Growing up an only child, my cousins were very important to me.  I looked up to my older cousins as they led the way to high school and into adulthood. I watched them become parents and I loved their children and now their grandchildren. I have two cousins who were in my grade at school and it has been wonderful to travel through life with them. My younger cousins added a new bit of fun to our family! 

 My Boyle cousins live in Utah and it was their influence that led me to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  For that I will be eternally grateful, as I am eternally grateful for each member of my extended family.  I have been blessed with so many 'cousins' that almost seem like siblings.

Last week my cousin Doug Boyle died of a brain tumor just about a month after his diagnosis.  I went to Utah this weekend to celebrate Doug's life with the family.  All his children spoke at his funeral and one definite theme was how much fun Doug was, what a sense of humor he had, and what a joy he was to be around. He saw the positive in everyone and in every situation.  That was certainly true on our 2011 trip to Israel.

 

As we walked around the ruins of the temple, Doug just couldn't resist doing a little 'money changing' in the area of the ancient money changers!

I will miss Doug.  Even though we didn't see each other as often as I would have liked, every time we were together it was easy to just pick up our relationship.  Loosing a cousin is hard.  Somehow it seems normal to loose parents and aunts and uncles but a cousin is a part of my generation!  The reality that now WE are the older generation hit me.

From Traveling with Pomgranates: A Mother and Daugher Journey to the Sacred Places of Greece, Turkey and France  "And why, I asked myself, had I begun to think for the first time about my own mortality?"

Lewis Family

We spent the first weekend in November at the Oregon Coast with George's siblings and spouses. 

George's parents did a super job in raising their children.  Walt and Orpha Lewis' gravestone is inscribed with these words, "Our legacy- four wondrous children".  I have often wondered about the difference between 'wonderful' and 'wondrous' so today I looked ups 'wondrous'.  Let me share some of the synonyms for wondrous that describe George, Karen, John and Tammy rather well....

• marvelous
• amazing
• astonishing
• striking
• fascinating
• wonderful

Yes they have accomplished quite a few astounding things and are really quite extraordinary! I am blessed to be a part of this family!

Election 2012 - Thoughts

 I woke up yesterday morning feeling cautiously optimistic.  I knew that it would take a whole series of things to go exactly right for a Romney win but I thought it was possible.  I didn't watch a lot of TV during the day so when I did tune in, I remained nervous but hopeful.  The moment I knew it wasn't going our way was when I listened to Rob Portman address the Romney crowd in Boston via video link from Ohio.  He didn't sound like a man delivering a state to Romney.  My heart sank and soon all the networks were calling Ohio and the election for Obama.  I cried.  I just couldn't help it.  Last night as sleep eluded me, I tried to figure out why this election touched me so deeply.  I have voted for men who didn't win before....in 1992, 1996, and 2008. What made this one so different and so personal?

I think it is because I felt as if I knew Mitt Romney.  I might have sat beside him in church and attended church socials with him had I lived in Boston.  I have direct experience working  along side professionally successful men like him on leadership counsels in our church.  I have seen their practical solutions to problems.  I have seen them reach out to people who didn't agree with them, to people with vastly different experiences, and to people with totally different financial situations.  I have seen them give amazing amounts of help both financially and with their time to people in a variety of circumstances.  When dealing with a family's financial challenges, I have observed their careful stewardship of the church's money, money voluntarily given by others to help the poor.  The ultimate aim of all church financial help is to assist a person or family temporarily so that they can again be  in a position to help themselves.  Time and time again I have seen men like Mitt Romney help people out of the need for assistance rather than making them dependent on assistance. I could see a Romney Presidency implementing these same principles and changing the direction of our country.  But alas, it was't meant to be and so I cried.

I also came up with a few take-away thoughts from Election 2012

• The polls are accurate.  Realclearpolitics.com got it almost exactly right.  Next time I will trust them.
• While I am sure that there were people who didn't vote for Romney because he is Mormon or Obama because he is black, the vast majority of citizens did not cast their vote based on these criteria.  Our country is NOT racist or anti-Mormon.
• Our country is close to evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats; Liberals and Conservatives.  Our elected officials need to figure out how to reach across the aisle without giving up their core values and principles.  They must come together for the good of our country.
• We will never know the difference the media made in being so behind Obama.  What if 60 minutes had released the tape of President Obama saying the Bengazi attack was not a terrorist attack on the day after the Candy Crowley debate?  What if all the networks had covered the Bengazi attack with the accuracy and thoroughness of Fox?  We'll never know.
• We will never know what affect Hurricane Sandy and Governor Christie's bipartisan dance across New Jersey had.  We will know how accurate he was in praising the President's leadership as things unfold. 
• With the House and the Senate almost identical to the last 4 years, President Obama will not have free rein to just implement any thing he wants.  I'm most nervous about his possible executive orders but hopefully my fears are unfounded.

So what am I going to do now?  Life goes on! I'm going to take a total break from all things political until at least after Christmas.  No talk radio, liberal or conservative, no news shows, no blogs, no political sites on the internet!  I love this quote by James E Faust, one of our church leaders. "Your success as a family, our success as a society depends not on what happens in the White House, but on what happens inside your house."

