It was a very beautiful Christmas!

December 29, 2013

Dearest Family,   

    It was a very beautiful Christmas! We are so blessed to have a wonderful family, to live in this wonderful land, & have testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  We do have a Savior, Jesus Christ! How grateful we are to know that & feel His love!

    Monday – a quiet day at the library. Did have a brother come in whose tree was just mixed up, had lots of people whose names appeared as the word “living”. We signed in as his helper, & worked on it later that evening.  With some special inspiration we were able to get it cleaned up for him. 

    Crofts, Grants, & Fikes got together at the New Horizons Living Center & had a wonderful time Christmas caroling.We were able to go to all four areas of the Center & in several rooms. Came out here for snacks & hot chocolate when we finished! It was an enjoyable evening!

    Tuesday -  Our two indexing sisters were getting ready for Christmas, answered a few questions on the phone,  & visited a couple who both wanted to learn scanning at their home. Went great.  Invited Janet Nazer over for the evening & enjoyed dinner & FHE together.

    Wednesday - Visited the Grant home first thing Christmas morning, it was so nice to be with them.  Then on to the Fike home to spend time with them, enjoyed had lunch together.  Rob & Ethan came out here in the evening, they had a bug at their house, hope Michelle is feeling better now!  Allen, Amber & family will probably be up later this week & we will be able to spend time with them. Visited with Vicki also!  We are so blessed to have so many of our family close!

    Thursday – helped a brother in Cowley in the a.m. & a sister in Lovell!  Attended a wedding reception

    Friday –  Enjoyed the crisp air & sunshine & fishing at Pond  Five.  All fishing & no catching. 

 

    Saturday – Bread Baking day, laundry day & another Wedding reception!

The weather was nice this week lots of sun, warmer temps and no wind.

     It has been a great week, but it sure was nice to be back in the routine of FH today with a busy Sunday! Our classes were great, met with two more Youth Consultants during the day & again tonight in the center.  Missionaries also brought a couple in!  We love the work & are grateful for the Lord’s blessings.

    We love you all & CTR!   Bro & Sis Croft

 

Snow Rollers! !

December 24, 2013

Snow Rollers in a field near our home formed last night by wind and new snow on top of old snow! ! Notice the tracks in the snow where the cylinder rolled.

December 22, 2013

Dearest Family,  

    “I’m dreaming of a White Christmas, just like the ones I used to know”   I did love the “White Christmas’s” at home growing up in Jackson! Dad did as well in Powell but on the farm with all the animals it meant a lot more work everyday to take care of them. Snow would be deeper than the fences and very crusted so the animals couldn’t walk around only break thru and be stuck.  No loaders or snow blowers to clean out the pens just man power and shovels....... It was a snowy day today with about 6+ inches of snow. Started this a.m.  lasted until about 1:00 p.m.  We had a super white out trip to Cowley & back this a.m. Then another into Lovell abt noon.  We were blessed & able to travel safely.

    Happy Birthday to Kenny & Melvin!!! Hope it was a great day for each of you!

   

    Our day started today with a wonderful sacrament meeting & a beautiful Christmas program & ended this evening with the Stake Choir Concert, an amazing rendition of Christmas music – what talented people we have who share their time & talent! Sure helps us get in the spirit of it all!

    Classes were great today, felt really good about one we gave on adding photos to your family tree. The photo section is the greatest! It surely is a great special way to get to know our loved ones.  It’s also great to share our memories & stories of those  parents & grandparents whom we so loved & knew so well! Take a moment this Holiday Season to write a memory of an ancestor you knew & loved & add it to Family Tree! Do you have a photo of that special event which y.ou remember?  Add it also.

    A special day Dec 16, 1966! We have lived & loved each other for 47 wonderful years! We enjoyed having a normal Monday – helping a non-member lady learn about her family at the public library. It’s a family with some unusual circumstances & it is amazing what we are able to find! The spirit is great as we do this & she is amazed also!  It was our Wednesday in the FHC & I was able to help some patrons. Bro Croft & Sister NeVille worked on organizational things in the center and the FH Fair coming in March. Also had a meeting in Cowley, discussing computer internet problems with SLC – did make progress tho---

    Enjoyed several home visits to help people, a high school choir concert to hear the Grant girls, Anniversary dinner at the Grants on Friday & a visit with the Fike girls, Kenya & Daeja on Saturday while Mom & Dad went to the temple.  So nice to have a normal temp week with sun and a few snow flurries until yesterdays big one. There was also a local basketball tournament in Cowly/Lovell gyms that gave us opportunity to see many of the YM and YW youth we work with  play. We went to 2 for 2 quarters then saw parts of others on local TV in the evenings!  Supporting them this way gives us a closeness with them at church!

