I honestly don't
know what we would do without our GPS.. We drive on back roads off the main
roads about 90% of the time.. beautiful curving roads, rolling hills, back woods
and farm land.. In
Maryland the
roads have "2" names one is a number like highway 5 or
Mattawoman
Beantown Road.. the locals use the numbers and
many times it is listed as the name.. so without our trusty GPS we would be so
totally lost..
We are finding our way
around the peninsula called Calvert.. The landscape is so full right now and
even the trees and bushes are covered with vines so it is solid green
everywhere.. it is rare to see the trunks of trees that are not covered..
Crape Myrtle trees in various colors are in beautiful bloom here now.
We had a great
week, we had booked several appointments for this week prior to Monday so in our
Monday morning planning meeting, we made 8 calls got a few no answers but we
were able to fill in the rest of the week.
Can I just say how much I love the people we have been able to visit in
this area.. they have been so warm and welcoming and are making us feel so
loved.
Kim was our
first visit of the week. She is the wife of our Stake President and we were
very excited to spend some time with her.
What a delight she is.. She and Pres. Sakai were both raised in
Hawaii.
They have known each other since they were 5 years old.
Kim serves in the Primary Presidency and is
such a support to her husband.
They have
one daughter Lily who is 7.
We know how
important it is to visit the leaders families, since so many think that they
are so busy and have it all and really don't need
a visit.. But they often times need a visit
more than anyone because their husbands are so very busy in their callings plus
their demanding professions.
So we
always try to make sure we touch base with those sisters.
Kim was such a joy to visit with, she has a
very infectious laugh and we had so much fun with her.
She was a wealth of information about the
dynamics of the entire stake and answered so many questions that we had about
the different wards we will be serving in.
Kim & Lily
Kristin was our
next visit. She is a busy mom of 3, Hanna who is 7, Lucy who is 4 and Perry who
is 2. They live way out in the country
and were one of the families who lost power in the huge storm that we had a
couple weeks ago. They have their own well
and so without power they cannot even get water. Their neighbor brought over a generator for
them to use and they were able to get by for the 6 days until their power was
restored. They lost a couple big trees,
but all else was fine. She loves to sew
and is very active in all kinds of sports. She is homebound, because they only
have one car and her husband needs it to get to the Navy base each day. So we loved being able to visit with her.
Lucy, Kristin, Perry & Hannah
Sharyn is the
Young Women's President in the ward and had just returned from girls camp. She and her family moved to Maryland
after her husband was laid off from his job in Pennsylvania
a few months ago. He now works for NASA. Sharyn loves to play the piano and loves
photography and painting..They have 4 children aging from 17 to 10. She is loving living in the ward, the number
of youth in the ward is huge and so she has her hands full with her family and
her new calling..
Ann was our
next visit and we also got to visit with her sweet mother Shirley who lives
with them.. Shirley asked us to meet in her room, which Ann and her husband had
added to their home in 2009.. It is a beautiful addition just like a studio
apartment.. Ann has 5 children, 1 married, 2 in college and 2 at home. Their 17
year old daughter suffers from the effects of having Guillain Barre' while their
family was living out of the country. This is an acute disorder affecting the
nervous system, causing progressive muscle weakness and paralysis.
She can now walk with the help of leg
braces.. Such a brave young woman..
Ann's husband is an environmental JAG attorney for the Air Force.. as
she said "a tree hugger".. Her mom Shirley is the cutest little 85
year old lady and so much fun to visit with.. She asked us to come see her
often, since she loves to have visitors.. It was a wonderful visit..
Ann & Shirley
Nancy
was our next visit, she is the mother of 9, all at home with the exception of
their oldest son who is serving a mission in Brazil. She loves to run, and she said she loves anything
outdoors.. She also loves to bake. I
fell in love with her youngest son Jack.. He was sitting close to me, very
absorbed in his animated movie and we just hit it off.. She is a very busy mom,
with 8 children at home and loved to have us come over to give her some adult
conversation. Her husband is a private
business consultant and serves in the bishopric, so he is very busy.. It was
nice that we got to give Nancy a
break for an hour or so.
Nancy
Tanji and her
family just moved back to Maryland
after living in San Diego for 3
years. Their son just received his
mission call to Chili and leaves in November. So that will make "9"
missionaries serving from the Calvert ward.
