Dear Family,
I am sorry this is a week late, but we have been having so much fun that I didn’t get a chance to get the weekly letter written.
After Derek and family left we were back to the regular routine. Life is not nearly as much fun or busy without kids around. We spent Monday getting laundry done so the beds would be ready for Chelsea and Kent.
Monday was a regular day at the office. Sometimes I wonder what I do, but I seem to stay busy and it is often 5:30 or so before I realize what time it is. In fact, when we left I packed up some things that I can do from home. When I take things home to work on, there are fewer distractions and bigger spaced to spread out so I can sort things easier.
I forgot to get an alarm on my phone Monday evening, so we didn’t wake up on Tuesday until 7. That makes for a faster morning! I like to take it slower and have time to do our Come Follow Me in the morning before we leave. I will admit that sleeping in an hour felt good.
After dinner I worked on an orange chickie. I knit little chickens like Mom used to do for the grandchildren’s Easter baskets. When I got to looking at the ones that I had done, they looked a little too pink, purple, yellow, and feminine. I decided that Tyler might like an orange chick better.
Wednesday we had the stake technical specialist come in to help us get onto the apartment portals. We have had several people in the past try to get onto the apartment’s website so that we could renew leases, receive utility bills, and monitor our balance. At this point we just pay rent based on our lease (which is fine because the amount doesn’t change from month to month), but they are getting so that they don’t send utility bills to us but just post the amount on the website. If I can’t get on the website I don’t know what we owe and that can cause problems. It would also be handy to see the website to see when the rent check arrives (if it does). Anyway, he came about 4 and we went over the situation and we each had take aways to do to get ready for our next meeting. He promises that he is going fix our problem for us. Just wish he could fix the mail service.
In order to get the mail to our missionaries in a timely fashion the senior couples have zones that they deliver mail to once a week when there are no zone conferences or interviews. This week, President Caplin was doing interviews, so we just have to get the mail for the zone he is going to to him. Since the mission home is about 5-7 minutes from our apartment, we took the mail home so that we could deliver it to their home after they got home. They were later than planned and had a situation that President had to take care of, so Sister Caplin came to our apartment. I don’t know how they can run from early morning to late evenings all of the time.
Thursday I spent the morning doing the Arrive-Depart Report for the President. This lets him know how many missionaries will be coming and going so he can better plan. We are having some of our visa waiters going this coming transfer and some with a 50% chance of going as well, so we need to keep the information current for him. We also had two missionaries language delayed for this next transfer so our motto is “flexibility”.
In the evening my volunteer ministering sister came over for a visit. I enjoy her and admire her ability to reach out to people and lift and strengthen people as she sees a need. Garn had to go back to the office to set up a conference call with the Mission President and his counselors and himself (his title is Executive Secretary so he gets to take notes at these meetings). They were having a Mission Presidency Meeting and all of them were in other places. Garn was able to get everything hooked up well and the meeting was technically a success. He got home just in time to go to the airport to pick up Chelsea. It was SO good to see her.
Friday morning we got up early so we could pick Kent up at the airport at 7:30. They dropped us off at the office and let Kent shower and then were off to Gettysburg to do some exploring. They took a bus tour while there and felt that it was well worth the money for the tour guide’s information. They got back to the mission office in time to take us home. We had dinner and played games and visited.
Saturday morning we got up early to go to Washington DC. One of Chelsea’s “have to see” things was the Holocaust Museum. It opened up for getting tickets at 9:15, so we needed to be in Washington early. We were lucky to get tickets for 10:30 and took a guided tour of one of the displays, then went to see the permanent displays. It was a sobering visit and we came away with a lot of questions. For that reason alone it was well worth the time. However, as we were touring with the guide, I felt that there was an agenda that the museum had in the presentation of information and in their questions asked. They were looking at history with the vantage point of knowing the outcome of events. They seemed to indicate that America could have stopped much if they had done more. What they seemed to forget was that at the time the Americans’ armed forces were not what they are today. I wondered if we diverted out fighting forces to everything they thought we could have, would we have spread ourselves so thin that we would have lost the war. Many many questions causing lots of pondering. Again, the thinking was good and hopefully solutions found.
We had lunch and then went to see the cherry blossoms around the monuments with 30,000 of our very closest friends. Even with all of the people, we enjoyed the beauty of the blossoms—especially since we had seen those same trees 8 days previously with not a blossom on them. I marveled how everyone of those trees had blossomed at the same time—not like people who always want to do their own thing. From the estuary with the Jefferson monument, the FDR, and Martin Luther King monuments we went to the Lincoln and Vietnam memorials and then walked along the reflecting pond to the WW II monument and then back to the car to go home—all of us tired.
We had dinner and then Chelsea was good enough to go with me to the grocery store to pick up a few things. After getting our second wind we played games awhile.
Sunday we went to Church and Chelsea was able to meet the Korean family in our ward. They were so excited to finally meet her that they invited us to dinner on Monday evening. Chelsea was excited about getting to eat kimchi! After Church we went to Arlington National Cemetery. It is pretty sobering to see all of the graves and realize that many many people have given their all so that we can have the freedoms we have. At the tomb of the unknown soldier it is so quiet and reverent as they change the guard. This is particularly remarkable that in our world of irreverence for many things they were quiet and respectful here. From here we went to see President Kennedy’s grave site. On our way home we tried to stop and see the 911 memorial at the Pentagon but couldn’t find the entrance even with Google’s help. We tried twice, but everyone was too hungry to try a 3rd time.
Well, that about does it for another week. We send our love to all of you.
Love,
Mom
I am sorry this is a week late, but we have been having so much fun that I didn’t get a chance to get the weekly letter written.
