Sunday, April 3, 2016

As we headed back to the PTC from Mt. Airy, N.C. on Monday, we stopped by 'Jean's' one more time.....to get some sausage-biscuits for breakfast on the road.  Man, we LOVE this place and their fantastic food.  So nice to have it right here in our mission!!

We LOVE finding the cool signs here in the Bible Belt....even on the trucks.  I really like this one!

The flowers were in full bloom as we drove through the south too.  Love, LOVE them!

We also LOVE driving through the mountains.  We purposely decided to drive through the Great Smoky Mountains back to PTC today.....about an hour longer but we love this route!!!  Dad is really good about getting some great shots while I drive.

We LOVE the Atlanta skyline as well.  We are going to miss our mission.  We will enjoy our travels for the next 7 weeks....that will go by quickly we know.  We have 5 mission 'tours' in that 7 weeks!

 When we are in our apartment and the missionaries go by, they notice that our car is out front and they love to stop by.  We love it when they stop by for a visit too!!!  Sisters Kelly and Hunter are so sweet.  They are half bike/half car.  Today was a bike day.  Both of their bikes are in for repairs so they borrowed bikes from the mission office.  This was all they had to choose from...bless their hearts.  They are real troopers!

Dad got a package this week....from one of his nurses, Sister Romano!  She is a die-hard Precious Moments collector and knows Sam Butcher (creator of Precious Moments) personally.  We sent this 'Doctor Is IN' Precious Moments to him as a reminder of his 'doctoring mission'!!  So sweet of her.  We have some pretty remarkable nurses and we love them all.

I finished 2 more gifts afghans this week.  'Lucy' is protecting them to make sure nobody is going to bother them.  What are we going to do when we go home and have to leave Lucy behind!!!  That will be a sad day for us.....but we will be happy to see Madi again (IF she makes it until we get home).  Bless Madi's heart.  She has been a trooper with us leaving her once again!  And thanks to Steven and Elinn for taking such great care of her while we have been gone.

Sometimes we just need to make a 'house call' because that is what is needed.  Friday was one of those days.  Dad had some concerns with a Elder in one of the Georgia Missions.  He was assigned to a little corner of Alabama.  In talking with the Mission President, it was apparent to us that a house call was in order.  The mission president was most grateful for our doing that.  IF the elder needs to be sent home for treatment, the family will know that everything was done infield that could be done.

We received an invitation to attend the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference at the mission home with President and Sister Foote (center).  We were grateful we were in town so we could do that.  The AP's (Elder Diamache and Elder Leavitt) and the 2 office couples (Elder & Sister Benisch and Elder & Sister Jeffrey) along with the Mission Nurse (Sister Mason) were also there.  It was great to be with them.  After the session we also had a potluck dinner.  Then us sisters went to our homes while the brethren watch General Priesthood Session at the Mission Home.  We LOVE our mission.

How fun that we were all together watching at the Mission Home when up on the T.V. screen we all saw with delight Elder Tanner Robinson (bottom row, 3rd from right)!!!  We love Elder Robinson!!  And there he was singing in the BYU-Idaho Choir for the afternoon session of conference.

The Entire General Conference was SO good!!!  It was especially great to hear from our beloved Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson!  He looked better than he did in October 2015.  He even sounded stronger.  What a blessing to have a Prophet to lead and guide us in these latter-days!

Between sessions of Conference I made a batch of chocolate chip/pecan cookies.  I had promised Don Linton, our accountant, that he would get his annual batch of cookies.  They will be mailed in the morning and be delivered on Wednesday!  Really??  I would do this kind of thing?  Apparently I do.

 We hope y'all all have a GREAT week.  We are off to the GREAT KENTUCKY LOUISVILLE MISSION for the next 2 weeks!!!  You will hear from us while we are there....no doubt!!  Love y'all!!!  We LOVE our mission!!

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Every week seems to be just a bit different.  We just never know quite what we may end up doing some days.....and it keeps us on our toes!

We were invited to attend OUR District Meeting this week, on Tuesday.  We were excited to do that because we are normally not in town for it.  I decided I needed to make some banana, pecan, chocolate chip bread....one per companionship.  That worked well.  The Elders and Sisters were very pleased!

