Relief Society

One of our assignments a while back was to clean the Women's garden statues.  They are so beautiful.  They were dedicated in 1978 as a monument to women.  There are twelve life sized statues and one heroic sized statue. 

One of the statues.  Taken a few months ago.  What a privilege it was to clean them. 

At the time the statues were made and dedicated here, all of the women of the church were given the opportunity to contribute to them.  We were told that we could also contribute in the names of our daughters.  Our daughters were very young, Olivia was just a baby.  But we contributed for me and for them.  We were told that all of the names of those who contributed would be in a book in Nauvoo.  After we got here I started wondering where that book was.  I found out and we went and looked at it and were very surprised when we got to the pages of the Elko Nevada Stake to find that the Elko Nevada stake names were in my handwriting.  I hadn't remembered that I had written the names in the book for our stake.  I was the Stake Relief Society secretary at the time.


This pages shows our daughters.




This page shows me, my mother and sister and other members of our ward and stake. It is good to remember these people.


I have spent some time working at the Sarah Granger Kimball home lately.  It is a lovely home and was built in the 1830's and was already here when Nauvoo was settled by the Latter Day Saints. 



The Sarah Granger Kimball home

 There are some beautiful things in this home.  There is a Bible that was hers that her husband gave to her.

Sarah Granger Kimball's Bible



The view of the Temple from Sarah's home.


Sarah Granger Kimball and her seamstress realized that the men working on the temple needed new shirts.  Her seamstress said she would make them shirts but couldn't afford to purchase the fabric.  Sarah said she would do that.  They got some of their friends together because they knew others would want to help.  They decided to form a society and wrote up a constitution.  They showed it to Joseph Smith.  He said it was the best he'd seen but the Lord had something better for them.  On March 17, 1842 on the second floor of the Red Brick Store, Relief Society was organized by the Prophet Joseph Smith.

That was the beginning of Relief Society, the oldest and largest women's organization in the world.  The Relief Society encourages women to have faith, charity and to serve others.  I am so thankful for my association with Relief Society and for all the things I've learned from it.  Sarah Granger Kimball's home is very special to me for that reason.  I finished my little granddaughter, Azure Dahl's baby quilt while working in Sarah's home and that was fitting I thought.





Azure on her quilt--April, 2012.  It is much nicer to wait and have her sitting on the quilt rather than a photo of me with it before I sent it.  Azure Dahl is Ammon and Melanee's daughter.  She was born February 20, 2012.

 

The Sarah Granger Kimball home is surrounded by beautiful flowers that were blooming recently.

These were my favorite peonies.



More of the flowers

 We arrived here in Nauvoo on March 17, 2012, exactly 170 years from the day Relief Society was organized.  We were able to participate in a reenactment at the very Red Brick Store where it was organized.  First we rode to the Red Brick Store on a wagon.



These are some of the horses and the carriage that Mark now drives.


When we arrived at the Red Brick Store we took a photo before the re-enactment.

This is a photo of our group on March 17, 2012.  We had just arrived a few hours before and I didn't know most of these people, but now they have become dear friends.  I am in the third row back--2nd from the right.



The upstairs of the Red Brick Store

I am so thankful for the Relief Society.  I have learned so many things.  Practical homemaking things like quilting, sewing, my pie crust recipe, various cleaning and cooking tips.  We learn of the plan that our Father in Heaven has for us.   Just today we were reminded that we need to know what our prophet is telling us to do now.   But one of my favorite things I've learned in Relief Society is to be a visiting teacher.  I love the concept of providing watchcare for all of the sisters in our ward through the visiting teaching program.  That is one of the most Christian things that we do.  Relief Society provides many other opportunities to serve also.  It is wonderful to be here in Nauvoo where Relief Society had its beginnings. 

I'll close this post with a few more photos of the geese for our grandkids. 

Better than Goslings and Foals

As much as we like our little goslings and Goldie's new foal, we received something much better recently.

On May, 15, 2012, at 12:48 p.m., we got a new grandson.  Omar Rafael Cobian is his name.  He weighed an even 7 pounds and was 20 inches long.  He was born in Salt Lake City.  Edgar and Olivia Cobian are the proud parents.  This makes grandchild number 21 for us and we are so thankful he is here and that he and his mother are healthy and doing well.

Little Omar Rafael Cobian



A more recent photo of Omar

Omar


Now there are five Cobian children.

Marcos, 3 1/2, Omar, Liliana, 9, Ammon 1 1/2, and Ruben, 7.

 How we love and miss this group.

The Carriage Ride

In Nauvoo, there are two kinds of horse and wagon rides.  The wagon ride which goes throughout historic Nauvoo is narrated by a Sister missionary.  I have trained to do that and did my first two narrations this week.  The carriage ride goes into the outlying countryside and is narrated by the teamsters.  I have wanted to go on a carriage ride with Mark narrating, but he never knows if he'll be driving the carriage or wagon and due to my work schedule it is hard to coordinate.  Plus missionaries can't ride unless there happens to be an empty seat.  But on Saturday, May 19, we did it.  Mark was narrating the carriage ride and I was able to be a rider.

