HOME 4 WEEKS.......... AND STILL ADJUSTING TO POST MISSION LIFE

We have been home from our mission, now, for about a month and thought it would be good to continue journaling our post mission life. The adjustment has been easier for Paul than me.  I have been very tired but Paul has had the get up and go of an 'energizer bunny.'  I think, for me, it is 'mission lag' that is causing my body to be so tired but Paul is convinced I am sick.  He is anxious to get me into the doctor but we have to wait for our medicare coverage to be reissued. Paul's coverage came through just fine but mine in still in process....a mistake made by the social security department not noticing that we had sent in two applications and not just Paul's....oh the joys of working with the government.  We dropped by the social security office just today and got discouraged when we walked in and over 40 people were waiting their turn to talk to one of three agents.  We would have been there, literally, all day. Hopefully someone will return our calls.  We have left three messages as of today.

Our mission blog ended with our release on the Sunday we returned home. The following day was our wedding anniversary.  We had talked about going to Ruth Chris's Steak House since way before coming home from Russia.  We hadn't had a nice, juicy steak for 18 months so it was off to Park City Monday evening, even braving a snow storm.  We thoroughly enjoyed our salad, steak, cheese potatoes, asparagus, and complimentary dessert. Very full but very satisfied.

We were glad we came home before Christmas as we were able to spend Christmas eve with Jon and Mindy and her three children.  It was nice to get to know her and her family a little better.  We had some delicious Mexican food which is Mindy's family tradition. Though we told everyone not to buy us any gifts, Jon and Mindy gave me a scarf and Paul a Far Side book.  It was a good evening and we finally began to feel the Christmas spirit a bit.  Christmas day was spent at home by ourselves except when we delivered tea rings to a few people.  One stop was to Guy Blaine's home.  We found him all alone, too, so we invited him to our home for dinner. We had a delightful visit with this dear neighbor.

The beautiful reflection pool
by Temple Square

Friday was a special day. We drove into Salt Lake to temple square and met Lena, one of our young single adults from Russia.  She was in Utah for the holidays so we picked her up and drove her to Heber to stay with us for the night. We took her to Pizza Galleria in Heber and then came home and watched a movie.  The next morning we had sour dough waffles and then drove her back to temple square where she was meeting a former missionary friend who was taking her shooting.  After dropping off Lena, we looked up another young adult from Moscow who is serving a mission on temple square.  She was in the Beehive House and just beginning a tour when we arrived. We joined her group and enjoyed her presentation, after which we had a delightful visit. She was so thrilled we had followed up on our promise to look her up as soon as we got home.

Dropping Lena back off at temple square after a night with us in Heber

With Lily outside the Beehive house

We went go to the BYU vs Gonzaga game at the Marriott center that afternoon.  The Cougs lost but it was an exciting game, played to a sell out crowd.  We had purchased our tickets while still in Russia which was a good thing as we would not have been able to get in had we waited.

Sunday, we gave our mission report to the high council and then our homecoming talks to our ward. The bishop didn't give us a specific topic but challenged us to motivate other couples to go on missions. We talked about all the blessings of serving a mission and how vital senior couples are to the work.  We shared personal experiences and the many blessings and miracles we experienced while serving. Afterwards, the bishop told us we 'hit it out of the park.'  We were thrilled that Jim and Janet Harmon, Bob and Janet Rands, and Dee and Susan Humphreys made it up from Orem to hear our talks. Also in attendance were the Bradfords, a couple we met in the MTC and followed each other's missions through our individual blogs. It was good to see them again. Elder Ricks showed up as did Garrett McClintock, a BYU students who was in Moscow on an internship last summer. Jon and Mindy and family also came. Elder Johnson and his girl friend dropped by our home after church to say hello. They had attended another homecoming at the same time as ours. So thoughtful. We were glad that Jon and Mindy and her children could stay us for a quick dinner before they had to head back to Lehi.

Because the Rands were in town to spend the holidays with their daughter, Heather, we arranged to meet them and the Harmons and Humphreys for lunch at LaJolla Groves, a favorite restaurant of all of ours. We did this Monday afternoon despite a major snow storm that hit that morning. We had a wonderful time visiting. It is always fun to catch up on the happenings of each other's family as well as all of our Spokane friends.

