Finally we have a horse back in the family!!

And I don't have to feed it or clean up after it. The best way to enjoy a horse without all the work is for one of our kids to own it instead of me. Hillary and Brandon got a horse. How cool is that ? One more thing to look forward to in 2012 :)

Look who we found in London :)

London is preparing for the Royal Wedding and more crowded than I have ever seen it, but we just had to be there to see them--BFF the Seare's !!


Becky is so excited. Can you tell?

Mom Bday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME... THE BEST GIFT EVER!! THANKS PAUL AND JESI!!! FOR HAVING SUCH CUTE KIDS!

Homeward Bound- so pretty

No, I'm not posting this because I am homesick. Of course I'm a bit homesick as all missionaries can be, but I'm posting this because its one of my favorite songs, and I do want it sung or played at my funeral. No I'm not planning on dying soon. :)I'm just letting anyone know, that I love this song, and I think it is a perfect song for a funeral or homecoming etc. of any kind. I also like the photography in this clip. So I'm posting this just for pure enjoyment in case you come to my blog to see what I'm up to now and then. I'm still alive and well as my blog title states and I have some mission posts as well below :)ENJOY!!

The CFYA is expanding !

The YSA Center we are running is really picking up steam. We had 38 show up….which is a new record. We have been so blessed. The first week we attended Institute there were 14. We have been told that the average was about a dozen each week. We are now averaging over 30 and it is growing every week :) Tonight Greg decided to have an activity after institute. He organized a few games and the YSA seem to think it was great. He set up a mini golf tournament and Foosball and Ping Pong. By the time we went home Greg was exhausted to say the least. I cook food 2 times a week for all of them and they seem love my American meals. Im not sure why, but Im starting to feel like I'm a better cook than I thought I was. Every week several of them express how much they love the food. That is a great reward for me since I stress every week about what to feed them. Its getting a bit more difficult now to prepare so much food and i think in time we will have to scale back a bit and do more simple things. Right now though I think the food is helping get more to come out and definitely more of them are staying longer to eat. When we were assigned to the YSA center we didn't have a clue what to do, but now we are getting a routine and things are going along much easier. Greg makes such a huge effort to make it work. When the Lord asks him to do something he does it ALL the way. We are doing our best, and we can feel and see the blessing are coming for the YSA center and for us as missionaries.

Beautiful Baby Boy!!

I would like you all to meet Julian. He is our newest #15 :) Even though I cant be there to meet him in person I already love this little guy. Mollie gave birth to our 15th grandchild on Jan 30th. I was in a face booking, skype typing frenzy that day to try my best to keep up with the news. Hillary was there for the birth of Julian and she kept me well informed by phone Then all Mollie's other sisters joined together to give support to Mollie and Adam that day. Im so thankful for another great blessing in our lives.. A beautiful baby boy!

The Elders to the rescue!

I was sad that i didn't get a pic of Carol Strong at her baptism but Elder Gardner came to my rescue. He had included her in his pic of his 2 converts, and gave me a copy. Now I have a picture of Carol in white :) I think I must have been down stairs at the church practicing a song I sang for the baptism, and forgot all about taking a picture, and I forgot my camera so duh!! . Thanks Elders!

CAROL AND JOHN

John and Carol have become part of our mission life for sure. We have visited them every week since we met them back in Nov. We taught Carol and she just seemed to welcome all the doctrine of the gospel with great faith. John is a member already but has been on sabbatical for 30 odd years. :) Carol was baptized and I feel so bad that i forgot my camera that night and didn't get a pic of her in white but this beautiful colored afghan that she gave us will remind me of them both for many years to come. I'm not sure how in the world i will get it home but i will just cross that bridge when I come to it.

A white Christmas here in England, in more ways than one :)

Whitney and Harry Fall. Baptized Dec. 11, 2010.
Among the snow we got here in England in Dec, we also had another type of White Christmas. We have had the opportunity of getting to know a family here that have been one of our biggest blessings since we arrived. Notice I said one of our blessings.. We have had many, but this is for sure one of the best of them. There name is Fall. We drove to there home one slushy cold night at about 8:00PM. I was not too thrilled to knock on there door so late since many people here don't like it when we knock after dark. The spirit prompted us to knock anyway and lo and behold some one came to the door. She was a beautiful petite lady who invited us in like she was expecting us. She took us straight away to her living room and introduced us to her husband. He had a warm smile and a huge personality and laugh that as you can see fit his stature. He welcomed us in , and told us that he knew we were coming because ever time he had something difficult in his life the missionaries would show up.. (he had gotten some bad news about his health that week). Well the rest is history and we feel so blessed and happy to have knocked on there door that night. As time went on and we had regular appointments with them, it finally progressed into 2 baptisms. There 2 beautiful children. Whitney and Harry Fall are now members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and Lorna and Andy are attending again after a few yeas of "being on holiday" as we say when people have not been to church for an extended period of time. :) For us this was the best kind of white Christmas we could have ask for. We have since gone to their home every week since we met them. Lorna fixes us dinner and we talk about the gospel together. Heavenly Father continues to care about his children and watches over all of us. He lead us there that night and it is our blessing to now have their friendship in our lives.

