Family, The Best Front Porch, and a Surprise!

Hi everyone,

We just got back from a family reunion in Iowa. My sister flew from San Diego to our house, then we all flew into St Louis, MO and drove 2.5 hours to our Airbnb. We had such a great time but the only souvenir I brought back was a cold.

We stayed in the small town of Hamilton, Illinois which was right across the Mississippi River from Keokuk, Iowa. My grandma grew up in Keokuk, and the reunion was about 45 minutes north of there, in the tiny town of Salem, Iowa where a lot of our family live.

The house we stayed in overlooked the Mississippi, and the Keokuk Locks. Deb and I spent a lot of time out on that porch.

The weather was hot - in the upper 90's and the humidity, oh my word! It was hard to be outside in the mid-afternoon. We were so thankful the reunion was in the Community center. It was a smaller group than the two previous times we've been there but it was so good to reconnect with everyone. 

So many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews I didn't know I had!

A few weeks ago one of my nieces sent me photo of a huge mural they had just completed so Deb and I just had to get our pictures taken in front of it!

We went out for breakfast one of the days we were there. Hawkeyes Restaurant is one of the best restaurants in Keokuk. We eat there every time we go!

We got to see the house where our grandma Neota lived for a short time. This house was standing in the early 1900's and people still live in it today! Being a 'west coaster' my whole life where things are newer, this just blows me away.

My grandma was the second of seven, and her mom died two weeks after giving birth to her youngest brother. Her dad couldn't take care of them so he put the baby up for adoption, and her aunt (her mom's sister) took in the kids and cared for them for quite a few months. But she had kids of her own and realized she wasn't going to be able to keep them long-term. It broke her heart to give them up but they went to live at White's Institute.

The article says it was a home "for orphaned children to receive a religious education." My grandma and her siblings are on the far left. (Someone put check marks on the photo.)

These are photos of my grandma and her brothers and sisters, taken at the Institute. My grandma is the one in the dark dress.

In this photo my grandma is on the far left.

She rarely talked about her childhood. I knew she grew up in an 'orphanage' but that was all. I can only imagine what it was like for her.

After they grew up, three of them went to California, including my grandma and they didn't see each other for many years. Of those that stayed in Iowa, the oldest sister married and had 4 kids, but died fairly young. One of the other sisters married that man and became step-mom to her sister's kids.

It's a story filled with tragedy but also a deep love for one another.

And this picture? The lady in the gray sweater is the daughter of the baby that was put up for adoption. The woman in green is the wife of that baby's brother. They're in-laws but Betty and Margaret act more like sisters. What a treasure to spend time with them each year.

The day after the reunion we went to Margaret's to sit out on their back porch, then she and her daughter showed us around town.

Our last night there, Deb and I were sitting on the front porch watching the sunset when she noticed something out in the grass.

Fireflies!! I've never seen fireflies before! We called Chuck and Beth out and we sat on that porch for over an hour just watching them. It was incredible! I was able to get a few videos too. (I've never been able to get videos to play on Blogger but I may try to post one later.) It was amazing! We don't have them out here so this was quite a surprise. I loved it! It was a perfect way to end our trip to the midwest! 

Blast From the Past - Father's Day Pics

 Happy Father's Day Chuck!

He's the fun parent.

Gives good advise.

Helps every chance he gets.

And loves his girls so much.

Beth

Sharaya

Diana

We love you!

Our Week

 Hello,

It's about 6:00 Saturday evening as I write this. This time of year it stays light until 10pm and it still confuses me. Doing stuff around the house I wonder why I'm yawning, then I realize it's 9:30. A few years ago we'd still be out working in the yard at that time but not anymore. Our age is catching up to us!

Speaking of working out in the yard, I thought I would share a few of our plants. One of the hydrangeas out under the trees, and one of the hostas by the house.

Then some foxglove in the backyard.

Beth and I got our hair cut yesterday, basically the same style just shorter. I'll try to get some after pictures in the next few days.

The Lord woke me up very early this morning and told me to 'Pray over your house.' So I did. Went into every room and prayed for peace, and joy and protection against the enemy. After a while I fixed some tea and went to sit in the backyard. When I looked up at the clouds I saw this:

In Genesis God tells Noah that when He brings the clouds over the earth and a rainbow appears, He will remember the covenant He made with Noah, and with all generations to come. I want to think it was His way of telling me He heard my prayers. It was such a sweet time with my Savior.

We're celebrating Pentecost Sunday tomorrow. When people in our congregation who were born outside the U.S. kind of do a 'Parade of Flags' then they all go up on the platform and we celebrate the Lord of the Nations. It's one of my favorite days of the year. These pics are from last year:

(This one is not my picture.)

It's always an emotional day. I'll close this for now. I pray you're all doing well.

Baking, Workouts, and Blessings

 Hi everyone,

I hope your week has been good. We were blessed with such good weather this week, one day even got up into the 80's! Blue skies, sunshine, it's been really nice.

Sharaya and Ally came over last weekend and Ally made crepes for us! She is the crepe master, I tell ya. She makes them from scratch and they are so good!

Beth and I went downtown on Monday to see the Veterans Memorial they have down there. I'm grateful our little town has something to honor the brave men and women of the military.

Then we headed down to the waterfront for a while.

For a couple weeks now Beth and I have been talking about making banana bread and we finally did it! I forgot to take a picture when it came out of the oven so you'll half to accept our half-eaten loaf. We actually made two, one with chocolate chips and one with walnuts.

We're still going to the gym. Learning about the different machines. It's something we've never done before but we're really enjoying it. Beth always goes to this one first and I get on the treadmill. 

That's about all from here. I hope you have a great weekend. And you know, I pray you feel truly loved, cherished, wanted. Because you already are. This weekend and this coming week I pray you tangibly feel it.

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace. Num 6:24-26