Angelica was asked to speak in Sacrament meeting a couple of weeks ago. When she first came here she absolutely refused to speak in Church. But this year she agreed easily. What a change! Her turn came up and, as she sat on the stand before the meeting began, I noticed that Seth sat nearby at the Sacrament table. What a sweet feeling to see them both, ready to do their part in the meeting. Angelica did a great job. I think her fear is now under control. Here is my happy view of them.
October brings early birthdays in abundance. My sister, Maryanne, celebrated 74 years on the 2nd. Seth turned 17 on the same day. Birthdays in Taiwan come and go with little notice so it is fun to try and make a bigger deal of it here for him. We got him a little cake. He doesn't like really sweet things so we kept it small. We added candles and had him make a secret wish and blow them out. He opened a few gifts. We ordered him some new basketball shoes and they arrived on his birthday (kind of a miracle of timing). He loves them! "Grandma," he said, "I never want to take these shoes off." That was a heart warmer for sure. Here he is, with a cheesy smile.
Dad was a quick follow-up with his birthday on Saturday. He wanted Corned Beef and Cabbage for dinner, one of his favorite things. So I bought all the ingredients, except the cabbage (I forgot it). He wanted canned corned beef so I bought two tins. I asked Layne to get the cabbage since he was right by the store, on his birthday. He huffed and puffed about having to buy his own birthday dinner. Kinda funny I thought. He settled down though. I fixed dinner at just the right time and looked for the two tins of corned beef and they were nowhere to be found. I searched all over the house in desperation, then asked Layne and the kids to look. No good. Those tins had disappeared. Finally I decided to go to the store and buy two more. Dinner was late, but Layne loved it. So I guess all that trouble was worth it. He's 79! How in the world did that happen so quickly? Angelica got him a knit hat, which she enthusiastically placed on his head. Here he is sporting his new hat and eating one of his favorite desserts, a milk shake from the local ice cream shop, Reed's.
Daughter-in-law Dorothy's birthday is tomorrow. So today, Sunday, we decided to get together and celebrate all three birthdays. It was a fun time, with a combination of favorite foods of the birthday people. Here's Dorothy about to open her birthday gifts.
It feels to me like there is plenty going on in our life these days. It is a race to keep up. Tomorrow I'll process the many apples on our tree and maybe help Seth get ready for the upcoming Homecoming Dance. His buddies are pressuring him to ask a girl and go with them. But will he? Tomorrow we will have the final decision.
