Mother’s Day in New Hampshire

Jessica and Quin and I flew to New Hampshire the same day Jason was flying home from Nevada. We planned to all be there at the airport when he arrived. Unfortunately his plane was a half hour early. We looked around and couldn’t find him and finally Sheryl has the inspiration to go look out front. There he was on a bench waiting, feeling like the guy in R.M. whose family had moved and didn’t tell him! It was great to see him again.

At the airport

It was fun to watch Jason decompress, which he was very eager to do! He watched a lot of movies and played video games with his brothers. We worked on clearing out a space in the basement for him to have a room. He wanted to go to his favorite restaurant, Buffalo Wild Wings, which had gotten outlawed on his mission. (It was a pretty worldly place.)

The Dodge guys relaxing in the hot tub

A new shipment of chicks arrived

Sheryl with her girls

Right after this photo he climbed in to retrieve the green duck

Farmer Sheryl

Jason and Quin at a playground

Hanging out with Grandpa

On Saturday I tended Quin for several hours while the Dodges took Jessica and Jason to the temple.

We also drove out to the Audubon Center and saw the displays of animals. Jonathan checked the beehives while Sheryl, Jason, Trevor and I walked out to the lake.

Today it was quite amazing to hear Jason speak in church. The topic assigned was missionaries and  mothers. He was quite down to earth. First he told how difficult the mission was especially because of the heat. He said people ask about the converts, but the one he was most excited about was himself. He said he learned to listen to the Spirit there and the Lord helped him. He quoted Harold B. Lee: “The most important of the Lord’s work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own homes.” He said mothers do so much of this work and his mother has been a good influence for him. He said she had been quite irritating and nagged him to go on a mission, but he’s glad she did. He said now he is glad to become a member missionary and looks forward to becoming a Dad someday.

This afternoon we all went to the beach while Jason went to the student ward. He got a calling--ward mission leader! Which he was excited about even though he had complained about all the ward council meetings he had had to attend.

Pictures from the beach:

Four generations

Curtis and Trevor