We had three surprises on Thursday, May 5--one very nice, one delightful and one so very difficult. The first one was when Sister Isaacson came and said, "Come here. I have something to show you." David Peterson was at the library and he's from Henderson. He had taught her the missionary lessons 50 years ago! She and I put it together several months ago and Trisha found him and e-mailed him that she was on a mission here. So he'd called a couple of times and finally made it into the library.
The next surprise was the McCallon kids came into the library. They were all in town for Jacob's wedding and it's the first time they've all been together in a couple of years. Megan looked beautiful and it was so good to see Matt and Kari and their cute Audrey. We had a good visit and took pictures. Sister Thomas called us over after they left and said, "When you were taking pictures, I think your daughter was there. I saw a young girl with you." That could be. Sister Thomas sees people the rest of us don't see, and Katie would have loved to be there.
They had just left when we got the phone call that Billy Ray had passed away. That just seemed impossible and yet later it seemed o.k. He has been through so much in the last couple of years and missed Barbara so much. I can't imagine why he's had to go through the health challenges that he's had. It was so difficult for him to be disfigured as he was after the second surgery. He felt like he looked like a "monster", which he didn't, but it wasn't the same. He lost so much weight and just didn't have much of an appetite. I was so happy for the reunion I know they had. And I was so grateful he went just as he wanted to--he sat down in his chair to rest and then was gone. Reba told me later that he had gone to the temple and worked his shift in the laundry and helped doing baptisms. On Wednesday he mowed and weedeated our yard. He's been doing that since we left, even though we were afraid it was too much for him. But Matt had said, "Let him do it. He wants to." Then Thursday he got on his tractor and mowed his yard. Mike had called to check on him and he told Mike he was tired and was going in to rest. That's where Mike found him that afternoon, in his chair. We'll just miss him terribly when we get home, especially. He was such a big part of our lives and such a wonderful example of service to others. He and Barbara, for years after he retired, looked for something to do for someone else every day. We'll really miss them both.
On Friday we had dinner with Owen and Brenda at Crown Burger and then went to see their apartment. They looked completely moved in! We certainly weren't completely moved in by 6:30 on the night we signed our lease! Their apartment is very nice and they loved the MTC. I agreed with what they said--the teaching part is a little nerve racking, but you still leave their with this wonderful memory of a wonderful experience.
Saturday we were so busy at the library! We always are on Saturday, but this just seemed more so than usual. I helped people one right after the other all morning. I thought, "I'm going to be exhausted by this evening!" We usually are, so that's nothing unusual. It was a good day, though.
Sunday was Mother's Day and I had flowers delivered to my door from Paul and Aimee--tulips! and a little box of chocolates. I was so surprised to have them come on Sunday. It was lovely. I enjoyed our meetings at church. Sister Klopfer gave a wonderful lesson on nurturing and used pictures of a darling bird family from their yard and how they so carefully care for their young and how we nurture others. It was great.
I loved having the elders and the Vaughns and the Downers for dinner--it seemed like the stages of my life--Trisha from grade school, David from when we double-dated in high school, Owen and Brenda from Robert's youth and then our young married years, the young elders from our mission here. It was just a nice cross-section of life for me.
We looked forward to the devotional Monday morning because Owen and Brenda would be introduced. They would officially be part of the mission! It was so fun to have them there. They went into the training zone that day.
On Tuesday, the 10th, we went up to Bountiful to see Bev and Paul. I wanted Bev to help me come up with some little stories for one of the games I came up with for the reunion. She had brought up several boxes from the basement of family pictures and we went through those and shared stories and memories. We didn't exactly get to what I had hoped to do, but I loved the day and being with them. They fixed us grilled cheese panini sandwiches and yummy tomato soup for lunch. Robert and Paul enjoyed visiting and we loved seeing the deer come down to feed, but Bev wasn't excited about it and has about talked Paul into putting up a fence in back to keep them out. Robert and I loved watching them, but it's not our plants they're eating!
We stayed busy the rest of the week at the library. Saturday didn't seem as busy as the week before, but it was steady. Monday I helped a gentleman Robert had been working with and we merged some people. As he was getting ready to leave, I found out his daughter had served part of her mission in Texas--in Silsbee! and he showed me her picture. It was at the Houston Temple with Sister Williams and Debbie Childress! That seemed amazing.
We ate with Owen and Brenda after church Sunday and it was so nice to visit and hear about their week and share news from home. We can hardly wait to see where they will be serving. They went to the Church History Library and President Muldenhour told them they really want them to come there!
On Monday at the Devotional Robert told President Oliver that he wanted to lodge a complaint--he told them that he thinks President Muldenhour is praying for the Vaughn to go there and that's using undue influence. President Oliver laughed and said, "Duly noted." After the devotional, President M. told me maybe they'd have to arm wrestle to get it decided. Robert things he'll ask Elder Yowell to stand in for him if it gets to that!
Yesterday we went to the DUP Museum. Trisha had told me that you can look on their website for the people they have stories about, give them a list of names, they'll pull the folders and make copies of anything you want. I also found out they'll copy pictures and put them on a CD! I endedup getting $75. worth of those, so only had one story copied for 50 cents! The museum was great, though. Robert said it's one of his favorite places.
We went to Judy's granddaughter's wedding last night. We really enjoyed that. It was held at a place called LeJardin and it was just beautiful. There were only maybe 35-40 people invited for the wedding, but a couple hundred for the reception. We helped get the food set out and the people just kept coming. Two ladies from Judy's ward and about 4 young girls came to help serve and clean up the tables. They were wonderful. It was fun to see so many of the family. I loved it.
Pat Palmer called and said she was in town for a conference and asked if she could come and spend the night and we said sure, so came home and had a good visit with her--a busy, full day!
Robert got a blood test today to check his PSA level and I've made reservations for Chesterfield--lots of fun things coming...