We visited with our neighbors, Mitch and Michelle Davis, Monday evening.  They had been out of town since we had come home and this was the first chance we had had to see them.  We took them a tea ring and a little gift we had purchased for them in Moscow.  What wonderful neighbors we have.  We thoroughly enjoy being with them. Mitch invited us to a movie promotional night the following evening.  It was held at the Utah home of Larry and Shauna King located in the upscale Provo river bottoms neighborhood. Their home was enormous and beautifully decorated for Christmas. We hobnobbed with the rich, and not so famous, people from the Utah and Heber valleys. Mitch had arranged a prime rib buffet at the King's in order to pitch his new movie idea. He has written a script about the martyrdom of Joseph Smith called the Carthage Conspiracy. It is based on the court proceeding records of the trial of the accused murderers.  It is a court room drama with flashback scenes that show the mob actions against the Saints that led up to the murder of Joseph and his brother, Hyrum, in Carthage jail. Mitch is hoping to raise ten million dollars to make the movie, five million of those dollars being set aside to pay stars with name recognition. It is quite an undertaking.  We just wish we were in a position to add a $100,000 to the project as we feel it could be a powerful tool for the church. That is the smallest denomination with which Mitch wants to deal. It was a fun evening and a real revelation as to what it takes for a small time movie producer/ director/ writer to get his work on the screen in major theaters.

On New Year's Eve, we delivered more tea rings to people in our ward who had brought us Christmas treats.  We wanted them to have them for their New Year Day's breakfast.  Later in the afternoon, Jon brought his boys up to spend the night.  It was so good to have them in our home again after 18 months.  It was a quiet New Year's Eve spent eating dinner and then watching a movie.  Jon and his boys left New Year's evening after an afternoon at the recreation center and a Mexican dinner.

Four of our six Sunbeams

Our new calling in the ward is team teaching the Sunbeam class of 3 year olds in Primary.  They are straight out of nursery and hardly know how to sit in a chair....especially the large chairs in the classroom we have been assigned. The bishop appproached us just before Sacrament meeting on the Sunday we gave our homecoming talks. He said he was going to call us to the Primary and asked us, on the spot, if we accepted. Of course, we said yes, so we were promptly sustained during the meeting. When we found out we were to teach the three year olds we just laughed. Quite a difference from teaching the young single adult Institute class in Moscow for 18 months.  The Lord has a way of helping us grow and stretch with each new calling. The next Saturday, the Primary had a 'get to know your teacher' breakfast and we were there to meet two of our six students. We have taught this class, now, twice and each time we have come away exhausted, but resolved to figured out how to reach these little ones.  We have learned to have lots of activities with little bits of the lesson in between, in order to keep these sweet spirits involved. We are sure it will get easier as the children mature and come to know what it means to sit on their chairs for more than a minute.  

Oksanna at our home in Heber

We had another special friend from Russia come to visit us last week. Her name is Oksanna and she was one of our Pathway students who finished her first year with us just before we left.  She was in Provo visiting the former sister missionary who taught her the gospel.  After spending some time in Oregon earlier, with the senior couple who served in the area where she was converted, Oksanna returned to Provo and got in touch with us. We went down on Monday evening to pick her up, took her to Olive Garden for dinner. then brought her up to our home for popcorn and a movie.....and a visit into the wee hours of the morning. We love connecting again with our Russian friends.  Oksanna's husband, Timur, is a real movie buff so we invited them both back sometime to stay in our home and have a movie watching marathon. We suggested they come in the summer time when it is warm as there is so much to do and see. Hopefully they will take us up on that offer someday.  

We took Oksanna back to Provo late the next morning, ran some errands, and then met Bob and Jan Holiday for lunch. They wanted to hear all about our mission experiences before they left on a two week cruise two days later. Again, it was great to reacquaint with dear friends.  It was then off to Costco to start replenishing our year's supply of food.....$400+ later and still not done.

One of the highlights of last week was attending the temple for the first time in over 18 months.  Not having a temple in Moscow really made us appreciate having the Provo temple only a half hour's drive away.  It is the first time we had seen any of the new films which came out just after we left. We saw one of the three and were so amazed at the changes made...not in content but in feeling. At one point, we were both in tears watching it. We can't wait to see the other films. It will be so good to be able to attend the temple more often.

Paul dusting the high ledges in our living room.
The area carpet was being cleaned out in
the garage.

Since we have been home, we has taken on the project of cleaning our home. Todd and Kailee left our home in great condition but we hadn't done a real deep clean in the 8 years we have lived here.  We had carpets and upholstery cleaned and Paul climbed up ladders to even dust the high ledges and shelves which are so prevalent in our home.  This process has involved reorganizing drawers, closets, and storage areas. Paul even put together a foosball table whichTodd had left  in our storage room. He said we could use it if we wanted, so after cleaning out our storage area, we decided it would be a good addition to our family room. It will be so fun for the grandchildren to use. We finished cleaning the last room just yesterday and it feels great to have an especially clean and organized home. Our carpets, furniture, walls, and floors have never looked better so all our efforts have been worth the work.

With each passing day, I am getting more energy and being home seems a little more normal for both of us.  We are amazed at how much we miss our mission life but know this is where we need to be for now.