Reunited and it Feels So Good ...

So this week turned out to be a week of reunions.  Everyone knows that for Dad, reunions are a touch of Heaven.  Sometimes I think that is what will make Heaven glorious and joy-filled, reconnecting with those we worked along side with during our earth-life.  Well, if that's so it definitely felt like Heaven this week.

On Monday I met with the We-Can Ladies Service group as they got together in person for the first time in a year.  They had dropped off various donations for service collections all year, but this was a first time to get together, though we wore masks until after eating lunch.  We had all brought items to put in birthday kits for the local food bank, then we cut out and assembled Reading Scavenger Hunt Booklets for the United Way.

Carolyn, Sandy (middle) and I are also in a book club together.  A Book Club that has been operating for over 20 years.  The lady on the end is from England and since we were doing this literary project we naturally talked about books.  She said she thought that the Harry Potter books normalized witch craft.  She said that growing up in England there were all kinds of practicing witches, and that she was surprised that people embraced the books the way they did.  That was an interesting thought, and I'm still considering some of the things she said.

Getting together with these ladies again, was a lot of fun, of course.

Tuesday morning I walked with Carolyn, and she showed me the 35 birthday kits we had put together.  She is such a great lady, and such a great example to me, of finding all kinds of ways to serve others.

When I got back from walking with Carolyn, Dad was reuniting with the original kitchen flooring, which we hadn't seen since laying the parquet floor tiles the weekend before Trevor's farewell, because we had pulled up the carpet in the kitchen and had to do something quick.  Yikes.  We had originally planned to lay the new flooring over the parquet, but when Dad tested it and found that it came up without too much effort he decided to go that route.  Fortunately Dave and Bri came later in the day, and Bri demoed a lot of the floor for him.  So great having a daughter in law with construction experience.  

I took off to meet Joyce in Salt Lake for our annual birthday junking and lunch.  We met at my favorite DI, then went to lunch at the Cafe Rio in Sugar House, which just happens to be on Douglas street.  That made me think of when Mom told me that it was after seeing a street sign for Douglas street in Sugar House when she was pregnant with her 6th child, that she decided to name him Douglas if it was a boy.  Historic fun, and a very nice reunion with Joyce.

She had collected a large bag full of black and white polkadot goodness.  The mask was my absolute favorite, because my other black and white polkadot mask is getting truly shabby.  I have also transferred my purse goodies into the purse she gave me.  She is  so fun, and we found out that while we were in Finland, she had her trailer house hauled away, and had a manufactured house put on her property.  She lived with Nina for around two months, and then some of our other siblings moved her into the new house.  Not sure how I never heard one word of these goings on, but it does make me sad that I am so little connected with my own siblings. 

I stopped at the DI in Springville on my way home, and ran into two old friends.  LaVern is on the left, and we have been out to dinner with her and her husband since we got home, but Raelee Steiniker, who was originally in our book club, I have not seen for possibly 10 years, so that was fun.

When I got home, I saw we had been invaded by some of my favorite people.  Their parents were hard at work, Bri demoing the floor in the kitchen, while Dad and Davin pulled up the carpet in the family room. 

They then hauled out the flooring boxes to their truck and loaded them on the old carpeting, all of which they then hauled away for us. (thank you, thank you, thank you)

Than all the kids, and Dad and Dave and Bri hauled out the goodies in the two large cabinets in the family room, to lighten the load and make it possible to moved them about while Dad laid the flooring in there later in the week.

What a mess .... on Wednesday I was off to work, and it was Dad who did the reunioning.  He spent the day working at Darby's on her electrical since he had to go to SLC that day anyway, because he has been invited back to sing with the Saltaires again.  Which he happily did that evening, reconnecting with guys, some of whom he has sung with on and off  for thirty years.

On Thursday I was at work again, but this time Dad stayed home and finished up the family room floor.  After work Dad picked me up and we sped to the nice Sushi place in American Fork to meet Hannah and Scott for a quick dinner before going to the Pleasant Grove Community Theater's play, She Loves Me, a musical retelling of The Shop Around the Corner.  It was so fun to go with them, and though it couldn't really be considered a reunion, since they had come to my big Mother's Day surprise party the week before, it was a wonderful evening.  They are so great and we love Hannah so much.  Its been great to get to know Scott as well.

During intermission I ran to the upper floor of the library and saw this charming original painting. Its pretty much an illustration of my perfect dream life, babies, books and antiques (Quilts) right?  Of course implied here, by her very leisure, is a loving husband in the background working hard to support her and the littles. 

