Celebration and Sadness

I’m going to apologize in advance for all of the photos and a long post. Grab a glass of iced tea or beverage of choice and settle in! I have missed you all and I’m so grateful to you all for your wonderful notes and prayers over this past weekend.

On Friday night, May 31, our one and only grandson Caleb graduated from high school in Helena, Montana. He was the salutatorian. We are so proud of him. He is such a great kid and has been since he was a baby. Such a kind and loving young man. He’s a pure Montana boy. He mountain bikes on both bikes and motorbikes, fishes, skateboards, cliff dives, and swims. He’s an amazing snowboarder and already owns his own truck and boat! He’s been working for a landscaper for the last several years. He plans to become a lineman. Isn’t this a great picture? Our son Jamie, Caleb, his mom Crystal, and our oldest grandchild Kyleigh who just finished her second year of college in Bozeman, Montana.

Our two oldest grandchildren. Kyleigh was valedictorian of her graduating class. They sure make Grandpa and I proud of them. Wonderful kids or should I say young adults? They are and have always been, very close to each other.

On Friday they had a graduate walk where they walked around all of their past schools in their caps and gowns. This was Caleb‘s kindergarten teacher. Look! She still has his kindergarten picture! He says she was his favorite teacher and still is.

Then, on Saturday morning, we had the memorial service for Dennis‘s mom, Betty. There were about 90 people in attendance at the luncheon and several had left so I’m not sure how many were at the actual services. We first had the graveside burial of her ashes, then the memorial service at church, with a luncheon directly afterwards.

The photo below is all of her grandchildren, except our oldest son Jamie, who was unable to be there because of Caleb‘s graduation. He was brokenhearted about it. You will probably recognize Alex and Mandy in the center.

They called us last week and already had the year of her death installed on the headstone. It was nice to have it done for the burial.

We spent a LOT  time going through old family photos. It was a wonderful time of memories. We’re hoping that this fall uncle Alan can come back from Minnesota along with several other cousins and we can have several days of looking through all of the photos mom had and send them home with people. She seemed to be the collector of all of the family memorabilia, and it’s all fallen to us now. We don’t want to keep it all to ourselves and want to share it with Dennis‘s cousins.

Mandy opened up her home from the middle of the week last week until today. Both she and Brad were wonderful hosts and we can’t thank her enough for everything they did for us and the rest of the family this weekend. We basically trashed her house which probably drove her nuts because her house is usually immaculate. People were in and out constantly and what a blessing it was to have a place large enough for everyone to gather. Alex and his family stayed there, while we hosted Dennis‘s brother and his wife. Some other family members stayed in hotels or with other family that lived in town.

I had started this yellow and white blanket as a wheelchair blanket for Parsons House but when “Baby J” saw it, she immediately said “It’s Belle‘s cape!” She wore around her shoulders, trailing yarn behind her, and was pleased as punch. So of course I finished it and sent it home with her! She really doesn’t have very many blankets from Grandma like Piper does. Hers are mostly small baby blankets, so this is one she can cuddle up in now. Piper is modeling it for me.💜

We took a few hours after lots of last minute memorial preparations and visited the Mormon Trail center and cemetery. It is just a few blocks from our church and although we grew up here and have driven past it hundreds of times, I had never stopped to tour the museum. I guess when you grow up hearing the stories of the area, you don’t do the things that tourists drive miles to see. It was very, very interesting. 

Here we are showing how hand carts were pulled, literally across the country usually by two people, although we have help from a little one here. They certainly were hardy people to survive the hardships they faced.

This is a statue in the cemetery across the street. It depicts a man with his arm around a woman holding a shovel with their little baby buried in a grave at their feet. The vast majority of deaths were of children under three years old. So sad.

When we went to the church on Friday, so Alex could make sure the audiovisual presentation worked correctly with the churches sound system, he gave both Piper and “baby J” impromptu drum lessons. He used to be quite a good drummer, but hasn’t had much of a chance to practice recently. However, when he sat down and drummed, it sounded pretty good to me. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of him behind the drum set, just videos and Blogger won’t let me upload any of them.

Grandpa and I got lots of snuggles from our girls over the last few days.  The kids were boarding their flight in Chicago to London about the time we went to bed last night. When I woke up, there was a message that they had just landed in London! What an amazing world we live in. In the time I slept overnight, they flew halfway around the world. I must admit, I ugly cried when we left them at the airport last night. They are just too far away. Oh, how we would love to have them live closer. I’m sorry I can’t show you pictures of “Baby J’s” face, but because of her Mama’s job I can’t show either one of them online. She is a little doll though, and her mother is drop dead gorgeous. She is as lovely inside as she is outside and we are blessed to have her for a daughter-in-law.

And now I am frantically doing laundry and Dennis is buying groceries. Tomorrow he volunteers at the mission and I’m driving Piper to band class and tennis lessons. Wednesday morning early we leave on our trip to Kentucky to our friends graduation there. We’ll be camping for about two weeks, but I’ll try to keep up with you along the way.
We will be home just a little over a week and then we will take Piper camping to the Black Hills of South Dakota for a week. There are busy times ahead, but hopefully they are all fun times as well. We are still trying to get used to not checking on Mom constantly. That is still strange.

Take care everyone and I’ll be back soon.

Blessings and love,

Betsy 

When The Roll Is Called

Text & Music by James M. Black

1 When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, 
and time shall be no more,
and the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;
when the saved of earth shall gather 
over on the other shore,
and the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

Refrain:
When the roll is called up yonder,
when the roll is called up yonder,
when the roll is called up yonder,
when the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

2 On that bright and cloudless morning 
when the dead in Christ shall rise,
and the glory of his resurrection share;
when his chosen ones shall gather 
to their home beyond the skies,
and the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. [Refrain]

3 Let us labor for the Master 
from the dawn till setting sun,
let us talk of all his wondrous love and care;
then when all of life is over, 
and our work on earth is done,