.....enormous loveliness...........

Just discovered (again) a very good thing about digital pictures! The camera records what day!!! And now that I'm worse than ever at keeping track of time and days, thank goodness I can look at the pictures I took and they will tell me what day they were taken! Sooooo...............

The day after going to Locust Fork we drove out to Trussville. (Cool name!!) we had to take a car to the Elders so theirs could be fixed. I wish I had started taking pictures of cemeteries when we first got here. They have some of the most enormous old cemeteries I have ever seen! We drive by one nearly every week on our way to church and I wish I could just take an afternoon and wander through it. I also find myself wishing I could photograph it for "1,000,000 graves".......oooooo........that would be a mammoth project! But so cool!!!!! Anyway.........I digress.........

After dropping off the car and Roger was driving so I was free to gawk--which I do whenever he drives. We drove past an old cemetery and in it the most enormous magnolia tree!!!!! A huge tree by any standards! But a magnolia!!!?!?!?? I would love to see it in bloom! We drove in at the end of the cemetery--onto the grass but obviously where people park to walk into the cemetery. It's there, behind the other trees.........

Roger drove really slowly so I could take some pictures from the street. While I like to find a "good shot", I am also a lazy photographer. If I can stay in the car, I will. Besides, I didn't know how much time we had to spare and he had already turned around for me. Such a patient man!

You can tell I wasn't really paying attention to the "form" of the photo..........as I cut off the top of the tree...........I remember saying I couldn't get the whole thing in the picture. But now I see I have plenty of the rock wall! :-)

Thursday warmed up really nicely and we determined that we had time to go walk around "Star Lake". It's really a drainage "lake". They built a dam above the golf course, so now the neighborhood has a lovely little lake with the requisite geese and ducks--even a magnificent pair of swans. When there has been no rain for a couple of weeks there is quite a large "beach" area for the birds. No people are allowed in the water. I hate to imagine how dirty it is! Anyway........it's a lovely little place for a walk. We have gone there before and I have told you about it. Well........Thursday night was spectacular!!!! It was not anywhere close to this yellow..........in fact......there was no yellow at all!

 It was all pink and lavender like these pictures..........and there are two of them.......just because I like them both and I can...........

 There are lots of geese and ducks there. It's fun to watch them stand straight on their heads. At least, I think that's what they are doing, as their tails are straight in the air! And they can hold their breath for an unbelievable length of time! You can see the wake of one lone duck swimming across the lake and the ripples catching the colors of the sunset. So lovely.......... We were a little later last night, and before we got in the car, most of them had tucked their beaks under their wings as they floated softly on the water...........

I get more and more convinced these are bald cypress........but probably because I don't know anything else they could be.......not from a vast knowledge of trees, but out of my limited knowledge! I'm excited to see them begin to put out their new spring leaves.........I wonder what they will look like? ...........Yeah........Roger was wondering what in the world I could be taking a picture of!!!

...rainy day in....Alabama.........

Roger and I took a car out to the missionaries in Locust Fork today. I wished so badly we could have taken a nice, slow, leisurely drive so I could have taken lots of pictures. But I had to drive. (Our car, so we had a way to get back. The first missionary car has to have some work done on it.) Drat! We had rain all day long..........not a heavy downpour like we get sometimes, but steady respectable rain. Locust Fork is north-east in the hills.....pretty place. Remember when I told you about the big white house on the hill that I would love to live in? Well. It's for sale!!!! And it includes a farm and a big, lovely white barn with a red roof and beautiful white fences. The clouds were way low. The mist wafted through the little meadows and among the trees. There were some of those smaller trees with pretty golden leaves under the tall pines............everything soaking wet and dripping. It was one of those days I would just like to get lost in some out-of-the-way place, listen to the rain and drink hot chocolate. There were a few "waterfalls" along the road caused by all of the rain.........like I said, I could have taken a hundred pictures today. As it was, I got just three, through the windshield, dodging the wipers........they're not very good, but they are all I have. It was almost too dark when I took those............by the way.......our wonderful missionaries were out tracting when I called to see where we could meet them and exchange cars. Good young men!

Don't know why this one is so blue?????

......Jinx...........REALLY!?!!?????

Alabama keeps surprising us. It's snowing!!!!! It started about 2:30 this afternoon--so tiny they couldn't really be called flakes, but you can see from the pictures that they did stick a little on the cars. The temperature has continued to slowly fall.........it's only 30 now. We'll see what it's like in the morning.

