Long drive, short visit...

My brother Ron from Alaska was in the lower 48 this past week!  He and his wife spent Thanksgiving at their daughter's in Washington, D.C. then they flew to Las Vegas...and drove up to visit us!  Just for overnight, but it was great to see them!  They had to drive back on Sunday afternoon to be in Vegas for their training that started early Monday morning.  Karen was getting sick and I felt really bad for her.  All that traveling and time zone changing when you aren't feeling well is a bummer!  Dave had left that morning for California so he missed them.  (not on purpose!).  We stayed up late and had a nice visit catching up. I appreciate their efforts!  It's way too long between family visits, and the last two times were our parents' funerals!  Let's plan a FUN get together when we can spend a little more time together!  Why does Alaska have to be so far away?  They love it there and most of their kids are there, so they won't be leaving any time soon!

Thanksgiving 2013...

What a nice day this turned out to be!  The weather was perfect, we had lots of people and lots of food!  It was a relatively stress-free day for me and I enjoyed it very much!  Eric, Randa and their 4 kids came, then we had Kellie and Greg Stewart (Dale's siblings) and we did have Dale over for the dinner portion of the day.  We felt bad for him not having a place to go on Thanksgiving and the fact that part of his immediate family was here.  It was ultimately Amanda's decision and I knew she would do the right thing. I thought it would be awkward having him here for a couple of hours, but it was okay.  The spirit of the holiday I guess.  I am grateful for so many things, the list would fill a book!  I will just list my top ten:

My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, my personal redeemer

Our Heavenly Father and His plan of salvation, aka Plan of HAPPINESS

My family ~ husband, kids, in-laws, grandkids, parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles

The scriptures and a living prophet ~ my daily guidance counselors

A home for shelter in a beautiful location ~ even though it snows here

Vehicles to drive

Clothes to wear and food to eat

Church assignments and new friends

Old friends

Books to read and hobbies to enjoy

Being grateful isn't a holiday, it's an attitude.  I try to be grateful everyday and live my life in thanksgiving by my actions and not just my words.  I need to improve...greatly.  I am a work in progress.

  

Disappointed...

Joel's letter this today was so disappointing.  Mostly because it was only a paragraph long and contained something I hadn't hoped to hear...a disobedient companion.  Who also happens to be Joel's second trainer. It made me so sad.  I was heartsick all day.  I wrote a quick note back asking if he told the mission president.  He wrote back saying yes he did and that the zone leaders talked to his companion.  He is sure this next week will be better.  I certainly hope so!  He wrote me a separate letter answering some of my questions and ended it with "I love you all, but I love you most."  That made my day better!  Here's his letter:

This week has been... well interesting. No to be honest it wasn't very good. My companion hasn't been completely obedient and because of that we haven't had the spirit with us and we weren't able to get basically anything done this week. We had about two lessons and that's it... So there's really nothing more to say. We gave talks on Sunday in one of the wards. We spoke about missionary work. It was good. They are having a choirside here in a couple weeks. We went and sat in on one of the rehearsals. It is being directed by Kelly DeHaan. He asked me during the middle to get up and share some experiences about people I've seen change in my mission (the song they were singing was about someone's soul changing) So that was fun. They sound amazing!!!! It was really cool. Makes me wish I could sing. This transfer is flying by! I don't know what is going on anymore haha. It's starting to get colder again. I might need to buy a better coat. It is very likely that I might not make it through winter. The coldest it ever got in Clovis was like mid 30s. On a good day that's the high here... It's going to be a long winter for me ha. I hope you all are having a wonderful time in your own lives! It's great to hear from all of you. Keep up the good work and share the gospel with everyone! It is the "Good News" so don't be selfish with it. 

-Elder McKinney

Our first snow!

It was raining yesterday morning (all night actually) and for the first part of the morning it was just rain.  Then, around lunch time it turned into snow.  And by afternoon it was snowing BIG FLAKES!  It's hard to tell in my pictures, but they were big and it was coming down fast.  But nothing was sticking.  Then in the evening, Amanda and I had the Winiecke girls over for dinner (homemade soup and rolls) and to go to the movies. I had the fireplace going when they got here (most of the day I had it going!) We went to the 3 dollar show and saw Austenland.  (It was very funny!)  Well, when we came out of the theater there was snow on our car!  Everything was white all around us.  It was so crazy!   It stuck!  First thing this morning the boys were dressed in snow gear and ready to go outside!  at 8 a.m.!  They are NEVER dressed that early! Surprisingly enough, it doesn't feel TOO cold out there, but cold enough I'm staying inside!  I guess I better brace myself for winter, because it is definitely here!

Monday Missionary Email...

We got Joel's email today!  It was a little short so that was kind of disappointing.  But his companion has been sick so they didn't have a real busy week.  They did get to take investigators (who are on date) to a music concert on Temple Square!  It was at the Assembly Hall and put on by the sister missionaries there.  How cool is that?  Then in the regular mail I got a short letter and his camera memory card so I got some new pictures!  Some of his basement apartment (4 elders stay there) and a few other random ones.  I love how getting a letter, no matter how short, makes my day!  I love to hear how he is growing and learning and loving to teach!  Not sure where the legos came from, but there were several pictures of lego creations!  I guess when you're companion is ill, you can only study for so long.  :)

Wonderful neighbors!

We are very blessed to have neighbors like Gary and Judy.  They are master gardeners and have the most amazing back yard!  And Gary has built a two story play house that is just amazing...complete with play food, games, stained glass window, rugs, real windows, and wallpaper!  Little David sees Gary at church and at first called him the treehouse guy.  Now he calls him Gary.  They invited us over when we first moved here and served us fresh peaches from their trees and let the kids make s'mores in their outside wood stove.  They kept us in tomatoes and cucumbers all summer long, and Gary came right over the first day our truck pulled in and helped us unload.  He came back two more times for the other truck loads!  I was afraid he would have a heart attack!  Yes, they are wonderful neighbors and we are so grateful for them!  I am now Judy's visiting teacher and I love sitting on her antique sofa and hearing about her life.  When she was in college she lived in the Beehive house!  It used to be a girls boarding house...is that so cool?!  She and Gary have served 3 missions (they are on their 3rd one right now, serving in the cannery two days a week) one in Africa and I can't remember where the other one was, but someplace exotic.  They are just wonderful, wonderful people!  We are welcome in their yard (and playhouse!) anytime, welcome to help ourselves to their amazing plot of kale (which we use in green smoothies almost every day!) even if they aren't home..."come anytime" that's about as neighborly as you can get!  They have a greenhouse and so many of these garden beds, a brick path leading around the yard, it is a perfect play place!  Gary's health hasn't been too well lately (he did have a heart attack not too long ago) and Judy is having sciatic problems.  We went over last week to help with some yard work (and make s'mores again!) so here's a few pictures from our fun evening there...and of that amazing playhouse.  You will see our neighbor boy Zach was there with us too...