Once more this year we were given the wonderful opportunity to go on a 6 month humanitarian mission to the island of Kosrae in Micronesia. Our assignment was similar to last year with the addition of an extended three months to strengthen the branches. We loved our experience there and those beautiful island people will always hold a special place in our hearts. While there, we contacted a couple we worked with in the Orlando temple and encouraged them to replace us as full time missionaries in Sept. They accepted and we are now enjoying their journals as they cope with the adventures and challenges the island offers.

An awful lot has happened to us since we left Kosrae. Three days after we came back Ralph's mother died and we immediately went to Washington DC to tend to the funeral arrangements. We had been praying that the Lord would allow her to stay on this earth until we came home. No matter how old a parent is, (and she was 95), it is a very emotional thing to go through. Yet we are infinitely grateful to our Father in Heaven that all this happened after we got home and not while we were still so far away. We feel his hand in all of this and thank Him for answering our prayers.

When we were ready to go back home after the funeral, hurricane Jeanne was hitting our area in Florida. The electrical power was interrupted for some days so we stayed in DC with Ken and Jen for a few more days. We came back home just long enough to survey our damage from the hurricane when we received the call that Ralph's brother had died. That was a huge shock. It was so totally unexpected. He was just 18 months younger than Ralph and we had just seen him at mother's funeral and he was fine then. He lived in Connecticut so we needed to fly there to be there for the funeral. Ralph spoke at both his mother's and his brother's funerals and did an amazing job.

It is hard to believe we left Kosrae just 2 months ago and all these things happened so close together. Our hurricane damage was about $2000, but that is so minor compared to the damage so many people suffered. Many people around here lost their roofs or had extensive flooding inside their homes and we had none of that so we feel blessed and fortunate to get off relatively easy.

We had really been looking forward to having our family come to visit us and it was great to have Lauky & Paul, Oeke &Jack, Ansje & DeMoyne here in Florida. It has been a long time since we were able to spend a whole week together and it was absolutely delightful. The weather was great and the week flew by all too quickly. We hope to make this a yearly event!

We are now spending the Thanksgiving holiday with Ken and Jen who will take off for a week to the Virgin Islands after Turkey Day, and then our good friend Louise will come from Ogden to spend a week with us in DC. We have planned a marvelous time touring the sights in this great city together while Ralph holds down the fort.

We are looking forward to spending the Christmas holiday with Art and Care. It is always special to have Christmas with them and their six children as well as Ralph's two daughters and their families who live in Ogden. We marvel how blessed we are to have 20 grandchildren who are all such healthy, happy and well-adjusted young people.

We have so much to be grateful for. How blessed we are to be 70 years old now and enjoy excellent health and happiness together. Best wishes to all this Holiday Season!