Baby Blessing and a History Lesson

We had a wonderful Sunday.

This was another sweet occasion for our family.  Ritter and Naomi were blessed.

We didn't get close up photos of the babies so I borrowed from Tawnee's facebook page.  (Thank you Tawnee!)

Naomi and Ritter

Those two are so sweet, and the family they were born into loves them dearly.  As their grandmother, I feel double blessed.  I am not there 24/7 to attend to their every need, so it's easy for me to say how wonderful it is, but I know that even with all the extra work and exhaustion on their part (especially Tawnee's part), Tawnee and Michael agree with the double blessings.  I've seen the love and affection they both have for these babies and for the awesome big sister these baby's have, and for each other.

One of my greatest joys is to see my children loved, honored, and respected by their spouse and for my children to love, honor, and respect their spouse.   It is equally joyful to see that they are raising their children in the gospel, striving to live the teachings of Jesus, so that we, as a whole, can be an eternal family, worthy of all the blessings promised those who follow and obey the Lord.

I find that their greatest accomplishments, in my mind, are those that qualify them for eternal life - actions that deal with individual worthiness and with sacrifice and service to one another ... the daily living and following Jesus Christ and His teachings - always striving to be in harmony with the will of God.


Okay, back to the blessing day ...

We were busy eating and visiting and didn't get any great photos, but we did get a couple quick snap shots that we can share.

Now a bit of back ground:

Ritter's name is a family name belonging to Terry's great-grandfather, James Ritter Hebdon. Each of our sons have a middle name from one of their ancestors, and Michael's middle name is James, after this man, James Ritter Hebdon.  Ritter now shares his fathers middle name and he shares the heritage that goes with it.

James Ritter Hebdon has a life story full of faith amidst hardship.  He found trials and tragedy, but he also found love and faith and commitment throughout his life.  His conversion story starts with a dream he had, where he saw two men who told him they had something for him.  He told his wife about it the next morning and left for work.  A few days later two men came to his home.  They talked to Ann (his wife) and left some literature for them to read and invited them to a meeting. James walked 14 miles to attend this meeting.  When he entered the church he recognized two men as the two he had seen in his dream.  After the meeting James introduced himself and invited them to his home.  James was baptized by Joseph F. Smith on 20 December 1865.   When his parents found out about it they were bitter and told him to either forsake the gospel or leave his home.  He would not give up his new found faith, so his parents disowned him.

James and Ann left England to go to the US.  The story continues, and the short of it is that his wife and her new born child died on the boat.  Two sons had scarlet fever and James hired Mary Ann Kate White to help him care for the boys (age 4 and 2), but they never recovered. He was alone again.

It wasn't as simple as I make it sound here, but it would take much time to explain it all in detail (even the small amount of detail that is recorded). 

James married Mary Ann Kate and they began their trek across the plains together.   There is a beautiful love story for this couple along the their trek, but that will have to be saved for another time.

However, back to this man, James Ritter Hebdon, he continued, strong and faithful, determined in his efforts to serve and remain on the Lords side.  

I share this information because of the tenderness I feel in my heart for this new born babe, for his parents, his grandfather, and every generation before.   When I see Ritter I do not see Terry, but when I hear his name I hear the connection to Terry and I love it.  

I feel like I am leaving Naomi out, but I am not.  Her name is not given because of a beloved ancestor, but because of the beloved child she is.  Naomi's name fits her sweet feminine features. One source says her name is Hebrew, meaning pleasant, agreeable.   We already see those characteristics in her.  And, even though she does not share the name Ritter, she, as does each of our children and grandchildren, shares the heritage that goes along with it.    I love them all!  If you need proof - you can see that I'm holding her here, close to my heart.




Maybe I should reconsider what I said before about not seeing Terry in Ritter, when I see any of my grandchildren I see a connection to Terry, because they are ours. Everything is about eternity to me. That is totally what I am living for, more than ever before.  I was raised in the gospel and I have always believed and known that it is true and I have been grateful for my membership in the church. But, at least once, somewhere along the way, I chose to follow that path. I didn't walk blindly down it just because my parents showed me the way, but I chose to take each step along the way.

