The Missionary of my heart

This is the newest report from Elder Key:
Everything is going really well over here we have a baptism scheduled for the 20th of November after church and a family for the 25th of December. Yes on Christmas day and both are going to be after church. Right now the one for December doesn't look too solid but we will work with it to make it work and put a lot of fasting, prayer and faith into it.
I am sure I will get another letter soon with some good stories!  Come back and check often.

Update on Elder Austin Key

For those who wanted to know how Elder Key is doing. Sept 8th, 2011 will be one year out, Then one to go!
Excerpts from his last letter :
"One of the things that I have been doing in my scripture study is I've been marking all the Christ-like attributes throughout the scriptures. I also am only reading a chapter a day and if it is short enough, two then. I'm trying to find something significant in each chapter that I can use"
"There is so much less-active work here that needs to be done. Its crazy, I don't know if I told you this but the two wards we are over have about 20% activity rate and that is with a full roster. So there is some cases we need to do repair work and in other cases we just need to light the fire underneath them to get them started. This is the thing Pres Monson has started to focus on is that the rescue effort is more so than it has been. That is all me and my companion has concentrated on lately and that is and has shown so many blessings for the ward and missionary work. I heard it put this way one time that "why would the Lord bless us with people to teach if we can't take care of our own that we have right now."
"You know me, I'm not the one to talk to everyone that I see and to hold a conversation for a while.  But, I have gotten so much better at it. It's almost like I'm a new person. So I definitely gotten better socially. The dislike is still there, but I'm trying to be better at it"
And last: "But the work of the Lord is going great and I'm almost a year out. Can you believe how much time has flown by? I'll be on the downward slope soon and that will feel like crazy. This is a really short time and it sure didn't feel like that at the beginning of it."

So as you can see, Elder Key is taking his mission seriously and doing the best he can. I'm very proud of him that he can humble himself to see his weaknesses and turn them into strengths!  He is trying to be more Christ-like and that goal alone will help him learn to love the less active people and look at them the way Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ do, as his brothers & sisters!
I wish I had more pictures to share, but getting a letter from Austin is such a miracle in itself, I won't push it!
Please write him, he would love to hear from you.  Support his decision in the mission field and thank him for his sacrifice, he needs it from you ... his friends.
Love,
Danette

Leaflets three, let it be......

Well, my new house is really gorgeous, I love the spring here, everything grows crazy!  My sister came over and helped me clean up the yard and throw out and pull wild things we didn't want growing.  I was a lot of work, but the yard looks great now. Still much more work though.  So my sister breaks out on Sunday in this rash and as the day progresses, it starts to blister and spread.  She used calamine & Benedryl to help.  Monday she decides to see the doctor, she looked like she had a horrible disease! I felt so bad for her!  Does anyone know if this is Poison Ivy?  Two different plants under the same fir tree.  What do you think?
The last pic is my sage, its just now blooming!

Anyway, getting some painting done and window cleaning.  Today Hal and I saw a Cardinal and his mate near our backyard window eying the nuts we put out. The Chicadees arn't shy!!!
  They were beautiful!

Cancer Protection: More (Veggies & Fruits) Matters

Cancer Protection: More (Veggies & Fruits) Matters

Thank Heavens for Wood floors!

Wood Floors everywhere here in the Northeast!  I can't believe how beautiful they are!  Everywhere we looked at houses, they had beautiful wood floors and most of them were very old & had lots of character. Our new home has all wood floors. We refinished 5 of them for over $2,000.  But I love the way they look.  I am going to post a photo here on my blog.

They all look different, but they are the same Oak. The lighting changes the way they look.  BEAUTIFUL

Yummy Oatmeal Date Bars

1 1/2 cups chopped dates

3/4 cup water

2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/3 stick margarine, softened (I used New Balance)

2/3 cup packed Br sugar (I used Splenda brown sugar, about 5 TBLS)

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 cup Oats

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

Cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Combine dates, water and lemon juice in a medium sauce pan; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 5 min or until thick, stirring frequently. Remove from heat & set aside.
3. Cream margarine. Gradually add brown sugar, beating at med speed with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add vanilla; beat well. Combine oats and next four ingredients; stir well. Add oat mixture to creamed mixture, stirring until mixture resembles coarse meal.
4. Press 2 cups oat mixture evenly in a 9-inch square (or improvise with what you have) coated with cooking spray; set remaining oat mixture aside. Bake at 375 for 5 min or until crust is puffy. 
5. Spread date mixture over prepared crust, and sprinkle remaining oat mixture on top.  Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Cut into bars, Yields about 16 bars.  
6. Stores in an airtight container at room temp up to five days (but they didn't last that long at my house!)

