Ready or not, December is here!

Why would my sister Judy send me such an oddly-shaped, but lovely
bamboo cutting board?  Do any of my grandchildren know the answer?
Thank you, Judy, it was a nice surprise.

December is upon us and how quickly the first week passed us by.  We had such good intentions and such an ambitious plan for the week, of course things usually didn't go quite how we had expected.  But it was a good week.  Monday was great because we got to relax a bit, get chores done, and best of all Skype Devin and Dustin on their birthday!  So good to see them and their families.

Tuesday was our District Meeting here in Petersburg, Wayne and I did the instruction part.  Right after that we had to get up to the nursing home to help with Bingo - they had changed the time from 6 pm to 1:30 pm because of an expected ice storm.  Finally by mid-afternoon we were able to get out and make several visits - giving a Christmas booklet, a little Christmas message, a few little treats, and, best of all, Wayne played the guitar and sang "Away in a Manger".

Wednesday we did make the trip to Columbia for missionary transfers.  At 6 am we loaded up Elder Bronson and Elder Moore and all their luggage plus bikes.  We left Elder Briggs and Elder Lyon here in Petersburg to be companions for the day.  Transfer Day happens every six weeks and is always so exciting, to see the new missionaries coming in to the mission, the ones leaving who have honorably completed their 18 months or 2 years, and also the chaos of all the changing companionships.  Eventually we made the switch and headed home with two new Elders.  Elder Aubrey from Gilbert, Arizona, and Elder Barzee from Payson, Utah.  Great young men.  But we will miss Elder Bronson and Elder Moore (but not Elder Moore's Donald Duck voices!).

Elders Briggs, Moore, Lyon, and Bronson

Our silly District:  Briggs, Bronson, Moore, Lyon, Farr, Mordecai
Our last District Meeting before Bronson, Moore, and Mordecai were transferred

Elder Bronson with his new companion, Elder Miller - a great guy
They will serve in Cumberland and get to drive a 4-wheel-drive pickup!

On our way home from transfers we stopped in Wardensville to visit Deb F., a less-active member of our

ward, a good friend of ours, we love her.  Sadly she lives about an hour from the church so we don't get to see her very often.  Her husband is really nice too and Wayne loves to talk race cars with him!  Then we came on through Moorefield, showing our new Elders the sights along the way:  where the beautiful fall leaves used to be, a dead skunk in the road,  Wal-Mart,  chicken plant, beautiful Christmas lights in Welton Park, etc.  Stopped in at our bishop's house (half-way between Moorefield and Petersburg) where the other two Elders were waiting for us and bishop's wife, Lucy, had dinner ready for all of us.  So nice  and she sent us home with cute root beer bottle reindeer!  We got home about 6 pm, I hurried over to the church to index and be available for family history help.  About 8 pm I came home, and Wayne and I drove out to an appointment with Ricky and Becky.  So nice to visit with them, and talk about the Spirit of Christmas. They enjoyed Wayne's song too.  

Beautiful Christmas lights at Welton Park

Still don't know how Noah's Ark fits in to Christmas - But I love it!

Thursday we left at noon, driving back to the city, this time to Ellicott City to the mission home for a Senior

Couples party with our mission president and his wife.  It was fun, we had a great dinner and a silly gift exchange.  We also said good-bye to the Pascoes, our office couple.  The Senior Couples gave President and Sister Richards a lovely Book of Mormon and a tile picture of the DC Temple.  It was a nice evening and we were home by 10 pm.  The roads were good and the traffic wasn't too bad.

President & Sister Richards

Friday we met with our ward mission leader in the morning and got to talk to our daughter Angie for a while - what a treat!  In the afternoon we made four Christmas visits, then headed up to the nursing home where Wayne entertained some of the residents with an hour of Christmas music.  It was nice and they enjoyed it.  I did too.  When he was done we visited two of our ward members who residents there, also two ward

members who work there.  More visiting on Saturday, with our special friends John and Audrey, and we also found a member that we have been searching for, nice to finally meet him and his family.  His wife is from Germany and had been making cookies and candy to send to her family in Germany.  She was so sweet to share some with us.  It was a nice day, but pouring down rain all day and I left my umbrella at the first home we visited, so I got a little wet.

Today we had a low attendance at church, lots of sickness going around, I guess.  We spent the afternoon making more Christmas visits, seeing some wonderful families.  What a treat to share our feelings about the real meaning of Christmas and talk about family, traditions, and the joy of the season.  Again - Wayne brings such a special feeling into the room when he sings to them and we have prayer with them.  So nice.  Now we are getting ready to go to the church to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional, one of my favorite things to do in early December, to set the tone for the month.  We hope you all are enjoying the lights, the music, the stories, and especially the Spirit of Christ this Christmas season.  Share.  Invite.  Love.

Happy Birthday on Thursday to our lovely daughter-in-law Laura and Happy 18th Birthday on Friday to granddaughter Katelyn.  We love you both so much and miss you...

A recent P-Day project.  I only have two small flower beds, but lots of leaves...

Just barely beat the rain and snow, glad to have that done.