One of those steps was choosing Terry as my earthly and eternal companion.  No one else chose him for me - I chose him.  And I will continue to choose him every day of my life, and every day of eternity.   It was my parents desire that I marry for eternity, but it was not their choice.  It was mine and it was Terry's choice.   And we will continue choosing eternity together.   This family is eternal ..., by choice!


It will be so fun to watch these children grow and develop their own personalities.  These are our first babies born since Terry passed away.  I know that he loves them.  He loves all of his children and grandchildren.  We hope that each chooses for themselves, to live worthy of the eternal blessings promised all who believe and follow the Savior.   Each child is precious and we love their individuality.  I pray that they each will continue in life, making their own individual choices that lead to eternal families.

Well, this post turned into more than a baby blessing or two.  ;)

I leave it as is, as a token of love and appreciation for all that God has given me.  It has been too easy for me to focus on what He took from me, and forget all that He has given me.


So grateful that Terry is mine!
So grateful for our children (including those married into the family)!
So grateful for each of our 13 (and counting) grandchildren!

Another great weekend

We enjoyed a few days with Skyler and Lisa this past weekend and be there for the special event when Todd (our 11th grandchild) was blessed.

It was so good to see them all and to get reacquainted with Claire.  We spent some enjoyable moments together.  She loved painting on the Ipad.

Photo of our sweet Todd Ritter Hebdon.

It was our first visit to Oklahoma, and it was the same weekend as the Oklahoma University homecoming game so there were many travelers in the area. 

We saw part of Oklahoma University campus and loved the beautiful old architecture of many of the buildings.  We noticed that most of the brick on the buildings in this town were red brick and that the dirt in this town was red dirt.  (I should have taken a photo of that dirt, because it was really red.)

This pumpkin patch was a familiar sight that brought a smile to our face and our hearts as we traveled back and forth each day we were there.  It was especially fun to see coming in from the other direction but I couldn't get the camera in the proper place for a photo from there.

Terry was not as healthy as he might have liked to be, and he slept more than he would have wished to, but we are still grateful for the chance to be there for this special occasion.   We had quite the adventure to remember, some things due to his health condition and some things due to our inexperience and lack of knowledge.  It's a long story so I put it in its own post: An Adventure in Oklahoma.

Boston's Blessing

 

Boston Drew Hebdon

Born 13 February 2014

 

was blessed today, Sunday, 30 March 2014.

 

It was a lovely day!

 

 

 

We just pulled out some fun toys and things for the centerpieces.

 

 

Akleigh enjoyed them!  ;)

 

 

The food was great and it was awesome to have family and friends together for this special occasion.

 

 

 

Life is Good!

 

 

PINK

I was able to pull out some pink stuff again this time for Elsie's blessing dinner.  I didn't get very many photos taken, but here are a couple that will help remind us of the special event. (Confession - I stole the family photo from their blog, cause I didn't get one here.)

 

 

We love our family!

 

 

Our Trip to Cali for Madeline's Blessing

We had a great weekend - it started Friday as we picked up BJo from Cheney (girls basketball camp) and went to the Spokane airport.  We flew to Ontario with one stop in Vegas.

I really don't do planes very well, but did enjoy the fact that I wasn't driving for two days straight to get there and then the same coming back home.

We rented a car and drove from Ontario to Yucaipa  

where Brandon and Megan live. We went out to eat, visited and spent the night with them ...

Saturday afternoon we drove to Blythe where Gregory and Adena live. We visited and played and ate and ...

celebrated my birthday ...,

and, Sunday was Maddie's blessing.

Madeline Elaine Hebdon
Daughter of Gregory and Adena Hebdon

We left Blythe Tuesday afternoon and drove back to Yucaipa to stay with Brandon and Megan again. Wednesday morning we went with them to Redlands for a great little 4th of July parade (around the park full of booths) ...,

and then left for Ontario to board a plane.  Anthony spent some time on one flight folding a dollar bill into this jet - there were still a couple folds left after I took this picture.



Oh! Thanks to all of the families that set off fireworks in the Othello and Royal area (even some in Ritzville) as we participated in them on our drive home (yip, in the dark) - they were great!

