Baby Bliss

So much to catch up on! If you were hoping for a quick summary, sorry in advance. Too much to cover and too many pictures. And since a big reason for this newsletter/blog is for my own journaling and history purpose, you’ll just have to either skip or skim, unless you’re one of our faithful read-every-word followers, and for that we thank you!

The big news of the moment is this: We just returned from a week-long “leave of absence” to visit Ryan and his family in Denmark to welcome the arrival of baby #3, Asher.

What a blessing it was to be just a short flight away and not have to spend our first day or two jet-lagged. That was a good thing, because the two older siblings were ready for full-time Nana and Bubba playtime!

I spent what little free time I had crocheting some hats for the kiddos. Esther loves to come up with sewing or crafting projects for us when we’re together and she even managed to finagle an extra hat for herself. ;)

Bubba scored big points with the grandkids when he was brave enough to go down the biggest slide ever at the WOW Park (a super fun outdoor/nature/play area). He wins the cool grandparent award!

In between wrangling, wrestling, and reading, we tried to soak in as much sweet baby snuggling as we could.

Ryan and Jenessa will now have their hands full since they’re outnumbered. But it reminds me of a saying I had on our wall at home for a long time: “If you think my hands are full, you should see my heart.”

It never gets any easier to say goodbye to far away grandkids (and kids, we adore them too!) but it helps to know we’re not as far away as usual. Until next time, these hugs will have to hold us over.

Now going back a few weeks before our Denmark trip…we made our first visit to Wales. We had a fun, but too quick trip to South Wales with our missionary friends, the Jolleys. We drove to Cardiff and stayed in a cute, old (sometimes the emphasis is a little more on the old than the cute haha) bed and breakfast and then spent Saturday seeing the beautiful countryside in and around Bannau Brycheiniog National Park (Brecon Beacons). Say that three times fast! The Welsh language is fun to listen to, but impossible to decipher. Here are a few examples:

• Cymru - Wales

• Shwmae? / Sut wyt ti?  - How are you?

• Diolch - Thank you

• Os gwelwch yn dda - Please

• Mae'n bwrw glaw - It's raining

It looks like they just put a bunch a letters in a blender and said, hey, let’s make that a word haha!

We took a vintage train ride to Pontsticill Reservoir, had lunch at a delightful pub where the owner’s adorable 3-yr-old granddaughter was the waitress, and then decided to hike to the top of a mountain called Pen Y Fan. It may look like just a grassy hill compared to mountains we’re used to in California and Utah, but it was a good, heart-pumping hike and the 360° view was stunning, complete with adorable sheep roaming around. It had rained most of the morning on the train ride so we weren’t sure if we’d be able to hike much. But in true British fashion, the weather switched pretty quickly from rainy and overcast to sunny and warm with perfect blue skies and puffy clouds. Don’t like the weather? Just wait a few minutes. ;)

Here’s a video of our day:

The weekend after that, we went on a morning hike/walk at one of our favorite towns, Henley-on-Thames. We have a great little book of local walks and wanted to do this one that goes along the river, across a lock, and then to a darling little village called Hambleden for lunch. Unbeknownst to us, there happened to be an incredibly large music festival happening that day in Henley, called Rewind South. The music was 80’s and 90’s, with artists that we didn’t really recognize, the crowd was around our age, maybe a little bit younger, and we saw lots of interesting “costumes”. Around 40,000 people descend on the town each year, much to the dismay of some of the old-timers. It was fun to get a little glimpse of the festival, but we were also glad to keep on walking onto quieter paths. We ate lunch in Hambleden at a little cafe inside the local post office. Such a lovely little place.

