My 64th Birthday

I can't believe I turned 64! Years ago, I would think of someone in the 60's to be so old. It's amazing how quickly the years speed by and you find yourself at that age, but it no longer seems old to you once you arrive at that age. I'm grateful for my health and strength. Although I struggle with Post Polio, overall, I'm in good health. My birthday usually lands on General Conference weekend, which I love. Sunday afternoon, after the last session I went to the Vance's for dinner and to celebrate Gary's birthday that day, April 3rd, and my birthday on the 4th. Ondalynn prepared a delicious salmon, potatoe, asparagus dinner and I brought over the left over carrot cake that we had from Easter. I just put it in the freezer. It was still so good. I was happy I could be surrounded by these cute grandchildren to celebrate my birthday.

On the morning of my birthday, I enjoyed phone calls and messages from our children. Meredith had set up an appointment for me to have a manicure that morning. Just before I left, Tiffany and the boys FaceTimed and sang Happy Birthday to me. They sounded great! Then Ondalynn & Vivi took me out to lunch. We had so much fun visiting and being together. They gave me a card filled with money from many of the children for my birthday. That was so nice of everyone. Ondalynn & Vivi also said they wanted to come over to my house on a regular basis and help me prepare food for the week or anything they could do to help me. We decided to have them come once a month each and that Dad would help me on the other Monday's. This will be such a blessing to me.

The Vance children were out of school for Spring Break so Sydney watched all the children at our house. Kaeley was at a friend's house. Afterwards Ondalynn took her children in the hot tub. Because they live close, they don't usually use our hot tub, so it was a fun treat for them.

Later that day I visited LaCressa Clardy in the hospital. She had just given birth late the night before to their #5, Kaden. She doesn't have a loving mother in her life, so I've tried to be there for her. She will text me often. He is a beautiful baby. I was also suffering from an infection in my gums from a tooth that had broken off a couple of weeks before. The first round of antibiotics didn't work, so I picked up more antibiotics that evening, hurried to pick up some groceries before leaving to pick up Crismon from the airport from his trip to Utah for conference. We visited with Dallin as we drove home from the hospital about their plans about their move to Virginia coming up in August. I connected with all of my children that day, even Seth in Germany thanks to "FaceTime." Meredith texted me. It's a joy to be their mother. I hope my days on this earth can be long so I can continue to enjoy them, our grandchildren, and to see what's in store for them in their lives ahead. I was so happy to have my good husband home, too. 

Bryson's Baptism

One of the blessings of living close to family is the sweet opportunity to attend special events in their lives. We were happy to be there for Bryson's baptism on Saturday, March 26, 2016 in Vancouver, WA. Gary & Ondalynn are in the Fisher's Landing Ward in the Vancouver, WA East Stake. He was baptized by his father, Gary Vance. Grandpa Crismon Lewis and Uncle Brett Caudle were witnesses. He was confirmed by his father. Standing in the circle were Grandpa Lewis, Grandpa Lee Vance, and Brett Caudle. Grandma Denice Vance was there from Utah. Lee & Brenda Vance came from Jacksonville Mississippi. Lee had had a heart attack just 2 weeks before, but after having a split put in he was well enough to make the trip. It was a stake baptism with one girl baptized, too.

Afterwards we gathered at the Vance's for a delicious lunch and then to the park for an Easter Egg Hunt as the next day was Easter. We hurried home for Dad to quickly mow our lawn before leaving for the General Women's Broadcast. Our stake presented the YW Medallion's the half hour before. 

We all had Easter dinner at the Vance's. Brenda and Ondalynn prepared a delicious salmon dinner with all the trimmings. I made two carrot cakes. We then had a short program where we saw some short Bible videos and talked about the blessing of the Atonement and the Resurrection in our lives. How grateful we are for our Savior, Jesus Christ. Because of Him we can all live again, and because of his sacrifice we can live to be worthy of eternal life with God as families.

We love seeing our sweet grandchildren make important decisions in their lives and for their eternal well being. They are being taught so well by their parents.

Dallin & Janelle and Girls in March

We are blessed grandparents to have these darling girls spend their spring break with us. We loved having them here. They hiked up to Multnomah Falls, played with cousins, Sunday dinner together with us and the Vance family, playing at the park, dates for their Mom and Dad, and just making us happy. Dallin prepared his delicious pizzas for our family dinner. The best!