SO BUSY THAT MY MIND IS BLANK

Several times now i have thought that i need to blog about my mission. I never can think of what to blog about and then i realize that is because my head is so full of stuff about our mission that it is over loaded and stuck in a big huge ball of confusion most of the time. I'm going to try and sort it out soon and make some kind of sense of all of it and get it down on a blog. I think if i do some daily journal writing i will be better at remembering what it is i want to blog about. Ya i know,,, we are supposed to write a daily journal on a mission, but i can honestly tell you that the days go by so fast and furious that i cant remember or I'm too tied to get any thing down on paper.. I'm going to do my best now to change that. Check back now and then and see if I'm doing better. OK? :) I miss my family tons and I keep counting the months till i will see them again. For now though I'm going to concentrate on this work.. The Lords work! We find and teach each day and we are also involved as the CFYA center. All over Europe the church is starting a center where the youth can come for fun food and friends and religious instruction. 2 nights a week or more. This will be an overwhelming task, but we know that it is inspired by the Lord. It will succeed and then hopefully the youth in Europe will find a way to meet people there own age and with common interests and religion. It has been one of the biggest problems in Europe and now the Lord has revealed a way to help with that problem. We are privileged to be part of this here in the Bournemouth England area. More to come on the success of this program...

Life is tough and then you die :)

Promised updates:
I wrote this post a long time ago, but didnt have a way to upload my pics because we didnt have a good interent connection. Here are some pics now that go along with this post.

Bournemouth England
We are still looking for a place to live here in Bournemouth England. The process has not been an easy one. While we wait and wait and wait we cant complain too much about our surroundings now can we? The ducks near the pond were taken in Surrey, where we stayed for a few days on the temple grounds, which is about 2 hours away from us.The other pics are of the beach here in Bournemouth. All 3 wards that we have been assigned to have the beach coast line running along it. Updates will follow as soon as we are not homeless any more. I dont think our hotel room is picture worthy . LOVE and Miss you all :)

just add to blog a nuver one before me goes !

We are about to take off once again for Jolly ole England on a mission. We are getting all our last minute things done and will be headed out bright and early tomorrow morning. I cant really express the feelings I'm feeling right now. Seems to be so bitter sweet. Its hard to understand the feeling unless you have done it, but it is one of the most difficult things I have done and will do again in my life. I am one of the biggest home bodies on the earth and for me it is like pulling both my arms off to leave my home and family. The only thing that makes it possible for me to do this is my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no way I would leave if I didn't know the Lord is watching over us all. He is in charge. This life is but a small moment in time. I know he lives! He was sent to earth to show us the way. He taught his gospel here on earth and then died that we might live again. I know he visited with the spirits in the spirit world and taught them there, I know he also visited the people of the Americas and also taught them His gospel. I know he was resurrected and now lives again with God, and is waiting for His people to learn and grow and hear the gospel. I want to be an instrument in His hands to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as I can. There is nothing else in this life as important as this. That is why I do it. That is why I rip my arms off again and head out on yet another mission for the Lord. I love all my kids and family and friends. May His blessings be upon you until we meet again. I love you!!

SOMETHING WORTH BLOGGING ABOUT

Is "AlexZander the Great" not one of the funniest kids ever? He definatley reminds me of his daddy Paul!
Zander can do lots of tasks around the house too.. Some include...


Baby sitting- he knows just how to silence her.

Help wash the car or your windows, If you can get him out of the bucket long enough.


Help feed his little sister


Walk the dog!


Oh Yes Zander is the one you want to spend your days with!! He is a laugh a minute. :)

I THINK IM ALL BLOGGED OUT

Either my life is extremely boring these days or , or , or, my life is extremely boring these days. When I get more energy and more to write about I will resume my blogging.

Remembering Frederick B. Arnold ---Korean War Casualtie

On this memorial day in May of 2010 I want to salute and remember my brave father who lost his life at such a young age to defend our country. I never had the opportunity of knowing him but through family research have discovered things about him that help me to know him a little better. I cant wait to meet him someday. I have total faith that I will. What a great reunion awaits us. :)

All About Your Heart

Turn off my music and click the u tube video. Listen to this cute little song. This little girl reminds me so much of Peyton. She knows she is beautiful too :)

Life can throw a major curve ball now and then!

