Week of 25-31 of May

Dear Family,
This has been an event filled week.
After helping Ryan do a front brake job on his Ranger in the morning, we had a party with the tribes of Jim & Vanessa and Ryan & Maureen to celebrate Memorial Day. Also, the Riehl's (from their ward) came, and we had the pleasure of getting to know them a little better. We grilled hamburgers with all the trimmings plus had enchiladas, salads, cookies, watermelon, brownies and a trifle for eats. There were many canoe excursions across the pond to see ducklings and turtles on the way to “Treasure Island”. We had a great time playing Croquet, Volley Ball, Boccie and, of course, socializing.
Getting our matter organized is still a priority. Dad is waiting for some good weather to clean and re-stain the deck. We got a quote and looked at some tile to replace the kitchen and foyer floors, and got an estimate to replace the shingles on the roof. We could buy a new car for these prices! Also, the rodent wars have heated up again. We found the mouse expressway under the front porch into the basement pantry. The varmint expressway is now permanently closed with fiber glass and 2X4 pine blocks to all future traffic. Oh well, it is just part of protecting one's family and property from forces of nature. After all, the little freeloaders were just looking for something to eat.
Medical matters appear to be in order after Dad's visit to the doctor and getting various blood tests and pictures completed. Mom got a brand new pair of inserts to put in her shoes to help her hammer toe from getting any worst. It is a bit difficult because nothing is hurting her now. It is a matter of faith to wear them just to keep things from maybe getting worse. She will have her regular check-up this coming week.
Thanks to Olivia, who called and asked Papa, “When are we going to the Zoo?”, Friday morning we took Olivia and Jacob with us and used our renewed membership that Nona got Papa for his birthday. We were joined by 50+ bus loads of school kids!!! (Next time, we will go on a Monday or Tuesday.) We enjoyed the Penguins, birds, butterflies, lunch, reptiles, anteaters, polar bears, a river hippopotamus, giraffes and a train ride before we needed to leave to get back.
Ryan invited Papa to go to their Father Son Camp on Friday evening. Papa hitched up the camper trailer, dodged thunderstorms on the way to Walcott Metropark and set up camp with Ryan, Preston and Jacob. We had a good time walking in the leech infested creek, playing games, eating deep-fried everything: onions, potatoes, and Oreo cookies. We survived a cold night's sleep and got up in time to eat a “healthy” deep-fried breakfast of French toast sticks, hash brown potatoes, link sausages and fried egg whites. (Someone brought this deep-fryer ... )
So much for our week. We hope all is well with y'all.
Mom & Dad

We are baaaack!

Dear Family,
We apologize for taking so long to write. Thanks be to Heavenly Father, we arrived home safely Tuesday (12 May) evening after our 2600 mile journey from Corpus Christi, Texas to Denver and on to Alton, Illinois. We sure enjoyed our visits with the families of Ryan & Rachel and David & Jana. We also have enjoyed being with the families of Jim & Vanessa and Ryan & Maureen. We were released from our mission by President Barberis on Thursday evening and reported to the High Council on Sunday morning the 17th of May. We have been invited by Brother Marshall of the High Council to speak in the Farmington Hills Ward on the 21st of June, and Myriam will be speaking in Youth Conference on the 2oth. It was good to be in our home ward once again after two years of being away (We served in a Detroit Branch for a year previous to our mission). We found fewer people, a few new people and a few familiar faces.
Sunday evening (17th.) the family came with the grand buddies and Papa took them in the canoe. It was Sophia's first time and she was not very confident in the stability of the canoe until she sat in Papa's lap; then life was good once again. A few friends came that day to see us and we enjoyed visiting with them also.
Friday night we had a sleep-over at our house. Papa slept outside in the tent with his grand buddies and made a pancake breakfast for the whole crew.on Saturday morning. The parents, Tyler and Mom enjoyed sleeping inside, looking at old pictures and reminiscing. Mom's favorite part was seeing them go to bed upstairs, talking and laughing, and then again in the morning, sitting in the stairways, visiting quietly, as they used to do when they were little. She couldn't resist sitting with them, enjoying every minute of it. Just that made her holiday wonderful!
Saturday evening we went to Stebar's for grilled steak dinner and to get ourselves updated on the events of the last year.
There was and is still much to do in the yard and house to get our "Matter Organized". But we have been chipping away at it and little by little, things are starting to look a little better. We need to get the roof reshingled and the deck needs to be cleaned and stained. There is never a dull moment.
We are doing fine.

Love y'all, Mom & Dad

Denver Zoo with Rachel & Mia

With mix emotions we leave Corpus Christi, Texas. I will not miss the speed bumps of Walnut Ridge Apartments nor the anxiety of the Hurricane Season. We will certainly miss the friends we made and working with the missionaries, who are the servants of God.
We are grateful for:
Our Companionship
The enormous help of the missionaries in the moving our stuff out of the apartment and being so helpful to us.
The wonderful weather and great road conditions for traveling across the great state of Texas.
The watchful and warning eye of the courteous Texas State Highway Patrolman Porter, who gave us a warning for doing 75 mph in a 70 mph zone.
Our Valiant Vehicle – the” Little Red Wagon” in spite of being overloaded and stuffed with no space to spare has safely and reliably gotten us to Clayton New Mexico.
The edification from “Approaching Zion” book by Hugh Nibley on CDs that we listened on the way.
I am grateful to Heavenly Father for sending me these things and much much more.