A New Galbraith

Sometimes I feel a strong desire to capture my life in words and sometimes I just don't.  That explains the last few weeks for me.  But today our Ben's wife Jessica delivered their 8th baby, a beautiful little blond daughter.  I've only seen one picture but she looks perfect to me.  I'm sad not to see her in person but seeing her picture brings out tears and joys.  Another lovely little person to love and treasure; it is life's greatest gift.

Our newest little Galbraith, born February 27th at about 5 PM
in Palo Alto.  She is the daughter of Ben and Jessica.

Lately I've been taken up with gratitude for people in my life.  All sorts of people.  Family certainly.  But there are all kinds of good people that fill my days and my heart.  My heaven is full of them.  Layne and I made a quick trip to Seattle last week to visit Chris and Jessica and to see their youngest, Peyton, perform in a school talent show.  It was such fun to spend a little time with that family.  It felt like we got an especially good visit with them during our very short stay.  It was a marathon trip of sorts, as we spent a day getting there, a day there and another day driving home again.  It seems crazy to make such a trip, but even the drive was enjoyable.  Layne usually doesn't like to be read to while he drives, or talk much for that matter.  He wants to concentrate you see.  But I read to him anyhow during the drive home and I think he liked it.  He wouldn't say so of course but, secretly, I think he did.

Peyton and friend in their performance costumes
for their school talent show.

Peyton with her mom, our Jessica.

We presented a fireside on missionary work the night of our return and enjoyed it much more than I thought we would.  It was designed to inspire adults to serve senior missions.  A strong spirit spread throughout the group as we discussed the blessings of missions and I wound up feeling that Layne and I should go on another mission when our local one is finished.  One of my complaints about being older is that we are less needed in the local Church community.  Less used anyhow.  But on a mission that changes dramatically.  Current talents and skills are used and new ones emerge.  I remember that now.  And it calls to me.

My Treble Clef singing group is rehearsing for a spring concert.  Layne and I are singing a duet.  I never imagined myself doing this, but somehow it isn't as scary as most singing assignments are.  We are singing "Old Black Magic" and I think it'll be a lot of fun.  I feel myself slowly getting over my fear of singing to an audience.  We have a professional singer in our ward who gives singing lessons so I asked if she could teach some older kids with only passable voices to sing better. She said she'd love to.  So Layne and I, along with buddies Carol Wintersteen and Pat Green, are taking lessons from her and her husband.  We had our second lesson today.  Wow.  I had no idea that there was so much involved with good singing.  Our minds are exploding with all the principles we are learning.  What an exceptional blessing it is to learn from these two professional musicians willing to take us on.

We had a surprise visit from Mark Hiatt, a man who lived with us in Fremont years ago.  He now lives in Idaho Fall with his wife, Kathleen.  Mark is a kind-hearted man, willing to sacrifice himself for the good of others.  He was that way when he lived with us too.  Home computers were new at that time.  He had one and shared it with Ben, teaching him all that he knew about them. Ben was hooked from that time on.  Mark left his computer for Ben when he moved out.  That experience with Mark and computers transformed Ben's life.  Blessings often come from unexpected places.

Mark Hiatt and his wife Kathleen.

I took neighbors Inez Wilkey and Carol Wintersteen to one of the local hot springs yesterday.  I've never been to one before so it was something of an adventure.  We loved it!  We soaked for about two hours, fitting lunch in between.  It was a sweet experience.  We all emerged feeling a bit soggy but well softened by the minerals in the pool.  I think it is an experience worth repeating.

The hot springs girls, Inez Wilkey, Carol Wintersteen and me.

I'm sitting across from my sad looking husband in the living room by the fire.  He is feeling a bit flu-ish today.  I'm going to fix him some toast and chicken broth for dinner.  Yum.

A Gem Show in Tucson

"You really need to visit us in February for the Gem Show," our Mongolian daughter, Brynn, told me last year.  We agreed to come, and so we made our way to Tucson this past week to visit her and her husband, Roy.  As it turns out, the Gem, Mineral and Fossil show in Tucson is a really big deal.  It is a yearly event that attracts people from all over the world to the small desert town of Tucson.  Motels, hotels, lawns and parking lots fill up with vendors from all over the world, selling their goods to just about all comers.  And come they do.  The show spreads itself all over town, including the town's Conference Center.  Wow.  I had no idea.  Most of the show is open to everyone, but there is a location that only vendors can enter.  Roy got us an identifying tag from his sister-in-law, who has a jewelry business, so that we could see that part of the show.  She gave Roy permission to copy the tag so each of us would have a vendor badge.  Armed with that, and Roy and Brynn for guides, we set off on Thursday for some of the gem sights.  Each location had an overwhelming number of vendors and goods.  It was dizzying.  Much of it was too expensive for my taste but I found a few interesting things.  "Don't buy that," Brynn counseled me.  "Wait until we go to the vendor's show; there are much better prices there."  And so I waited.

Inside one of the gem show tents.

Our last stop was the vendor's show, held inside several huge tents and filled to the brim with vendors selling jewelry and the makings for jewelry.  It was here that we needed our badges.  Brynn and I began to scout out the various vendors while Layne and Roy simply wandered, talking and patiently waiting for us.  We found quite a few good deals and I wound up buying items for just about all the girls in the family.  What fun!  And then we got a message from Layne.  "We've been thrown out of the show," he told us.  We left in search of them and got some more details.  It seems that they were approached by a security woman who asked to see their badges.  "These are fake," she accused them.  "Where did you get these?"  Taking them from the guys, she told them to leave and never come back!  Wow.  So our guys met us in the parking lot outside the tents.  Being sufficiently humbled, we headed for home, our gem shopping over.  After that confrontation, we talked about all the things they could have and perhaps should have said to that security woman.  You know how it is; you can think of the perfect response once the event is over and past.

Roy has some desert property just outside Tucson.  We spent Friday visiting it and wandering over his desert set-up.  He has a trailer there with water and electricity and just about anything you would need to stay there.  The desert there was unlike the deserts I am used to; it was not barren and sandy but rather full of plants and trees of all sorts.  The winter day was warm and pleasant.  There was a hunter nearby that was shooting wild pigs, which roam all through the area.  It was an enchanting place.

Brynn and I in front of an Iron Tree, next to Roy's
desert trailer.  The Iron tree has one of the densest
woods in the world, Roy told us.

Layne and I on Roy's desert property.

Layne, Brynn and Roy in the desert.  The pig hunter is
somewhere behind them, firing away.

Brynn and Roy have a darling little boy named Eric.  We had fun getting acquainted with him and generally enjoyed our visit there.  Winter is definitely the best time to visit Tucson.  Brynn seems happy.  I worried about her choice of husband, as Roy is much older than she and isn't a member of the Church.  It seems that Brynn is not very active in the Church at the present time, as I feared would happen.  But Roy is a good man and is taking good care of her.  Perhaps as time goes by, things will even out to the good of all.  I hope so.

Roy and Brynn's little Eric, 9 months old.  After
seeing us for a day, he managed to smile for us.

A view of Tucson as we flew out on Saturday.

So even though I didn't look forward to leaving home to make yet another trip, we enjoyed it and it was worth going.  Getting closer to people is always rewarding.  We flew back home on Saturday.  It was, all things considered, a perfect trip.  Except for the gem show security guard of course.

On the home front, Allegra is happily settled in the MTC and leaves for Wisconsin this week.  Scott re-entered the MTC on Friday and will continue his MTC training with a new group, still headed for Thailand.  He is thrilled.