I woke up on Friday morning to a rendition of Happy Birthday, when Britt called as soon as she saw me active on line.  How sweet is that?? It was the beginning of a picture perfect birthday for me.

Dad ran off that morning to get acquainted, instead of reunited, with a new endodontist, who gave him the root canal he had 'sorely' needed for 6 months.  Carolyn came by and brought me a bag of birthday sunshine, which was so fun.  The house was in the midst of the flooring mess, but we had a lovely visit and she got to go up and see the changes in our bedroom.  I had seen her new travel room, on Monday, after our We-Can meeting.  So fun to share.

Davin and Bri came by after Dad got home to wish me a happy birthday, and give me this amazing piece of Bizmuth.  I had seen theirs and had been so amazed.  When the mineral Bizmuth is melted and then cooled it forms these geometrical shapes naturally, and to add to the amazement, they coat themselves with this rainbows of colors.  Some of the process can be manipulated by those doing the cooling, but it is a natural process, and simple fascinates me. 

I was so tickled when I got a call from the Kervinens.  They had a few minutes at the airport, as they were there to greet a member of the area Presidency, Elder Kopischke, who was flying in with other area authorities to organize a third stake in Finland.  It was to be a historic weekend.  When it was over, every member of the church in Finland would live within the borders of a stake, and have the benefits that come with the change.

We so loved talking to them, it really was one of many highlights of a perfect birthday.

After that sweet reunion, we hopped to, and starting getting everything put back into the family room.  Dad spend the lion's share of the afternoon reinstalling the washer and dryer, which required buying new parts for the dryer air vent.  I started with taking the decor items I had formerly used on the mantel in the dining room, (Which we decided to move into the large guest bedroom) out to the garden house.

I was pretty happy with how it turned out.  The mushrooms, and birds seemed perfect for the garden house.

It felt so good to get the family room together for the first time with the new art work I had acquired last week in the place of honor over the sofa.  I love how it goes together.

Hauling and putting away all the goodies that we had on every surface of the parlor and dining room, was daunting, and it took hours, but as always, I love working on projects with Dad and his unending energy.

Here is Dad's collage of the finished floors.  It really does look good, and Briahnna, who is pretty knowledgeable about flooring' as they recently researched and laid something similar in their four plex, said she thought it was a great choice, and would probably choose it herself. That made us feel good about our choice, and going with the higher end product, which is pretty unusual for us.  Its nice to know that having Dad do it, cut the price in half.  I recall paying about 2500 for our flooring in the attic bedroom and sitting room, which is more than we paid for all the flooring for the main floor, including four and a half rooms. Good Job Dad!!

Some of our bestest besties, brought us dinner, just as we finished up putting everything back, with seconds to spare.  The wonderful, and I do mean wonderful, Finnish apple pie, which our adorable basement renter, Rolle brought up for me that morning, was our dessert.  He sang happy birthday to me, in Finnish of course, which I loved mainly because I love how Finn's pronounce my name.

Dinner was great, playing games was fun, and Barb and I even got to win.  Randy made wonderful lettuce wraps, somewhat like those at P F Changs.  Its so great having friends who are also doing Plant Based/Whole Foods as well.  And Randy's always been a great cook!!

Dad literally ran off first thing on Saturday morning to run in the Pay It Forward 5K.  He ran into (hahaha) Kyle Snell from our ward in Orem, and his sweet little daughter Boston.  Of course he told him that Krista Moe (Terranova) also has a Boston.  Of course Dad loves it when he runs into former youth whom he mentored as a bishop.

I also ran off to a reunion, though not literally, at an antique sale run by my friend Bruce Allison, who I used to work with at Treasures, and who was one of my best dealers at Flea.o.logy.  

Bruce lives in Wyoming now, where he is active in a couple of antique malls, but he likes to come to his old stomping grounds once in a while.  He had such great stuff.  I found a beautiful antique floral painting, which is about the same age as my house, and which is now hanging in the parlor.  I also got an over sized metal top hat, that is a figural shoppe sign, and which I have decided to hang on my garden house, painted up with the Mad Hatter's Tea House ...  I had been playing with the idea ever since temporarily making the Mad Hatter sign for the cottage for my Mad Hatter Tea Party last month, so when I saw the hat sign it all jelled.

The sale was held at Bruce's brother's house in American Fork.

Here I am with Kathy Ainge, with whom I work on Wednesdays, and Bruce. It was a great reunion.

