3 September 2018 - Monday - Granny's Birthday!

3 September 2018 - Monday

What a great day to celebrate a birthday!  Actually, we have been celebrating each day since we had our duel birthday dinner in Casper on Friday.  It has been wonderful and we have enjoyed another special day, today.  Mom and I took our morning walk after sharing some time together in prayer and in Scripture reading.  The temperatures were in the low 40's as we stepped out of the trailer at 5:45am.  We saw the developing skies take on some morning color.  The sunrise was slow to materialize this morning.  In fact, we beat the sunrise coming up altogether!

The first morning light at about 6:00am

The morning air was crisp and clear at about 6:15am

This is what we saw coming back to the trailer at about 6:45am

You may not believe this, but we have been using the heater in the mornings and the air cooler in the afternoons!  The Wyoming weather can be pretty fickle each day.  As we headed off to the correlation meeting, the sunshine was welcoming, and the temperatures were already in the low 50's.

It was fun to be at the correlation meeting this morning.  Everyone sang happy birthday to mom!  And by the time we got internet reception, she was getting greetings from her precious family!  At the meeting, mom and I got an assignment to work together gathering the mission's liquid chemicals that might freeze when the cold weather sets in.  We gathered them up and put them in an underground storage area near the mission offices.  This assignment took about 90 minutes.

Mom had her Rover to fill with chemicals

And I had my Rover for the heavier cases.

Then it was our privilege to repaint the Sun Ranch sign on the Barn.  This sign hangs about eight feet off the ground, and has heavy plastic lettering.  It is the highly visible sign from the Visitors' Center in the middle of the Homestead.  The sign, itself, is a hanging sign and is not stationary.  That means I had nothing to hold on to!  Our first project was to build a scaffold that would not come down!  And I still needed to steady myself holding the top edge of the sign!  

Holding on for dear life on a sign that is not secure!

I had the scaffolding secured to the building.  No falls for me!

I am reminded of the painting assignments I got as a kid working with my step father.  His work was volunteer as well, only I did get room and board until I was relocated my senior year, (but that is another story!).  George had me paint the highest parts of a three story cabin at Shaver Lake.  I was on an extension ladder fully extended.  The side of the cabin I remember most is the side where the lot was on the side of a 300 foot drop into Shaver Lake.  That particular day, I never expected to reach adulthood.

At any rate, mom was so helpful in taking the can of paint to the middle of the scaffolding, from the smaller ladder, and raising it up for me to dip my brush in.  I would not dare bend over and dip my brush knowing full well that I would probably take a dive.  What has happened to my body?  What has happened to my legs and knees so that I feel so unsafe eight feet in the air??  I am so hoping that during the Resurrection, I will have my "prime" body back!

Our assignment will carry over to tomorrow.  We did get the lettering painted white and it will look so good against the brown background.  Hopefully I will have some finished pictures in the next day or so.  We were told we could work this assignment again tomorrow.

Then tonight, our district had the assignment for Family Home Evening.  Our group planned this activity last week to have an "un-birthday" party.  This was an effort to celebrate all the birthdays that would not be celebrated after September and before April.  It was a fun activity and mom and I got the cake at Sam's when we went on Friday.  These Family Home Evenings are held at the Pavilion at Missionary Village every Monday night;

An Oreo chocolate cake and cupcake creation

Cake and Ice Cream anyone?

The missionaries seemed to enjoy this activity.  We had about 40 or so in attendance and the cake was just the right amount.  The activity before we served the cake was a game of "pin the tail on the snake", and we alternated that with a game of charades.  And the un-birthday missionaries all participated while the other missionaries were the audience, (and the hecklers!)  We had 20 senior missionaries and one cowboy intern from Rexburg participating in the un-birthday group;

The "un-birthday" Mission President doing charades

Pin the tail on the snake was one of the activities (be careful blindfolding a senior missionary!)

It was a fun night and our last district Family Home Evening assignment.   Everyone seemed to have a good time and the cake and ice cream is always a great hit.  Mom and I enjoyed being part of this activity, but it was good to get back home!

The life-line telephone for two senior missionaries!

And this last picture is where mom and I gather to call our precious children and grandchildren.  What a blessing it has been to have this phone available to us!  We have spent a few hours here and I thought that you would like to see our mission life-line meeting area!