This 'n' That
We have had a whirlwind few weeks. On November 12 Sister Black's mother passed away. We expected it to happen, but still when it did we were affected more than we thought we would be. We immediately prepared to drive to Southern California for the Funeral scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 15 We drove 1540 miles over two days, stayed 4 days (we didn't want to travel on Sunday) and then took 3 days to travel back to Houston.
I was asked to prepare and then present the eulogy celebrating the life of Donna Maxine Gardner, which I did. I enjoy doing such things. I gathered stories from those of her children that I could contact before the funeral and then blended those stories into a 20 minute eulogy. I already had several stories of my own and knew I could glean more from Sister Black's siblings. It was a lovely service.
However, the cemetery would not bury her remains until November 25. They said they were too busy! I never have heard such a thing. We contacted the funeral director for clarification. We were told that it is the season. November and December are reportedly months when more deaths happen. Who would have know that? We had to return to our mission, so we were not there when she was buried. All of the other siblings were there and all went well.
On the way back to Houston we stopped in El Paso for a few minutes to see if any of my old railroad friends were still at my former place of employment, and we visited with the current owners of the home we sold when we left there 24 years ago. It was interesting. The whole visit between the two locations delayed us only a little more than an hour.
We got home late Wednesday, November 20, taught the Spanish Institute class on Thursday, attended the Channelview Ward Thanksgiving dinner on Friday, restocked our larder and attended a baptism on Saturday, and attended 2 sessions of Stake Conference (English and Spanish) on Sunday.
On Monday we traveled to Beaumont, Texas so I could be stabbed in the back (by a pain management doctor). They put me out, so we had to spend the night in Beaumont. Traveled back to Houston on Tuesday. I conducted our Spanish Choir on Wednesday evening,
We invited our Hermana Missionaries for Thanksgiving on Thursday. Unfortunately two burners on our range decided they didn't need to assist in cooking Thanksgiving dinner, so our potatoes didn't get cooked until hours later. We enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner without them. I intensely dislike electric ranges. This is the second range that has treated us badly. Unbeknownst to us, our District Council was changed from Friday morning to Thursday morning. As a result we were unable to attend.
Friday and Saturday we were both ill. I doubt it was because of Thanksgiving Dinner, but....
Today was almost a normal Sunday schedule for us. It was also the Stake Christmas season celebration so we attended a concert given by various people in the community as well as the Stake Choir accompanied by a community orchestra. It was wonderful. They finished the event with the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah by Handel. We were spellbound.
Hopefully we will have a "normal" week this week. I hope so. I'm exhausted.
I was asked to prepare and then present the eulogy celebrating the life of Donna Maxine Gardner, which I did. I enjoy doing such things. I gathered stories from those of her children that I could contact before the funeral and then blended those stories into a 20 minute eulogy. I already had several stories of my own and knew I could glean more from Sister Black's siblings. It was a lovely service.
However, the cemetery would not bury her remains until November 25. They said they were too busy! I never have heard such a thing. We contacted the funeral director for clarification. We were told that it is the season. November and December are reportedly months when more deaths happen. Who would have know that? We had to return to our mission, so we were not there when she was buried. All of the other siblings were there and all went well.
On the way back to Houston we stopped in El Paso for a few minutes to see if any of my old railroad friends were still at my former place of employment, and we visited with the current owners of the home we sold when we left there 24 years ago. It was interesting. The whole visit between the two locations delayed us only a little more than an hour.
We got home late Wednesday, November 20, taught the Spanish Institute class on Thursday, attended the Channelview Ward Thanksgiving dinner on Friday, restocked our larder and attended a baptism on Saturday, and attended 2 sessions of Stake Conference (English and Spanish) on Sunday.
On Monday we traveled to Beaumont, Texas so I could be stabbed in the back (by a pain management doctor). They put me out, so we had to spend the night in Beaumont. Traveled back to Houston on Tuesday. I conducted our Spanish Choir on Wednesday evening,
We invited our Hermana Missionaries for Thanksgiving on Thursday. Unfortunately two burners on our range decided they didn't need to assist in cooking Thanksgiving dinner, so our potatoes didn't get cooked until hours later. We enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner without them. I intensely dislike electric ranges. This is the second range that has treated us badly. Unbeknownst to us, our District Council was changed from Friday morning to Thursday morning. As a result we were unable to attend.
Friday and Saturday we were both ill. I doubt it was because of Thanksgiving Dinner, but....
Today was almost a normal Sunday schedule for us. It was also the Stake Christmas season celebration so we attended a concert given by various people in the community as well as the Stake Choir accompanied by a community orchestra. It was wonderful. They finished the event with the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah by Handel. We were spellbound.
Hopefully we will have a "normal" week this week. I hope so. I'm exhausted.
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