Tuesday, January 30th, Claude's cousin posted this wonderful bit of family history on Facebook. Robyn and Mack Esplin are preparing to leave on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to England. Robyn is an excellent geneologist. Robyn is the daughter of Claude's father's sister. Here is her post with pictures.
I made a WONDERFUL connection a couple of nights ago! After we received our mission call to Leeds, England I remembered that I had a Great Grandfather (Ernest Henry Cornwall) that served a mission in England in the early 1900's. I wondered where in England he had served but could not find the information in his history other than that it was referred to as a "Mission to Europe" or "European Mission."
One interesting thing about him is that he did not serve when he was young, he left when he was 33 years old. He also left his wife (Maggie May Cornwall), and four young children. I have included on this post a picture of him taken while he was on his mission, and also a picture of his family taken while he was gone. My grandma, Ruby Cornwall Christensen is the oldest child in the picture. Great Grandpa served in England for 2 1/2 years. His family stayed in Salt Lake City with family members.
What kind of grit, determination and dedication to the gospel does it take to leave your little family and travel over 4,500 miles by boat to serve the Lord for 2 1/2 years? What kind of woman lets her husband go and serve while she stays home with her children and is dependent on family to help them during this time? As I have pondered it, I realize how much grit, determination and dedication to the gospel BOTH of them had. While it certainly was a sacrifice for them, I've come to realize that it wasn't just about sacrifice, it was a matter of consecration to them. They didn't HAVE to give...they CHOSE to give, to do what they could to help build the Kingdom of God. I gained a greater understanding and appreciation of sacrifice & consecration...because of them.
Anyway, back to the connection I made. As I was looking through the information I had about my Great Grandparents, I saw a letter he received from his mission president as he was being released. In the letter it said he had served in Newcastle, England. I quickly grabbed the map we received outlining the boundaries of our Leeds mission. Guess what? NEWCASTLE IS IN OUR MISSION! I don't know where we will be serving for sure within the mission, but if we stay in Leeds, we will only be a little over an hour away from Newcastle. You can bet during one of our prep-days we will be traveling up there! I know it will have changed in the over 110 years since he was there, but I want to walk the streets he walked. I want to see some of the sites he saw. I want in my own way to say "Thank you. Thank you for my heritage. Thank you for sharing the gospel, thank you for living the gospel. Thank you for showing me that whatever I'm asked to do it will not be anything like the sacrifice both you and Great Grandma Cornwall were willing to give. Although I don't have to sacrifice like both of you did, I will consecrate ALL I have for the gospel."
Several years ago, Jeffrey R. Holland gave a wonderful talk entitled, "As Doves to our Windows." He closed the talk with the following quote that I absolutely love and is so very fitting in my life too. He said, "I OWE MUCH FOR THE PRICELESS HERITAGE THAT HAS BEEN GIVEN TO ME. INDEED, I OWE EVERYTHING, AND I PLEDGE THE REST OF MY LIFE IN GIVING IT."
The first was from Betty Dixon. Betty is a sweet friend who is 89 years old. She and her hubby, Curt, were motorcycle buddies years ago. When Claude was asked to create a Leadership Training Division for GWRRA, Curt was right there helping him. Curt passed away several years ago. Betty finally sold their big home on a hill in the country in Virginia. He son, Todd, purchased a home with a mother-in-law suite in it. Betty moved there. Todd had cancer and was in remission. As soon as Betty was settled, she lost a lot of her vision. Macular degeneration. The doctors are giving her shots in one eye to help restore some of this vision. It is working but requires two more shot sessions with follow-up shots for the remainder of her life. Until the vision is corrected, she can't drive or read. Then, Todd's cancer returned. This call from Betty was to tell me she now knows Todd has been given 3-5 months to live. Betty is sure it will be closer to 3 months. Betty will not live with her daughter-in-law once Todd passes. Not an issue with the daughter-in-law, just not what Betty wants to do. Now, in addition to her eyesight, she has to figure out where she will move. I cannot imagine. 89 years old and moving twice in one year. Big moves. She may move to Iowa where Curt is buried. It was a sobering conversation. Good to share her story with me and let her talk about things.
