MOM’S MEMOIRS – IRENE LOUISE (NEE KUCKKAN) MUELLER
(Continued)

Mom’s Autobiography – Chapter 71 – In Book, Page 171

Magical Caribbean Family Reunion Cruise Reviewed, More of Cruise in Mom’s Memoirs, Joshua’s 5th Birthday, Meet Missionaries to Mozambique, Africa, Mom’s 78th Birthday, Visit to Babyland, Graceland Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Elaine Wilson’s 80th Birthday Party, Elaine, Glen’s Mother, is Called Home to Heaven

JANUARY 28 – FEBRUARY 2, 2008 – IT’S TIME FOR OUR MAGICAL CARIBBEAN FAMILY REUNION CRUISE!!!!! – (DAD HAS WRITTEN IN DETAIL ABOUT ALL SIX DAYS ON OUR CRUISE. YOU CAN FIND IT ON DAD’S COMPUTER, UNDER “MY PICTURES – CRUISE – 2008, AND IN CRUISE – DAY 1 TO CRUISE – DAY 6”.

On December 24, 2006, Debbie said, ‘IT WILL BE WORTH IT!’ So Dick and I patiently waited until December 31, 2006, to open the mysterious envelope! And IT WAS WORTH IT! – even though we had to wait until 2008 to go on the cruise on the Navigator of the Seas with our six dear children and their spouses until February 2, 2008! The best part of the whole cruise was being with and enjoying the cruise with our loved ones. We will remember it until our dying day. THANK YOU, ALL OF YOU, FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS, FOR YOUR LOVING KINDNESS.

WOW! IT WAS A BLESSING! UNBELIEVABLE! FABULOUS! MIRACULOUS! It was like a dream when we took off from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and landed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. When we went to that huge ship, the Navigator of the Seas, we couldn’t believe how huge it is – over three football fields long. We had a wonderful cabin, cabin #6256, with a balcony so that we could look down into the water. Many of you have been on cruises, but this was our very first cruise, and we were so excited!

There was so much to see and do! The food was fantastic, and how wonderful it was to eat with all of our children and spouses. We were served formally in the Swan Lake dining room by two waiters and a waitress. The head waiter, Amon Nyirenda, we were surprised to hear, IN CHINYANJA, CAME FROM MALAWI, AFRICA! We started our WELS mission in Blantyre, Nyasaland (Malawi after Independence). Our daughter, Stephanie, was born there in 1963. What a surprise it was for Mr. Nyrenda and us! Dick is very fluent in Chinyanja, so they had a lot to talk about during our days on the ship. There was a beautiful Welcoming Parade on the Promenade for the guests. When we were not in the formal dining room, there were mounds and mounds of delicious food in the Café Promenade and the Windjammer Café. I had never seen so much food in one place in all of my life.

Another great blessing was that we were blessed with great weather all of the days of our cruise. So we did get to sit in the Jacuzzi and swim in the ship’s pool. We loved exploring the ship. We found a chapel way at the top of it. The couples did separate to go on their chosen excursions. We had chosen to visit the walled Mayan city of Tulum ruins on the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula on the Gulf of Mexico, but first we had to take a ferry from the island of Cozumel to Playa del Carmen, and then a bus (our tour guide bus driver was a Maya) to the ruins. Steve went with us. I bought a beautiful handmade handkerchief from a Mayan woman for $1.00. She was standing outside the expensive gift shop selling her handkerchiefs. What a thrill it was for all of us to actually be in a place where a whole civilization had lived and worked! I must admit that after we returned to Watertown, Wisconsin, I went to the library to get books to read about the Mayas. It was so interesting to read about them.

Dick and I had booked an excursion to go snorkeling, which we were really looking forward to. Tim, Debbie, Glen, Steph, and we were gathered with some other people near the ice rink on the ship. We were waiting for the door of the ship to open, and we would board a tender to take us to the snorkeling boat. We were all set, dressed in our swimming suits, hats, sunglasses, etc. It never came; there was a mix-up for which many apologies were made. We decided to take a tender into Belize City anyway. Steve and I walked around to the shops while the others checked out some other things. Steve saw a golden “statue” and told me to sit on its knee. When I did, I found out that it was alive! Was it a man or woman’s knee I was sitting on? I don’t know – it didn’t talk!

What a ship the Navigator of the Seas is! There was a chapel, swimming pool, Jacuzzi, a Dodge Ball court, karaoke, a table tennis table, an ice rink, a rock climbing wall, shops, glass elevators, the Metropolis Theater (where Steve was asked to go on stage to participate in a juggling act. The juggler juggled real knives. He told Steve lie down on the floor and close his eyes. Unbeknown to Steve, he had substituted bowling pins. It was a lot of fun!), and more – everything to make the passengers happy. Dick and I were waiting for one of the glass elevators when the door opened, and the Captain of the Navigator of the Seas stepped out! I recognized him from a picture Tim had showed us, and asked if I could take his picture. He handed my camera to a passenger and stood between Dick and me for a picture – with him! What a thrill that was!!!!