After Derek and family left we were back to the regular routine. Life is not nearly as much fun or busy without kids around. We spent Monday getting laundry done so the beds would be ready for Chelsea and Kent.
Monday was a regular day at the office. Sometimes I wonder what I do, but I seem to stay busy and it is often 5:30 or so before I realize what time it is. In fact, when we left I packed up some things that I can do from home. When I take things home to work on, there are fewer distractions and bigger spaced to spread out so I can sort things easier.
I forgot to get an alarm on my phone Monday evening, so we didn’t wake up on Tuesday until 7. That makes for a faster morning! I like to take it slower and have time to do our Come Follow Me in the morning before we leave. I will admit that sleeping in an hour felt good.
After dinner I worked on an orange chickie. I knit little chickens like Mom used to do for the grandchildren’s Easter baskets. When I got to looking at the ones that I had done, they looked a little too pink, purple, yellow, and feminine. I decided that Tyler might like an orange chick better.
Wednesday we had the stake technical specialist come in to help us get onto the apartment portals. We have had several people in the past try to get onto the apartment’s website so that we could renew leases, receive utility bills, and monitor our balance. At this point we just pay rent based on our lease (which is fine because the amount doesn’t change from month to month), but they are getting so that they don’t send utility bills to us but just post the amount on the website. If I can’t get on the website I don’t know what we owe and that can cause problems. It would also be handy to see the website to see when the rent check arrives (if it does). Anyway, he came about 4 and we went over the situation and we each had take aways to do to get ready for our next meeting. He promises that he is going fix our problem for us. Just wish he could fix the mail service.
In order to get the mail to our missionaries in a timely fashion the senior couples have zones that they deliver mail to once a week when there are no zone conferences or interviews. This week, President Caplin was doing interviews, so we just have to get the mail for the zone he is going to to him. Since the mission home is about 5-7 minutes from our apartment, we took the mail home so that we could deliver it to their home after they got home. They were later than planned and had a situation that President had to take care of, so Sister Caplin came to our apartment. I don’t know how they can run from early morning to late evenings all of the time.
Thursday I spent the morning doing the Arrive-Depart Report for the President. This lets him know how many missionaries will be coming and going so he can better plan. We are having some of our visa waiters going this coming transfer and some with a 50% chance of going as well, so we need to keep the information current for him. We also had two missionaries language delayed for this next transfer so our motto is “flexibility”.
In the evening my volunteer ministering sister came over for a visit. I enjoy her and admire her ability to reach out to people and lift and strengthen people as she sees a need. Garn had to go back to the office to set up a conference call with the Mission President and his counselors and himself (his title is Executive Secretary so he gets to take notes at these meetings). They were having a Mission Presidency Meeting and all of them were in other places. Garn was able to get everything hooked up well and the meeting was technically a success. He got home just in time to go to the airport to pick up Chelsea. It was SO good to see her.
Friday morning we got up early so we could pick Kent up at the airport at 7:30. They dropped us off at the office and let Kent shower and then were off to Gettysburg to do some exploring. They took a bus tour while there and felt that it was well worth the money for the tour guide’s information. They got back to the mission office in time to take us home. We had dinner and played games and visited.
Saturday morning we got up early to go to Washington DC. One of Chelsea’s “have to see” things was the Holocaust Museum. It opened up for getting tickets at 9:15, so we needed to be in Washington early. We were lucky to get tickets for 10:30 and took a guided tour of one of the displays, then went to see the permanent displays. It was a sobering visit and we came away with a lot of questions. For that reason alone it was well worth the time. However, as we were touring with the guide, I felt that there was an agenda that the museum had in the presentation of information and in their questions asked. They were looking at history with the vantage point of knowing the outcome of events. They seemed to indicate that America could have stopped much if they had done more. What they seemed to forget was that at the time the Americans’ armed forces were not what they are today. I wondered if we diverted out fighting forces to everything they thought we could have, would we have spread ourselves so thin that we would have lost the war. Many many questions causing lots of pondering. Again, the thinking was good and hopefully solutions found.
We had lunch and then went to see the cherry blossoms around the monuments with 30,000 of our very closest friends. Even with all of the people, we enjoyed the beauty of the blossoms—especially since we had seen those same trees 8 days previously with not a blossom on them. I marveled how everyone of those trees had blossomed at the same time—not like people who always want to do their own thing. From the estuary with the Jefferson monument, the FDR, and Martin Luther King monuments we went to the Lincoln and Vietnam memorials and then walked along the reflecting pond to the WW II monument and then back to the car to go home—all of us tired.
We had dinner and then Chelsea was good enough to go with me to the grocery store to pick up a few things. After getting our second wind we played games awhile.
Sunday we went to Church and Chelsea was able to meet the Korean family in our ward. They were so excited to finally meet her that they invited us to dinner on Monday evening. Chelsea was excited about getting to eat kimchi! After Church we went to Arlington National Cemetery. It is pretty sobering to see all of the graves and realize that many many people have given their all so that we can have the freedoms we have. At the tomb of the unknown soldier it is so quiet and reverent as they change the guard. This is particularly remarkable that in our world of irreverence for many things they were quiet and respectful here. From here we went to see President Kennedy’s grave site. On our way home we tried to stop and see the 911 memorial at the Pentagon but couldn’t find the entrance even with Google’s help. We tried twice, but everyone was too hungry to try a 3rd time.
Well, that about does it for another week. We send our love to all of you.
Love,
Mom
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Lincoln Memorial
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Crowds to see the cherry blossoms.
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Reflecting pool.
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| Washington Monument with cherry blossoms. |
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