Aug 13th - More Visiting Teaching

We spent another three hours today trying to finish up the reworking of the visiting teaching routes.  Everything looks pretty good right now - sure hope it meets everyone's needs.  We discussed some plans for getting everyone excited about the changes and getting them to have the desire to accomplish it.  We will see what happens.

The rest of my day was usual stuff.  What can I say? 

Aug 12th - Welcome Home, Chris!

My great-nephew Chris returned home from his mission to Argentina Rosaria on Friday.  He spoke in his ward, Peachtree Corners, on Sunday and we went to hear him.  It was our first chance to see him, too.  It was so good to see how much he has matured in the last two years.  He is looking really good.  His talk was good - filled with his special sense of humor and also a powerful testimony of the Savior.  It was a wonderful Sabbath morning.

There was also an openhouse in the evening for him.  We, of course, attended that.  It gave us a chance to see him again and chat a bit, as well as to see other family and friends.  It is always fun to attend anything in the Roswell Stake area since we lived there so long and still know a lot of people.

Chris leaves on Thursday for Utah where he will be attending the University of Utah.  Sure glad we got to see him today - may not get another chance until holiday season!

Aug 11th - The Receiption

The wedding reception was a nice way to end an otherwise plain old Saturday.  We enjoyed chatting and socializing in such a beautiful setting.  The bride and groom were beautiful and handsome, respectively.  The food was good - Will did the barbecue pork.  It was an interesting reception, with a farm theme - definitely unusual, but lots of fun.  The groomsmen wore turquoise shirts and turquoise tennis shoes, with brown pants.  The bridesmaids wore turquoise dresses with brown shrugs (what are they calling them these days?) and cowboy boots.  The groom was in a white tux with turquoise vest and shoes.  The bride was in a lovely short white dress - with cowboy boots.  I loved it all.  The evening ended with all the wedding party, including bride and groom (who fortunately changed clothes) all jumping in the pool.  It will be a reception to be remembered!

Aug 10th - Weddings Are Always Nice!

Highlight of our day was going to the temple to see the wedding of a young couple.  We have watched this beautiful young lady grow up and it is wonderful to see her now make the decision to marry a good young man in the temple.  Being invited to attend the sealing was an added bonus.  It was beautiful and very special.  We are looking forward to their reception on Saturday.

I also had a chance to visit teach one of my sisters.  I always enjoy visiting her and today I got to meet the two new people that have moved in with her and the family.  One is her aunt, who is moving down from Virginia.  They are looking for a place for her to live nearby.  The other is a friend who has gone through some difficult times and will be staying for an extended period of time.  She also has a teen-age daughter, so things will certainly be lively around that house for a while!

The rest of my day was pretty much a rerun of every other day.  But then, isn't that what life is?  A boring train with with occasional bursts of pure excitement?  

Aug 9th - Stressful! Ang Grateful!

Our visiting teaching routes have been needing to be changed and updated for a while.  We have had a lot of move-ins and move-outs, plus changes in circumstances for many of the sisters.  Some of the existing routes have been doing well, but many just don't work.  All of that has meant that we knew a complete overhaul was due.  We have tried to be organized about the whole thing, having socials and interviews to make sure we had the best information from and about each sister, so we could try to meet everyone's needs.

So, today we started with the revising.  What a chore!  Melanie had things well organized, using magnetic boards and different colored name slips, etc.  Even so, it is a daunting task to try to match companionships that we feel will complement each other and then to assign sisters to each.  It is like a giant jigsaw puzzle that just won't come together.  There are always pieces that just don't fit anywhere!

The five of us (the presidency and the VT supervisor) worked for 3 1/2 hours and are still not finished.  We got all the routes set and maybe a third or so of the sisters assigned.  Whew!  We will meet again Monday to try to finish it up. 

The most stressful thing is that we know that when we hand out the new lists there will be complaints!  We have spent hours trying to understand the needs and desires of each sister, to put companions together who will enjoy each other and work well together, and then to assign sisters who will be most blessed by those particular visiting teachers. 

It is too bad that all the sisters do not have the opportunity to try to make something like this fit together perfectly.  Perhaps they would be more sensitive to the difficulties, but more importantly, perhaps they would understand the love that has already gone into the process.  We feel strong promptings in many cases and have no doubt that the Lord wants it to be done a certain way.  In other cases, we just have to do our best since we don't get those strong promptings.

I am grateful for a program like visiting teaching that is a means to provide love and support to every one of Heavenly Father's daughters here on earth.  Now how do we help everyone to catch that same vision? 

Aug 8th - Provino's for Dinner!

David's dad is in town for a few days, so we all met up at Provino's for dinner.  It was mighty good!  It was also nice to see Keith and get caught up a little on what he is doing.  The kids were so good.  Brooks spent his time playing with the Ipad.  It sure is a good thing that the screen is washable, because it had quite a layer of spaghetti sauce!

The rest of the day was pretty normal.  I worked on some RS things, as well as family history.  And, of course, the usual stuff around the house. 

Any day is a good day when it ends with Provino's - but it is even better when we get to see the kids and get caught up on all the hugs and kisses!

Aug 7th - Returning to Normal?

Well, with school starting yesterday and all the vacations over for now, I guess it means it is time to get back into a more normal routine.  Don't you love that?  Like I have much of a change from summer to the rest of the year! 

One thing did return to normal, though.  We had our first RS presidency meeting since the end of June.  With everyone's vacations, we didn't have any time in July when we were all here, so we just handled what had to be done by email.  We were due for a real meeting.  We got a lot accomplished and it was good to be back together and trying to refocus.

Other than that, it was my "normal" day!  Bill was home so he worked in the yard quite a while.  Besides my usual stuff, I spent quite a lot of time on family history.  I am still trying to make sure that I have everything as up to date as possible for my trip to Iowa.

I do have a pretty boring "normal," but quite honestly, I love it!