Free Therapy

I'll be honest...

I'm currently sick with a bad cold (and the worst sore throat I've had in many years) and I have a lot of things swirling around me that are keeping my head in a pretty negative space.   As such, I am using this blog as my free therapy for the evening and I am going to try  and use this post as an opportunity to embrace the positivity as much as I can.   Don't worry though...since I don't pay you to read my blog, I'll keep you out of the muck of my brain!  

I'll post more about this trip later, but last week I was in Rhode Island to celebrate Emma's Halloween birthday with her.  Yes, my third child is 25 now and I am kind of feeling extra old because of it.  Cami has a full-time job and two small children, but she still managed to make a beautiful cake for Ems, as well as put up some decor (neither skill which she learned from her mother).  It was fun to be there with two of my girls...

I also very much enjoyed the opportunity to spend Halloween with these two cutie pies, even if they sent me home with this terrible cold.   

I also very much enjoyed seeing photos of Adam and his roommates' Halloween costumes. 

Speaking of photos of my "babies", I just got this one of Ellie texted to me yesterday by a girl that used to be in Vienna Ward like 20 years ago!   I think she recognized her by her nametag, not her face.  In any case, it totally made my day (which isn't hard when you feel like I do)! 

 If you happen to know me in real life, you may or may not know that I  have two core love languages...one is food, the other is postcards.    I love sending and receiving both.   I send  A LOT  of postcards in a month (probably 50+ most months), but don't get too many in return.  That's okay, because I love sending them so much, I don't really care.   Recently, though,  I got a homemade one from my sister-in-law...

And another one from a friend I met in Portugal...

 Both made me very happy.  

Also, every Monday we get to do this...

The calls with Ellie are always a bit chaotic and we are usually missing one family member or another (this week Adam), but being able to gather virtually with the fam is something that brings me incredible joy...the next best thing to being all together in person.  

So, yes, life is hard right now, but it's also good.     Hope you're having a beautiful week.  

 

Beyond Coincidence...

Adam and my mom recently discovered a crazy story that seems to go much deeper than coincidence. I sent out a version of this story to everyone on Elder G's email list, but thought it would be cool to share here on our blog as well.

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The story begins in the waning years of WWII when there was a dearth of young men available to serve missions, so married men were sometimes called to fill short missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was in 1946 that my grandfather, Fay Edmund Hepworth, was called to serve a six month mission in Northern California. He was a 38-year-old quiet farmer in Star Valley, Wyoming with six young children at home, but he faithfully answered the call to serve when his twin brother, Bishop Jay Hepworth extended the call to him. He left in November 1946, minimizing the time he'd be away during the busy season on his farm.

Elder Hepworth recorded in a letter to his mission President that he'd met and started teaching a Mr. and Mrs. Goff on December 20, 1946. Mr. Goff never showed much interest in the gospel, but Mrs. Margaret Goff turned out to be a "golden" investigator, reading the entire Doctrine and Covenants in a night and eagerly devouring any gospel literature they could get her. In Elder Hepworth’s journal, he records having several "cottage meetings" with them and describes her happiness that she'd finally found the truth and her eagerness to be baptized. Margaret specifically requested that Elder Hepworth be the one to baptize her, however he ended being transferred before the baptism occurred. He happily recorded in his journal in early April 1947 that she was scheduled to be baptized on April 5th.

Margaret Goff was baptized at that time and went on to become a faithful and committed member of the church. In 1949 she sent this letter to my grandfather along with a book of poetry she'd written entitled, "The Gospel of Jesus Christ."

My mother, Rosanna, had not been born yet when my grandfather served his mission, but she remembers meeting Margaret and her family several times when she came to visit them in Wyoming. One time Margaret brought a box of fresh oranges straight off the tree in California--an absolute delight to my Mom and her siblings! This picture is from May 1955 and shows Fay and Margaret along with several children from their families on one of the Goff family's trips to Wyoming.

Later, Margaret's daughter, Beatrice, went on to write the primary song, "Faith," which was a favorite of our family's and was sung at my grandmother (and Fay’s wife), Florize Hepworth's, funeral.