We were supposed to head up to the North Carolina Charlotte Mission this week and next week for Zone Conferences.  About 2 weeks ago we were notified that a member of the Area Presidency changed that schedule for the Mission President.  They can do that and sometimes do....like this time. Because we had already arranged to spend the weekend in Mt. Airy (easier than driving back to PTC and turning around 2 days later and driving back up here), we decided we were going to still come to Mt. Airy for the Easter weekend!  AND, we found out the night before we were to leave that an Elder in the North Carolina Raleigh Mission was having some medical problems that he needed to be hospitalized for.  Elder/Dr. Allgaier felt uncomfortable with what was going on so we decided we needed to detour to Durham to check on things at the hospital.  That is just what we do....when we need to.  The Elder was sent home 2 days later to get further medical help in his home state!  That is usually in the best interest of the missionary when that decision is made....and it is not made lightly!

Couldn't resist this foto (taken by Dad).  This truck was parked next to our car in the Hospital parking lot.  We ARE in the Bible Belt, after all!!!  Got to love it.

We decided we could take call from the top of Pilot Mountain just as easy as being in Mt. Airy.  SO, we decided to walk to the top of the Pinnacle.  We love the view from there....you could even see Winston-Salem....about 37 miles south of Pilot Mountain.  It was the perfect day to be on top.

We decided to also visit the Andy Griffith Museum in Mt. Airy.  Dad tried his 'style' with sitting in the side car.....including helmet!!!

A trip to Mt. Airy is never complete without sporting the Squad Car.  We saw several of them around town...people taking tours in them.  It is fun to do when in town.

OH and what can I say.....YES we ate at Gene's every day we were here.  LOVE, LOVE the ground steak.  AND, dad switched it up a little with having a chili dawg one day.  Both are sooooo good!!!  I have already ordered a BUCKET of ground steak and slaw to bring home with us the end of May as we head to the 515!!!  Freddie said he would have it ready for us.  A BUCKET of deliciousness!!!

Saturday morning was interesting.  Totally without our planning it this way, we ended up going to the gravesites of my Parent, Grand Parents, GREAT-Grandparents and GREAT-GREAT Grandparents on both my mother's side and my father's side.  Very cool to have been able to do that and have it documented.

This is my FATHER's side......

And, my MOTHER's side.

On Saturday afternoon we attended the funeral of my cousin Lucille Goins Crissman who lived in Pilot Mountain.  So nice to have been able to attend.  Almost like a little family reunion.

The funeral was held at the Friendly Chapel Church (Baptist) at Pilot Mountain.  You can see Pilot Mt. in the background.

This is another Great Aunt's grave with 2 cousins:  Hazel on the left and Mary on the right.

 I never go anywhere without my crocheting.  I figure I can always get a few stitches done.....this particular 'cotton boll' patters requires me working with 2 yarns at the same time.  Hence, the 2 yarns........

What a sweet, personal note from our hotel cleaning lady to write this personal note for us wishing us a Happy Easter!  I love the personal touches!!

As we were walking up and down Main Street one afternoon, we ran into one of my cousins AND the lady missionaries came by.  LOVE this little small town.

We got to have Easter dinner with another cousin today after church.....Shannon and her husband Vince.  Shannon (not pictured) is Sharon (Left, cousin, Virgie's youngest daughter) and Lester's (right) daughter.  This is Sharon and Lester's son, Danny and his wife, Cindy.  Danny is being baptized in 2 weeks.  We surely wish we could be back here for the baptism!  How exciting for the all of us that Danny has decided to be baptized.

 We attended the Mt. Airy Ward this morning for church.  They performed the Easter Cantata for Sacrament Meeting.  It was beautiful.  That has been a tradition for the ward to do for as long as I can remember but it is the first time I have actually been here for the performance of it.

We head back to PTC in the morning.  We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and enjoyed being with family and fiends.  We love all of y'all!!  Thank you for your love and support and we continue in the service of our mission.  We love our mission and are very grateful we can do this....THANK EACH ONE OF YOU!!

Sunday, March 20, 2016

This started out as a great 'upcoming week' with Becky and David and their children coming to visit us.  We are excited when any of our family comes to visit!  In order for all 7 of us to be able to travel around together, we rented a mini-van.  That would make it so much nicer!  These were our wheels or the week.  We picked it up on Monday.

