REFLECTIONS...

Only wrote one blog in June.  Kind of lost interest for awhile, but I still have that bug to express myself whether anyone reads the stuff I write or not.

I have noticed that since I quit writing the Newsletter a year and a half ago, my writing skills have atrophied somewhat.  It is more difficult to organize my thoughts and convey my feelings than it used to be.  Another evidence of what you don't practice, you lose.  So, I have recommitted to writing one or two items a month, just to keep my writing skills from getting rusty.

I am in Miami now and my layover is shrinking fast as I have to get up at 2:45 a.m. Eastern time in order to leave for Newark and then on to Rochester tomorrow.  However, I just want to mention a really special trip Louis and took this month to Columbus.

Louis' younger brother Barry, whom I had never met, was diagnosed with brain cancer in February.  Long story short, in trying to get him some help Louis called on the ward in whose boundaries Barry resides in Columbus.  The bishop sent the missionaries over to visit with him, and after being instructed by them Barry asked to be baptized as he was the only one in Louis' family who did not join when Louis did.  

Here is a person who chose a life totally contrary to what we believe and have been taught, but who remembers the plan of salvation as their mother taught it to them long before the missionaries knocked on their door.  Barry recognizes his mistakes.  He freely expresses regret for poor choices.  But he is confident the Lord loves him still, so he is now seeking a place "on the other side".  

This is what the Atonement is all about.  The Lord loves a meek and humble heart, the people who have no pretentions that they are better than they really are.  Those are the genuine people who acknowledge the Savior's role in their eternal life.  Barry knows he can never be anything without that atoning gift.  He believes it can be for him, too.  I was impressed with his testimony and his sincerity.

We took him with us to the Indianapolis Temple Open House on Saturday the 18th where we met Schuyler and Abbey and Jeremy.  It was a HOT! HUMID! day, but the beauty and simplicity of the temple reminded me that the temple is the focal point of ALL families.  That is where we became united forever--so let me invite all of you again to not leave your chair empty in our family circle.  Jeremy--and all those others who have gone before--are organized in families, too, and are waiting for us to complete those family circles with the choices we make every day.  I love you.  I want to be together with you.  Please renew your own determination to keep us together.

PS--we also drove down to Cincinnati the night before and spent some time with Schuyler and Abbey and Jeremy.  Louis hadn't seen their house, so they gave him the grand tour then we all had dinner together.  

The next day after the open house, we went to the Indianapolis Zoo and the Indy 500 Raceway.  As a final celebration for a great experience,  we stopped for ice cream before going our separate ways to Cincinnati and Columbus.  

Louis and I then attended Barry's new ward on Sunday before leaving for Denver.  They had already been nurturing Barry and were very welcoming to us, as well.

It was another tender mercy as far as my work.  Though I had to suffer through a "READY" Reserve month (and they called me EVERY time just about 2 am for my current assignment), it was my SECOND choice.  Unheard of in nearly 15 years at United.  It was a schedule that had eight days off smack in the middle of July.

They used me constantly before the vacation and every day after the vacation, but those few days in Ohio were really great!  However, I was not sorry to come in from my last July assignment on the 29th and know I no longer had to sleep with the phone by my bed, even though it meant I had to start my first August assignment early the very next day.  

I have had so many tender mercies with my work "fitting into" what I need to do.  I have only to remember to have faith that if I turn things over to the Lord, they may not work out the way I have in MY mind, but as he can see the end from the beginning the solutions HE comes up with are always doable!  

See you here at the Blogspot in August!

MODERN PIONEER SAGA...

Beginning with the very first Nichols Family Pioneer FHE when Harold and Brice were just toddlers, this has been absolutely one of my favorite traditions over the years.  Each July it seemed we got a little more authentic--and original--as we celebrated the grand heritage we have on both sides of the Nichols Family, both the Huggins and Nichols ancestors who all made the trip from Europe to America to begin a new life for religion or seized an opportunity to start anew.

