Monday, November 27, 2017

We have so many things on our list to do on Mondays that the time just flies and the day is over before we know it.  Besides a little laundry, a trip to the grocery store, a stop at the bank, a quick trip to the mall for sundries, and a session at the stake center to practice Christmas piano, Glade had to find a Best Buy and take his sick computer for help.  It just wouldn’t load anything today and the little circle just kept going around and around and around.  He tried everything that everyone has suggested, but nothing worked.  The Geek Squad should have a diagnostic by Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, a missionary couple who have become our good friends called and asked us if we would like to come to the temple and be part of a video clip the Church is putting together for the new website for senior missionaries.  We said, “Sure!” and spent 30 minutes in casual conversation etc., while the camera rolled.  It was kind of fun.  There were six of us and we chatted easily with smiles and laughter and walked and waved and did whatever the director told us to do.  It will only be a three-minute segment and only 30 seconds of the clip will cover the Washington DC Temple; but who knows—we might have a brief appearance!  One of the couples was the main focus and was interviewed during the filming, so I’m sure they will be featured.  As for the rest of us, there may or may not be any usable footage, but it was really fun to be a part of that for a short time!   

One of the missionaries took photos, but we have to get a thumb drive and take it to his apartment to get copies.  He has a really nice camera and sets it up on a tripod with a timer.  He turns it on and takes his place with the group and then it automatically takes six photos with about 5 seconds between each one.  It was a little cool outside with a slight breeze, but the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day!

We hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving week-end and are home now recuperating and getting back to work, school, and your usual schedules.  We would love to hear all about your holiday experience.  I am still basking in the glow of my amazing birthday and holiday gift of family in real time and will be for many days to come!!!

Love you all!  Enjoy the season and get ready for the second round of “Light the World.”  I watched the first video and loved it!  

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Our Sunday was filled with Church responsibilities and ushering at the Christmas Devotional at the temple this evening.  Glade had his Executive Secretary duties, I played the organ for Sacrament Meeting and for the Chapel Preparation Meeting in the temple.  The annual Devotional was held in the seventh-floor meeting room and was attend by about 700 temple workers and their endowed family members.  The Washington Mormon Choir sang and their performance was exquisite.  They sounded just like the Tabernacle Choir!  The messages were focused on the Savior and reminded us about the purpose of this season.

We stayed at our assigned stations until all the guests had left the temple and then came home hungry and ready for something to eat.  It was a wonderful day, but it was long. 😊

The ceremony where the lights on the temple grounds and visitor’s center are turned on, happens next week some time.  The first two days are for dignitaries and VIP visitors only.  But tonight, some of the lights were turned on just for the temple workers’ devotional.  The final display is going to be amazing.  There are a few photos below taken, of course, in the dark and they are not very good, but you get a taste.  I’ll send more when the full array is glowing!

Saturday, November 25, 2017

It was a beautiful warm day and our little town of Kensington was bustling with shoppers on Antique Row and in the corner garden shop where they were selling live Christmas trees.  I walked to Safeway to pick up a few Christmas lights for our tree to finish off the decorating.  

One of our friends found a wreath for our us for our door.  It took some work and a few additions, but it finally turned out nice and adds one more piece of holiday ambiance for us.  The same friends shared a big box of colored balls with us so our tree has more than just lights! 

And my sweet husband brought me flowers yesterday and they are beautiful!!!   

 

  

 Friday, November 24, 2017

It was just a week ago tonight that we were all together here in the temple as a family and I loved reliving it as we served in the temple tonight.  I sat in the Celestial Room for a few minutes and imagined you all there while my heart sang with joy and gratitude for each of you and our experience there together.  Thank you again for all you did to make that happen!!

I wanted to share with you the temple presidency’s spiritual message for the week.

In this glorious season of Thanksgiving, we give praise to Him who has blessed us so abundantly.  Psalm 103 has often been called David’s “Hallelujah Chorus.”  It is full of praise, honor and glory to God.

It opens with this simple verse:  “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name.”   David praises God, but he is also instructing his own soul.  He infers that we can praise the Lord with our lives.  An expression of this is inscribed on the entrance to the temple, “Holiness to the Lord.”  We bring our holiness to the Lord.  That means we can praise Him with our attitudes, our actions, our finances, our words, our deeds and service to Him.  David said, “I will praise Him with everything that is within me.”

