God's Handiwork

Every year Don has the privilege of scouring this area as part of the Christmas Bird Count for the Audubon Society.  He gets in on his brother Ken's coattail. Thanks Ken! This particular place is called Parunuweap Canyon and is private property.  During this last year's count, the birds weren't posing much for the photos, but the area was still full of the majesty of God.

I guess it could show where "wings of lightning" come from:

What a great day!

 Last   month I was able to be with the Olsens as this precious little one was born.  She had a fairly bad case of jaundice and had to stay on the lights for about a week which complicated matters in the adjustment. I came away with a healthy respect for Sharla as she manages a household of now ten children.  Things don't always run smoothly, but then things never do! While I was there, I cooked and cleaned and tended and chauffeured and shopped and even did a bit of sleeping!  Sharla had to take her in for tests every day and we were always glad when the numbers were down!



On one of those days, Alyssa and Lena were allowed to play with play dough.






 She got the lid off herself!

They had to get it just right!
Reading was next:

Watching out for Shalyn was pretty important!












The toys had to be nestled up just right........

And then Lena said with more enthusiasm than the picture shows:  "This is the best day I never saw!!!"  (That night she also said her food was the BEST food she never ate!)

Heaven in Aldie --Part 2

Sometimes heaven is hard to find if you misplaced your pictures on the computer...:)  We enjoyed our visit to Aldie, VA quite a while ago now.  As luck would have it, Tiffani and Rick's spring break coincided with the conference Don was back there for.  They decided to drive the 8 hours to spend some time with family.

We played while Don and Dustin worked.  So sorry to both of you !
Here we are getting bundled up ready to go outside to play.

We carefully made our way to the playground.

The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside--

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown--
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down! 

Robert Louis Stevenson

Conner is happy both ways--alone and with help!!

Not sure who won this jumping contest....:)

I

Rachel seems unconcerned.

Sam had to try a different ride.















We were supposed to fly home the next day, but the snow inhibited that event.  Because of the snow, our flight was canceled (as well as the replacement flight later on in the day) so we were able to spend an extra day with our loved ones!!
Rachel seems happy enough as they were getting ready to go home.   The snow that had fallen didn't thwart her mood. The rest of us were a little more somber.  But we all arrived home safely in spite of things.  That was the good part.  And we took with us some great memories!  Many thanks to Dustin and Nicki!

Elder Mak Is Back!

   When we arrived in Hong Kong to serve for three years in late June, 2000, we immediately linked to our special office elders.  Elder Johnson Mak was one of those.  He was very soft spoken and kind, but determined to do his best and work hard.  He helped us acclimate and take care of all the little details we needed to do as a family to get us legal to be in the country–like get our driver’s licenses and our bank situation set up.  He almost always was smiling.

    After a while, he was reassigned to another area to do his missionary work.  Imagine our sorrow when in October, President Hinton received a call saying that Elder Mak’s mother had died.  That was one of his hardest chores of our service there.  She was the only other member of the Church in his family and the only one who wrote him letters so we knew it would be a blow.  Of course it was hard, but he took it well and stayed to finish his mission in spite of much criticism from his relatives.  His dad was okay with it because he knew it was the mother’s wish that he serve for the whole two years, but other relatives really gave him a hard time.  To top it all off, Elder Mak suffered with extreme headaches most of his mission.  We sent him to various doctors, but nothing seemed to help.  He refused to give up and just dealt with the pain while he continued to work hard.  
    Elder Mak’s quality was very apparent-- even as a child. Elder Mak’s family moved from Kiribati to Hong Kong for a while when he was very young.  His mother’s health wasn’t very good then and they were very poor–eating oatmeal everyday. Johnson tells about running away to school when he was five and then telling his teacher to call his mom and tell her that he was safely there.  He was so afraid that if she continued to walk him to school and then back up the huge stairs to home that she would die.  When she realized that he knew the way and could get to school safely on his own, she let him walk by himself and Johnson was relieved.
Elder Mak went to BYU-Hawaii after he was released as a missionary. He met a choice girl from Taiwan and they got married and now have three children.  Recently we had the wonderful experience of renewing our friendship in Logan where they reside as he works full-time and goes to school for an advanced degree.  Cute family!  We love seeing our missionaries as they grow and live the lives of a committed member of the Church!  And we thoroughly enjoyed re-connecting with this quality young man and his family.

Alma 17:2
. . .Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.