Sibling get-together

I enjoyed very much my visit with 4 of my siblings. Buzz and Betty's granddaughter had a baby last week. They knew ahead of time that the baby wasn't developing normally, and she was born very early and lived only 27 minutes. The funeral for this little great granddaughter was Friday, and Buzz had taken that day off work. Since the other driver was on vacation this week, Buzz couldn't get off work to spend the day with us.

So Dal, Jane and I got to Howard and Gloria's in Jerome around 9:00 p.m. on Sunday. We visited and laughed until late. The next morning we met Edith, Al, and Elaine at the Twin Falls temple for the open house. It's an interesting temple! The main floor is designated for the youth and baptisms. They go right beyond the recommend desk to go to the baptistry. The other dressing rooms and endowment rooms are all on the 2nd floor. It's a very small temple, but it has the largest sealing room of any other temple.

No one is sure what is happening with Elaine. There's a new dark shadow on her right lung. Not sure if it's cancer or not. She has a PET scan every 4 weeks to watch it. She's on oxygen all the time. But she's doing much better at the lower altitude (moved from Denver).

Edith is also on oxygen most of the time. And Howard had surgery on his foot (to remove a bone spur from his heel) 3 weeks ago. So the able-bodied pushed and helped along the non-abled bodies. It was quite a sight... :)

After we went to the temple open house, we ate at a Golden Corral restaurant, and visited there and at "home" for the rest of the afternoon. We hope to make this an annual event. Maybe Elaine will even still be here for the next one. (Howard told me that he wanted to challenge her to make a goal to receive her endowment when we meet again next summer, but didn't do it on Monday. I wouldn't be surprised if he does it at some point, though.)

Howard's the stake Young Men's president. They (and all of the 14 stakes in the region) have worked very hard for the past year to prepare for this temple open house and for the cultural program the youth will do for the dedication. However, President Monson has decided this will be the last of that kind of event. Too much money and time required for a very huge number of people. It was a President Hinckley kind of event... :)