New Friends

In June, a few new members were added to our ward family. Ben, Julia, Madeline, and Hayes Friend moved to Manchester from Logan, Utah. Perhaps you have met them by now but here are a few things you might not know about them.

Ben  was raised in Monroeville, Alabama. When he was fourteen, he moved with his parents and three sisters to Flippin, Arkansas where he graduated as valedictorian of Flippin High School. After serving a mission in Washington D.C., he attended BYU where he met and proposed to Julia in November of 2002. Five months later, in April 2003, they were married in the Salt Lake City Temple.  After changing his major a couple of times and moving around a bit, he finally found a perfect match in the civil engineering program at Utah State University. He graduated in May of this year and, after filling out over 150 job applications, was hired by the Tennessee Department of Transportation. So far he is pleased with his job and loving living in Manchester. Ben says he has three loves: his family, fishing, and baseball. His favorite scripture is Helaman 5:12 “And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”

          Julia was mostly raised in Silverton, Oregon with her three brothers. When she was twelve her family moved to Omaha, Nebraska and from there moved around quite a bit. She attended four different high schools before graduating from Bingham High in South Jordan, Utah. Two years after graduating she married Ben and together they moved to Mountain Home, Arkansas. In August of 2004 their daughter, Madeline, was born. The following spring the three of them moved to Auburn, Alabama. After just one year, they moved to Springfield, Missouri where Julia began attending college. In 2008 they moved to Logan, Utah so that Ben could attend the civil engineering program and Julia began her study in creative writing. August of 2009 brought them Hayes, who was quite a little surprise. Since moving to Tennessee Julia has starting working for Home Instead Senior Care; a company that provides non-medical, in home care for seniors. She especially enjoys hiking with her family as it reminds her of exploring the Oregon woods with her older brother when she was a child. Julia’s favorite scripture is Jacob 6:12 “O be wise; what can I say more?”

Madeline, or Maddie, was born on August 19, 2004 in Mountain Home, Arkansas. By the time she was four months old she had traveled from South Carolina to Oregon and subsequently seen both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (although she doesn’t remember either of them). As a baby and toddler she was always the quiet observer, never wandering far from her mother’s arms, and never ever talking to strangers; people thought she was deaf because if she didn’t know them, she would ignore them. She was also a very shy child but began to outgrow her shyness when she started kindergarten. She now attends third grade; she loves her teacher and has already made two great friends. Maddie’s favorite scripture story is Lehi’s vision of the tree of life. Her favorite part of the story is when the people eat the fruit of the tree of life and are happy.

Hayes, better known as Bubba, was born on August 21, 2009 in Logan, Utah. He was the best kind of surprise to his parents and, from the start, a very active baby. He is the complete opposite of his sister in every way; loud, energetic, and fearless. All you need to do to be Bubba’s best friend is meet him; he loves everyone! Hayes started preschool this year and has no qualms about leaving his mom to learn and play all day. His favorite primary song is “When I am Baptized.” The lyrics are: “I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain. And ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again. I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain. I want to be the best I can and live with God again.”

Welcome, Friend family!