We are home again and things are picking up where they left off ....

It's good to be home, but we already miss our children and grandchildren that we just visited ... can't wait for the next time we can get together.

Happy Blessing Day!

Sweet little Claire was blessed today!  It was a beautiful day!  (I didn't get enough photos ... oops!)

RE-CAP

So sorry we have not kept you updated - our internet has not been working for the past 10 days and we have really missed it. We've heard that many of you have missed it too, as you have been watching for updates. We apologize! They fixed our internet today, so we are back on line!!!!!
WARNING! Lotsa words coming up! There has been a lot left unsaid, and now we can say it, so BEWARE - it's a long read.

- We missed two letters to Michael - The worst part of the internet not working! We did get to read one from him today, and found that he didn't get to email last week anyway. He is still at the hospital with his companion (who will be going home sometime in the next couple weeks. He is finding it tricky to find things to keep him busy there. He gets to have an occasional shower, and has a hand towel to wash up with and "no water needed" shampoo for the other days. He is getting to know the nurses and plays "war games" with them with his companions crutches. I guess one male nurse gets into it pretty good. Some crazy fun to keep him occupied.

- We finally got our school shopping done on the 11th. Yip, late was better than never in this case. Terry and I had done some shopping for the kids while still in Seattle and brought things home to them and Dana took the kids here a time or two, but there were just a few things that needed more attention and we finally got that done. YEAH!

- Stake Conference meetings were so wonderful. It was good to be there with family and friends to hear the messages that were presented, and what wonderful messages they were.

- Last Monday we went to Moses Lake for parts and then I went again Thursday for Terry's meds. It doesn't seem like it's as far as it used to be :). Too many trips to Seattle lately :). It's all about perspective isn't it!?!

- The guys started the silage harvest and things went well for a few days, but ended up having to stop because it was too wet. Our truck drivers this year were Adelfo (our hired man), Chase, Darryl (my brother) and Dustin (our nephew). Thomas was the chopper driver. Terry was moral support and helped with a few repairs. Hard as we try, we just can't keep him away. Darryl and Dustin got to go home for the weekend and longer, until the moisture dries out and the harvest can continue. We hope it does dry out, cause our beans need harvested too. The rain has been beautiful, but it's very pour timing for our farm needs.

- We celebrated two birthdays this week. Those birthdays were posted because I had previously written and post-dated them to come up on the right days. I'm glad I had already done that since our internet was not working properly at the time they were needed.

- It has been fun to see Auger walking all over - he is one year old and looking like the cutest little toddler around.

- The work continues, even tho the harvest is at a stand still. Terry is going to get tired of me telling him he shouldn't do this or shouldn't do that .... Maybe he already is! I'm trying to be careful and not bug him too much. There are certainly many things calling for his attention. He has fixed our vacuum and our stove, but I have called in some help for the dishwasher and oven. Things are really falling apart around here. The gas pump broke and needed replaced, and the trucks are in need of little repairs, and ..... I am grateful for his knowledge and abilities that allow him to tackle these things, but I wish I felt better about his health. I'm just praying like crazy that he will be alright. He does have a cold right now!!!!! Uh Oh!

- We visited with family this past weekend. Sherri (Terry's sister)and Aunt Carol were here from Idaho Falls. We enjoyed seeing everyone. Family is where it's at!

- We did some yard work Sat. morning. I hadn't been a part of that for a long time and it felt really good. It looks better too. We'll have to do it again sometime. :) Yard work is a never ending process, so I'm sure I'll find another opportunity in the near future.

- I bottled 19 quarts and 2 pints of tomatoes today.

- I have been working on re-organizing my house, room by room, and I'm feeling pretty good with things, even though there is still much to do. I've completed the food storage inventory and will need to get right on to the shopping part of that task. At least I now know what I have and what I need.

