053 Tuesday to Tuesday (April 22-28, 2015)

Remember when I told you that my Great Grandmother Elizabeth Stout had been sealed to the wrong parents for 20 years. I found the proof that she belonged to a different family; however, in looking at the censuses for 1860, 1870, and 1880, I noticed a couple of puzzles. Elizabeth was married to Alexander Wilson. In 1860, Elizabeth shows up with her husband, Alexander, and they have one daughter, Nancy. In the 1870 census, Alex is not with the family and there are four children (my grandmother is one of them). In the 1880 census, Elizabeth is now listed as a widow with two more children, and the youngest is 3 years old. So, I assume Alex died around 1877. I’m trying to clean out some old paperwork that I’d done over the years, but I haven’t looked at it in a long time. One item was a letter from Uncle Max who had asked Granddaddy Dowell (the grandson of Elizabeth) about the family. Granddaddy’s mother was Anna Elizabeth (the third of Elizabeth’s children). Anna was always called Mammie for as long as I could remember; however, Granddaddy called her Grigg. She had always called the first two of Elizabeth’s children as step-siblings. Evidently, there was a brother-in-law by the name of Martin who came to visit Elizabeth over the years and took care of his family and hers. Now this is all heresay because quite frankly, I’m not sure if anyone could keep up with who was who’s child back then. The more I dig, the more I find out that we really did have some craziness in the woodshed.  Hahaha  Anyway, I’m off to solve a mystery. I’m going back to the censuses to see if any Martin’s lived near Elizabeth. Also, maybe this will help me find more info about the whole Stout family.

Denise is officially off our radar as of now. We haven’t seen her all week, and she is not contacting us. It is so strange that suddenly we don’t mean anything to her. We can only hope that she is ok and safe – doing what she is supposed to do. She hasn’t been to Church for 3-4 weeks now.

Thursday appears to be a great day to inspect missionary apartments. Today, we did one of the most infamous in the region. There is a new missionary in the apartment now, and when we visited, it was not good. He claims that when he got there the clothes and stuff were on the floor so deep that it went up to his knees, and he has been working hard to get it clean. His companion was on transfers, and I told him not to let his companion off the hook (the companion will probably be transferred next time around because he has been here for 6 months).  Anyway, we shall see what happens. It is amazing that these young men don’t come down with a disease in such conditions.

That afternoon we packed our bags to go to Texas the next day for Jackson’s birthday. We had Pathway that night and began the last semester for the year. The program is now English. Ugh! Let me back to the math.

Finally, the weekend showed up. We were beginning to think it never would. We were up at 3:00, had everything ready to go, and out the door at 3:30. We arrived at the parking facility by 4:20 or so and then to the airport by 5:00. It went smooth as silk, but we always worry that we will have forgotten something very important. The plane was delayed because of the weather; in fact, we were afraid that we would miss our connecting flight in St. Louis, but it was on time. However, the storms over Texas (which have been the cause of much flooding in north Texas) caused us to be rerouted to Tulsa, OK, because we didn’t have enough fuel to circle Love’s Field in Texas for as long as they wanted us to circle. We got there and waited to get the fuel and back to Dallas we went. It was still raining when we got to the airport and then out to the car rental place we headed. We got the worst car we could have gotten on the lot. It was a sporty something or other. There was hardly any back window, and it was not comfortable. We got to Amy’s by 1:00 and stayed until Rylie and Ian got home. Mallory was there with Cohen and Parker, so we had to hear her travel story (which I laughed so hard over). Rylie and Ian love the Ivey babies. Rylie appears to be much calmer and more sure of herself. She is very lovely, and I think she is taking life by the horns and dealing with it. Ian will be a model some day. What a perfect little man!  He has the most innocent look when you complement him, but I got the feeling that he was saying to himself, “I know!” 

