Six Years Ago

This photo was taken six years ago today.  How I love the people in this photo.  

We've endured so much as a family.  We lost Mom 27 years ago.  It was so sudden and unexpected.  Somehow we went on with life.  Then Dad had his mid-life crisis for years and years!  He finally came back and got straight with the Lord.  Brett has had some pretty scary illnesses/surgeries.  We lost our beautiful Tina and then Kurt moved his family away which we understood but it broke our hearts.  Pat went through a painful divorce.  Bonny went through a painful life but is back where she is loved.  We watched our dear daddy go through a steady decline due to cancer and then leave us too.  At least we have the comfort of knowing he is with Mom.  My sweetheart went through a heart attack.  It seems like we've had more than our fair share of difficulties.
Through all of this, and more, we have pulled together as a family.  I am so thankful to call these people my family.  We didn't always get along so great growing up but they are who we turn to when we need support.  They've brought joy into my life and I am thankful to know that we are a forever family.  How I miss Dad!  He wasn't supposed to leave us.  At least not how and when he did.  Still, I'm grateful for the knowledge that he is still and will always be my daddy.  I hope I can be like him one day.  He was so generous and kind to everyone.  He made you feel like you were the most important person in the room.
These are my siblings and I love them so dearly.  I thank my Heavenly Father often for being born to the parents I was and to have the siblings I do.  We're not perfect but we love one another.  What a gift that is!

July 4, 2020

The moon rising on July 4th was such a beautiful sight!  As I thought about the day, I am so grateful to live in this choice land of America.  I've been reading in the end of 1 Nephi and most of 2nd Nephi over the past couple of weeks.  I love that the Lord saw fit to have me born in this country.

There is so much unrest at present and I am baffled by the ignorance of so many people who live here.  Why are you destroying your own city, community and country?  What you are doing is so divisive.  You scream and whine about the inequality of the races and then you destroy your own communities.  Why am I a bad guy because of the color of my skin?  I didn't own any slaves.  You were never a slave.  It is so evident that Satan is working overtime.  He doesn't even need to hide in the shadows anymore.  He's just right out in plain sight doing his thing and people just follow him. 
Still, with all the evil in  the world and even right here in the U.S., I'm blessed to live here and know that this country is the promised land!

YSM Picnic

We were asked a few weeks ago, to host the 4th of July picnic for the YSMs.  We were told to make it a true picnic.  We had burgers, potato salad, watermelon and patriotic cookies.

The presidency was there to help serve the meal.  With Covid-19, we wore gloves and served each sister.  I had a brainstorm that if each sister put one glove on, she could put her own condiments on her burger rather than having one of us do it and hold up the line.  It works beautifully!

I surely love working with these people.  Sister Rizley was thankful for us doing this on our P-day.  I told her that we were supposed to be doing Nauvoo on the Road but since those dates have been cancelled through this month and probably more, it was our privilege to do this.

Tom was a big help as well.  He helped by handing out water and replenishing food and prepping and cleaning.  If the YSMs were allowed to hug, I think many of them would have hugged Tom.  I know I surely would have hugged some of them.  I miss being able to interact with them and have them in our home.  This was as good as it gets.  Too bad we were outside.  It was blistering hot at 91 degrees when we began.  The mask makes me sweat even more than usual!

Knee High by the 4th of July

Tom came for an extended visit.  He got here in the early morning hours of July 3rd.  He will stay through Labor day.  He is excited to work with us at FM.  He enjoyed being here a few weeks back.  He loved being with those young sisters and they love him back.

There's this old saying that the corn should be "knee high by the 4th of July."  I think we have surpassed that by a lot this year.  I don't know how tall the corn usually is at this time of year, but this is indeed impressive!

The Limon Tree

Last week the Bailies were telling us about the limon tree in the greenhouse.  I went to take a look.

I put my hand behind this piece of fruit to show just how large it is.

If you look closely, you can see several more pieces of fruit.  I really want to taste a limon.  I'm sure it is sour but I wonder if it will have the flavor of Sprite.

A Socially Distant Celebration

With all the social distance that the senior missionaries are supposed to do with the young sisters, we had two separate Independence Day parties.  The seniors met on the 2nd in the air conditioned pageant building.  We had a delicious meal together which we haven't done since Valentine's day.  It was the first time we have gotten together since then.  It felt so good!

The tables were set up in squares with eight to each space.  We wore our masks until we actually ate.

We had some marvelous entertainment.  Sister Warner, as always, at the piano was magnificent.

Elder Munoa puts these songs and musical pieces together.  He has all this equipment that he has purchased since they arrived.  They had to have a second vehicle brought out so they have a way to take it all home in October.

Sister Flanders is such an incredible violinist.  I love listening to her.  She's so beautiful and graceful.  I love her so much!

It is a good thing that the pageant building is so large.  There is no other place where we could sit down and have this meal and entertainment indoors.

As I looked around, we welcomed back the Walkers, Masseys and Mechams.  We also welcomed some new couples.  All the new people will be FM missionaries.  That's a good thing since we and the Bailies are the patriarchs of the FM missionary group.  I have come to love so many new people and love sharing our life with them and theirs with us.  I can't even think about going home in five months.

Serving the Halls

When Ben Bedard left Nauvoo, he put his house up for sale and Casey and Cherese Hall bought it.  Casey works for the FM group.  They moved here last summer with no great job but in hopes that one would come along.  They felt that they needed to be here.   At present Casey is an apprentice plumber as well as our new signage guy.  

They needed some help painting their new home and asked some of the FM missionaries if we would be willing to come and help.  We spent one evening working on the living room/kitchen and the hallway.  It looks pretty good!  It was good to be able to go out and serve someone specifically rather than just serving in general.