Good bye Thanksgiving and Hello Christmas!

All the beautiful trees outside our apartment are now bare. It is getting super cold too!!
The Dessert Table

I can't believe it is already the Christmas season. We even put up a little Christmas tree in our apartment yesterday so we are all set. We continue to be so blessed on our mission. I took my damaged iPhone to the Apple Store to see if we could get it repaired and they GAVE me a new phone to replace my shattered back iPhone. (I didn't buy the insurance plan when I purchased the phone.) Then after leaving the Apple Store, we were at a stop light and a car ran into the back of our car, hitting us pretty hard. The police came. The paramedics came. The fire department came. The bad news, the guy that hit us took off. The good news, although Craig got hurt and had a lot of neck pain, within a few days he was fine and I didn't get hurt at all. Also when we got out to examine the damage to our car, we could not even find a scratch. Miracles do happen! I think we have angels watching over us.

We attended Zone Conference in Grand Rapids and had the opportunity to hear Elder Ringwood of the Seventy and his wife speak. It is the season of Thanksgiving and I especially liked this scripture Elder Ringwood quoted found in Alma 34:38 "That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you."

We hosted a Thanksgiving dinner here at the Institute for about 21 people and it was a fun day, but super busy. Our classes are going well and we continue to enjoy the young adults we serve here.

Been keepin' busy....

We went to the Detroit temple for our first time today with a group of our YSA folks. Had a wonderful time. A lengthy sealing session and then we all gathered at the "Original House of Pancakes" on Woodward Avenue (home of the annual "Woodward Ave Dream Cruise" for the car guys) for a great breakfast. Since our session was at 8:00 AM we had to leave Lansing at 6:00 AM to make it. Chilly and dark, but a great day. What an impressive bunch of young people! Big week coming up, with not only our usual teaching and prep schedule, District Meeting, CES Meetings - not to mention Friday lunch preparation - but also Zone Conference in Grand Rapids on Thursday....We will have a General Authority presiding so are really looking forward to it.

Last week we finally found an uncommitted evening, so walked to the Wharton Center on campus to see "Mary Poppins". It was SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPEALIDOCIOUS (sp)! Only about a 15 minute walk from our apartment, and a beautiful facility. There seems to be lots to do on campus and it doesn't hurt to live right across the street....

There are a couple sets of railroad tracks that cross campus - one is only about a block south of our apartment. You'd think the frequent train traffic would be kind of annoying, but we are really enjoying it. Mostly very long freight trains but some passenger as well. Kind of a reminder of living in Orland and hearing the "Shasta Daylight" go by at 5 AM every morning blowing it's horn and rattling our windows. Seriously, we really are liking it. Maybe it's because all us young kids like trains, right?

Been adding to our "lighthouse collection" as time permits. This is Little Sable Point light between Muskegon and Ludington on Lake Michigan. Built in 1874 and well preserved! Have I mentioned how beautiful Lake Michigan is? I understand it's water has been been quite warm

(like in the 70 degree range) recently, creating what the locals call "lake effect". That's code for some seriously interesting weather systems when the warm air from the lake meets the cold wind blowing down from the north across the lake.

This is a little hamlet on Lake Michigan north of Whitehall with a lot of Michigan charm!

In front of the lighthouse museum at the White River lightstation on Lake Michigan west of Whitehall. Very cool museum! Oh, yes...brisk air as well!

White River Lightstation. Oh yes...factoid for the day...last week we observed the anniversary of the sinking of the ore ship Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior near Whitefish Point in the mid '70's. Gordon Lightfoot's song about it was at the top of the charts for a long time. Imagine a 700 foot long ore ship taking a nose dive to the bottom in 529 feet of water, then breaking in half with about 200 feet of it still sticking up in the sky! A very interesting story, and still talked about in northern Michigan. There is a shipwreck museum on Lake Superior that I'm really looking forward to visiting some day.

