Update

So there isn't much exciting happening around here, except for trying to keep it all together when everything is a mess. I am posting some pictures of my house. The three of us are residing in the upstairs bedrooms. The unused bedroom is my makeshift kitchen/TV room. Kipp and Ethan watch DVD's on the portable DVD player. I have started painting Ethan's bedroom. I figured since we had such a big mess anyway, I might as well. Tony will be here next weekend, so it better be done by then. As for the rest of the renovation, it is slow, but there is a little progress being made. The basement is being taped and mudded, and we are waiting on granite and cupboard doors for the kitchen. My new appliances have arrived, but they are still at the store until we are ready. the hardwood has been laid, but needs to be finished once the construction is done. Don't you like our den setup?

Rich

My Gram had a cross-stitch on her wall when I was a little girl. It said, "They are rich who have true friends" I having been feeling very rich indeed over the past few days, as we have been blessed by the kindheartedness of true friends, who look after us in our time of need. Our bodies have been fed, and so also has been our spirit, as we contemplate their goodness to us. Thank you friends.

End of Vacation, Back Home Again

We made it home! At times on Thursday and into Friday I wondered if that was ever going to happen. We were scheduled to arrive home at 5 pm on Thursday. Our actual arrival time was 12:45 pm on FRIDAY. Yay United, you really outdid yourselves this time. The highlight of our extra day's vacation was staying at the Renaissance O'Hare on Thursday night and having the airline pay for it. It is pretty over the top. The price listed on the back of our door was $459 a night. And some people sleep in cardboard boxes. Makes you really wonder about how spoiled we are and how we take it for granted.

The rest of our trip was wonderful. We enjoyed Missouri, going to Visitors Centers in Independence and Liberty, and driving to Haun's Mill, Far West, Adam-Ondi-Ahman, Jamesport and various Graveyards in the area. It was still cold, but not as cold as Nauvoo.

The picture of Ethan and Kipp is at the SE cornerstone of the Far West Temple, where Wilford Woodruff was ordained an apostle on the 26th of April, 1839. He left on his mission to England from there. The prophet Joseph Smith had prophecied they would leave on that date from the temple, but it was after the extermination order, and the mobs were determined to make sure the prophecy was never fulfilled. Their eyes were blinded that night, and the prophecy came to pass.

This was a wonderful trip, and we feel blessed that the weather did not keep us from seeing anything we wanted to see.

We will now concern ourselves with getting our renovations completed. They progressed a bit while we were gone, but it is far from finished. The hardwood will go in this week, and the work on the basement will continue as scheduled, I hope. Right now I am sitting on the floor in the den, typing on the laptop. All the main floor furniture is packed into the living room and dining room. I have no usuable kitchen. We have wonderful friends who have offered to feed us over the next few days, or else we would be eating peanut butter sandwiches.