once self confidence is replaced by confidence in God, the mission becomes everything we always think it is. 

Here is the picture. 

The process of moving has brought back the beard. But he does have a new haircut. Again he will mourn as he becomes clean shaven some time in the near future. 

I missed Kayla, but got a picture of the cousins. 

Cody won the battle of wills. I did t get him to smile until after I put away the camera. 

I enjoyed watching Josh, and he pulled Boaz along, as he interacted as an emerging adult with his adult cousins. They are a good six years older than Josh. Nicko is tens years older, but he was working and couldn’t make it. Well I guess Raven is just a year older than Josh. And Alysa is maybe two years older, but this group of cousins have all grown up together in Salt Lake City. Josh stepped into the club. 

I am grateful for the family I have. We are weird and broken is places. But we are survivors and our kids are amazing. 

Meeting in the temple

Craig’s niece got married Saturday in Salt Lake City. Craig and I drove up to be there. We drove from sunny California to be met by this. 

It continued to snow all night and we woke up to this. 

You can’t even tell we shoveled the night before. We were to meet at the temple by 10:45. With the snow, Craig and I showed up earlier. We were not the first to arrive. There is a marriage waiting room on the third floor. We relaxed in the waiting room and watched the family arrive. I don’t think I can describe the feeling of greeting family members we hadn’t seen in a long time in the temple. It was so sweet and it had me thinking about how it will feel as we greet and are greeted by those who have passed before us as we cross the veil. 

The bride was radiant. Craig’s mom looked more frail. She is still recovering from double pneumonia. All of Craig’s brothers and sisters and their spouses were there. It was a beautiful reunion and ceremony. 

I am again struck by how important five minutes is. The whole of eternity turners on those short five minutes in the temple. 

A few pictures from Saturday. 

They made it. 

Smiling in the cold. And it was cold. 

The beautiful Oquirrh Mountain Temple. 

The siblings. 

Brothers. 

Dawn and the boys. 

Dawn and the kids. 

Dawn and the girls. 

With the bride. 

Dawn with the outlaws. 

Family coming to visit

I absolutely love it when family comes to visit. Today my sister came with her oldest and his family. They flew into San Diego. We met in Oceanside for lunch and a walk down the pier. 

Today the Southern California coast looked more like the Oregon coast. The fog rolled in and we had a gray day. But it was lovely to be there with family. Wyatt and Walker liked the ocean. 

And this lovely gentleman allowed us to coo over him and take his picture. 

We saw a pelican flying along the beach and of course there were mobs of seagulls. 

I’m looking forward to playing with my sister for the next few days. 

St George

This past weekend, I headed up to St George. My brother, Joe, was being made a bishop. Craig had a meeting and couldn't come with me. Boaz had his last campout before he could get his merit badge, and this campout his older friends would be there. And this coming weekend we are headed north for Thanksgiving. I was grateful I could go. 

Brenda ended up coming in from Wisconsin. All the Salt Lake people came. It ended up that just Gena wasn't able to make it.

We had dinner in a local cultural hall and the kids ran and played. Carter turned 7 the next day, Sunday, and he was sure we had all come for his birthday.

Brenda and I went with Cooper and Carl and did initiatory before everybody else arrived. It was lovely to visit one of my favorite temples.

After dinner, I recognized that I had left my earrings in my rented temple dress. So I made a few phone calls and a lovely temple worker named Rebecca had found them for me. That meant I got to go back by myself and wander the grounds and remember the night that temple had been my light that shone in the darkness.

The temple stands so firm in the darkness and is a beacon and a promise of light. I wandered to the rose garden in the back and sat and had a bit of a conversation. I used to love to take pictures of flowers, so I tried for old times sake.

It was dark, and I was trying out a few things I had read about on Facebook. :) I can see that I focused on the leaves in the background, instead of the Rose.

This one has a better focus. But I must admit I love the peach flower more.

This is where people hang out waiting for rides, but I managed to get a picture of the fountain. I love that most temples have running water, and I think of the living water from John. We get closer that that Living Water by participating in the temple ordinances than we can anywhere else. 

This is Joe Saturday night.

This is Joe Sunday morning. (Actually after church, because we met them at the building for Sacrament Meeting at 9.)

During the comments when the bishopric who were being released spoke, one of them said this wasn't a funeral. The new bishopric would be awesome and they were all looking forward to new responcibilities. 

They called Holly up and she said she knew it wasn't a funeral, but a beautiful beard had died that morning. She also said she didn't know if she should call him bishop now at church. She was going to have to think about that. She was supportive and full of faith. I cried during her talk.

Joe got up and said that he had big shoes to fill, figuratively. Everybody laughed because the previous bishop is short. Joe is almost 6 foot and he has bigger feet. He acknowledged that he didn't feel prepared for this calling and that he would have to lean on his two excellent counselors. He talked about the process of calling the two me that would be sitting by him for the next few years and how hard that had been. He said there were so many men who were able. He talked about having to scrape for his testimony. He talked about not having a lot of support when he was younger. And then he directed his remarks to the youth. He said to come and talk to him if they had questions. Because he had had many questions when he was younger. He invited them to come and talk to him if they thought that they might be off the path. Because when he was younger he had been off the path. He invited anybody that needed help to get straight with God to come and talk to him. He promised that they could get things right with God.

