From the slums of Baltimore comes a disciple of Christ

Bobby Hall called from Baltimore this morning with the good news he's going to be endowed this week! We taught him the lessons just before we left the mission but he still wasn't baptized because of his chewing habit and frankly, we weren't sure he ever would be.  We are amazed at the progress he has made. His wife, Nicole, still hasn't been able to quit smoking and I feel for her. 

Bobby's story is a case of member missionary work done right! Walter Higbee is a widowered truck driver who heard about the church a few years ago from a fellow truck driver. He accepted the gospel readily and is excited about his membership. He has been a father figure to Bobby for many years and got him excited about the church. By the time Walter invited us to his home to teach Bobby and his wife, he already had him reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church. We watched Bobby start to imitate Walter--wearing one of his white shirts and carrying a similar brief case with his "church stuff" in it. Although neither Walter nor Bobby are what you'd call a scholar, that didn't keep the Spirit from touching their hearts.

My Favorite Christmas Gifts

* The cute refrigerator magnets from Carl's clan.

* The composite picture of grand and great grandchildren made by Ken with updated pictures!

* New family pictures of Ken's, Brenda's and Carl's families.

* The Christmas tree ornaments from Brenda. You see I need a 2x2 snapshot of the other four couples by next Christmas!

* Dad and I are both enjoying the books Sheryl gave us--a sequel to Pride and Prejudice, "Mr. Darcey's Decision" for me and a biography, "Look Me in the Eye: My Life With Asbergers," for Dad.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughtfulness!

Christmas with the Andrei

Christmas really started two days early with the Nutcracker ballet in downtown Portland. The music and dancing was wonderful. The snow scene was especially beautiful. Even though it was plastic it looked very real. Getting home again was a problem as we'd lost both chains and the roads were terrible! Their friend, Scot Gardner, rescued us at the stake center and took us up the hill.

On Christmas Eve the Andrei sponsored a sit down dinner party for 24! Half of them were children. There were three couples with their kids and a nice single sister and widowed dad. The dinner was fantastic with ham and turkey and several side dishes and pie for dessert. 

After most of the guests left and just the Gardners remained, we did the Christmas story with Grandpa narrating and the kids acting it out. Sam was an angel, Sydney wanted to be a shepherd and Maia was a wise girl.

Christmas day was fun watching the kids open their presents. Mike made some cute signs for the girls' room. He gave the boys a unicycle which they were very excited about. He knows how to ride one and wants to teach them. I'm hoping he'll demonstrate next time we have a talent show! 

Princess Maia's 5th Birthday

Despite the snowy conditions and impassable roads, people chained up and brought their kids to the birthday party, or they walked them over. I was in charge of putting all the snow clothes in the dryer. Grandpa supervised a craft activity. There was probably a dozen little kids.

There was a snowman theme, of course. The games were pin the carrot on the snowman and beanbag toss (with little stuffed snowmen) and there was a wonderful snowman cake with a real carrot nose. 

Wintry Visit to the Andrus Home

We came up for our two days at the temple and the roads were so bad we decided not to go home again but stay until Christmas. They had a blizzard. 

Church was called off so we had a service of our own about the symbols of Christmas and how we should share our light with others.

The house is all decorated for Christmas and the snow makes it all the more festive.

Snow Day in Corvallis

This post was written by Dad!

We went to a lunch at the Country Club for Dial-a-bus drivers. They did a white elephant gift exchange after the buffet. Near the end of the exchange Mom had her gift (a bottle of men's aftershave) taken by another person. So Mom had the right to then take a gift from anyone else. The lady she chose put up a little fuss so Mom graciously quit the game and let the grouch keep her package of bonbons. That game sure brings out the worst in us when we should be gracious. I was proud of the classy way she handled it. My gift was some beautifully embroidered Christmas tea towels. Anyone interested in them? Mom doesn't want to use them and some Easter European peasant probably spent a whole day making them. 

Today my Dial-a-bus shift was cancelled because of the icy road condition. So while Mom was doing family history research for Brother Taylor who will be baptized in January, I walked over to the park near our house. A beaver has recently become active. It has damned up the creek and started gnawing on the trees.

There are now three bird feeders in our backyard. The one outside the kitchen widow is close to the house. The bird in the photo is a rufus-sided towhee. Ken sent me a post from the web describing it.  It is a little smaller than a robin.

The streets were so bad that I put the chains on the rear wheels of the Avalon.  After driving around the corner I stopped to tighten them up.  My neighbor in 4-wheel drive rolled down his window and asked, "Isn't that a front-wheel drive? You should put the chains on the front tires."  It was a little embarrassing because I knew that.

'Tis the Season for Parties!

On Saturday we had two parties! A lunch at the country club for Dial-a-bus drivers. There I met Sheila who made Brenda's wedding cake 16 years ago! One August day a few years ago she had 5 wedding cake deliveries to make. On the next to the last one she fell on the steps and broke her elbow. So she retired and became a Dial-a-bus volunteer.

