9.20.25 Wheelchairs. Temple Blessings. Football.
Retired/Missionary Life. Sunday.
And the picture below, that is of our chapel four minutes before the meeting is supposed to start. So, where is everybody you ask? In the back talking. Or in the hallway talking. Or in the foyer talking. Or out in the parking lot talking. Or even somewhere between home and the church talking to someone in their front yard. I love these folks dearly. Great people to serve. Same here as in Chile. One thing about them, they are very people and relationship oriented and not so much time and schedule oriented. In my first area in Chile, they fondly called me "El Hombre Del Tiempo" (The Time Man) because I was always looking at my watch. I had to learn to give that up and still struggle with it. I totally believe our lives would be better if we all were more people oriented and less time oriented. Anyway, they all showed up before too long and the meeting was great. Need new friends? Come to church with us! You'll like it here and find some very awesome friends!
So, Sacrament Meeting, Men's Meeting, Missionary Meeting. And then we ate sack lunches in the truck in the parking lot while Gus and Frivvy watched. Then a lesson on Temple Covenants.
Back at home, we had lunch, read, napped, watched church videos and a Christian Movie. Gussy and Frivvy had a wrestling match and Frivvy won. I think he pinned Gus with what I would call a reverse lower full nelson...
Retired/Missionary Life. Monday.
We planned our incredibly busy week, made up scrumptious menus, prepared a detailed shopping list, drove to Rockford and had salads and Rummy at Harvest Moon. Drove on to Plummer and took the boys for a walk on the Trail of the CDAs (twice in three days!). Bought cheaper Idaho gas. Bought the groceries. (Exciting because it included snacks for this weekend's Grandkid Apple Cup Party). Drove back home. Unloaded. Put away.
I also did up the family books and paid the bills.
In the evening, we watched a pre-recorded football game. BYU? On bye. ISU? On bye. WSU? Ummmm No Thanks. Not this game. So, we watched the Eagles beat the Chiefs (again!) giving them their third loss in a row.
In the picture below, Hanna is enjoying picking out snacks for the party...
Retired/Missionary Life. Tuesday.
Today's line up: First up, District Council, where we met with about a dozen other missionaries to go over plans, receive guidance, and be taught. Lunch at Wendy's. Back home to do the reading and studying. And, we had been around several folks that were coughing and wheezing and wiping their noses and I felt a bit tired and sick, so a huge nap was required after guzzling Airborn and Elder Berry Stuff. Feeling fine now. Back to town for two lessons, one on the Doctrine of Christ. One on final prep for the temple. The man that prayed during his lesson last week that his family would find housing DID indeed find housing since then. He was grateful for the power of prayers and faith.
No doubt you see the picture of Hanna in a wheel chair below. Taken three years ago on the momentous occasion that she was deemed unable to walk and was placed in the stupid thing. Gratefully, and by the grace of God and the faith of prayers, she recovered from that unrecoverable condition even after the doctors said she would never walk again. Why did I post it?
We were listening to Dave Ramsey the other day and a lady called in wondering what to do now that her husband had just passed away. They had lots of plans of things to do during retirement. But, not sure that he had enough saved, he elected to work two more years rather than retire at his retirement date. And he didn't make the two years. Plans cancelled. Sad. And real sad is that when Dave dug into her finances, they had over 2 million in assets. He could have retired easily.
I've always believed you have to balance declining health with building wealth to have the good life. If you wait too long to retire, you may not have the health left to do what you want to do during retirement. Many folks have asked how we figured out we were ready financially. For us, it was about cash flow, not necessarily how much is socked away. We came up with our needed budget, and then looked at our pensions, Social Insecurity, drawing from retirement accounts, etc. to see what our monthly cash flow could be. And it, shockingly to us, showed we could live to 100 and still not run out of money. We were so unsure if it was right or not that we went to our favorite Financial Professional and had them run the numbers and they said "retire now!". So we did.
And from the wheel chair picture, you can see we still almost waited too long.
