Thursday, May 18, 2006
Dear Journal,
So many wonderful things have occurred in the last few weeks that I hardly know where to begin. That’s why we should write in our journals more often, to remember the details and savor them while they are fresh in our minds.
Perhaps I’ll start with the most significant spiritual events and not try to go in sequential order. Saturday, May 13, 2006 will always be a special day for our family. That’s the day that Megan Emshoff, Ryan’s girl friend, chose to be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was a beautiful day in every way: beautiful weather, beautiful friendships, beautiful gospel truths participated in. But the most beautiful aspect was the actual baptism and what that will mean to Megan eternally.
Although Megan was a little nervous, she was soon put at ease by the support she received in the room full of people who came to witness this special event. Nearly all our family was there: Blaine and I; Ryan, Velvet, Madison, and Maizey; Janet, Lee, Miranda, and Derek; Shiela and Mitch and Davin; Louis, Cole, Jade and Ty. I was very touched that Jade and Ty would take time to come and was tickled when they walked in. Afterwards Jade hugged me around the neck and said, "You sure look beautiful today, Grandma." I gave her a comeback, saying, "Don’t I look beautiful always and not just ‘today?’" We had a little laugh together. It was a thrill to see how happy she was over the quote book that I had made for her. I had personalized each book, and hers said "Jade Bennett" on the title page. I had promised her one when she loved the ones I made for Velvet and Janet a few months ago. She also loved the temple envelope that we had ordered for her that finally came. It is elegant with her name, "Jade Britain Jarvis Bennett" on it at the top, and April 22, 2006 at the bottom, all embroidered in white satin.
Megan’s Dad and her two stepsisters took the opportunity of coming and showing love to Megan. One of Megan’s neighbors who has known her all her life, and who is a member of the church, attended, as did also a couple, the husband having worked with Megan’s Dad Bill for many years; they are also members of the church. As a side note, Janet and Lee know this couple well and recently worked with them on the Pioneer Trek for their stake. There were 8 missionaries in attendance, including the AP Elders. The Bishop of the Ward was there and about a dozen ward members. The Ward Mission Leader conducted.
Everyone tried to help in any way they could. Velvet helped Megan get her things settled in the dressing room. Later Janet went with her to get dressed for the baptism and to get back into dry clothes after the baptism. Janet also gave a beautiful, appropriate opening prayer and Mitch did the same in his closing prayer. I was so touched by both their prayers and felt the Spirit as they prayed and as they expressed love and support for Megan. Shiela sang a most beautiful song while invited the Spirit. Two of Megan’s friends from the ward gave talks that were simple, but enlightening. What were the chances that we would know either of these two young women? Well, Beth Martineau is from Joseph City, and Jade knew Sister Lindblom who is good friends with some of the people in Jade’s ward. Elder Vila gave a great talk on the gospel and laid out the teachings of the Church in such a clear way. We felt like this was a good introduction to the church for Megan’s family.
After the baptism concluded, Ryan had bought lots of cut-up fresh fruit—cantaloupe, honeydew melon, watermelon, fresh pineapple cubes, grapes—and delicious chocolate chip and other cookies. Janet and Lee set it up to look pretty and served it, and bought and made punch to go with the food. Whenever there’s work to be done, Janet and Lee will be there. Everyone enjoyed visiting with each other while enjoying refreshments. Ryan did everything he could to make this a special day for Megan. After the baptism he brought the Elders (One was Elder Burton, who had done the most teaching to Megan and was her "favorite.") over to his house where they played a quick game of chess; then Ryan and Megan gave them a ride back to Tempe.
Megan received some gifts from different ones showing love to her. Janet and I went together and got her a $40 gift certificate to Dereret Book. We thought she might like a CTR ring, or a CD or something else. I made her one of my famous Quote Books with her name in it. I think she liked it. I put a Scripture CD in the gift bag also, so she can read the scriptures on her laptop. I loved making the book for her and thinking about her while I made it. She is such a sweet, kind young woman. She is easy to give to and easy to love. We all just love her and appreciate the light she has brought into Ryan’s life.
