Janelle's Homecoming

We had Janelle's homecoming in our ward this morning. We planned to meet at the church a half hour early to get some pictures of the family. Right when we were about to leave Eli had a HUGE explosion in his pants and they had to go to Ky's house (they had been staying over there) to get a whole new outfit. So we only had about ten minutes to snap a few photos, but we still got some cute ones (aside from the fact that the babies didn't want to smile or look at the camera!) 

Janelle did a great job on her talk! Emily Williams sang for the musical number. I wish they would put the missionary first though so that they can take more time. She was at the end when there was less time left and went a little over. We had a luncheon at our house afterwards. We had bought three or four rotisserie chickens at Costco (we would have been fine just getting two though) and Rick, Jaiden, and Maddox deboned the chickens and made two huge bowls of chicken salad. We also had chips, watermelon, strawberries, salad, and desserts. We ended up with a ton of food leftover. 

Grandma Jensen and Julie came for the homecoming and a bunch of Janelle's friends came. Her trainer, Miriam Martinez, came clear from Idaho with her family! They went to their daughter's graduation in Provo yesterday and then drove all the way to Mesquite to stay with family and then drove back to St. George for Janelle's homecoming. Janelle was excited to see her! It was nice to meet her family and fun to see many of Janelle's friends again! The married kids left in the afternoon and Janelle went with Jared to the YSA Come Follow Me lesson that night. 

Sister Jensen is Home!!!

We were excited that the married kids could come to St. George with their families to join us for Janelle's homecoming!! It was also my birthday today and having my missionary come home was the best birthday present ever! We all made some signs and gathered at the St. George airport for her arrival! Here is a picture of us with her signs while waiting for her to come! 

Janelle's flight was scheduled to arrive at 3:47 and arrived around 3:37, about ten minutes early. When we saw her we all started cheering! Of course Dad is always the loudest one! We had brought the tripod to video the reunion, but it was missing the piece that connects the camera to the tripod and so we couldn't use it! So Dad was trying to film, but when he was cheering he was also moving the camera up and down, ha ha! Thankfully there was a stranger witnessing the whole reunion. She pulled out her phone and filmed it! And then offered to airdrop the video to us. We were so thankful for that act of kindness! 

Janelle saw us all and started walking really fast. I got to hug her first! I was surprised that I was so emotional -- Janelle and I were both crying!! And then all of the other kids started gathering around and hugging her too. Then the married kids handed their babies over to her! After some hugs we went into the other room to do the traditional "run through the finish line while cheering/chanting some awkward rhyme that dad made up." All of the kids (or most anyway) think it is pretty hokey!! And I guess it is, but it is fun too. The chant for this time was "JANELLE, JANELLE -- RING THAT BELL!!" All of the kids were like, "what does a bell have to do anything?" She ran through through the crepe paper finish line while we all cheered and then rang the bell that dad brought! Then we went to get her luggage and they lost it -- both of them!! Thankfully she had an extra dress and other essentials in her carry on bag! She finally got her luggage a couple of days later and they delivered it right to our house, which was nice! 

The whole family is back together again!!! 

Janelle was exhausted and understandably so since she left yesterday and arrived today!! AND they lost her luggage!! Good thing she had a carry on with an extra dress and some other essentials for the weekend! We all headed home and then had Janelle teach the family the traditional after-mission lesson. She did a great job. It was a little more distracting with the grandkids, but that's okay! 

We then had dinner. Janelle had requested crock-pot chicken. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and then Rick and I brought Janelle over to President Nadauld's house so that she could be released. He asked her to share some experiences and share her testimony. It was neat to hear her experiences first hand! Then President Nadauld asked her to share her goals (spiritual, physical, social, emotional) and then added some suggestions for goals. 

We came back and the kids all wanted to play Smash Bros with Janelle, but Rick made her go to bed!! (It was about 7:00 p.m.) It was morning in Taiwan time, but thankfully she was exhausted enough to go to sleep! The next morning she gave her homecoming report and did a great job! 

Busy weekend!

It was a busy weekend preparing for Janelle to return home from her mission. Jase and Ellen arrived on Thursday night and had dinner with us (spaghetti). We visited and played with the boys for a bit and then they went over to Ky's to put the boys to bed. They decided to stay overnight at Ky's during this visit since we would be having a full house with Jaiden and Janelle coming back home and Janika and Brandon coming. 

I didn't have any interpreting appointments Friday since Utah Tech had their last day of classes, before finals week next week. I decided that I wanted to paint the metal stair rails on the front porch because they were getting rusty and looked awful. We thought it might be easiest to just use spray paint and so Rick bought five or six cans of white spray paint and I sanded it the best I could and then painted it. It took a few hours and was more difficult than I thought. Parts of it sanded well, but other parts were pretty much impossible to sand. I had to wear a mask and my hands and arms were so sore from the spraying the cans. It certainly doesn't look professional by any means, but at least the rust is covered up.

I also weeded the lawn for a few hours. I was so exhausted by the end of the day! I had been weeding on and off for the past couple of weeks in the evening whenever I had time. I was even out in the dark trying to pull weeds by the light of the lamppost because I often didn't have time until until dusk -- and because it felt so nice outside. I filled up one of our garbage containers entirely with weeds. Ellen and Jase and had gone to the gym with the boys since they have a childcare package with one of the gyms and then Ellen also came out and pulled weeks for a good hour or two also, getting a sunburn in the process. The temperature had quickly gone up this week and it was so hot outside! It wasn't too bad in the shade though. 

