We Filled Up Another Week...

Monday, September 7, 2020

Labor Day...how does one celebrate Labor Day. When we were first married, it seemed like all holidays were a good time to paint a room that needed it or get some big yard project accomplished. Now, we are retired and living a quarantined life. So we were not inviting family over as we were still waiting for the end of our 14 days of quarantine after attending Aubrey's wedding. Hmm...what to do, what to do? We talked of taking a drive but opted out of that since the roads might, just might, be full of holiday traffic. We postponed the drive idea for Tuesday. Hmmm....what to do, what to do? We both agreed we would have a pajama day in the basement watching movies of our choice. So that is what we did. First Claude got the kitchen in order for the day while I wrote a letter to Papa. Then we settled into the basement in our pajamas for the rest of the day watching movie after movie. 

The first one was 2001 Space Odyssey. Claude saw it was going to be on the television so he recorded it. Haven't seen this in so many years we both had parts we didn't even remember being in the movie. I remembered watching it before and not really getting what in the world it was about. This time I tried to pay better attention to what it could possible mean. After watching it, we determined we should ask our son, Jake, to help us understand what in the world the movie was about. Jake has a love of movies and really knows them well. He is also a deep thinker and we really trusted him to give us an explanation we could understand. I sent Jake a text and he responded. This was our texting dialogue.

Me: "Please help your shallow parents!! Just watched 2001 Space Odyssey. What does it mean?" 

Jake: "Try not to overthink 2001. For all the visual artistry, it's best to watch it as a very literal film."

Me: "It appeared to be the progress of man and forming other worlds."

Jake: "Aliens drop a monolith in prehistoric times and it provides an evolutionary nudge, depicted as early primates learning how to use tools/weapons. 

Me: "Then it appeared Dave was reborn or reincarnated to the new world.""

Jake: "Yup. What they do with Dave is in prinicple what they did with the primates at the beginning of the film. The book gets more into the details and compliments the film well. But you've got the basic idea. It's more that the aliens upload Dave's brain contents."

Me: "It moves very slow compared to today's movies. Your dad said it was a 1968 film. That is the year I graduated high school."

Jake: "I love the film, but yeah, it's slow. I also think that 2010 does a good job further developing the story, while being more entertaining." (See, I knew Jake would know the book and the movie and have an educated understanding of all of it. That's our boy!)

We had a good time picking movies we own and watching through them. We even watched the Eagles Concert in Australia. It was a good day. 

Tuesday, September 8, 2020

This would be our oldest great grandmonster, Raelyn's, first day of school. She sent pictures and asked if we were dressed like her. Raelyn is also in a picture with her dad, Drew, and her mother, Katelyn.

We sent this picture of us. I put on a purple t-shirt as that is her favorite color as evidenced by all the purple in her first day of school clothes.

Today we would also do our car drive. Claude picked out a route that took us to Cincinnati and across the Ohio River to pick up Hwy 52. This is an Ohio River Scenic Highway. We planned to follow it to Ashland, Kentucky and then home. Well...we actually thought about taking it to Ashland and then coming back to Cincinnati on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River. Alas, that was too long so we will do the Kentucky side at a later date.

We saw signs as we drove that indicated Ulysses Grant's birthplace was not far ahead. We decided to stop and take pictures. It was all closed up due to the virus but that was okay. I just wanted pictures of the area. First, the home Grant lived in the first year of his life. His family then moved to Georgetown, Ohio and he lived there till he went to the military academy. 

There were signs that described Grant's life and the area in which he grew up.

In this area of about a big block, there is also a church named in honor of Grant. It is the Grant Memorial Church. 

And back on Hwy 52 there is a small bridge over the Big Indian Creek that is named the Grant Memorial Bridge. 

I was particularly smitten with Big Indian Creek. I walked to the middle of Grant Memorial Bridge and took the first picture looking up the creek toward the land. I took the second picture from the other side of this little bridge where the creek runs into the Ohio River. So very southern looking to me.

