The Decision to Go!

For years Guy and I have talked of retirement. We would talk of serving 5 or 10 missions and of traveling to see all the places that we have always wanted to see. Its one thing to talk and quite another to actually have them as possibilities. It was always easy to save and scrimp a little to send one of our children someplace, knowing that the experience would change how they viewed the world and themselves ,also knowing that they would come home filled with new knowledge and confidence. Thus it never really seemed like a sacrafice to us. But, it is quite a different thing to actually be the person that has to step out into the unknown. I always told them they were ready for the adventure and that we would always be there for them to fall back on if they needed us. Now it is time for us to be the ones to step out into the unknown adventures and we are so lucky to have family that are willing to support us as we move into this period of our lives. Guy retired on Feb 1, 2011 but continued to work until the end of the school year. Retirement coming that way was a gradual thing and thus we got used to the idea without any fireworks. However at the end of the school year we spent a day clearing out his classroom and began the process of discarding the past. Precious lesson plans and books that were always there to provide a basis and comfort of the tried and true we hard to part with. I was estatic about getting rid of all those papers that clutter our lives...Guy wasn't sure of what to actually keep or toss. What he would want or need later on and so he proceeded with caution and I reined in on my enthusiasm to clear everything out knowing that when he was ready he would let go. I had had to go through a similar experience a few years before when I stopped teaching seminary and institute as a daily thing. I had files of precious knowledge that it was hard for me to sort and toss. I still hang onto the ones that I loved the most. Its hard not to think that your children or peers will cherish those papers as much as you did. Yet, the world is changing and we need to hurry to catch up. I have found that all of those carefully collected and hoarded stories and lesson plans are now online at everyones fingertips! Guy is slowly coming to realize this too. I cried and we had a prayer in his classroom that day before we left. That room had been Guys for 30 years and the Lord had blessed us with an income that raised 6 incredible children and allowed them to go to college and on missions and studies abroad and a profession that Guy loved for those 30 years. We were humbled at His goodness to us. And also, that now we would be able to retire and live comfortably off of that profession in retirement. In todays world we know what a rarity that is and that we need to use that blessing to bless the lives of those around us. The kids met us in Utah at Melissas for a family reunion and a special dinner honoring their fathers retirement. Cindy presented a box to her father filled with items that he would need for retirement. Such things as a book to read and a spade for his gardening. The kids all sat in a circle in her backyard and told of memories they had of growing up and going to events at Franklin with their father. That night I knew we were really retired. We spent tht week playing at the water park at 7 peaks and Trafalga's game park. The food was great and the kids and grandkids had a great time together. Just before we left for that reunion we were doing our shift at the Portland Temple on Wednesday nights and President Childs announced in prayer meeting that if anyone would like to go to work at the Nauvoo Temple for 6 months this coming summer that we should let him know. That they were looking for missionaries to cover the high patron season during the summer months there. For a few months prior to that, while we were in the early stages of retirement Guy and I had been talking about where and when we would like to go on a mission. During that time often I would be in the Temple on our shift and think that a Temple Mission would be wonderful but was afraid to tell Guy thinking that he wanted to go to some Spanish Speaking mission first thing. So, when this opportunity came up I thought, we should do this but didn't want to say anything to Guy. That night after we came home we were talking about it and we both admitted that we wanted to do it. Pretty cool that Guy was thinking the same thing I was for months too!Spouses really should learn to communicate better huh! Anyways, he called the Temple first thing the next morning and put our names in. We went to the reunion wondering what the next step was. When we returned from Utah we called the Temple office to see if they had heard anything and found out that we were only one of about 100 people who had volenteered to go. We had decided that we would put in our mission papers after Christmas if we didnt get this call and so we were okay with it all anyways. The Sister at the Portland Temple who we talked with told us at that time that it would be a good idea for us to write a letter of intent and submit it with our file to the temple. We typed that up quickly and submitted it. We honestly did not think that we would be going to Nauvoo once we found out that many people wanted to go and that only 2 couples from our area would be asked to go. The hard part had been accomplished. Our minds were now ready to focus on getting things in order to be able to serve a mission. We told the family and the grandchildren and had turned our lives over to the Lord in preparation for something somewhere. It began to be a time of uncertain plans...but plans for something big sometime soon!