I love the lines that express how we can praise the Lord with our attitudes, our actions, our finances, our deeds, and our service.  That is great a message and worth pondering.

Love you all.  Hope you are enjoying your holiday week-end!  Be safe returning home.  😊

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Thanksgiving Day!

What a great day this has been!  We drove to Fredericksburg, Virginia, to have dinner with David and Lisa Gibbon and their family.  There was a lot of ice on the windshield at 6:30 a.m. but Glade was prepared with a scraper and the car was soon frost-free and warm.  Because of all the horrific stories of traffic issues on the freeways here, we went prepared for the hour and a half drive with blankets, water, and extra warm clothes in case we were stranded for hours. 

However, there was no need.  The day was beautiful and sunny, the freeways were busy but not congested, and the GPS sent us spot-on to our destination.  Kerry and Eli had been invited, too, but they had car trouble and couldn’t get an alternator replaced until tomorrow.  Ryan and Lisa Bell, their three children and Lisa’s mother were also there for dinner providing a total of six little children which lent a sweet, nostalgic feel to Thanksgiving.  

Below left:  Emily, David, Megan, Josh, and Lisa (McFaddon) Gibbon 

Below right:  Lisa, Heather, Liliana, Ryan, and John Bell

 Gorgeous Car Ride

David and Lisa's  house

Ryan, Lisa, Lisa's mother, Glade

·        We are so grateful to the Lord for the bounty of blessings bestowed upon us and our family. 

·        We are grateful to have been born of goodly parents and to have a pioneer heritage of faithful Saints willing to sacrifice everything for the Gospel. 

·        We are grateful for the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for Latter-day prophets and apostles, and for the Word of the Lord in the scriptures.

·        We are so very grateful for honest, hard-working, faithful children, their spouses and families, and that they are honoring their covenants and are temple worthy.

·        We are grateful for each other, the love, patience, and care that we continually put into our relationship to nurture and build it for the eternal life to come.

·        We are grateful for our temple marriage—the culmination of all our efforts here.   

We send you all our love on this special holiday and pray that as you count your blessings, the list will include your marriages. We pray that you will make a further commitment to each other to love, honor, and cherish your relationship and put each other first and foremost in your lives.  When it’s all said and done in this life and the children and jobs and all things temporal are gone, only the two of you will be standing together.  May you stand strong and love one another.  If you work together, your marriage can be whatever you want it to be.  AIM HIGH! 

We send our love and gratitude for each of you and your families.  :) 

Wednesday, November 22, 2017 

Happy Birthday to my mom, Lola Shirley Cook, yesterday.  She was a great lady, founded in the Gospel and dedicated to righteous living.  She provided an array of wonderful opportunities for her children’s development and taught us to be independent—to not follow the crowd but follow the Prophets.  She had high standards and expected us to always do our best, work hard, take care of everything in our stewardship, to be humble by not flaunting accomplishments or successes, to be honest and willing to serve the Lord.  I hope and pray that the good she taught me has been passed on in some way to my children.

We spent eight and a half hours in the temple today and aside from the security team, were the very last ones out of the temple after helping close it down for the holiday tomorrow.  We’re very tired tonight, but grateful for so many blessings and are so happy to be here serving.

A young sister missionary and her companions came for the last session today.  In the dressing room, she looked at my name tag and asked if I were from Rigby.  She is Natalie Groom’s daughter—Harry and Barbara Groom’s granddaughter!  Barbara had written to her and told her we were serving in the temple here and to look for us.  What a coincidence that we would see each other today!  The chances were pretty slim. 

Three times in the last month different people have commented to Glade and me that we look so great together and make such a handsome couple!  We were entertained by their comments and it made us happy.  We can’t always tell how we come across to other people.  That was fun!  Maybe it’s because we’re both short and we try to smile a lot!  Who knows.  😊

We've seem glimpses of the lights on the temple  grounds and they are going to be spectacular.  I can't wait to get pictures and share them with you.

It feels a bit like Christmas is coming in our little apartment and it still has the warm glow of having family here.  We’re just so happy you were all here and will continue to bask in the wonderful feelings of love, support, and connection that we share!  Thank you all again for being here.

   

I guess we’ll go out and get us another puzzle. It was so fun to have help with this one.  I’m going to save and frame it!!  Thanks, Justin and Kim!  We love it!

