Christmas 2015 Letter

From our house to yours – 

we send our love

 and prayers to you and your loved ones.

Where has 2015 gone?  It seemed to fly by.   Our life is full of activity, full of people, full of blessings.  We both enjoy teaching pre-schoolers in MOPS, delivering Meals on Wheels and providing rides for people to doctor’s appointments through Love, INC (In the Name of Christ).  We still square dance almost weekly.  Card club is once a month.  Marlys leads a Bible study and Larry attends Camera Club.  Marlys has traveled with her duties as president of Women Ministries of the Northwest Conference.  Those are just the basic activities and we fit our family’s and friend’s activities and celebrations into that grid.

The blessings are many. 

     Larry’s health has been very good following the prostate cancer procedure at Thanksgiving in 2014.  He was having problems with his feet, so worked with a foot doctor to take off planter’s warts. He’s had bouts of gout in one toe but that seems better now.  He recently had another BLU light session to burn off pre-cancer cells on his head and forehead.   Marlys has aches and pains in her lower back and legs.  There is nothing specific that an Aleve now and then won’t help.  She continues to get to Curves for exercise several times a week.

      We celebrated our 50^th Wedding Anniversary on July 2^nd.  To celebrate, we traveled for more than a month (May) in our van and also flew to Hawaii – the last of the 50 states and the only one left to see on the list.  Only Larry and Marlys would drive to Hawaii!  Well, we drove thru Cheyenne, Spokane, and Seattle.  Then we flew to Hawaii for two weeks and back to Seattle.  We continued our road trip in Washington and Oregon.  Then we enjoyed the trip home through eastern Oregon, Boise, ID and Salt Lake City.  Our most treasured memories of the trip are the people we visited.  Thank you to all who hosted us, especially to Mel & Vicki.  We were so happy to see friends, Larry’s classmate, cousins and missionaries!  The pictures we took in Hawaii and en route remind us what a beautiful country we live in – we are so privileged to live in the USA!

     We continued to celebrate our anniversary on August 15^th with the Mayo Camp picnic and then an open house at the campground.  The picnic had been planned for a year and we decided to combine it with our anniversary celebration.  It was a hot day with a great wind.  Thank you to all those who came to share our joy - classmates, teacher friends, church people, square dancers, neighbors and family – we are really blessed by knowing all of you.

     Peggie Su arrived for our party from Taiwan.  She stayed with us for two weeks before going to San Francisco for English classes.  She and Eva had visited us two years ago.  They have invited us to visit them in Taiwan.  We are planning a trip there in February of 2016.  The tickets are bought!

     In September, we headed south for two weeks to visit cousins in Oklahoma.  We are so happy to connect with the ‘sissies.’  Sue & Bobby hosted us and her sisters for a Labor Day gathering.  It was a healing time following their son, Timmy’s, home going. 

     In November, we spent two days in Brainerd with the Mayo cousins and saw the Goedderz’s too.   A whole slew of us sorted through old pictures and cards from Grandma Mayo and Mannie & Irma.   We went over to see Dale Brick in the nursing home.  Dale passed away just after Thanksgiving.

     We’ve had sad occasions this year – losing Lyle Goodman, Timmy Strain, Miles Wilson, and Dale Brick. 

     But we’ve also had happy times – looking at family history with Brad & Maureen, Jamie (Lee) & Andy Arola’s marriage, Gen & Vivi’s baptism, visiting with Tom Crockett at Linda & Irwin’s house, a mission trip to Duluth/Superior with Rajah and Luke, Dave Johnson’s 75^th birthday party and celebrating 50 years of marriage.

   

We wish you a wonderful holiday season – full of joy that comes from knowing Jesus, the reason for the season. Love,

                                                                        Larry & Marlys

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Eph. 3:16-19

Gathered to mourn

Sept. 30th our grand nephew, Miles Wilson, collapsed and died at work.  He was 23 years old.  Miles graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College last year and was an active hockey player in Mound/Westonka High School and at college.  The funeral was Wednesday, Oct. 7th.  So many of his friends and teammates came to celebrate his life.  His parents, Frank and Sherrie, were heartbroken to lose their only child.  We all need to realize that life is a gift and we are not guaranteed a certain number of years.  His life touched many people and he lived it to the fullest.  
Larry and Marlys and John (Pat's son who is also 23) attended the funeral.
We will be holding the family up in prayer as they face life without him.

Buried at Glen Haven Cemetery in Crystal, MN

50th Anniversary Book

Here is the Shutterfly book I made from the video and pictures at our anniversary party on Aug. 15th.  You can copy and paste the address.  If you are not a member of Shutterfly, you will have to sign up.  However, it is free and then you can click on our book and look at it for free too.
https://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=bf447e5b08cc79ef&sid=0AaNWbdm0ZMWbCzg

Mayo Family Picnic and 50th Anniversary Celebration

I haven't written about our party on Aug. 15th.
The Mayo's gathered for a pot luck lunch at Oaks on the River.  The Larry Wilson's and all of Manny's girls attended the picnic.