With my car loaded up with antique goodness, I headed further north for a quick visit with Becca.  She had to leave for a busy Saturday visiting houses with clients, but we had a nice half hour chat.  Then I took the kids to breakfast.

Here is Mac with his Mac Griddle ... he was a fan, and we loved that he got to eat his own signature food.  Of course he ate one and then ran off to play on the play ground we ate at because the McDonalds in AF is drive through only still.  Actually I think the kids preferred this outdoor playground to the play place, so it was all good.

It was pretty cute when Mac found this telephone system under the unit, about the same time a little girl found it and they were talking back and forth.  It was so fun to watch.

I made sure I got home in time to go with Dad to a small reunion with missionaries from our first mission in SLC that afternoon.  But when I got home, he said that his friend Clark Sevy had just called and that he an his wife were stopping by in a few minutes.  Of course it was fun to visit with them, being aware that the reunion was going to be five hours long, and that it was an open-house style. We spend about forty five minutes getting to know his new wife Kimberly.  Of course Dad knows her better than I do because he was the high counselor to their ward for years.  It just fun that Dad knew them both, after they met at a widow and widowers convention at BYU, a couple of years ago. They got married when we were in Finland, and this was our first time to see them as a couple.

Here we are at the reunion, Susie Carili, Lyn London, Katheryn Margets, Me, Laurie Kehr and Katheryn's sister who was just called to serve a mission in Finland and who will be going this summer. 

Here we are with the Londons, who served as the office couple for their second time, when we were serving our first mission.

at times like this I wish I could play chess, but that is pretty much the only time I wish that.

The Margets sisters made and brought pulla, which was delicious, and Lynn made pirrakas,  everyone's favorite Finnish treat. 

This morning we awoke early to watch the meeting where in the third stake in Finland was organized.  It had actually happened about two in the morning, but fortunately it was not live, but will remain available to view for a while. 

The new Jyvaskyla Stake covers most of Finland, as the two previous stakes cover about twenty percent of Finland, including the most populous part in the south.  Now the entire country is covered.  One ward from each of the previous stakes were included, along with three branches which were large enough to be wards once they were in a stake.  That made for five wards and 7 branches.  I had tears streaming down my face for most of the broadcast. 

I loved  Elder Kopischke's message so much.  He is currently the second counselor in the Area Presidency, but he has been the Area President in that past, in fact he's been a general authority 70 since 2002. 

The others pictured above are the area women's organizations leader, with her translator, Sister Noora Holopinen, who I found to be the best translator I ever had the privilege to use.  (She is my friend Ulla Lehtinen's daughter.) I included the masked picture of Finnish church leaders for atmosphere, and then Sister Jouttenus, the temple matron, who is one of my favorite Finns, she is so kind, generous and humble, yet when she speaks her thoughts always resonate with me, as they did at this meeting.  Evidently Elder Kopisheke was likewise touched as he enlarged on the theme of her talk for most of his.  The spirit was so strong.

We got ready for church and headed to the Canyon Rim area of SLC for Sister Karren's homecoming.  She is in the yellow dress, It was wonderful to see more missionaries, and this time it was those from our second mission.

One thing that is fun to note about Katheryn Karren is that her best friend is the Smith's (Our game playing, vegan, Finnish Missionary friends) granddaughter.  So here they are 'Reunited, and it feels so good',

We were so close that we ran over and saw my brother Clark after the reunion, which means I have seen four of my five siblings who live in Utah over the last two weeks.  That has been wonderful.  I was sad to hear that my siblings did not have a reunion during the time we were in Finland.  Hopefully that can change this year. Jo had gone to St. George with Brooke for a few days, so we missed her, but it was fun to hear what's been going on with them of late.

Then for our final reunion of the week, we met on line with Sister and President Aura for their  bi-monthly fireside. 

They shared this map of Finland showing the outline of the three states, which I thought I should save, so you get to see it too.

Here is Sister Debiasi, evidently in the car with her fiance, somewhere in Italy.  We also had an Elder who is now living with his parents in Japan, where they are serving as mission presidents. The other missionaries we noticed listening were mostly from the western US, though one is headed to Philadelphia and another is headed to a conservatory in Boston.

It was fun to see these three watching together, whom we had just seen at the homecoming of Sister Karren in the morning.  The friends we've made on our missions bring us so much joy, and add to how many reunions we get to attend, as you can tell by our week this week, where three of our reunions were related to our missions.

We love you all and are so grateful for the opportunities we have to be reunited occasionally with each of you.