As we were getting ready, I was visiting with the folks and learned that these people were from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.  Mark served there on his first mission from 1967-1969.  They know some people that Mark baptized at that time.    In the background are Bill and Bob pulling a carriage from an earlier ride.

Mark with Tim and Tom who are new horses here.  They are sporting new harnesses.  The driver of our carriage ride is Elder Meier from Hayden Lake, Idaho--at the right.

Mark first had to adjust the new harnesses.  Each of the horses weighs a ton and they stand 19 hands high.



Mark narrating.  It is against the rules to stand so I got this lady's head in my photo.  Mark has about a 45 minute narration that he gives.  He did a great job.

One of the stories he told was of Addison Pratt.  He was a native of New Hampshire.  He had worked on a whaling ship.  After joining the Church, he shared with the Prophet Joseph Smith some of his experiences.  He told the Prophet that he thought the people in the Pacific Islands would be interested in the Book of Mormon.  He and others were sent to the Pacific Islands as missionaries.  He left his wife and four daughters.  Before leaving he was given a blessing and told he would come back and be reunited with his family.  He served in the Pacific for five years and established the Church there.  He returned through San Francisco and traveled to the Salt Lake Valley with some of the Mormon Battalion.  When he arrived in Salt Lake, he was reunited with his wife and daughters who had gotten there four days earlier.  And that was without benefit of cell phones.  

We saw some beautiful scenery on the ride.  This may be how the land here looked before the pioneers came and drained the swamp and planted crops, built homes, and businesses.



Scenes along the way.





The equipment barn with Bill & Bob in front



The horse barn





This is a thorny honey locust tree.  The thorns are 3 to 6 inches long, very sharp and very hard.



A photo of the barns as we went by.



Mark narrating

Me with Tim and Tom

Elder Dahl, Elder Meier, Tim & Tom



Hooking up the horses for another go



Watering Tim & Tom

The wagon and carriage rides are very popular in Nauvoo.  We are getting to the busier time and there will be more rides each day.

Baby Animals

May has come and with it many May flowers and many showers.  We have had a lot of rain.  Last night we had so much thunder and lightning that it awakened us in the night several times.  Then it stops raining and is beautiful.  It all seems very changeable. 

Our closest neighbors are these Canada geese and their little ones.  There is an older batch and a younger batch of goslings at the left.




Another photo of the geese and their babies. 

 


Taken in our back yard.





I really like these geese and I know our grandchildren will also.


We have wondered what kind of tree is in front of our house.  It has been shedding cotton like a snowstorm for several days.  We get it on our car, our clothes and in our house.  We feel certain it must be a cottonwood tree.

The cotton on our sidewalk.

This is our back yard.  Luckily we don't have to mow it.  We just mow a few feet around the house.

Another view of our back yard.

Mark had a couple of things happen to him this week.  First the good.  Our draft horse, Goldie, who was left at home in Nevada, had a little filly a week or so ago. 



Goldie and Alazon

 

We appreciate Marianne and Enoch sending us photos of Alazon and Goldie.

Mark had one of his eye shots a week ago.  The person who put the clamp--speculum-- on his eye, scraped his cornea.  He was in terrible pain for several days.  After two more trips to the Dr. in Iowa City, he is doing better now.  His vision isn't completely back but it should come back when the swelling goes down. We certainly hope so.  One thing we have learned through it all is how good the people here are.  They have been so concerned and have offered to do anything to help us.  We have had so many offers, visits, prayers, phone calls, and concern.  We appreciate them so much.  We know Mark's eye will heal.

We are happy and enjoying life. 

Sunset by the Mississippi.  April, 2012

"Sunsets are so beautiful that they almost seem as if we were looking through the gates of Heaven."   John Lubbock

Quilts and Animals

Hello everyone.  We are still enjoying Nauvoo, learning so much, and meeting so many wonderful people.  We are thankful for the opportunity to be here where so many good people lived and so many good people are living now.

We are seeing lots of animals that we don't see at home.  We see beautiful blue jays, cardinals, squirrels, and bald eagles.  We have had a lot of Canadian geese in our yard lately.  Turtles hang out on the logs in the river.

Turtles

A bald eagle

A cardinal





Sometimes animals enter where they should not be.  A few weeks ago, Sister Call and I were working in the John Taylor home.  It is a lovely old home that has been restored.  John Taylor was the third president of the church.  When I say we were working there, I mean we conduct tours through the home or building.  And we tell the story of the people who lived there.  Some of the artifacts inside this home really belonged to the Taylor family.  My favorite is the rocking horse.

 

This is the children's bedroom in the home.  Besides the horse, notice the doll and tea set and the chamber pot under the bed.

 When the saints left Nauvoo, the Taylors didn't think they had room to take this horse.  The little boy was so upset that after they were a few days out, John Taylor rode back to Nauvoo to get the horse for his little boy.  It was dangerous for him to come back, but he did.  The horse went to Salt Lake and was later given to the church by the Taylor family.  The mane and tail are real horse hair. 

