April Fools

Well, there's no fool like an old fool and we got us one here!!! Dan had the nerve to tell his dad that he is twice as old as his son, Dan....for 23 more days anyway. That's better than being twice as old as his soon to be 45 yr old son!!!! And I guess Mindy is deciding that April Fools is not a good day to have a baby, so we wait!! There were a few presents, the biggest one being a new chair!! We both sit at the computer a long time each day....most of our contacting is done by email as is the posting of jobs and the seats we have are awful. Our avois du pois get numb and the circulation in our legs gets cut off and when we stand up, it's quite laughable----two cripples holding on to the wall until the circulation starts up again. And since we have a year to go, I figured dad should at least have a decent swivel comfy chair to rest his chops on. So we'll see if he can put it together. We had a free birthday meal at "Not Your Average Joe's". It's got good food, more upscale, so we dined out with the wine drinking crowd. I think every table in there had wine---except ours---just ice water--ho hum. But I ate waaaayyyyy too much and now I feel like a slug!!


The weeks are blending into each other lately and I tend to forget to write where we went and when in my calendar. I know we had Zone Conference in Nashua on Friday. Saturday was Senior Training. We have Elder Lynn Hilton and his Jewish convert wife here in the mission. In the 1970's he was called by the church to find the Lehi trail fron Jerusalem to Bountiful where they built the ship to come to America. It was quite interesting--the things that happened to let them into the various Muslim countries, the trail marked with water holes that were used in the frankincense selling trade and the uncovering of the small towns that populated the probable route that Lehi took. And the only place on that desert continent where there was iron for tools, big trees for building the ship, food that would grow, and water. Just a small oasis!!! It was with a pang of jealously that we said goodbye to 3 couples---especially the Marks, who are going home to Phoenix!!!!

On Sunday we presented the self-reliant stuff in a ward in Worcester and then met with the new Stake Employment Specialist. Yesterday we drove to Hartford to meet with the new Stake ES down there. I find Connecticut very interesting. It blends right into Massachusetts but it's different, somehow. I'm not sure what it is but the homes and the little towns are just......well, homier, or something. Probably just my imagination!!! Our leaders in New York are convinced we should have shingle to hang out somewhere----like an office---just a PLACE to put out a sign that say employment center. There's no way we can sit in an office and wait for people to come and see us. Distances are just too far, etc. But the Cambridge Stake Pres arranged for us to use one of the Bishops offices. We met with him today and decided that was not a good idea. His office is used for other groups too. The Belmont Chapel is right by the Temple and is kind of considered the "central" meeting place altho no way is it central to anything!!! Historically that's the way it's been. So they think we should have an "office" there. A new huge stake center is being built now and we will have a room to call our own but that's not til next year. In the meantime we'll just use a classroom one day and evening a week and see if anyone comes in. From the New York point of view it's getting "real estate"!!

It's been an up and down week mentally but that's not for public consumption. First time some things have really hit ME hard and I wonder why the heck I'm here. But we press on........