Lost

I came home from Lincoln on Friday. On my way home I wanted to make a stop at Cane's, a fast food restaurant known for its deliciously unhealthy chicken fingers. I wanted to take some home to Jen because she loves their food. As far as I know, there aren't any Cane's in Omaha and only one in Lincoln. But on my way to Cane's, I got very very turned around(LOST). Before last week, I hadn't done any driving in Lincoln at all, but now I know almost all the major streets and areas, because in the week I was there I got lost three times. When I finally got to Cane's, I had no idea how to get to the interstate, so I just headed in what I thought to be the right direction, and I eventually got to the right street. But I felt so bad about all the gas I wasted getting lost- it almost made stopping at Cane's not worth it. With that added driving time, the drive home took almost two hours. I was so tired I had to stop, so I decided to stop at a cemetery on the way. It's been on my list of goals for a while to stop and visit that cemetery before we move, so I am glad I finally went there.

It was kind of sad that the cemetery isn't being properly taken care of- there were several stones that were broken or sinking, and in one case the caretakers had just stuck the broken stone in a pile of concrete.

This cemetery is mostly German.

Who do you look to when you are lost?

Out and About in the City

I've spent the past week in our Nebraska Capitol city of Lincoln helping out a pregnant lady. She has five very sweet children, and her condition is such that she can't do any hard work. Yesterday she had me get out the kids winter clothes from the basement, and carry them upstairs to the bedrooms- it took about four trips up and down! When that was done, I got down three garbage bags of clothes from the top shelf of the closet, and then had to put them back up at the end of the day. I had to stand on a bar stool to reach! So I actually got my exercise yesterday. Today I just cleaned wooden blinds- there's really no efficient way to do that.

I've been staying with another friend at night. I have so enjoyed having a whole huge bathroom all to myself. It's so luxurious! In return for room and board I've been doing some work for her, too. When I get back tonight she wants me to get out her winter clothes too. At least I won't have to carry them up two staircases- she only has one.

I've been doing a lot more driving in the city than I've ever done before, and I doesn't stress me out anymore, but I've gotten lost twice. Navigation by street names rather than by landmarks is hard to get used to.

Highlights from vacation:

We got to see old houses, older than anything we have in NE. They were beautiful!

We went to the new Creation Science museum in KY. It's expensive, but very well done.

I was able to spend an hour in the Lexington, KY cemetery. It's beautiful and rich in history.

We saw family in Ohio that we hadn't seen in ten years.

Lowpoints of vacation:

We were in tents. Jen and I shared one and everyone else had the other.

It rained, and everything including us got wet

I had to cook over an open fire from limited supplies

The bathrooms were always a long ways away

We had to set up and take down camp more than five times.

There is the short version of our two week vacation.

Vacation does not mean you will have time to relax

In the last two weeks I've been to Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, and Missouri, and now I am finally home. My favorite part of our two week vacation was visiting the Lexington KY Cemetery. I'll post more about it later- we're still unpacking. When we got home we found that our water distiller had leaked all over the floor and it had gotten moldy and ruined the wood flooring. Ugh. And tomorrow Dad is being ordained as an Elder in our Church. There's so much to do!

Rainy days

It's been a turbulent spring season for parts of NE, but all the big storms missed us and we only had normal rainstorms in our area.

Raining in the sun- can you see it?

Now, though, spring is over and we are getting into the hot weather of July. We are going to be tent camping for two weeks at the end of this month. I fervently hope that the weather will be decent!

Independence Day 2008

“Let the American youth never forget, that they possess a noble inheritance, bought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of their ancestors.”

-Joseph Story

People in general seem to be very forgetful, so the repeating of the above quote and others like it should not be seen as a dull repetition, but as a necessary reminder.

"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood."
-John Adams

We spent our 4th of July in Nebraska’s Capitol, attending a celebration that included the recitation of the Declaration of Independence , a speech, and a dramatic presentation of the poem “Rodney’s Ride”. We got home late and crabby, but it was a day well spent.

Daughters of the Revolution
Celebrating Liberty in Lincoln, Nebraska

Vacation at our Iowa Resort

We are having a great time, relaxing and being lazy, doing fun things! We've eaten all the ice cream and the whipped cream, and we are working on the chocolate sauce. We've watched plenty of movies and jumped on the trampoline. We did get some sewing done, and yesterday we went into Omaha to volunteer at our Church library. We labeled about 50 books with the Dewey decimal system, and there are about 250 books left, or more. We learned the Dewey decimal system real well, though.

Our hosts' chickens are surviving under our care, though we were too scared to force the sitting hens off their nests to get at the eggs, so now there is a little chicky added to the brood, with maybe more to come. Won't our hosts be surprised when they get back!
Today, our last day of freedom, we are planning to go(if tornados don't stop us) see "Prince Caspian" and do some grocery shopping. Tomorrow and Saturday we will be at conferences all day and we will have to clean house Saturday morning before we leave. Then it's back to real life and responsibility on Sunday. Not that we didn't have responsibility here, just way less than at home. I think living alone long-term could make a person very self-centered, because there's no one to take care of but yourself!