Now fast forward about 75-years from that initial meeting between my grandfather and Margaret in Northern California. Our son, Adam, was recently assigned to serve in the B. Ward of the Portland Oregon mission. My mother, Rosanna, heard that my son's new mission companion had the last name "Goff" and she sent my Elder G. a letter sharing a bit about this story. After taking a quick look on FamilySearch, Elder G. and his companion discovered there is quite a connected legacy in this new companionship.

Lo and behold, the great-grandson of Elder Hepworth {Elder Adam G.} is currently missionary companions with the great-grandson of Margaret {Adam's companion}. There are so many independent decisions that had to preface this interaction -my grandfather accepting the call to serve a mission, Margaret accepting the gospel and choosing to be baptized, multiple generations of two families doing their best to pass on their legacies of faith to their children, two elders making the choice to serve missions, inspired church leaders assigning them to labor in the same mission, and, finally, an inspired mission president assigning them to serve together, despite knowing nothing of this connection. But, the Lord knew and directed the necessary inspiration that needed to occur for these great-grandson elders to serve together.

A Full and Happy Weekend

I've spent so much time playing catch-up on the blog, I decided that I wanted to do a post about the recent past, instead something that happened months ago.  

We've only been here for a few months, but we've already met some awesome homeschoolers here in Pennsylvania.  It's not as close-knit as our homeschooling group in Virginia because of the distance between us all, but we definitely do enjoy the time that we do get to spend.  On Friday we met at the Pecks' house and let the kids make gingerbread houses, while us moms got to enjoy some social time too. 

It is my strong personal opinion that decorating gingerbread houses is a timeless activity that one never outgrows.    The kids were definitely more conservative with their decorating now that they're older, but it was clear that they were enjoying themselves! 

Then on Saturday we had a special day when Glen's cousin was sealed to her husband in the Philadelphia temple.   It was great to be a part of and great to see so many of Glen's extended family that we've moved away from.  

Later that day we went to the church for our ward Christmas party.  I was very busy helping with food, so there are almost zero pictures from there, but here is a quick one I snatched with the sweet sister missionaries serving in our ward(it's literally the ONLY picture I took the whole night).   

 

 My friend sent me this picture that shows the amazing  sisters that made handmade tamales and delicious shredded chicken for burritos for the whole ward.   They fed about 300 people and still had enough for a linger longer after church today.   

I helped rally the ward into signing up for food to share.   It was a much different experience than in our last ward (meaning that not very many people actually used the sign-up), but everyone came through and there ended up being  plenty of food to feed the masses!   (It really did feel like a small miracle that there was so much food to spare). 

Today we went to church where I remembered to take a picture with a good friend of Matt and Karey that happen to be visiting her parents this weekend.   It's always amazing what a small world it is within the church. 

So there you have it....this is our boring life in real-time. 

Bryce Canyon

Recently I realized that out of all the gazillions of times I've visited Utah (or years that I lived there), that I'd never done anything more than drive through Southern Utah.   I'd never visited St. George, never been Zions, or Bryce, or seen any of the places that Southern Utah is famous for.  So when we realized that we were going to be in Utah for a couple of weeks between the cabin and dropping Cami off at BYU, I decided it was time to take a visit of our own!   

We started with a visit to Bryce Canyon National Park!   

We were in awe with the scenery there the second we drove into the park.  The delicately carved spires, the stratified layers of reddish rocks, and the sweeping vistas are one of a kind in the world! 

We wanted to get a better look at the scenery... 

so we got out of the shuttle and took a hike! 

And in a major small world moment ran into the M family from our home ward!   It was great to see two of my young women 2000+ miles from home!

As with any beautiful/interesting backdrop, we had to spend a few minutes for the girls to attempt to get their perfect shots for Insta (none of these made the cut).  

And I decided that I really like putting random meaningless messages in the middle of my blogposts. This time I think I'll pontificate on pillows.  Glen likes his fluffy.  I like mine flat.  Cami doesn't like them at all.  Why is that?   I have no idea, but I do wish I saw more of mine. 