The second was a fun call from our Andie. You see, Katelyn's daughters, Raelyn and Emelia, have learned to send messages to me via Facebook Messenger. Somewhere along the way, the figured out how to do video chats. I received a video chat from them which their mother did not know they were doing. Raelyn assured me she could now call anytime she wanted! Well, it seems Andie was aware of all of this and has also had communication with Raelyn. Not to be outdone, Andie did her own phone call to me! What a kick.
The last call was in the evening. Katelyn is trying to learn to crochet. This is where the distance between us is difficult. Teaching to crochet long-distance is tricky. When she was here in November, I showed her some things and gave her some yarn. I gave a copy of pages from a needlework book my mother gave me. There were instructions for left-handed crocheting. I am right-handed. Katelyn is left-handed. Ugh. Katelyn has been diligent in taking time to learn this skill. She has a worthy goal of wanted to make a baby blanket for her dear friend. She wanted help that she wasn't getting from the YouTube videos she was watching. We had a nice little training session and she was off to try her hand again at crocheting. I really admire this as her plate if so very full.
Thursday, February 1st, This day I had time to myself. Claude went to Frankfort, Kentucky to the Capital to meet with the Governor and Legislative Leaders. The Communications Council, of which he is the chair for our stake, and other Communications Councils from the Kentucky area, were meeting to volunteer their help as legislators see a need for it. This is such a welcome treat for the legislators. When this day of visits from the community comes to Frankfort, many are there to complain. To have a huge group of people there to thank them and ask to be of help is a real treat.
Off to Kohl's I went with my 15% of coupon on my phone. I was so happy I found twill slacks. These have been practically non-existent since everyone has gone to leggings. I am a firm believer that a LOT of us should never wear leggings. If we do, we need to wear dresses over them. This is a tirade I really should keep to myself. Let's just state, I was beyond happy to find black twill slacks. I even bought a khaki pair of twill pants. I also found my favorite Amanda jeans by Gloria Vanderbilt. They had my size. I bought two pair of them in a nice dark blue. I was one very happy lady!
Then I made my way to Walmart. You see, when Claude and I went grocery shopping the beginning of the week, I had laundry detergent on the shopping list. While Claude checked out milk for us, I went to pick out laundry detergent. I was devastated. All Kroger had was plastic bottles and many of those were filled with pods. My storage space is the exact size for the small boxes of powdered laundry detergent. I was so upset, I didn't purchase anything. I told Claude I would need time to come to peace with this turn of events. That, and I wanted to look elsewhere to see if I could find boxes of powdered laundry detergent. It seems that someone in the laundry detergent industry feels that we ALL will be much happier with their choice of shiny plastic bottles and pods. UGH!! I was fortunate enough to find four small boxes of powdered laundry detergent in Walmart. Clearly, they are also going to all plastic bottles. I am thinking that we are supposed to be using less plastic to save the environment. How can an entire aisle of what was mostly cardboard boxes of powdered detergent not FULL of plastic bottles be doing the save the environment thing. I am frustrated on two levels here. But, my shelf has what I want until the next time I need to fill that storage spot. Then, I will have to conform to what some manufacturer thought would be best. Not cool!!
In the evening, I was amused as we sat watcing television. Claude was going through the Alton Brown's Good Eats shows he has recorded. He got up to pick up the kitchen and I would find him standing watching and listening. I do believe Alton Brown is his culinary hero!
A little comment here on our son, Jake. He is entertaining us well with videos he is making of his interaction with two cats.
