A Special Sabbath Day (and Family Night too)

I can't believe it's been a month since my trip to Utah.  Once the vacation's over, life gets busy again and I haven't had as much time as I'd like to spend on the blog.  But before any more time passes, I have to tell you about my last few days in Salt Lake and the special people I visited while I was there.   If you followed my blog when I was in my year of fifty, you know that one of the most memorable things I did that year was travel  to the Holy Land.  That trip was life changing for many reasons, but one of the best things about it was meeting all the wonderful people who travelled with me.  I introduced some of them to you here.  The Sager family said they were "adopting" the  sisters from the south (that would be me and Sherri) and that was fine with us, 'cause we loved them too!  While I was at Education Week, I stayed with Jeannee and had a great time.  Over the weekend, I spent time with the rest of the Sagers who lived in Utah.  Richard and Lois (dad and mom) invited me to spend the sabbath with them.

We went to church and Lois even talked me into singing in the choir with her.  I sat by her side, tried to follow her alto lead and make some kind of a joyful noise.  I'm doubtful I contributed much to the choir, but it made me feel happy anyway!  After church we had a wonderful lunch.  I'm not sure how she quite pulled it off, considering she had just returned from a week long vacation, late the night before.  I know I would have been too exhausted.  But not Lois.  I think she might be happiest when she's in her kitchen, serving her family and friends.

Some people are graced with the gift of hospitality and the Sagers are definitely that kind of people. They remind me of another couple who had a great influence on our lives when we were younger.  We were living in Vermont, had our first little baby and were away from family for the first time, completely on our own.  Except we weren't really on our own, because we had a church family that took us under their wings and helped take care of us.  The Farnsworth's were good to us and had that same gift of hospitality.  I will always remember when we went back years later for a visit, we showed up at church unannounced and they were so happy to see us.  They invited us home for lunch, so we could spend more time together.  With no preplanning, she welcomed us into her home and prepared a simple and delicious meal.  Her focus was not on the food.  Her focus was on us and making us feel comfortable and welcome. I don't remember what we ate, but I do remember feeling loved.  It was a powerful lesson to me of christlike hospitality.   I had that same feeling when I was in the Sager home.  As family members surrounded the table, we talked, laughed, ate and had a wonderful time.

I also had the chance to partake of a Sager tradition of eating "cake in milk".   This is something I've never heard of before but according to this family, it is the best way to eat cake.  Richard asked me if I would try it and I said, "sure".  I'm pretty adventurous when it comes to food and I love family food traditions.  Jeannee had made a beautiful carrot cake and she and her mom served everyone a piece in a cup with milk.

Okay.  I can't say I loved it.  I can't say I even liked it.  Well to be totally honest, I thought it was pretty awful.  The Sagers said chocolate cake is the very best, but they liked carrot cake in milk too.  I think you have to inherit the "cake in milk" gene, because those who have married into the family eat their cake and drink their milk separately.   Sorry Richard, but I just can't eat "cake in milk" with you.  Can you still love me anyway?

As the afternoon wore on, family members kept coming.  It was so good to see Debi and Andy and meet their children.  Aren't they a cute family?

  We played cards

and I had the grand tour of Richard's baseball room (I should have taken a picture of that!)  and got to see all his Nauvoo artifacts.  President Sager served with his wife as the first mission president of the Nauvoo Illinois mission in 2001.  The Nauvoo temple was being rebuilt during this time and he has stones from the original temple in his back yard,

along with one of the shovels and other tools that were used during groundbreaking and construction of the new temple.  I loved this time with Richard as he shared about his mission and his experiences as mission president.  

On Monday, Richard and Lois invited me to go to a baseball game with them.  That was fun too!  Have you ever seen such a picturesque ball field?  As the sun began to go down, the mountains turned all shades of pink and purple.  It was beautiful.

We're not a big baseball family at my house, but I enjoyed the game,

and the food, (hotdogs and baseball totally go together, don't they?)

and most of all - the company.  I sure do love those Sagers!  It was a wonderful visit.  I'm hoping they will come to NC sometime soon, so I can practice a little southern hospitality on them.