Sooooooo...........when it started to snow we thought we might leave the office early, come home and have a nice relaxing time. Roger hoped we wouldn't have to go out to "rescue" some missionaries. I said we would just call a lock smith. Well.............you guessed it............some Elders called to say they had locked their keys in the car. And they were too close to call a lock smith!!!! So we wore our causal clothes and drove to Bessemer. That's when I got the pictures of the snow........... I'm so thankful it wasn't sticking to the roads..........

.....a month or two days...........

I feel I've lived a month in two days..........whew! Here's the run down.......... We had books to take to the missionaries in the northwest part of the mission and the sisters also needed a new mattress. Thankfully, we were able to do both in one trip. And it was so good to see those missionaries!!! (Elder Fanos is up there and looking really good). They were having a district activity and also their p-day, so they were at the library writing home..........and updating the status of their referrals......I hope............

We had a great drive--pretty straight up and back. We stopped when we saw a whole yard full of marble and granite slabs.........I think I might be able to get a piece of Alabama marble!!! RAH!!!!! Anyone else want one? for candy and other such essentials?

Coming back through Birmingham we stopped at the Ford dealership to pick up one of the four new cars that arrived. We are so excited to have some new cars! and I got to drive it to the office! Roger was driving the 12 passenger van. After making sure the most important things were "tied up" for the day, we drove back to the hospital to see Donna. Yeah. She's in there again. And this time she's dealing with a dilemma as to whether she should have surgery or not. I don't know how one can make the kind of decision she has to make. We are praying for her and trying to lend her all the love and reassurance we can give her. It was good to see her again.

It was a long day.............

Today we got up and going in time to go back to get the other three cars. The Newmans met us at the office at 8:30 and after picking up the cars we dropped them all at u-haul to get the hitches for the bike racks. Back to the office for just a bit. Roger and I went to the DMV to get the "tags" (license plates) for all of them. It took a bit longer than we wanted. Went to the Birmingham stake center for a special broadcast--all the missionaries all over the world were to watch it live.......but really it was 7:00 a.m. in Hawaii and 7:00 p.m. in Finland......the other side of the world were going to watch it "when they woke up". Elder Clayton conducted the meeting. Elder Andersen, Elder Bednar, Elder Waddell, Sister Oscarson, Elder Clayton, and Elder Oaks all spoke. It was wonderful to be included! I kept trying to think how I could use their teachings when I get home. It was so good. Afterward, Pres. Hanks gave some training. He is doing interviews this month, and he trains whenever he gets a chance. Again.........I wished I had known some of it long ago. He is so good to teach them life skills along with how to be a better missionary. It's just plain fun to be part of it all. Then it was "home" for a bite of lunch, and Roger went to the office so he could get one of the cars ready for some Elders to take. I stayed here to start cooking for the Elders in Ensley. I got the potatoes in the oven when Roger called and needed the tools from the trunk of our car, so I ran over to the office. It's a good thing I went because I needed to take care of a couple of things..........a referral that was "escalated"; so I called the Elders I had assigned it to, sent a reply to the email, and figured out that someone who had called the temple with a request for a visit was really in the Tennessee Nashville mission and called Nashville to pass along the information. When I finally got back home I had to really hurry to get everything ready so we could be to Ensley on time. (We have dinner with the Elders every Wednesday night. I love it!!!) After dinner we had a special meeting with the stake president and branch council and missionaries, then we split up in twos and went to visit some of the less active members of the branch. I went with the Relief Society president. I was glad to be involved. She took me back to the church. I thought I would practice the organ till Roger came, but the young men president came in and we visited till Roger returned. The young men president is the father of the three little Primary girls. Roger and I came home, put on some "relaxing" clothes, washed the dishes and now we have just finished watching a couple of episodes of "Hogan's Heroes". Well..........I watched. Roger slept through most of the second one. We are tired............. but I find I love the life of a missionary!! However, I do find myself hoping tomorrow will be a little slower...................

....pay day!.....

Sorry......but I guess with me it's either feast or famine. Sadly, I think that's the way I am about many things: reading, books, fabric, sewing, cooking, sleeping, yard work, vegetable gardens, preparedness and food storage........you get the idea. I have a real hard time being temperate about things. If you're "in" be in all the way. Don't sit on the fence! That said, I'm pretty good at acquiescence.........even when I have an opinion!! And sometimes that is not so good............