All of us met at the Windjammer Café for breakfast. When we left the Navigator of the Seas at Fort Lauderdale, it was time to part ways – Debbie and Glen boarded another ship for a Bermuda cruise, Dick and Wanda went back to Orlando, Florida, Tim, Sue, Susie, Jim, Melody, Steve, we back to Wisconsin, and Steph and Jeff back to Cheyenne, Wyoming. As we left Fort Lauderdale and our plane took to the air, I could see the ship below us. We have so many blessed memories of our cruise with our six children and their spouses! IT WAS A DREAM COME TRUE!!!!!! THANK YOU, GOD!!!!!

NOTE: THE CRUISE ALBUM NUMBER IS #73 – “MOM’S MEMOIRS” ARE BASED ON THE PICTURES IN ALL OF MY PICTURE ALBUMS – ALL THE WAY FROM MY BIRTH APRIL 17, 1930, UNTIL EASTER SUNDAY, APRIL 4, 2010. I HOPE AND PRAY THAT THE ALBUMS WITH THEIR PICTURES AND ‘MOM’S MEMOIRS WILL SERVE AS A REFERENCE FOR ALL IN OUR HUGE FAMILY, AND ALSO SHOW MY DEEP LOVE FOR YOU. GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU!!!!!

FEBRUARY 5, 2008 – JOSHUA’S 5TH BIRTHDAY

Here we all are again around Sue and Tim’s table enjoying another wonderful meal and delicious Spiderman birthday cake – all served again on the family balloon tablecloth. Of course, Joshua is the star of the show, and blew out all of those five candles.

And on the 7th of February we got zapped with loads of snow. Dick had to dig out the mailbox and the fire hydrant. What a welcome back to Wisconsin after our wonderful fabulous weather cruise!

FEBRUARY 12, 2008 – MEETING MISSIONARIES TO MOZAMBIQUE, AFRICA

We went to the Gerald Hahn home at 610 E. Cady Street, Watertown, Wisconsin, to meet Missionary Bill Meier and Cathy (daughter of the Hahns), children Elise, Audrey, and Maria, and Missionary Jeff and Angela Enderle who were called to Mozambique, Africa. Sadly, we did not get to meet Angela because we left before she arrived, but we had a very nice visit with the others.

APRIL 17, 2008 – MY 78TH BIRTHDAY

What! How can it be? My 78th? No way! But there we are again sitting at the table with the family balloon tablecloth complete with another birthday cake! Sue, you are a marvel! And there is a pot with beautiful mini-daffodils for me next to my birthday cake (the day I am writing this is April 7, 2010, and that same daffodil plant is blooming beautifully outside our front door where I planted it – such wonderful memories)!

APRIL 19, 2008 – A VISIT TO BABY LAND, GRACELAND CEMETERY, MILWAUKEE, WI.

Dick and I went to Graceland Cemetery to visit the grave of Nicki and Dave’s little baby, Lydia Rose Chmielewski, who went to be with Jesus in her heavenly home in 2001. On the gravestone is inscribed: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

APRIL 19, 2008 – ELAINE WILSON’S 80TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

It was Elaine Wilson’s (Glen’s mother) 80th birthday on April 14th, so we went to the place where she lives, Kindred Hearts, Brown Deer, Wisconsin, to celebrate on the 19th. Julie Braun, Elaine’s daughter, had come from Gregory, South Dakota, where her husband, Marvin, is a chiropractor. It was great to see her again after not seeing her for many years. Of course, Glen and Roger, her two sons, and Debbie, Kathy, Brian, and Kaitlin were also there. It was nice to see where Elaine lives.

NOTE: APRIL 7, 2010 – ELAINE WILSON, GLEN’S MOTHER IS CALLED HOME TO HEAVEN

When Dick and I returned home from having a sandwich at Culver’s this evening, there was a telephone call from Debbie saying that Glen’s Mom had died today. She was having respiratory problems and was taken to the hospital. Before she was called home, her family and Pastor Seager (of Loving Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Elaine was a member), had the blessing of being with her. She was lucid enough to hear their prayers and hymns – even participating with them. What a blessing it is to be with a loved one before they are called home to heaven with our Lord. We had that blessing with both Dick’s mother and my mother, and thank God for it. How ironic that I should be writing in my memoirs about Elaine’s 80th birthday celebration and be told shortly after that the angels had taken her to heaven. Her 82nd birthday celebration will be glorious!!!!!!