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

It was back to the temple early this morning and we had a great day.  I can look back now and see my children in the temple, in the foyer, on each floor, and in the endowment rooms.  The memories will continue to lift my heart each day.  I would love it if you would all send me the photos you took while you were here!  Thanks!

It continues to be cold and breezy as fall really settles in, and I’m happy that there are still leaves left to fall so we can watch them drift down every day for a little while yet!  They are being piled up on the sides of the streets waiting for the trucks to vacuum them away.

There was no one at the stake center this afternoon except for me and it was a little eerie as darkness fell before my piano practice was finished.  It was really fun to play old Christmas favorites and the pieces from the new books I just ordered.  The Caroling party and dinner at the President’s home will be here all too soon and I have to be prepared.

Love you all.  Hope you get rested and recuperated from your long travels.  And thanks again for all of your efforts and sacrifices to make a perfect week-end and priceless memories.  Good Night!  😊    

Monday, November 20, 2017

It was another great day with family.  Our kids played "geek squad" and tutored us through several electronic issues; we watched "It's a Wonderful Life" while we finished a Christmas puzzle and ate left overs from yesterday's dinner.  But good things always come to an end, and the rest of the good byes had to be said.  Mike left really early this morning for Boise, and Jeff, Scott, Tracen, and Alexis left this afternoon.  Their plane just landed in Salt Lake as I write this post. 

The goodbyes were a little hard, but I have been so happy and have been floating on a happy cloud for four days which softens the sting of parting.  I feel like we have had a holiday celebration, and now everyone has gone back home.  The sweetness will carry me all through the holiday season.  It was such a remarkable and beautiful experience to have them all here.  I will treasure it forever.

I’m so grateful to Heavenly Father for this precious family, for children who are temple worthy, who love and respect each other, and look out for each other.

It’s late again and we go to the temple extra early tomorrow, so I’ll catch up on details and more photos in the near future.

The rental car ride

At the Temple!  It was so wonderful to have them all there!!

Love you all--Good Night!!  :) 

Sunday, November 19, 2017

We have shared another great day together as a family and had a birthday/Thanksgiving/ Christmas dinner and celebration enjoying turkey, ham, potatoes and gravy, stuffing, rolls, cookie-pudding salad, and pie—pumpkin, cherry, chocolate silk—with ice cream and/or whipped cream.  It has been such a fantastic day!  Now the good-byes are under way.  Kevin left for Reno about 1:00 p.m. and Justin and Kristie left at 4:00 p.m.  The Texas kids are nearly home, but Kevin had to fly by way of San Francisco and is still on a layover there!  Wow.  Will post more photos later.

Saturday, November 18, 2017

This morning the family met at the metro station in Forest Glen and we took the train to the mall in downtown DC.  We nearly walked our legs off, but it was great to be together and share this day.  Glade and I returned to the temple for our evening shift and the kids “played” and had a wonderful time together.  Will post more details later.  Love you all so much!!

Figuring out the Metro!! --  It certainly beats driving and parking.

Friday, November 17, 2017

It was too cold to walk outside this morning, but we hoped it might warm up so we could go later.  Glade took me to breakfast for my birthday and it was rather nice to see some new places on our drive to “The Original Pancake House” in Rockville, MD.  And what a surprise was in store for me. When we were shown to our table, I was greeted by all of my precious children who were already seated and waiting for us!  It was an unbelievable surprise that I could hardly fathom as real.  We have spent a fantastic day together ending in the temple where Glade and I officiated in an endowment session and all our kids were in the session with us!  It was all absolutely perfect.  

It’s late.  I’ll elaborate and add pictures as I can over the next few days!  

Good Night!  And Thanks, everyone, for a perfect day!!! Love you all so much.  😊

Thursday, November 16, 2017

The hardest and longest days of the week are over.  Even though our evening shifts on Friday and Saturday are shorter, it’s strange to be leaving our apartment in the dark as well as coming home in the dark.  ‘Tis that season.

It was a balmy mid-fifty-degree morning so we walked and it was beautiful.  It turned really cold tonight, however, when the wind blew into town; and we’ve had to ramp up the heat in our apartment since it isn’t insulated very well.  It’s cozy, though.  There are four big sprikets (jumping spiders or camel crickets) in the sticky traps I set out!  They are so creepy.  I'm ready to line all the perimeters with dryer sheets.  If that works for mice, maybe it will work for these pesky jumpers, too.

