BIRTHDAY WEEKEND!!!

So...this last weekend was so great.  Angie and Mike flew in from Las Vegas to Cincinnati and drove to Louisville that night.  It was late when they got in but it was so good to see them!  Unfortunately for them, our weather didn't want to cooperate and we had temperatures in the 30's and 40's with rain Friday and Saturday.  We went to the Louisville Slugger museum and factory on Friday and then out to dinner at Mark's Feed Store.  Saturday, Angie and Mike went to Churchill Downs and had a good time.  When they got back we drove to the Jim Beam Distillery in a snow storm!  You can't go anywhere in Kentucky without seeing signs for Bourbon Distilleries.  It was interesting seeing how it is made and what the end product looks like compared to when it goes into the barrels.  I think Mike like the fact that he was with us since the end of the tour is a taste testing and he got to use not ony his card but the three of ours too.  He had a lot of chances to decide which was his favorite 😋.

                                                          Mike & Jim       









The first barrell after the end of prohibition and the 300,000 the year I was born.

                                                                               
















     
 After leaving there, and the storm had passed, we went to Fort Knox so they could see where "all the gold" is kept.   















 That evening they took us to dinner at Rafferty's for my birthday.  Sunday was church and Mike went to the Mohammed Ali Exhibit and then ran the loop in Cherokee Park twice.  Sunday night we had chicken and dumplings and birthday cake.  Monday came too soon and all of a sudden they had to leave 😪. I'll admit there were a few tears shed but having them here made up for that, and the next six months will fly by.


Yesterday and today I hemmed suit pants for a couple of our Elders.  They found this little store somewhere downtown that had bought out a store going out of business.  They each got a suit, shirt, several ties and shoes for around $60.  They were thrilled!  The pants needed to be hemmed and no one else offered, so I did it.  One of the Elders is from Cedar City and the other from Blanding.

I've got a new office.  Same view...different angle.  It's much more private which will be nice when I need to see missionaries or do private phone calls.  The Priors are only here until Mar. 2nd. and the Flemings just talked to their replacements, coming the end of April.  The time is going way too fast.  I will hate to see them leave.  The Flemings have bought a big new truck (Elder Breinholt is jealous) and have a new fifth wheel waiting for them in Indianapolis that they will pick up on their way home.  Then they need to sell their class A motorhome they have in Arizona.  I'm trying to Talk Don into getting a trailer hitch on our car and just getting a small light weight trailer for travels.  He's trying to negotiate for a new truck.  I think we're at an impass 😕

CATS, BREAKFAST & CAKE

The last few days have been interesting.  I worked from home on Wednesday and Thursday.  Thursday morning I got a call from one of our Elders saying he had been bitten by a feral cat the night before.  The cat was in the garage and he thought it was the neighbors, picked it up, and was bitten.  By morning it was red, swollen, and painful.  I sent him to the ER...and they were there 7
hours.  I realize we are in a bigger city than Cedar, or even SLC, but that is a ridiculous amount of time!  They said there were a lot of people with flu symptoms there and luckily they masked so they wouldn't be infected.  Elder Breinholt and I went in to pick them up at 9:15 and got home at 10:15, after going through the Taco Bell drive through for them and driving home.  The wound was cleaned, dressed, he was given an antibiotic to take, and had the first of four rabies shots.  Gratefully they no longer do three weeks of daily shots in the stomach.

Since we've been in our apartment, the paint has been peeling around the kitchen window and part of the ceiling.  We finally had someone come out last night to scrape and patch the area and then this morning they were supposed to come at 8:30 to paint it.  They were a no-show.  Seems to be the way it goes.  Hopefully they will show up in a day or two.  If not...it still looks better than it did!

Next week, Sister Prior and I are trading offices.  She is over the housing, media, and referrals and will be leaving in about two weeks.  She suggested, and the president agreed that I need a more private area to work in.  I am currently in the media room/lunch room/office printer, shredded, stamp machine room.  And while I haven't minded, and the view out my window is nice, it does get hard to talk to someone confidentially on the phone or in person.  The lunch table is a meeting place for the missionaries doing laundry here on P-day and others just hanging out. So...I will have an office with a door. And, truth be told, I will appreciate it.  Sister Mortensen, the person taking Sister Priors place, will have my area.

It's supposed to get up to 50 today, rain tomorrow and Sunday, and snow early in the next week.  I'm hoping for good weather for when Angie and Mike are here.  I'm anxious to show them around this state that we have come to love.  Once again, if it weren't for our love of our family and the mountains, we could see ourselves staying here.  The people are great, there is so much green, and we like our ward.  Even the humidity was bearable last year!

