Going, Going . . .

. . . almost gone.  Just 17 days left before the big adventure.  Here's what's been happening during the summer.

A wonderful vist to see Matt, Jessica and their girls, Sofia and Lizzie Jane.  We spent a great weekend, playing, eating wonderful food and went on a great hike/picnic up by Brighton ski resort in the Wasatch.

July in Yakima:  We had a wonderful time keeping the Ditto kids while Sara & Birch were away.  And it is gratefully always "two for one" in Yakima -- two great families in one visit.  We did lots with the kids and here's a few snipits:

Gon' fishin'

 Fishing was unproductive but fun.  The wildest part of the day hinged around these free poles.  The community puts on this great even where they stock the pond, teach the kids about fishing, and provide them with free poles and reels.  They literally had hundreds of these rigs but apparently not enough time to put them altogether properly.  We first learned this when Mom helped Nate cast his line and off came the reel, half the pole, and all the line & bait!  That happened again later with Alysee.  Let me tell you, you look like a citified dork when you're helping your grandkids fish and thew hole rig flies into the pond!

 Hair design at its best

Yeah - that's really what they're doing.  When you're having so much fun who has time to go "all the way" to the bathroom?  Always thought Chloe had great cheeks.

But the best was a jello eating contest Mom engineered:

Mila may not have won the speed contest, but she was "best in show"

Then back home for two weeks before leaving for Utah.  I had a nice (though nervous) time doing 3 presentations at BYU Education week

 But the best part was having family support . . .

While staying at Leah's we had a great time with the kids, chickens, and Utah neighbors (of course we we're jealous of Leah when she got invited to Robert Redford's 75th BD party and didn't take us!):

 Before we left, Leer took some family shots in the beautiful wheat field across the street from their home:

Then we were off for a public date with Irene at RDC -- we're just lucky she decided to swing over to Vermont and New Hampshire was largely spared (though Plymouth had flash flooding of the Pemigewassat river.  We're glad that Jared, Laura, and dear little Isla joined us.

Now it's time to pack up, cry up, and take off.  Last Friday, the Ramptons hosted a farewell reception for us and it was wonderful to visit with so many and receive their well wishes.  Then today, Mom and I delivered our farewell talks at Corvallis 3rd ward church (next week we speak at University Ward).  It's almost time -- we'll miss you all and hope there is internet access in Fiji!

Farewell Open House

We so appreciated our dear friends, Mark and Alice Rampton, for hosting an open-house farewell evening for us to visit with friends and be touched by their fond wishes.

The Ramptons have a tradition of writing and performing songs in commemoration of special events.  Here's their "Farewell Song for The Sherrys" (to the tune of "On Top of Old Smokey") which they sang that evening:

Down in Corvallis

All covered with trees

Lives a nice couple

Tom and Annie Sherry.

They are great neighbors

Would do anything

Need a hand or a meal

Just give them a ring.

Raised a fine family

Four girls and three guys

16 sweet grandkids

Bring lots of surprise.

But life was too peaceful

For these busy two

Sittin' in hammocks

Just wouldn't quite do.

Serving a mission

Seemed the right thing, they say

So they're off to far Fiji

For five hundred & forty days.

We'll miss them both dearly

But we wish them the best

The Fijians are lucky

To have the Sherrys in their midst.

One Week In Yuma - Strange & Wonderful

I felt well before going to Yuma but my, what one week in the 100's will do to age your skin!

Mom didn't fair too well either . . .

Bonnie & Clyde: It's hard to appreciate just how large, pink, sweet and wonderful these Yuma grapefruits really are - we ate them every day and I estimate that each one weighs at least 2 pounds. We've never had anything so sweet, mellow (no acid), and delicious. You should have seen the quizzical look on the airport TSA screener when my suitcase went through the scanner with no clothes, just 46 lbs. of grapefruit!

Mom and I always look for fruit on trees that are not being used and then we figure out how to grovel and ask for some, or we just hop over a fence into a vacant yard and harvest a few. In this case, we drove by a home which had a wonderfully large amount of grapefruit hanging on and no one seemed to be taking an interest in them. So we pulled up to the front of the house to find a For Sale sign, lock box, old burnt out car in the driveway and trash all over the sides of the garage. We thought, "hmm, these people must have left long ago and had no success selling their house. Mom rang the doorbell and looked around but it was "obviously" vacant. She thought it was a good idea if I hopped over the locked fence and did a little yard clean up by rescuing the grapefruit which seemed to be going to waste. I did just that and after I picked a very large sack (about 50 lbs.) I turned around to leave when I noticed that the back yard was perfectly manicured, the pool was working, and lo and behold, there were clothes drying on the line! I took off as fast as I could, jumped in the get-away car and we sped for home. Later that night we drove by just to check it out and there was a nice truck parked in the driveway! Yikes, lucky to not be in a Yuma jail right now.

It was great being with Seth, Caroline, Tommy, and baby Calli. She is such a cute little baby and so serene. We saw Tommy complete his swimming lessons, helped out around the house and yard, swam in the pool, and even joined the ward for a wonderful float down the Rio Grande river which was warm and pleasant. A big BBQ followed and it was really fun.