I just had to bring these two leaves home this morning to show you how big they are.  They are sitting next to my watch for perspective.

Love you all; Good Night!  😊

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

This was our eight-and-a-half-hour day since we go early on Wednesday’s to serve as assistant shift coordinators.  Along with those responsibilities I was the veil director and was happy it was my turn early in the morning before it became too busy.  Every responsibility we have gets just a little easier with experience, but there are still subjective and on-the-spot decisions that have to be made that make it challenging.  I like laid out plans with black and white instructions—then I’m good to go.  However, we must learn to rely on the Spirit when things don’t go according to a plan.  This work keeps me humble.

When we were getting out of the car upon our return this afternoon, I saw a beautiful red cardinal sitting under a tree, just posing for me and begging for a photo.  We moved carefully and tried not to make any noise, but this awesome red bird was too perceptive to sit still for long and flew into nearby bushes seconds before the camera was ready.  Oh, well.  I’ll watch for it every day and maybe it will pose for me again. 

“The male Northern Cardinal . . . is a shade of red you can’t take your eyes off. Even the brown females sport a sharp crest and warm red accents. Cardinals don’t migrate and they don’t molt into a dull plumage, so they’re still breathtaking in winter’s snowy backyards. In summer, their sweet whistles are one of the first sounds of the morning.”

” Northern Cardinals can be found in dense shrubby areas, . . .nest in dense foliage, and look for conspicuous, fairly high perches for singing.”  Some have been known to live for 15 years.

There will be a quiz tomorrow on . . .  just kidding 😊

I stopped at the nursery where all the pumpkins were displayed in the front parking lot just a couple of weeks ago.  Inside the pretty shop were all kinds of plants, live flowers, fresh pine wreaths that smelled heavenly, and an assortment of Christmas decorations.  After browsing—Glade was at The Sweat Shop so I was free to just stroll and gaze—through the displays, I realized that there was not one mention of, or reference to, the Savior or even the word “Christmas.”  There was not a single nativity, and all the ornaments and advent calendars, cards and decorations were pleasant, but lacking in what Christmas is all about.  I was surprised since this seems to be the type of community that would celebrate the birth of Christ openly despite the push to be politically correct and only celebrate with “Holiday” greetings.  There are several Christian churches up and down the streets that would surely support real Christmas offerings.  Maybe they will offer more in the weeks ahead.

Can you believe November is half over?  Incredibly fast it is fleeting!  Do you all have plans for a special Thanksgiving dinner with family some place.  Next year I would love to have everyone home for this holiday.  Wishful thinking—I know.  But I would still love it.  Do you-all remember your cousin Lisa McFadden?  She lives in Virginia and has invited us to come for Thanksgiving dinner.  It was so thoughtful of her.  

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Oops.  Regular readers recognized I was remiss in recording events yesterday.  I was working on music for the Christmas Caroling events coming up and suddenly Glade said—it’s time to pray and go to bed.  So, I did—and didn’t remember about the blog until this morning.  Oh, well.  So much for a perfect record.

The temperature moderated a little yesterday and today so we walked outside again.  On Monday, we decided to walk to Safeway to get just a few groceries and carried them home.  Well, it was a worry that there would be permanent marks on my arms from the plastic bag handles!  Probably we won’t do that again. 

The photo below was made available to temple workers as a 4 x 6 print.  Glade picked one up and brought it home and I wanted to share it.  The only problem is that it is so small, and you may not be able to see enough detail for it to make sense, but I’m going to try anyway.  There is a model just like the photo in the Visitor’s Center.  It is a cross section of the temple showing all seven floors (except the fifth which is engineering, etc.). 

The bottom floor is the baptistry and includes—not shown—a training room, what used to be a cafeteria but is now a lunch room and vending area, storage and cleaning supplies, and a distribution center with a separate entrance, of course. 

The second level is the main floor where patrons enter.  You can see a mural with benches for seating right in front of it which is in the center.  There is a long entry walkway that is called “the bridge” that goes from the recommend desk to the mural.  This floor also includes the offices, workers dressing rooms, meeting rooms, a chapel, and the matrons’ offices, etc.

The third floor includes the rental clothing area, locker rooms, the initiatory area, and bride’s room.

The fourth floor has six stationary endowment rooms that seat from 57 to 68 patrons each and the celestial room which is in the center of the endowment rooms.

The fifth floor—not shown—is the engineering area.

