Jingle Bells

birthday fun

I had another happy birthday.  Devin amazed me again with his creations.  I had a craving for banana cream pie, so ... WHALA!  He made individual sized pie crusts and the delicious filling with all the toppings.  MMM mmm. . . Tasty.

 

Delicious pie crusts! The super yummy, flaky kind and the graham cracker kind.

 Super fun!  . . . Yummy . . .

Finally Crawling!

Hooray for Myra!  Today I baited her to see if I could get her to crawl.  It worked!  She started off slowly, sliding across the floor, with her head down.  Near the end she was starting to do it for real.  Whahoo!!

Hurricane Clean Up

(So Devin didn't want to try out blogging.  Here is my summary of what I've been told...) 

     President Calderwood, the current mission president of the NY South Mission, and previously our Stake President, arranged for help to come through the Oakton Stake, where we live.  This resulted in five large moving trucks filled full of 2,500 boxes containing coats and warm clothing.  Five hundred missionary care boxes (filled mostly of food, arrived the day before Thanksgiving) and $45,000 in $25 gift cards were donated for the missionaries who have depleted their own savings by not being able to return home for meals, and instead, eating out because of their constant labor to help the Sandy victims.  Lastly a group of 180 people, 35 from our ward, rode down in vans, left Thursday night after our Thanksgiving meal, and did not return home until late Sunday night.

Rockaway Beach

Once a very expensive car.

      Devin was part of that group. He worked in a group of 10, to provide the man power needed to clean up the mess left over from Hurricane Sandy.  Gutting basements that were already beginning to mold. . . They tore off Sheetrock and ripped out carpet, busted apart large furniture and pianos, and carried everything out on sleds. They were able to give assistance to the people who desperately needed it.

       Devin said one home owner tried to hire a few guys to help him clean out his basement. They came, took one look at the mess, and left. Then this group of "Mormon Helping Hands", wearing yellow vests, came willingly, and took care of it, for free.

hauling garbage out

Devin's group

Devin said this was the smallest pile they made.

     Devin was super worn out when he made it home finally, but I think, because he saw how grateful the people were for his help, he enjoyed doing the service.

      They slept in a Stake Center and showered at a YMCA.  They worked in Queens, NY all day Friday and Saturday (in the cold and wind). Sunday they had a short sacrament service and went back to work all day until dark.
       One night they were able to have some fun and went downtown. . .

Devin found a nice place to sleep

 

News video (link)

Mormon Helping Hands (video)