Hearts Full of Joy

cahokia indian mounds

cahokia indian mounds is a fascinating and little known world heritage site in illinois. other world heritage sites include the great wall of china and the pyramids in giza. we've been planning to go for 3 years, and have driven past it several times, but never made it a destination until a few weeks ago.

it was fascinating, and well worth braving the record-breaking heat wave that most of the central and eastern us was experiencing to explore. the photo above shows the largest mound, which has a foot print that is larger than the largest pyramids. there was once a huge, thriving, well-developed culture that built huge earthen structures here in north america. cahokia is just across the mississippi river (to the east) from st louis, missouri, near collinsville, illinois.

it was a much more strenuous climb to the top of monks mound than our kids make it look in this photo, especially in the extreme heat.

you can see the st. louis skyline, incuding the arch, in the distance from the top of monks mound.  but now that i've uploaded the photo, I'm not seeing the arch...., it's there, i promise!

we forgot to get a photo of one of the most interesting remains at this site, a giant lunar calendar that has been named "woodhenge". it wasn't discovered until excavation for a freeway project in the 60's. it is a huge circle of giant wooden tree poles that line up with the solstices and equinoxes. this trip has opened us up to the little-known, and even at least somewhat covered up, cultures in ancient north america. it is becoming quite a controversial topic, but there is quite a bit of evidence coming to light that there may have been a purposeful mid 1800s governemnt "cover-up" of the artifacts and evidences of how highly developed the ancient peoples here had once been, because it didn't fit in with the plans for american expansion and domination of the native peoples. john wesley powell figures prominently in this supposed cover-up. i can't say for certain if it is true, but it is interesting.

grandma & grandpa came with us, and seemed to enjoy the day as much as we did.

we finished up at the st louis arch, and finally made the trip to the top. (here are the kids at the base of the arch.)

view of downtown st. louis from teh top of the arch.

enroute to santiago

my parents were flying over peru on a flight from dallas to santiago, in the wee hours of the morning, to begin serving as missionaries in santiago, when their plane turned around and headed towards miami, and the earthquake in chile was announced.

read more about their experience on their new blog.

Southern Virginia

brock and the girls got home from their road trip at 6:30 this a.m. they visited SVU for an openhouse and lexi auditioned for an additional scholarship (she has quite a good scholarship already, but this is expensive private school tuition) in voice/choir. we think this is a great option for lex, and she even applied last fall without our knowledge. but she is still holding out for BYU - which would be less money, even without a scholarship. i need to be careful not to let her know how much i like SVU, so she isn't tempted to run the other way :)

 

they didn't take these photos, these are file photos pulled off the internet.... virginia was having the worst winter weather in 100 years while they were there. 

 

i want to go.

wintering in the south of france

my dear friend mary and her family of 5 children are enjoying a winter in the south of france (can i mention how much i wish we were there too?) courtesy of her husband's sabbatical as a university professor. follow their adventures here - she is a delightful writer: mary mary commentary

just before mary left for france, she called me with a funny story....

as a background, mary and i met at church in japan 12 years ago and immediately felt that we already knew each other. we tried and tried to figure it out, and the closest we came was discovering that we had both taken japanese at BYU, but it didn't seem that we could have been in the same classes, because i started BYU two years before she did. we eventually gave up and joked that we must have taken japanese together in the pre-existence....

now back to mary's phone call.... as she sorted through her house in preparing to leave for france, she came across her old japanese texts and papers. she found my name and phone number written down - which she would not have recognized as my name if she was not my facebook friend and had seen my maiden name.... so we HAD met in japanese 101. she was 16 and still in high school, but able to take an evening class because her dad was a japanese professor at BYU. i was 17/18. so funny it took us 12 years to figure it out. but i think i'm a little sad that the mystery is gone. i liked the pre-existence theory :) interesting though that mary and i met at byu, then again in japan, and now live 3 hours apart in the mid-west.

off to utah

gracie and i are off to utah today to meet my parents as they return from their 18 month mission in guatemala. we'll be back in 9 days, and we'll pass lexi in the air as she flies to utah on the day we fly home... *sniffle*.