- Terry's last appointment (Tues, 14th) went well. The doctors reported that his liver is looking better and things look good. Then we got their call on Friday saying that the chimerism tests were back. The number surprised me though. It was 65. That is down from the last report of 68. When I asked about it, they assured me that it was still within the margin of error and they were not too concerned. I wonder then, why were they so happy when it went up from 67 to 68? I'm guessing that it is because the trend was going down and then finally went up. That was a good sign in itself. We believe they will continue to test chimerisms every couple weeks. By the way, that word is said with a K and long i sound (Kimerisms).
Now, having said all that, there is more - Terry got a couple calls today to tell him about Wednesdays appointment. The simple day of blood draw and clinic visit (with a G shot) has become quite a busy day. They have added the dreaded bone marrow biopsy and a cat scan, a culture, and levels testing. With fasting and other instructions for each procedure it is becoming quite the juggling act. It'll surely be a long day for Terry. One of those days that feel good to have over. We'll post the findings of that day later, as long as our internet continues to work. :)

- Homecoming week is this week. Dress ups have begun. I'm not really getting into that like the kids would like. I hope we can come up with things that will work for them.

- I don't think I've posted about school yet - sorry! Everyone seems to be enjoying their year so far. Anthony is in 7th grade and taking football after school. BrittanyJo is a freshman and is taking volleyball after school. Connor is a junior and is not taking a sport this fall. I am enjoying his company and he can help me with things as needed. He is our "runner" - taking and picking up his siblings for their activities. BrittanyJo usually calls Connor to tell him that the activity bus is only a few minutes away from the drop off point and it's time to come get her and Anthony. Chase will go to BYU-I in January, and is working for Shane Christensen on the days he is not working for his dad. He also tries to fit in mowing lawn for his grandpa. His is quite a juggling act too. He's doing a great job of it though!

- Ethan gets blessed this Sunday. We so wanted to be there. I'm sorry we will miss it, but we know it's the way it has to be right now. The doctor told us we couldn't drive it, so we thought we'd get some plane tickets. We talked and worried and wondered until finally we realized we were both uncomfortable with going, even though we really wanted to. We weren't listening to ourselves very well for awhile. Ethan won't miss us now, but I hope that he won't feel too bad in the future when he learns that we weren't there. We vow to make sure he knows that we love him and will do all we can for him as he continues to grow, just as we will for all of our children and our grandchildren. We have not seen him in person, but we are sure that he is the cutest baby there is.

- We love our family! It's good to be home, even if I sometimes wonder if we should still be in Seattle for Terry to keep away from all this work. :)

A great weekend!

We've had a great weekend!

Gregory and Adena came Thursday night, Jenny and her girls came Friday night, we've had a few visits from Wayne and Robyn (Dana's parents) and many wonderful guests on Sunday.

We finished our first coat of paint all around the house.

We spent most of Saturday juicing apples. The work load was constant, but not too stressful since we had a lot of people (parts of 7 families helping). There was a lot to be done, and it was work, but some of the work was even kinda fun. We ended up with about 250 gallons of juice and some awesome memories. We send a special thanks to the Jenks family for their friendship and kindness.

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After our busy day we wondered if we would rather stay home, but we ventured out and participated in the trunk-or-treat at the church. It's fun to give, and it was fun to see the costumes, and we enjoyed being together. Then we went trick-or-treating to one special home for Grandma's popcorn balls. It was a full, but a great day!

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Auger was blessed Sunday. We had family and friends come for dinner after church and enjoyed everyone's company. We are so grateful for our family and our friends and for the love and support they give to us. We almost forgot to take pictures, but we did get a few.

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And some of the fun will continue! Many have gone home, but Gregory's family will be here a few more days. It's been fun to watch Brayden and Tawny and see how they have grown.

Special Occasion / Invite

This coming Sunday, November 1st, is a special day for us. Thomas and Dana will be blessing Auger, our third grandchild. We invite you to join us for this special occasion.
Sacrament Mtg starts at 11:30, and then dinner at our house after meetings.
The meal will be provided, but if you wish, you may bring a dessert.
We look forward to this great weekend, and are happy to be able to see our other grandchildren (and their parents :) as they plan to come visit for this event.
We are making plans for a great visit.

RSVP requested, but not required! Just send us an email or leave us a comment to let us know if you and your family will be able to make it. It will help us know for sure how much food to make and how many chairs to set out. We hope to see you there!