Jody & Darlene

Jan 

Jeannine

Judy

Sherm & Sherran

The Open House was from 1-4 PM for our Anniversary.  Many friends and cousins came to join us.  Abe & Carol Maier and Ken & Barb LaBau provided square and round dancing.  Richard Giebenhain lead us in a blessing for the day and the occasion.  Pat, Pete & Paul joined us for a square dance and really did a super job.  Thanks to all who came and to the many more who have sent cards and greetings.

 Nephew, Clayton & Anna with Larry & Gen

Denny & Becky - neighbors

Dan & Judy - college friends

Family back from the pool

Family square dancing

Peggie Su Visitor from Taiwan

Peggie arrived the day of our 50th Anniversary party.

She has been kept very busy just attending the normal activities of life around our house.  Larry is always finding new experiences for her to participate in.  We were able to get one overnight on the 'spit' sleeping in tents.  However, the wind came up and almost blew us away the whole time we were there.

 We decided not to try to boat back to our car across the lake since our boat motor is not very powerful.  Instead we gathered a few things we could carry and used the neighbor's walkway to reach the road.  A friend drove us to the beach to pick up our car.  We didn't return to the 'spit' until Tuesday when the wind died down and the sun was back out.  The heat of the summer has been replaced by much lower humidity and lower temps.  Peggie thinks it is like winter in Taiwan.  She is wearing many layers of clothes to keep warm.  She likes cooking because she never cooks in Taiwan.  These pictures give you some idea of what she has been doing.
We square danced in Annandale at the fiddler's contest.

We also went to Como Conservatory after attending Chinese church in Lauderdale.  Her two week visit is going quickly.  We will end by going to the state fair just before she leaves for San Francisco.

Recent trip to the 'spit' on Lake Pulaski

 Fun at the lake with Larry, John, Paul, Leslie, Spencer & Rajah.

Mission Trip by Rajah Wilson

Busy July

Four of us Wilson's went on a short mission trip to Superior, WI.  Luke and Rajah were great team members as we stayed at a church and then did volunteer work in the community.   We enjoyed Lake Superior too.

We also joined Rajah and Spencer at Maple Grove Days.  We square danced and later Maple Grove Covenant shared a FamJam show.  Spencer was working on sound and Rajah was performing the music.

Then we went to see Rajah in "The Long Snooze" production from drama camp.
The costuming was perfect for this 'old fashioned' girl.

Graduation and Baptisms

This weekend has been busy.  Saturday, Laura Deluge, Skyler's girl friend, had her high school graduation party.  We came to represent the Wilson family since Sky's parents were out of town.

Then on Sunday, Gen and Vivi were baptized at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in St. Cloud.  We joined many of Anne's family for the service and lunch afterwards.

We also square danced both Saturday afternoon in Fair Haven and then in the evening at a barn dance in Greenfield.

The rest of the story

We spent five weeks away from home for the entire month of May and a few days in April too.  We already posted the shutterfly book of the thirteen days in Hawaii.  Here is a book about the rest of the trip.
We visited many friends and family members.  That is the highlight of the trip for us.  Reconnecting and even meeting new people brings us real joy.
Of course the natural beauty of the mountains and ocean also fill us with awe for what God has created.
Here is the web site for our Washington Oregon shutterfly book.  If you don't have a shutterfly account, you will have to get one.  But it is free and looking at our book is free too.  Here is Mt. Hood.

https://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaNWbdm0ZMWbCZA&cid=SM-PBAPP

Shutterfly Book of our Hawaii Travels

https://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaNWbdm0ZMWbCRg&cid=SM-PBAPP

You should be able to see it.  But you have to register for Shutterfly first.
You don't have to buy the book to see it.
You can have it be on a larger screen to see the pictures better.

We had a great time and want to share our photos with you.

Hawaiian Trip to celebrate 50th Anniversary

We arrived on Tuesday, got a car and drove to the North Shore.  Have to be careful not to get too much sun.  Visited the Polynesian cultural center on Wed.  There were 7 different villages.  We will return on Friday to see the ones we missed.  We rested in the car for awhile before the luau.  We were on stage when they asked about anniversary celebrations.  The couple across from us were newly weds 4 days!  Another woman took our picture with our camera.  The final event was a great show of polynesian dances.  Thursday we relaxed at the beaches.  We saw two green turtles just a few miles from here.

March 2015 photos of the family

Here are some photos of the family from our birthday celebrations in March.

Birthday boys
Pete Paul
Pat

John & Pat

Pete, Anne, Gen & Vivi at bottom

Luke

Matt & Grandpa

Rajah