August 25, 2023

 The summer has been busy, ever changing and flying by and as a result I have missed  recording another week.

I have been working on getting the boys through their Temple Prep classes and it has been a challenge. Bryson has completed all six lessons with our FaceTime meetings and Keidis completed his on Sunday, whereas Thomas has one more class (two lessons per class) and Cohen needs two more classes as he has only been with us once. Sorting it all out keeps my brain active. 

The Temple opened on Tuesday the 22nd and I was on the first session which was wonderful. With the opening we are now back at making LOW assignments and I have had some challenges and sorting to do with that. Judy Laurie will be receiving treatments for non Hodgkin Lymphoma for the next while and we have replaced the Laurie’s with Brenda and Rick Molnar. I will be praying for my friend. We had the OW devotional last Sunday evening and while there I learned that Wayne Lavender has been dealing with shingles. So many concerns. Mary told me that her blood tests indicate the return of cancer so she is getting more tests. I hope not.

I went to the Barbie movie with the Hardy family. It was not my favorite. I attended the Relief Society BBQ on the 16th.  Got the garage cleaned with the help of Cindy and Sam and hosted the Burgess family last weekend when they voluntarily evacuated Kelowna due to the terrible fires up there. The fires were in West Kelowna but jumped the lake to create some damage there as well. Many homes have been lost or affected. The airport closed and Brendon’s sisters were trying to get home so Courtney drove a rental car to Vancouver to catch her flight to Australia and Ted, Brendon, Liza and family brought Alyssa and her family down, pulling their bikes in a trailer behind one of the two cars and Alyssa’s group managed to catch their flight to Grand Caymans. I was happy to have them here and safe but Bryson refused to leave because of desire to attend a YSA activity. Oh, dear! Brendon painted sealer on my driveway and they took home our lawnmower and some other garage items. Bob and Pat were visiting Mandy and came up to visit me last Monday. We made an emotional trip to the cemetery to visit the grave. I so appreciated them coming so much and love our dear friends. Cheyenne left today to go back to school at Queens. Kona and I will miss her regulate visits. We had the TriStake beach activity last Saturday, August 19 at Cultus Lake and I took Breya and Keaton, as well as Kona, out with me. It was a busy day with a large turnout. I think the youth had a good time.

Jack had a sudden and unexpected transfer from his area while serving as Zone leader and he has had a difficult week but Sam health seems to be improving.  Ross and Sarah told us they are now expecting. So exciting! Justin and JayLynn are struggling as they find their way thru the minefield of life’s tragedies. The good, the bad and the ugly. Bryson works with his anxieties. I pray for them all. With family concerns and because of where Tom is now, I sometimes say to him, “This one is on you” and pray that Heavenly Father will allow him to be near our children in their struggles when I cannot.

❤️❤️Tom and I love them ALL!

August 13, 2023

 I am late writing the blog this time and I actually was forgetting as the week went on. 

Sam’s mysterious illness has continued. He was unable to eat without vomiting for a number of days and now he is able to get a little bit in, mainly fluids. He has been to emergency and received IV for hydration a couple of times. He has been to the doctor twice and also on the phone with her. He has lost a lot of weight and though we have improvement, we do not have recovery or a certain diagnosis. His bowels have been blocked up and probably causing the nausea. They have considered a virus, ulcer and today Cindy was suggesting a parasite. I am certain we will get it worked out but he is exhausted and so is Cindy. Ross came one day to try to lift his spirits. When he has been bad, he really hasn’t even wanted to talk, watch TV or do anything but he did play video games with Ross. We fasted for him last Sunday.

I have been teaching Bryson and working on teaching Keidis, Cohen and Thomas Temple Prep lessons. I teach Bryson on FaceTime and I taught Keidis one night at my place with the Sister missionaries sitting in and then Keidis and Thomas another evening. It is difficult to pin them down long enough during the summer to get them prepared for their Temple Endowment when the Temple reopens. They are all preparing for missions and three already have their calls so insuring they have some Temple time and experience before they leave on their missions is important. I am working at it. I taught Willoughby YW today for Cindy as she has been consumed with Sam and his needs. I took them dinner one night and I am taking the Hung Family dinner tonight as Junki’s wife is pregnant and very sick. I took Marie bran muffins this week as both her dogs have had medical procedures and they are taking things slow over there.

