Weekend of Mission Memories

We just returned from a wonderful weekend of renewing mission memories. On Friday we drove to Boise to spend the night with Steve and Becky Smith (they were our mission president and wife when we served our 1st mission to Novosibirsk). We enjoyed a wonderful dinner with them and reminisced about mission memories late into the night. On Saturday, we drove together to Le Grande, Oregon and spent the night there so that we could attend Elder and Sister Royer's Mission Report on Sunday. The Royers served as a senior couple(23 month mission) in Krasnoyarsk - one of the cities in the Novosibirsk Mission. They were awesome missionaries and did so much to help the missionaries and members alike. Their reports were wonderful and brought back many,many sweet memories. Sunday was truly a wonderful day.

We loved spending time with the Smiths and Royers and renewing friendships and reliving our times in Russia! It is amazing how time fades the memory of the hard times and sharpens the memories of the good times!! We laughed and cried and talked and remembered all the blessings that our missions have brought into our lives!

This week, we are gearing up for our Missionary Reunion which will be held next Friday - April 2nd. We have heard from many of our returned missionaries that will be coming and we are very excited to see them!! The bonds that we have with these young men and women will last into the eternities!

Baby Eleanor has arrived!

Jon and Allison have added #4 to their family - a sweet baby girl. Born March 3rd, she weighed 8 lbs. 5 oz. and was 20 inches long. She has lots of pretty dark hair and is a very welcome addition to the family.

They will name her Eleanor Patricia Woidka (I hope I am spelling Eleanor as they will - if not I will let you know!)

This brings our total of grand children to 12 - 4 grandsons and 6 grand daughters! Grand kids are truly the best part of life! We are so happy to have our 2 newest arrivals here safe and sound!!

Grand baby #11 is here!

Georgia Gene Craw (Gigi) arrived Friday, February 19th at 1:11 AM. She arrived with a little drama - during delivery she became stressed and required a C section. Gigi was turned on her side in the birth canal and Jessica was too small to deliver her in that postion. She is here now safe and sound and Jessica is doing well!

Gigi is a really good little baby. She nurses well and even sleeps at night (can this be possible?) She and Jessica came home from the hospital yesterday and she gets cuter every day! Do I sound like a proud grandma? Gigi weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz. and is 20 1/4 inches long.

I arrived last Thursday in time for her birth and I will stay to help until Friday.

Allison's baby is due March 6th and we are excited to welcome grand baby #12! There is truly nothing as sweet as a newborn baby - they are so perfect and wonderful!

Big Band Evening and getting reaquainted with the MTC

Hal and I enjoyed a fun evening this past Saturday at BYU. It was a buffet dinner with Big Band music, a show and dancing. Hal and I have never been really wonderful dancers, but we did have fun listening and dancing (we did alright for a couple of kind of old people!) to some great music. We went with 2 other couples from our Salem Ward and it was fun to get better acquainted with them. We even ran into one of our returned missionaries and his date - it was great to see them!

Sunday found us at the MTC. Hal starts early on Sunday mornings (7:30 AM with Branch Presidency Meeting) and the day is filled with meetings until about 3:00 PM. We eat lunch with the missionaries in our branch and we are getting to know them better each time we go. We do love this opportunity to be with missionaries again and there truly is a wonderful spirit at the MTC. This past Wednesday we received 26 new missionaries (North American missionaries who will learn Russian) and this Wednesday we will receive 11 new missionaries from Russian speaking countries. It brought back sweet memories to sing the hymns in Russian again and to participate in classes with the missionaries. This coming Sunday we will speak in Sacrament Meeting ( we will speak once each month). If Jessica has her baby - I will be off to California and Hal will have to take my speaking time as well as his!

Patty is blogging now!

Well, here goes - my first attempt at blogging. Joan is at my side trying to guide me through.
She came to visit and we have had some fun "sister time". Shopping, lunch and many other important things have filled our time. Since returning from our mission I just can't get enough of spending time with my family.