On Saturday, July 7th, after being home for a few days, we had a glimpse of Heaven. We invited our returned missionaries and their families over for an afternoon of visiting and food and getting reacquainted. We haven’t seen some of these friends for 2-3 years! Many families we’d not yet met face to face.
On Friday, June 29th, as we drove away from Yakima, we were so wrapped up in farewells and goodbyes and all the hard things about leaving people and a place we love, that our thoughts were all tied up in Going, not in Coming.
The drive from Yakima to Orem takes about 11 hours. That’s a lot of time to sit in a car and quietly process feelings. It was interesting that about half way home, something started to change. Our hearts started letting go and we started thinking about who we were Going home to: first of all our children and our little grandson, and then about all of the 100s of missionaries who have already returned home! The more we considered who was waiting, the more excited we got.
We planned a gathering of missionaries and their families for Saturday from 5:00 until 7:00, or whenever everyone left. At 4:30 the missionaries began to arrive. For the rest of the evening, it was one great reunion of loved ones! It was absolutely like Heaven. We also met parents and families of many of our missionaries who have served and who are currently serving. Come see the joy!
These are just some of the photos (it felt so good to take some pictures again!). All of the photos I took are in an album on our Facebook page. I think we had somewhere between 250 and 300 friends who came for hugs and visiting. It was a magical evening. We served grilled J-Dawgs with all of their toppings, watermelon, chips and salads. Our kids circulated with boxes of fruited popsicles for dessert.
We made a list of at least 60 of our missionaries who have already married after returning home. We had wedding gifts for those who came–we never had time to figure that out from Yakima. It was really fun to meet spouses and significant others. And it was fun to meet parents and families of these good missionaries.
What a wonderful day in Orem. Our hearts are here now, on this side of what we sometimes call “the mission veil.” It will be another 2 years or so before ALL of our missionaries are home, but so many of the 455 we served with are here now and we can be with them here. This is a nice shift and we have time and a front porch with rockers waiting to receive friends.
Our Homecoming was Sunday morning in our neighborhood Stake Center at 9:00. I didn’t take a single photo Sunday. I just soaked in all the love and hugged as many as I could get to. It was another perfect day filled with 100s of friends and loved ones.
After church, we had lunch with my brother and his family and my Dad and his wife, who traveled from California to be with us. It was wonderful to be reunited. Then we got in our cars with our kids and our little growing family headed to California. Sunday night we got to St George and Monday we arrived in Newport for 2 glorious weeks at the beach. Life is good, oh so very very good!
Well, we are a little slow, but we are moving into the new age. Today we hauled 5 old TVs to the dump. When I suggested we put them out on the street with “FREE” signs on them, the kids laughed at me. “You can’t pay someone to take these,” they said.
So off they went, to the county dump, where, by the way, we had to PAY $10 each to leave them. 
The TV graveyard. Farewell old friends.
While the whole family was together, we took some family photos in our backyard. Adam, Heidi and Clark are here from Kansas City, Claire and Graham have moved into the Farm House next door, and Aaron is at BYU, living near campus. Being together is magical and it feels oh, so good!
The men in my life:
Aaron and Adam
Grandparent Joy
Adam, Heidi and Clark
Their Home Sweet Home, next door to us!
We were welcomed home by the whole family as we gathered to celebrate July 4th in Alpine. What a grand day, getting reacquainted with the families of John’s siblings! The family is multiplying. Somehow, we have become the older generation now. We sit around the edges and reminisce while watching the youngsters play. It’s not a bad place to be. I love this family.
Aaron and Claire shared the victory!
Here’s everyone who attended the reunion:
Happy 4th to you all!
I am a record keeper and a history recorder. As I’ve gone back through my records, here are some interesting pieces of information about our lives that I’ve chronicled during the last 3 years.
Sorting talks and materials used in 3 years of teaching and training:
Farewell, dear Mission Home, Farewell. Our presence has gone from this home, but not our memories of what happened here. 
Down the hall is the 3rd bedroom upstairs, this one with 4 beds.
Upstairs, looking down to the entry.
Where I like to sit and study:
Here’s the laundry:
Gathering things to pack:
Books I never had time to read:
What a sweet place of refuge this has been!
Mission clothes!
On 8 June 1978, I was attending BYU when the news of the revelation on the Priesthood reached the airwaves. The excitement on campus was explosive! I stood in line at a pay phone in the Harold B. Lee Library, to call home to share the news. My dad answered the phone in Reedley, out in the packing shed, with all the noise of the packing machines and packers. I had to yell so he could hear me. I was So Very Excited and thrilled.
This is the ward where I lived and served as a Relief Society President much of the time between 1984-1987:
