November 25, 2001 Farmington, Utah

WOW - WHAT A FUNNY DAY THIS HAS BEEN!!! I awakened to see "white stuff" all over - LOTS OF IT!!! I got up as usual and got ready for church as usual and then all of a sudden my power went off. It was about 9 a.m. and I went over to feed Martha's cats, came home and read the paper and kept thinking surely it will come on any minute and I can fix my hair. The condo people worked at getting the roads shoveled and I shoveled the snow from my deck and it still hadn't come on. Margaret and I kept calling each other and we both decided we definitely didn't want to "unhook" our electric garage door openers and open them manually - it's just too hard to "re-hook" them so we decided it would be best to just stay home from church. Our home teachers called and offered us rides - she had curled her hair with a butane hair curler but mine looked TERRIBLE so I used that as an excuse. I was surprised that our home teachers had power because they don't live far from us. I worried about Martha's cats and kept going over to her condo to check on them. I called the power company about 2:45 p.m. and told them it was very cold in our homes and would you believe that five minutes later the power came on. I called Margaret and told her that I had used all my authority - Ha!!! - and got it turned on. We both decided we wouldn't make very good pioneers. Our power goes off quite often but it has NEVER stayed off this long. They said it was due to the heavy snow and wind (we didn't have any wind here).

I have been thrilled to learn of the experiences Bob, Claire, Roy, Rick and Ricky had in "La Tinta" which is a remote village outside Guatemala where they went to give medical help to very poor people. Bob and Claire brought a video to share with all of us at Thanksgiving time and I have thought about it almost constantly since watching it - Roy, they tell me that one has been made for you and you will LOVE it. I keep thinking of the lines of people waiting to be helped and I want to cry - I get upset when I have to wait fifteen minutes in a doctor's office. There was a little girl who had been bitten by a snake and her parents waited for ten days so they could bring her for help - her bite had been infected and it is the worst thing I have ever seen - I hope so much that she will recover. There was a little child who had a tumor on his bottom and I have never seen anything like that - Bob said it was too close to his spine for surgery. Seeing Bob and Roy work together as a team when they operated on little children with cleft palates made me so grateful for their goodness. Their accommodations leave much to be desired and it was WONDERFUL to see Roy helping out in their kitchens - I believe they were overcharged for their little rooms at $2.50 per day - Ha!!! Claire surely went the extra mile and it was obvious she was tired and Bob who never admits to being tired said he was "totally exhausted". Rick was able to take many thousands of dollars worth of pacemakers - they had to do those in the city of Guatemala and there was a picture of one of the recipients. Ricky said it felt good to use his Spanish again. I'M SO PROUD OF ALL OF THEM. We all need to know they do this at their own expense - how many people in the world would do this?????????????????

ANNIE - I TAKE MY HAT OFF TO YOU!!! Your Thanksgiving dinner was absolutely perfect - I ate too much but I always do. JOHN - YOUR SALMON WAS ALSO ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!!! How could I ever compete with a meal like that???? My only complaint is that when I am assigned dessert I am going to insist that it be served first - Ha!!! I have no idea how the pies were and it is very unusual for me to be too full for dessert. I also LOVED the appetizers Claire, the green bean casserole Susanna, the rolls Jeannie, but I didn't taste the candy because I was too full. I just can't imagine a more perfect Thanksgiving except that we missed the Roy Mellors, Michael and Russell. I didn't even realize what a terrible day it was weather-wise because everything else was so perfect. Really, I don't believe I have ever seen it rain so hard as it did that day - I wanted to drive my own car because I wanted to spend some time in Lehi but it was scary and I was SO happy that Bob drove me home.

I just love to have my grandchildren enjoy each other so much and I would like to have had a tape of all their giggling. I also love to have John, Laura and Bren with us and I hope Laura recognizes what a well mannered and delightful young man Bren is. I don't ever get enough of them and I had hoped they would come visit yesterday and have a Thai dinner with Bob, Claire and me. John said they would try but then they got busy shopping and couldn't come and I understand. We have a favorite Thai restaurant in Roy and since Bob wanted to put some new windshield wipers on for me we went to dinner anyway. That's where I was when you dropped by last night Annie - I'm sorry I missed you. I'm glad Grandpa Russ and Mimi got to spend a little bit of holiday time with you - some of my favorite Thanksgiving memories are when I was with Russ, Bev and Mimi at your home.

ROY - Thank you SO much for your Thanksgiving letter. I know you and Patrice had a good one too with Suzie and your children - I have a recipe for Southern Dressing that I will send to you Patrice. I always looked forward to the Southern Dressing that Dan Woods would get from Timex and share with us - Dorothy sent me the recipe she got from the Timex cook and I copied it for all of you. You will probably never make it but "just in case" - Ha!!! I have made Southern Dressing many times but it has never turned out so I am determined to try this one sometime to see if it is as good as I remember it. I will NEVER forget the time I made Western Dressing for a ward dinner in Little Rock and Nell Wiggins didn't know I had made it and she came into the kitchen and said "Whoever made that dressing surely doesn't know how to make dressing" - Ha!!!

I am SO excited for Patrice's sister Joan and her husband Andy. They have gone through a lot of legal problems to adopt a little baby from Russia and they finally have him and will bring him to their home in Connecticut this next week. Patrice forwarded his picture to me and he is a little doll and he sounds so very healthy which I am sure was a concern for them. They will give him two names - one Russian and one American and will call him by his American name, William. I hope Patrice will share his progress in his new home and new environment with me. That is such a noble thing for them to do and I'm very proud we can claim them as family. This has been an exciting time for the O'Donoghue women - Liz with a new little baby girl, Samantha, and now William.

I can't remember if I have thanked Jesse and Katie for their letters - I LOVE them. I want to thank Michael for his card too - I know how very busy you are Michael and it means a lot to me for you to think of me. Ricky brought a friend home for Thanksgiving and they were at my condo the night your card came and his friend Dana recognized the picture of Florence, Italy. She had visited there last Summer.

I know that some of you take the LDS Church News and I want you to read the little part of Sister Hinckley's message on her 90th birthday where she tells how important it is for Grandparents to tell their grandchildren about their ancestors. I was happy to read that she thinks this is very important because I insisted that I take a few minutes to give a genealogy "report" at our Thanksgiving dinner table about my Great-Great-Grandmother Sarah Bushman. When I was all of your ages I couldn't have cared less about genealogy but all of a sudden it is important to me so expect more "reports" - Ha!!!