I thought about how he grew up. He was 9 when mom left the church. We kids scattered and were all in self-preservation mode. We didn't have a lot to offer him as a nine year old. His world feel apart and he was strong enough to put it all back together. He found his way back to the Church after he was married, and I think a dad. But since he has been back, he has been strong and steady. I am in awe of what he has done and who he is.

The Stake President got up for final remarks and told Joe that what ever Holly decided on calling him, he better answer. :) And then he said that he wasn't called to fill the former bishops shoes. He had his own shoes to fill. The Lord called him and he was capable. Then he testified again that the Lord was in charge and he had called the new bishop.

It makes me a bit teary again just to write about it. What a fantastic thing to witness.

Craig sent me this picture.

I missed the primary program in my home ward. I always love those Sunday's. But I wouldn't have missed the Sunday that I did have for all the world.

I was Brenda's ride to and from the airport. I do miss her. We are too far away from each other. But it was good to have this little bit of time together.

Next week, I'll be hanging out with Deb and Willa again. I'm too far away from them too. I am extremely blessed by wonderful siblings.

Spirit animals

Craig has been called as a seminary teacher. This morning he had early morning training before work. 

They talked about spirit animals. He didn't really get it. He thought of his favorite animal - horse. 

He remembered his childhood experiences with horses. He loved to ride them. He felt like he got to know them - their personalities - when he would go on week long riding trips. He remembered Pop and Soda from when we lived in Madras. 

I thought of a panda for him. 

He was wearing a white shirt and black pants.  But really I thought of this panda. 

A total goodball, but somebody who took care of business. Somebody who could capture difficult concepts exasperatingly quickly. Somebody who loves life and his people. Someone who is not intimidated by self-important bullies. He chooses his own path - sometimes the hard way. But he gets where he's headed. He can irritate the Shi-fu's in his life, but they love him and have confidence in his heart and vision. 

For Josh. He chose his own spirit animals. 

First the bear. 

He avoids things he doesn't want to deal with. But he can and does take a stand and says "nope!" When needed. It takes him a while to get angry, but when he does he means business. 

But he also likes the wolf. 

He likes the pack aspect. Josh functions well with his squad, or his people. They are important to him.  

(Yes, I do notice they are top predators. He is after all almost 17. But the characteristics that he chose to discuss are impressively self-aware.)

For Boaz. I said an otter. 

I could picture otters romping through snow - sliding and playing through life. 

Josh said Boaz was a monkey. A small monkey. Boaz laughed and added "throwing poop."

Poking at the bear and driving him crazy and scampering out of the way. 

I had no idea about mine. Craig said a dog. 

I tend to get distracted easily - "squirrel!"  By books, quilts, etc. and then nothing else gets done. 

I thought okay, I am loyal. I love my people. The boys thought about Dug from Disney's Up. I didn't really like that because he was ostracized by his pack and had to wear the cone of shame. Poor Dug. But the boys defended Dug as the best dog of the movie and how important he was to the success of of Carl and Russell. 

I also am not too happy with the connection to the B word. But I can at times get petulant and behave badly. Although I didn't say that out loud. And nobody brought that part up. 

And really dogs were essential to civilization. They allowed early tribes to control important herd animals. They were important for security. Dogs have been callled man's best friend, for very good reasons. They are the most popular family pet. I do love dogs. They become a member of the family. 

All in all a fun Family Home Evening. 

Joyce

Poor Joyce has been having a terrible time. She fell and broke her hip before Thanksgiving. She had a hip replacement or some kind of operation on her hip. She was in the rehab center when we stopped by for Thanksgiving. We drove all over trying to find her, and when we did, she had fallen and ripped her knee - about a four inch gash from one side of her knee to the other. We were talking and didn't keep track of how many stiched she had. She so wanted to be home for Thanksgiving. But with the gash on her knee, she had to stay in the rehab center.

We got word that her leg was swollen and bleeding. Her blood pressure was crazy low and they had to stabilize her before they could operate and see what was going on.

Apparently, she was given wrong medication that caused the swelling.

She ended up having her leg amputated.

She lived in a house with 4 or more steps to get in. She does dialysis a couple of times a week. She drove herself. She watched her grandsons after school.

She can do none of that now.

Her life has changed drastically.

When we were there for Thanksgiving, she said that my dad was coming around and visiting her a lot. She was a bit bugged by it. She had a blessing that said she would have the time to finish what she needed to do. But honestly, I don't think she has long left. 

I am grateful that we have reconnected these past two years. But I am still very far away.

Today the boys went with Craig to administer the sacrament to a lady with cancer. They came home and said getting old didn't look like fun. And then Josh attempting to lighten the mood said that Paradise was a nice place. My heart hurts to know she is struggling.

18 Years

Kind of awesome to think that we have been married for as long as we lived in our childhood homes.

Today I fished out the old photos. We were skinny. I had long hair and no hint of grey. We looked forward with confidence to the life before us. We have faced trials and heartache, but we made it and are going strong.

It was a super cold day for Portland. We were worried about the roads to the temple. But we made it.

A rare blue sky in December.

Thea and I have made it too. 

The beginning of our forever family.

Happy 95th birthday, Elsie

We missed the party, but we're happy to see pictures.

Elsie with four of the siblings. Gaye, Carl, Dawn and George.

One of the draw backs of living in a different state than the rest of the family. But we did get to see her just a week before the party.

Family photo

We were finally all together. 

First priority was to get us smiling at the camera.