That evening we had the opportunity to get to know Megan’s Dad a little better as we went to dinner at Oregano’s, one of Megan’s favorite places to eat. We really like her Dad. He is friendly and easy to talk to, and he loves Megan. Besides that, he looks like Grandpa Rulon Jarvis. He is 6 feet 10 inches tall, with long, long legs, and wears Levi’s and denim shirt. Madison came with us to dinner, and we had a fun time walking around outside while waiting for our table. I love my grandchildren so much, and Madison is really fun to be around. We walked and talked, and Ryan brought Madison a pink lemonade, and us a coke and some cheesy breadsticks as an appetizer till we could get a table. We had a delicious Italian, chicken salad that all of us shared. Everything was delicious, especially my lasagna; Ryan treated me for Mother’s Day and all of us, too. As we drove Madison home, we listened to a CD, Primary Colors, a modern version of Primary songs by a group called Inside Out. Madison loved the songs, especially the many versions of "Once There Was a Snowman," so we gave her that CD to keep.
When we pulled up at Ryan’s there was a floral shop delivery guy bringing a beautiful bouquet of purple flowers of all varieties from Megan and Ryan. The most beautiful were the purple, yes purple, roses. They are still fresh and pretty today. The note attached to the flowers was touching and made me feel loved. It was the start of many expressions of love for Mother’s Day from my family. Sunday morning as we entered the church for Megan’s confirmation, Janet handed me a corsage from Blaine. Miranda’s YW had made them to raise money for camp, so we all had one of these pretty corsages. After church, our whole family, except for Kelly and Jen and kids who were in Snowflake, went to lunch for Mother’s Day at a place that Mitch does business with, Marcello’s. It was delicious food, and we all had a good time visiting with one another. Our long table wasn’t needed, so we got to talk for a long time after dinner. That evening we gathered at Janet’s and played some card games. We taught Megan "3-13" and Mormon Rook. It was fun.
This had been a long day, starting at 7:00 when Madison crawled into bed with Grandpa and me, saying she had a basketball game at 8:00. Madison and Maizey stayed the night and slept with their Dad in his very tall bed. I asked Madison to let me sleep a few more minutes and that I probably wouldn’t get up and try to go to her game. But at 7:45, I couldn’t sleep knowing that I’d miss my sweetie’s game, so I crawled out, asked Ryan if I could make it, jerked on my clothes, and away we went. I was so glad that I had gone when Madison, as she usually does, hit a lot of baskets and made some unselfish assists in this wild world of little ones running up and down the court. Madison’s one of the tallest ones, so she does well. Maizey was the wild one though. Ryan asked me to check on her as she had gone to the bathroom. I found her in the handicapped stall; bare naked with the door locked. I told her to hurry up and I’d get her dressed. She came out and headed for the hand dryer saying she had to wash her hands. I grabbed her clothes and headed after her, but she thought it was a game and streaked her way back to Ryan right in front of all the people watching the game. She created quite the stir, but that’s our Maizey.
Megan’s confirmation was just what it should be, with Lee, Blaine, Mitch, and the Elders participating with the Bishopric and Brother Scott, the Ward Mission Leader, who actually confirmed her, surrounding her. Mitch and Janet and families left after the confirmation to go teach and serve in their own wards. They made a sacrifice to drive 40 minutes to get there by 8:00 for their early church. One of the most spiritual moments for me was seeing Megan take the Sacrament for the first time. It was then that I realized all the blessings that are in store for this choice young woman. Megan’s Dad came, and stayed for the whole Sacrament meeting and seemed to enjoy the cute Primary kids singing and the good talks. We attended the Gospel Essentials class with Ryan and Megan, and then Megan and I attended Relief Society.
The Relief Society lesson was appropriately on Preaching the Gospel, a Wilford Woodruff lesson. We sat with Megan’s friend, Beth, who spoke at her baptism, who told us that she and her husband are finally expecting their first child and are so excited. I wanted to express many things during the lesson, but saved my comments for the question about what we can do to be missionaries: "I should let Megan speak for herself, but some of you may not know that she was baptized yesterday. New members need your love and friendship. We shouldn’t let them just get baptized and then leave them alone. Megan knew some of her neighbors when she was growing up, but she didn’t know much about what we believed until she took the missionary lessons. Megan is a sweet, wonderful young woman. We love her, and know that you will, too, in this ward."
