Climbafamilytree123

7-14-13 “Let the Little Children Come…”

Proud Auntie, 7/10

We have BIG news this week…and it is hard to preface it…but no story is good without context, so…Early this week in the mountain bowl of the capital city of Honduras, a memory of a small village of Kaysville, in the Wasatch mountains in the valley of Lago Salado (Salt Lake) thinking of friends and neighbors from our cul de sac, comes a reminder of what brought about the big green purse…

“Amazing, what can happen when you just do what Russell Ballard once said--we can't cross the plains, but we can cross the street!

On my way to visit a neighbor, I was walking home from Mom's, with the reality dawning that our mission departure was approaching, and I did not have a purse. I had looked and looked, but the time was closing in. "Heavenly Father...I know this is silly...but...I need a purse. Where and how I am going to get one, I do not know!" We had exactly 10 days from opening our call to setting foot into our Salt Lake temple "Missionary Training Center." The walk from my Mom's to our neighborhood is about ten minutes.

As I walked past our neighbor to the north, he peered out.

"I need you to know that my wife just sent a purse over to your house."

She wondered if I could use this forest or olive green bag with zipper at the top and three at the side. I now call it my "prayer purse." The outside pockets have easy access for temple recommend, apartment key, pens, pencils, nuts (“you are what you eat”--which are appreciated going from assignment to assignment without time for a full meal deal) then Kleenexes, which "come in useful" when your gift of tongues has gone missing or you miss home.

The fabric is light, but holds both English and Spanish conference Ensign, a Book of Mormon, a few tiny notebooks, and a handy dandy Primary Songs in Spanish, Canciones de Niños.

What more could a person ask for? All I had to do was pray and walk down the hill and rejoice in the quote from President Spencer W. Kimball: ‘God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.’ (Ensign, July 1978 p.4) “

Val’s contribution: “This week we had a bus from Masaya Nicaragua come. I got to do an endowment session with them and a sealing with them. The highlight was in talking to them, when I found that they have 5 wards and 2 on the outskirts. When my companion Elder Carl Albrechtsen and I were there we had one branch and it met in our home and had about 10-15 people in 1972. Wow!”

This pictures is a small piece of the Masaya stake, where Val served with his mission companion as the branch president to a close to a dozen

Laurene's commentary: Tuesday began with me volunteering to help in the guardaria or nursery after vowing never again—after struggling earlier with a wild toddler and his energetic five year old counterpart on the stairwell endlessly awaiting their family sealing—when forever got a second meaning!

Tuesday's children were a nearly 18 year old boy and his teenage sister who came with their parents from Masaya, Nicaragua.. Their older brother joined earlier at the encouragement of a tia or aunt, and is currently serving a mission in Colombia. The rest of the family joined just over a year ago.

I asked Jennifer, maybe 15, to choose a favorite hymn, which she did and we sang together. Christopher, 17, joined us. Holding out my tiny green Hymnos, they did not seem to need it first, middle or final verse. Granted we were not on key for every note, but I pinched myself to witness these teens practicing our own continuation of Sunday’s song leading course. Christopher has been taking piano lessons. He told me his first song was Now to Heaven Our Prayer Ascending or rather the Spanish equivalent (also the first hymn I learned to play) and Nearer, My God to Thee, my first performance in a Presbyterian church in Washington, where I remember feeling every muscle clutch with paralysis! It is good that some things "come to pass" and get a little easier.

Sister Lagos, my nursery companion, who has a missionary son in Colombia, helped me ask Christopher about sewing on buttons, cooking and other things that he listed with a “cheque” (Spanish equivalent of “check!”) that he has done or is working on to prepare for his upcoming mission call.

Val came over at the end, poked in his head and met the youth. He cried when he heard that the little branch of a handful of members meeting in a little house in 1971 has become a stake.

I decided that older children can be as fun as or more fun than the little ones--a reminder of the wonder of watching our own, like petals of flowers that unfold with time and warmth.

Our new friends, the Ruiz family

Here is little Daniela, who celebrated her 7th birthday here.

Now to the best part: WEDNESDAY 10 July…a red letter day!

It started out less than red letter. The purse became a curse: filled with happy helps, it likely weighed a dozen pounds.

Swinging it over a shoulder in quick effort to swoop into escalador (elevator) to magically appear two minutes later for our training meeting, I felt a “pinch,” after which movement became painful in most directions. The maneuver earned me a trip across the parking lot to our guest house to try out the new favorite word “descansar.” No, it is not the opposite of “to marry” or casarse…it means to lay down and close your eyes, or otherwise change activities.

At 8:48 p.m. we went to bed, calling Maria to learn what there was to know about April. Maria had emailed 7:48 p.m. PST that the baby was likely coming that night. Little Evelyn arrived about 4 minutes later. This is the message we got from Tom at 10:39:

“Evelyn Marie Starkey was born at 7:52 weighing 7lbs 13oz. Blonde hair blue eyes…Congratulations Grandpa and Grandma!”

This is Evelyn, 7/10/13, brand new

Apparently Kristen had raved about a hypno-birthing (natural relaxation) class just before Savanna came. April and Tom took the class, loved it. They decided they wanted a natural birth, so when the doctor appointment came Monday, the 8^th and April was a week overdue with an induction scheduled for the following day, April's doctor postponed the induction, saying that April’s vitals were doing fine, why not let things go as they would? The class was successful enough with teaching relaxation that on Wednesday the 10^th, as they were timing the contractions to be 5 minutes apart, Tom encouraged departure, but April lingered, hoping to stay at home as long as possible. The hospital drive is about 35 minutes and Evelyn came 15 minutes later. “I told her next time, she needs to listen to me!” was Tom’s afterward advisory. We are delighted about the “this time,” and any other time. The number of “nietas have been shored to equal the number of “nietos” (girls equals boys) with 10 grandchildren on July 10.

Happy Sister, 7/11

Ramona & Joe (thanks, Uncle Joe, for picking up!)

So hearts of grandparents have turned to nietos, and Saturday the heart of one nieta is turning to an abuelo or grandfather. On July 13, my mom’s living brothers and sisters and their families gathered at the Paris House. Aunt Vera amidst her courageous battle with cancer, had requested that the Hillman reunion happen close to Grandpa’s birthday. Grandpa Floyd would have been 100 yesterday. After working Saturday, we hurried home to call and reached my mom’s youngest brother Joe, who shared his cell from cousin to cousin to the Aunts to Mom.

When I asked Aunt Vera’s son, Thayne,

Thayne and Connie

how his family was doing with his mom gone, he told me a story that touched my heart. Thayne’s brother just older than me died years ago after a farming accident. Feeling sad and alone, missing his brother one evening, Thayne wandered outside. Looking out over the expanse and vast acreage of fields, he noticed a most beautiful sunset. This colorful moment offered a sense of his brother remembering him and a sense that he was remembered.

Sunday, our neighbor Walter shared a story from an undertaker in his home town. It is an area of Native Americans, where each family has their own burial ground. Preparing a resting place for these families, the man has noticed an eagle soaring nearby. I cannot seek out sunsets this week, but Thursday Val and I saw five hawks circling the neighboring hill... If we keep our eyes open, we can see them.