Twenty-Four Hours...

This is the photo that greeted me on my cell phone on Saturday morning, with the caption, "Happy Birthday, Mom". I had worked the night before, and was sleeping, when Billy came into my room, sat down on my bed next to me and said "good morning, Mom. How much longer do you want to sleep?" I told him maybe another hour, and he left the room. In only a few more minutes, he came back in my room and handed me my cell phone and said I got a call. I tried to focus on the screen to see who it was from (no glasses when you are sleeping) and pressed the right button for the message and a picture popped up. I had to ask Billy who was in the picture? He said it was my kids! I thought, "how sweet, for my birthday!" I still didn't "get it" I didn't see (without my glasses) that ALL of those kids (minus Mark) were standing in front of my very own house!

So, with a sheepish look on his face, Billy took my hand and said I had to get up and so I did and I followed him to the front door, which he opened, and there were all of my daughters right there in my very own front yard! I immediately started crying and hugging and I was at a loss for words! It was all so surreal. And, not only the girls, but little Hailey and Parker and Rich and Brian, too! What an amazing Birthday present. Please, if I am dreaming, don't let me wake up!

Once I got control of my emotions and we settled down to reality -- it wasn't a dream, we started making plans for "my day!" First we drove to the beach house that Brian and everyone were renting on the beach and walked down, oh I don't know, maybe 250 steps (it looked like it!) to the beach.

Just about everybody took a turn at trying to fly Billy's kite in the brisk wind and we took lots and lots of pictures. (The bulk of the pictures will come to me later from Debi and Heather.)

After the beach, we all went to the "60's Cafe" for some really good milk shakes and a lot of good company. We had time to kill before Dean got off work and would join us for my Birthday Dinner at the Inn at Spanish Head. (More pictures that I am going to have to post later.) I don't know about anybody else, but my dinner was supperb. I had a cocoanut and Macadamia nut encrusted Halibut with Asparagus and Baked Potato that was out of this world. I think everybody enjoyed their own selections as well.

After dinner, we convened at our house and looked at picture books -- I had to show all of my girls their special pages in my scrapbooks. And the scrapbooks that I started for each one of them -- that are all a "work in progress".

All in all Saturday was a nearly perfect day. I loved just about every minute of it and am still pinching myself to see if it really was true.

This morning, Debi, Kim, JerriAnne and Billy went to Sacrament Meeting with me and then we all went to breakfast at Sambo's.

All too soon, the 24 hours were spent and I found myself, through tears, saying good-bye to all of my kids. Every time we go our separate ways, there is a hole in my heart the size of the Grand Canyon and it will be days before it starts to come together again. Like my son, Mark, I hate "good-byes". But, no matter how hard we try to avoid them, they come to us in many shapes and under many conditions. I will miss these beautiful faces and their wonderful laughs, but the memory of these past 24 hours will live on in my memory for the rest of my life.

Thank you, children for this amazing gift.

Moving on Down the Road...

It has been a couple of months since I last wrote about my journey of moves. I will attempt to pick up where I left off. I believe I was in St. George!

St. George brought many blessings my way. It also brought many trials. But, the Lord tests us in a miriad of ways and never more than we can handle. Sometimes I wonder about that "handle" part, but I know it is true. And if we endure it well, the strength we gain in the process somehow makes it all worthwhile.

I found in the first few years in St. George that some days I was lacking either strength or wisdom or growth and wondered if I was ever going to get through another day. But, always a blessing would follow the storm-and looking back, I can honestly say, it was worth the trial.

One of the great accomplishments I made while living in St. George was to tackle going back to school. The opportunity came to a large group of nurses at the hospital to sign up for a distance learning program through Weber State University to earn a BSN degree in 2 years. Something inside of me told me to "go for it!" I know Gerry would be so proud of me. And so I did. It was a grueling 2 years that actually lengthened out into 3, because of the pre-requesites I had to finish plus some missing credits added to the mix.

I worked full time, went to school full time and was still a full time single mom. Needless to say, it was a difficult 2 years. I graduated in June of 1992 and decided to move to California with my daughter Debi and her 2 children. We shared an apartment in Vista in North San Diego County. I secured a job at Tri-City Hospital, which served the Vista/Oceanside/Carlsbad communities. I was hired as an Assistant Unit Manager in the Telemetry Unit. Now, there was an interesting growth promoting experience! I found out in just one (1) year that I was NOT cut out for middle management. Make me the boss or keep me in the trenches, but don't put me in the middle again. You feel like a rubberband, being stretched from both ends.

In the summer of 1993, I started searching for another job. There was a hiring freeze on in most of the hospitals, so it wasn't an easy task. Debi moved back to Utah, Heather and Brandon were on the verge of splitting up, and so I headed to Laguna Niguel to see what they had to offer. I moved into a nice apartment complex in Laguna Niguel, and began an earnest search for a job. I was unemployed for 2 months! I finally got a job at the Mission Viejo Hospital in their Telemetry unit.