Sister Call and I had opened the front door as it was a little warm.  All of a sudden, a robin flew in the house.  There are two rooms upstairs and two rooms downstairs and a hall and stairway in the middle.  We hurried and closed the doors to the rooms where the robin wasn't.  It was in the children's bedroom.  We were so afraid it would damage some of the artifacts that even we are not supposed to touch.  Sister Call phoned the visitors' center.  They didn't have much to suggest.  I took a broom and went after the bird.  I tried to coax it out of the bedroom.

The fireplace in the children's bedroom.

 
The bird was on this mantel--at one point right in there with the figurines.  Luckily, after a few minutes, it flew out of the bedroom.  We hurried and shut that door.  Then we had the bird in the stairway.

One of the chandeliers in the stairway.

 

It flew from the chandelier at the top of the stairs to the middle one (pictured above) to the chandelier at the bottom of the stairs.  We opened wide both front doors and I was there with the broom but it wasn't working.  I said, "I'm going to call my husband."  Mark came right over and within a minute he had the bird in hand and was on his way out the door.  He was our hero.  We were so thankful for him--just like so many other times in my life.  The bird was ok and flew off.  The visitors' center sent someone to help with the problem, but Mark had already solved it.

I have to put on a few photos of quilts.  I worked in the cultural hall two days this week.



The Cultural Hall.  Mark wouldn't take the photo unless I stood in front.

 This building was begun in 1842 and finished in 1844.  Many events happened here.  Plays, dances, meetings, and etc.  The third floor was a Masonic Hall.  The last winter the saints were in Nauvoo, the benches were removed and the building was used for building wagons.  When the church purchased it to restore it, the third story had been removed due to deterioration.  They took the roof off to rebuild the third story and the original floor was there under the roof.  So the third story has the original floor.  Dances were held on that floor and they restored the balcony where the Nauvoo Brass Band played.

The second floor has a display of old quilts and a few other artifacts.  I will show you just a few.

Light & Shadow  1835-1840  (log cabin)



Diamond Weave.  Late 1800's



"Flower Garden"  This quilt top was made by Bridget Lyles who came from Bradford England in 1864.  She and her daughter, Ann, carried it across the plains in their handcart.  Ann's granddaughter donated it to Nauvoo Restoration.  The quilt hanging behind is a sampler quilt from 1850.

There are more quilts but I will save them for another time.

We are happy, keeping busy, and enjoying our time here.  Today was our preparation day and we went to the Amish community of Cantril, Iowa with our friends, the Calls.  We went to a huge store called The Dutchman's.



It had everything from fabric to expensive clocks to groceries.

 That updates you on our comings and goings.  We hope all of you are doing well.

Spring Has Sprung

Spring has come to Nauvoo.  The grass is so green, the trees have leaves, and the birds are singing beautifully.  The pioneers may have left Nauvoo, but the birds sure didn't.

Mark has been spending quite a bit of time in the Browning Gun Shop and home.  We thought our grandsons may enjoy seeing some of the guns.  The Browning Gun Shop was here in Nauvoo.  Then when the pioneers moved west, they moved it to Ogden, Utah.

Mark is demonstrating how they cut rifling in a barrel. 

We are both working in various historic sites.  I worked in the Pendleton Log School one day this week.  We have visitors do a little math exercise and a little spelling exercise.   



This photo shows the benches and slates from the time period.  This was never an actual school, but has been built like a school would have been then.

 Many elementary schools were called "blab schools" because they didn't have textbooks and so they mostly did recitations.  Education was very important to the early church members in Nauvoo and they had  textbooks--in reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, bookkeeping, and analysis. 

The teamsters are all excited this week because they got four new horses.  Now they have a total of 20 horses to pull the wagons and carriages.  Mark is really happy with the quality of the horses. 



Mark with the new gray team.  The other new team are black percherons.  Notice the Nauvoo temple spire at the top right.

 More photos of the horses will come later.  Mark wants to wait till they've shed.

As you can see in our first post, our living room is quite large.  Our kitchen is very small.  It is almost like a hallway.  But we're not here much and I don't have much time to cook anyway so it is just fine.

The kitchen



The dining area of the kitchen.

 We had our first night in the "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo" show.  They had two casts and expanded them to three casts and added all of the new people.  It was kind of scary.  We had been learning the songs for a long time but only had one long practice the night of the show.  It went ok, but I hope we'll get better with time.  Luckily we don't have speaking parts yet, just singing. 




This is me ready for our first show on Wednesday, April 4.

 I had my birthday.  So many friends from home and here remembered and made it so nice.  Thank you all.

I have been walking in the mornings.  It is a lovely time and I've enjoyed it so much.  Sometimes I practice my songs for the shows.  Luckily the birds drown me out.  The other morning I walked up to the women's garden.  I remember in the 70's when they built the statues honoring the various phases of a woman's life.  They are beautiful.  The tulips are so lovely right now. 

This is the final statue.  I love that she's making a quilt.