At any rate, you aren't here to hear my philosophizing......so I'll stop. But I do need to give you some background info here........... The funds contributed to "Book of Mormon" on the donation slip purchase Book of Mormons to send to the missions for the missionaries to give away. Each mission is allocated a number of books each month. (I don't know if that changes with the difference in donations from month to month--I have not paid attention to that. I'm still learning here!) Anyway, Pres. Hanks has declared January "Book of Mormon month" in the Alabama Birmingham Mission and challenged each companionship to give away 40 books! Some of the missionaries have set a goal of double that, and some have already given away 2/3 of that. I ordered all the books I could to be here by the first of December as we were going to see all the missionaries at the Christmas devotionals. We knew there were not enough, but that I could order somewhere around 1400 on December 1st and they would be here before MLC on January 5th. But the missionaries kept giving them away!!!!!! So then we didn't have enough for everyone at MLC!!! Since we were in the office on January 1, I put in an order then for all the books they would allow. They arrived last Friday. I texted the zones I knew had not got all they wanted at MLC. (We tried to figure out as best we could to get the missionaries farthest out covered and we could drive to closer areas and still let the ones close have enough to get them through. I am lousy at that kind of planning. And my stomach goes into hyper-drive!) Anyway, I made the assistants help with that decision and felt okay about it. So........yesterday Roger and I took 17 boxes of books to the Madison and Huntsville zones. It was a totally gorgeous day for a drive. We left here about 9:00--having loaded the car the night before. Drove straight up I-65, stopped in Madison at the ZL's apartment, gave them books and mail, then drove over to Huntsville. And there is that Saturn V rocket!!!! Oh my heart!!! I wish we could send off another one and I would have a front row seat!!!!

The Huntsville elders were just going to lunch so they could go do some service. We asked them to meet us someplace they would like to go--that they wouldn't go themselves--and we could have lunch together. Talk about a delightful treat!! Two absolutely, totally wonderful Elders that we got to spend an hour with! Such a privilege!! One is Mark Littleford's grandson. He's a great missionary!! And his companion is not a whit less! Also, we had a really fun server who was baptized when she was 13 years old!!! Obviously, she did not understand then.......and still doesn't. She declined our invitation. We ate the "The Blue Plate Cafe". Scrumptious food!!!! I had pot roast...........wow! Afterward, we put the books in their car and we headed home.

We had not gone far when Roger said, "Isn't there another road we can take so we can see some of the country?" I whipped out my trusty map. Found a "county road" at the next exit and we left the Interstate--heading west a little before south again. I'm so glad we did!!! We found ourselves in Danville--the home of the yummy "Old Cookstove" restaurant where we ate with the senior couples a few months ago. I don't know the names of the other little towns. Part of the road follows along a ridge that was the boundary between the Creek and Chocktaw "lands".

I loved these smaller, "under-story" trees with the pretty golden leaves still clinging to them. It gave such a .........fairyland............dainty............ don't know...........if I had an idea "why" I don't remember it. They just made me smile.

And I enjoy driving through these "tunnels" with the beautiful blue sky for a ceiling. The pines are so tall and pretty with the bare deciduous trees among them. We drove through a wildlife preserve--or something like that, though we didn't see anything......... stopped for a short nap in a very small town with a blinking red light at the intersection. Roger was getting sleepy. We had plenty of time and he didn't want to miss anything. Besides, I didn't want to drive either! We both had a refreshing nap.

We finally came to where we had to get on a "highway", but I had seen signs about a natural bridge. We decided to check it out. It was less than a mile past the highway. So glad we did!!!

It's the longest natural arch east of the Rockies. And while not like our arches in Utah, it was worth the effort to see it. The sandstone washed out and left the layers with the iron in them. Interesting! And we could walk in, under it. I had to fight down my claustrophobia and succeeded enough to where I could "hike" around the little trail around the walls. Glad I did that too! (I'm always afraid something is going to fall on me!) In the following pictures, you can see the pipe "railing" if you look closely.

There were two small, spindly trees reaching up to the sunlight.

This is the rock face a little farther along the trail! I wish I had a picture of the whole thing, but I didn't know what it would look like in the picture and my phone as at 1% of the battery! There were only about four other people there. It was a little chilly, but we had our coats and it was quiet and peaceful. Such a sweet bonus. Wish we had known about it when we were in the area with the senior couples.............