gracie was born one week before they left. i tried to imagine then what she would look like at 18 months when they returned. i'll admit that i pictured more hair. but i love her bald little baby head, and wouldn't change it.

we have all been truly blessed while my parents have been gone, as they were promised we would....lots of positive changes on individual levels and in the family as a whole. i'm hoping all those blessings won't come to an end.

my parents are the cutest

my parents have spent almost 18 months in southern guatemala, fulfilling their dream of serving a mission for the church and serving the people of guatemala at the same time. this is their 4th, or 5th, maybe more, i forget, trip to guatemala for service, but the first time to go as missionaries. they have been teaching english, teaching at a medical school, teaching piano & music, providing humanitarian service, procuring medical supplies for natural disaster victims, establishing the first lending library for children in the city of chiquimula, etc, etc, and having the time of their lives. it took more than breast cancer & a heart attack to prevent them from going, and they (and we) are so glad.
 
i love this photo.
here they are visiting their produce woman's family. she has 8 children, and they live in the open with only roofs for shade and shelter from rain. it took a friend's suv to get them there, as their car couldn't handle the roads, and it was unsafe to walk. my parents helped their 18 year old get into a private high school and pay her to wash their windows to help with her tuition.

they will be home in a few weeks. we are thrilled. but we have surely enjoyed the blessings that they were promised their children would receive while they were gone.

pumpkin farm

30 miles from home, on our return trip, we saw a sign for a pumpkin farm in lomax, illinois. we had been driving through areas that were still devastated by the flooding of the mississippi last may. roger's pumpkin farm was far enough away from the river that it was spared. it was so scenic and perfect in every way...the perfect end to our family road trip.
brock had made the observation recently that people in the west decorate their yards at this time of year to try to make them look like things naturally look here in the midwest. (sorry utah friends and family!). it's true - corn stalks drying in the fields, pumpkins piled up, trees ablaze with color, etc. we love it!

 

lake erie

we made a stop at fairport harbor, where early saints had landed on their journey to kirtland. the weather was so nice we could have swam if we had planned accordingly. it was very lovely, with scenic lighthouses, warm crisp air, blue water, happy gulls, and clean sand.

this might be my favorite!

and here is a fun photo from a potty stop we made in spurgis, michigan ....amish shopping at walmart....

road trip to kirtland, ohio

we took last minute advantage of a free four day weekend, fabulous fall weather, and lower gas prices,  and threw the kids in the car after school on thursday and started driving east. we realized with reluctance that our 4 day weekend was really only 2, because we had stake conference. undaunted we traveled on. we crossed illinois, indiana, and most of ohio, savored kirtland, and made it back home again with a few detours, all in less than 48 1/2 hours - just in time for saturday evening conference. and it was worth it! the leaves were just changing. this weekend will be amazing. but we were still able to enjoy beautiful colors, and even better weather. the ohio turnpike was breathtaking. kirtland was compelling and inspiring. we loved it all, and felt to praise god for his blessings.

my kind of town

brock, gracie, & i are back from our vacation, which lacked in relaxation, but was very fun. i loved chicago, and was completely swept away by it's beauty & charm - not at all what i expected. the views of lake michigan on lakeshore drive were amazing:
navy pier

lighthouse off lakeshore drive

the parks, zoos, and 1800s architecture on michigan avenue are charming & captivating:

an important stop was dunlop avenue in forest park, (the park district of chicago), where most of brock's childhood memories were lived out. it was a highlight for him, and fun for me too. i have been hearing the stories from this neighborhood for 19 years, and now i have seen the spot...."this is where i cut my foot open.....and this was the candy store....and this is where.....etc." he hasn't been back since he left in '74. he's been wanting to bring me to chicago since we were newlyweds.

brock lived in the center house (set back).

every minute of driving through the illinois countryside was delightful - rolling cornfields being plowed, red barns with white farm houses & silos, red bud & dogwood trees in full bloom..... LOVED nauvoo and our dear friends in the vicinity, as  ALWAYS

red bud in front of the nauvoo temple.

the illinois countryside where we hope to live someday soon.