A few years while you were growing up we got bold enough to invite neighbors and friends--sometimes from the ward and, most memorably, from the neighborhood.  Who could forget the years we invited the Hirsches, the Less', the Callahans, the Lopez' and the Groves--not all of those at the same time, of course.  And  it was the success of those FHE's which made me bold enough to think maybe some of our current friends would enjoy a fun evening much like the Nichols Family used to pony up to in years gone by.

There have been more than a half dozen families in our Carlson Farm Ward who have included us in their Sunday dinners, summer bar-be-ques, and made us recipients of their treat basket drop offs.  In fact the list of families got so large--and my fearful aversion to having to reciprocate with dinner so out of proportion--that I began to cast about for some kind of activity which would be FUN for me to plan and execute. NOT something like invite each family over for dinner.  Yikes!  I can hardly cook for the missionaries anymore let alone dinner for whole families!

Voila!  It is summer.  It is July.  It was an idea that just came together when one of the families suggested we get together sometime and order in pizza.  That was it!  A MODERN DAY PIONEER celebration!  And the kernal of thought took off by itself and germinated into a very fun and memorable evening the other night at our very own Sweetbriar homestead.  A Modern Day Pioneer Pizza Party on July 27th for FHE.

All of the families were able to come but the Andersons who had just taken off for a two week vacation.  Still, we had a backyard full of 36 people--adults and kids--who were enthusiastic to celebrate in a storied "Nichols Family Traditional Family Home Evening".  Even Louis, who still does not share our Nichols Family FHE enthusiasm, kicked in and helped out as I planned for the Pioneer games we all got such a kick out of in years gone by.  Our Secrest Court backyard would have been ideal for a group this large, but we made do with a much smaller space, and it wasn't even crowded the way we set up the games around the perimeter and left the grassy area open for the families to sit on their blankets.

Though there were SIX "Kid Colters" that night instead of just the two Grove boys, we were able to keep a lid on most of the games:  stick/ball, 3-legged races, hoops, pounding nails, and milking contests.  The absolute favorite was the group Tug of War, which Louis really planned for including a new, huge/long rope.  

In addition I added a couple of new games.  One was a Camping Game--Then and Now where they had to determine which time frame such amenities as soda pop or candles fit into.  There were twenty different choices.  

The other game was similar to Walking the Dog from D.R.'s anniversary party years ago.  I asked Cheyenne to make a poster of the Pioneer Trail snaking through the desert, the streams, and the mountains from Iowa to the Salt Lake Valley.  She did such a good job!  Then I made 15 action cards with descriptions like "burned the biscuits--lose one turn" so each family could move a marker from start to finish.  

We asked everyone to come Pioneer--dressed.  But I had a whole stack of neck scarves and hats just in case someone came without a pioneer apron, bonnet, or hat.  But these Modern-day Mormons ALL had  Pioneer stuff.  No one needed a costume. We also asked them to bring drinks for their own families and a dessert to share with everyone, a blanket to sit on in the wagon circle, and a Pioneer story to share.  As you would guess, I was prepared with the Red Coat and the Skirt That Grew on a Bush stories, but everyone had their own contribution--including the two families who were the "Pioneers" in their family.  So, I didn't tell our traditional favorites.   We sang Pioneer songs around the "campfire", too, though Louis didn't go so far as to actually put wood in the new fire pit we've had since last summer and never used.  And...we furnished the pizza!

It said 6-8:30 pm on the invitations, but it was well past nine p.m. and full dark by the time people were ready to go home.  I took that as a sign people were having a good time.  I certainly did.  It was like having family around again, albeit they weren't as well-schooled about how to play the games and go all out Pioneer style the way the Nichols Family knows how to do.  

It was was an original and fun reciprocity to thank our friends (who are all the ages of my own children and grandchildren) for their very welcome part of our life.

SUCCESS WITH A CAPITAL "P"!