LUCAS! LUCAS! LUCAS! YEAH!!!

It has been a good news week for the family. Congrats to Bryce, Marcia, and Sam for the healthy birth of Lucas Koseki Barrand. What a great looking addition to the family and I bet Marcia is happy to have him out and kicking. The other good news is that Don is headed home in April and that will be a relief. He will be able to be here for Tiana’s return in April as well.

I got caught up in the political season and attended our local caucus meeting Tues night. They usually have about 5 people there and there were almost 50. Half of them were ward members and so it was like a church meeting. The vast majority were voting for Romney and that was the best part of the evening other then the meeting only lasting 30 mins. I could get used to short meetings. Too bad the country is not ready for a Stake President to become “the President”. I hated to see it but McCain and Huckabee did some shady dealings in West Virginia and without Romney in the race it is going to be a tough election year for me.

I had a neat experience at the temple the next night. I was working the initiatory booth and had several young elders come through. As I pronounced the incredible blessings on their heads, I imagined that they were you, my family members, my kids and the temple got very personal. Those promises and anointings hold the keys to a happy life and a glorious eternity. Deeply I felt that desire to be surrounded by all our family in the eternities and felt a profound longing for a fulfillment of the blessings available only in the temple. No sweet fruit of the vine is more desirous nor worthy of our efforts than to feel the love of the Savior towards all of you, my children. I saw mom after the temple and she was so beautiful. Life is good.

Let me share a little bit about the name Lucas. They were early settlers in Massachusetts in the late 1600’s. Just like in “The Last of the Mohicans” Indians raided their settlement and stole several of the children to sell to the settlers in Canada as slaves. When my great grand father John T Lucas was 17 he was so passionate about the Union side of the Civil War he slipped south across the border and joined the Union army in Ohio. He was in the military until he had too many bouts of diarrhea and was discharged. He wandered for a few years and then in the late 1860’s was a buffalo hunter in Kansas where he met and married Emma Elizabeth Olds. They married on New Year’s Day in 1871 and then moved to California. They had 8 kids and John Lucas rose to the high standing political office of county water commissioner. The family moved to Washington State and he received a land grant from President Teddy Roosevelt. While in Washington he invented a special plow called the “Lucas” plow to handle the soil in southern Washington State. The family was well loved and my grandfather Robert Levi Lucas was one of those happy farm boys. Descendants of John T still lived in that part of the country and still farm but they use more modern plows that the one John invented.

Mom and I attended a baptism last night of Jennifer Brown. She attended Highlands Ranch High School with Chris Farr. Chris had recently dated her and that is what prompted her study of the gospel and baptism. Chris has moved on in his dating habits. Tiana I know that you are the master of creative missionary techniques, but Chris does OK, which is strange because he is totally inactive and doesn’t live the commandments. He has dated and nearly married three girls now who have all joined the church. I can’t endorse his tactics but he has had success.

The fun part of the baptism was watching the missionaries and picturing you guys in action. Leading the music, giving a talk or prayer, or being a witness the missionaries were all running around and deeply involved in a very spiritual experience. It brought tears to my eyes to know that you are blessing the lives of so many with your efforts.

I finally figured out how to work the scanner so I could include a few pictures that would add to the previous blog. This is a family picture of John Thomas Lucas, wife Emma and 8 kids. Robert Levi Lucas is standing back center. They are in-period costume just like we do every year.

This is a still of Robert Levi Lucas who is my grandfather.

This is Robert Levi Lucas on his wedding day with his new wife Dora Isabelle Stebbins. Dora was raised in Vermont and came out to visit her Uncle Ash in Washington State and met Robert on a farm. They fell in love and she never went back to Vermont.