As soon as we met the kids at the airport I knew immediately that the kids had sure grown since we saw them last.....Porter is as tall as I am, already!!!  They arrived on Tuesday evening.....just as the sun was setting.

We headed to a really good Bar-B-Que place in the PTC.....Dickey's.  It was surely GOOD!!

At our apartment it became apparent pretty quick that 'Lucy' was anxious to make friends with Becky...not sure Becky was up for that.

On Wednesday we headed to the Georgia Macon Mission.  We had been invited by President and Sister Cottle to visit them in the Mission Home!  We surely love the Cottle's.  As we drove down to Macon we saw the gorgeous flowering pear trees.  We just had to stop and take a few fotos!!

And here are the 'girls'.....L to R:  Sister Cottle, Mission President's Wife, Sister Westbrook, Office Missionary, Becky, Mom, Sister Finlinson, Mission Nurse.

When we left the mission home we headed for the Ocmulgee Indian Mounds there in Macon.  They were so cool.  This foto was taken on top of the windy mound.

When we got home from Macon, Nancy Allen (left) and Ashleigh Haycock (Bishop's wife) in our ward asked if they could come over to meet Becky.  Becky was gracious enough to have them come. 

Thursday, we headed up to the Georgia Aquarium in downtown Atlanta.  We really enjoyed being there.  This was our 3rd time going while we have been on our mission.

Centennial Park is located just outside of the Aquarium.  Adjacent to the Park is the SkyView Ferris Wheel.  I have wanted to ride that for a while now.  Today seemed like the perfect time to do that.  I am not sure why I keep wanting to do things like this, especially since I don't really like heights!!  This compares to the London Eye, which we have also ridden.

Claire was helping me feel not too nervous because we were stopped on the TOP!!!  Of course, where else would we be stopped!!!!  The views were great though.

When we got off the ferris wheel we had a one of these ladies come up and ask us if we could take a foto of them together with their phone.  We, of course, were happy to help out.  As it turned out, one of the ladies knew Becky's products and uses them.  The other 3 got an 'on-site', first-hand demonstration of how the Project Life App works!!  Fun little lesson.

We 'rounded' out our great day with a rounded foot shot.

On Friday we headed over to STONE MOUNTAIN.  No matter where we are and what we are doing, Dad is still on call.  And he got plenty of calls on this day.  Right in the middle of the cafeteria where we were getting our lunch.

Among other things, we took the gondola ride to the TOP of the mountain.  GREAT views from up there.  And a little family foto was in order.  Can you tell the wind was blowing up there!

We ended our day at Stone Mountain with the train ride that goes around the base of the mountain.  We always enjoy doing that.

 Back home in the evening, it was story time with Grandpa reading the Uncle Remus story book.  I think the kids seemed to enjoy it.

On Saturday David took the kids and headed over to 6 Flags Over Georgia (or whatever it is called!). Becky and I headed over to Michael's to do a little signing and visit with this cute store manager.  We enjoyed the little visit.  I then took Becky up to meet with David and the kids.  They had a very LONG day there!!!

In the meantime, Dad and I were catching up at the apartment.  We went to the grocery store to pick up a few things.  We ran into Rodney (some of you may recognize him!) and his Aunt in Kroger's.  It is always fun to run into him!!

I even got a minute for 'down time' to add a few more rows into a cotton boll afghan I am making for a gift.  I really enjoy working on this particular pattern!

We enjoyed being in our Whitewater Ward on Sunday.  After church we swung by the Starrs Mil for a little foto op.  We love this little place.  

Sunday afternoon walk with grandpa while grandma and Becky made lunch.  Porter and Claire surely enjoyed that little walk! 

Hard to believe the week has flown by so quickly.  And they were OFF and back to sunny, warm Arizona.  We sure loved having them here this week.  We surely LOVE when any of our family has been able to visit us in the mission field.  We surely love ALL our family!

We are grateful for the love and support from our family as we continue to serve our mission.  We only have 2 months left and that is not a very long time.  We are NOT getting trunky......but realizing that we have to work hard to get everything accomplished in this short time.  We hit our mission running and we will finish our mission running!  We are grateful for our blessings and the opportunity to serve on this mission!  We feel blessed!