Jack and Jeannette returned from their Alaska cruise on Monday and took me out for dinner that evening. I made them bran muffins the next morning for breakfast before they left for home. Bran mufffins are Grandma Tanner’s recipe and Jack enjoyed them as his mother made them too and they reminded him of home. It has been nice having them spend time with me as they were coming and going and they enjoyed Kona too. Everyone loves her.

I drove out to Surrey to pay Stefan for the completion and placing of the headstone and to pick up the Temple granite on which they had carved REMEMBER - our family mission statement. I love it and have it sitting on the shelves by the fireplace.

The summer has been busy and flying by with still more to come but busy is a blessing for me and keeps me going.

August 2, 202

 The summer has been busy and last week was no exception. Moroni’s Quest was certainly a large part of the week. Jack and Jeannette came the first day and I returned home for their overnight stay and had a lovely visit and time with them. They got off on their cruise last Thursday and I remained home that day to get a few things done and have a break. Cindy helped with food at MQ that day and Paul play the part of Abinadi while Ross took several parts, including the character which scalped Elder Wolsey (they provided him with hair so he could be scalped). I left Kona on Friday and drove back up to the site. Cindy was home that day and came to take Kona out before her YW activity with the younger girls who were not involved in MQ. I arrived at the Price’s farm just after the arrival of the Savior. As I walked down to the area where the youth and leaders were gathered to greet the Savior I could tangibly feel the spirit. At this point the Savior was standing in the midst of them greeting them individually, hugging them and talking to them. The youth were visibly touched and President Engen, who was taking the part of the Savior, was very loving and kind. After the youth had greeted him, the leaders started going up and I went up too. He was so kind to me and called me by name. At the conclusion he called a number of youth to teach and minister to the others and they broke up into groups to allow that to happen. I went to Sam and Keaton’s group and made the comment that if they felt this way with someone representing the Savior, could they even imagine how they would feel when the real Savior comes. The whole event seemed to go well taking them thru the Book of Mormon with live actors, a beautiful Tree of Life night scene, 85 full time missionaries walking down the road toward them singing “Called to Serve”, battles in which they participated and then the coming of the Savior. They had an outdoor dance Friday night and participated in the conclusion of the Book of Mormon and the handing over of the plates to Joseph Smith Saturday morning before departing for home. The weather was perfect, the food good, injuries few, crafts and activities fun and hopefully we had youth leaving filled with the spirit. Success! A year of hard work and planning was blessed by the Lord.

Paul picked Keaton and Sam up at the Stake Center and brought them home. Keaton quickly packed up, ate some lunch and I drove him to the Abbotsford Airport to catch the bus home to Kelowna. He has done well selling some of my items online and making money and he also had the MQ experience.

Sunday, July 30th was Tom’s 75th Birthday and we as a family celebrated by doing a Random Acts of Kindness Day by putting on our Aloha clothes and doing acts of kindness which may or may not have included ice cream sandwiches (a favorite of Tom’s). Even Max and Jacqui, who have Australian winter weather wore their Aloha clothes. Everyone did things a little differently and that was great. It was fun as we thought of Tom and remembered the Savior. Tom would not have wanted the focus on him. We love him so much though and miss him. Angela Leemhuis wrote me yesterday to say that she visited Tom’s classmate Ara, who Tom referred them to years ago because of their special dental needs. Ara was talking about an upcoming class reunion and his hopes of seeing Tom. She informed him of Tom’s passing and they both cried and talked about what a special man Tom was. We all love and miss him.

My puppy had diarrhea again and we were up several times one night getting her outside. She is seeming to be much better now and is on a medication which perhaps is helping. I don’t know why this keeps happening. She seems happy and lively but never eats a great deal. I bathed her, her bed and blankets. I washed down the turf in the backyard too. Oh dear!

Busy times but busy with good things (even if they are puppy problems) and good people. Blessed!