Gratefully, Hanna is recovering. We have been retired for three years now this month. One year fighting cancer (and beating it!). One year doing our bucket list. (Carribean Cruise with family, Road trips to Canada, California, Oregon Coast; Alaska adventure, trips to see kids and family in Atlanta and Pocatello and Utah. And a trip to the Northeastern states just to Geocache.) And now we're serving our mission.
I started writing this nightly post because a TON of folks were always asking me "what do you do with all your time now?" and "how did you know when it was OK to retire?" We haven't run out of stuff to do yet. And....hopefully my post today helps a little bit with the "how much do I need?" question.
Now, see if you have enough, and then if you do, retire before you all lose your health! 
Retired/Missionary Life. Wednesday.
Usually in this situation we would go find more folks to teach. We still have a list of members of our congregation to go visit and set up lessons if we can. But...we are leaving town for two weeks next week, so it doesn't make sense to find someone to teach just to tell them we can't teach them for three weeks. So, we reviewed our list of stuff that never gets done around the house, picked one, and gotter done. It was take the loaded trailer to the dump. It's been sitting in our driveway since May. It's about time!
Cool before and after pictures at the dump below.
And then we went to Red Tail for dinner. That's only a HALF rack of ribs! They were HUGE! And tasty. Hanna had salmon which was also really good.
Finished the night by watching another episode of Heartland. They should just get back together again. The drama is getting boring. And the wolf cub was cute.
Retired/Missionary Life. Thursday.
Over three years ago when Hanna was diagnosed with her blood cancer, we were a mess. The cancer doctor had explained that treatment could "extend her life by two years..." We figured she was quickly going to exit this life. Our lives were going to change significantly. And we had no idea what to do or how. So, we prayed. And prayed. And prayed some more. Finally, the Holy Spirit told us to "go to the temple." We hadn't been in months because our temple was closed for renovations. And still was closed. The Spirit said "go to another one." So, the next day we drove all the way to Richland and worshipped in the beautiful Columbia River Temple. There in that temple we felt the spirit strongly. And it whispered to us that God had a plan for us and that everything would be OK. We felt so peaceful on the way home. And committed to attend the temple weekly from then on, even if it meant traveling a bit. We haven't been perfect at that commitment, but have come close.
We feel that worshipping in the temple has been a huge factor in Hanna's recovery.
So off we went today. Once again, the Spokane Temple is closed for maintenance. No matter. We got up really early (proof from the sunrise picture below...), drove the two hours to Moses Lake, and worshipped there. Great experience as always. We love that temple!
We had to stop at Shari's on the way home for lunch. They've all closed in Spokane now and it is the only place where Hanna can get some Gluten-Free Pancakes. That's what she had for lunch!
Retired/Missionary Life. Friday.
Assistant Mission Housing Coordinators Day. We spent most of the day in Spokane Valley. Hanna had a blood draw. And we ate sack lunches at a cool park in Liberty Lake. Then we inspected three different apartments of younger missionaries in the Valley. Making sure the conditions are safe and healthy.
It's always fun to meet these younger, dedicated missionaries.
In the evening, we spent more time with Sister Missionaries, meeting them at the South East Spokane County Fair and treating them to some delicious fair food. (Pizza and Pie!). Small town fairs are the best!
Pictures: The boys share the couch very well when they are not wrestling. Sisters showing off the squash some members gave them. And the fair... Enjoy!
Retired/Missionary Life. Saturday.
First, we deemed it "old people avoid cooking breakfast by going out to breakfast day" and drove to Worley and ate at the breakfast buffet at Red Tail. On the way, we ran into a parade in Rockford and Hanna took a picture of some cool horses.
Before the Apple Cup Celebration, I mowed the lawn (hopefully for the last time this year...), cleaned up the kitchen.
Late afternoon, Justin and his boys showed up adorned in Cougs gear. We ate tons of snacks, burgers, fries, and watched a great football game. And they played some Chess too.
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