Time to get back on Hwy 52 and drive a little more. We passed the Zimmer Power Plant. A little ominous...

We paused in Higginsport for Claude to get a speeding ticket!! No pictures. I thought about asking the nice police officer if we could get a picture but thought better of it. We haven't had one of these tickets in years and years and years. 

We also saw several beautiful bridges spanning the Ohio River. This one is from Aberdeen, Ohio looking across to Maysville, Kentucky. 

Summer is the season of road repair anywhere you drive. No different in Ohio. This was an automated stop light with NO traffic. We waited for a good while until we got the green light. Then we drove through the one lane area of the road with still NO traffic. But we were obedient to the traffic light. We weren't really sure the nice police officer in Higginsport had not radioed ahead, "Watch for that bright green Jeep. He might be good for a ticket!"

We did pass an interesting truck. No picture of it. But I did note that it was a truck to clean out port-a-potties. Its name was Johnny on the Spot. That was in Wheelersburg, Ohio. Clever, really clever.

This is the Ohio River Valley which means there is flat land along the edge of the river suitable for good farmland. 

We crossed the Ohio River at Ashland and drove Hwy 60 until we took Hwy 180 to I-64. Then we pointed the Jeep toward home. I took that drive time to post pictures of our drive on Facebook and to send some to Jake, who is not on Facebook. I sent them to Jake with this text, "There are many perks to being the wife of a living Claude." Okay, that only makes sense if you know that Monday we watched Ghostbusters 2 and there is a line in that movie that is very similar. I find it very amusing and quite clever on my part. Jake will well know the line. 

Raelyn's first day of school was so much fun that she came home and took a nap!! 

We also learned that Utah started their morning with hurricane force winds ripping through the area and dropping the temperature to below freezing. Our family is all okay with the exception of tree and home damage. They experienced different lengths of time without power and Internet. But all are safe. They closed schools and government offices. They closed their rapid transit and major roads. At one point they had 10 tractor-trailer rigs blown over on major highways. One of our nephews was headed home from work when he saw one and stopped his car to go help the driver get out of his truck. Claude's brother is at Camp Atoka up the canyon from Ogden and they had many large trees that fell over at the campground. He called Rick, his brother-in-law, to bring a big tow truck so they could pull down a few trees he knew were going to fall. It was quite an experience for the people in Utah. 

Wednesday, September 9, 2020

We made an errand run to Georgetown this day. One of the errands was to pick up my turtle bracelet that would not stay on my arm. Claude gave this to me for Christmas. It turned out beautifully and I have worn it twice since picking it up. Look how old my arm looks!! Yike!! Somehow when you are going about daily life you forget that you have live 70 years already. Then you see your reflection or your arm in a picture and you remember...yes, I have lived all those 70 years.

I was able to order Papa some glasses. They arrived and we picked them up. I took them to Papa and then I went to fill his bird feeder. Kathy was kind enough to pull up the blinds and crack the window about an inch so I could yell at Papa through the window. I managed to get two okay pictures. The first one is when he put on the glasses and could see so well. His hands went up in surprise. The second is him in his glasses. He seemed very happy with them. 

I stood at the window for  quite a while and Papa came closer and talked and talked. He really misses that interaction. He even told me my least favorite story about Elvis Presley killing the Louisiana Hayride. But he was happy to think and talk out his thoughts. I confirmed for him that his girls were all okay. I showed him pictures of his three great great grandchildren. We ended with me yelling at him, "Papa...I promise not to take nary a wooden nickel." as we both laughed. This is how we ended our in-person visits each time. It still brings him a laugh and so I end my daily letters to him with that phrase as well. It did my heart good to see him looking good and talking, even it was about Elvis.

