Traveling


Traveling

This week doesn’t have a lot of details.  Almost three days were spent traveling from PA to WY.  

Monday, Beth threw a Bridal Shower for Kate.  It was a lingerie party so there are a limited amount of pictures.  There were only 6 of us, but it was quite fun.  Beth did a great job!  We had plenty of food, fun, and laughs.  

Kate's Bridal Shower

Monday evening, Abe and Anya took us out to dinner.  It was a group of 13!!  Abe was smart enough to make reservations.  He asked us that morning whether we would wanted to go to El Sambraro or Olive Garden.  Walt loves Olive Garden, so that is what I suggested.  When Walt woke up, I asked him which place.  He looked at me like, Is this a trick question.  When we got there, they had the table all set up and salads already on the table.  I think it was only the adults that dove right in.  The kids all got Kids Menus which are actually like an activity book with the menu on the back (in pictures).  The kids were so good.  At the end of the day, they are each asked - What was your favorite part of the day.  Almost all of them said - Olive Garden.  It was a nice way to end our visit.

The gang at Olive Garden



Tuesday, was rather sad.  It was the day we left to go back to Wyoming.  I did get up early enough to say good-bye to the children (grandchildren) before they went to school.  I walked the younger group to the bus stop, and invited Mae to come along.  She was all for it.  When the bus got there, she was prepared to get on with them.  There was a bit of a melt down when I wouldn’t let her.  Poor thing.

Kids at the bus stop



We left around 10 am, so we would have plenty of time to get to the airport, in case of traffic.  It’s 3 hours from Greencastle to the Philadelphia Airport.  Things were going along fine until we got a notification from JetBlue that our first flight would be delayed 1 1/2 hours.  This meant there was no way we could make our connecting flight.  We called the airline to see our options, and she suggested we wait to make sure it would really be delayed.  It seemed awful early to be announcing that.  The lady from JetBlue called back and said if we could check in by 2:05 pm, she had us booked on an earlier flight.  Talk about stress.  We did our best, but in the long run, missed it by 3 minutes.  They don’t hold flights.  It was upsetting to stand there looking at that plane and feeling like - Just open the door and let us on!!

The next few hours were interesting.  We could get on our scheduled flight and have a slim - very slim, chance of making the connecting flight; knowing if we didn’t, we would be stuck in Boston overnight.  While waiting, Walt checked hotels in the Boston area, and they started at $485 a night.  JetBlue wasn’t paying for it because it was the Air Traffic Control’s decision/fault on the delay.  So we decided to just re-book everything for Wednesday, and re-schedule/cancel our Thursday appointments.  We spent the night in Philadelphia at a hotel that provided a shuttle to the airport.  It wasn’t the best accommodations but it worked.

Driving to Philly Airport.  Drake (in the back) is totally entertained

Despite a few calls to JetBlue about seating, things turned out ok.  We were definitely done with traveling by the time we got to Newcastle.  Our flight got into Denver around 9:30 pm and we got to be by 11 pm.  On Thursday, we stopped by the grocery store and Costco before heading off to Newcastle for the 4 hour drive.  The hardest thing about traveling in Wyoming is the distance between towns.  It’s usually 30 or more minutes.  Which isn’t always easy when there’s a sudden bathroom need.  Bless Walt’s heart, he found an actual rest stop just when I needed it.  Blessings!

We were able to still make our Thursday night Bingo at the Manor and our missionary correlation meeting.  The people at the Manor are so sweet and always happy to see us.  We’ve never had so many friends over the age of 70.  We showed them a picture of Abe, Anya, and the children in front of the temple.   They all commented what a nice looking family they are.

Friday we served lunch at the Senior Center.  They missed us as well.  It’s so nice to be missed.  Then we had a lesson with Kay, that afternoon.  Thelma - I am getting so much use out of my Plan of Salvation Puzzle.  It really makes a good prop and visual for people to understand. The lesson went pretty well.  Kay is very shy and rarely asks any questions or gives comments.  Although she did talk to Walt and I more when we picked her up for the lesson, so maybe she’s warming up to us.  We’re going to try to have her lessons at one of the other youth’s house.  We think that make it might be more comfortable for her.  She has a baptism date set for June 22nd.  

Us working at Sr Center

We had such nice weather in Greencastle most days.  It was wonderful and soooo green there.  I had forgotten how green it gets and how many trees and flowers there are.  Wyoming  is getting there.  I have seen some blooming trees here!!  It didn’t take long for chilly weather to come back though.   We’ve had rain and temperatures in the low 40’s since Friday.  Saturday, it was snowing in some places.  This feels like the winter that is the Energizer Bunny - it keeps going and going.  It’s been getting down into the 20’s at night.   Walt bought me a geranium and a beautiful lavender plant at Costco in Denver.  They look so nice outside our back door.  Both of these are plants the deer do NOT eat - thank goodness.  But I have had to bring them in for now until the warmer weather comes back.  I don’t know how anyone plants a garden here.