When we saw Nauvoo on the GPS we had to go check it out! Where in the world did they come up with the name Nauvoo?????? I don't even know who to ask!

 It's been here a while........

And you had to see the bird house gourds. I'm sure you've seen them before. But I'm surprised at how prevalent they are here.........and lots of them all together. The little goats were cute too, and this isn't a very good picture because I was in a real hurry..........don't remember why............

I have wanted to go back to see Rebecca--Marjorie's daughter. So when Roger suggested we get off the beaten path, I planned the route with the plan that we would come fairly close to her house. And it worked!!!! Thankfully, we still had her address in the GPS and she was home and let us in. It was dark by this time. She asked who we were before opening the door. It was good to see her again. She was glad to see us and grateful we would come. We had a really good visit with her--this was only the second night she had spent alone. I had taken a Book of Mormon with the intent to give it to her and she received it gladly, with the promise she would read Jesus' visit to the Nephites. She even left it open on the arm of her chair. I prayed/pray she will feel the power in the book and read more and more. She is a lovely, delightful woman. We hugged her goodbye and wished her well. She will be moving in a few weeks and then she's getting married sometime this year. I sincerely wish her the best.

We drove straight to Ensley--without much time to spare--for a baptism! Remember, I told you about the man whose daughter is serving in Nebraska? Well. He was baptized last night! He is so happy! We took him to stake conference this morning and he can hardly keep at least one foot on the ground! Made me think of Donna and how she says it feels like it's always Christmas! Why can't everyone see that following the Savior makes people happy!?!?!??? Such a simple thing..........and yet so hard to get people to see it...........

I'll stop. This is plenty long. Sorry. But we did have a really wonderful day. So grateful I can share it with you!

..........happy day!!............

HAPPY DAY!!!!!!!!!! Our shipment of Book of Mormons arrived today!!! We went to Tuscaloosa this afternoon to hug the sisters, take pictures of their car, take out all the personal items, deliver some Book of Mormons to the zone leaders, and hug the sisters again to reassure ourselves that they really are okay. We are so thankful for the watchful care of our loving Father in Heaven!!

So.........I promised some pictures. I'm having a hard time with that because the computer will not recognize my phone or my.......so I am punting. I hope this works............it didn't.......but we ran a fake punt and now it's first and goal!!!

Here are some pictures.......nothing whatsoever to do with anything I have written in the past two weeks.......well, MLC, which was such a blessing to us! I love to sit in on Pres. Hanks' training!! I wonder if it's a gift to all mission presidents or not? He's good!

These pictures are all from the end of December.......when it was still kind of warm. We've had some really cold nights since then. I was hoping to leave the strawberries and apples in the car the night before MLC, but it was supposed to get down to 27 and I chickened out. Our thermometer the next morning read 27 degrees, so I was glad I had brought them in.........

See the sun dog?

 

The harsh ripples were such a beautiful contrast to the soft, whispy ones

 

The colors here were so soft and lovely........this was one of those beautiful, barely cool, soft Southern evenings.......

 

Our MLC meal.........the bread bowls at the far end--see how huge they are?? Three 6-quart crock pots and one Dutch oven full of steaming hot, (yummy, I might say) soup, apple and orange slices, and strawberries. I made an Oreo-pudding dessert to finish it off........ so fun!

.....contrast, unclear, unsettled, rumpled.......

I had a friend last night point out that it has been a long time since I wrote anything here. She is right. And I've been thinking about my silence for nearly the entire time! I will try to clarify the "why".

In my last post I told you about sweet, 91-year-old, Marjorie and her family. And as I work at sorting out days and weeks, I'm almost stunned that what I am about to write about was just last week.........it feels like an age ago...........    Just a week ago last night, Bro. Robinson came into the room where we were eating our supper with the missionaries and told us that she had passed (They don't say "passed away" here in Alabama. It's simple "passed") and the "visitation" would be on Friday. Roger called Jerry and invited him to go with us.