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Wednesday evening as Claude and I were watching television there was something about French Onion Soup. Now, I know that Claude loves that. I went to find my recipe book with the crock pot recipes in it. That one was given away when I cleaned out my recipe books. I failed to get that recipe out of it. Next step, a Google search. I found a website named 101 Cooking for Two. Now that sounded good. So many things you cook feed lots of people. There are only two of us and Claude has learned how to pare some recipes down. But a whole website full of things to cook for just two people sounded super. They had a French Onion Recipe and I sent Claude the link. Thursday he made this recipe. Our home had the fragrance of that soup wafting through it all day long. It turned out really good and the recipe says you can even freeze it. Here is the link in case you are interested http://www.101cookingfortwo.com/easy-crock-pot-french-onion-soup/.

We also decided to make a trip for Claude's birthday. A short trip that will be social distancing friendly. I made our hotel reservations. More on that after we take the trip.

Friday, September 11, 2020

9/11. A day I'll remember forever. Driving to work I heard on the news in my car that a plane crashed into one of the twin towers. I parked my car in the parking garage and hurried up to the office to be sure others knew. Dick Kadish, the owner and president of CAPREIT, had the television on in his office and we all gathered there to see what was happening. Video played of the second plane crash and the story went on. I remember trying to get in contact with Claude who was working in Washington, DC at the Peace Corp. Phone service was awful and it was impossible to get through. I managed to get to him eventually by eMail and found he was okay but they were in heightened alert mode as this was terrorist related and they have people all over the globe. He wasn't sure he would even make it home. It was good to know he was okay. 

This year a friend posted this picture on Facebook and it really touched my heart. I share it now.

We got these cute pictures of Emelia and Raelyn. They were at Michelle's home. The little one in the pink pajamas is Michelle's granddaughter. Love these little bundles of energy and so grateful Michelle takes pictures and sends them.

Saturday, September 12, 2020

Well, we had been home for 2 1/2 weeks. Other than my allergies starting to go through the roof, we had no Covid-19 symptoms. I asked Andie if it would be possible for us to visit them this Saturday or either of the next two. We wanted to get a visit in before the Mini's head back to school and they have contact with all the other kids. Andie will start with her kids in class this Wednesday. We may not want to interact face-to-face for a while till we are sure about the virus. One of Bailey's friends father got the virus and was a first responder. He was on a ventilator for an extended period of time and when it was removed he died. The virus is very real for those families that get hit with it. Andie said they would be home in the late morning. It was okay to come.

Claude and I did errands in Georgetown on our way. Then we got on I-64 and headed toward LaGrange. We saw this car while driving. I have literally never seen this before. It looked like a back pack for the car. 

We would stop at Hometown Pizza and picked up our carryout order of pizza and salads. Bailey had the Rumble in the Jungle cross country meet that morning so she and Andie picked up cookies for dessert. We had a wonderful visit with the Marx family. I was able to give Bailey and Andie haircuts. We watched some of the things Hayden enjoys on television. It was just a good time for us to be together. 

Here is Bailey in one of the aprons I made them from Claude's old shirts. She looks great.

I took Andie the Kon-Tiki that she made in Junior High School when she was Bailey's age. It was fun for Andie to notice all the detail she put into this project all those years ago. She even put initials on Thor Heyerdahl's shirt. She carefully placed it on her mantel. I told her I have saved it all these years and I had not the heart to throw it away. She could do that if and when she feels so inclined. I think it will sit on the mantel for a while.

Then I asked Hayden if I could take a picture of his hair. He has not had a hair cut since the virus started back the first of March. He has wonderful curls and was very obliging to letting his grandmother take a picture. I took several and let him pick the one he liked best. This is it. Look at this amazing head of hair.

Then Hayden sent me this one he took. Oh My Goodness!!

Then Andie got into the act. She searched for messy men's hair styles. She came up with one we both liked. I sent her a picture from my phone of Hayden. She did some digital doctoring and came up with this picture of Hayden with a messy man hair style. Hayden was not impressed. Andie even put OC for Oldham County on the t-shirt. Love the boy. He was a good sport through it all.

