If you have visited our website recently--especially our newsletter page--you would have noticed that it has been almost a full year since we sent our last newsletter to you. That's because we have been heavily involved with family responsibilities for quite some time. You may remember that we dedicated our last newsletter to John's mother, who was then celebrating her 95th birthday. Family is very important to us; in fact, nothing matches its importance in our lives, and last Christmas was our time to put our beliefs to the test.

In our faith, we believe that families are eternal, and how the family goes is how goes the community one lives in also goes, and so forth, right up to the belief that a family's influence is far reaching beyond the family itself. Who we are and who we become affects many others; those we know as well as those we do not know. None of us lives alone, and each of us affects those within our sphere of influence. Since our family needs supersede anything else in our lives, a few things, such as our newsletter and very active and lucrative wholesale business had to be discontinued for a season so we could devote our full attention to taking care of important family matters.

John and I were just getting used to being empty-nesters when we were faced with helping John's family decide how best to deal with the fact that Mom Beach could no longer live alone. Many years ago, John and I agreed that if any one of our parents needed us to care for them we hoped we would be in a position to do so. Mom did not want to leave her home to move into assisted living, but we were in a position to move into Mom's home to care for her, so it was time to make this a matter of sincere prayer. We did pray about this and received a clear confirming answer: Yes.

John called his older brother, Bill, to tell him of our willingness to care for mom in her home. Bill spoke to the rest of the family and then to Mom Beach. All agreed to give it a try, including Mom. Our four daughters had often spoken about the possibility of John and me choosing to care for their beloved grandma. We consulted with our children, and of course they agreed with our decision. So while other families were packing gift boxes last December, we were gathering and packing moving boxes.

Our original plan was to pack after the holidays, but our wonderful children decided to help us pack and ready our home for sale while they were all there for Christmas. Here we were, trying to celebrate Christmas amidst our boxed-up belongings and all of the chaos that is a normal part of preparing to move. The grandchildren and our daughters were looking forward to creating our gingerbread houses, something that has been a family tradition for the past thirty years, first with my children, and now my grandchildren. We did our best to celebrate the Savior's birthday and continue with many of our other traditional fun activities. On a side note our December Newsletter will be devoted to sharing with you all of our fun Christmas traditions.

I shed a lot of tears that Christmas going through the house, sorting through things and realizing that we could only take a quarter of what we owned. The rest had to be given away or otherwise discarded. We did not have the luxury of time as it had been decided that we would move into Mom's home one week after New Year's. I didn't know where to begin, and it soon became clear to me that this task was going to be tear laden and overwhelming. Thank goodness for our four daughters, their husbands, and our grandchildren, all of whom pitched in with great ideas for how to pack up with the least amount of stress for all of us. Anthony, Tracy's husband, suggested we use one room of the house as a staging area and designate areas of the room for things we would keep, things we planned to give away, and things that would be thrown away. That idea turned out to be genius. It saved us a ton of time and made packing up run smoothly and without major confusion.

A couple of days after Christmas, our sons-in-law (thank God for youth and muscle power!) moved most of our heavy boxes and furniture over to Mom's basement while the girls and I continued to wade through twenty years' of our belongings. We packed boxes as fast as we could, and I hate to admit how hard it was to get rid of so many of my things. We did not have time for a sale, so many things were donated or given away to families who were in need of those things, which made it easier to part with many of our belongings. We were going to set our living and working area downstairs in Mom's basement, and we would be sleeping upstairs. We were moving from a four-bedroom home with a formal living room, family room, dinning area and a kitchen that I loved, to basement quarters and one bedroom. What a challenge that was.

Whenever one finds themselves in a new situation that is as life changing as this, one soon comes face to face with their true character. That is exactly what happened to John and me. This was also a time for us to make other major changes in our life. In truth, it was a kind of rebirth for us, a time to learn and to grow, and to figure out what we want to do with the rest of our lives and with our Cinna-Minnie business. It was a time to learn how to combine two households in a harmonious way. It was time to allow the Lord to teach us, and refine us. It was time for us to care for Mom as she had cared for us so many times.

After the move into Mom's home, there were lots of adjustments for all three of us. There were also lots of tears on my part, and many times I wondered if we had made the wisest decision. I missed the freedom to come and go as I pleased, and I missed my home. But if Mom wanted to stay in her home, her only choice was for us to live with her. Before we moved in, we decided to not upset her living area upstairs. We would claim the basement and one bedroom. We wanted her to feel as if she was still in control of her life and her living area. We did not want her to feel displaced. It was her choice for us to move into her home where she could be surrounded by all of the things she loved and live out her life in familiar surroundings. All did not go so well at first, however, and it was hard on all of us.

I am happy to report that, after ten months, we have all settled into our routines and each of us has accepted our new roles in life. We are all comfortable and Mom Beach is thankful that we are here, and so are we. Last week we hit another bump in the road concerning Mom's care. It has now become clear to all of us that she may need to be moved to a nursing home. Several weeks ago her doctor told her that they can do no more for her, so they recommended her to either a nursing home or the care of Hospice. We spent two days with the hospice workers filling out papers, listening to what they have to offer us, and asking lots of questions. So, a new chapter has begun for all of us. It has been very difficult for Mom to accept these changes at her age of 96. Once again, she has chosen to stay in her home as long as she is able with the assistance of Hospice. They are our ray of sunshine.

Mom is a woman of courage, fortitude, faith and kindness. She lives with constant pain. I have grown to admire her even more than before and appreciate the person that she is. No one is perfect, but the fact that she continues to strive each and every day to do the best she knows how is truly inspiring.

This move has been at times a hard adjustment for me. I try each day to look for the blessings of that day and most often find it. I learned many years ago that service is never convenient and does require some sacrifice on our part. John and I do feel deep within our hearts that for us we have chosen the better part. We feel fortunate to be in the position at this time in our lives to serve his mom as she once served her family and others. So with this said I will end this part of the November newsletter with this quote,

" The wonderful thing about service is that there is no end to it. As President Benson says, "Therefore, let us serve one another with brotherly love, never tiring of the demands upon us, being patient and persevering and generous." (So Shall Ye Reap, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1960, pp. 173-74.)

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