Sunday, August 24, 2014

Monday was a FUN few minutes as Wayne accepted the 'ice bucket challenge' for ALS!  He was nominated by David Allgaier.  This is to bring awareness to the ALS disease and to raise money.  He was a good sport.....but the cold water felt good on a HOT Georgia August day!

Tuesday found me back in Dr. Cribbs office for another shot in my eye!  I kind of look forward to these shots because I feel they are helping to stabilize my vision from getting really bad!!  At least I hope so.

From Dr. Cribbs office we headed to a Zone Conference in Roswell with the Georgia Atlanta North Mission.  It was a very FULL afternoon seeing about 16 missionaries!  We didn't finish until about 5 p.m. and then had a 2 hour drive back to Peachtree City!

As missionaries we always SING a song to those who have prepared our lunch for us!  We LOVE to do that.  It is typically "Called To Serve" but on occasion it could be another church hymn.

On Wednesday we had another Zone Conference in the Sugar Hill area for the Georgia Atlanta North Mission.  It was a great conference and a great day.  The lunches that are served are always sooooo good.  Today a Sister made Elder and Sister Sugar Cookies!!!  How adorable they were....and soooo good!  Wayne was again very busy.  After the conference we drove to the South Carolina Columbia Mission.

And there you have it.....SOUTH CAROLINA!

OH MY HEAVENS!!!  We never excepted to see Elder and Sister Winward here in the mission field. We knew them when they served twice in the Washington D.C. Temple as Temple Missionaries.  How good to see them here.

We were in the Simpsonville and Spartanburg, S.C. area for 2 different Zone Conferences on Thursday and Friday.  When we finished on Friday we drove to Anderson, S.C. where we spent the night.  We were treated royally by Patrick Kay's parents, Steve and Lynn, who owe a very, very nice Boutique Inn in the heart of Anderson called the Bleckley Inn.  What a great treat for us!!

And here we are with Steve and Lynn.  I will be making Lynn an afghan!  She was excited about that.  They really were wonderful and so warm and friendly with us!

And just like that we are back in GEORGIA again!!

On this trip we crossed the 100,000 mile mark on our 2011 Honda CR-V!!!  We are surely putting on the miles!

We got home Saturday afternoon in time to attend a ward baptism......2 people being baptized.  It was a very nice service.  When we came outside the chapel we were treated to a very special sunset!!!  It was gorgeous!

I was able to finish an afghan for ERIN TRIMBLE!  Hopefully she will like it.  It has been a fun one to make with such bright colors.  

And this concludes another week and almost another month.  I don't know how the weeks go by so quickly!  Just amazing.......

Sunday, August 17, 2014

We finished up the first part of Zone Conferences in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.  We ended the week on Saturday with a Zone Conference in Waynesville, NC which was about a 30 minute drive to Cherokee, NC!!!  What a blessing for me especially.  I have wanted my whole life to some day go visit this place.  And we found ourselves right there!!!  Love our mission!!

Sunday we attended church in the Cherokee Ward.  The location of the chapel is a perfect setting situated right on top of a large 'hill'.  Of course the whole town in nestled in the Great Smokey Mountains so everything is pretty much on a 'hill'!  About 65% of the members in this ward are to some degree Cherokee Indian.  Nice!!

After church we met John and Charlotte Marion at this great little restaurant for lunch.  It was nice of them to come up and meet us so we could spend a little more time together.  Delicious meal.  We will definitely go back here again!

After lunch with John and Charlotte we headed back to our hotel in Waynesville, NC and who showed up just as we got back but the sweet Sister Missionaries.  We had given them a referral to the less-active lodge owner where we were staying!  Amazing that we 'found' her.....or actually she 'found' us, since we were wearing our missionary tags while we were there!!!  The Sister Missionaries are going to be working with her to see if they can get her to become active again!

Monday found us driving back into Tennessee to continue on with the rest of the Zone Conferences.  We drove out of the Great Smokey Mountains and right into the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Gorgeous view!!

And just like that.....TENNESSEE again!

