Ma's Place: I AM SO BLESSED

Every day is a blessing to be able to live on this beautiful earth and to know that I have a Savior that lives and loves me. I am blessed to have an eternal family.

I have been blessed this week to be able to be with David, my youngest son, and his beautiful family as we joined together to honor him as he prepares to deploy to the Middle East with his Army unit.

I received permission to leave the mission and go to Marysville, Washington for the deployment ceremony. I left on Thursday noonish to drive up to be with them. It is a 5-6 hour drive depending on traffic. The traffic through Portland and especially through Seattle was horrible. It actually took a little over 6 hours to get there. But it was worth it!! It was wonderful to see David, Brianna and their children: Zolee, Reed, Dean, and Charlie. Brianna’s parents, Jeannine and Chad Briggs, also joined us.

It was fun to watch the family interact.

Friday morning we attended an advancement ceremony. The leader of the unit was advanced from a lieutenant colonel to a brigadier general. I was able to meet several of David’s friends who will be going with him.

After the ceremony, we had the afternoon free so we went to see some of the sights in Seattle.

I like this manhole cover

The gum wall.

David came prepared with 4 packages of bubble gum for us to stick on the wall.

You should read about this!!

Saturday morning was the deployment ceremony. There were speeches by generals and leaders honoring the women and men of the unit and giving advice for successful deployment and for achievement of the goals of the unit.

Sheathing the unit flag ceremony - to take it with them

David is part of the 364th Expeditionary Sustainment Command Unit which is a reserve unit stationed in Marysville, Washington. From Wikipedia: The Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), commonly referred to as an "ESC", is a United States Army logistics headquarters. Sustainment is "the provision of logistics, financial management, personnel services, and health service support necessary to maintain operations until successful mission completion." The Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), commanded by a Brigadier General, is task-organized with one or more Sustainment Brigades, Transportation Brigades, and/or Movement Control Battalion's for theater opening, theater distribution, or theater closing operations. It commands and controls all assigned and attached units as directed by the Sustainment Command (Theater).

As best I can understand, David will going as 1 of 4 people in the inspector general unit. Goodbyes, even for just a year, are hard.

My week has been pretty much as usual. Monday I went to lunch with two sisters. I love having breakfast for any meal!

Sisters Weeks and Hansen at IHOP

Tuesday I got to go to lunch again!! Yes! You must think that all I do is eat. I jump at every opportunity to be with missionaries and eating with them is so fun.

Sisters Chatwin and Ables at Jamba Juice

No pictures but I met Elders Fawson and Petersen at Ta Ra Tin for Thai food but I didn’t get pictures. Oh well……It was still fun and a blessing too.

Wednesday was leadership training so all of the zone leaders, sister training leaders and district leaders came to Eugene. We served lunch before the meeting began but I was busy and didn’t get pictures. We had about 70 people to serve.

We hadn’t seen the great white egret on our morning walks for a while so we were really happy to see him on Monday morning.

Also the turkeys are appearing again. I don’t know where they went for the winter but we saw them in the park by the river and I saw a flock in my neighborhood. I am seeing several each day now as I leave or return to my apartment.

The flowers and the beautiful skies and world in which we live is a blessing that I truly enjoy.

I am always grateful for and think of my Savior but because I have been focusing my study this last week on Easter and the reason for celebrating the event, I have more deeply appreciated all that He has done and continues to do. There is so much I feel for Him and about Him that I can’t really put my feelings into words. My heart overflows with gratitude for His willingness to come to earth and redeem us from sin and death.

I know that He understands me and knows me perfectly and He knows and understands you too because He suffered all of our sorrows, trials, pains, and everything I have experienced and will yet experience in this life. He prayed for me in the Garden of Gethsemane and was hung on the cross to die. He has atoned for my sins and made it possible for me to repent and to be forgiven of my sins. I can live again with my Heavenly Father someday because He was resurrected and I can be resurrected too. I can live with my family forever if I live the Gospel of Christ.

Let’s make every day a day of gratitude for our Savior and Redeemer and strive to become more like him in every way.