Three Amigos serving the Lord :)

We are getting so excited to go on our mission to England again. Two of our best friends will also be serving in the mission field when we are. The Seares are already out serving in Fiji, and we will have the privilege of being in the mission home the same time as the Postmas, and then reporting to our missions the next week to different places. There is nothing quite like serving a mission and to get to serve a mission the same time as 2 of our best friends is so fun. We all raised our kids together when we lived in the same ward many years ago and now we get to be friends serving the Lord at the same time. EXCITING!

Elder and Sister Jewkes
England London South Mission 2010


Elder and Sister Postma
Washington DC North Mission 2010


Elder and Sister Seare
Fiji Suva Mission 2009

Now who will want this chair when I die?

The Naugahyde better known as the Norma and Clyde ranch decor :)

Grandma Newcomb might have had it covered in this once.

And This...

And This...


I got ambitious today and decided to recover this chair.I have always loved this chair/bench. It was the chair my mom used at our piano all my life growing up. I'm not sure it is an actually Piano bench but it seems to be a great height and size to use for one. It was covered in ugly Naugahyde when it was in the farm house in Jerome but as I looked under that, I could see it had been re-covered 3 other times. The fabric under it was much older and very worn and dirty. I decided to cover it in something that looked a bit antique. I think it turned out quite nice and now I wonder if any of my kids will want it when I die. To be perfectly honest I don't know how old it is and I don't even remember if it was passed down to my mom from her mom or if It was something my mother bought from and antique store. I will be checking with my sister to see if she recalls where it came from originally. In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy this cute chair/bench.

3 AMIGOS IN SERVICE TO THE LORD

We are getting so excited to go on our mission to England again. Two of our best friends will also be serving in the mission field when we are. The Seare's are already out serving in Fiji.Im sure we will all have lots of experiences to share with each other when we return.

Elder and Sister Jewkes
England London South Mission 2010


Elder and Sister Postma
Washington DC North Mission 2010


Elder and Sister Seare
Fiji Suva Mission 2009

My sister and me :) so who do you see?

As I was looking through some old photos I ran across this one of my sister and me. I can see some of my grandchildren in my young face. Tell me who you see here.

AND I THOUGHT MY OWN KIDS WERE FUN

I know some of them don't look like they were having a great time but I can assure you that as soon as the picture was taken they all took off with smiles on there faces. I think some of them thought there mom and dads were leaving them behind. Hence the terrified looks.

Grandma Arnold's apron

I just had to blog about my cute grandmother Arnold. I found this picture the other day and was excited to see her in this cute apron. For sometime now I have been making aprons. Grandma Arnold just happen to be wearing an apron almost exactly like the ones I make. It has the same ruffle at the bottom and the same over the head straps. I have made so many of these aprons and I love the fact that my grandma Arnold wore one too. Grandma Arnold was the most wonderful kind woman. I remember her going out in her garden and pruning her roses. While she did , she would greet each rose and say. " Well hello you little sweet heart" . If by chance she had to cut a broken stem off and there was a rose on it she would say " oh hunny I'm so sorry i have to cut you off of here" and then she would carefully take the lone rose to the house and put it in a cup of water so it would live on her window sill for as long as it could.
She never said a bad word about any one . She always let me eat grapefruit with tons of sugar on top . I would swing in the old wooden swing that was tied in a tree in her orchard. I always had the best time at my grandmas house, and I remember feeling very loved when I was there. I sang this song after her funeral at the grave site. I OFTEN GO WALKING-- " Dear (grand) mother all flowers remind me of you".

Amazingly GOOD!

I went shopping the other day for food at Harmon's. I normally dont like to go there because it is sooooooo expensive! but..since Harmon's is the store nearest me, I went there this time.(I was in hurry):) They had all of there in store chefs demonstrating different foods and recipes and passing out samples. Thought I was at the county fair. (non funny joke). I love strawberries , and the large beautiful strawberries near the entrance caught my attention. This recipe does not sound great but it is so amazingly good. I just had to share it. :) Enjoy!

Balsamic Strawberries

1-pound fresh strawberries
1 ounce Cola-vita Balsamic Vinegar ( you can use any good balsamic)
3 ounces Amber Agave Syrup

Wash, hull and slice strawberries and place in large bowl. Add agave syrup to strawberries and stir with a rubber spatula, gently until well blended. Add balsamic vinegar and mix well . Cover and chill until ready to serve. Serve over Harmon's Angel Food Cake. ( any angel food will do ).
I also put a dollop of whipping cream on top... yummy magnifique!

THE LONG AWAITED CALL HAS COME!

We FINALLY received our mission call and could not be more excited. We are going to the England, London, South Mission.
This is not our same mission as we went to a few years ago, but includes the south half of England, the London temple is the headquarters. It includes Oxford, Bristol, Devon, Dover, Bath, and a lot of coastal communities on the English channel.
We are thrilled to be going back to England . We know the Lord is mindful of us and has finally given us the call to serve where He knows we should be. I pray we can do the work that He has for us to do . Im so excited !!