Happy Mother's Day 2023
Gratitude for Mothers--And for America
Nick and Sara had Roy and I to dinner for Mother's Day--just following our return from a two week trip to Italy. They served us a delicious meal (cooked by Nick) of Salmon, potatoes and prosciuitto wrapped asparagus.
As we talked a little about our trip, Nick made the comment that whenever he returns from another country, he always realizes how nice America is. We are truly blessed. I nodded my agreement. I had had many of the same thoughts during our travels. Here are some of the things I am grateful for that I normally take for granted: free bathrooms; toilet seats; air conditioning and hair conditioner... I could go on, but what I am most grateful for (after spending two weeks on a tour with 40 other people), is 1) the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the truths that I know, and 2) my wonderful family.
In honor of Mother's Day I wanted to write that it is the greatest privilege to be a mother. In the eyes of the world, maybe I haven't accomplished very much, but in my eyes I have fulfilled the most important calling. It is definitely not the easiest career choice, but I would argue that it's the most rewarding and gratifying one. I am so grateful to my mother for being a wonderful example to me. She always had an abundance of love for her children, her in-law children (Roy says that my mom always treated her like a son, not an in-law), and her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Even in her illness she was kind and giving. It's funny, now that I'm a little older, I see my mom in some of my own habits and mannerisms. After I had Nicholas, my mom told me that now that I had a baby I would never stop worrying. I didn't understand, but now I do. Jennie said it best when she said, "I know you can't take the mom out."
I'm also so pleased with my children and their desire to be parents. Happy Mother's Day to all of you!
Faith
I also wanted to comment quicky on faith. Faith is a choice. We can find evidences of anything we choose to find evidences about. If we choose faith, we will find a lot of supporting evidence. The added benefit is that the source we look to, to substantiate our faith is from the source of all truth. As the scriptures say,
The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.
Missionary Opportunities
Because we stand out from a crowd, we had many opportunities to share our beliefs. I had one conversation with a couple who indicated that Eve ruined it for all of us. Another lady said that Judas had no choice but to betray Christ because someone had to do it. I told her plainly that I disagreed--that we always have a choice. Christ would have been crucified regardless of Judas' role in the event. She told me she'd have to spend some time thinking about this. The thing that truly set us apart from the others on the tour was our family. Everyone was astounded when I mentioned that I had 8 children and 24 grandchildren (by the end of this year). Most were sincerely complementary. I told one man who was traveling alone, how long Roy and I had been married. He said, "I would have been married 50 years next month." I asked him if his wife had passed away, and he said, "No, I got divorced after 8 years of marriage because she wanted children and I didn't." He had come from a large family and felt that his parents were not qualified to have that large of a family. He felt that he had raised all his siblings. I asked him if he regretted his choice. He kind of half smiled, but didn't answer my question. I think the fact that he was very aware of the approaching anniversary date answered my question. At the end of the tour, we discovered that some of the couples that we had assumed were married, had simply "been together" for a long time. I think the most grandchildren anyone had besides us was 5. We are truly a peculiar people, and in the best way (in my opinion).
Finn, Baptism
We had a lot of events happen while we were away. Finn was baptized and Adrienne had some fabulous professional pictures taken to commemorate the event. Ruby, Sara, Adrienne, Jennie and Roy celebrated birthdays (as well as my brothers Phil and Bruce). And just before we left, we celebrated our 43rd marriage anniversary. Some unanticipated events happened as well. Gunnar broke his arm falling off the bleachers at one of Ollie's games. Finn had previously broken his ankle plate, also. Adrienne had a scare when she had trouble breathing and her heart started racing. Cub's heart-rate was also dipping, so she spent 6 hours in the hospital so that she and the baby could be monitored. Nick has been having trouble with bone spurs that hopefully won't require surgery. It's a little hard to be so far away when you know your family is struggling.
Other happenings while we were gone:
Uncle Phil and Aunt Charlotte have announced their mission call. They are assigned to the Kenya, Nairobi mission, leaving November 6, 2023 for 12 months.
I am planning on doing a travelogue of our trip, but I wanted to do it separately from the normal letter (otherwise no one would read this). Hopefully, I'll have that done by Sunday
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