Those two Ivey babies were absolute gems considering this was their second week they had been out of their home. I thought that it was obvious Cohen was in his element, but didn’t quite know how to handle it. He could not stop going, going, going - Like the energizer bunny. For the most part, it was with a smile. Lots of new toys to play with and enjoy. I think Mallory paid for it at night though as he found a way to crawl in her bed and torture her. Parker is still in the “I’m trying to decide if I should get involved or not.”  When she has had enough, she lets everyone know. So cute – both of them.

Finally, Zach and Maddi rolled through. Can I say that Zach has become a good-looking young man. He has a great work for the Lord ahead of him, and he needs to stay strong. I did have to inspect his room though, and for the most part, he got a passing grade. Sounds like high school has no idea the tornado that is coming. We will pray that he will only provide a little rain by the time he gets there.

Maddi has no business growing up and getting ready to go to college. Who told her that was ok? She has a good head on her shoulders, and I know Amy is going to miss her terribly. I remember when Amy left and how bereft I felt for months. Maddi is a good young woman. She will be an asset to BYU-I.

We had to get to Katie’s to spend a minute because Bethanne was waiting for us. Actually, we didn’t realize how much Bethanne was waiting, but her in-laws were there for dinner and we were expected. We got to see the Watchman’s for a few minutes. We finally made it to Bethanne’s and stayed there for the night. We have the best looking bunch of grandkids I could even ask for. Wish Adam and his family had been there. Jon was also gone for the weekend. We hated to not get to see more of him. On the way from Katie’s to Bethanne’s, it was one crazy road after another. I cannot believe Frisco has changed so much in a year.

However, I want to know who gave the growth pill to Leah all of a sudden? It is hard to fathom how children grow up when you see them day-to-day. When we don’t get to do that and there they are, our memories have a hard time catching up with us to allow the newest version to take over. Jackson is so grown-up and a little man. He was definitely ready for baptism. The next day when he got dressed in his suit, it was too cute to describe. Griffey is just like a prickly hedgehog that you want to grab and calm the prickles. Then you want to kiss him until he squeals.

On Saturday, Jackson was baptized. It was so special. I got to talk on baptism. Actually, both Scott (Dan’s dad) and I were told baptism, but I called it. He took the Holy Ghost and did the superb job we knew he would. All the kids were dressed in their finest, and they were superb. Afterwards, we headed over to Bethanne’s for lunch and had tons of chik-fil-a. I think we were about ready to die from it, since we sat around and ate all afternoon. 

After the baptism - so cute.

As usual, the girls talked their heads off. Now that Maddi is an official adult, it is fun to have her in the group. We missed Belinda. How fun it will be when we have more of the younger ones joining the old ladies. Afterwards, when everyone was going home, we went to get ice cream at a place called icream. They use nitrogen to freeze it in front of you. It was good. We met Amy and her group there so we stayed and talked some more. Then we went with the Kanzlers to a market where people make stuff to be sold. We found a wall map that I had to have. Unfortunately, it was too big to carry back on the plane with us, and we didn’t have time to mail it home, so it is hanging in the Kanzler’s home for the present until we can go get it.

Who ever took this one was obviously scared to death!

That night we stayed at Bethanne’s again because Mallory was at Amy’s for the weekend. In the morning, we got up and rushed to Katie’s for Sacrament meeting and to be with her for the day. Church was fun with the kids. Then, while Katie’s group was in Primary, we sat in Sacrament with Amy and Mallory and the families. That was fun with all the kids. Man, I haven’t had that many kids with us in Sacrament since the last baptism. We went to our various places and ate. We had left stuff at Bethanne’s place, and bless her heart, she had to bring it to us. She was the queen for the weekend because of her joy in knowing Jackson had made the decision to be baptized. It is a blessing as grandparents to see our grandbabies get baptized. They are coming into a tough world, but they were held back for the very things they would have to address and overcome. They will be leaders in the Lord’s Church. We will always pray for each of them to be strong in gaining a testimony for themselves. We love them so much and would never want to lose one of them.

