Sunday, May 10, 2016

And a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to our wonderful daughter and daughters-in-law!   As I recap the week, I wanted to start out with that little (BIG) thought!

We were so glad with the Elders came over to our apartment to catch up a minute before we took off again for another week of travel.  We LOVE our missionaries.....and especially those that live close by!

Dad got quite the surprise in the mail this week!!!  He got a GOLDMINE!  These are letters from 50 years ago when he served as a young missionary in Finland.  He had written these to his Mission President, President Asplund and his wife.  Weekly letters!  Actually handwritten since computers had not been invented then.  Sister Asplund had been saving them all these years and decided it was time to return them to the rightful missionary!  We are so thankful she had been keeping them...what a treasure.

Not only is it going to be hard to leave Lucy and Blackie behind when we go home, but Tiger as well.  They all seem to love hanging out with us.

On Wednesday we headed out for the North Carolina Charlotte Mission where we would spend 2 weeks.  I have my traveling shoes on and ready to go.

Meet Sister Hill (L) and Sister Alexander (R), Mission President's wife.  We love our mission and all of the great people we get to work with.  Sister Hill is really close to one of the gals that works for Becky.  Small world in the church.

Most of my yarn has been packed in boxes.  However, I can't just sit and do nothin'!  SO, I have kept the smaller type of yarn out because it is easier to pack around.  I was able to finish this doily in the hotel during one of our stays this week.

We get to see a LOT of luncheon provided by LOTS of Relief Society sisters.  I am always amazed at how unique the decorations are.  They want to make the lunch-time-experience so nice for the missionaries.  I found this one to be very festive....Cinco de Mayo theme going on with this one.

The Stake Relief Society had an activity one evening where the sisters wrote their testimonies in a Book of Mormon.  As a result, they had a LOT of Books of Mormon ready for the missionaries to deliver to investigators.  Very impressive.  That is a LOT of Books of Mormon right there.

Rather than drive 7 hours back to PTC for the weekend, we decided to drive 2 hours up to Mt. Airy.  We love that this is part of our mission.  And we decided to walk around the base of the KNOB of Pilot Mountain.  As a young gal, I walked ON TOP of the knob.  That is no longer possible because it is not allowed.  BUT you can walk around the base.  Very neat walk.  Next time any of you are there, it is an easy walk and you need to do that.  We'll do it with you!!  :-)  The views are amazing.

Naturally, a trip to Mt. Airy would NOT be the same without going to Jean's for that fantastic GROUND STEAK SANDWICH!!!  Oh my heavens, it was so good!!

We got to go to dinner with Sharon and Lester on Saturday evening.  Somehow we got to talking about PEANUT BUTTER and the fact that Sharon is stocking up on it!!  It seemed funny at the time....Lester even made a sign for Sharon to hold up "Will work for Peanut Butter"!!  We sure love getting cousin time when we can.

Have no fear.....I 'found' another pattern I am working on!!

MOTHER'S DAY TENDER MERCY!!  Sharon found some old fotos she was going through.  This one was labeled on the back "Mother's Day 1999"!  This would have been my mother's last Mother's Day because she passed away 6 months later.  I told Sharon that it would be so cool for she and I to try and recreate this foto of our mother's!  We decided we would do that after church on Sunday.  We knew we would not have a round table to sit at but we would figure it out.......

........It was announced at the end of Sacrament Meeting that the Relief Society sisters and young women would meet together in the cultural hall instead of in the Relief Society Room.  We thought that to be 'interesting' but, oh well.  As we entered the cultural hall we were so surprised to find the round tables set up with table cloths and napkins on the tables!  There were our round tables.....just like our mother's had sat at back in 1999!!!  SO....we were able to recreate the foto of our mothers after all.  We may not have had drinking glasses but we had deseret cups.  Notice how closely the colors are to what our mother's were wearing!  We both felt our mothers had had a little hand in our Mother's Day Tender Mercy.....17 years later.

 Ara Jean Hiatt is one of many cousins in the ward.  Sh was a Visiting Teacher to both of our mothers.  She is getting up in age.  We decided we wanted a foto with her.  So glad we got it.  She is such a great lady!!

After church I wanted to drive to the cemetery where my great-great grandparents are buried.  I wanted a foto of me at their tombstones.  It is not that far outside of Mt. Airy.  Dr. James Dickerson Dean and Esther Hiatt Dean.  They are the first ones of my family to join the church in Mt. Airy in 1872.

And since today is MOTHER'S DAY, I wanted to do a little layout so I could remember it.  It has been a good day.  I have either talked to or heard from each of our children!  I feel so blessed to have our eternal family.  Are we perfect?  Absolutely not!  No one is perfect.  Are we trying?  I surely hope so.  I can not imagine any of us not being able to be together for all eternity.  I am grateful for the Gospel and the hope that that brings to us that we CAN be together forever.....if only we keep trying, repenting, and trying some more.  We need to love and support each other....and lift each other up.  That is what the Savior did....that is what we need to do.  Live by HIS example.

I love each of you.  Our mission is drawing to a close in just 3 short weeks.  Are we ready to go home....yes, and no.  But, here we come anyway!  BUT...we still have work to do in our last 3 weeks....so we need to stay focused!  Love y'all....have a GREAT week!