The sixth floor has 14 sealing rooms

The seventh floor is an assembly room used for special meetings, that covers the entire floor.  You can see in the photo that there are two rostrums—one on each end.  Our Temple Workers’ Christmas Fireside will be held there. 

The second photo, also a cross-section, shows the bridge and how it connects the entrance to the rest of the temple. 

Sorry if it is so small you can’t make anything out.  The photo showed the scope of the temple and was great for us since we know firsthand what it looks like.  There are great photos on the Internet if you are interested.  Just go to Washington DC LDS Temple and look around.

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Another week has come so quickly to an end and the season has definitely evolved from perfect days for walking to really cold days requiring coats and gloves.  It may or may not warm up, but the last several days have been down right cold!!  The weather probably rivals Idaho weather, although we have not had a dusting of snow. 

Having to play the organ for church always tightens my nerves a little although I love having the chance at my age to still contribute.  Sometimes, like today, I play for Relief Society, too.  There is a pianist, but apparently sometimes she isn’t there.  That’s fun because piano is where my comfort zone is. 

Our Rock Creek Ward had a treat today when the Rock Hill Ward Primary came into our Sacrament Meeting after the Sacrament and presented us with their Primary Program.  We loved it!  They did such a good job and I could imagine all my young grand kids on the stand, singing and saying their parts.  There were all the typical personality types that seem to be part of every group—the shy, silly, soft-spoken kids and the bold extroverts; those who memorized their parts and the readers; those whose body language said they didn’t really want to be there and those who were so very polished; the child who “ate the microphone and startled us out of our seats and the one who self-consciously mumbled.  Overall it was very organized and reverent.  The songs were beautiful and two little boys who looked to be about seven or eight years old played a violin duet accompaniment with the piano to “I Feel My Savior’s Love” and it was lovely.  We all loved having kids in our midst!

The spiritual message to the temple workers this week from the presidency included the following counsel from Pres. Hinckley.  “Rejoice in the privilege which is yours.  Your opportunity will not last forever.  Too soon there will be only the memory of the great experience you are now having.”  

It was given, of course, to the temple workers but can also be applied, by anyone, to the circumstances in our individual lives.  Whatever they may be, there will come a time when they end.  I often think of this in relationship to my personal earthly stewardship.  (Maybe that’s because of my age!)  It would be hard for any of us to look back with regret that we didn’t put our heart and soul into the things that are the most important, the things that we are accountable for to our Heavenly Father.

Love you all.  Good Night!     😊
 

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Regular Saturday activities were on our list today and we even managed to do a little shopping.  Glade’s Church calling is keeping him busy in unaccustomed ways.  He is “honing” new skills!  😊 

I went to the church about 8:30 this morning to practice the piano, but was met with a large-scale conference of some kind having to do with college music departments.   I’ll have to try for Monday.  Also, I ordered some great music for accompanying Christmas sing-alongs and really wanted to try it all out!  Part of the plan was to take some photos of the trees around the temple grounds, but the frost the last two night has taken the sparkle out of the leaves; and a few trees just dropped their entire load—green or not—like a magnet had lost its pull, and they piled deep under the branches.  

The evening’s temple work was awesome since we were able to spend most of the time together.  We led a session together, worked at the Spanish veil and two other veils, and completed the last one of the day together.  The evening sessions start every 30 minutes and often include an extra one on the quarter hour.  There are six endowment rooms and 40 veils—20 on each side.  It can get a little tight if there is any delay or if there is a particularly large session—like tonight!  It’s pretty great to see it all work so smoothly.  Perhaps some of your temples have the same circumstances and size.  We are just used to a smaller configuration. 

We are ready for our week-end of Sunday and Monday although the days fly whether we are in the temple or catching up at home.  We hope you are all well and happy.  Hug each other and your children for us!!  Love you all. . .   😊

Friday, November 10, 2017

The daughter of one of the missionaries flew here from Mesa to give haircuts to all the sister missionaries who need a professional trim.  She cut my hair this morning and it was wonderful!!!  I was looking pretty shaggy. 

