Wow!
2016 flew by so fast, it still feels like January.
Oh right- it is January. But January 2017.
So because I neglected my blog all year, I thought I would
write just one all-encompassing post to cover all of the 2016 highlights.
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| Lots of treats at the Pioneer Party |
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| Silverado Pioneers |
January- This is when we like to have our pioneer party, and as we have 16 plus a dozen elders, it makes for a rousing good time with plenty of food.
As usual, we had our circuit assembly in St George,
Utah, attended by 3000 happy, smiling faces.
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| Brother Joe, sister-in-law Rhonda, nephews, mother, JW & SW |
March- My brother and his wife came from Alabama to see me
and their two boys (my nephews) who live here in Vegas. They even brought my 84
year-old mom out to stay with us for a week. Even though they’ve been here
before, they had never been to Valley of Fire State Park (about an hour out of
town) so he headed out for a taste of the outdoors and a picnic. There is some
spectacular scenery there as you can see from the photos. Some of it is so
alien-looking that scenes from Star Trek movies have been filmed there.
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| What planet is this? |
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| Distinctive arch, Valley of Fire |
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| Shirley & Phoebe, Valley of Fire |
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| Family picnic, Valley of Fire |
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| Petroglyphs (above) and wildlife (below) |
He did a great job and we had some festivities afterwards.
A week or so later we had the special talk which I was
privileged to give. Now that the Branch has green-lighted using graphics on our
parts, I had about 30 slides prepared with the talk which really heightened the
impact. The pictures look amazing on our two 70” TV’s.
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| Giving the Special Talk- with pictures |
July- As we got into summer, things quieted down a bit. Nobody
wants to expend too much energy when it’s 112 outside. In July we enjoyed our
regional convention, once again in St George, the same facility (college gymnasium) where we have our circuit assemblies. The Branch went all out on the videos this year. Looks like it may be a regular thing from here on out.
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| Jesse & Shirley hanging out at the Regioal |
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| Gym transformed into Regional assembly |
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| Young Silverado sister gets baptized- meet, dunk, and thank you, brother! |
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| Lining up for those choice gym seats at St. George Regional |
August was a little more stressful than usual...
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| Jesse & mom indulging in beignets at Panini Pete's, Fairhope, AL |
...due to the
fact that my brother called from Alabama to tell me our mom was having dizzy
spells and was falling down. She banged her head on the counter and had to go
to the hospital. So we’ve come to that time of life that all adult children
with aging parents have to face- how to take care of the folks.
It was pretty obvious that at age 84, it wasn’t safe for mom
to live alone anymore. So we flew down to Alabama, and in a series of events
that I can only attribute to Holy Spirit and an answer to prayer, she was
well-situated in less than a week.
Unbelievably, there was an exceptional assisted-living
facility just a couple of miles from her home that had one apartment left. We
moved here out, cleaned up the house and put it up for sale. Yes it was a
change for her, but she got to take her little dog and enough of her cherished
possessions to make the studio apartment feel like home. In fact, one of the
local elders and his wife already lived there, so she has built-in
transportation to the meetings.
There’s a nurse on staff to make sure she takes her meds and
three meals a day in the dining room as well as maid service. Hope I’ll have it
as good when I’m her age. And of course, since she’s been in that congregation
for 50 years or so, she gets plenty of company. I can tell when I talk to her
on the phone that she’s doing a lot better now. And she hasn’t fallen once
since she moved.
September- towards the end of the month, the unrelenting
heat finally starts to recede. It’s unbelievable how refreshing the 90’s can be
after months in the 100’s. September also means circuit assembly time, so we
trucked back to St George for the 3rd time this year and enjoyed
another spiritual feast.
October- the highlight was not only did Bob Dylan win the Nobel Prize for literature, but he gave
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| Waiting for the show to start at the Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas |
a concert at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas
the very same day. I won’t bore you with details of my 50+ years of admiration
for Dylan and his skills (you either like him or you don't, which is why I went alone LOL), but I will say that after seeing him 20 or so times
over the past 40 years, this was one of his best shows. Not bad for a 75 year
old.
Okay enough of the hero worship. The fall of the year means
college football season. I grew up in Alabama,
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| JW & nephew Jamison. Roll Tide. |
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so the Crimson Tide is the only
team that matters. Fortunately, they’re almost always among the best. Yes I
know it’s superficial and meaningless to most of the world’s population, but
everybody needs some recreation, and mine is watching Alabama football on
Saturday after service. (Have to be balanced) For me, the NFL comes in a distant second, but the
added bonus this year is that the Dallas Cowboys, my favorite pro team is
finally out of the doldrums and backing to winning games.
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| Witnesses & food always go together. |
The fall of the year also happens to be party (get-together) time, great for congregation picnics and dress-up graduation parties. I'll miss the friends for sure when I move away.
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| Finally, in the fall it's cool enough to have a congregation picnic. |
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| One of our sisters just graduated high school and invited all to come dressed as their favorite decade. |
December- this year we actually had FOUR assemblies, because
the circuit assembly we normally have in January was held on December 31. It
was encouraging as always with FAITH as the theme. The only downer is that our
next assembly (Regional Convention) won’t be until August 2017, so we have a
long wait.
All in all a pretty good year. Not much sickness, nobody in
the congregation or the family passed away, and I still have a job.
One great thing about it being 2017 is that now, when
talking about retirement (meaning leaving secular work for full-time spiritual)
I can say “next year” because 2018 will definitely bring a change in
circumstances.
Can’t wait.
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| It may not rain much in Vegas, but we get some great rainbows when it does. |
Memorial Season- Definitely the year's highlight.