We decided to have a little family party and invited Ken and Polly's family over for a turkey supper. The highlight of the evening was making a gingerbread house. Ken had as much fun as the girls. And Robin was happy for the leftovers. Then Ken, Robin and I went to Albany to see Miracle on 34th Street at the community theatre. The woman with a little daughter and her lawyer neighbor who loved her were actually a family in real life. So those weren't stage kisses! 

And then as if to say, "Christmas is really coming," it snowed in the night.

Our great granddaughter's 1st birthday

We were invited to Ariana's birthday party up in Salem. We rode up with Ken's family and had a good chat with them on the road. 

We enjoyed a spaghetti supper. While I was eating Ariana came up and got excited about my green beans, so I gave her some.  She waited patiently for each bean and didn't try to grab.

Ariana is cute as a button. She got lots of nice presents.

More fun photos from our Bend trip:

Thanksgiving 2008

There were 15 of us met in Bend at the Dodge home. It was a joyful reunion. My family is great!

The dinner was super. Home grown turkey, and no canned pie filling here!

We hiked to the top of Pilot Butte for a panoramic view of the mountains.

Thanks, Sheryl and Jonathan, for being such wonderful hosts.

Come what may and love it anyway

Our FHE last night was a rousing discussion at Tingeys about Elder Wirthlin's last conference talk. He gave four ways to deal with challenges:

1. Try to see it with humor. For me that's difficult. Once in Bozeman Eldon and I were to meet at a football game "on the east side of the stadium." Turns out the stadium is not aligned strictly north and south so he was looking on the southeast side and I was looking for him on the northeast side. We never did find each other at that game and I still fail to see the humor in it.

2. Look at the eternal view. So putting it in perspective makes us see how small it was.

3. Look for the compensations. I gave the example of Sheryl on her blogsite having a column of Curtisisms. She looks for the cute things he says and posts them. My favorite is: "Life isn't even, it's odd!" Eldon said he would have given that example if I hadn't.

4. Trust the Lord. It will all turn out.

This was a great and insightful talk given from a chair by a man who can no longer stand at the pulpit.  

So I have adapted and am trying to adopt Elder Wirthlin's mother's maxim: "Come what may and love it anyway."

Gratitudes

About three times now Aunt Gail has posted gratitudes, things she's thankful for, on her blog. In the latest one she's thankful for her sunroom of all things! To see a picture of her beautiful sunroom, check out her blog. Her attitude of gratitude makes me think she's living a happy life.

So I want to post 7 things I'm grateful for and challenge all who read my blog to do the same! This will help get us in the mood for Thanksgiving!

1. I'm grateful for Eldon. He is the most generous person I know. I realize he pretends to be stingy about a few oddball things, but I think he does that for attention. Down deep he is totally generous. Even the Bishop thanked him for his generosity at tithing settlement last night. He lets me have practically anything I want. He is very generous to look past my faults and love me NO MATTER WHAT.

2. I'm grateful for my eyes. I love to read and work on the computer and go for walks, for all of which I need good eyes. How sad it would be not to be able to see. I should add glasses to that, for without them, I wouldn't see very well.

2. I'm grateful for my computer. It never ceases to amaze me. There is so much you can do on it! Like keep in touch with your loved ones. Learn new things. Order movies to watch. Do research about your ancestors. The new FamilySearch program is just great, by the way. It has been interesting to check through it and straighten out some mistakes, so hopefully when you get on it will be more correct. Now you don't have to worry about keeping a record--the church has it all on the internet. It is the only  way to keep track of temple work that has been done and that will be done in the future.

4. I'm grateful for the 5 wonderful children Heavenly Father loaned us to take care of and teach and encourage.  It's been amazing to watch their growth and see how they've each one become a better person in spite of the bumps in the road. Their spouses have helped them and the Lord has helped them.

5. I'm grateful for the calling to teach SS with Eldon. He's a great teacher. He has a disarming way about him that helps the students relax and want to learn with him. 

6. I'm grateful for a clothes dryer. I wouldn't want to be clothes pinning wet clothes to a line outside in this cold wet weather!

7. I'm grateful for pioneer ancestors who went through all kinds of struggles to  come to Utah and help build up Zion. An example (I told about at DUP) is William Jex who was born in 1831 in England. He had about 6 weeks of schooling. He accepted the gospel as a young man and decided to go to Utah. He married his brother's widow, Eliza, as the sail ship was about to depart Liverpool. They settled first in Salt Lake and experienced the cricket plague. They were close to starvation. After Johnston's Army came they decided to go south and settled in Spanish Fork, at first in a dugout in the side of a hill. He served a mission back to England when he was 52. William and Eliza had 11 children and he had 4 with a polygamous wife, Jemima. He had a broom factory and lumber yard in Spanish Fork. He was able to attend the dedicatory services of the Manti Temple and heard heavenly music. He became a patriarch and died at age 97.

Visit from the Andrei Girls

Brenda brought her girls down for a visit while Mike was painting the living room. We went to Jeff Tingey's wedding reception and Brenda saw a few old friends. 

We watched the movie, Journey to the Center of the Earth which was a totally unbelievable and fun movie. Thankfully no one had nightmares afterwards.