And on another random note, Cam was pleased to discover that her arms seem to perfectly camouflage with the stone walls at the parking lot.  

And back to the meat of the post....

Here are a few more photos (mostly taken by Adam) to whet your appetite...

...and to get you to start planning your own trip to Southern Utah soon!   

Seriously!  Look at the artistry.  

I imagine that God was smiling when he set the geologic forces to work to create this stunning part of the world.   

And with that...

I will close my eyes and go back to pontificating on the wonder of God's creations from the comfort of my very flat pillows. 

Day 8: Last Day!

Tuesday, March 17

We woke up on the last day of our trip with mixed emotions--
on the one hand excited to have one last day to explore,
on the other hand disappointment at having to leave so many New Zealand sites unexplored,
and on the third hand I've only ever daydreamed about having,  a serious longing to be back home in our own beds!

The ship and hobbit hotels had the cool factor and all that going for it, but by this point we were all ready to head home.

Our first stop after checking out of the hotel was the world famous Waitomo Glow Worm Cave which was only a very short drive from the hotel.  They don't allow any photography there, so this picture of a boat exiting the cave is the only photographic evidence I've got of our trip there. (Glen is in the third row on the left side on that boat).  

I've borrowed the following picture from another source  to give you a glimpse of how beautiful it really is.  So what makes this cave so cool (as well as many caves in New Zealand) is that deep within the caves, a very ugly insect that so happens to also glow in the dark, makes its home on the ceiling of the caves.   Their bioluminescence is a very striking and beautiful contrast to the blackness of the cave and people come from all over the world to see this amazing sight.

photo credit:   Planet D

AFter that awe-inspiring experience we got on the road and started heading back toward the airport, but this time instead of going straight there, we went through the city of Hamilton so we could see the temple!

It was a lovely, warm day with blue skies and we were happy to visit a place that, although we'd never been there before, still somehow seemed so familiar to us.  

We explored the visitors' center...

and in a major small world moment,  met the parents of my friend Catherine,  who are senior missionaries serving there at the temple.   

It was fun making the connection with Elder and Sister Monson (no relation to the more well-known Thomas S. Monson) and we enjoyed having someone there to talk to and who knew the coolest photo shots at the temple!

Spence was engaged in conversation at this point and missed this photo op.

Elder and Sister Monson's last piece of advice before continuing our journey to the airport was to  stop in the tiny town of  Pokeno for some tasty (and cheap) ice cream.    

On the way there though we kept seeing signs for Pokeno Bacon and were not too disappointed that there was a Pokeno Bacon store right next door to the ice cream shop(s).   We went to see if they had anything pre-cooked that we could buy and scored the jackpot when they gave us a whole plate of cooked sausages that they had cooked up for giving out as customer samples and were about to throw away because they were closing for the day.    We bought some dipping sauce they sold and made those sausages and ice cream our super nourishing last meal in New Zealand!

After that bit of indulgence we got back on the road and before long we arrived back in Auckland where we could see that  Cyclone Pam had definitely affected that area a lot more than the  area where we had been when it hit.

We found this one last spot for a family picture (minus the photographer).   We thought the foggy view of Auckland in the background was pretty cool and hoped to find some passer-by who might be willing to take a picture with all of us in it, but alas there was not a soul in sight and we had a plane to catch!  

After that, we drove back to the Auckland airport, returned our rental car, and settled in for the long haul  way home (13-hours to LA, and another  5-hours or so back home).      We arrived back to Virginia in the wee hours of the morning and had a limo waiting there at the airport to bring us home.   We enjoyed the last little taste of luxury and arrived back home with only a couple of hours before diving back into the middle of a busy week of "normal life".

It was the trip of a lifetime and we are still in awe that it actually happened.  Thank you to Make-a-Wish for making Spence's wish come true!   It's almost unbelievable to us that they paid for all of our transportation, housing, food, and activities while we were there….just to give hope to one sick teen.   It meant the world to Spencer and to us….THANK YOU!!!!