8.1.26 Primary. Empty. Busy. Alive! Ferry. Kids.

 Retired/Missionary Life. Sunday.

Happy Sabbath!! Here! Have a Jesus Picture! He LOVES YOU!!

Usual and typical Sunday. Sacrament Meeting. And then.........oh wait! NO! This is not typical and usual! The Primary President approached us and asked if we could teach the older class of 9,10,11 or so year olds. RIGHT NOW!! Of course we can! And we did. One of them had just returned from a family vacation to Hawaii (lucky kids!) and was showing everyone a picture of the Hawaii temple. So I told them a story about that temple. And how Hanna's Dad served his mission in Hawaii. Plus he was stationed there just after the war ended. And we also talked about her brother's missionary call to Mexico he received just this past week. By then, Hanna had scanned the lesson manual and had come up with a question for them to think about. And then, just like that, time was up! Great experience! And frankly, much easier than teaching and dealing with adults...

And then Missionary Correlation Meeting.

Back home, we did a bunch of reading, resting, studying, looking for lake homes for our next reunion, and watched an episode of Heartland.

Hope you had a great Sabbath too!

Retired/Missionary Life. Monday.

Here, have a picture of our refrigerator! Not much in there? Yup, today was the day to do something about that.

Planned out our booked up solid week. Made up menus. Created a shopping list. Typed it into the Safeway App. Pressed the submit button and watched funds literally disappear from our bank account.

I also spent time updating the family books and reconciling a myriad of medical bills. (Hanna has SIX medical appointments this week......!!!)

And we made a trip to town for one of them in the afternoon. They shot a video of her throat. No problems there.

Wegovy report. Week 3. My average weight was down one pound from last week's average weight. Six pounds down in three weeks. Not bad. No side effects. Average calories was 1617 and average deficit was 1655. Not bad either, considering I was at a family reunion with a ton of yummy food all week...

New critter caught at the Stewart Highlands! See the picture. I obviously need to go up there and get rid of the hanging dead branches.

Retired/Missionary Life. Tuesday.

Back to it........busy day.

First up was Missionary District Council. It was the last one of the transfer and at least two of us are leaving for sure. Goodbyes in the mission field are sad. One Elder is finishing his mission next week and going home and one of our Sisters now has her visa and will be heading out to Ecuador. We had lessons on nourishment (yes, food), how to help folks to commit and keep commitments, and the usual counseling each other on how to be better missionaries.

Lunch at Jenny's Cafe. We both had Reubens! And Hanna won several rounds of Book of Mormon Rummy.

Then she went to her hearing test (which is part of the tests being run to diagnose and fix her speech troubles....) while I went to a park and dutifully read Scriptures, napped, and read some more.

Next up was a Spanish Lesson with two of our Elders at our Tutor's home. Yes. I got 100%. Can we go for ice cream now?

Dropped by the pharmacy to pick up drugs and also Safeway to pick up the groceries on the way home. We stocked up on a lot of protein stuff (nutritious!) and ice cream.

My turn to fix dinner. From my mom's cookbook. Taco Casserole. It was tasty and there will be plenty of leftovers!

And what did Gus and Frivvy do while we ran around all day? Worked on their 20 hours of mandatory daily sleep. See the picture. I don't think they moved from that position all day.....

etired/Missionary Life. Wednesday.

WOW! No medical appointments today!! (Watch out for tomorrow though.....)

I did a few chores around the house. Like getting rid of the scooter boxes, dealing with an insurance claim on the truck, medical bills, etc. However, I spent most of the day doing something I have neglected the past couple of weeks: I watched a pre-recorded football game. WSU at James Madison. They should've won....

In the evening we worshipped in the temple and Hanna went to a Lady's Meeting on Emergency Preparedness while I camped out at Burger King and at a Whopper and read.

We need chill days every once in a while...........

Tons of critters visited the Highlands! Cute Bambis!!

Retired/Missionary Life. Thursday.

Weekly Keep Hanna Alive Day!!

We got up more than an hour before the set missionary time of 6:30am. Primarily so the dogs will get a walk today before we leave for an early morning appointment at the Cancer Clinic. Today we broke the record for most doctor appointments in one day!!

1. Hanna had her weekly blood draw to see if she was healthy enough for yet another weekly infusion of Chemo. (She was).

2. We met with our Cancer Doctor to discuss how things were going, ask questions (including how to pronounce his name.......it is Swedish...) and talk about our upcoming annual trip to Mayo Clinic.

3. Hanna got her weekly infusion. (They know us by name there......always a fun visit!)

Then we had a few hour break for lunch. We ran some errands (dropped off something at the UPS Store, dropped off my dirty white shirts at the cleaners, and picked up even more drugs at the pharmacy!) and ate lunch at the Down Under Place.

4. Hanna had yet another blood draw, this time by her General Practitioner to track her Thyroid stuff. Only the lab didn't have the order for some reason, so no blood drawn. (This would have been her third poke today..._

5. I visited with a Pulmonary Practitioner to discuss how my CPAP is operating (the third such visit since I turned 65 and went on Medicare. Required visits for Medicare to pay for the CPAP. I had my prior CPAP for a long time with only ONE visit. This is why I love Christian Healthcare Ministries....)

Once we arrived home, we took a much needed nap to make up for the early morning, read a little bit, Hanna made a batch of Steak Soup (yes, it was delicious) and then I watched a pre-recorded football game. Alamo Bowl. Go Horned Frogs!!

Retired/Missionary Life. Friday.

MISSIONARY ROAD TRIP!!

Early morning, we set off to inspect the missionary apartment in Republic. We took the scenic route via Keller Ferry. The Elder in Republic (and their apartment) were doing fine and are proud of the opportunity they have to also serve in Canada.

Then we changed gears and headed for Seattle to visit family. We made it as far as Soap Lake where we holed up in an AirBnB. (You know it is owned by a red neck when the refrigerator is located outside the front door....)

Hanna took tons of pictures. Enjoy!!

Retired/Missionary Life. Saturday.

Grandkid day!!

We finished driving to Seattle, after spending the night in Soap Lake. We met up with Brenden and Maria and caught up with them. Then we met up with Calvin and Hannabeth for dinner, along with their two cute daughters. At a vietnamese restaurant. And went for ice cream afterwards.

Now we're settled down in a nice AirBnb in Renton, watching how the fires are doing back home. Stay safe everyone!!