June 2015 and we are HOME

On Monday morning June 15th, 2015 we began a new chapter in our lives.  At 8:30am we left our apartment in Guatemala City and went to breakfast with President and Hermana Burk at the Ihop.  Then on to the airport for our flight to Georgia.  Our mission is completed and we are heading home.  We arrived in Atlanta, Georgia and were met by Mindi, Nathan, Hannah, and Isaac.

 How wonderful to be in the arms of our family again.  We have never been in this area of the US before and it is so beautiful; rolling green hills with trees everywhere and a church on every corner with its own cemetery.  Mindi and Justin's home is beautiful with a forest in the back yard.
     On Tuesday we took a walk through Mindi's back yard.  Lon hung a cabinet and toilet paper holder for Mindi and we just enjoyed a laid back day with family.  Lon challenged the kids to a game of "pig" on the basketball court and got beat out by Isaac and Mindi won the game.  He was a little deflated by that. 
     On Wednesday we got to attend a session in the Atlanta Georgia Temple with Mindi while Hannah and her Young Women's group did baptisms.

 We hadn't realized how much we had missed being in the temple.  It felt so wonderful to be there with Mindi.  We are praying that our little temple in Twin Falls will have need of us when we get home.  That evening we took a walk around the neighborhood and took some pictures of the houses and yards around Mindi and Justin's home.  It is sooooo different from Guatemala; clean, beautiful, fresh air.
     This area is rich with Civil War History so Thursday we went to the Rosewell Mill.  This is where the Confederate Army's grey uniforms were made.  It was destroyed by the Union and rebuilt, only to be destroyed again by a lightening caused fire.  There was a beautiful waterfall and a pool for the kids to play in.  I couldn't get down the river bank with my knee so Nathan and I just hung out while the others took time to play in the water. 

     We had thought that we had a wonderful Costco and Walmart in Guatemala, they were so much better stocked than in El Salvador but today, Friday, Mindi took us on a drive to see where Justin works and then to do some shopping.  We just had to stand and gawk at what we say.  There was a whole isle of nothing but soups!!!  Just a little bit of a culture shock for us.  Mindi has been feeding us all the things that we couldn't get in Central America: real cheese dip, taco salad with Catalina Dressing, hamburgers that taste like hamburgers; COOKIE SALAD just to name a few.

  On Saturday we went into Atlanta with the whole family to visit an Aquarium.

 We had a wonderful day. The Aquarium was awesome, the Varsity Restaurant amazing, the scenery beautiful, but the best part was just being with our family.  We have really missed them.  It feels so right to be home.
     We celebrated Isaac's 12th birthday.

He received the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday and was ordained a deacon.  This was the first grandson that we have been able to share this experience with.  The kids all played their musical instruments for us and we played games and enjoyed our last day with the Parkers.
  On Monday morning June 22nd, our 43rd wedding anniversity,  Mindi took us to the airport for our flight into Twin Falls.  We arrived at noon and Sarah was there to pick us up.  We went straight to the carpet shops to pick our carpet for the house and get it scheduled to be laid.  Tracy and Sarah had painted the house while we were gone but we couldn't pick carpet from Guatemala.  We took some carpet samples to pick from, stopped to pick up a few groceries and headed for home.  We were a little disappointed that the carpet wouldn't be laid for at least 2 weeks and maybe longer but we were determined to live at home.  The paint, a light grey, was wonderful and the kids did a great job painting.  We had only bare floors with the tack strip down and didn't want to move much in that would have to be hauled out again when the carpet layers came.  We did move in our bed, into the piano room, with the help of Norm and Bev and Tracy and Sarah.  After everyone had left, we went to fix a bite to eat and realized that we had food but nothing to eat on or with.  We need to get the kitchen put together.  It was a really long day but we are home in our own home and we slept really well.
   On June 23rd, we bought a 2006 1 ton  Power Stroke Ford pickup.  Lon had been shopping on Craig's List in Guatemala for months.  Waiting on the Carpet layers so we started going through boxes and putting the kitchen stuff away.  We sorted and cleaned and worked for the next 4 days. Everything had to be washed so the dishwasher and the washer and dryer ran non stop.  We hauled so much to the dump that we just didn't need anymore.  It is time to de-junk!  We were thrilled when the call came that the carpet layers would be there on the 30th to lay the carpet, a week earlier than we had expected.   Tracy and his family came over and we started moving in the furniture.  It was a lot easier leaving on the mission than coming home and a lot less expensive!!  Tracy has been off this week so he has helped us with all the technical issues - phone-internet-tv- ect.  And then Lon has helped him with cutting some trees and hauling garbage.  It is going to be fun having family living close for a change.