We especially appreciated Dallin working very hard to clean our garage, along with Janelle's help me made great progress in dejunking. We opened my box with dolls from my childhood and the girls had fun playing with them. The one Dorothy is holding is my Raggedy Ann doll that I had for many years as a little girl. The princess doll that Ruby is holding is one that I received when I was about 10 years old. I will always remember walking in on Christmas morning and seeing those 3 beautiful dolls for me and my sisters, Meredith and Kathi. I loved having that doll sit on my bed each day. Dorothy is wearing a fancy hat that my Grandmother Smith use to wear. The Alpaca rug was from Crismon's mission. We placed it on our bed for a number of years.

Sunday afternoon I took the girls on a walk on the Springwater Trail. It was cool and slightly rainy, but it was a special afternoon watching them discover so many interesting things on the trail that I never notice. Before they left we had a cold, but fun morning at the Imagination Station Park.

Stake Conference with Elder Call

One of the choice blessings that come from Crismon's calling as the Stake President is the sweet opportunity of hosting one of the authorities in our home. Elder Robert Mack Call from Tacoma, was our Area Seventy that presided at our conference. He brought a wonderful spirit to our conference, and we felt of his great love for all the members and for us. Saturday morning, Feb. 27th, Crismon picked him up at the airport and brought him to our home for lunch. Then they spent the next hour or so visiting with some less actives. They had some very good visits with them. One brother in particular who has been inactive for years, was now in the hospital with pneumonia and wasn't doing well. He was touched by their visit and blessing, and expressed a real desire to get his life in order to take his wife to the temple.

Two days before he arrived I worked very hard making a chicken soup to serve on Saturday for lunch. That night I had the feeling I should check with Alisha was she had planned for her Saturday evening meal. Turns out we had both planned the same menu; soup, salads and rolls. It was too tired on Friday, nor did I have the time, to go to the grocery store to buy something else. I thought of a different meal I could do with the food I had on hand. I made a chicken pasta salad, fruit salad with a poppy seed lime dressing, homemade chocolate chip cookies, and I had purchased some good french bread from Fred Meyer. Fortunately, everything worked out OK on Saturday for lunch and it tasted good.

That evening Alisha put on a delicious meal at the church house in between meetings with the wives of the stake presidency, the mission president and his wife. (Pres. Craig Ballard & Sis. Melissa Ballard). Pres. Ballard is Elder M. Russell Ballard's son.

Sunday morning I served the Maple Pear-Apple Oatmeal Bake. Elder Call especially liked it and asked for the recipe! He is the one that makes the oatmeal at their home and he had never tasted baked oatmeal before. After the Sat. night meeting, he and Crismon had bread, milk, and Alice-Anne's delicious bottled peaches.

Crismon had three talks to give during the conference. He always speaks with humility but power. You can feel the mantle of his calling upon him. He always gives such good talks, related from scriptural insights. Elder Call goes by the spirit and is inspired on people to ask to come up and bear their testimonies. Turns out they were exactly the right people for him to ask for a number of reasons. One of them was LaCressa Clardy. She has had many struggles and one being feeling the love of Heavenly Father for her. He spoke with her afterwards and said, "The Lord knows you and loves you." He said there was a light over her when he saw her in the audience, and he knew she was the right one to ask to speak. The Holy Ghost really directs these men.

Elder Call shared a very tender story about a car accident that their son-in-law and granddaughter were in. Sadly, the granddaughter died and the son-in-law lost his job as it took a year of rehabilitation. It was such an emotional story, and also one that drew all of them closer to the Savior.

I recorded in my journal on the evening of Sat., Feb. 27th: "Considering the stress I'm under and all the work I've been doing, I am amazingly blessed of the Lord. He is sustaining me greatly. I typically would be in much more pain and weakness. I feel His generous hand to me."

Crismon is blessed to serve with his two good counselors, Paul Hansen and Steven Christiansen.

The Joy of the Temple

The latter part of October I received a call while on our trip to Hawaii asking me to speak to the Damascus Relief Society evening meeting on the temple in January. It is always such a worry for me to speak, but it's also a great opportunity to ponder, pray, and search the scriptures to try to come to know what the Lord would have me say. Because of a scheduling problem, they pushed the date back to Feb. 18th. It was a pretty long time to have a speaking assignment to worry about, but it was a blessing to prepare for it. I decided to speak on the "Joy of the Temple."

