Wrapping things up!

There are certain things I wanted to get done before Josh leaves on his mission. One of them was getting a family picture done. It is always an ordeal but I am pleased with the result, Bob took the pictures, we are very grateful for his talent, and his and his family's time. We really enjoyed our stay in Flag with family...even if it was SUPER short!

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Josh reports 2 weeks from today. I know that the spirit is what converts, but I am struggling with a sense of pride...or perhaps it is simply pure joy! Josh met a girl by accident through texting. He happened to be a friend she could confide in as she went through a difficult event in her life. It was Easter time and one of the things he did was encouraged her to watch the Easter video that the church put out on You Tube. He talked to her about how he was going on a mission and encouraged her to ask for a book of Mormon from some girls she knew at school who were Mormon. Long and short of it, she and her parents, and a sister and brother are getting baptized today!!!! I am proud that Josh was willing to share the gospel, and I have pure joy for a family I don't even know, who are on their way to receiving the saving ordinances of the gospel.

Josh's last finals are today and he will move all of his stuff home. It will be a treasure to have him home for Mothers Day, and then he speaks in church the next Sunday, and we will head to Utah. We were going to take our children, but they are not out of school yet, so we will farm them out for the last week of school, and take our youngest with us at least as far as Flagstaff where he has cousins to stay with. I have been so focused Josh going on his mission, I sometimes have felt that I haven't paid attention to my other kids special events, so I have tried extra hard to remember this time is important to them also. We went to Tayler's state tennis playoffs...and I REALLY enjoyed the time with her. I have talked to Kendall about his upcoming graduation next year and some things we will need to do to prepare for that, I started the tears and realization that my family dynamics will change yet again!!! Russell has been busy with Jr High fun...he went to Sea Camp in San Diego, he is getting ready for the 7th grade egg drop competition where they build a protective container for an egg and then it is dropped from the top of a scaffolding ladder. The person who keeps their egg the longest wins. All the kids have camps and plans for the summer. We are debating whether we will raise pigs this year. I am afraid with the economy being bad, and now the swine flu scare...buying pork isn't top priority in peoples lives. LOL We will see. Life is good.

Blessings then Adversity then Blessings then Adversity

It was good to see someone use the family blog again, it seems like facebook is the means of information.
It seems like April ia full of good and bad happenings. We are pleased with Tanna's accomplishment, congratulations. we need a solo. Sorry to learn of Drew's pain and adversity, hope he recovers soon. Pleased that Tristen got her drivers license. General Conference as usual was great, enjoyed that weekend.
We had a call about mid night last Friday (5/1), Jodi Jennie Lou's oldest daughter) called asking for our prayers for her and Dallas. He was coming back from Idaho and hit a cow, his car spun then rolled several times. He was able to call her before the ambulance left to take him to Klamath Falls Oregon. Jodi was driving to Klamath Falls but didn't know how much he was hurt, where the hospital was and didn't have any phone numbers. Thanks for the blessing of cell phones and the internet. We didn't know how to get into the maps system, so we called Shauna and she found the only hospital in Klamath Falls and had a number for us. We called Jodi back but she was in the mountains, we called the hospital to verify he was there, he wasn't there yet, but knew he was on his way. We were able to get Jodi the information. To make a long story short, they released him the next morning, cut up pretty bad but no broken bones. Prayers answered. His car was totaled.
Earlier in the month we went to a baptism. Jennie Lou's granddaughter's (Brooke) best friend (Courtney) was baptized into the church. She has wanted to for some time, but her parents were against it, she honered her parents and waited until she was 20. It was a very neat spiritual service.
We had a neat stake temple day and the next day we had a great J.W./Nelle Rapier Reunion on the 25th. It was great to see a lot of my first cousins again.
Bert is still hanging in there, but she is in lots of pain. In spite of the pain she went to Thatcher last Sunday to see her son Ryan ordained a High Priest by his father Danny and set apart as a second councilor in a new Bishopric. Two weeks earlier she managed to travel to Heber to attend her mother's funeral. I don't know how she did it. I don't know how she can last much longer. Watching her brings back a lot of memories.
Such is our life of traveling, brithdays,etc. It keeps us young, but our bones sure hurt a lot. We hope May will be a total up month. It will be, great things are planned. Josh will enter the MTC, 52 years ago I intered the MTC in May of 57. He is the first of many grandsons and granddaughters to enter the MTC. I hope I'm around to see them, that'll take me to around 90.
We love ya. Dad.