Saturday, August 23rd, we enjoyed a fun Open House at our home in Pearland Texas. My sweet Visiting Teacher, Beth Livesay, offered to enlist the help of the ladies in our ward (congregation) & the food was delicious! I made beef brisket sandwiches (y'all know we Texans LOVE us some good brisket, haha!). It was wonderful to see so many of our sweet church friends & family again, after being gone for the summer. Bob made some fun "mission trading cards", as I love to refer to them...with our picture & our blog address, so friends can follow us on this blog. I teased that in 18 months these cards will surely be worth some $$$, LOL!
Enjoy sharing this fun night through our pictures:
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| Serena & our darling granddaughters, Maggie & Chloe. Miranda & Jaxon Brown |
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| We were so excited that Debbie Berg (Bob's sister-in-law) was able to come up from Port Arthur to join us for the weekend! |
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| My dear friend, Laurel Smith (thanks for the yummy Texas Sheet Cake, Laurel!) |
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| The Smith brothers... |
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| Our wonderful next-door neighbor, Kay. We couldn't ask for a sweeter, more loving friend & neighbor! |
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| My amazingly talented friend & life-saver, Beth Livesay. The evening went off perfectly, thanks to her help! |
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| Our little granddaughter, Brooklynn, LOVED Aunt Serena's chocolate cake :) |
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| Our Stake President, Daryl Scott, & his wife, Apryl |
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| The cute Scott sisters... |
Sunday, August 24th, we spoke in our Pearland Ward. We have missed our ward "family" & have truly felt their love, support & prayers. We had been asked to speak about how missions can influence past, present & future generations. I revised my talk from a few weeks ago a bit to fit this new topic, but still began with the background of how we came to the decision to serve a public affairs mission. I also shared some experiences of how we have already recognized the influence this decision is having on our family & friends.
One special experience is that my sweet mother-in-law, Norma, has been so excited to share articles about our church from the Houston Chronicle. Although she attends the Lutheran Church (which Bob grew up in), she is so supportive of our decision & always sends her love & prayers as we embark on this journey. She & her friend, Ann, even scheduled a day to spend in Nauvoo Illinois this past week, as they were traveling to Iowa & Minnesota. She called us yesterday & said they absolutely loved their time there & thought the temple was beautiful. Her favorite was the Women's Gardens with all of the lovely statues & flowers.
Bob gave a great talk, as he always does, & focused much of it on Family History, sharing stories of several of his ancestors. I know that the passion he has for this valuable work will definitely be used as we serve throughout South Africa. He will be an incredible asset to those who want to learn & research their ancestors, & in turn, move the work of the Lord forward in these latter-days.
After our meeting, we came back to our home & had a great visit & lunch with family & friends. Thanks to our sweet family for putting together such a yummy lunch. We enjoyed having all four of Bob's kids there, as well as most of their families. We truly missed Shelby, Zoey & new little baby Jackson; as well as Julie, Addie, Jack & Millie. We did feel your presence & support there, though :) It was also fun to have Debbie with us Sunday also, as well as the Brown family (formerly from our East Texas Ward). And we were glad Trevor Young was able to make it back down from Belton to share in the festivities! He has been living in our home since January, & will be taking care of things while we are on our mission - such a HUGE blessing!
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| Dave & Serena, Anthony, Debbie, Brooklynn, Breana & Joe, James & Grayson Chloe, Maggie, Sharon & Bob |
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| I brought our African display from Utah, so we could enjoy at our Texas home too. Here are the mission "trading cards" Bob created to share our blog address. Cool, huh?!! |
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| Our friends, Johnny & Shawna Brown, from our former ward in East Texas, surprised us by coming to our farewell. It was wonderful to see them again! |
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| Joe & Anthony were able to fly in from California, just in time to join with us for the weekend activities. |
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| Our grandson Grayson is such a character! |
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| We were "serenaded" by these cute cousins, Grayson & Chloe |
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| We gave each of the grandkids' families a South African flag & let the kids choose their favorite African animal toy to remember us while we're gone :) |
FOUR DAYS & COUNTING til we enter the Provo MTC September 1st...wow!!!
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