God Bless the U.S.A.

Since we arrived in San Clemente, we've been praying that we would be able to keep busy.  Our prayers have been answered.  Now we are running hard to keep up.

Last Sunday, we started attending the San Clemente Ward.  We were so impressed with the love and concern of the Ward Council for all of the members of their ward.  They really knew their members.  Bishop Howard regularly goes to lunch with a young man whose dad is deployed.  He visits a member in his upholstery shop each week to see how he is doing.  The Relief Society President had contact with those who were ill or had family members who were injured.  It was so impressive.  They truly were instruments in the Lord's hands.  We left with a long list of military families who could use some TLC.  We are now praying that we too will be inspired as to how we can support these families.

The other meetings in the San Clemente Ward were also uplifting.  Brother Denning taught Sunday School.  He loves math.  He said when you follow the steps in math, you will always get the right answer.  He related this to faith.  If we keep the commandments perfectly, we will be perfectly happy.  The Relief Society lesson was based on the thought-Life is like a box of chocolates.  You don't really know what to expect unto you bite into it.  They showed a touching video their stake had produced of sisters who were facing very difficult challenges--widows, cancer, children who were killed.  They all concluded when we lay our burdens at the Lord's feet, He will carry them.  Our Basilone Branch is also outstanding but it was really nice to sit back and enjoy a real ward setting again.  Our Branch Council met on Wednesday night.  We felt the same love and concern there for the members of our branch.  The organization of wards and branches is divinely inspired.

Many of our favorite marines graduated this week.  We have already grown to love them and will certainly miss them.  Such outstanding young men.  They have now moved on to their first duty stations where they will be trained in their military occupational specialty.  Many left for the east coast for this training.

We did start attending the Family Day in San Diego and met five new marines and their families.  They will join us next week.  Making this connection was exciting.  Loved meeting their families.  One young man had served his mission in Colorado Springs and knew some of our old friends.  His parents were in the middle of an unhappy divorce so a couple from Colorado came to celebrate his graduation with him.  Wow, that is going the extra mile.  What a neat couple!!  One marine from Tucson had served his mission in Africa.  His wife is from Nigeria.  She is studying environmental science so she can help her people have more productive crops.  She was such an intelligent, beautiful person who really cared about her people.  The parents of this marine live in Honduras.  Such interesting people.  Another marine was from Grantsville and had five brothers who were there to support him.  We will be blessed to already have a connection with these young men before they arrive.  They are all in the reserves.  It's exciting to have the opportunity to connect with so many from all over the country.

Brad was asked to share the Candy Bomber story at two Zone Conferences this week.  So preparation and attendance took much of our time.  He did an outstanding job. The Candy Bomber theme was used to decorate for the conference.  They had parachutes with a Hershey's chocolate for each of the missionaries.  It was the perfect Fourth of July Zone Conference. He will do the presentation for the Senior Couples at our monthly fireside on Monday night.  He's getting to be quite the public speaker.  We're so thankful for Grandpa and all he has done to make the world a better place.

Our Fourth of July was spent with the missionaries during the day.  We went out to dinner with the senior couples after the conference--they are such a fun group.  We watched fireworks from the San Clemente Stake Center that is located at the top of a mountain.  So we were able to watch five fabulous displays from one location.  Apparently, Californians love fireworks.  They were magnificent.

We worked at the thrift store and Navy Marine Corp Relief Society several days.  It is getting more fun as we become more comfortable with their operations.

We've had two major brush fires in the area.  The one this week was stoped 1/2 mile from our apartment.  We're thankful for firefighters who dedicate their lives to protecting our property.  Had to give up swimming for a few days because of the smoke-filled air.

We experienced many family blessings since my last entry.  Grandpa had surgery and is recovering well.  Kate got the royal treatment at Girl's Camp while she was wearing a walking cast.   She got her cast off on her birthday (July 5) and her leg is getting stronger--the ability of our bodies to heal is such a miracle. Susie also celebrated her birthday on the 5th.  Reese fell off of a trailer while helping her dad collect flags for their ward.  One of the wheels ran over her leg.  So thankful nothing was broken and she was protected.  Boyd's family had a fun trip to Flaming Gorge.  Today is Aspen's 15th birthday--she is an amazing young lady. Heidi's family is getting settled in Wisconsin.  The people there welcomed them and invited them to Fourth of July celebrations.  So nice to have friends waiting for you when you arrive.  Looking forward to Scott, Nicole, Ivey, Tate, Beau and Hazel coming to visit us on July 20.  We can't wait.

Feeling very blessed for family blessings, a noble heritage and the opportunity to live in this great country.  God Bless the USA.  God bless each of you.