TRYING TO FIND OUR NEW NORMAL

So many thoughts and feelings! Soon it  will be one month since we finished our mission in Australia and left for home. Our life has been a whirlwind of activity since then. But we are home, enjoying our family and trying to figure things out.

The great sign waiting for us when we arrived at our son's home in Orem.

Our emotions have ranged from great joy as we have seen our dear friends and family again to tears and sadness as we again said 'goodbye' to many friends as we left the Blaine area. 

For 10 days these good friends allowed us to stay in their upstairs room in Lynden while we sorted
our belongings, tried to get organized and had so many appointments.

It ALL fit! 10 good sized boxes, 3 large check through suitcases, 2 carryon spinners, 2 loaded backpacks and half a dozen bags. We were afraid we would have to go up top of our car but by putting down the seats we had enough room. So grateful!

You can almost see Mt. Baker. It is a truly beautiful view on a sunny day. But this was our 'good bye'.

Driving south out of Whatcom county in the rain.

There have been days of exhaustion as we re-enter the world and have been bombarded by the cares of the world. When we gave the 'departing missionary seminars' in Australia we talked to the young elders and sisters about what they would face when they got home. But I did not expect to have such a turbulent experience when we returned. It is sometimes hard to be up front and personal with so many  details of life. We were shielded from many of those details as we focused on our mission. So, it is a new normal for us to be spending our time checking the details of our home which is under construction, finding new medical providers,  learning how to navigate in and  around our new environment [and yes we have been lost more than once], and all the other mundane items of our lives. I miss the focus of missionary work even though I am grateful to be home.

We LOVE that we are seeing our family. What a joy it was to spend our Thanksgiving with our daughter and her family in Portland. Snuggles and hugs and cute little notes from grandchildren are precious. And just feeling the love!

Our wonderful daughter Tanya and her family in Portland.

OK, so grandkids are GREAT!

We are loving our new CRV! drives great and holds so much!

Then a short visit with Steve's sister and her family in Florence with a little time to take in some sites before heading to Utah. And we were able to stop and see some dear friends in the Boise on our way.

Oregon is beautiful!

Beautiful hibiscus blossom!

Heceda Lighthouse perched atop a large hill.

The 1/2 mile walk to the top had amazing views! Enjoy! I think they are beautiful even on a cloudy day!

On the way back we stopped at this little space which had so many of these unusual plants. I had never heard of them before.

A great explanation of an unusual plant.

Darlingtonia up close and personal.

There are so may beautiful things in this world. There are times when I have missed some photo opportunities and regretted it. I have decided I will make a point to stop more often when I see something I particularly like. In this case we were less than an hour on our way through Oregon when we saw this beautiful Siuslaw River and I had to stop.

Siuslaw River looking west.

Siuslaw River looking east.

Driving east through Oregon

We encountered snow on a pass.

For years we have been visiting our family in Utah and it feels rather strange that now Utah  will become our home. Driving south from Idaho we were filled with many emotions - excitement, sadness, tears, anticipation, lots of questions and uncertainty  and fatigue. 

Such a beautiful sky as we drove south through Idaho.

And again!

Hamming it up at the Utah border. So, here we were at the beginning of our life in Utah.

We drove by our new house when we arrived in the area but were too tired to go inside so just drove on to our son's house in Orem. 

What joy! and what a wonderful surprise to have our Utah family come that evening for an unexpected family dinner. There were 25 of us all together missing only our 2 missionary grandsons who are both serving in Argentine missions, a son who was on a humanitarian trip to India and and grandson who was on a school trip to California. Such a feeling of peace and contentment to see their lovely faces and hear the buzz of their conversation and get their hugs. Our lovely grandchildren have grown much in almost 2 years but they still know us and love us. We love  our family and are so grateful for time with them. We will be spending "a few days here and a few days there" to have one-on-one time with our five families who live in Utah and also to attend various Christmas concerts, plays, etc to support our grandchildren. I love this opportunity! And it will also give us places to live as we wait for our house to be finished.

Our grandson and his father had to leave early for scouts so we missed them in this photo.
But isn't this a lovely bunch of family!?

Well, this is our house. It may look bigger but is actually 1/3 smaller than our house in Blaine. And it obviously is not ready for us to move in. The electrical, plumbing and HVAC are complete. We are checking every few days now to make sure things are done correctly. But I am so ready to move in.

Our house is progressing and we are checking on it regularly. We are slated to close and take possession on  February 1st which is getting closer but not soon enough! In my mind I feel like I am already there and can hardly wait to unpack our storage and get everything organized. It is hard for me to not be settled. But yesterday we went to the church house we will attend. We will be in the Grove 4th ward in Pleasant Grove, UT and the building is less than 2 blocks from our home. We had the chance to meet our new bishop and have our membership records transferred from our ward in Blaine, WA. It feels good to 'belong' again and we look forward to meeting and getting to know our new [church] ward family.

And it snowed!!! And there is still snow on the ground today but the skies are clear and we could see the beautiful mountains!

And winter has come! We woke to a white world on Sunday morning. It was beautiful but cold. How grateful I am that the snow held off until we arrived. I would have been very nervous to drive those many miles from Washington in snowy weather. We had a little rain the final couple of days of driving but the roads were good which was such a blessing.

Last night we had the chance to listen to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. There were several speakers and of course the beautiful music by the Tabernacle Choir. They closed the meeting with a rousing rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus which is one of my favorite songs. But the best part was listening to our Prophet, Russell M. Nelson, and hearing his counsel. He asked us to consider what we really desired. That is an easy one for me. I desire with all my heart to have my family with us forever. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ that shows us the way to make that happen. 

He also listed the gifts the Savior has given us:

1) an unlimited capacity to love
2) the ability to forgive
3) the opportunity to repent

4) a promise of life everlasting.

If you missed the broadcast you can choose which parts you wish to view, President Nelson's address the other talks or the songs here: 2018
 Now the Christmas season is upon us. We have been asked to Light the World by showing love to others as the Savior has  loved us. This is the perfect time to get outside of ourselves and serve others.