Dia de la Madre - Sunday, May 9, 2010

It was a beautiful Sunday for Mother's Day with lots of warm sunshine. I woke up with the alarm and Rich stayed in bed another hour. Now shouldn't I have been the one who stayed in bed an extra hour?

When we stopped in the office before going to the church, there sat a bouquet of flowers at my desk with a note from the elders wishing me a Happy Mother's Day. How sweet of them!! I was touched. Since I can't be with my daughters on this day, my "sons" are a good substitute. They are so thoughtful and needed a hug.

We really like the Virreyes branch. They are wonderful saints and are so warm and friendly. They seem to rally around each other and there is a lot going on to bring the people together. We have enjoyed this last month attending a new branch and getting to know new people.

Argentina doesn't observe Mother's Day today -- theirs being in October. But, I received a lot of hugs and wishes for a happy day from members of our branch along with some from my friends in the San Fernando ward as we passed them in the halls of the church.

Rich is bonding with our Temple Preparation class and they seem to have enjoyed these last two weeks. Guissela Romero Caycho and Joe Romero Caycho along with their mother Ana Maria Caycho Bravo are taking the class together. Guissela is the Primary President and Joe is the Executive Secretary to the Branch President. Sister Caycho is the housekeeper/cook for President and Sister Torre in Tigre. We met her at the Torre's when we were there for an asado one time. So we had a familiar face we knew when we came to Virreyes.

After sacrament meeting, the branch president came up to us and asked if he could introduce us to Rocio Garcia who was there with her daughter Delfina. She and her husband, Ezequiel are on the roll of our Temple Prep class, but they have never attended. He indicated that the couple are talking about separating and wondered if we could talk with her or possibly visit them at their home. Of course, we can!! We would love to.

We met this darling young mother with a sleeping child in her arms. Her mother, Lidia Mabel Bustos, was sitting by her on the bench. We asked if we could come by to visit and she said that tomorrow evening around 6:30 would be good. She mentioned that her husband would be home also. Great! That's what we wanted. Hopefully the conversation will open up to their plan to separate and Rich can talk to them about it.

After church and our dinner of stuffed bell peppers - yum, Rich started answering some emails from parents who were having troubles connecting with their missionaries for the Mother's Day call. By the end of the day he had about 18 problems that he solved, with 18 happy parents that could finally get through. It is so good to have a "go between" who can set up the call and correct bad numbers. I don't know who will do it when we leave. He has done this for two Mother's Days and one Christmas.

I fixed my flowers in a vase and put them by a beautiful card that Melissa sent, and took a traditional Mother's Day photo. I took a two hour nap, worked on yesterday's journal and todays entry, and enjoyed a Mother's Day call on skype from Melissa and Marianne in Denver. They looked darling as did the little boys. The screen was full and we didn't get to see Nate. How we love all of them!