The highlight of this visit was Hayden giving me a big bear hug when we left. Haven't had one of those since March. It felt soooooo good. Love my family.

Sunday, September 13, 2020

This morning we watched Sacrament meeting via a Zoom meeting. They put passing the sacrament at the end as this ordinance is not to be televised. After sacrament meeting, Claude passed the sacrament to he and I in our home, we did our reading and watched the Darin show. 

One of the things that happened was a change in our bishopric. Our Bishop was called to be the Stake President a few Sundays ago. This Sunday we sustained a new Bishop and two counselors. It sent this eMail to our young missionaries today about this experience. 

"This morning we sustained a new bishopric in the Georgetown Ward. Bishop Holt is now Pres. Holt and is our stake president. This morning we sustained Bishop Kevin Johnson, Dan Parret as 1st Counselor and Trent Parker as 2nd Counselor. What a great bishopric they will be for Georgetown Ward!!

"I am going to greatly paraphrase Bishop Johnson's remarks. Please do not take this as direct quotes as I only wrote key words to remember the thoughts he shared.

"His first words were Jesus is our Savior. (I loved that is the first thing he testified of.) Then he said Heavenly Father prepared this land and we are sent here to learn and experience and to work on our eternal progression.

"He cautioned that when we question it is usually focused on a small thing. If we look at the total as an eternal picture we can work with the small thing.

"Bishop Johnon then compared the ward famiy to the cross country family. Everyone chuckled. It felt like when Pres. Uchtdorf uses a flying analogy. Bishop Johnson spoke of how we each work out our own salvation as individuals just as the cross country runner is running on his/her own. This includes gaining a testimony and living by faith. But, eventhough you are running on your own, you have a team that supports and loves the other members of the team. When you feel discouraged, they are there to encourage you and help you by example and deed. Our ward family is like this. We support and sustain each other through difficulties (mourn with those that mourn, comfort those in need of comfort, etc.) I thought this was a great analogy.

"So...run the race you are given. And know that your ward family supports you with faith and prayers and all the love they can send."

Sandi Christensen

The Marx family gave Claude and I Oldham County Marching Band t-shirts for belated Mother and Father's Day gifts. We took our picture in them and sent it with a thank you note to the Marx family. I loved that they were clever enough this year to put the wording inside a corona virus shape! Very clever.

This afternoon I have written to the missionaries and caught up my Blog. Now I will write to Papa. Then I'll pick something else in the sewing room full of 'to do list' possibilities and try to make a dent in it.  Good week. Good day.

Back in Kentucky and the New Normal...

Well, now Blogger has decided it is time to change all their layout. They had a warning of this and I tried the new version and was not happy. Mostly because I am very used to the old layout and know how it works in the areas I need. I copy and paste each of my Blog entries into a Word file and format it and save them. The new Blogger layout makes that process more difficult. Ugh... Not everything has to be 'improved'. Just sayin'. So, I will now give it another try and see if I can adapt to someone elses 'improvement'. Can you tell I'm not pleased???

We are back in Kentucky and trying to get back into the 'New Normal' routine again.

Thursday, August 27, 2020 was our first full day home. We had a full day planned. I did send Katelyn the Butter Cake recipe she requested when we were in Michigan. I made this frequently when our home was full of kids and lots of people to eat these things. Not so much now. But it is a good recipe. I'll share it just in case you might want a good cake recipe. 

BUTTER CAKE:

1/2 lb. butter                        2 cups flour

2 cups sugar                        1 teas. vanilla

6 eggs, beat one at a time    1/2 teas. almond OR lemon extract

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 to 1 1/4 hours.  Can be baked in bundt pan.

We did a Georgetown run. Took Papa a treat. Did our walk at the park. Went to the bank. Had lunch from a drive-thru. Then we came home and got the laundry caught up. 

