Welcome to Georgia - Home at Last

Many people while we were on our mission,  especially our brothers and sisters, said that they thought we should just move back to Salt Lake.  We thought a lot about it and the possibility of continuing to serve multiple missions as church service missionaries.  But when I prayed about it, I just felt that I would know where we should be when we returned home. 

As we drove across the Georgia state line after about six weeks on the road, my eyes just filled with tears because I knew that this is where we were supposed to be.

Because we had rented our home until the end of June, Clay and Amie let us stay with them for two weeks, and then we were with Matt and Tana for a week.  During that time, we were able to have fun with their families as well.

Amie and the older girls were at Girls Camp, so we played with Lia, including driving up to Matt's and bringing Rowan down for a couple of days.  

When Amie and the girls returned, we had a fun night at the movies seeing Incredibles 2.

Rob helped Amie with her beehives

Rob taught and helped Preston to spray for tent caterpillars in one of their trees.

We did go to our ward that first Sunday while still at Matt's.  After being released face-to-face by President Galt, and that same day we were called as the 14-15 year-old Sunday School teachers.  Later that week, we were called to work in the Temple on Saturday mornings.  I had hoped to get a month or so to move in and relax, but that wasn't the Lord's plan, I guess...

The ward was so amazing arranging workers to get us back in our town home.  (By the way, the renters had done such a great job keeping it clean and ready for us - we were so blessed).  On Friday night, Matt, Clay and Preston joined us at the Cain's home loading about 1/3 of the trailer.

  The next morning, there were about 15 ward members to complete the process in 

less than 2 1/2 hours.  It was so unbelievable!   They even cleaned out the moving truck 

before we could get to it.   We were so blessed.

And now the real work began with figuring out where to put everything.

Twenty-three months to the day, we moved back home from this wonderful mission.  So many adventures, faith-promoting experiences and things learned.  We are so grateful that we were able to go and serve the Lord on a mission again.

Family History in Virginia

When Brittany and Michael moved to Harrisonburg, VA, we quickly realized that she was settling in the same area as the Beavers, our ancestors, settled when they moved to Virginia from Pennsylvania.  I did a lot of research, and the work has been done for many family members.  But we hadn't yet visited any sites.  So we made a point of visiting them on this trip.

So the research showed that we needed to visit the White House cemetery on Kauffman's Mill Rd.  We hadn't expected it to be such a lovely preserved site.

Martin Kauffman, Sr. was my 7th great grandfather.  He was 

a Mennonite preacher and an early pioneer in the area.

Nearby, shown below, was the family home that was also a meeting house.

Conrad Beaver (the father of David whose grave we visited in Ohio en route

to Virginia owned property here.

Street sign

Conrad's lovely property

Location of entry to property 716 Sandy Hook Road,

north of Luray, VA

We will return again to visit Luray and Shenandoah and try to learn more about our ancestors.

Three Weeks with Brittany

We were so happy to make it to Brittany's and be with their family - so sweet, fun, and crazy.

Precious hugs

The next days were just filled with helping them in their yard and house projects.  I did some mending, and Rob put in metal edging around their plants in their yard.  We visited the Library and the Discovery Center. We read books, sang songs, and played games.

Clara had another week of school, so we went one day to 

her science class as they were dissecting frogs.

 And played lots with the kids, including several park visits.  

Robbie had a darling graduation program from preschool.  He has had the best teacher

They had the cutest t-shirts as you can see.

There was a fun photo spot there where we took this cute picture. 

A special photo with us.  

We visited Michael's new office afterwards.  He designed 

and made this wall in his reception area.

And an incredible ceiling in his operatory.

Hugs from Clara

Baby Benjy

Bapa at the school playground with the boys.  Then went up to the track above 

and the boys each ran a mile - they were incredible.

This week was more of the same, culminating in our leaving for Corolla, NC, and the Outer Banks on Friday.  They had rented a wonderful beach house.  The beach was so great and the weather was perfect the whole time.

Henry celebrated his third birthday while we were there.

Brittany helped Henry fly a kite way up in the air. 

Hugs from her Dad.

Good down time for Michael

Clara and Henry enjoying the shade

Michael wanted us to have a Low Country Boil.  He ordered all the ingredients from a local supplier, including the bucket, etc. 

This is how everything looked after cooking.  And it was so good!

A shell pamphlet that we found there to help Robbie and Henry identify their shells.

A stuffed bear at a local wildlife museum - so many interesting facts about the wildlife at the beach.

We just had such a good time with them, and they were so kind to include us in this outing.  We were so glad to be able to spend so much time with them...

Beaver Family History with a Visit to a Cousin and Family Cemetery

Monday, we joined a fifth cousin Janice Patterson and her husband who I “met” on Ancestry who live just west of Cleveland.  They had us for lunch, and we had such a great visit. She has shared a number of pictures and other materials about the Beaver family with me.

Then we traveled to Licking County, Ohio, to the cemetery of the Licking Primitive Baptist Church started by my fourth great grandfather.  We found David’s gravestone and others of the family.  Again, it made me feel so happy to be where my ancestors had lived. 

   

This is a church on the site now,but not the 
original one built by David.

David Beaver's Gravestone

The land that belonged to David across from the Church.

Afterward, decided to just drive on to Brittany’s.  The GPS took us through the Allegheny Mountains on Highway 33.  The only problem was that it was night time, with rain and fog and a windy road.  

Rob did such a good job, but it took forever! I could never have done that.  We arrived at Brittany’s around 1 am!