Muskegon South Breakwater Lighthouse (1903)

It is Getting Cold!!

Every day before we leave the apartment, I check the temperature for Lansing, Half Moon Bay, Clovis, Salt Lake City, and New York City and we have been winning the prize lately for the coldest temperatures. We have been in the 20's last week so I guess winter is on its way. Yesterday we raked leaves for this lady as a ward service project I have never seen so many leaves and she had a HUGE yard. I can't remember the last time I raked leaves so it was lots of fun and the lady so appreciated our help, even fixed us hot apple cider. Her yard was gorgeous and went all the way to a beautiful little lake. She said it freezes over in the winter and invited us all back to go ice skating this winter. Michigan is such a fun state. Afterward we roasted hot dogs, etc. outside and it goes on record as being the coldest BBQ I have ever been to---even with a hat, cloves, and parka on, I was still freezing.

Loved hearing from all my children on my birthday and the fun surprises they sent me. One of the gifts Heidi and Heather sent me was a new apron. It is really adorable and I had to laugh at myself this past week as I was preparing for the lunch for Friday Forum. There I am in the kitchen cooking away in my dressy clothes with this frilly apron on and high heels. I looked just like the perfect 50's mom in the kitchen fixing dinner for the family.

The framed picture is one we purchased in Nauvoo as our birthday and anniversary presents to each other and a wonderful memory of such an amazing place! The picture is a touching reminder of our family's pioneer heritage.

Last week seemed to be super busy as we also needed to attend a Missionary Training Meeting with President Jones on Tuesday and Wednesday. The meetings were wonderful and once again, I am so impressed with the young elders and sister missionaries in this area. They all work so hard and we really learn so much from them. We also attended a baptism and gave away two Book of Mormons.

One of our craziest experiences, and a real first for both of us, was being ushered to the basement because of a tornado warning. (We are only used to earthquakes and tsunamis.) Elder Poulsen was just beginning to teach a class at Hillsdale College when someone opened the door and told us that we needed to vacate the classroom and go to a safe area. We had heard lots of sirens, but we didn't have a clue what was going on. We hung out in the basement hallway with a few hundred college students for about an hour until it was safe to leave.

A little side note. The picture of the trees at the top of our blog, really do look like this in the peak of the fall-----unbelievably gorgeous!!!

I was reminded of this profound quote today from Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who worked among the poor in India most of her life: "If you judge people, you have no time to love them." May we all reach out in love and kindness to all.

District Meetings

We have the opportunity every week to meet with these darling young men. I am so impressed by how well organized they are and how dedicated these young missionaries are in teaching and leading one another. It is always a pleasure to meet with them. We really fit right in.

I Love the People of Michigan

A couple of weeks ago after we had been running errands, I notice I no longer had my cell phone. It was a sick feeling as I have so much information stored on that phone and it was also fairly new, and I really had no idea where I had lost it. We searched everywhere we had been asking if they had had an iPhone turned it at various lost and founds. The only thing I could think of was that it was on my lap and I may have dropped it when I got out of the car. My dear husband spent all hours of the night downloading programs that could track the phone's location, but with out success as we figured the phone now was dead. Two days later in the late evening we got a call from a man saying he had our phone. He and his wife had found it in the parking lot and because it had been run over by a car and looked like trash, their first thought was to throw it away. Then a light came on and they decided to keep it and try to find the owner. Neither one of them have a cell phone so they didn't know anything about the phone so they took the time to take it to an ATT store for help. At the store, they had it charged and checked the phone numbers which of course were all numbers out of the area, but they apparently decided to call Craig Poulsen because there were lots of calls to him. We immediately went to get my phone and I will be forever indebted to my two heroes, my two angels!!! I was horrified when I saw the phone, but it seemed to work and so I decided to take pictures of my new found friends, Dan and Linda Frayre. A new case to cover the back and my phone works as good as new. What a miracle! I love the kind people of Michigan!!!!!