Christmas in Central Point

Plenty of chocolate!

Esther was home for Christmas!

Gideon loved his presents centered around Mr. Potato Head and Batman

The highlight of Christmas was skyping with Zachary. They had thought of questions to ask that focussed on his work. He sounded happy and enjoying his service. The language is still a large challenge. It sounds like he eats some pretty strange food there.

Christmas is coming!

We went to Portland to hear Brenda's concert, the Cantico Singers in a beautiful old church in downtown Portland. She had to audition to get in, they're that good. It must be intimidating to sing with such an elite group! Brenda and her two friends, Heidi and Allyn did "Away in a Manger" with a guitar.

Thanksgiving in New Hampshire

Getting to the Dodges was an exercise in planes, trains, and automobiles! We left the motel at 4:20 am in a shuttle van to the airport. The first leg to Chicago was uneventful. But about a half hour out of Manchester they announced the landing there was precarious and they were diverting us to Providence, Rhode Island! That was interesting. The plane was entirely full (we couldn't even sit together) so that was a lot of people stranded. Some were rather upset. We were trying to figure out how to take a train northward when this nice young man from Chicago who worked for GE helped us. He hired an Uber taxi to take us to the train station in Providence. We saw the capital building on the drive. There we took a commuter train up to Boston where the route ended. Sheryl and Jonathan came down in a snowstorm to fetch us. It took them longer because of the bad roads. The trickiest part was getting connected with them in a cold driving rain, but we finally succeeded. We got to their house about 10:30 pm. The power was out. Which meant no lights, no heat, and no water!

On Thanksgiving day first they dug out. They have a system. Jonathan does the front with a nifty snow blower and Sheryl clears off the deck. They have to make a path to the chicken coop.

Then they hooked up the generator and cooked a turkey and pies. A nice family from the ward joined us. The food was all delicious.

Grandpa peeling potatoes. Notice Jonathan's apple pie.

The power came back on Thanksgiving night. We slept in Curtis' new queen sized bed which was very nice. He is a gentle giant. We had fun playing games.

Sheryl and Jonathan recently made a new countertop. It started with a leak under the sink which inspired Jonathan to put in a new deep granite sink and faucet and so they re-did the countertop while they were at it. It is chips of granite in a filler that went right over the old countertop. It looks great!

Another interesting thing was Jonathan was harvesting honey on Thanksgiving. He shakes the honeycombs out of the frames and then melts them by or on the pellet stove and then puts the stuff through a strainer. The wax hardens again and separats from the pure honey.  It's a pretty messy operation, somewhat like canning fruit!

The day after Thanksgiving we drove out to the Audubon park where Trevor has set up an active beehive with a nice poster explaining the life of bees and how honey is made. The hive has windows you can open and look in through the glass at the bees and the honeycomb. Pretty impressive.

On Saturday Sheryl and I went to a baptism of a young man. Sheryl played the piano. He will be a fine addition to their ward. That night was a eagle scout court of honor for an Elder Parker who's leaving on his mission to the Portland Oregon Mission this week. He will be a super missionary. He has been a good friend to Trevor. In fact, seeing how the ward treats Trevor and Curtis makes me sure they are in the right place at the right time. And they are contributing to the ward too, not just receiving. It seems to me that Sheryl is nurturing unity in her Relief Society. They all love her.

Trevor loves playing the guitar

The highlight for me was attending Relief Society where Sheryl gave the lesson. She was genuine and humble. She started with a couple of personal challenges that brought the Spirit immediately into the room. She talked about 5 myths she's discovered that women believe:
1. A good woman puts everyone else's need first.
2. If I'm a good parent my children will turn out well.
3. If I'm a good person I will be blessed and free from problems.
4. What I do and how I appear determines my self esteem.
5. If I do enough good it will cancel out the bad I've done.
She had a lot of discussion, particularly about the concept of a love jug. If you're constantly pouring into others and not being replenished, you'll run dry. The best connection for replenishment is the Savior. Her lesson touched my heart and made me realize I'm enough. I'm enough!

Kate's baptism

Kathryn Gail Olsen on her baptism day, Nov. 1, 2014

We flew to Utah for Kate's baptism. What fun! It was the day after Halloween, so first we got to see what Halloween is like at their house. LOTS of candy!

Kate sorting her candy

Ready to go trick or treating

Velvet and Kate on her baptism day

Kate was baptized by her Grandpa Olsen

Kate with Grandma and Grandpa Salisbury

Grandpa Olsen, Grace, Laura, Kate & Grandma Olsen

Hearing from our missionaries

We miss our four missionary grandchildren, but it is a joy to read their letters home each week and see how they are learning and progressing. Each is unique and each is doing amazing things.

Here's a quote form Jason's last letter, his take on why to serve a mission:

The reason to serve a mission is that there were people we were friends with and fought for in the pre-existence and they need you again. They don't have the connection to God any more and they need to learn how to return to live with him again. They cannot do so until they take upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ by baptism by the proper priesthood authority for the remission of sins and receive the gift of the holy ghost and press on steadfastly in the faith of Christ. I've met up with a few of these friends and I've had the opportunity of helping them make those steps or to return to those commitments they had already previously made.