Have a wonderful Christmas!

We love you all!   CTR

 

Bro & Sis Croft

May Christ be in our lives each day!

May we share this Christmas thought

December 15, 2013

May we share this Christmas thought from Isaiah 9:6        “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given -  and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.                                                                     

 

From President Thomas S. Monson,      “During this season of rejoicing and celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, may each of us take time to ponder the true meaning of Christmas and the gifts of peace, love, joy, and happiness that He has given to us through His Birth, His Life and His ultimate gift of the Atonement that allows us to return and live with Him again. May our gift to the Savior this year and always be a more tender, caring, and obedient heart.

 

Dearest Family!   

    What a special day!  Sacrament mtg was oh-oh so special, the talks made us think about the Savior & want to draw nearer to Him.  We had classes in three wards & open library time in two other wards.  We were able to help people, most of the equipment worked great!  It was such a very nice day! In each group we were able to help people. We are so grateful for the inspiration to help & serve our Heavenly Father!. Tonight in the FHC there were patrons to help & all three of the consultants had a patron to help.  It was a great day!

    FHE was with a family who have 4 daughters, ages 5-12!  they had missed the “Family Stories Lesson so we shared that with them. The young ladies are excited to talk to their great Grandma’s & begin to hear their stories! We enjoyed it so very much! They are also going to have the youth consultants come & help them with other things, finding temple names, adding stories & pictures!

    A very nice week of warm weather and sun....more like Dec should feel! The forecast for next week is for even temps in the mid 40’s.  We still have 2” of snow on the ground and lots of ice on the streets and parking lots.

    We were in Powell one day, did a little shopping & it was great to get adjusted! We have found this week that people were busy preparing for Christmas or any number of things, a computer crashed, etc. so appts had to be canceled. We even did a little more Christmas decorating, We have a beautiful poinsettia tree!

 

    We so enjoyed our ward Christmas party! Seems like ages since we have visited with our ward members!  One evening, while in the FHC we were blessed to attend tithing settlement. That too, is a great blessing! ! Bishop had us share one of our blessings of being full tithe payers all our lives. The blessing of good health to our family and always having our needs taken care of came to our minds. There were still big challenges but always comfort and means to keep moving along life’s journey! ! !

    Saturday was the high light of the week!  Congratulations to Ryan & Rhonda! What a blessing it was to be in the Billings Montana Temple with them & also other family members, then to be together again at the reception! We also attended the temple sealing  of very special friends, Mike & Anita Fink. Their two sons will be in the temple with them shortly too!  This great work blesses the lives of everyone!  We are so blessed to be able to share in the joy of this great work!

 

We love you all and pray the Lord’s blessings upon you,

Brother and Sister Croft

CTR!

 

Our Christmas tree and nativity!

Yes, every Sabbath day is a wonderful day

December 8, 2013

Dearest Family,   

    Yes, every Sabbath day is a wonderful day, even when it is especially crispy, below 0 degrees, br.r.r.! Being blessed with the opportunity to renew our covenants with our Heavenly Father makes for a perfect day! We were able to teach in two classes today,  about searching records to learn more about our family members. It is truly amazing what we can do in a matter of moments with computers!  Also gratitude to all the indexers out there! Family Search.com, findagrave.com, Google searches & those in other search engines & so-so many more! We felt so blessed to have the spirit there in each class!  We had several RS sisters to continue learning about adding photos. Another ward had open library time in the FHC for the first time. Five adult members of one family came in to discuss places where they were stumped! It is wonderful to see families assigning different lines to each one, working together! 

    It was an amazing Christmas Devotional this evening.  The FHC was very cool today, so we were chilled when we got home, a little early at 4:30pm. Had dinner & enjoyed the broadcast at home & because of the bdcst, the center was closed!  I think we are both finally warm!  You can definitely tell that we are ready for some sunshine & above 0 temperatures! Weatherman says by mid week above zero nights and near 30 days......YES! ! ! !

    I so enjoyed the devotional: President Monson’s direction to be more Understanding, Compassionate, Serve, Friendly, Kind & Gentler & to give to the Savior this Christmas season “A more Tender, Caring Heart”  Sister Wixom’s “what happens next”, & Elder Nelson’s “The Savior is the only true source of peace”  What a blessing it was to watch it twice this evening! 

