There and Back Again: Week 37 Family from California and Oregon!

What a WONDERFUL week it has been. My Uncle and Aunt and several cousins (first cousins once removed) came into town to see all things Nauvoo and Carthage. Isn't is interesting how you can be just bopping along in life doing your thing and you see someone you haven't seen in a great while and suddenly you realize just how much you've been missing them? I have hundreds of family members and hundreds and hundreds of friends. If I was sad to not be around someone, I'd be very sad all the time. But luckily our brains don't work that way. My brain puts things, and people that I'm not immediately in contact with in the back of my brain and when I encounter them it brings the memories forward and it's like no time had passed. When Uncle Cliff and Aunt Linette and Bethany arrived with kids and grandkids my heart just swelled with so much happiness. It was really GREAT!

We were able to arrange our schedule to spend time with them for some of the events in Nauvoo and on one day they came up to Carthage to take the tour and we were able to feed them breakfast! Something we LOVE to do is feed people.

Waffles with homemade maple carmel sauce and homemade strawberry sauce and "As you like it" Omlettes by Elder Cullen (they got to pick what to have in their own personal omlettes). Also apple juice, orange juice, milk, cherries, watermelon, and home fry pototoes.

We were going to spend Friday night together watching the Brittish Pagaent before they left but then...

Double Whammy Tornado and Flood warning! LOL Earlier we got word that Ephraim was coming down with a family from Kansas City, MO (where he's living now) to see the Pagaent. We were going to meet him there, PLUS my brother, Adam, and his wife Holly, and Cheri, another friend, were also coming into town from Oregon on Friday night. Aunt Linette had reserved 17 seats for ALL of us....and then the lightning warning and we had to get to our cars, then the wind and rain started in hard. Elder Cullen and I tried to get back to Carthage but the wind and rain were so heavy we literally could not see one inch in front of us WITH the wipers going full blast. The family Ephraim was with invited us to come over and wait for a break in the storm. They were across the street from the gas station where we had stopped to get pizza. So we slowly made our way over and SURPRISE/ NOT SURPRISED Ephraim and one of their kids, Becci, were out running around in the storm laughing and shouting and completely DRENCHED as if they had been swimming. It was funny and made me so happy that he was still his kooky old self no matter how old he gets. Around 10pm there was a break and we zoomed home. The next morning Adam and Holly and Cheri came over for brunch: Homemade Naan and curried beef and watermelon. Then, we went to an ancient mounds museum. Ephraim and Becci met us there in their own vehicle.

Elder Cullen stopped at an antique shop and found me a STACK of Richie Rich Comic Books which I have been collecting since I was 8! LOL I know, I'm silly, but it's still just as fun to read them as it was back then. After the museum we headed to Hannibal to tour the Mark Twain Museum

and go on the Mark Twain Riverboat Dinner Cruise.

That cruise was magical. The live band was SO GREAT! It sounded like a Bugsy Malone Jr. Musical sound track. So old fashioned in the BEST way. I couldn't help but get up and dance! The food was delicious and the company was FUN!

Ephraim and Becci sat at the Kids table...lol Ephraim was her old uncle Scrooge.

So it's Monday afternoon and Adam, Holly, and Cheri are the only one's left. They leave tomorrow. (This is why my blog is late, too much fun, no time to sit at the computer) When we finish our Carthage chores we'll go back into Nauvoo to go to dinner with them and say goodbye. It's been a whirl wind of joy and adventure. Back to the calm happy routine of "Guardians of Carthage"

I was cleaning larva out of the letters of the monuments.

I had just done it two days before, but these bugs work fast!

I was reminded that just as I GENTLY brushed the sticky webs and juicey green worms from the golden lettering we also must be gentle and firm with ourselves as we repent daily and stay golden.

When our lives are filled with purpose and service, we avoid spiritual apathy; on the other hand, when our lives are deprived of divine purpose, meaningful service to others, and sacred opportunities for pondering and reflection, we gradually become suffocated by our own activity and self-interest, risking losing our savor. The antidote to this is to continue to be involved in service—being anxiously engaged in good works and the betterment of ourselves and the society we live in.” Elder José A. Teixeira “Bonded to Jesus Christ: Becoming the Salt of the Earth,” general conference, Oct. 2024, Gospel Library