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!