The first cat was Gray Kitty. He had no name. He roamed the neighborhood. He would stop by and keep Jake company on his porch. After a bit, he came into Jake's apartment. Jake bought him toys and treats. They had a great friendship. When GK was finished with his visit, Jake would let him out to roam again. One day, some of Jake's neighbors were walking their dog and stopped at Jake's apartment. It turns out they were GK's owners. They had a tracking color on GK and figured out he was spending time with Jake. They live catty-cornered from Jake. They were happy to have GK spend time with Jake. Jake could give him treats but not feed him. He gets urinary tract infections and is on a special diet for meals. Jake saw the owner in the post office a few days later and she said, "How is Uncle Jake?" Clearly they are okay with Jake entertaining GK.
The second cat is actually named Soot. However, it is orange in color. Soot belonged to Max who lives in the same buiding as Jake. They have been friends for many years. Soot knows Jake and had let Jake feed him and let him in and out of the apartment when Max was in the hospital. Mack and Jake had conversations about Jake taking Soot when Max passed. This year, Max did pass away. Jake spoke with Max's family who were cleaning out her apartment. They were very happy he wanted this cat. So, Orange Kitty became Jake's cat. Orange Kitty is not as much of a hugging, curl-up-in-your-lap kind of cat as GK. OK had never stayed overnight in Jake's apartment. When Max was in the hospital, Jake had often had him come into his apartment for meals. Now, Jake and OK were into grieving to the loss of Max and learning to be companions.
I love that Jake is very intuitive when it comes to managing animals. He understands their individual needs and respects that. He gives them time and space as well as closeness as needed. Jake posted this picture of him with OK (Soot). I love this picture.
Jake purchased OK a cat tree that he calls El Catitan. OK is older and has only jumped to the second level. Jake has put things to entice him to jump to the top (3rd) level but he hasn't taken any of the bait. GK has started to come back around and, when OK is on the prowl, GK comes inside and plays with the toys and enjoys that attention Jake gives him. Jake decided he may have purchased the world's best carpeted end table. He enticed GK with treat and posted the cutest video of GK finally on top of El Catitan.
Friday, February 2nd, I onto a new project that has been playing in the back of my mind for a very long time. I am going to do this. It has to do with my picture storage. I am diligent with this. It was a lot of work scanning all our picture albums, going through the pictures we had not ever labeled and getting them scanned and labeled, collecting pictures pictures from family and phones. Lots to keep straight.
When I take pictures, I take them off my camera or cellphone and put them in the "Saved Pictures" file on my lap top. Then I label this with the date 2024_0207, number 001, an the description label. I make sub-directories on my laptop with this date and description and then put all the pictures into the sub-directory. Periodically, I will take the pictures from my laptop and put them on two external drives. That way I have two back-ups of pictures and can take the pictures off my laptop. I know. Everyone is storing in the cloud. I have not done a lot of that and don't want to pay more for that privilege. You can get free storage but only for a certain amount of storage. I have a LOT more than that amount.
Over time, I have saved and now have duplicates of lots of things. My project is to go through all the pictures on both drives and clean out the duplicates and be sure both drives have all the pictures. Fortunately, I have Claude's old laptop and can put one external drive with it and use my laptop for the other external drive. I then open the files on both computers and compare and delete as needed. When I find a picture on one external drive and not the other, I make a note to copy that file later. Right now, I am focusing on going through all the pictures. This project will take time and I am happy to report that as of today, Feb 7th, I am to the year 2000 of our marriage. That was 1970. Lots to go but I am getting there. Yeah me!!
The big thing Claude and I decided this day is our fall trip. We are going to take a drive on Route 66. I have found a great website and am making a grid for each state and what things we might want to see in each of the states by cities along the route. Again, another BIG project but I am learning what appeals to me on this trip and what I believe will appeal to Claude. We have picked out the dates we can go and set them aside so we don't fill them with something else. It's a long drive. Chicago to Santa Monica. We can't see everything but we can pick what is the best for our enjoyment and visit those sites.
Saturday, February 3rd, it occurred to me that I love to laugh. I put that as something I am grateful for in my gratitude journal. I love seeing life through a smile. There is really a lot to chuckle at when we look at things we do or go through in our daily lives.