Friday, August 28, 2020 was riveting. I got a robo call and I called the Signature Health Care Covid-19 number to verify they still had no Covid-19 residents or staff. They still have none. Yeah!! I am sure that day contained more that these two significant events...however, I can't remember what in the world they were. Such is the 'New Normal'!!

Saturday, August 29, 2020 I woke up before Claude and headed to my laptop. Each year our Stake Relief Society presidency hosts a conference for the women in the Lexington North Stake. This year, due to Covid-19, we cannot do that in person. So they diligently put together an on-line conference for us. The title this year was ROOTED and the scripture it is based upon is Colossians 2:7 "Rooted and built up in him, stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." There were four on-line classes you could take. I spent Saturday morning listening to two of them. One was on Food Storage and Preparedness by Janet Kappas from the Owingsville Ward. Excellent class. Janet is the Queen of Food Storage. I took notes and shared them with Claude. The second class I listened to was by Darin Griffith from the Georgetown Ward about Improving our Come, Follow Me studying. Darin is the Church Education System guy in our area. The note I took from his class was:

IKEA the Doctrines & Principles

    I - Identify and Understand

    K - Know the Doctrine & Principle

    E - Explain the Doctrine

    A - Apply the Doctrine

Both classes were excellent and I appreciated and enjoyed my time in each.

In the evening Claude and I enjoyed the ABBA Forever program on the Public Television station. Excellent also. 

Sunday, August 30, 2020 we had a great Sunday morning reading for two weeks. We missed our reading the previous Sunday morning when in Michigan. So we read one block of scripture and then watched the YouTube video Darin Griffith does each week on the scripture block. Then we read the second block of scripture and watch the Darin video. We also watch the Worship Service for the Georgetown Ward via Zoom. Excellent talks by Shad (the son) and Dan (the father) Parret. It was a good Sunday morning.

In the evening Claude again had a Public Television program on Linda Ronstadt that we enjoyed. 

Monday, August 31, 2020 was the last day of the month of August. At this point I was immersed in my next scanning project. I have in our basement storage boxes of books that belong to Jacob, our son. I was looking through some of them for a possibile book to read and came across Jake's binder with his mission papers and letters in it. I thought it would be a nice gift to him to scan it and give him his paper as well as his digital copy of all of it. This has not morphed into a much bigger project. But I did get a lot of things done with this project on that Monday.

Tuesday, September 1, 2020 and we are into September...already!! Claude and I had a discussion about how, in a lot of things for two retired people, time has lost a lot of its meaning. We try to go to bed at the regular time each day. Some days we sleep in a bit. I often wake up before Claude. But that scheduling of things changed a lot when Claude quit being the mayor and doing all his political things. Now it has taken a huge nose dive and we often have to check our phones to be sure what day it actually is. That phenomenon of have lots of things on the calendar and trying to keep up with it all is GONE. We both make sure we have things each day we want to accomplish that are productive and not just lay around and eat bonbons all day long. So we both feel we are living a productive life but knowing which day it is, is not really a thing anymore. So the arrival of September just seemed to come very quickly.

This day Claude had an appointment at the doctor's office to check on his diabetes. So we both went in for this outing. Claude treated me to a biscuit and Mt. Dew from Bojangles and I waited in the car while he visited the doctors. We drove to the nursing home and left a treat for Papa. I filled the bird feeder and peeked in the window but Papa was asleep. There was a CNA in the room and she started to wake him but I asked her not to. He can't hear me at all and he would be in a grog trying to figure out what is going on. I'll fill the birdfeeder again this week and maybe have better luck seeing him through the window. Then we went to the park and took our walk. 

