Three of my grandchildren are graduating from high school—and two of them are the babies of their families! Congratulations Julia, Carson, and Haylee! It seems impossible that you are so grown-up.
Kara, Alisha, Colton, Kelsey, and Victoria are my married grandchildren. Autumn is getting married in September. Victoria got married on December 5 in the Raleigh, NC, Temple. Getting married in a pandemic is a challenging proposition, but Vika’s had the added roadblock of her family’s being stuck in Malaysia and not able to attend—wait! Like so many meetings and celebrations during COVID, the only way the family could gather was by Zoom. Though they could not attend the sealing, they tuned in for the hand-fasting ceremony and ring exchange. Thanks to the Anderson grandparents, the ring ceremony and drive-by reception was a splendid success. Beautifully decorated in true Norwegian tradition with beautiful flowers and ribbons, an event tent welcomed in-person and zooming-in family and friends from all over the world! A food truck served beignets and hot chocolate. Jim officiated in the hand-fasting/ring ceremony. It was so amazing—I am grateful that we got to be part of it all. In the endowment session at the temple family gathered the night before the sealing and shared a unique and spiritual experience.
Zoom! A headache and a blessing. During this last year we were able to zoom into church meetings where our Colorado grandchildren sang at Christmas time (Kara, Alisha, Julia, Savanna). We zoomed in to hear Julia speak. We zoomed in to listen to Savanna talk. We zoomed in to Julia’s seminary graduation and “be there” for her talk. It was not ideal to have Sean and Shawna be a half-world away for their daughter’s wedding, but it WAS a blessing that they could gather their family in Malaysia and zoom in.
The pandemic was a challenge for missionaries, too. Our grandson Bryce, called to serve in Rancagua, Chile, held his MTC experience online and with zoom from the office in our house. He spent several months in Louisiana waiting for Chile to open up. During that time he and his companions contracted COVID and were in deep quarantine. Once he finally got to Chile, he spent several more weeks in lockdown, doing his missionary work through social media and zoom.
We are grateful for vaccinations, which now give us confidence to hug and kiss all our grandkids, 26 counting our precious great-grandsons.