159 calories.  Or 3 points if you are doing Weight Watchers.  (Count as 1 Fruit, 1 Starch, 1/2 fat.)

FOUND A HOUSE!

After viewing about 30 houses on line & driving around to see where they are situated (on a busy street, arms distance to the neighboring house, having some land, lots of trees or in the "country") and walking through about 11 houses, we found the perfect house ( and by accident too!)

 Two car garage, the other is on the left side of the house, under the house.  Its a Tri-level.

 The back of the house has a deck we may enclose eventually?  Also, a small dining room in the back, with a door leading to the back yard. Its really cute.

 This picture is of the front door, we are going to paint it red, everyone here has a red door!  And sandstone rock here.

This is the back yard, we are not sure what this is, we think maybe they may have  had a swimming pool at one time. 
It is 4 bedrooms, two and a half baths, living room, dining room, cute kitchen, family room downstairs, the master room is the top of the house by itself.  We are not sure of the move in date, but we'll know soon.
We are pretty excited about it and can't wait to move in, Apartment living is not for us!!

We also  have beautiful wood floors (need some work first) and Hal has a small workroom in the garage.
We have to buy a lawn mower of some kind and a range.  Check back for more details & photos later!!

Elder Austin Key

Received a letter from Austin yesterday.  He was transferred to Irving Texas.  They had Ice Storms and then a snow storm and had no car!  He said they walked and visited members & were looking for investigators  The prior missionaries left no food in the apt and well..... he was experiencing sacrifice for the word!
He is indicating that Mormon.org is a big thing for missionaries right now and the church is all hyped up about it. You can get on that website and make a profile for yourself on there and he is encouraging us to do that. I will report on that here when I do. He told me he is on 3rd Nephi, his SECOND time reading the Book of Mormon, wow, I havent even got through it once this year, but I'm about half way!!!
He and his new companion sat down to eat lunch next to an older gentleman and started to talk to him, eventually they taught him the plan of salvation.  He had lots of questions Elder Key said and they made an appt to talk to him again later.  He was excited about that.
 The area conference they had really pumped  him up and he is determined to babtise the whole town of Irving!
He is such a good boy!  and we are so proud of him.

Weathering the Weather

Hey everyone!  We've been here now for at least 30 days and love this weather!  Yeah, you have to put on layers and yeah, its cold.  But we are prepared. Here are the things we've done since getting here:

1)  Purchases "all weather" tires
2)  Gloves & hats come with us each time we go out
3)  Long underwear is a must
4) We just changed out the window washer fluid to the kind that can't freeze in 30 degree temps
5) Stay home
6) Drive very slowly in icy conditions. (Sometimes people pass us, OH WELL!)
7) Looked at some houses.  It is always fun on a good day to check out the area.
8) We stop for hot chocolate a lot.  Yumm!!!

Here is a pic of Hal cleaning off his truck.  Isnt he cute?

We miss Harkins theaters!  Movies are expensive here!  So we won't be hitting the movies like we used to.

My job is going well too.  I like my fellow employees & the boss, Dan Keegan is great.  I am learning a lot about insurance and also sharing what I know with them.  I am excited to take on new tasks.  The pace isn't as crazy as I thought, and when it is, its actually fun.  I have my own desk and my own office.  I wish it was a bit more private, sometimes insureds come in and talk REALLY loud.  I will post pictures now that I got my camera back from the shop.  The door to the battery was broken.

Thanks everyone!! Have a great one!

I have accomplished much today!