As I was leaving after my haircut, I saw a Crystal Springs delivery man leaving 5-gallon blue water bottles for one of the apartments.  I asked for his business card and took it right home to Glade who tracked the man down and had him set up a system in our apartment.  We have tried to drink the tap water, but it is so not good and we gave up.  Lugging cases of bottled water home from the grocery store is okay, but it will be much better to be on a regular delivery system and I know we’ll drink more water.  A nice little perk for us.  😊    

It was a typical fall day with very cool temperatures driven even cooler by light winds that sent the leaves to the ground in big bunches.  A grounds keeper outside our glass door did his clean-up work with a big loud leaf blower pushing the leaves across the lawns in rows like we rake the leaves in rows at home.  After he cleaned up all the leaves, he mowed the grass.  I think the leaf blower method is much more efficient at removing the leaves, although the leaf rake we pull behind the four-wheeler is probably the best.  When the breeze let up a little, the leaves were allowed to drift like snowflakes and I loved the ambiance it created.  Glade even made hot chocolate this morning. 

It was 32 degrees when we got in the car after our shift tonight about 10:00 p.m. and there was ice on the inside of the windshield.  It just felt so cold and I was happy for my winter coat and a fleece blanket in the car.

Thursday, November 9, 2017

This was a late night as we had to stay for a session that went past our shift, and then join our ward in a ward temple night.

 One of our ward members researched a family who had immigrated to the United States from Germany a long time ago and took up residence in a small poor community (can’t remember what state or what dates!) and presented it to the ward family history person who put together a ward temple night to do their ordinance work. 

During church on Sunday, the researching sister gave histories and personal information about the families to give background for tonight’s temple work.  All of the baptisms and confirmations had been done earlier, along with a few other ordinances; but endowments, and sealings took place tonight.

In one of the large sealing rooms, ward members were seated in a manner that created a family tree; and as children were sealed to parents, and then those children were sealed to spouses, they moved across the room in an organized pattern that was quite impressive.  One sister who was observing the whole event said it was great to see how it all came together.  What a blessing for this family and we hope they are rejoicing tonight on the other side of the veil.

Love you all,  Good Night! 😊

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Glade dropped me off at the temple about 6:00 a.m.; then returned to our apartment until his later time.  This was my day to be Assistant Shift Coordinator even though I am not “proficient” in all of the positions yet!  I trained as veil coordinator for the first time, too, and it was kind of fun once I understood the physical dynamics and received the instruction.  It was a challenging and rewarding day. 

It’s really cold outside—not as cold as Idaho, but pretty chilly.  It is supposed to freeze next week.  But nonetheless, we bundled up and braved the cool air for our favorite walk.  We discovered a crew replacing an old pathway that we take with a new cement sidewalk!  It won’t be nearly as charming or have that old-fashioned feel, but we will be able to walk side by side on the new sidewalk instead of on the street or chancing the occasional risk on the path.  I took photos, but it was too dark and they didn’t turn out well.

Have a great Thursday, stay warm, read your scriptures, and be happy!!  

Love you All 😊

Tuesday, November 7, 2017 

It has been raining like crazy all day and it’s quite a sight!  The rain is taking down leaves in its fall, but the falling is gentle and everything is beautiful.  We have a double sliding glass door plus a full four foot wide, floor to ceiling window on each side of the door.  Basically, the entire West wall of our living room/dining room is window.  So, we have a magnificent view of whatever is outside and so far, it is all charming and wonderful.

It’s too rainy to walk outside, but there are plenty of  things to do inside.  We just have to keep from taking a nap so we can sleep tonight.  😊 

 

Monday, November 6, 2017

There was time this morning to go to the church and practice the piano.  It may not sound like a very significant experience, but it keeps me playing and fills my soul.  I love to play, but these fingers are wearing out and have to be exercised at every possible opportunity.   

It was time for probably the last “hail and farewell” get together for missionaries coming and going.  A nice meeting was held in the Relief Society room where we heard from newcomers, those leaving, and from President Swift—a counselor in the temple presidency.  The President, his other counselor, and their wives were late because of problems on the beltway—again.  There are accidents that back up traffic for miles and the other night there was a car chase after a bank robbery and a resulting accident.  There was a fire involved in tonight’s accident.  But they eventually made it.  Everyone brings finger foods and it ends up being a meal!  There is a great feeling of friendship and support among this group.

This will be a big week so we are shutting down and getting ready to sleep.  It will really help us when we have to go extra early on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to have the time change give us an extra hour. 

Good Night, Everyone.  We send you all our love.

This cute little tree is all mixed up.  It has started putting on spring blooms 

during the last week and it feels really odd to see it among the fall colors!

This is in the little park right by our apartment.