Katie and I got to talk on Sunday night. The Watchman children are coming into their own. It used to be that Anden and McKay were the center of the universe; Finley broke that up in a big way. On the one hand, I thought she was always going to be a tomboy to keep up with her older brothers, but I’ve seen the very precious feminine side of her. She loves to be “pretty.”

Anden lives by the code that the world is HIS oyster, and he’ll take it and go home if it will bring him more peace than having to deal with the crazy grandparents. He has grown like crazy also. I love to give him grandma kisses which drives him nuts. I tell him that you cannot wipe off grandma kisses because they are stuck forever.  McKay looks like a little Harry Potter, all studious and adventurous. He is one sweet kid and is so friendly to everyone. I think if he had the oyster, he would offer to give it to everyone.  Both Anden and McKay are bright kids. They are definitely in a boy’s world.

Finley smiles with her eyes. They are huge and she has pretty eyelashes (as I notice most of my grandbabies tend to have). She is a big flirt, but this time, she seemed to have more time for her grandparents – and that says a lot. Graysen is so cute, you want to squeeze him to pieces. He is a little old now to want to be hugged everytime I could do it. I noticed he has picked up the wipe grandma kisses off skill. He just has no clue at this point. I do have to say that my biggest surprise this time around was Kyler. I’m not quite sure that Katie recognizes that she has lost her “baby,” but it’s a fact. Kyler was adorable, but independent and ready to show us all. She is going to be tall, maybe the tallest of them all.

On Monday, we spent the day saying goodbye to everyone. Bethanne came down to return some stuff to us that I’d forgotten. Mallory came with her (she had spent the night with them). Jon had gotten home yesterday, so we got to see him for a few minutes. He is looking good. We went to eat lunch with Anden, McKay, and Finley. We drove there, and we were able to get in without any problems. I love it. They are so cute. They didn’t seem to mind not being with their friends, and we were grateful for that. Sometime, we are going to eat with the Fairbanks’ kids. I believe we have done it once before, but it has been so long. Maybe we will go to BYU-I to eat with Maddi, and I can see Zach letting us come to eat with him.  Haha

It was hard saying goodbye, as it usually is, but we boarded the plane remembering that the next time we come, it will be for as long as we want or as long as they want us. We were delayed for quite a while, didn’t get to go until we were at least 1.5 hours late. It was raining hard, and lots of other planes were in the same boat. We didn’t think we would make it to our connection in Atlanta, but we got there and found out they were delayed also. Craig went to the bathroom, and all of a sudden, they were calling us. I started freaking out because on Southwest you line up according to a number for boarding.  We were closer to the front than we have ever been. Finally, I see him slowing walking back to our gate, and I start waving like crazy. I had his ticket or I would have left him.  Haha  I turned and ran just as they were calling the second group. I handed my ticket to them and pointed to Craig and said that’s my husband and this is his ticket. I was afraid she’d say “go to the back of the line.”  I like Southwest. We got to sit in the very front where we have plenty of legroom. There were plenty of seats on the plane, and he sat at the window and I at the aisle. A woman wanted to know why we didn’t sit together so she could sit there, and I was mean. I told her we were spread out because there are plenty of seats on the plane. I know, I know! I was not nice. I still only feel a little bad. We finally got in at 10:40 that night. We were exhausted.

On Tuesday, we got up and inspected missionary apartments. We went to Jane Orne's and worked up a schedule for who would work when at the Polish Fest. Yes, it is only 6 weeks away.  We did not have a district meeting that day because we had interviews scheduled later in the week. We were still trying to catch up from the weekend and were glad to call it a day early.

Our scripture for this month is 2 Nephi 11:5

     And also my soul delighteth in the covenants of the Lord which he hath made to our fathers; yea, my soul 
     delighteth in his grace, and in his justice, and power, and mercy in the great and eternal plan of deliverance from 
    death.

Elder and Sister Lenhard