Well for all of you whom want to know how I am...  I am good.  I did something amazing today and am proud of myself. It was one of my biggest worries. I drove in slushy snow!  At first I was scared.  I came out of our drive way with my Prius and I could NOT get any traction and so when I turned on the road, I went about 6 miles an hour for about 30 seconds.  NO matter what I did nothing would happen.  I kept putting along and finally got up to 23 miles per hour. A truck came up behind me and I thought for sure he/she would honk at me, but I guess if you live here, you expect that.  It was crazy!  I lost traction several times, slid a bit, but kept my composure.  I am discovering that I never panic or freak out when I face danger, but have a good strong composure.  AFTERWARDS, I fall apart!  haha.  

So I couldn't find this restaurant and pulled into a mall instead.  I sat there and pouted.  I got my second wind, plugged in the address in my Droid's GPS, which by the way, is awesome!  It said I was 1.4 miles from the restaurant. So I got back in my car and drove very slowly.  I can't believe it, I found it!!!  I really felt someone was watching over my shoulder and helping me out.  So got out of my car, pulled up the windshield wipers and went in to lunch with my fellow New York CPCUs.  It was wonderful, but more than that, I had faced my biggest fear! 

It was very satisfying!

While I was there,   a young lady told me she used to have a Prius too. She said they do not get traction in this kind of weather. I was surprised because several people told me this car would do well here.  She said it has something to do with it being a Hybrid car.  Hummmmm,  so what do I do?  She suggested snow tires with spikes.
Guess I'll be looking into what that costs now.

Thank goodness for service opportunities

Yesterday I had an opportunity to be of service to my fellow man.... or woman!  We heard about a women stuck in her apartment who was very sick. She was on a respirator from years of smoking. I guess the habit got the best of her.  She had been sick a long time, but now she is worse. Her son and her did not have a very good water heater and so the bishop was encouraging the landlord to come in and change it to a bigger one.  The water is very cold and no hot showers, no hot water to do dishes or wash your hands.  And with it being about 21 degrees outside this would be impossible to survive. But because she was very sick, she could not keep up her apartment and she was afraid the landlord would evict her as soon as he saw the condition of the apartment. When we walked in, there wasn't a place to even set our coats.  With gloves and our might, we began to tackle the big job ahead of us.  Where to start?
So me and three other ladies packed up garbage, recycleables, clothes, dishes and began the task. I had to boil water in a teapot to do the dishes and we used lots of bleach.  I think some of the dishes were left over from Christmas.
 But as I began the job, I didn't feel disgust.  I didn't feel pity.  I didn't feel sickness or anger.  I felt love.  Yes, even though I didn't know this woman.  I felt empathy & compassion for her.  What a horrible way to live! If I were in the same situation, I would hope someone would come in and help me out.  She has no family and just a 15 year old boy to help. We know how teenage boys help, don't we?
It took four women, two and a half hours to at least put a dent in the kitchen, bathroom & storage room. We are planning on going back today to do some more.

 I'm so thankful for service opportunities to help me be grateful for what I have.  The biggest thing I have is my health. I will do everything I can to preserve it.

I have a feeling as sick as she is, we won't even get a thank you.  But that is okay, Heaven Father will know and that is all that counts.
What is that scripture? "when you have done it unto the least of my people, you have done it unto me"

On my Way to Albany.....

Well, we covered 627 miles yesterday.  We went from Tucumcari, NM to Kansas City, Mo.  I can't say it was fun, but enjoyable to be in the car with my hubby!  Our cat, Mr Biggs, was freaking out a bit.  We have a pet carrier, but we took him out and let him explore the car.  He sat on top of it and mewed every once in a while.  At one time, he had his head under our coats, but his body was sticking out! It was funny. If I could have taken a picture, I would have.  I have a very funny picture of him, but I don't have the cord to attach to my laptop from my Droid to post it.  I will try and do it tonight.
Today, we are going to visit the historic LDS temple grounds and Liberty jail. (is that an oxymoron?)  I guess its named after the city, not anything else.  LOL

Our  Prius is doing very well on gas.  We are always amazed at how well it does. Plus it keeps us very warm and warms up quickly!
Leaving Mesa, AZ behind was hard and I finally shed a few tears the night before we left.  I tried to be tough, but I knew somewhere down the road I would be okay.  My sister, Patti reminded me once I leave, it will be better.  So many feelings came out and so many thoughts of others who had to leave so much  behind. I have to be positive & remember I felt good about this change in our lives.
I will post again!