Dearest Family,
HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DAVID ON THURSDAY,
SEPTEMBER 8TH!!! Mary Ann will make sure David has a birthday cake and
I hope they have a WONDERFUL day. It is such an exciting time for them
as they expect their first little baby - a baby girl?????
I'm SO proud of you David as you juggle
school, work and making your new home beautiful.
I have thought about Jimmy all week as he
has arrived in Brazil and is already into his training to learn
Portuguese and many other things. I know everyone will be happy when
they receive his first letter and maybe a picture with his Mission
President and his wife. He was surely prepared to be a GREAT missionary
and I'm very proud of him!!! It will be a VERY unusual and happy thing
to receive letters from both Brett & Jimmy from Brazil. I can relate to
the feelings Ann & Claire have with their sons so far away but they're
doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing. I love to look at the
pictures taken at the party honoring Jimmy last week - there were many
missing from the picture; Roy, Patrice, Emily, Timothy, Jesse, Laura and
Gracie & Caroline who were with us but asleep at the time the picture
was taken. Maybe next time!!!
I know all of us have been watching the
pictures on television of the hurricane tragedy in Louisiana,
Mississippi and Alabama. I really cannot imagine the hardships the
people who have been stranded have had to endure.. I know how hot it is
there and with the high humidity it would be unbearable without water
especially and I guess many were without food too for four or five days.
I have worried about Steve's family in
Destin, Florida. Florida wasn't hurt as badly as the other states but I
know they must have had flooding. I was SO happy that Patrice wrote and
said they had some much needed rain but no flooding. Our local news
reported many trucks with supplies going to Little Rock and I didn't
understand why - I guess they used Little Rock as a central place to
distribute supplies to those in need.
The most unusual thing ever to happen in
Utah is having hundreds of evacuees coming here to live for a little
while. I watched television last night as they unloaded African
American people here to be housed at Camp Williams. Camp Williams is
very close to Lehi and I am betting that many people who live there have
never seen African American people let alone have them come to live in
their community. It is going to be a challenge and I will be VERY
interested. They will have to have schools for their children,
activities for the adults to keep them busy and emotionally happy and
many, many other things that are completely unexpected. Utah is just
one of many States taking these people to try to help them. I know
Arkansas is also helping. I feel VERY sorry for these people - they
have no choice but to accept a completely new way of life after they
have lost everything.
I traveled throughout Louisiana, Mississippi
and Tennessee when I was Mission Relief Society President at the time
Arkansas was in the Gulf States Mission and it is VERY interesting to
see pictures of those places on television. There were not many African
American people in the church at that time - 40 years ago. I have also
thought about David and Anna Bass - they live in Ponchatoula, Louisiana
and I hope they're okay. I have lost Chris & Waynes' phone number in
Texas so I haven't been able to call them - they were SO fortunate to
sell their place last year.
A lady at church this morning said, "The
Lord moves in mysterious ways" and I hope the L.D.S. people in Utah
County are up to meeting the challenge and I know they are. Our Relief
Societies have been making hygiene kits, quilts, etc. for many years and
as I watched them distribute those things on television last night it
made it all worthwhile. I could just imagine how much it meant to those
people to have their own toothbrushes and toothpaste and other things -
even a bar of soap would be priceless.
John - where are you???? This is the first
time for a long, long time that I haven't heard from John. He told me
last Sunday at the Woolleys that he had bought a horse trailer so I have
visions of him stranded somewhere with his horses. I'm SO happy he can
take his horses out into the wide open spaces and ride them - he may
have to ride them to work with the high price of gasoline - Ha!!!
Bob - THANK you SO much for your help all
week. He came on Tuesday and put in a new disposal for me - I hope SO
much that his boys remember all the things he has taught them because it
is WONDERFUL to have help like that. I hated to ask him to help me
because his sons are away from their home and I didn't think Katie or
Laura would be interested in learning how to put in a disposal. I have
always felt it was worthwhile when he came with Michael & Brett to help
me because he was teaching them. I told Bob that both Roy & John could
"fix things" too - I know Lynn thought that was very important. I will
always remember that right after Lynn passed away I bought a "garden
hose reel" and John found me in despair trying to put it together and he
said, "Mom you're not supposed to know how to do things like that".
That made me feel better.
Bob and Claire have also arranged for me to
have a new refrigerator delivered tomorrow. I have noticed there was
water damage on the wooden tiles underneath the refrigerator but I just
thought I had dropped some ice cubes. It finally became obvious that
the ice maker was leaking. It's funny, I know it is probably 25 years
old but when we moved from Little Rock we gave Goodwill a refrigerator
that we bought in Wyoming right after we were married. I think it must
be the ice maker that wears out. Thanks SO much for helping me with all
my "worn out" essentials.
Lee Anna - I was THRILLED to receive your
e-mail this morning telling me that Chris' mother is coming from
California for your luncheon on October 1st. It will be just WONDERFUL
to meet her and also his sister, Mandy. I'm excited for the luncheon.
The Lion House provides parking for THREE hours at the Joseph Smith
Memorial Parking facility and if that is full they provide parking at
the ZCMI Center Parking garage for TWO hours. That is conference
weekend so the parking will be at a premium and I hope it won't cause
any of you problems.
I went shopping at the Crossroads Plaza last
Monday and since my car was broken into the last time I was there I was
sure to lock it. I discovered soon after I left my car that I had
locked my keys inside. The security men came to help me and they were
just GREAT except that I felt SO silly as they escorted me to my car and
I know that people watching thought I had been suspected of shoplifting
- Ha!!! That mall is surely changing - the church has bought it and
many of the tenants have moved out to make room for the changes whatever
they are going to be.
Susanna and Steve - I have the sweetest
memories of your little Jackson as we were attending church last Sunday
in Provo. I looked at him during the closing prayer and he was sitting
with his arms folded so reverently and noone had to tell him to do
that. I'm sure little Preston did the same thing but he wasn't close to
me at that time. I am SO proud of the training my great grandchildren
are receiving AND I KNOW IT ISN'T EASY!!!
I just watched some television coverage of
the evacuees who have arrived at Camp Williams. The Baptist Cavalry
Church provided meetings for them this morning and that church is mostly
made up of African American people and it was WONDERFUL to see them all
SO happy!!! They also announced that many of them would only be here a
few days and then they would move to relatives' homes in Arizona,
California and other places.
I think that's all the news. I LOVE EACH
ONE OF YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH. PLEASE BE SO VERY, VERY CAREFUL IN
EVERYTHING YOU DO. Grandma B XXXXXOOOOO