We finally remembered to take my bracelet Claude gave me for Christmas to Craven's Jewelry to get it fixed. It is a fun bracelet with a turtle for the clasp. The bracelet is one solid silver band that you slide your wrist into. The turtle has a loop on the head and tail and these fit onto hooks on the bracelet. They should pull the bracelet in to keep it closed. But the turtle falls off and I will loose the turtle. We were going to take it back and then the pandemic hit and it has sat in the box on my dresser waiting for us to remember. Hallelujah, between the two of us, we remembered this day. I received a text yesterday it is fixed and we can pick the bracelet up. We'll do that next week. The reality is that we aren't going anywhere to wear a bracelet. I may just have to wear it around the house one day to enjoy it. 

We each had one errand we wanted to try to accomplish. Claude's was at Lowe's and mine was to see if Kohl's had any capri pants I could purchase. These stores are right by each other in Georgetown with a street between them. I suggested to Claude that we park at the end of one parking lot and each walk across a parking lot to the store we wanted to go to. Then whenever we got thru we could each come out and have the car to wait for the other one in. This is the 'New Normal' after all. Claude did that and I was grateful to have the car to sit in when I finished not finding any capris. May I just add here for historical purposes that the stores have really lightened their stock. Shelves have a few of each size and racks have only 4 or 5 items hanging on them. There are fewer racks and displays and as a consequence there is just not the choice you had before. 

We finished our outing with dinner at the Burger King drive-thru. 

Wednesday, September 2, 2020 we made a Lexington run. Claude had some things to do and I tagged along for moral support. I waited in the Jeep as he did his things. Then he waited in the Jeep as I went in to Hobby Lobby. I wanted to check for elastic. I wanted to make some white masks in case we need them in the future for the temple. I found elastic and white fabric. I also purchased some white flannel. One of the things I want to clean out is scrap fabric by making some rag baby blankets. I have scraps of fabric but not the flannel for between the layers. I was very happy to find what I found. Claude treated me to lunch from Chipotle's. Then we stopped for gasoline at Love's on the way home. 

My sweet friend, Laura, sent me a picture of a Christmas card she purchased for me and found when going through things in her home. I love it. I do enjoy Groupon. Laura knows me well. We determined it was a good thing to have Christmas in September. Especially this year.

On Facebook it gives you a look back at a post from a previous year. This day it showed a fun family memory. It was of a bench Claude made after we visited Josephine Sculpture Garden. Our family came to visit over Labor Day and we had a fun afternoon with the kids painting whatever they wanted on the bench. Bailey thought outside the box and painted a lovely picture on her leg. It was great fun. I reposted the picture with the statement that when this silliness is all over, we need to add another layer of paint to our family bench. Everyone agreed. 

Katelyn and Drew have invited an exchange student from Sweden named Raoul Dalin into their home for this school year. They picked him up at the airport this day. 

Thursday, September 3, 2020 Claude and I acted on something we had been talking about on our next step to clean out things in our home. We went into a closet where we have some food storage and the grandmonsters toys. I have some water stored there in repurposed juice bottles. We decided to get rid of at least a third of those bottles. Then we went through all the items on the top shelf and trashed and gave away a lot of it. 

Then it was back to the storage in the back of the basement. Claude and I had cleared off one shelf already through projects we are working on. He moved all the camping gear to that empty shelf and we now had a metal shelf we could give away. Then we combined all of the items we store for Jake from two different sides of that storage room onto the shelves where I have canning things stored. Now when Jake comes he can easily go through his things and see what he wants to do with them. This left another empty tall shelf in the back of the storage area. I moved all my house decorations (silk flowers, bird houses, etc.) for each season to that empty shelf. This left the second metal shelf to give away. These two metal shelves have now been spoken for and will be picked up later today. Claude and I agreed that the house felt lighter. 

One of the fun things is seeing what we have saved over the years. Our middle child, Andie, took several AP (Advanced Placement) classes in Junior High School. In one of these she made a replica of the Kon Tiki. I have saved it all these years. I'll just add here that Andie is in her late 40's now so I have had this item for many years. Andie says she at least needs to be sure her kids see it. 