We were in Kingsport, Tennessee the first night.  Still a great view out our hotel room of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

We LOVE being with all of the missionaries in our 9-mission area.  They love to 'catch up' when they get a rare little 5 - 10 minute break during the Conference.

Wednesday we drove back to Knoxville, Tennessee where we began the conferences a week earlier.  We decided to have some Pizza Hut Pasta for dinner.  Had enough to last us for 3 meals!  And we couldn't pass up the ginormous CHOCOLATE CHIP cookie they offered.  That was good too. 

And with the last Zone Conference being held literally 2 blocks from the Mission Office, in Knoxville, that finished our week-long trip to the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.

It was good to be back to our wonderful Peachtree City, GA.  And we found that we were loved with a lot of 'LOVE NOTES' from the UPS and FED EX people.

I needed to do a few errands on Friday, which included a stop at Michael's to pick up some 'needed' yarn!  Yes....needed!  And found some of Becky's new Project Life products....Heidi Swapp's design. And, YES, I picked up some of these too.

I had ordered a new tea towel from Finland.  It came while we were gone.  TOO pretty to use so I have it as a wall hanging by our front door.

Sunday after church we had a little KNOCK on our front door.  And who should it be but some of our sweet missionaries.....Elder Thompson and Elder Laws.  They are so sweet.  We just love them.  Elder Laws had something 'stuck' in his throat.  Elder/Dr. Allgaier and Elder Thompson did a little 'surgery' and successfully removed it!!  Elder Thompson is an aspiring Doctor-to-be!  He will be great.  

ANOTHER GREAT WEEK!!!  We love our mission!!

Sunday, August 10, 2014 found us in the heart of the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.  Well, maybe on the far eastern border of the mission boundaries.  On Wednesday of this week we headed up to Tennessee.

Our first Zone Conference was in Knoxville area itself.  That was nice.  It was a very pretty drive through some of the mountains of eastern Tennessee.  The 'page layout' below is from the new Project Life App on my iPhone that I get to try out with Becky's newest product.  It is very easy to use and I am loving it!!

We got to 'Hide and Seek' one of Becky's Project Life Core Kits for her....right there in Knoxville.  This restaurant where we hid it was actually right across the street from our Hotel.  It was 'found' in 22 minutes flat from one of Becky's fans, who actually left work to come and claim it!

We find that most of the missions like to take Zone Conference fotos at each of the meetings.  Wayne got to take this foto for President Griffen.  It is so fun to see this great missionaries.  What a great force for righteousness they are!!!

YES......North Carolina is a part of the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.  We are soooo lucky that we get to travel to some of our most favorite places!  It felt like we were at home being in North Carolina.

There were no Hampton Inn's in Waynesville, NC where we stayed.  Bummer....we found a Lodge to stay in though.  It ended up being a Bed and Breakfast.  It was a fairly nice place but we miss the conveniences of our regular hotels!  

CHEROKEE, NC is actually right in the area where we were attending the Zone Conference in Waynesville!  I especially was soooo excited to finally be in Cherokee after decades of wanting to go there.  I have been told all of my life that we have Cherokee blood in us from my father's side of the family (Grandma Knight).  How neat to finally have gotten here.  However, there is basically NO cell service around.  BUT, we were told, that 'tree over there....that has the best connection in town'.  For real, this is what we were told by a clerk in one of the stores!  Poor Wayne gave it his best shot in trying to stay connected to his 9 missions!

The GREAT SMOKEY MOUNTAINS are more beautiful than I had imagined they would be.  We were thrilled to be here in this area.  Our mission is surely taking us to places that we never thought we would get to see!

We attended church on Sunday, August 10, in the Cherokee Ward, Asheville NC Stake.  It was so neat to be here.  60% of the ward of Cherokee to some degree.

 There was a Michael's in the little town of Waynesville.  SO...we had to check out Becky's products and make sure they were straightened up.  Wayne took care of it this time.

 Bless his heart....Elder/Dr. Allgaier does such a great job of taking care of our 2450 missionaries in our mission area.

 Another little layout I did with Becky's PL App....

 Tomorrow starts another week....and we continue our travels here in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.  We should be home by Thursday!