I was feeling a little uncomfortable about the beginning of my talk, but Heavenly Father was so good to me. I happened to read an email that I received from Laura Evins Clark who I taught and saw baptized while on my mission. She talked about the happiness that had come into her life from joining the church, doing family history work and taking the names to the temple. It was the perfect introduction to my talk, and I'm so grateful for the inspiration that came that very day of my talk. I was blessed to have the spirit there with me. It was one of the better attended evening meetings than they usually have, and the sisters participated well which made all the difference. It was such a good feeling to have it over, though.

I do receive so much joy in serving in the House of the Lord and seeing His generous hand in my life, blessing me and helping me do each of the ordinances for the sisters. It is very painful and difficult to stand, but He helps me through it, and often I marvel at how He lifts that pain at times so I don't have to suffer as much. There are so many blessings that come from temple attendance and temple service.

 First row: Chauncy Childs, Danalee Stevenson, Sis. Russell, Sis. missionary, Janeen House, Amy Kelson. Second row: Donna McCain, Colleen Pattiani, Debbi Miller, sister, Linda Jorgensen.

 First row continued: Amy Miller, Jillian Barron. Second row: Tara Miller, Beth Newell, Dara Dillon, Leslie Hatton, Cindy Hansen.

Back row continued: Julie Milburn, Whitney Kelson, Leone Walton.

On Feb. 17th, Crismon joined me in serving in the temple each Wednesday. Because of his church calling, he can't be a regular temple ordinance worker, but he was called as a volunteer, as a veil worker, to serve at the recommend desk, and also in the baptistry. He can also serve in sealings. Pres. Pond called him and then set him a part. He had to do it twice since he didn't set him apart to serve at the Recommend Desk. One thing that was really sweet was he pronounced upon Crismon, all the blessings he had received precious would be added upon him as well. It's a joy for me to have him serving with me now. I'm enjoying reading Pres. Henry B. Eyring's biography called "He Will Lead You Along." Pres. Eyring has kept very good journals, and the book quotes from his journal. It is fascinating. This picture was actually taken a month after Crismon started serving.

February Happenings

Michael and Lori Fryar were so kind to let us use their beach house in Garibaldi, OR for a short Anniversary get-away. The temple was closed for the first two weeks in Feb. We left on Wed., the 3rd and returned Friday evening. We had such a fun and relaxing time together. The weather was cold, windy and cloudy, but we had some sunshine that we took advantage of.

The next week we were able to attend one of Sydney's basketball games. She is a good athlete. We had so much fun cheering her on while enjoying the boys, too.

We attended a fun Valentine's Day in Estacada with their ward on Friday night, Feb. 12th. A nice way to celebrate Valentine's and for me to meet more good members in that ward. Then, my sweetheart surprised me with beautiful roses and carnations on Valentine's Day. He is such a great husband, so loving, kind, and always working so hard. Saturday morning we fed 8 Elders and Bro Conklin by 7 a.m. We do that each month. It is hard on me, but I'm glad I can do my best to help support Crismon in his calling as it means so much for him to meet monthly with the Elders for breakfast in our home. There was a multi-stake broadcast that Sunday. Crismon spoke for 20 minutes before the broadcast. Every talk is stressful for him as he prepares, but he always does so well. The Lord blesses him for his great preparation. That evening was a fun dinner at the Vance's.

Tues., Feb. 16th was an exciting day as Seth called with the great news that he excepted the offer from the University of Oregon as an endowed chair. This honor is pretty much unheard of for one being so young. Earlier in the month on Saturday, Feb. 6th, Seth & Tiffany flew in to Portland after visiting the University of Missouri and Columbia. They were actively recruiting him for a position there with a high pay. We naturally wanted them to come to the Univ. of Oregon, but we wanted to make sure it was the best thing for their family. We had a family dinner together that evening and then early the next morning they headed to Eugene to visit some wards there and get a feel to see where they should land. We couldn't be more excited to have them moving to Oregon later this summer! That will bring half of our grandchildren to the NW!!!