in the world this very minute.
My sister’s boy—Tim, home at last after 2 years in St. Petersburg, Russia.
:} 568
:: What’s Right ::
in our world this very minute…
Knowing that he’s serving others…
while he’s far, far away from home.
608
{ True Friends }
In 1918 Brother George Goates was a farmer who raised sugar beets in Lehi, Utah. . . . An influenza epidemic . . . claimed the lives of George’s son Charles and three of Charles’s small children—two little girls and a boy. In the course of only six days, a grieving George Goates made three separate trips to Ogden, Utah, to bring the bodies home for burial. At the end of this terrible interlude, George and [his young son] Francis hitched up their wagon and headed back to the beet field.
On the way they passed wagon after wagon-load of beets being hauled to the factory and driven by neighborhood farmers. As they passed by, each driver would wave a greeting: “Hi ya, Uncle George,” “Sure sorry, George,” “Tough break, George,” “You’ve got a lot of friends, George.”
On the last wagon was freckled-faced Jasper Rolfe. He waved a cheery greeting and called out: “That’s all of ’em, Uncle George.”
When they arrived at the farm gate, Francis jumped down off the big red beet wagon and opened the gate as [his father] drove onto the field. George pulled up, stopped the team, and scanned the field. There wasn’t a sugar beet on the whole field. Then it dawned upon him what Jasper Rolfe meant when he called out: “That’s all of ’em, Uncle George!” . . .
This man who brought four of his loved ones home for burial in the course of only six days; made caskets, dug graves, and even helped with the burial clothing—this amazing man who never faltered, nor flinched, nor wavered throughout this agonizing ordeal—sat down on a pile of beet tops and sobbed like a little child.
Then he arose, wiped his eyes, . . . looked up at the sky, and said: “Thanks, Father, for the love of these dear friends.”
Vaughn J. Featherstone
621
::Quilts For Japan:: The Connection
We promised the good folks at “Quilter’s Newsletter” that we’d send the first batch of our lovely Quilts for Japan to them this week. Feeling quite prudent about our options, April and I decided to hand deliver them, which meant of course–ROADTRIP!!
The drive from Utah to Colorado is–for the most part–a scenic, beautiful thing as long as you are wise enough to do it in the daytime.
Note to self: Driving through snowy canyons and mountain passes with ice freezing on your windshield is much more terrifying at 11:00 at night–therefore leave earlier next time.
We realized that this was the wrong time of year to judge the landscape and we had to constantly remind ourselves that in a couple of months this prairie would likely be a gorgeous shade of green…
and that this ominous “edge of the world” type drop off would be filled with blossoms and hence even more…umm…scary looking. We stayed far away from that thing–I’ll tell you!
We were chased along by several of these cloud bursts before it became way too dark to see anything. When we finally arrived in Golden, Colorado, we checked into our hotel close to midnight. I personally can’t remember much after pulling the covers up to my chin and closing my eyes.
We woke up to a nice dusting of good old, Colorado snow.
Here’s a sweet little poolside gazebo right outside our window. Alas–no time for ice swimming on this trip…ha ha.
We did our best to write and attach just the proper message to each of the quilts. This symbol is suppose to mean “Love.” At least we sincerely hope it does!
I wrote most of the English messages and April tackled the Japanese. Isn’t it lovely?
Next, we carted all those quilts back out to the car. We got some pretty strange looks from people. I wanted to say, “We always bring our own bedding…just in case,” but I wasn’t brave enough.
After following April’s IPhone GPS–we finally arrived at the Quilting Magazine headquarters…
and even found the perfect parking place.
We were warmly greeted by Senior Editor and author, Kelly Smith, and Contributing Editor Dana Jones. They seemed quite pleased with our quilts.
It was exciting to see that we were not the first to send donations for the Japan project.
Each box held a breathtaking offering of warmth for our friends in Japan, but honestly–
we felt pretty toasty inside ourselves. :}
Thank you Dana and Kelly and Quilter’s Newsletter for giving us the opportunity to serve our neighbors. You’re amazing! Second shipment coming soon.
696
From The Boy…
So, finally we get pictures of my baby boy from the MTC (Missionary Training Center)–and doesn’t he just look like he’s enjoying himself?
It’s so-SO strange to have him about 7 miles away and yet, I haven’t actually spoken to him in a month. He is a lovely little letter writer though and it’s the highlight of the week to get–first his email on Tuesday and then a few days later a real letter in the mailbox.
He’s learning the Russian language really fast–which is very satisfying to him and he’s making some wonderful friends too. I can send him letters and packages and email whenever I want and it gets to him the same day. So there’s the advantage to living down the street from the MTC— which is good for my silly, achy mama heart.
He leaves for Russia in a few short weeks–so I have to send things while I can. Mail to Russia is very slow and it can take a month to get a letter and 3 months to get a package. That means that if I want him to get a present for his birthday in July, I’ll need to mail it in April–before he even leaves for the country. That’s crazy. But the best news is that when he’s at the airport, he gets to call home.
It will be so good to hear that cute voice again.
700
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Happy Birthday Lynnette!