17 different beda

Since August we have traveled and visited almost all our family,( we
will go to Dallas, Tex, Virginia, and Washington st in 2013 ) and we
have had 17 DIFFERENT beds! Karina had the best pillows, Valerie had
the best view, Derek's bed is high easy to get out of and beautiful.
Nikki had the best home movie set up. Many of the beds we  stayed in
Europe were unique, but now we get our own. Jim has worked very hard
staining the bed and doing the ceramic tile in the down stairs of the
Orem home. I have enjoyed caring for grandkids, organizing, and
preparing the kitchen for move in. Our new address and bed is on 684 E
1200 N Orem Utah 84097.
It has been beautiful and cold here. We enjoyed the change of weather
on our mission and  we will get used to the extra cold morning walks
looking at the beautiful Mountains by Provo.
So. now What?  We are looking forward to settling down , finding
service in the community and church. When I went to the Senior center
to sign up, and I saw that everyone looked like my parents, I decided
that teaching movement/dance/ yoga there would be a better idea. Our
ward has a good mix of old and young, which is what I love.
We want to have company as soon as we get our house in order, which
now amounts to...finishing the ceramic tile, (and then of course all
the clean up after ) and then going to Southern Calif and driving back
all of our stuff, This will happen after thanksgiving. I know I wont
be able to see everyone I love and care for there and I do not look
forward to trying to do that ,as I am sure to miss someone so I will
be there 2 days, one of which I will be at Kaiser for 3 medical
appointments, How does one close the door to 40 years of life  in
which I gave birth and raised all my children, struggled with the
death of my little Erik only to turn it into a blessing by working in
Special Education for 20 years.??? These are fond memories which I
cherish. So we are keeping some doors open there in Simi Valley. What
a great place to raise kids!
So back to the bed...it is built high off the ground with storage
under with a European feel.  In fact, I think it is big enough to be
buried in ,,and maybe this will be my last resting place....BONNE NUIT
Before I send this off,,, Our stake President was just in town and
came over and released us from our mission,,,so now we are officially
done,but do not despair, we are just refocusing and refueling for more
adventures in serving communiity. family and church.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Love , MOM < Pat

Victoria's baptism

We have enjoyed the raking and blowing of the leaves..again and again
but now it is getting colder and windy.
I find myself looking for the little spots of sun where ever I go.
Jim is trying to find wool socks and I have learn how to make leg
warmers. Jim is already wearing his every day.  Yes, we served in
Europe and yes there were good winters there, but  we were
missionaries and I believe we had extra warmth with us.
And then the storm Sandy hit America! We got wind and rain here in
Michigan, so we were blessed not to have any destruction.  We were
blessed to just be at the end of it.  We kept warm by the fire
                 
We gave a fireside here in Canton Michigan last Sunday and the
preparation reminded me how much I learned on our mission,how hard we
worked and how much we were blessed.  Tonight we will serve at a
Spaghetti dinner given by Valerie's neighborhood for a family that
lost their dad . There are always ways for us to find opportunities
for service. Jim is always ready.
We are preparing to leave Michigan the day after voting day and begin
our trek back through Chicago to see Jim's sister Tanya who just had
hip surgery a month ago. As we prepare I am reminded of the Pioneers
who crossed just before the winter, praying for a safe trip. Our
Pioneers sacrificed so much and I am thankful they were strong and
overcame so much.
We look forward to more family visits and will continue to see old
friends as we drive west.

But the highlight of this trip was Victoria's Baptism, her sweet testimony and understanding of it all

More family visits and baptisms

Since our last post, we have continued to celebrate birthdays and
baptisms from the Pacific to Michigan.  Some of the Morrison Cousins
celebrated Grandma Celia's birthday at the end of September. Then  we
got to go to Addison s baptism and visit the Oakland temple. After
General Conference we drove East, visiting Jim's sister Jo Le and
Lenny and brother Cedric, ending up in Canton Michigan to celebrate
Victoria's 8th birthday. In between all of this we made the Big
decision to buy a home near the grandkids in Orem. This was done after
much prayer and contemplation.  We will have PLENTY of room for all of
you as soon as Jim finishes all the basement.  We really wanted a home
with one story so that we could prepare for any future old-age
problems, and this is what we bought. The living room and master bed
room are right by the front with a family room and kitchen in the
back. The additional space downstairs is 3 bedrooms and another family
room, which we will prepare for all our friends that want to come and
visit. This means YOU!. We are very close to Provo Canyon and minutes
from BYU, which is just what we wanted. The other added bonus is a SUN
room  and a Loft both of which I plan to take over, for my music,
yoga, and extra stuff!
We continue to feel blessed with this great opportunity to visit with
family and share our love.

the roving Chatterleys

Each day is filled starting at 5am to falling happily into bed each night ,knowing that we are continuing to serve.  Last week we had soccer, swim team, violin, piano, gymnastics, and working on the tree house  Sometimes we play cards and share books and help with homework, The bubble gum contest was for Mariahs school project --who blew the biggest bubble? Karina did! I lost my touch and I am trying to save my teeth!                                                                                               .  We got to drive to Payson to see the building of the new temple there.We hear it is going to be one of the bigger ones.

