John has been spending every day in the yard, bringing it back to life, weeding, pruning, thinning, planting. We’re each compelled to do different things in this life. For John, it’s yardwork. I’ve been settling back into my Family History work inside, but not without breaks to enjoy the beautiful spring weather and the color returning to our yard.
It feels like my life is falling back into my places here, as I reunite with old friends I’ve been away from. It’s a good feeling. I’ve missed so many dear friends.
Wow, I’ve missed these ladies! It’s good to be home. It’s good to be surrounded by friends. This evening was our yearly book selection dinner where we each brought 3 suggestions for the coming year’s reading list. Kennedy fixed a delicious meal and then we each had a turn presenting our suggestions. I think we’re going to have a really good year.
During the last 18 months, I’ve been away from my Writing Group with Julie Treadwell and Shelley DeVries. We talked from time to time, but it just wasn’t the same. We’ve been planning a get-away for months. Julie donated her family’s time at a Midway timeshare and we were happy to use it, getting away for a few days with our laptops, books, projects and stories.
We gave ourselves assignments to write, to read about writing, and to work on our projects. It was so good. Everyone needs friends like these!
Here’s a book I reading right now about writing alone and with friends. It’s good.
Shelley brought her I SPY quilt up to work on. Slowly and surely, she’ll get it finished!
We had to check out Saturday morning. I went next door to Zermatt, where we’ve held so many fun Quilt Retreats over the years. I needed to get more words out before going home, so I settled in by the fire in the cozy lobby and for several more hours, I wrote and wrote from a list of prompts I’ve been collecting. It was heavenly. And it felt a bit like Europe again. I have lots of catching up to do.
For the last 3 years, including while we were in Germany, Aaron and Abbey have lived next door in the Farm House. They’ve looked after our home and yard and checked the mail and they’ve been good neighbors to all of our friends here. Last fall they purchased a home in Salt Lake, and now that we’re back, they’re moving on to start a new adventure there. We are sad to see them go.
Aaron was excited to show us their new home. Here is our first visit.
This black sofa was in Abbey’s father’s law office for many years and now it will go to a new home. Abbey is sad to part with it.
This week while Aaron and Abbey were at work, John and I took a load of stuff to the new house.
Later this week, Aaron and Abbey said good bye to another sofa, one of their first big purchases.
Yesterday was the official moving day. Aaron’s friends showed up to help load trucks and cars as the Farm House was emptied.
The moving crew!
Now the settling in begins. We are excited to see how they turn this old home into their own little refuge.
One of the sweetest stories I heard this week from Claire was about how Caleb reacted when he found Jesus on the top shelf in the office. He immediately stretched out both arms to him. Claire said Caleb did the same thing at the cabin, where another representation of Jesus resides.
What a gift, to witness the love these little children come to earth with, having left heaven and Jesus not so long ago.
Claire had fun making quilts for two of her girlfriends while she was here. There wasn’t much time (with her work schedule), so we picked a quick and easy pattern she could whip up in her evenings.
Here’s a tutorial for the charm pack quilt on point from Jenny Doan:
Below, Claire is laying out 2 different quilts.
You cut the 12 x 9 blocks diagonally (see the tutorial) and then flip the corners and sew them back together. It’s like magic!
Claire finished one completely with a little help hand-stitching the binding from me, then she took some photos before delivering it to her friend. The 2nd quilt will go home with her to be finished there.
Quilts are like tangible, tactile blessings that show you care, and then they keep giving for years and years to come. Is there any greater gift??
Where do you begin to celebrate coming home from a mission? With family. And with Mexican food!! Our daughter, Claire, Graham and their son Caleb flew in from Irvine, CA (where they moved from Connecticut in January).
Above is John meeting his new grandson for the first time!
Aaron and Abbey have been looking after our home and living next door in the Farm House while we’ve been away. Our first meal out was at Mi Ranchito, a family favorite.
Also at the top of John’s list was In ‘n Out Burgers with Aaron. Thank goodness for me that Zao’s fresh Asian food is in the same parking lot. It’s what I crave when we’re away.
We had a week with Claire and Graham and Caleb and it was really really fun. Caleb is a perfect child. He’s pleasant and easy and fun to interact with.
He loved the Schleich German animals I picked up a at flea market in Frankfurt.
It wasn’t long before John was out assessing the work to be done in the yard.
And it wasn’t long before I was back with my Wednesday Thimble Creek quilt group and my beloved Book Club friends.
Another top of the list for John was Chocolate Chip Cookies! I got the raisins out for my small portion of the dough, but he forgot to put them in. Oh well.
It’s an interesting thing, this coming home. We are finding our way back to where we once were. So much has changed (mostly inside of us). It’s comforting to slip back into our home. It’s like putting on some old worn comfortable slippers and remembering the feel.
We are on the other side of the ocean now, and today we reunited with Frankfurt missionary friends here. We drove up to Layton and had a good German meal with these friends.
We have been home from Germany for about 3 weeks now. I’ve spent some time wrapping up my mission blog, Our Frankfurt Germany Mission, where more than 700 experiences and memories and trips are documented and preserved. It feels good to safely tuck those memories away where I can return to them whenever I want to.
Now it’s time to return to Ann’s Words, where my home life experiences are recorded and kept safe. I’ve spent some time this morning looking back at old posts and memories I’ve not thought about for quite awhile. These memories are like gold to me. I thought about the Memoir class taught by Ann Dee Ellis that I took at BYU in the fall of 2012, where we were given the assignment to start a blog and make at least 5 entries a week during that semester. My very first post is here. I was not excited about the assignment. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t have time, I didn’t read blogs written by other people. I had enough on my plate. But I was committed to completing school assignments, so I started.
For the record, here’s what has happened since the beginning of that semester in 2012:
Ann’s Words: 1,345 posts
Ann’s Stories (Family History): 811 posts
Our Washington Yakima Mission: 2,473 posts
Our Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan East and Bamako, Mali Mission: 1,017 posts
Our Frankfurt Germany Mission: 702 posts
That means this is my 6,352nd post (captured memory)! It’s almost unbelievable to me. If I were ever to see Ann Dee Ellis again, I’d probably kiss her feet.
I am grateful to you readers and friends from all over the world. Just yesterday, visitors to Ann’s Words have checked in from 16 different countries. Since I started writing here, I’ve had visitors from 245 different countries. Quietly, we share our words and our thoughts and what is meaningful to us.
I’m grateful that (under some duress) I made that first post, and grateful that I kept going. These words will outlive me, and the day will come that these words will define who I was, what I believed, and how I lived according to those beliefs. Because of these words, my grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and all future generations will know me and know that I love them, think about them, and write for them.
Words are such a gift. Preserving our words is so important. My love to you all. It’s good to be back.
