Should We Be Packing Now?

I can't believe we only have five days left!! Should we have started packing?! Why start today what we can put off until tomorrow, eh?!


We've been really busy since the last blog post. We said our Goodbyes to our studies this week. They've all been left in very capable hands. One study in particular, Leonor, I'm going to miss seeing how her face lights up when she learns something new. The sister who will be studying with her has been given instructions to take pictures of Leonor's little face as she learns something new and email it to me!!


We had an AWESOME time with our friends from England. The second week they were here we took them down to visit Charley's family one day. We went to Oliver Winery along the way - yum! And then on down to have lunch with the family, drive around some of Amish territory down there, and then had a candlelit dinner at my in-laws house (no, we weren't trying to be romantic, the power went out for about an hour!) Here we all are, well, except me because I was behind the camera and who wants to see a picture of me anyway!

Then a couple of days later we took our visitors to Chicago for the day. We had a BLAST up there! Went to Lou Michell's for breakfast, went up the Willis & John Hancock Towers - one by day, one by night. Ate Chicago style pizza, walked the Magnificent Mile, froze our toes off - you know, the usual Chicago in November stuff! Here we are on the Skydeck of the Willis (Sears) tower on the 103rd floor. I'm not afraid of heights but it was a little unnerving at first!

Friday last week we had our circuit pioneer day. It was wonderful, as always. We had 243 in attendance from 23 congregations. An average of 10 per congregation is not bad at all! It was nice to see old friends, and make new ones, and be reminded of everything I need to work on!


Saturday we said a sad goodbye to our visitors from England. We had a wonderful time with them and hope to see them again before too long. In the meantime, there's always Skype!


So, this week, as I said, we said goodbye to our studies. Today I'm enjoying a day off, getting stuff done around here, which so far hasn't included any kind of packing! We have our Circuit Assembly this weekend - woohoooo!!!!! 


Oh, and my amazing field service bag is done. I meant to have a picture ready to put on here but I don't. I'll get to that eventually. I LOVE it! Thanks Yvette - you're the best!!!!


Oh and I had my last day at work on Tuesday. Well, my last day until March 1st that is. It all suddenly seemed so real as I shut down my computer and said goodbye to my coworkers. I'm going to miss everyone at work so much.......................(my boss reads my blog, so I have to say that!). I'm sure they're having a party on Monday to celebrate the start of three Rachel-free months!! Enjoy it while it lasts!


Well, I think that was the latest and greatest. I'm sure I forgot something. Oh yeah I did - I had the best going away gift from a friend in the Sign Language congregation - an hour's massage! It was wonderful. I think I need to pack her in my suitcase!


So I'm going to try and find something productive to do now. Or maybe just watch a movie. I'm fighting off a cold so I need some rest. So far I'm winning, but we'll see who comes out ahead!


Take care everyone and keep in touch!!

Two Weeks Today - Need I Say More?!

Less than three weeks!

Well, three weeks came and went and I didn’t post anything. I know you were all bitterly disappointed about that ;o)

So, what’s new? Well, last weekend we had a lovely dinner with two other couples for our anniversaries. It was good to catch up with them. It’s pretty much the only time we get together with them all each year! We tried to get a free dessert by mentioning our anniversaries but it didn’t work. Maybe next year! Then the next day we went to a wedding rehearsal. I’m doing the video and Charley is MC. Seems like they got everything figured out. The wedding is tomorrow – can’t believe how quickly that came around. And on Sunday we went to Georgetown Spanish. Charley gave a new talk that I hadn’t heard before and he did a great job. Then we went to a friend’s house for dinner. So it was a busy weekend.

With our anniversary buddies.

Monday night/Tuesday morning our friends arrived from England. Yay!!!! It’s great to have them. I didn’t actually see them until I got home from work on Tuesday. We went to the meeting with them in English – it was nice to visit my old hall since we rarely make it back to see everyone. On Wednesday Charley and I spent the day with them. We had a BLAST! Charley made a delicious breakfast at home, then we went duckpin bowling (http://www.fountainsquareindy.com/bowling/index.asp) which was a lot harder than I thought it would be but we had a great time. Then we had a fabulous lunch at Tortas Guicho. For anyone that lives in Indy you’ve got to try this place - http://tortasguicho.com/. Their sandwiches are all named after famous people or countries. I had the “England” and it was really, really good! So, all in all we ate a lot and had a good time hanging out together. In the evening four of us went to see a musical at a local high school. I wasn’t expecting it to be all that great, but WOW, these high school kids over here have some serious talent! Great singing, good acting, and it was only $5!! Thoroughly entertaining.

This is a really boring post isn’t it?! You can just stop reading here if you like, it’s not getting any better in the next paragraph!

So, the most exciting thing that happened last weekend (at least the most exciting thing to me) was that I made some serious progress in my bag search!!! Since I’d blogged about it, a sister in my mam and dad’s congregation read it, and told me to come over because she has tons of bags. When I explained what I was looking for, she’s like, oh well just find a bag you like, and then we’ll add backpack straps to it!!! So I found one that would work, and a backpack, and she took the straps off one bag and is putting them on to the other, so it will have backpack straps and shoulder straps! WOHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! I’ll post a picture of it when it’s done!

So, tomorrow is the wedding. And Sunday we have hospitality for the visiting speaker. It’s all go! Oh, and in my shopping expedition on Saturday I got almost everything we still needed for our trip and finally found tan ankle socks – you have no idea how excited I was to find those! I’m not even going to try and explain why that’s exciting!!


And this evening we were at my cousin's house. Look how cute their little baby girl is! 

Well, that’s all for now. Hope everyone out there is doing well.

The final countdown - 4 weeks today!

Well, time is really flying by! I can't believe we'll be leaving in just 4 weeks.


All is well here. There's so much going on before we go. We went to the Zone Visit Meeting on Saturday evening - wow, what an amazing treat that was. Wonderful talks. It was so encouraging. Very timely indeed!


And then on Sunday we ended up going to West Washington Spanish (west side of Indy) to give the talk. Well, Charley gave the talk, not "we"!! We had a lovely time and a very nice lunch with a family in that hall. Seems like our COBE is getting the most out of Charley before we leave! He's assigned to give a talk at Georgetown Spanish (also west side of Indy) this coming Sunday, and then in Columbus Spanish (about an hour south of here) on the 20th!! 


I'm on the desperate search now for a good field service bag. I can't find this bag anywhere but on ebay, and I'd rather be able to buy it in a store so that I can see it properly first and have the option of returning it. I want a back-pack, not too big, about the shape & size of the magazines, that also has a shoulder strap. So if any of you see such a thing out there in a store that is nationwide in the US, let me know!!! I wish I knew how to make bags - that would be the easiest solution since this bag I have in my head probably doesn't exist!!


Well, not very exciting was it? I didn't promise this blog would always be interesting! Not much else to report. Had a nice service day yesterday with a couple of studies. So, that's it for now. Hope you're all well wherever in the world you happen to be reading.