Another thing about me is that I often see the world through the lens of a camera. Not that the camera lens is in my face all the time. But more like looking at something and seeing it as a picture taken by a camera. This day I was sitting on the love seat in our living room and the sun was coming in the back door. I could see the reflection of the little chime that hangs by that door. It was pleasing to me...so I took the picture. Enjoy.
I tried something new this day. When we moved to Georgetown, we made our Sunday tradition to be going out for lunch after church. Usually that is going through a drive-thru and taking the food home to eat before Claude's Sunday nap, another tradition. This Sunday, we opted for lunch from Burger King. My usual at Burger King is a Whopper Junior meal. Claude knows that is what I order there. However, as we pulled up to the sign, we noticed a new Whopper Burger. It is a bacon filled delight. It has bacon and bacon jam on it. When we lived in Sadieville, Hardee's had, for a time, a burger with three types of bacon. This Whopper Bacon burger appeared to be similar. I quickly told Claude to make that this new Whopper. He was stunned that I changed my mind! It was a good Whopper. Fun to try something new.
Monday, February 5th, this day we were finally able to visit Wendell and Vickie Drakeford. Wendell was our realtor when we sold our home in Sadieville and purchased our home in Georgetown. We loved working with them. Wendell was the realtor but Vickie took our wish list and found homes she thought we might like. They are a great team. Wendell has cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He has lost so much weight but is beginning to perk up. I took pictures of the work we have done in the back yard of our home to share with them. We took them a jar of crabapple jelly. It was pleasant to have them explain what this disease was and what his prospects are. They asked about Papa. Isn't that sweet? We talked about Claude and my health adventures in 2023. I was impressed with Wendell's question about our home. He asked, "Is it a sturdy home?" He really wanted to be sure we were in a good place. Clearly we love this house. So grateful we crossed paths with these two good people.
This year I have told me family we are having a 'Year of the T-shirt'. Everyone's birthday gift this year will be a t-shirt. I round a lovely place from which to order them with great sayings on them. I ordered one for Claude for our anniversary. He was sittin on the sofa when the package with the t-shirts for our families March birthdays arrived. His t-shirt was in the package. I gave it to him anyway. In the evening he wore his new t-shirt proudly and only got one drop of spaghetti sauce on it when he ate!! We really loved The Big Bang Theory television show and we really love Star Wars. This shirt combines both. If you know the shows, the t-shirt makes really good sense.
We also drove to Aubrey and Raul Garrido's home to give them a baby afghan for Claire. She is their first baby.
Tuesday, February 6th, we delivered another baby afghan for Luke and Aitana Risher. They are having a baby boy. It feels good to give these gifts.
I sent Raelyn, our oldest great grandmonster, my thoughts about baptism and some pictures for her. She was having her baptism interview with her bishop that evening. This is what I sent to Raelyn:
I am sending you some pictures of baptism days in our family that you might enjoy. The first one is Papa baptizing me. The second one is Ma being baptized. She is standing in the middle of the front row. Great Grampa baptized her. The last one is your mother on her baptism day. Grampa baptized her. My baptism is very important to me. Mimi (my mother) made me a white blouse and skirt to wear. Papa carefully told me what to expect. Another friend was also being baptized that day. I was nervous but my parents were there to help me stay calm. I was not nervous about making that covenant. I was nervous about being in and under the water. I am now 73 years old. I have continued to make covenants with Heavenly Father. I hold each of these covenants dear to me. They give me strength to make correct choices. They bless my life by knowing I am bound to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I can feel their love for me each and every day. Each Sunday, as I take the sacrament, I remember that special day I was baptized. I am grateful I chose to be baptized so I can have this special bond with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
When your doorbell rings at night, you cautiously check to see who it is. Then you find the most thoughtful, sweet greetings taped on your door. Thank you so much for thinking of us and filling our door with love. You made us very happy!
Wednesday, February 7th, I have had a delightful day at home. My entire day has been spent clearing out things on my to do list on my laptop. It feels good to get these things done. I am blessed.
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