Friday, September 4, 2020 This has been a rough last few months for our grandson-in-law, Drew. His grandmother on his father's side passed away a month or so ago from Covid-19. This last week his grandfather on his mother's side died from pancreatic cancer. 

I wanted to take Papa a treat. Claude drove me into Georgetown and we dropped off the things at the nursing home. Then we walked at the park. Then we drove to Formaggio's and ordered pizza and Caesar salads and ate them in the Jeep. Claude then suggested we go to Dairy Queen and have ice cream for dessert. No argument from me on that one. I sent a text to Jake telling him we were out and about and that his Dad was treating me to DQ. Jake quickly replied, "Watch. Your. Step." It was August the 3rd, 2019, that I fell at a Dairy Queen and ended up losing my three front teeth. Jake is a smarty trousers. I assured him all was done at a drive thru and I would be safe...until we got home and then I would need to climb out of the Jeep safely without tripping. Love my family.

Jake has been very careful and social distanced exceptionally well. He sent me a selfie and said he actually reserved a spot at the Chelsea Library for an art exhibit. You had to schedule your 30 minute slot to walk through the art exhibit all alone. Jake loves his library and has volunteered there. This was his first time in six months being back in the library and it felt good to him to be there. Yeah Jake!!

Now that Katelyn has to leave her girls on occasion with someone. Michelle often watches the girls. She is a saint of the highest order. She truly loves the girls. Michelle had the girls and posted these picture of our Emelia. Oh be still my heart. Such a cutie.

This day I finished scanning the first binder from Jake's mission and started on a notebook full of letters and eMail's he wrote while at college. Yeah me!!

Saturday, September 5, 2020 Claude suggested we start our day with a biscuit from Hardee's for breakfast on the front porch. We enjoy these times to just be quiet together. This morning I noticed that my turtle plant was beginning to blossom. This is a plant the Marx family gave to me for my birthday several years ago. It has blossoms that are a light purple and they look like turtle heads. Now my favorite color has always been purple in all its shades and my favorite word it turtle, so this is really the perfect gift for me. It grows really well in our front flower beed. However, for the last few years the deer have decided that the tops of these stems are a real delicacy and they have eaten everyone. This year we have not had the deer eating out of our front flower bed. Hence, we were surprised to see these blossoms starting to open. I just love them.

I enjoyed this posting on Facebook about wearing masks.

I focused on finishing the scanning of Jake's correspondence folder. Then I searched for the next mission binder. I found it but I also found a paper folder of research papers he has done over the years. I got the research papers finished. Now I will start on the second mission binder. 

This evening we were invited to a wedding reception. We opted not to go. The last one we went to no one was wearing a mask. We just aren't ready to do that yet.

Sunday, September 6, 2020 we started our morning with our reading the scripture block. This time we read 3 Nephi 1-7 in the Book of Mormon. It was so interesting to read these chapters. The people vaccilate between righteous and not righteous so quickly and over and over again. By the end of the assigned reading they had separated themselves into tribes and each group had its own leader. I have often wondered at how quickly in the Book of Mormon the people fall from righteousness or become righteous again. This year, living with the virus, I can honestly say I can see how things change so quickly. Living in a country that is increasingly dividing again over racial issues and over presidential elections I can feel what the Book of Mormon has recorded in its pages. Claude and I talked for a bit and both agreed that the thing that kept those people strong and made the change in peoples lives for the better was the Word of God. It is critical to people to hear it and then let it work in their lives to make the changes so they are obedient and righteous. The Word of God is critical to help those who have remained righteous to stay grounded and strong so they can endure the difficulty of the times in which they may live. I am grateful for my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am grateful for my understanding of the Plan of Salvation and the importance and necessity of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. These understandings and the keeping of covenants I have made keep me on the right path, influence my use of agency, and keep me strong in adversity. I know this to be true and I am grateful for it. It was a good Sabbath morning.