    This week has been plagued with cold & very icy highways & streets.  All week below zero days and 15 to 20 below nights, very unusual for early December. There was 2 inches of dry snow one night too. Bro Croft has not walked outside anytime this week..... The semi trucks that haul the sugar beets to the factory didn’t run for several days then finally had too. They chained up the semi’s & drove them slow on the 60 mile round trip to break up the ice. It took 4 days to finally get the tracks broke up then the snow plows could remove it from the highway........All the years, over 40 now here in Lovell we have never seen such ice on the roads.  Several new people stopped by the Public Library, great, standby ones were busy with Christmas preparation. Bro Croft has been able to do some phone support & instruction.  On Tuesday, it was more convenient for us to go to the FHC & be with the missionaries.  They do Facebook twice a week & a librarian comes in with them. Several also had questions about FH, so it worked out well!

    We have been able to get a scanner for the FHC for patrons to use.  Wednesday was a preparation day for a lesson on using it at the FH consultant meeting that evening I did the presentation. (She did a wonderful job ! ! ! note by Bro Croft) Thursday A.M. we continued to have a nice group in Cowley.  Even with the cold weather, there were five patrons.

   We have also had extra time this week for home things, still sorting my deep dark hole,  cutting up the final deer, making a little jerky & cold weather maintenance! Out of the deep dark hole came an invoice for our 1st new car, an opal station wagon, pd 2191.18 to replace our ‘57 Chevy, wedding invitation for Frank & Rena Petersen in February of 1905, & 4 graduation announcements for Grandpa Charlie M Petersen & his siblings, & Bro Croft’s certificates of baptism, & priesthood ordination, they will go in the document section of familysearch.org.  Have you looked to see what is new there?

    Have a great week, everyone!  Happy Birthday to Isaac last Monday! 

 We love you all & CTR,  Bro & Sister Croft

Great Sabbath Day!

December 1, 2013

Dearest Family

    Great Sabbath Day!  Lovell 1st Ward Sacrament meeting!   New Bishop called!   Bishop Michael Jones!  A relative! He is a very fine man & will do a great job! Today we spent our day in Lovell!  Lovell 1st ward FH class & then a 1st Sunday lesson in the High Priest Quorum in that same ward.  This was a follow-up lesson to “My Family , Stories that bring us to,gether” We felt so good about it & hope to see the brethren getting busy, writing the stories of their families, involving their families, their own children & the youth of the ward in helping them to get it into Family Search. Quick lunch then back to help Bishop Walker, Lovell 2nd Ward, present the “My Family , Stories....”  lesson in his ward.  Another awesome meeting! If it hasn’t been done in your ward, click on the link so you can watch the videos & enjoy the spirit of it!    https://www.lds.org/callings/temple-and-family-history/sunday-lesson?lang=eng

Then on to a followup lesson in L3 for RS sisters on the above lesson!  they are learning to scan pictures & add them to the tree! We hung out in the FHC & were able to help several – plus a HP group leader & a consultant.  Quick dinner – then back to the FHC!  Quieter evening – had a patron who has been coming in to write his life story.  Doesn’t have his own computer.  Also had time to prepare  & study the new scanner we have, so we can teach about it at our FH Consultant training meeting this week.  At present, I am not ready, but with the Lord’s help, it will come!

   Public Library time was great!  One of our non-member neighbors came in & Bro Croft was able to get her started. She was going to go home & make some phone calls for a little more info & will probably be back this week. Had a great FHE with a couple this week!  He has had a fit getting his tree connected!  Dad helped him and  I was able to help his wife also!  The weather this week was nice 20’ to 50’ and lots of sun.....forecast says colder next week with highs of 30.

    With the Thanksgiving Holiday, the rest of our week was slower in some ways.  Bro Croft was able to get winterizing projects done outside, was nice weather to do them. I decided it was time to explore the deep dark hole under the basement stairs & see what treasures we had lost!   There were a few memory boxes, some junk which got thrown away,  and a few things which were hauled away by their rightful owners, since, some of you were here for Thanksgiving day!  And there is still some to go thru & sort & make decisions about!   I doubt it will go away on it’s own....

    Thanksgiving Day dawned bright & clear – a beautiful day!   Bro Croft was able to get his final deer across the road on Harrison’s, a white tail doe!  We will enjoy & feel blessed to have this meat to supplement our other food storage. Enjoyed Allen, Amber & family at our house for a little while before dinner. We had a wonderful time at the Grants, 27 of our family there plus Greg Martin, Chris Smith, & Rhonda Warnock, soon to be Croft!  Had the traditional Pinata, designed by the A Croft family, complete with real turkey feathers. The food was delicious & the company was the very, very, best!  We love you all so very much!

    Bro Croft has got the Deer blinds down, caught a bunch of minnows for winter fishing,  & we had a shore fishing trip to the lake on Saturday mostly frozen over but an area by the docks was still open. It was a beautiful sunny winter morning to enjoy together!  We feel so blessed to be able to do so many things.

  We love you all,  CTR    Love Bro & Sis Croft