California, Again

Grandson Bruce (son of Reed and Dorothy) turned the magical age of 8 in January.  His baptism was scheduled for the first weekend of February.  It was not to be missed, so off Layne and I went on another trip.  We flew to California this time, on confirmed seats.  That's always a special treat after years of flying standby.  It was heavily compromised however by a 4 HOUR delay!  We arrived very much later than planned.  But we did get there.  Sometimes I forget what a blessed thing it is to have things so conveniently arranged.  When an occasional inconvenience arises it is easy to overreact with a bit too much annoyance.  So with calmness I will tell you that we still kept our appointment to meet up with our very good friend, Beverly Trutner.  She had arranged to provide us with lunch but by the time we got there it became dinner.  Beverly was our neighbor in Sunol.  She and her husband, Ernie, sold us our property there and became very dear to us.  Ernie died of cancer last October.  It was such a loss as he was a fine man and bigger than life.  We were anxious to spend some time with Beverly.  She is such a bright, lovely woman, adjusting to life without her love is, of course, so difficult.  We had a sweet time with her.

We headed to Audrey and Cliff's after that.  They just about always have some space we can fit into.  Every other family household is filled up.  I headed to Palo Alto very early the next morning to paint a mural for Ben and Jessica's youngest three.  They had a picture all picked out, of a sort of crystal city.  I hoped to get it done by 1:30 so as to give myself time to drive back to Brentwood and the baptism.  Of course I had lots of company as some of the kids hung out with me.  Sadly, by 2:00 I still had a way to go.  Disappointed, I headed back to the AH's and got quickly ready for the baptism.  

It was a stake baptism so wasn't as personal as those done just for one candidate.  But it was nice.  Bruce seemed very pleased.  We headed back to Reed and Dorothy's after that and were treated to a catered dinner.  So good.  We gave Bruce our collection of family stories, which I save for all the younger grandchildren for their 8th birthdays.  Bruce seemed quite pleased to have the stories.  I was happy about that.  Here is Bruce with his folks, Dorothy and Reed.

Here is most of the family gathered that night.

I love this picture of grandson Isaiah, his dad Cliff and Rayne's husband, Dominic.

I just could not bring myself to leave without finishing the mural.  So, right after Sacrament meeting on Sunday, I headed back to Palo Alto to finish the mural.  This time my goal was to be finished by 2:30.  By 3:00 it was essentially finished.  So, weary of it all, I headed back to the AHs, where Dominic provided an amazing dinner.  Reed and Dorothy and family joined us and it was a lovely time.

We headed home on Monday and I'm happy to say that the flight was on time. Still, we didn't arrive until 8PM.  It as good to be back as there was English classes to prepare for.

Our stake sponsors English classes for a group of refugees that live in an apartment complex in Boise.  Layne and I were recently asked to take over the program.  Monday was our first day in charge.  I think it went OK.  I love our refugees.  They are almost all women as the men are working at various jobs.  They have been through some horrible experiences, yet are cheerful and positive.  We laugh together as we work on English.  I hope we can do the right job for them.  I've decided that we need to concentrate on conversation rather than grammar, which they have had lots of already.  

I spent most of the rest of the week working out a curriculum through the month of April, when we will stop for the summer.  It feels good to have a plan written up.  Now to make it all work and sort out all of the materials we were given.  It is quite a job.  I'm determined to organize it well enough to make the implementation relatively easy.  Layne is my organization man.  He has already charted the classes, students and teachers.  We do opposite things.  In this case it works out quite well.

Gerald has been here for two weeks.  He goes home on Monday.  I will miss him so very much.