Friday morning the Relief Society president in Ensley called the office to ask Sister Newman and me if we could meet her at the Eastside Funeral Home that afternoon to "help dress a body". Sister Newman said yes before we got there, feeling that she could count on my cooperation. (I am grateful for that.) She drove and we were the first ones there. The "pastor" associated with the funeral home told us we had to have a letter from the church, on letterhead, saying we could do this. Of course, no one was at any church at that time. We called Roger; had him draft a letter; print it on letterhead and Pres. Hanks happened to be at the office right then, so he could sign it. Roger faxed it. This man added "their addendum" to absolve them from any liability if we should happen to get ill from coming into contact with any body fluids. And we had to sign it. That put me off right there!!!!!! And he did all this with very little, if any, feeling of compassion or warmth. I was struggling to feel the spirit.....and I wanted to, as I had during previous experiences. They brought us a plastic shopping bag--better than a grocery bag--with her clothes in it but we had to wait for her husband to bring her underclothing. When he did, the four of us (we had been joined by Carolyn, who knew Marian well and helped us know her a little) followed a caring woman into one of the other rooms--it was too big, too "open" and bare of all comforts. Again......it was disconcerting. I pulled the white clothes out of the bag and while the others were putting the skirt on--it was not going on very easily, I again reached into the bag and pulled out a white jacket. Then I realized there was nothing else in there! not even a blouse! It was then that Carolyn stopped and said "These are not her temple clothes! This is what she wore to her father's funeral." Carolyn was determined to dress her as she knew she would want to be. I was so thankful she was there! We removed the skirt, went out and Carolyn called Marian's husband. He was not even back home again yet! I don't know how many silent prayers Carolyn sent heavenward that he would be able to find Marian's temple bag. He is less active and Carolyn was somewhat more than skeptical that he even knew what he was looking for. Finally, he called. He had found a bag. She made him stay on the phone while he went through it so she could be sure everything was there. Then we waited for him to drive back. It was a "night and day" difference this time........the clothing went on much easier. The feeling was better. And we all felt thankful we could do something for this sweet sister she could not do for herself. When we finally got her robe and sash on, and I was able to fold all the pleats so they would lay flat--Ruby and Carolyn combed her hair (it was such a blessing they were there! How could Sister Newman and I possibly know anything about "making an Afro"?????) and put on her veil...........she looked beautiful. Carolyn wanted to have prayer before we left. I was so thankful for that..........it helped smooth my somewhat jumbled feelings. It was all quite different from my past experiences! But Marian is ready for the resurrection!

It was now after 5:00! Roger called as we were getting in the car to say he was almost there--so we were going to Marjorie's visitation--and to not leave. He pulled up in fewer than five minutes. The visitation was on the other side of Birmingham--way out....... we stopped for Jerry and he was so excited to have been invited to go with us; excited that we had "remembered" him. He is so humble and gentle! There were dozens of cars in the parking lot at this church/funeral home. I'm still not sure what it was. I think it was a church almost in the middle of a cemetery. We happened to meet a granddaughter in the parking lot and she expressed her gratitude that we would come. Nearly all the children we had met at the house made certain they spoke to us and many of them hugged us. They again spoke of their gratitude for coming to the house that night and then to also be there then. Marjorie's brother from Florida--a member of the church--was also there and thanked us. Jerry knew him from way back in the first and only ward in Birmingham!!

I still cannot sort out the differences or the reasons or even my own feelings about it all...........maybe it is just that the experiences and my feelings were so powerful and such a definite contrast......I still don't know........... and if I think about it too much I get to feeling very unsettled, and that's no good for me!

We've had a good but slow week--well, kind of. We went to Attalla one day to put in a Tiwi and then to Montgomery for another one...... after a few weeks with no accidents and Roger feeling really good about that--we've had four since Tuesday!! And two of the cars totaled!!!! One just this afternoon in Tuscaloosa........we are so thankful the sisters were not seriously hurt. I've told you about the long lights here, and how I've never seen so many people trying to "make" a yellow light and many red lights run.........well......they were turning left and the light changed, she started to turn, and someone tried to make the light. Scary!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe that's why most people don't make left turns except on the green arrow. I've sat behind lots of cars and trucks clear through a green light even when there is a sign saying "left turn yield on green" or something like that--waiting for the green left arrow. I'll be more patient from now on............

And I'm going to stop. This has taken on a life of its own and I'm not sure that's a good thing. But there it is. I have to mention MLC on the 5th. We had soup in bread bowls. Yummy soup. Too much bread. But so fun! And it looked so pretty on the table..........I'll post some pictures............