Jaiden finished her first year at SUU and Rick went to Cedar City to pick her up along with all of her belongings. She didn't want to leave that early and said it was difficult for her to say goodbye to everyone. Jaiden did great her first year of college. She earned a 4.0 her first semester and also had straight A's her second semester -- expect for this darn online Kinesiology class that she needed for her major. She said that it was SO hard and that the tests were really confusing and so in spite of all of her many many hours of studying, she only managed a C+ in that class. So that is unfortunate, but it was only a two credit class and didn't lower her overall GPA too much. 

Maddox came over to help Jaiden unpack and put her things away. Then Rick went to Costco to get all of the food for this weekend. We decided to get a few rotisserie chickens and make chicken salad. It is way cheaper to make it ourselves instead of buying it pre-made at Costco, and I think it tastes better also. Then Rick and Maddox and Jaiden de-boned the chicken and made the chicken salad. 

Janika and Brandon arrived Friday night. I woke up Saturday morning in a panic because I had forgotten to get a welcome home sign for the lawn for Janelle. I asked around and Allison dropped off a roll of butcher paper for the kids to hang up a sign above our door. Saturday morning I ran to Star Nursery to buy some flowers to brighten up the yard a little. I sure wish our grass didn't look so bad! I really want to rip it all out and put in brand new sod -- but it will be expensive!! The front yard looks okay, but the side yard is awful! Today the kids made welcome home posters for Janelle and Rick cut Everett's hair. 

We spent the day cleaning up the house and getting the food ready for tonight and tomorrow. I had asked Janelle what she wanted for her first meal home and she said crock-pot chicken. I had prepared the chicken yesterday and threw it all in the crock pot today. 

Happy Easter!!

Last weekend was General Conference -- one of my favorite weekends of the year! This entire week we studied the last week of the Savior's life -- ending with His glorious resurrection Easter Sunday! This morning we went to church. Josh FINALLY sang in church (a duet) with Rick, and it was beautiful! (I  had them scheduled to sing this song two or three times and each time Josh was sick and we had to postpone). They sang Rick's arrangement of "I Stand All Amazed." The other musical numbers were Lauren Cox on the violin playing "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul," and then the young women sang an arrangement of "He Knows/Gethsemane" with Josh Allred on the cello. All three numbers were beautiful. We also had two speakers, Julie Gubler, and Reggie Gates. They both did a great job also and the meeting ended right on time. 

After church we relaxed a bit and took naps and then we went to the Santa Clara cemetery for a special lesson that Rick put together. Here is what he posted on Facebook: 

NO BETTER PLACE TO TALK ABOUT EASTER AND THE RESURRECTION! On the way to church my son Josh said, “I miss doing Easter egg hunts.” I said, “We can still do one if you want.” He replied somewhat sarcastically, “What….. like a ‘spiritual Easter egg hunt’? Like you find a scripture in the egg or something?” I smiled and said, “Josh, that’s a great idea! I wasn’t even thinking about that, but yes!!! Let’s do it! I’m so glad you thought of that idea!!!!” He just rolled his eyes and said, “Oh my!”

When I came home, it all came to me what I wanted to do for our Easter lesson…… we didn't do an Easter egg hunt - - - we did a cemetery hunt and it was all tied to the resurrection! It turned out well I've put my lesson outline below just in case you want to try it with your own families.

Easter Headstone Cemetery Hunt

Each member of the family will be placed in a team of two or more. The team must have a pen and pad of paper for each person or per team. Place each numbered question in a plastic egg and have the family return to you for another egg when they have completed their mission. The last egg should be the egg that has information regarding the resurrection scriptures. When they have finished their study of the resurrection in the cemetery, have them gather back together and ask the questions at the end of the lesson.

Cemetery hunt questions

1. Find a headstone that has a quote referring to the resurrection.

2. Find a headstone that has a scripture on it. Note the scripture and what it has to do with the person or the headstone.

3. Find a headstone that seems to be more recent.

4. Find a headstone that seems to be the oldest.

5. Find a headstone where the person displays their faith in Jesus Christ.

What do you learn about the resurrection? (have the teams find a nice quiet place in the cemetery to open these eggs and read these scriptures together. After each question, have them write down what they learn regarding the resurrection, and any questions that may come to mind as a result of their study)

D&C 29:26

D&C 43:18

Alma 41:2-5

Alma 40:23

D&C 133:56

1 Thessalonians 4:13-16

2 Nephi 9:6-14

A resurrected body is not subject to pain or disease or exhaustion. There is no bullet that can harm it, poison that can pollute it, or cancer that can invade it. There is no resurrected being who suffers loss of limb, speech impediment, or failing sight. A resurrected personage has a glorified, immortal body, free from the destructive elements of this temporal world.

Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, p. 169

In such a resurrected state one's countenance, one's outer glow and beauty will be but a manifestation of one's inner spirituality - thus, the inner and outer beings will be, in essence, mirrors of each other. Celestial bodies will radiate celestial glory; terrestrial bodies, terrestrial glory; and the telestial bodies, telestial glory.

Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, p. 68

As another part of God’s “plan of restoration” (Alma 41:2), the Resurrection will restore “all things … to their proper and perfect frame” (Alma 40:23). This includes the perfection of all of our physical deficiencies and deformities acquired in mortality, including at birth or by trauma or disease. (Dallin H. Oaks, "Cleansed by Repentance," April 2019).

Group questions after lesson

What did you learn about Jesus Christ and his resurrection on this cemetery hunt?

What are the feelings you feel when walking through a cemetery?

How does understanding the resurrection impact your feelings regarding Jesus Christ?

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The cemetery was really a neat experience. We had a very enlightening talk as we answered questions that came up. We were also able to visit Eliza's grave. I definitely the spirit during our experience and hope that the children did too. We came home and I hurried to finish up dinner. We ate ham, potatoes, broccoli, green salad, and rolls. It was delicious. The kids dyed Easter eggs and we did our weekly zoom call with Janelle. It was a lovely Easter day!