Then we headed home to heavenly cool Corvallis - green and 70 degrees with the garden blooming and putting us in the mood for Fiji. The cool temps helped us regain our youthful looks. Do you think we have the missionary attire pretty well figured out?

Next post in Corvallis from the Impromptu Shally Rally!

Fiji? Oh, My Goodness!

Dear Family and Friends,

       On Thursday, May 26^th we received our mission call to the Fiji Suva Mission (Suva is the capitol city).  We will be at the Provo Missionary Training center from October 3–7, 2011 and will serve for a total of 18 months.

       When we submitted our mission papers we said we were willing to go anywhere the Lord wanted us to serve but we never would have guessed such a far away spot in the southern Pacific Ocean (north of New Zealand and east of Australia).  Mission boundaries include the many Fijian islands (300+), west to the island of New Caledonia, and north to the islands of Vanuatu and Tuvalu (all lie just west of Samoa & Tonga and the International Date Line). You can read on the Internet to your heart’s delight regarding Fiji, its rainy warm climate and equally warm and friendly people (except for the fact that they were notorious cannibals in the not so distant past).  The major languages are Fijian, Hindi, and English.

       We also indicated in our mission application that we would do any type of mission service that was asked of us.  We have been called to serve a “Member and Leader Support” mission that is described as “the senior missionary equivalent of the proselyting assignment normally filled by younger missionaries.  Senior missionaries establish and grow the Church throughout the world by teaching the gospel, retaining new converts, strengthening unit leadership, rescuing less-active members, and encouraging young single adults.”

       We’re still letting this all sink in.  We couldn’t have imagined this as our call and we really don’t know what to think but we’re filled with faith and love of the Lord, and trust that all will work out for the best.

Sincerely,

Annie & Tom Sherry

On September 28, 2011 the Corvallis Stake President - Wade Haslam - came to our home to set us apart for our missions.  He has been a dear friend, with whom Tom served as 1st Counselor to for the past 6 1/2 years and it was a privilege to have him officiate.

 Our dearest of friends, Mark and Alice Rampton, joined us for the blessing and took notes which they later shared with us:

Olympic Penninsula

Over Mothers Day we met Steve and Jackie in Gardiner and had a really nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa Howe.  During our stay, all of us traveled to Bremerton, Washington where there is a Naval base that Evie and Joe Coleman are stationed out of.  He is second in command on one of only 3 nuclear powered "fast attack" subs in the US fleet.  It's the most advanced and sophisticated sub in the world and his boat is called the USS Connecticut.  Normally these are not accessible to the public but Joe has clearance to give private tours when they are in port (only 4 months of the year).

You can see the conning tower in the background but we weren't allowed to just take pictures of the ship.  When we arrived there were sailors with machine guns, shotguns, and pistols patrolling around and Joe noted that they were on high alert due to the killing of Ben Laden.  We had a couple hours in the sub and it was just plain mind-boggling.  Only 15% of the sub is above water when it is on the surface and during our tour we went 4 levels down to the torpedo room.  The hallways were too narrow for two people to pass and they have a crew of 140 but only enough beds for 2/3 of them since there is always 1/3 on duty so they share beds to conserve space.  Every square inch is packed with equipment, tubes and cables, etc.  The torpedo room is all mechanized to shift torpedoes or Tomahawk missiles in place to be shot out of 8 different tubes and they carry up to a hundred of these very large weapons.  They stay under for months at a time and are only limited by food supply as they can make their own water, purify the air, and have endless fuel due to the nuclear reactor. Just amazing.  You can find more about the Connecticut online.

We took Steve and Jackie back to Sea-Tac airport the next day for their flight to Denver.  We crossed the Puget Sound on the ferry and had someone take this shot (sorry about the eyes Jackie!).

On the drive up to Gardiner, Mom (as you know) is always with a project.  Here she is in the car trying to do a "rushing" seat on a stool.  Tight quarters and difficult working circumstances since she had to soak the rushing (in a bucket of water she brought along), and then work with long strands as she turned the seat with each wrap.

Previous to the trip, Mom had studied internet resources to learn how to do this amazing home craft of "rushing."  We redid one of the bar stool seats and it came out amazingly well:

After arriving home last Wednesday, we were delighted to have Jared, Laura, and Isla arrive the next day.  Jared is in Portland for a conference and we get Laura and dear little Isla for a whole week.  Emi & the girls are even coming down tomorrow to join us for the rest of the week.  It's so good to get acquainted with Isla and see Laura doing such a great job as a mother.  Mom was mowing when they arrived and Isla had no qualms about jumping on the tractor with her!



 
Here's a few more shots of the past days:

Can't wait for Emi, Sage, and Mila to arrive tomorrow night!

Mother's Day & Visits

On Mother's Day Mom received this incredibly beautiful and unique plan which we now have situated among the heather in the back -- thanks to all of you for the gift!

The next week we had a wonderful visit from Laura and Jared and Emily . . .