4.12.26 Happy Easter!! The Black FedEx. Dapper. Moses Lake. And Lewiston. Frivolous Tax Deduction.

 Retired/Missionary Life. Sunday.

HAPPY EASTER!!!! HERE! Have a picture of Jesus just after His resurrection!

Early this morning, Frivvy sensed that company was coming and he camped out at the front door to wait. He was not wrong........

The Spanish Missionaries that serve with us in our Congregation arrived first and we watched conference together. And took a walk. And took some pictures. And some of them even tried out the swing set!

No sooner had they left for other Easter Adventures than Brooklyn, Luigi, August, Del and Ella showed up for Easter Dinner!

We ate well and had some great conversations. And the sun went down in a gorgeous manner as always on the Palouse.

We hope you all felt the love of Christ and the power of His Atonement today!

Retired/Missionary Life. Monday.

We were grounded to the house today because it was Hanna's cancer fighting chem drug arrival day!! We had to be here to sign for it. So, yes. Grounded to the house.

The FedEx dude finally showed up, but he was driving a black government-looking car, not the usual white truck with bright lettering on it. Scary! What does that mean? Are we under surveillance or something?

Most of the day was spent assigning Missionary Apartments to Missionary Stewards so they can be inspected. We are bringing in FOUR new Steward Couple missionaries! So the routes and assignments got to be changed and the work divvied up a bit. When we were done, we had 16 Stewards inspecting 64 apartments that house 217 missionaries. From Colville to Grangeville. And from Pullman to Libby.

We also did the usual food thing. Planned our busy week. Made up yummy menus. Created a shopping list. Typed it into the Safeway App. Pressed Submit. Watched money flow out of our bank account.

I got done with things in time to watch the big game tonight. It was a fun physical match to watch. Congrats to Michigan.

And finally, we ended the night with a mission-wide Zoom meeting where we were given mission news and schedules, listened to some testimonies, and received counsel from our President.

Here! Have the usual beautiful Palouse sunset! Enjoy!

Retired/Missionary Life. Tuesday.

The day started out with Mission District Council Meeting. In this meeting, each companionship reports on how the past week went, shares goals, and gets feedback and brainstorming ideas. Our district has grown into 15 young missionaries plus 4 senior missionaries, all speaking Spanish! The work is hastening!!

We ate lunch at the Chalet afterwards. Salads and Book of Mormon Rummy.

And then we took the boys for a walk around Comstock Park. Very nice out and they saw several of their puppy friends out too.

We drove to North Spokane and met with our newest Steward Couple and trained them on how to be great Stewards, inspecting missionary apartments.

Picked up the groceries we ordered yesterday. (They had a sale on steak, so we stocked up!)

Lots of green on our trip home.

And my new suit arrived today. Dapper, right?

Retired/Missionary Life. Wednesday.

Several years ago, amidst the struggles with Hanna's cancer diagnosis, we committed to God to worship in a temple weekly. We've done quite well with that commitment. Including today. Our Spokane temple is closed for maintenance, so off we went to Moses Lake to worship in that temple. Beautiful day for a road trip! And beautiful temple!

We saw a member of our Mission Presidency and his wife there along with another Senior Couple from our mission who lives in Chattaroy. I guess they think like we do!

The temple grounds were beautiful with Spring stuff and Hanna took a picture.

Lunch at Shari's afterwards for chicken fried steak and gluten free pancakes and Book of Mormon Rummy.

We found a trail by the lake to walk on. The boys enjoyed it.

And the drive was not boring. Look for the crop duster coming straight for us! And more huge equipment being moved to the fields. And big dogs in the seat behind us.

Retired/Missionary Life. Thursday.

I spent most of the morning in the kitchen. Ham and eggs for breakfast. And then I broke down a 3 pound package of thick cut bacon into meal-sized portions and froze for later consumption. Next up was to grill 10.5 pounds of steak we bought on sale the other day. And then freeze it, also for future consumption. Notice the boys supervising the grill carefully...

Afternoon was spent at the Cancer Clinic. Same old routine. Draw Hanna's blood. See if her vitals and blood tests indicate she is strong enough for immunotherapy cancer-killing injection. She was, as usual. And then the injection into the stomach. A lot of the cancer staff are members of our church, so it is always fun to talk to them. Plus this time, a good friend of ours was in the chair next over and we had a good talk with her too. Us cancer warriors must support each other!!

We took a walk at Black Bay. And then met up with the Sister Missionaries we serve with to consume some Denny's food. And swap mission stories.

Beautiful Spring day to be out on the Palouse. Enjoy the pictures!

Retired/Missionary Life. Friday.

Hey! We have new Apartment Stewards in Lewiston! So that called for a Missionary Road Trip so we could meet them and train them! See the cool pic of Lewiston below that Hanna took while I made sure the truck stayed on the precarious road.

The trip included a walk on the Bill Whitman Trail in Pullman. See the other cool Palouse things we saw below including Steptoe Butte, a tractor and stuff on a steep Palouse hill, and trucks in a field.

Back home, we did our studies, watched Gus get his antlers caught in the loop on his toy bucket and become completely confused (but he did NOT give up!), and gawked at yellow flowers that are in bloom by our house.

And finally, we filed our taxes today. ZERO due and proud of it! Accountant conversation of the day which we had: shouldn't taxes paid to the IRS be eligible for a theft and casualty deduction???? A great thought. We agreed unanimously that it should!

Retired/Missionary Life. Saturday.

Today we celebrated the five-year anniversary of us adopting Frivvy! Coolest dog ever! Cutest puppy ever! His full name is Frivolous Tax Deduction and he actually may or may not have been on our firm's payroll from the time we got him until we retired a couple of years later. He did go to work with us and hung out usually under my desk.

Now he is big. And has a brother to hang with.