Sunday, February 22, 2015

Well, look here......it is SUNDAY and I am writing on my blog!  Not late this week.  Thank goodness....

You may recall that I entered my last blog post on Monday of this week....as we were driving home from our weekend trip with Tina and Kids in Mt. Airy, N.C.  We did hit some ICY conditions as we drove through the northeastern part of Georgia.

Because we were home this week, I was able to get a couple of little FUN projects completed.  I enjoyed doing them.  Spray painted an Easter hanging and a Hello hanging.

We had some very, VERY chilly nights here in PTC.....in the teens.  And with the windchill factored in, it was quite cold outside.  Our little 'stray neighborhood cats' were so cold.  We just didn't have the heart not to bring them in to keep warm.  We have no idea if they have a home because they are always hanging around our apartment when we are home.  We have asked the neighbors we see and they have no idea where they belong either.  Poor babies.  Meet "Lucy" and "Blackie".  

Wayne's computer was about to completely CRASH!!!  Not good.  Kevin got the part needed.  And we were off to the UPS store to ship it west!  We were a little apprehensive about shipping it but we really had no other choice!

So this week Dad has gotten very acquainted with his iPad!!  He has become quite fond of it and even kind of likes it!  Well....it's about time.

Meanwhile, back up at home in the frigid cold weather, including SNOW, Steven and the boys were over at our homestead enjoying the sled riding and the SAUNA!!!  Oh Man.....sounds so fun!  Made us just a wee-bit homesick!

 SO.....I had this brilliant idea of making a couple of doilies for Becky's instagram as a give-away.  I had made and given a doily to each Marj Airaksinen (from Finland) and their daughter Laura Sumrak.  Laura and her husband, Thomas, and daughter Lumi have just moved from Utah to Charlotte, N.C.  We got to stop by and see them for a minute.

Well, low and behold, Wayne got to celebrate his 72nd birthday this week.  On Thursday.  The phones were crazy busy....starting at 6:15 a.m.  We did manage to sneak out for a couple of hours though.

We drove up to Atlanta and visited the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.  It was our first visit to a Presidential Library ever.  It was quite impressive and interesting.  You can see part of the Atlanta Skyline in the background.

The ProjectLifeApp page I created from our trip there.

Announcing the TWO WINNERS of the doily instagram contest on Becky's post.

And while we were at it, why not take a little 'selfie' just because!!

Nothing like having 3 projects going on at the same time.

Saturday is the day we typically like to go to the temple.  It is easier for us to sneak away from the phone for an hour-ish.  Well, much to our surprise, we arrived to find the gates closed and locked.  What on earth!?  We knew it was not the 'maintenance closing'.  That was earlier in January.  I called the temple and got the recording which said "The temple is closed Friday and Saturday due to inclement weather.  We may open on Tuesday, February 24th if the weather is good".  There was absolutely NOTHING on the ground or in the air.  Just cloudy.  There must have been 'something' somewhere.  It was a nice drive though.

In church today we got a text from Kevin.  He 'found' an ancestor on my father's side of the family who actually went in a handcart company to Utah!!!  I never knew this.  WOW this is cool!  Especially since I thought my father was the first of his family to join the church.  Kevin is going to check into it more and see what he can find out.  This is really neat though!!!  :-)

And then back up home in Maryland......more SNOW and church was CANCELLED!!! Oh my heavens.  They have been hammered this winter at home.  Garrett got the snowblower out and started to work.  Today was suppose to be Spencer's mission farewell too.  Maybe he will get to bear his testimony next week in Fast and Testimony Sacrament Meeting.  

It has been a relatively quiet week but we have somehow kept very busy!  We LOVE our mission and feel so blessed and grateful we are able to serve at this time.  And we love our family who so willingly support us in this endeavor!!

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

I am just a smidgen late this week with my entry!  Been a busy week.....

We left the Kentucky Louisville Mission and headed to the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.  We, of course, had to stop by the Louisville Slugger Bat Factory!  We love going there.