By now, I was deep in debt and behind on my payments and too proud to ask for help. I was really having a difficult time making ends meet. About the same time, my mom's health wasn't doing very well, so a decision was made to move back to St. George. So, by November, I was once again on the road to start yet another leg of my journey through this thing called life. I haven't regretted moving to California; it gave me some wonderful experiences and great times with my kids. The beaches in Carlsbad were gorgeous and my long walks watching the sunset will be missed, but sometimes, we just have to move on and do what we have to do with our lives.

My mom was so grateful to have me back in her home, helping to take care of her and her needs. The hospital in St. George welcomed me back, too, so it was like "coming home!" I had no idea what the Lord had in store for me through all of these experiences and yet another move, but one thing for sure, He wasn't finished with me yet!

More to come.....

Update on the Henderson Clan...

There are 4 living sisters left in the Henderson Clan. Actually, there are six, if we include the two sisters-in-law (Valoy Henderson and Florene "Lori" Henderson-Mickelson), and we do count them, too. I recently received a really nice update letter from Betty, who lives in Indio, California and keeps me up to date with a lot of the news, when she can. I am going to quote from her most recent letter, as follows:

"Dear Florene and family: I am sorry it took me so long to answer your letter. So many things have happened. I was going to Idaho in July but Ruth called and said Joyce was in the hospital in Idaho Falls and she was in lots of pain. The doctor took lots of tests and said she had last stages of Pancreatic Cancer. Within a few days she was gone. Enclosed is a copy of her obit. I got there the day after she passed. **(I will enclose the copy of the obit in an email -- can't seem to get it to go in here!)

"We went to visit Mabel (who turned 95 in July) and she was more lucid than she had been in five years. She knew us and she talked some.

"Ruth and I did Raspberry jam, apricot jam, and I helped her catch up on her sewing and ironing. Ruth's eyes are pretty bad and Loyd is (in) the early stages of Alzheimer's and his bowels and kidneys are giving him trouble. So Ruth has her hands full. He is not at the point of going into a home yet."

She went on to tell all about her girls and what they are up to and the lives of her grandchildren. And then she wrote, "I turned 89 years in February and I cannot do everything I used to do, but I am still living alone and doing the best I can. Doris is having some problems. She will turn 90 the 2nd of January."

It does my heart good to hear from my "first" family. They are all so precious to me and I love hearing from them while I can. They are all getting on in years -- Ruth is the youngest now and Mabel is the oldest. They are all octogenerians PLUS! Oh, how I would love to go visit them all just one more time before any more leave us.

The Henderson Clan is a wonderful family to belong to and I am so grateful for all that they have given me throughout the years in the way they live their lives.

Mabel (Henderson) Kellogg, Age 95

...EIGHT YEARS!

I often go back to that day in history when time stood still for America and most of the rest of the world. I am told it's foolish to remember that awful day, it only brings sadness; but I say, "That may be true, but it is more foolish to forget."

I was just a toddler when Pearl Harbor was bombed by a dispicable enemy, but my folks never forgot that day! I was a young mother of 3 on that November day in 1963 when J.F. Kennedy was shot by a cowardly gunman for no apparent reason, but I remember holding my 1 1/2 year old baby close and rocking her in our living room with my eyes glued to the TV in Salt Lake City. I was pregnant with number 4, and tears streamed down my cheeks.

And I remember the morning of September 11, 2001as if it were yesterday. It was my habit to get up at 5:30 a.m. every morning and read my scriptures while I waited for Eliot to get ready for school so I could drive him to the bus stop. We always had a few minutes in the car waiting for the bus and I had the radio on. I heard something about "a plane crashed into the World Trade Center" and thought, how awful. But that was all! When I got home, I went back to bed, but not for long. The phone rang and one of my daughters (I think it was either Heather or Kim) called to tell me to turn on the TV. What I saw was horrifying! And it is those images that will never leave me.

No, America, I will never forget and I think it would be disrespectful to all of those who gave their lives that day and in the rescue attempts that followed. For them, I will continue to remember.

We have many events in history that deserve our consideration in memory. It is for all those who have given their lives for the cause of freedom throughout history, that presses me forward in my own little fights for freedom. Some say we should end this mindless war -- well, aren't all wars mindless? But wars are the culmination of an ongoing battle between right and wrong that began long before the human family ever peopled this earth. As long as I have some fight left in me, I will continue to stand up for the right and those who would choose righteous living.

May God continue to bless that part of America that still holds tightly to the thread that holds our amazing Constitution together. We are not done yet, my friends; the war between good and evil will not be over until Christ deems it so -- and He is training a very courageous army even as we take the time to watch and pray.

On This Day In History...

On this day, exactly 95 years ago, a great man came into this world in the form of the number two son of John Alvin and Ida Jones Davenport. My amazing dad was born on this day in 1914. Oh, how I wish I could see him today. It boggles my mind that he would have been 95 years old.

I shall forever treasure the memories of him and all that he taught me -- by example, by precept, by hard lessons learned. He truly is my "hero!" And I shall forever treasure being under his wing. Daddy, you truly are "The Wind Beneath My Wings!" And I miss you as much today as I did 20 years ago.