Friday 15 May 2015 was a long day.  We began it by leaping out of bed before 6:00 a.m. in Luganville, Vanuatu in a scramble to get to the airport by 7:30.  The day ended over 36 hours later as we arrived home to Haines just after midnight.  We came by way of Port Vila, Vanuatu; Nadi, Fiji; Los Angeles, California; and Boise, Idaho to Haines.  We crossed the International Date Line, which is what extended the day, and which also enabled us to get back to the United States before we’d left Vanuatu.  (We left Port Vila, at 5:00 p.m., and arrived at Los Angeles at 1:25 p.m., same day).

We walked into our house and found that it had been the focus of several days of service by all of our kids.  It had been cleaned.  The living room, kitchen, music room, and our bedroom had all been painted.  Our bedroom had a new carpet.  The bathtub’s long-standing plumbing problem had been fixed.  The damaged ceiling where there had been a leak several years before was repaired.  The flower beds had been prepared, and freshly-planted petunias were in place.  The refrigerator was well-stocked.  Bouquets of lilacs and narcissus were on the kitchen table, on the counter, on the piano, and beside our bed.

It was an emotional thing for us to round the corner at the air terminal and to see our family there to greet us.  Though it was May, someone had thought to bring our coats since we’d be coming from the tropics, and would probably be cold.  They were right.

I got up before everyone else the next morning, and slipped outside to see the place.  Everything that I looked at was a delight.  The raspberries were trellised.  The lawns were mowed.  There were little, green cherries developing on the trees.  We had gotten home just before the peonies would bloom.  The swallows were back, and were nesting above the door.  The garden was rototilled, and ready for planting.  The mountains were just the same, and even had some snow left up high.  The valley was green, and it was trying to rain.

We’re feeling guilty about leaving our friends in Vanuatu who have loved us, and who need our help so badly.  But it’s such a thrill to see our children and our grandchildren again.  We have six new babies whom I had never met.  Pace was born just before we left for Vanuatu; and Thomas, Spencer, Ezra, Ruby, and Seth were born while we were away.  In addition we now have Ryan and Zach.  Ryan we’d met before, but Zach is new.  Today at stake conference he was sustained to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood.  On 10 June he will leave for his mission to Farmington, New Mexico.  He’s a very handsome, polite young man.  He and Ryan and Seth’s birth last month bring our collection of grandchildren up to an even 50.  We are supremely blessed

We’re also exhausted.  We fall asleep at the drop of a hat.  We started a fire in the fireplace, sat down together under a blanket on the love seat, she with a book, and I with my laptop computer.   I asked Marjorie what we need to do tomorrow.  She said that we need to go to town and get some things.  She started a list.  As we just now woke up from another nap I resumed the conversation and asked, “So what did you say we needed to get?”

She reached for her list.  It said, “Pot….”  That’s how far she got with the word “potatoes” before she fell asleep.  For my part, the computer screen was filled with long lines of d’s, k’s, and s’es.

It’s now Sunday evening, and we’ve just returned from being released from our mission by stake president George Chadwick.  We’ve come home to an empty house.  Everyone has gone home.  We see projects all around us that need doing.  Where to start?

It’s been a wonderful day.  We watched the stake conference broadcast at the church in Baker.  It was followed by Jarom’s baptism.  His two grandfathers spoke.  The room was filled with family.  The event was followed by a delicious potato bar luncheon provided by the family.  During the luncheon Marjorie and I were invited into Bishop/Doctor Smithson’s office where he had a look at the swelling on Marjorie’s left shoulder.  The swelling was the reason that we ended our 23-month mission three months early.  Our doctor friends had recommended that the swelling should be looked at as soon as possible.

Following the examination Doctor Smithson said that he was very happy to be able to say that he’s almost certain that Marjorie’s swelling is a lipoma, which is a fatty tumor that is almost never cancerous.  He will schedule her for an ultrasound or a CT scan tomorrow which will tell for sure.  (Everything was normal).