And we took a bit of time and attended the Kentucky Louisville Temple.  Always love going here....or any temple for that matter.

We headed over to the Asheville, N.C. Zone Conference.  It was a pretty drive with the icy trees and bushes in the mountains.  

Bless this Elders pea-picking heart!  This was a shirt that the Elder's father had given him.  He is almost finished his mission.  He was 'flexing' his arm one day and the sleeve ripped.  He decided to 'match' the other sleeve.  He doesn't want to get rid of the shirt because it has meaning to him since his father gave it to him.  He only wears it when he knows he won't be taking his suit coat off!

We 'found' Sister Echols at the Zone Conference here.  The 'other' Sister Echols (twin sisters) is in the Ga. Atlanta Mission.  We love them both!  How fun to see them!!

Elder/Dr. Allgaier gave a presentation at each of the Zone Conferences.  A power point on good health care practices, how to stay well and how to take care of yourself.  He was also able to follow-up with those missionaries he has talked to in the past few weeks, etc.

We had been on the road for 2 weeks.  Laundry still has to be done.  This particular Hampton Inn has a laundry facility.  I got to crochet while waiting for the laundry to get done.

We LOVE our Blue Ridge Mountains/Great Smokey Mountains.  As we headed out of the mountains and back toward Knoxville we noticed this in our rearview mirror!  Great shot.

 These VERY LARGE crosses are quite common as we drive the highway.  I am sure they are very costly!

From the Tennessee Knoxville Mission we headed over to Mt. Airy, N.C. for the weekend.  This is still in our mission so we didn't have to get permission to meet Tina and the kids.  How fun to see them again.  We got to go to Gene's for dinner.

On Saturday we went downtown 'Mayberry' (also knows as Mt. Airy).  The kids had never really been down there.  We visited the JAIL and locked ourselves in for the foto op!

We even played a couple of games in our hotel room.

We attended the Mt. Airy Ward on Sunday.  It was good that we got to spend some quality time with Spencer before he leaves on his mission in two weeks!

We had a family dinner at Sharon and Lester's home after church.  Faye and Ronnie drove up from High Point.  It was an afternoon of reminiscing the good old days.

Lester has a band and a 'band room' in a building next to their home.  Garrett was in 7th heaven being able to play the drums.  And he did a great job too!!

The GIRLS with a little selfie!

On Monday we drove from Mt. Airy down to Charlotte where we stopped at the new home of Thomas and Laura.  How fun to have them close.  I made a doily for Laura and Marja Airaksinen.

They prepared a lunch for us which was delicious!

Then it was on down toward Peachtree City.  It was snowing for Tina and the kids as they left Mt. Airy and headed back to Maryland.  It was raining for us in Charlotte.  Until we got to northern Georgia....there is was rain mixed with ice.  A little tricky in spots.

We made it safely back to our apartment.  It was good to be home.  Now to 'settle in' for a couple of weeks with no major traveling!    Interestingly enough.....we were suppose to be in the Tennessee Nashville Mission this week.  Those Zone Conferences got cancelled because of a General Authority visit (Elder D. Todd Christophersen).  That mission got a lot of snow with the storm that came through.  Good thing we trip was cancelled so we didn't have to drive in the weather!

Monday, February 9, 2015

While visiting the North Carolina Raleigh Mission last week we were given a foto of the Savior.  We have put that in our apartment window, just like the younger missionaries have in their apartment windows!  We feel like we have 'arrived' now!  We were feeling a little left out without a foto.  This makes us happy!!

When we left our apartment on Tuesday morning to head up to the Kentucky Louisville Mission,  we stopped by my eye doctor's office (Dr. Cribbs with Emory Eye Clinic) for my shot of avastain.  Then we drove 8 hours to get to our hotel.

And just like that (I wish!) we were in Kentucky......

Wayne especially LOVES the rocks that we see along the highways.  They are nice and they are plentiful!