So in my house I'm going to concentrate on making myself a better person and I'm going to pray for our President Barack Obama and the newly elected House and Senate.  I'm going to concentrate on calming my troubled heart.

Kenyan Friends

Joseph, the Kenyan director of Kenya Keys and his nephew Emmanuel have been here in Oregon visiting for a couple of weeks.  This is their very first time out of Kenya and very first time on an airplane.  Can you imagine that 20+ hour flight being your first airplane experience?

Joseph is an amazing man.  He works tirelessly for the children of not only the large elementary school where he is the principal but for the children of the entire district.  Often parents walk for miles to talk to him with the hope of attaining a Kenya Keys sponsorship for one of their children.  I've blogged about this before in another post but I'll share again.  Education is free until 8th grade.  High school is $375 a year.  That doesn't sound like much but it is simply out of the realm of possibility for the majority of parents in the Taru, Kenya area.  Kenya Keys helps bright and exceptionally needy students fulfill their dreams of a high school and possibly a college or university education. You can learn more about this very wonderful organization at kenyakeys.org

Emmanuel was one of the first Kenya Keys sponsored high school students.  Without help he would not have been able to continue to high school.  With a sponsorship and because of his exceptional grades he was able to attend a very prestigious secondary school and continue onto the University of Nairobi where he recently obtained a degree in pharmacology.  Now he mentors younger students and has the ability to support his family.  I smile when I write about his family because his wife gave birth to their first child, a son named Ryan, while Emmanuel was here in Oregon.  When I questioned him about this he said that he and his wife decided that a chance to visit America was so important that he could miss the birth of their child.  She sounds like quite a woman!

"So many choices" is the phrase they use frequently when talking about America.  Choices like controlling the temperature in a room, so many varieties of food, vending machines, drive through banking, recreational opportunities all around, books & books & books - Powells Bookstore completely blew them away!

I had the fun of taking them to Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

We toured the submarine, checked out all the fun exhibits, and saw the I-max movie "Into the Arctic."  I doubt that they had ever been into a movie theatre of any kind much less an I-max.  As we walked in I explained that sometimes I felt a bit sick in these theaters and if they started feeling it to just close their eyes.  Emmanuel looked at me and said "Now I'm scared."  But they loved it.  When I told them that there was a REAL polar bear at the Oregon Zoo, they immediately started trying to figure a time when we could visit.....and visit it we did! Fun even though the polar bear was asleep the whole time we were there!

As we left OMSI I made a little detour to take them through the drive through at Burgerville.  We ordered milk shakes (the first they'd ever had), sweet potato fries, and regular fries.  I love that as we pulled away, junk food in hand, Emmanuel said, "Who wouldn't love America?"

I do love America and I loved the opportunity to share it with two such amazingly wonderful men! Today they are at Disneyland!  Can't wait to hear their reaction to the "Happiest Place on Earth!"

Happy 37th Anniversary!

Thirty seven years ago tomorrow George and I got married in the Salt Lake Temple - sealed for time and all eternity!

I had no idea what an exciting adventure we were beginning!  The words from this Kenny Rogers song express my feelings so well:

I can't remember when you weren't there

When I didn't care for anyone but you

I swear, we've been through everything there is

Can't imagine anything we've missed

Can't imagine anything the two of us can't do

Through the years, you've never let me down

You turned my life around, the sweetest days I've found

I've found with you, through the years

I've never been afraid, I've loved the life we've made

And I'm so glad I've stayed, right here with you

Through the years

I can't remember what I used to do

Who I trusted, who I listened to before

I swear, you've taught me everything I know

Can't imagine needing someone so

But through the years it seems to me, I need you more and more

Through the years, through all the good and bad

I knew how much we had, I've always been so glad

To be with you, through the years

It's better every day, you've kissed my tears away

As long as it's okay, I'll stay with you

Through the years

Through the years, when everything went wrong

Together we were strong, I know that I belong

Right here with you, through the years

I never had a doubt, we'd always work things out

I've learned what love's about, by loving you

Through the years

Boise Temple

I spent the weekend in Boise and all three boys and I went to the Open House at the recently renovated Boise Temple. The temple was built 28 years ago.  It closed in May of 2011 for an extensive renovation.  Now it will be open for tours until it is rededicated in November.  The day we were there was the first day of the open house and over 11,000 people were able to see the inside. After the rededication only members of the LDS church will be able to go inside.

 It is really strikingly beautiful and it was wonderful to be there with three of my favorite men!  The next time I have my picture made with them, I think I'll stand on a stool!

John's Visit

George and I always joke that we had to move to become empty nesters!  We do enjoy this phase of life but we also enjoy when one of the 'kids' comes to visit.  In September we had a two week visit from Johnny! This little apartment seemed pretty quiet and lonely after he left!

We made our 2nd annual trip with our friends to Skamania Lodge for lunch and to enjoy the beautiful Columbia River Gorge.  John especially enjoyed talking to our friend Larry, who actually WAS a rocket scientist!

George, John and Tad went hiking on the other side of Mount Hood to Tamanawas Falls. I'm not sure which of the three guys enjoyed the day the most!

George and John also took in a Portland Timbers game but forgot to take any pictures. 

 We are lucky parents to be able to have such fun times with our adult children!