This is from our ever enthusiastic Esther:

President Wilson a few weeks ago was very troubled by the number of missionaries in the mission that had not yet been able to completely read the Book of Mormon. He felt impressed that we should set a week aside so that every missionary would have the opportunity to read this book from cover to cover…. What a blessing this sacrifice has been for our mission… I do not fully understand the significance of last week but I know that it has been a great blessing to my testimony. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know it testifies of Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus Christ is my savior.

This from the Book of Andrus Chapter 3 verse 6 gives you an idea of what his mission is like:

Now it came to pass that at the end of that week, it being the Sabbath day, we did travel to and fro, attending the meetings of the several wards over which we did minister, for we were assigned to minister in eight different wards. And we did see many of those whom we did teach at church, insomuch that we had 4 nonmembers and 6 less-active members at church! And I say these things not that I should boast of myself, but that you may know concerning the great joy that we did have in the land of North Ogden, for Elder Daggs and I did labor diligently among them.

And from Zachary's last letter from the MTC before departing for Cambodia:

This last is from Elder Bednar. There is so much I can say on this one, but I have to be short in writing. He said and gave an apostolic blessing: "When it comes to the question, 'Was that from God or from me?' (such as a thought), quit worrying about it! Be a good boy, honor your covenants, keep the commandments, press forward in faith, and your steps will be directed by God. Most often when I receive revelation, I do not realize it until after it happens." There is so much with this, and so many examples of this in his life, and I am beginning to see its truth in my life.

We are so proud of "our" missionaries and pray for them and look forward to their safe return home.

What a week!

The Dodges went to Sacrament meeting with us and then headed up to Brenda's in our truck. She took them to the airport the next day.  It was hard to say good-bye!  We have Thanksgiving to look forward to and next year's reunion.

We planned a trip to the temple to see the newest film and pick up the truck. The Andrei decided they wanted to buy the truck (yay!) so we took the title up and then went to the temple. The film is beautiful and the music in it is amazing.

This morning at sunrise we drove over to Albany to see the hot air balloons. Pictures will tell the story:

Three balloons were shaped like bees!

An unusual shape

Eldon Olsen reunion

I was impressed by the number of descendants, their humor, attitude of love, and each one's uniqueness. Not to mention talent, cute babies and general helpfulness.

Okay, that's enough bragging.

The only ones missing were our four missionaries--Jason in Las Vegas West, Esther in Virginia Richmond, Berkeley in Utah Ogden, and Zachary at the MTC in Provo preparing to go to Cambodia. We missed them, but we wrote them letters.

The first day there was a photo shoot taken by Michael Brewster.

Sheryl's clan

Ken's clan

Carl's clan

Brenda's clan

Neil's clan

The girls had organized a 50th anniversary tribute for us. What a hoot! First Ken reviewed what was happening in 1964, the year we married, and then led his family a cappella in "Families Can Be Together Forever." Impressive.

Then Neil reminisced, particularly about what we did as a family in the great out of doors. Brought back a flood of memories. Then his whole family sang "My Heavenly Father Loves Me." Touching.

Then Sheryl, bless her heart, paid tribute to us as a married couple and then introduced Jonathan as comic relief. He told a joke about Adam and Eve--the perfect wife would cost an arm and a leg, so Adam asked what he could get for a rib! Jessica and Michael sang a duet, "We Two" which was supposedly popular when we married. Schmaltzy.

Then Brenda's Sam and Sydney read something they'd written about us and Maia read a cute poem.

Then Brenda and Mike sang "It Had to Be You." Catchy and apropos.

Then Carl told a joke about how Dad was once asked to speak on Christmas, he didn't know why. But Dad said he knew it was because if they said five minutes, he'd only take five minutes. His girls each read a verse of a nostalgic poem called "Piano" by D. H. Lawrence.
Kate:
Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.
Laura:
In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song
Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong
To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside
And hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide.
Grace:
So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamor
With the great black piano appasionato. The glamour
Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past.

Carl and his girls

Then Jessica had made a slideshow of pictures down through the ages. Sweet.

Then fancy cakes.

What a celebration! We thought it was perfect.

The rest of the reunion was fun too. I'll just throw in some random pictures. Hopefully I'll get one of each grandchild and great grandchild! (Looking it over, I only missed Steph and our wonderful daughters-in-law.)

Annabelle and David shooting rockets with Jessica

Sydney and Brenda distracted from reading

Rachel and Ariana puzzling

Jessica at Alsea Falls

Carl's and Brenda's girls playing with baby Quin

Erik, Curtis and Sam

Trevor at the falls

Joseph wasn't too sure of the pond

Neil with Gideon

Ken, the mad scientist, shooting off rockets with Maia and Grace

Laura and Kate in a talent show skit

Robin at the archery range

Kate on the land zipline

Jonathan and Sheryl relaxing at the pond

Annie in a canoe

Gabriel playing with a frisbee

Mike and Brenda on the pond