We are always provided a great lunch at each of our Zone Conferences.  These sisters represent some of the finest who put these wonderful lunches together for the missionaries!  We love them....

And as a THANK YOU to these wonderful sisters, the missionaries always sing to them!!!  Usually 'Called To Serve'!!!  LOVE THIS.....so inspiring.  You can just feel the power when the missionaries sing this!

 I guess I never tire of seeing the beautiful sunsets and sunrises as we travel.  Our apartment in Peachtree City is amongst a bunch of trees so we typically don't get to see them very well.  So, when we stay in hotels (which is a LOT), that is our best chance to see them.

We finally took an extra 10 minutes and stopped by to see this Historic Water Tower in Louisville, KY!  It is really neat looking.  They closed 10 minutes before we got there so we will have to do the 'tour' the next time we are in the area......last April, early May!

Part of the Kentucky Mission is in Indiana.  Crazy how these mission boundaries cross so many state lines.  All in the adventure of coming here.

There are a LOT of bridges that cross the Ohio River spanning Kentucky and Indiana.  We always love to see those bridges.  Our Hampton Inn is literally on the river and therefore we have a nice view of this bridge.

What has become a 'favorite' place to stop for 10 minutes while in the Louisville area is the Little Slugger Museum and Bat store.  Wayne got to sit on the ginormous baseball glove.  Very cool.  And of course the LARGER-THAN-LIFE-BAT out front of the museum is always fun to see!

As we left the museum on Saturday morning, we headed over to the Kentucky Louisville Temple in Crestwood.  We were able to slip inside and participate in sealings for about an hour.  We always enjoy doing that.

As we drove from Kentucky down to the Tennessee Knoxville Mission, we noticed this Artisan Center.  We had seen it before but didn't have time to stop.  This time we took the extra 15 minutes and stopped for a little break in our 5 1/2 hour  drive.  Nice diversion.

And there we are....just like that.  In another one of our missions.

We stayed in Kingsport, Tennessee for the weekend.  No sense in driving 9 hours back to our apartment in PTC (Peachtree City) only to have to drive the 9 hours back up this way after only being there for one day.  We like not having to drive any more than we have to.  We attended Kingsport Ward on Sunday.  While in Priesthood/Relief Society (combined on this day because it was Ward Conference) we got a summons from one of the brothers who was in the hall.  There was a ward member having some chest pains.  The brother was cold, clammy and Wayne had a hard time finding a pulse.  He called for an Ambulance.  We are anxious to find out what happened.  We hope we can find out at Zone Conference on Tuesday since the meeting will be held in the same building.

Back inside the building after the 'emergency' Ellen Harrison Diep was waiting for us.  We knew her and her family from the Frederick MD Stake for many, many years.  How fun to walk in the church on Sunday and find her smiling, friendly person to greet us.  We had no idea that she and her husband and children were in this ward!  Small world in the church.

And this sweet gal, Nancy Allen, introduced herself to us.  She asked if we knew a Becky Higgins.  To which we responded, "You mean our daughter?"  She was so excited to find out we are Becky's parents!  She expressed her love for Becky (and Lisa Bearnson) to us and told us she was thrilled to get to meet us.  She and her family are in the process of moving to PTC!!!  Another small world story right here in Kingsport!!!

Sunday dinner.....while traveling, we need to eat and typically have to get food at a local restaurant.  This is where we ate Sunday dinner.  It was very good and the portions were large enough that we got two meals each!!

Wouldn't you know it.....VIRGINIA is a part of the Tennessee Knoxville Mission!  SO, we got to step our toe across the border.  SOOOOO close to home, yet so far away!!

The view out our Hampton Inn here in Kingsport has been a nice one.  Looking at the foothill mountains for the Great Smokey's.  We will be traveling through them this week.  We LOVE being in these mountains.

And there we have yet another great week in our wonderful mission which we love so much!  We truly feel blessed!!  Have a great week y'all.......