They have 1 married daughter & 2 grandsons.. Tanji is one of the
most talented people I have ever met.. Her hobby is woodworking.. She made much
of the furniture in their home.. and it is so beautiful. She was so modest and said that she just has
great tools.. She also created this
amazing Noah's Ark with all the
individual animals, all hand carved.. (you have to look on my blog to see the
pictures).. Her husband serves in Human Resources at the Pentagon for the Navy.
We asked her what we could do to help her and she asked if we could to with her
on her visiting teaching route, since she doesn't know the sisters yet. Sister
Brown is going to go with Tanji while I
am in Arizona.. Since they just
moved back here, she doesn't know a lot of people..this ward is so large and
since it is mainly military, there have move in's and out's quite frequently.
Tanji
The Ark she made ! all the animals and figures are hand carved
She made this beautiful piece too. .
Anne serves in
the RS Presidency and invited us to lunch.. She is the mom of 4 delightful
children with special needs.. She is so patient and such an awesome mom.. We
were so impressed at the entire family.. Her 11 year old daughter was busy
making cookies, she also has a 15 year old daughter with autism who is so
excited to be a freshman , her 12 year old son was just ordained a deacon and
has ADHD, and an adorable son who is 4.
What a great visit we had with the whole family.. Her husband is a
private contractor specializing in computer programming for the Navy.
Anne teaches water aerobics, and loves her
garden.. She had been canning beans and they looked wonderful.. She also loves
to bake bread.. and we got to have some with our luscious lunch.. It was a
great visit..
Sarah was one
of the speakers in church last week and we knew we wanted to make sure we had a
visit with her. She is a very shy person and we were asked to see if we could
get in and visit with her.. She was a delight to visit with. She two little boys and they keep her
hopping.. She has been helping out in summer daily vacation bible school. Her talent is decorating her home and yard
work.. both are beautiful.. She is quite the shopper and said that she hunts
and hunts until she finds exactly what piece of furniture or accessory with fit
into her beautiful home. Her husband
works for the census bureau. One of the few who isn't in the military or works
for the military.
Sarah with Andrew & Matthew
Carol was a
sister that we were very anxious to meet.. We had heard so many wonderful
things about her and couldn't wait to visit her. She was the stake girls camp director, and
was called to be the director just 3 weeks before camp when the other camp
director bowed out & hadn't prepared anything for camp.. What a task Carol
had ahead of her, and she did a fantastic job and camp was a wonderful
success.. She and her husband have 6 girls.. 3 still at home.. it was a
wonderful visit.. They moved here about a year ago from Texas,
her husband works at the Patuxent Naval Air Base in the testing department for
the new fighter jet..
Carol and her youngest daughter
Carol's father built this full size organ from a kit.
It is amazing and I couldn't believe anyone could do that.
Our last
visit this week was with Nicole.. She is a single sister who had her 11 year
old daughter Tatiana visiting with her from California
for the summer.. They are very involved in creating their own line of bath
salts, lotions and soaps using all natural ingredients and essential oils..
Nicole has recently become very involved in church again and has been through
the temple about a month ago. We are going to visit her often to keep her
spirits up after Tatiana leaves. She
lost custody of her a few years ago and has really turned her life around and
is really on the right track now.. She is a counselor for patients and their
families who are suffering with PTSD.. We had a wonderful lunch with them and
saw such love with them both. A wonderful mother and daughter..
Nicole & Tatiana
The 4 of us. .
On Thursday
evening we went into DC with Bishop Vance and his family to see him perform with
the Army concert band at free concert on the west lawn of the US Capitol. The band and choir were set up right in front
of the steps of the capitol and we set our chairs up on the grass close by.. It
was a beautiful evening and we enjoyed the music and the friendship so
much. The Army performs there every
Friday night during the summer, but this was a special added concert bringing
back many of the alumni who had played with the band in past years.. It was
fantastic.
Sunsets
with a Soundtrack:The
U.S.
Army Band Alumni Concert : : We feature current and past conductors and
musicians on light and listenable music from all genres of great concert-band
music. The concert featured The U.S. Army Concert Band, The U.S. Army Herald
Trumpets, and The U.S. Army Chorus.
The concert is over...
Friday morning
Sister Brown had her second round of epidural injections in her back.. We are
hoping that this series works, since the last ones didn't seem to make a
difference in the back pain. So keep her
in your prayers that it will finally ease the pain. I was in charge of keeping
her down and having her rest for the day..
"The trick is to enjoy life.
Don't wish away your days waiting for
better one ahead"
Marjorie Pay Hinckley
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