God Bless America and A White Christmas: Ruth's Baptism

Grandchildren at last! In the arms of loved ones in Lynchburg, Virginia with William's family, 2023.12.23

After a very long 15+ hour flight, ambien twice, and three movies, we made it the the USA! It was great to be back on American soil. I couldn't hold back the tears as we walked through customs. I kept singing, "God Bless America" in my mind and the tears flowed! We got through passport control and customs just fine. We put our carry-on luggage on in Cape Town so we only had backpacks to carry. We were grateful to see all our luggage made it, including 10 lbs. of mopane worms and spices, Taona Nkala gave us to bring to his brother in Idaho.

God Bless America! We made it! Bruce was so excited to have some Phillip's crab cakes in Atlanta, 2023.12.22

We landed in Atlanta at 07:30 a.m. and unfortunately had a very long layover until 4:30 p.m. We just wanted to be done traveling but were very grateful to be in the U.S.A. We patiently waited for our hour-long flight to Roanoke, Virginia.

We landed in Roanoke a little before 6:00 p.m. eagerly awaiting to see William, our firstborn son.
We landed in Roanoke and waited for our luggage at the baggage claim. William sneaked up to us and gave us a big hug. It was great to see our son again. William and Elisa graciously offered to let us come stay and enjoy Christmas with them. Most importantly, Ruth, our granddaughter, had been waiting since November to have a Christmas baptism and have both sets of grandparents in attendance. It was so wonderful to love on these sweet grandchildren again. We haven't seen William's family since March 2022 when Isaac was baptized.

Practicing for the baptismal musical number by the Anderson family, "A Child's Prayer".

Ruth's baptism was Saturday at 10:00 a.m. at the Lynchburg Chapel. It's great to be eight! Ruth's Grandma Teresa Rawlins gave a talk on baptism, William baptized his daughter, and Grandpa Anderson (Bruce) gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. Bruce was tearful as he shared personal and mission experiences and the Spirit was felt in the meeting. Ruth looked beautiful in her new white dress full of excitement, innocence, and faith. It was a special day.

After the baptism, we were treated to a Chik-fil-A lunch, Ruth's favorite. It had been a long time since I enjoyed some Chik-fil-A nuggets and special sauce. We woke up early Sunday morning trying to get used to the time change. We wake about 3:00 a.m. trying to go back to sleep. Unfortunately, both Ruth and Paul were both up vomiting. They had been sick back on Monday and luckily were well for the baptism but then the flu bug returned. Elisa stayed home with the kids while we attended a special hour  Christmas Eve Sacrament meeting of 3 wards.