Let's Go to the Coast

So we packed up the van and headed out. First stop was for lunch in Monmouth at the Burgerville because we had a gift coupon from Carl. Excellent food! We had turkey sandwiches and sweet potato fries. We wondered if Carl had gone there often when he was going to school in Monmouth.

We did some Christmas shopping at the mall and then stopped at Boiler Bay. The waves were crashing. There weren't many tourists this time of year. We spent the night at Beverly and then walked on the beach the next morning. It was a nice break.

Descended from Patriots and Pioneers

Pam brought her kids for a day while they prepared for the Veteran's Day parade in Albany. Their float took second place so they were happy. It was a cold rainy day so they got wet and cold. 

Pam made their outfits. Esther was Betsy Ross and carried a flag. She looked cute and demure in her period costume and I wish I had gotten her picture.

Zachary and Erik were patriots and really looked handsome. (You can tell Erik has been waving in a parade!)

So these amazingly outgoing and energetic grandchildren are children of the American Revolution on their mother's side and descendants of the Utah Pioneers on their father's. 

I hope they're proud of their progenitors and willing to stand up for and carry on the values and ideals of those stalwart patriots and pioneers.

Another Good Story from our SS Class

Dolcie Myrold told this one. When she was about 14 her Mia Maid teacher (who'd earlier had a child out of wedlock and repented) said that she felt bad that her sins would be on the heads of her parents. Dolcie said the Spirit whispered that this was not correct doctrine. She went home and searched the scriptures and found the truth, that as long as the parents have taught correct doctrine they won't be held responsible for their child's sins.

This story illustrated well the two principles we were teaching: 1) that the teacher must teach true doctrine, and 2) that the student is responsible for learning. Both of these principles require study and listening to the Spirit.

We are learning more from our students than they are from us!

Finley Wildlife Refuge

We walked around the Woodpecker Loop once while Emily ran it 5 or 6 times! It was beautiful even though it was drizzling off and on.

We saw hundreds of Canadian Geese coming in (from Canada, I suppose). We also saw some snowy egrets.

Then we went to the hazelnut place and enjoyed a yummy (small) ice cream cone.

Teaching by the Spirit brings joy

When we got home from church we were still pumped by our Sunday School class. We had a photo shoot with our personal photographer, ELO, and this one expresses our happiness.

The lesson was on teaching by the Spirit. We talked about the ways to bring the Spirit into the classroom--prayer, music, personal experiences, testimony, scriptures, and showing love. When we talked about prayer, Brian Rosenbalm told this personal experience that really brought the Spirit in. When he was in Seminary they had a new teacher, Brother Gullerud, who was a convert. The kids didn't cooperate because they thought he was nerdy. One day they were particularly bad and Brother Gullerud stopped the class in frustration and said, "I just can't go on. We'll stop for the day, but first let me say a prayer." He said a heartfelt prayer and it touched Brian's heart, so much so that he choked up telling us about it (and so did we).  What a perfect example of how telling personal experiences (the teacher's or the students') can bring the Spirit into the classroom.

The most beautiful tree in town

....is right across the street from us!

Photo by Eldon

Halloween

Our little treat or treaters didn't come in this year from Adair, but fortunately we had one here to dress up. Neil was here to go to the state meet tomorrow, so he helped Emily get ready for the dance at Barlows' barn. She wore my old German dress Schwester Wagler made for me on my mission. (I never filled it out that good.) Neil fixed her hair and make-up. Inspiration came from Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Neil decided she was a Hummell figurine.

Christ is the Center!

The sister missionaries asked me to accompany them in the 3rd lesson to Daniel Froelich, an old friend. His father was a colleague of Eldon's in the Forestry department. Daniel has volunteered at the FHC for more years than anyone on the staff. He's a practicing Jew with the beanie and fringe. He had seen the sisters at the stake center and asked for the lessons so he could "answer people's questions."

So they taught the principle of faith, then the principle of repentance and I didn't feel we should go on just yet. So I asked Daniel, "I know you were raised in a Christian home and then converted to Judaism. How do you feel about the Savior now?" He said he didn't believe in him, just God. So I bore my testimony that Christ is the very center of our gospel. This is his church. He is the creator (under the Father's direction), our redeemer, and when it comes time to be judged, he will be our judge and advocate. He can judge us because he died for us. He is our elder brother and loves us. So Sister Shumway picked up on it and read a beautiful messianic scripture out of Isaiah.

Later in the lesson they asked Daniel how he knew there was a God. He couldn't answer. I quoted Eldon saying that one of the tender mercies of God is the leaves turning color in the fall. So then Daniel said the complexity of the world shows there's a God.

At the end they asked Daniel to pray and he wouldn't. I asked, "Don't Jews pray?" He said yes, but only rote prayers. I asked, "If it was something really urgent could you pray from the heart?" So they asked me to pray. I gave thanks for Daniel's many years of service in the FHC and for his testimony of work for the dead. And prayed he would feel the spirit as he reads the Book of Mormon and have a desire to attend church and feel the fellowship of the Saints. He actually lives in our ward boundary. But he weaseled out of their invitation to attend.

The sisters did a good job and it was faith affirming to be in on it.