That date just shook me up a little when I typed it - I realized that 4 years ago today I was in a hospital in Chandler, Arizona having hip revision surgery and although I don't like medical procedures and am especially not a fan of surgery, I was excited to go to the hospital that morning.....it meant that after the surgery and some rehab time I would be able to walk again after 5.5 months on crutches! What a relief it was!!! And what a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then. Here we are serving our second mission since that time and still really loving the service.
Speaking of service, we had a family milestone this week when our grandson left the MTC to begin his mission service in the Alabama Birmingham mission - but he got assigned to work in a small town in Mississippi. I loved his description - it is big enough for two stop lights and a WalMart - this coming from a young man who grew up in a town with no stop lights and no WalMart but 5 high school classmates in the MTC at the same time as him. That's says something special about that little town in Northern Arizona.
A picture of Levi and his first companion (mission dad)
Levi entering Mississippi
On the first day in Boonville, Levi found evidence of the church being there and took a picture because he knew his grandpa (Elder Ashton) would be interested in it.
Note the year this cemetery was established.
It is really quite fun to be serving a mission at the same time as a grandchild. As we read his emails and see pictures it is fun to imagine that there is a Senior Couple serving in the Alabama Birmingham Mission who loves our grandchild as much as we love the missionaries we are serving and have served with. I was just thinking today that I am just like a proud grandma.....when I read a FB announcement that one or more of the missionaries we served with in Virginia are getting married, I go around all day with a smile on my face!
Wednesday the long, long, long awaited delivery finally occurred. Cabinets for our kitchen remodel finally arrived - 10 weeks after we ordered them. Now we are just waiting for the company to have time in their schedule to install them - they tall us probably on August 8th. What a frustrating challenge all this waiting and living in a construction zone has been for me.....but I did a little happy dance when I came home for lunch and saw this......
Cabinets - we have cabinets!!!
This week was definitely an interesting "monsoon" week. We had several days of really high heat (see picture below) followed by a couple of evenings of monsoon activity (see other picture below)
This is a picture of my car information center when I left the office on Wednesday - 119 degrees at 5:03 p.m. That was one of those days when I needed oven mitts on my hands before I could touch the steering wheel.
The hood of my black Terrain on Friday morning following the dust and rain storm we had Thursday night. The water that came down through the dust storm carried so much dirt that it left a little deposit of sediment on my hood. Sure am glad Elder Ashton took pity on my and washed my car on Saturday!!!
Although it has been a very slow process, it seems that we are FINALLY beginning to make some progress on the remodeling project. Shower is done and ready for grout, painting of all walls, ceiling and trim is done, floor tiling will begin early to mid-week. Carpet should be installed on Thursday and we can start moving back into the bedrooms. We (mostly Elder Ashton) got the two ceiling fans installed this week.
Yea!
Lights over the island, ceiling fan and painted walls in the family room AND construction tools and materials = progress!
Friday and Saturday I was sure I had lost my mind somewhere.....Friday I went to see my Primary Care Physician to get a prescription refill and when I went to get my debit card out to pay the co-pay, it wasn't in my wallet. Of course, I began to panic wondering where it was.....then I had a little talk with myself and told myself to calm down that I probably left it in the self-service postage machine at the post-office when I mailed a package on Thursday afternoon. As soon as I left the doctor's office I went back to the post-office :/ - no debit card. So I had to give myself another lecture to stay calm and just drive over to the bank to shut that card off and order a new one. All was well.......until later that afternoon when I was digging in my purse to find something and I found "something" - my debit card which I had just dropped in the bottom of my purse and not put away in my wallet. I tried to chalk that up to trying to do too many things at once.
Saturday I went to get groceries. It was very hot and I was struggling with getting them all loaded in the car because perspiration was dripping in my eyes. I finally got them all loaded and drove home, backup up to the garage and reached over to get my red purse - it was not there. I rushed back over to the grocery store and thank goodness for tender mercies someone had noticed it sitting in the cart and turned it in - nothing was missing! Now I really thought I was losing my mind and was almost afraid to take my purse to church this morning....thinking I might forget and leave it there! I guess I just say - "All's well that ends well."
So, as I drove back to our neighborhood, feeling a little calmer now, I could actually catch my breath and notice the flock of birds catching a late breakfast in the park by our house.
I'm thinking there must be some good bugs in that grass based on the number of birds chowing down!
And as I drove around the corner, what a fun sight I beheld.....a birthday party complete with a neighborhood train ride! Now that made my day a little better and brought a smile to my face.
What a fun thing for kids-- and grown-ups too!
All Aboard :)
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