Mary Jo, Katie and Nancy

Mary Jo, Katie and I got together for Mary Jo's birthday.  It's always fun to see your sisters.  They are like rain for my dry soul.  I feel refreshed.

Nancy and I had our 44th Baptismal Anniversary on May 22nd.  We talked for a long time on the phone.  Good memories of the prayers that were answered and our conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It has been a great blessing to us both.

May 14-15 Getting Home

On the 14th we drove to Twin Falls, Idaho.  Uneventful day of driving.  On the 15th we drove home, enjoying the Columbia River Gorge and the beautiful scenery here.  Brandon was home to greet us.  We slept like logs in our bed.  It was so good  to be home.  Kelli and Kaleb came over for the weekend.  Kelli came to my Sunday School class and made some friends.

May 13th On Our Way Home

Well it's been 6 weeks, and we will drive for 3 days straight home.  Today we drove to North Platte, Nebraska again.  We have been so blessed with good weather.  There have been storms in the states above and below us, but we have been just fine.

May 6-12 At Alice's Place Again

In all honesty, I arrived at Alice's wishing I was on my way home instead.  I did my best, but the days dragged on.  I love Alice and tried to keep her company, but she doesn't converse.  She never was one to talk much, and now that she doesn't hear well, she doesn't care to.  She never wanted to do much, and now she doesn't want to do anything.  She finds no pleasure in anything.  I suspect that has been going on for her whole life.  She has had only one good friend her whole life, and she passed away in 2003.  Anyway, I did my best, and cleaned what I could, read what I could, etc.  I would have liked to do more for Alice, but she won't let anyone do anything.  

So now for my sad story.  I had the worst Mother's Day ever.  My children were great and they all called me, it wasn't that.  It was the fact that I was far away from them and all alone.  I sat in the sitting room at Alice's after we came home from church and I had fixed them something to eat.  Alice sat in her spot and Jerry sat next to her.  I sat in a chair and Alice did nothing between naps and Jerry ignored me and read a book the entire day. We sat there for hours, together, but alone.   He gave me the patronizing "Happy Mothers's Day" and then proceeded to ignore me all day.  It was sad.

However,  I made it through the days, looking for the bright spots in life.

I missed being able to see Willard, he was always a bright spot.

We spent 6 days and nights there and it felt like forever.  It is hard when your heart is to full of love and things you want to share and the people you are with are absent, physically and mentally.  It is hard when you see needs that should be filled, and the people you are with don't want it.  All in all, it was a very unhealthy 6 days.  I should have skipped out and gone to the movies in Springfield all by myself.  :D

May 1-5 Spring Hill, Tennessee and Grant's Family

The best thing in life is to visit your grown son and his family, seeing the brand-new granddaughter, and playing with the older one.  Josie has grown and changed so much and she is a beautiful girl in every way.  I love them so much, and we had a very good time with them all.

We didn't get any pictures of Eleanor in her blessing dress.  We did get some of Josie all dolled up for the occasion.

Josie had her kindergarten graduation while we were there.  It was very good, with her giving a speech and showing off her learned skills, like reading us an entire book.  Very fun.  Jeanne and Gary were there, too. Mindy (and Grant) have done a great job of home-schooling Josie.

Jerry went golfing for the first time in his life and he did pretty well.  Grant says he is a natural.

We enjoyed our time there and miss them all very much.

April 30th Still Enjoying the Great Smokey Mountains

Today is the 1 year anniversary of Jerry's retirement.  He is loving it.  Today we just drove between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.  We went to the Christmas Store in Pigeon Forge where I saw more Christmas ornaments in one place than I had ever seen in my life.  It really is the best one.  When we drove back to Gatlinburg, we walked around town and ate lunch at Bubba Gump's again.    We are relaxing and getting ready to drive to Spring Hill, Tennessee tomorrow to be at Grant and Mindy's place.

Dollywood Coal-Powered Train

The highlight of our trip to Dollywood, for Jerry, was getting to ride on a real coal-fired train.  He told me today he is still thinking about it.