Come Monday morning, Mother’s Day was not over! Janet had given me one of her special brand of cards that make me cry because of the tender feelings they express. In the card were two tickets for us to go see "Poseidon," the remake of "The Poseidon Adventure" that Janet and I saw back when she was a little girl and we were going on a sort of date. We called it "Our Night" and Blaine and I each took one of the kids for a night of their choice each week. Janet had such vivid memories of that time we spent together, and said that was what she wanted us to do for Mother’s Day. I was game! I loved the movie, and I love being with Janet, so we took off, got our popcorn and drinks, and with Janet’s Hot Tamales candy in her purse, we were ready. We weren’t disappointed. The movie was pretty much like the original, and we felt so conspiratorial as we got to go just by ourselves just like on "our night" some 30 years ago. It was pure fun and satisfying to get to do that with my daughter, and how thoughtful it was of her to think of it!
More fun was coming up that evening, with Miranda’s Junior High Singing Group, the Canticles, performed their final concert of the year. Having dinner from Panda Express beforehand seemed appropriate since Miranda’s nickname is "Panda." The concert was so enjoyable, from the musical selections, to the choreography, to just being there with Janet and Lee, and Derek, and Aunt Shiela. I was so proud of Miranda; she looked beautiful, and I told her truthfully that she was the prettiest one in the group. I love watching my grandchildren perform, and happy that they are participating in good activities. Miranda hugged me tight after the concert and thanked me for coming. I felt like she really was glad I was there, and I truly was.
Another grandchild needed me to attend their musical event—Madison. She had a piano recital with Aunt Shiela. We met her at Washburn’s Music Store, and boy, did she look cute in her dark pink print skirt and white blouse, and her cute dress-up pink flower shoes! We were so proud that she dressed up to perform. She played "The Wigwam" and did such a great job. When she finished and came back to sit with us, Megan handed her a beautiful bouquet of a variety of flowers, just right for a young girl like Madison. They were so pretty, and Madison said, "I’ve never had flowers of my own before." She hung on to them, and couldn’t wait to get home and put them in a vase. She took loving care of them every day. That was so kind of Megan to think of Madison and help her feel special. We were really proud of Mitch and Shiela that night for putting on a recital so that their students could perform and receive some awards. They do a super job in a much-needed profession—teaching music. That's when I presented Shiela with her Quote Book, a sort of "thank you" for teaching all our grandchildren to play the piano and sing. She is so unselfish to do that for free for her nieces and nephews. It was fun to be with Davin, too, and he enjoyed playing with Maizey and Madison. They are all such darling kids. They really are, even if they are our grandkids; it’s true.
While we were enjoying Miranda’ concert, Ryan was making memories with Madison and her T-ball team. Ryan took Blaine with him and Madison to the Diamondback game where he had 30 tickets for members of Madison’s T-ball team that he had coached. They had a blast, Madison said, and the Diamondbacks won! We all had a chance to be with our loved ones, just not all at the same place. That afternoon, Janet and I drove to Louis and Dawn's to pick up our CD of Jade and Ty’s wedding, and Dawn gave me my Mother’s Day present—an 11x14 portrait of Jade and Ty. It is a beautiful, gold frame, and one of my favorites of their wedding photos. What I love as much as the gift was the sweet note that Dawn wrote to give me with the picture. It was a sweet tribute to my being a good mother to Louis and how that blesses her life. I appreciated her taking time to write to me.
Tuesday morning, we slept in at Ryan’s, and then bless Blaine’s heart, he allowed us to stay in Mesa long enough to let Shiela and Mitch treat us to lunch at Matta’s for Mother’s Day. They didn’t need to do that, but they are sweet kids and wanted to. It was such a good way to finish up a perfect weekend. The food was delicious and the visiting was lively and fun. We got a little rowdy in giving Ryan all this advice, and I worried that he would think we were picking on him. Blaine got up and came behind Ryan and put his arms around his neck, and said, "You know why we all give you advice, don’t you? We love you and care about you. You’re lucky to have brothers and sisters who love you that much." He had us all with a tear in our eyes because he was emotional as he said this to Ryan.
Mother’s Day was still not over; I like to draw things out and enjoy them a long time. Jennifer and Rachel came down Wed. night to print a report for Rachel for school. Jen gave me a beautiful card and a spicy candle set for Mother’s Day. I got to feel the love of my family once again. It was one of my best Mother’s Day ever, thanks to our family. Blaine started the Mother’s Day season off right, by giving me his Discover Card at WalMart the Thursday before Mother’s Day. We had gone to the movies to see "Mission Impossible III," and I had a big list to shop by. I got more pretty paper for my quote books, photos, printer ink, and a supply of sugar free candy among groceries and things. I love shopping, so this was a good present for me.