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Another week.....another month!  What next......I will tell you that we have a HUGE week of travel coming up this week....week of August 3rd.  Next week we will be in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.  A recap of this past week though.....

Monday was a fairly relaxing day for us.  Although we anticipated getting a phone call from Salt Lake Missionary Travel Department about the real possibility of Wayne needing to escort a Missionary home to SL for medical treatment, we just didn't know when that call would come.  SO....while Wayne continued to work and take care of the medical needs of the missionaries, I was able to complete Matthew's afghan!  Finally.....because I was waiting on the rest of the yarn to arrive that I had ordered.  It came in the mail on Monday morning and 2 hours later it was finished and mailed at the local Posti.

Tuesday morning we got 'the phone call' and 3 hours later I took Wayne to the airport so he could catch his flight to Charlotte, pick up the sick missionary and they then caught a flight out of Charlotte and headed to SLC.  In the meantime, back here at the apartments it was full of activity.  It was TRANSFER DAY for the Georgia Atlanta Mission.  We got several new elders.  Here Elder Thompson (R) and Elder Laws (middle) talked with one of our neighbors who was moving out.  These are great missionaries.  

And there he goes.....off to escort a sick missionary home.  He is such a GREAT Area Medical Advisor.  This was his first to escort home.....and I am sure there will be many others before our mission is complete!!

Wayne was back home in about 24 hours.  He arrived in SL about 11:00 p.m., spent the night in a hotel and back on the airplane at 8:30 the next morning.  All arrangements had been made by the travel department in SL.  We did not have to cancel our lunch appointment with President and Sister Bennion of the Georgia Atlanta North Mission.  What a wonderful time we had with them in their home.  They are going to be wonderful to work with!!

 Meanwhile, back at our home in Maryland!!  We had had some more storm damage with lots of limbs and trees down.  AND Frank had not been able to mow our grass for several weeks.  His mower was out of commission.  SO....Steven and 3 of the kids went over and mowed and made some money.  Bless their hearts!! They are such a great help to us while we are serving our mission.

 And.....Matthew received his blanket!  I think he really likes it!!!  SO Glad.....

Becky's team asked if I would be a beta tester for her new Project Life App that is about ready to be made available!!!  I was so excited to be able to do this.  AND the best part....it is so EASY and I did NOT have to be tutored with anything about the app!!!!  It is going to be amazing to have this convenience!!!  This is my first scrapbook page that I did with the APP!!

And another month is now behind us.....never to return.  AUGUST has begun.

Wayne LOVES the pens we got from NCFA!!!!  So much so that his pen ran out and he had Steven mail the rest of the pens to us from home.  He was a happy AMA when his fresh supply came in the mail!

On one of our walks this week we finally saw our little bambi's in the woods!!!  I knew eventually we would hopefully see some.  How fun....it made me feel like we were right back at home in Maryland.

On Saturday morning we went to the temple.  After we finished we headed up to Kennesaw to see my Aunt Betty and visit with her.  We had heard of this 5-story chicken that is a landmark.  We found it and it was quite easy to find as well!!!  We understand that this is one of the original place of KFC.

Betty treated Wayne and I to lunch at Olive Garden close to her home.  After lunch we went back to her home and her son Johnny and his wife Charlotte came over.  We had a great visit with all of them.  It was been literally decades since we have seen them.

 YES you guessed it.....I made another 'page' from our visit today with Becky's PL App!!!  Love the ease of using this.  Betty had great fotos of my grandpa and grandma Marion.  I had not seen this foto of grandma Marion where she is actually smiling!  Of course I had to take fotos of the fotos.

I decided while I was playing with the PL App I would make a 4 x 6 foto of our cute little foto.  I think it turned out really well.

Wayne 'caught' Betty and I visiting in the living room.

Meantime, back at our home in Maryland (actually in D.C.) Pia Allgaier had come over from Germany to visit the family.  We so much wish we could have been there!!!  We just love that family!!  Here they are on the metro headed to D.C. for touring around.

And they got together for dinner at Cafe Rio's.  So excited that she could come!!!  

And that is our week in a nutshell!!  We just love our mission and feel so blessed to be here!!!