A Full Day

After spending the morning and early afternoon with the Raleigh's and Catherine, I returned home to find Emily sitting in front of her mirror putting on "Cats" makeup. She's pretty into the musical. I down loaded some pictures from the morning then headed over to Masonic Village to visit Tom. Tom had spent time during the week at Hershey Med Center, where they had discovered a non-operable mass in his abdomin and sent him back to the Homes. He had moved from his room to a hospital bed. Upon entering I met his 95 year old sister, Anna Lee and his neice, Sarah. He had never mentioned them to me. I assumed they lived a long way away and had come to visit after his hospital stay. Instead, they told me they lived in Hershey, but Tom hadn't spoken with his sister for years and there was a reconciliation taking place. That was a good thing and they were very enjoyable to speak with. Tom was under the influence of a great deal of morphine. It was the first time in 4 years I had ever spoken with him when he wasn't completely coherent. I took Sarah down to his old room where his Neice and nephew in-law, Lynda and John Toler were cleaning out his room. Once there, everyone wanted to talk about funeral plans. I guess the prognosis is pretty bad. Tom had spoken to me on several occasions about John and Lynda and very much enjoyed their visits. Before leaving for Tom's I left three girls, Emily, Maddy and Maddy's friend Jasmine trying on dresses for the formal youth dance at the stake center later that evening. When I got back, I fed them a little dinner, grabbed Emily, drove to Marietta, picked up Catherine and came home to find youth beginning to fill the place.
It's not unusual for the YM and YW to meet at our house for trips to the stake center. It's on the way for everyone in the ward. Tonight there were a total of 11 when it was all said and done. I managed to get eight into this picture. Don't they look great? As a high counselor and bishop I always lobbied for MORE formal dances, but the adults always seem uncomfortable asking the youth to dress up. Look at them. They enjoy it and would do it more often if given the chance. Anyway, we broke up into two cars (Raleigh's and Pickett's) and drove to the stake center.
I forgot to mention, Emily's friend, Merideth showed up right before we left, which made Emily exceedingly happy.

Once at the dance, I was informed that the photographer for the dance had called right before it started and said she couldn't come. I asked if they would like me to get my camera out of the car and take pictures. It was a blessing that the camera was in the car and I was glad to answer someone's prayer. It is honestly fun to be used as an instrument in God's hands, and just being there with the camera lightened the YW Presidency's burden this night. It turned into an all night ordeal, because part of the equation was to go to WalMart and get the pictures developed so the kids could take them home that night. It was really a great time, but I seriously got NO packing donefor my trip to Arizona the next day.