Getting to personal study time is difficult, thus getting up at 5ish seems to be working. We got to visit and lunch with some of our dear fellow missionaries this week, already missing the missionary spirit that we shared.

Sunday after church we drove through the Mountains of Sundance called Alpine Loop to look at the Fall Colors and we ended up at the  Mount Timp temple. We are so blessed to have 4 temples with in a 15 minute drive.

We have been here 3 weeks and I finally got to BYU campus. I love being on campus for so many reasons, The joy of learning and progressing is still very strong- just gotta find the right fit and time.

This week we will celebrate some birthdays including Terry and Blake,

We miss you and pray for you and your loved ones. For us, this feels like the right place to be and the right time to be here.

where are we now?

Here is just a little note to update those of my close loved ones who are not within a hug or two away::

Our second weekend  in the states we flew to Reno to enjoy the Chatterley family homecoming of grandson, Seth, returning from Paraguay, This was a great experience for us for many reasons, first of all we were in the MTC together to start our missionary training together, Beside being our oldest grandson, he returned with honor from his mission, We got to have a fireside to share a little bit of our love and hear about his love and experiences in Paraguay. It was also a time to renew and visit with many of the new grandchildren. some who we have never seen, since they were born while we were on our mission, The biggest changes we saw were two grandchildren, who went from children to teenagers while we were gone, WHAT a great joy!! To see how lovely and caring they all were, 

Last week we had the blessing of our latest grandchild, Nikolas , Karina 7th child, It is the first time I have been able to be with a newborn grandchild and see so many changes and be able to share the joy of discovery, It is good to live with her family for a while and continue to serve as much as we can.

It is true that the time for study and reading has shrunk to a few moments each day, The time for sharing the love that the Savior taught us is expressed in wiping noses and other body parts, listening to angels sing, violin and piano practice and sacrificing time.

What is next? More birthdays and baptisms, More catch up on stories and memories. The suitcases are empty for now as we help with soccer and swim practice and LOTS of homework, I love autumn time with the starting of school and the beautiful colors that it brings.

Missing the color that you all bring to my life and pray for you a Perfect Brightness of HOPE. 

Jim's first mission, Preston Temple and Manchester England

The last week of our family history vacation honored Jim's first mission, then called the Northern British mission, which included Leeds, York ,Beverly, Hull ,and Harrogate at the Mission office. We started by stating at the Preston Temple apartments.This included waking up in the shadow of the Temple everyday and serving there part of the day, The rest of the time we saw the church history sights. including. the baptisms in the River Ribble, Ribchester Parish church, Clitheroe castle, and first places Elder Heber stayed around Preston. We found an out of the way fish and chip place with the fish in newpaper! Just the way Jim loved on his mission. The next day we went to the Lake District, with Beatrice Potter, Windermere. hiking around White Moss and Wordsworth. We moved from Preston to Manchester to stay with the cat lady in another bed and breakfast, This one had a great bathroom. Then we rode the double decker bus in Manchester and saw the John Rylands Museum library and Piccadilly circus. We drove to Leeds (dont even get me started on the driving on the other side of the street with the steering wheel and everything. I was a nervous wreak the whole week!) In Leeds,we went to the train museum  and the park/garden downtown and saw a play about the creation! Sunday we went to the Leeds l ward in the building that Jim helped build on Jim mission. After we went to the CES center and shared our meal with the Elder and Sister Young. Our last day, we went back to downtown Manchester to do two more museums! As you can tell this week was all about Jim and his mission. The countryside was beautiful and we loved seeing where many of our ancestors came from.

We returned to Geneva tired and spent the rest of our last few hours trying to figure out how to get all of our 250 pounds of stuff home,

Good night ,,Bonne soiree, tomorrow we sleep in Orem!

Denmark- part 2 vacation

After a great visit we took off by train, again very early to Paris.  We took a bus from the train station to the Charles DeGaul airport and got to see Paris in a just flash,I even saw the TOWER,,, twice, Then we flew to Denmark, The flight was super clear and I got a good idea of the land scape.- many islands and much farming. It  was clean and neat and so are the people. I have Never seen so many natural blonds, with a nature beauty.We decided to try a bed and breakfast. Our first was two college co-eds.and they did warn us about the shower. BUT, they didnt warn us about the toilet which you could use and answer the front door at the same time. But, it was clean, and we had the whole place to ourselves, which was about the size of our living room in California. We did the down town on Saturday, beginning with a flea market. the Tivoli gardens, the Church of our Lady with the original Christus and his other statues, and of course, the Denmark temple. Sunday we went to church and saw the Institute and had dinner with our new Danish friends.  We also visited the Frederiksberg gardens and cemetery. I saw names LUND and Poulsen and pondered by relatives  to converted in Denmark. I am so thankful that they heard and listened to the missionaries. And , I am blessed to have had this time to ponder in the beautiful land.  

We did not know the language, the money , alphabet, but we did feel their spirit