Monday Morning:  Sister Fleming's birthday.  The AP's have been living downstairs in the mission office for a few months.  They travel to, and stay with, other companionships that need some extra help every week.  So every day they're here they fix breakfast in the kitchen downstairs.  Sister Prior was downstairs last week and kidded them about making us all hungry when they cook their breakfast.  This morning they made breakfast for all of us seniors!  Bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns and gravy!  It was fun to sit and visit with them and very nice for them to do that.  Also...since Sister Fleming and I both have birthdays this week, Sister Prior (our resident baker) made a chocolate cake for us.  Can't wait for lunch!

                           Elder Morrow, Priors, Elder Breinholt, Elder Adamovich, Elder Peterson

CHANGES ARE GOOD???

This is the beginning of another busy week of new missionaries, transfers, temple, and goodbyes.  We have 15 new missionaries coming in this afternoon and then we have dinner at the mission home with them tonight.  Tomorrow is more "organized" chaos while tons of missionaries, and/or members bringing them, converge on the mission office to be transferred to new companions and areas.  One of the sad moves (for us seniors) is Elder Bettridge.  He has been an AP for the last 9 months so we have really gotten to know this amazing young man.  He is being transferred to the Evanston Zone as a zone leader and Elder Morrow is replacing him as AP.  He's having a hard time leaving because he's gotten used to being around all of the senior missionaries.  I reminded him that change is good and he will be making some new, amazing friends in his new area.  And when we are called to a position in the church, the one thing you can count on is being released...at some point.  He goes home a month before we do.  I wish we could go to his homecoming!

Well...the week has started off very different than last week.  It was 56 on our way into the office this morning and has been drizzling all day.  It won't last but is a welcome change.  On our way in today, we went around the park boundary.  As we got to the top of a little hill, the car in front of us had their vehicle in reverse and the one coming the other direction was doing the same.  Once they left we could see that a tree had blown over and was across both lanes.  Elder Breinholt said, "I can get that" so he got out of the car, walked over to the tree and bent to lift it!  Lucky for him a motorist coming the other way also decided to help.  He was considerably younger and taller.  It took the two of them to push and tug the tree to the side of the road.  When he got back into the car, Don said, "I forgot hardwood would be heavier than the pine I'm used to".  Another one of those reminders that we're getting older!!  Oh...and then we had to stop for a possum crossing the road!

Our cute granddaughter, Raven Breinholt, has finished her MTC training and has gone to the Las Vegas mission for the next 18 months.  We are so proud of her...as we have been of all our other grands who have served.  It is such a blessing to the whole family to have a relative serve.  It blesses all our lives. I'm sure she'll have many interesting adventures and can't wait to hear about them.

Wow!!!  I got away from writing for a little while.  Our nice 50+ degree weather has retreated again.  The high yesterday was 25.  I've got my space heater on under my desk again.  Tonight and tomorrow is supposed to be freezing rain and sleet.

Our Zone conferences were all last week.  I love them.  I always learn something new and I love seeing the AP's, Zone Leaders, and STL's teaching.  They are talented and have an amazing amount of insight for their age.  One of the AP's loves and works with draft horses.  He gave a power point presentation on how much weight a draft horse can pull by itself (8,000 lbs) and how much it can pull when yoked with another (up to 24,000 lbs).  If it is yoked to the same horse for awhile, and they work together, they get used to each other and can pull 36,000 lb.  The point being that if the missionaries are "yoked" with their companion, they can do so much more good than alone, or working against each other.

Elder Breinholt made and gave a power point presentation on safety near and on railroad tracks.  This was prompted by the number of selfie pictures we've had of missionaries taken on the tracks.  He wanted them to know not only that it's illegal but how dangerous that is.  He did a wonderful job and all of the missionaries loved it!

Another lesson I learned is that goal setting is beginning with the end in mind.  It reminded me of a talk by President Uchtdorf.  He said we can't see the end from the beginning.  It's only when we look back at our life,  can we see the Lord's hand in our lives during various times.  I've really though a lot about that lately.  As I look back on my life, I can see specific times when I know my life was saved, or when I was led to certain decisions, and places that put me "in the right place, at the right time" for something that would bring me to this point in my life.  Our lives are not a series of happy coincidences...our Heavenly Father leads and directs our comings and goings, if we will ask Him.

I am definitely grateful for how my life has turned out...if you had asked me when going through some of my experiences, the answer probably wouldn't be the same.  But looking back...and where I am now...I can see how blessed I have been during all phases of my life!  I am truly grateful.

Lexington and Lexington North Zones

Elizabethtown and Louisville Zones

New Albany and Crestwood Zones

Evansville Zone