                       
                                     My pretty Lavender and Geranium from Costco


Saturday was catch up and prep day for us.  We got laundry, some cleaning, and unpacking done.  Walt put up some shelves in our mud room that Keith had given him.  They really help get things out of the way.  I am so very grateful to have a mud room here.  We also prepared for lessons on Sunday and made appointments for next week.  We invited the Aylesworths for dinner and they were delighted to come, even though it was last minute.  We served Etoufee and they loved it.  It was nice catching up with them.  They have finished their temple prep lessons, so it’s been a few weeks since we visited with them,  other than church.  

We had a record attendance at church today (116).  There was a baby blessing and two graduations, so there were lots of extra family members.  It was still so wonderful to have our chapel so full.  I am enjoying teaching the youth (14-18 yrs olds) and had a fun time acting out the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard.  Walt got another calling today - Executive Secretary.  Our previous one needed to be released and the Bishop didn’t have many options.  He knows he can count on Walt.  So Walt is Asst Membership Clerk and Executive Secretary and a full-time missionary.  I only have two jobs - teaching Sunday school for youth and full-time missionary.  We aren’t bored for sure.

It was so wonderful to see our family this past week.  It makes me miss them more, but was so good to get all those hugs and smiles.  We are so blessed with a great family.  I called Emma on Tuesday before we left to tell her good-bye.  I told her we would be leaving and she asked Why.  I said we had to go back to our mission in Wyoming.  She said, “Come on!”  Then later, Beth tells me Emma told her teacher that her grandparents had to go back and do “their crazy mission thing.”  Oh - Emma.  It’s hard to leave them behind, but feel so blessed in helping people here in Newcastle.  I was thinking today, how wonderful it is to be so helpful and show people Christlike love.  It just makes us happy.  The ward missed us and are glad to have us back.  I wondered if any of them worried we would stay in PA.  It’s been a day or two of adjusting back to missionary life, but we’re back on track.

We love you all and appreciate how you keep up with us and our many adventures and blessings.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Finally a Calf!

Image
Elk at the Ranch There were so many lessons to plan and teach this week.  We’re teaching two couples the Temple Preparation lessons, the Smith children, a lesson about the priesthood, a message for a non-member couple, and I taught Seminary (sub) on Thursday.  So Monday was major work on lessons and preparing for the week.  We did work at the Senior Center for lunch. It was also a very big service week for us and the young Elders.  On Tuesday, we finally were able to visit and help the Harshbergers.  They have a neighboring ranch to the Bishop.  We had met them a couple of months ago, at the Bishop’s house for dinner.  We’ve been trying to visit them and do something helpful at their ranch.  He is 90 and she is 80 something.  With the winter weather, and then melting snow, it’s been taking awhile.  We took the Elders out there, with the plan of Walt and I talking to the Harshbergers while the Elders worked.  It didn’...
Read more

Final Email - Journey Home

Image
I know it seems I would never get this last email out.  We finally got our internet yesterday and have a little bit of breathing room. This week has really been a whirlwind for us.  Just last Sunday we were biding farewell to our Newcastle family and heading home.  Nothing seemed like we were “leaving our mission” until we got past Rapid City, SD.  The scenery and such were just places we had visited before.  We made it to Sioux Falls SD the first night.  Along the way, we had intended to check out the Badlands in SD but didn’t realize there was a fee.  So we only got to see what was near the road.  The Badlands looked cool, but nothing compared to the Black Hills.   Even though we were driving separate cars, it was easy enough to talk to each other if we got lonely.  Sometimes, we would just drive and chat.  We didn’t get into Sioux Falls until about 8 pm.  We were grateful there was a Texas Roadhouse just ac...
Read more

Life changes on a dime

Image
Add caption Hello our dear family and friends: Do you have those weeks where it all seems like a big blur?  I think a lot of us are having those weeks.  I finished up last week with Monday, so Tuesday is the starting point this time. I hadn’t been feeling totally myself since Sunday evening, and by Monday night, just felt lousy.  I didn’t have any cough, sneezing, running nose, fever, etc.  I just felt achy and really weak.  As long as I was sitting or lying down, life was decent.  So I let the students know on Monday night that there would be no seminary on Tuesday morning.  I spent most of the day just lying down or sitting.  Walt did want to go the Thrift store and get our supply of puzzles in case of quarantine.  What is so funny about that is, later, I was reading an article on line on what things to have on supply for such an event, and puzzles was on the list.  Of course, I showed it to Walt.  At the thrift ...
Read more