As far as our missionary work, don’t worry, we’re still doing it! We’re plugging away every day in between the outings and the activities. My responsibility doing missionary recommend (application) reviewing keeps me fairly busy, and is just the right mix of interesting, challenging and fulfilling without being overly stressful. I think I’ve said this before, but it’s inspiring to see both the dedication of these young people who choose to sacrifice their time and serve the Lord as missionaries, and also the people behind the scenes who help make their service possible—not just me, but the lawyers, the travel team, the missionary department staff, the local Church leaders and parents who all are focused on helping each missionary have the best experience.

Elder VW is also plugging away doing interesting, challenging and fulfilling things, but probably with a little more stress involved. He recently became responsible for all of the HR/employment legal issues that arise in all of the countries in our area. Has he ever done employment law, you ask? No. He’s been an employee. Does that count? The learning curve is a little steep for him at the moment, so send prayers his way. :) The other main part of his responsibility is handling humanitarian project contracts, enabling the Church to give away lots of money to charitable organizations throughout the Area. That’s a very fulfilling part of his assignment and he’s happy to help give away money!

We came on this mission fully knowing that missionary work meant that “work” would be involved. We didn’t come here just to sight-see and have a good time, though we’ve been able to do some of that. So it’s been a learning process for both of us to really think about why we do what we do. Ultimately, we do it because we love God and we want to serve Him in the best way we can, even when it’s hard.

In my personal scripture study this morning, I happened upon the lyrics of one of our hymns which I don’t think is unique to our Church, but is one that seemed very British in origin: “The Lord My Pasture Will Prepare”. Here are the lyrics:

The Lord my pasture shall prepare
And feed me with a shepherd's care;
His presence shall my wants supply
And guard me with a watchful eye;
My noonday walks He shall attend
And all my midnight hours defend.

When in the sultry glebe I faint
Or on the thirsty mountain pant,
To fertile vales and dewy meads
My weary, wandering steps He leads,
Where peaceful rivers, soft and slow,
Amid the verdant landscape flow.

Though in a bare and rugged way,
Through devious lonely wilds, I stray,
Thy bounty shall my pains beguile;
The barren wilderness shall smile,
With sudden greens and herbage crowned,
And streams shall murmur all around.

Though in the paths of death I tread,
With gloomy horrors overspread,
My steadfast heart shall fear no ill,
For Thou, O Lord, art with me still;
Thy friendly crook shall give me aid
And guide me through the dreadful shade.

I looked up more about this hymn and found that it was written by a British politician and essayist in the early 1700s, Joseph Addison. He based the words on the 23rd Psalm, which is one of my favorites. The words beautifully emphasize the peace and comfort and presence of the Good Shepherd as we walk through this wild and wearying life. And the imagery of the hills and streams and verdant pastures are so meaningful to me now as we live in this beautiful land. We often take walks after lunch and I will try to remember that our noonday walks are attended by the Lord walking with us. And He is also there to defend us in our midnight hours of sleeplessness and worry.

I’ll close with these words also by Joseph Addison that preface the lyrics to the hymn:

“Man, considered in himself, is a very helpless and a very wretched Being. He is subject every Moment to the greatest Calamities and Misfortunes. The great comfort is to trust in God, one who directs Contingencies, and has in his Hands the Management of every Thing that is capable of annoying or offending us.”

How grateful I am that God has in his hands the management of every thing that might annoy or offend me. God’s got this!

♥ Until next time, we love you! Cheerio! ♥

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Words of the Week:

(Words or phrases we hear “on the street” that either delight, confuse or amuse us.)

When I have a few minutes in the evening to relax, I’ve been watching the Great British Sewing Bee. It’s similar to the Great British Bake-Off, but for sewing, which is more my thing than cooking. It’s delightful, and even Jon enjoys watching it with me. And it was a great show to watch while I was working on Asher’s baby quilt. Here are a few fun terms:

• Haberdashery - it sometimes means a men’s clothing store, but in sewing it’s a supply room/area of all the fabric, notions, buttons, etc.

• Wadding - batting for a quilt

• Frogging  – The art of unpicking. Name attributed to the croaking sounds of frogs croaking ie rip-it, rip-it