Kelly Lewis

I wanted to introduce you to someone I am finally getting to meet. This is my biological grandfather, Kelly Lewis. Kelly died in 1997 so I never met him in this life, but last month I made contact with his widow, Catherine, and his younger sister, Ethel. Both have been very generous with their time in fielding my questions. These pictures were supplied by Catherine. Picture number one is a picture of Catherine and Kelly before he died.Picture 3 is a picture of a younger Kelly Lewis. Kelly served in World War II as a Paratrooper in the Pacific Theater. Catherine told me later in his career Kelly jumped from an aircraft and his chutes didn't open. He blew out both knees when he landed. He was told he would never walk again, but he did. Kelly was an avid bowler. I have a score card supplied to me which apparently was one of his best ever, I'm guessing that since it is lamented. He scored 624 in three games on FEB 1, 1972.
I am so grateful I was able to write a letter to Catherine and make contact with her. We are the lost family they had no idea existed. Kelly and my grandmother were divorced when my father was two years old. They have not heard from our family since as my grandmother was very hurt by what happened. I am in the process of writing a family history for them to catch them up on what this lost branch has been up to.

Youth Conference

We had a great time at Youth Conference and are glad we ended up helping with it. Originally we said "No" because it was a 3 day time commitment and we didn't know what we'd do with Benjamin during it, but they had asked 33 couples, and before us only 4 had agreed to do it. They were hoping to have 8-10 couples. Ryan ended up working three 11 hour days and 7 hours on Friday morning while the kids were at Habitat for Humanity and Ryan's mom also took off from work. We couldn't have done it without her. I was definitely having Benjamin withdrawal after being away from him for 28 hours straight (Friday afternoon to Saturday evening... not to mention all day/evening Thursday). It was his first sleepover and he had a great time. He is definitely one well adjusted kid because I seemed to miss him a lot more than he did me!

We were the "Mission President and Wife" for the Kyiv, Ukraine mission. We had a great group of kids. Their spirituality and strength was inspiring to me. All of our kids seemed to have a great time and we were the only mission where everyone (including me) bore their testimonies. I can't tell if it's just because I'm pregnant or I was really touched by the spirit because I got choked up a lot. The Stake Young Women's Presidency gave us a great surprise at the end of the conference by framing the above 8x10 photo in a mat with all the kids' signatures.
This was Monday evening at the Kanesville Tabernacle. Our group was passing out lemonade before the "Come Home to Kanesville" Performance.

This was our skit. We taught the kids the song "Called to Serve" in Russian. Two of the kids acted like missionaries "contacting" Ukrainians.
Ryan was dressed up like the Ukrainian Neo. It would have been cool to have coordinated the kids in the audience throwing globe beach balls at him (they were the center pieces) like bullets in "The Matrix" (We own the edited version).

This is Friday evening. Ryan is playing "Stick Pull" with the Dominican Republic "Mission President".

As you can see, Ryan is flying through the air.

The kids were getting restless! Ryan filmed them and an unnamed adult taking a handcart through the drive-thru at Taco Bell. Ryan would have been the one in the handcart except I'm much more reserved than I used to be and way more reserved than he is. I.e. I convinced him it would be a bad idea. The manager at Taco Bell wasn't amused and said that because the handcart didn't have a motor they were considered pedestrians... No motor, no drive-thru service. The video is posted on Youtube.com and has been viewed 225+ times in the last 5 days.

Day Out with Thomas

While Ryan and I were at Youth Conference last Saturday, Ryan's mom took Benjamin to "Day Out with Thomas" in Fremont, NE. Diane, if I get any of these descriptions wrong, please correct me.

Benjamin looks pretty excited to see Thomas.

He picked a window seat for his 30 minute train ride. Benjamin is holding Max and Monty the Dump Trucks. Thanks Gram!!!!
Here he is playing with Max and Monty in the gravel.Benjamin said "Hi Thomas!" every time he came around the track, but he wouldn't say "Hi!" to James.
Benjamin had a great day with Thomas and is still talking about it.