Happy May Day

When I was a little girl and we lived in San Diego, we would celebrate May Day.  We'd weave little baskets of paper... or maybe it was that we'd weave paper through strawberry baskets and then put flowers into them and take them to neighbor's houses.

There was a little old lady who lived across the street.  She was always so nice to us.  We'd put the basket on the doorstep and ring the bell and run away.  So today I send you virtual flowers!  Enjoy.

It's amazing how events LOOM when they are approaching and then... after they are finished, in just a few days they seem so far away. Like it happened such a long time ago. That's the way it feels with our Women's Retreat.  Yes, we need to evaluate and assess, see what went well and what needs to be improved upon. And we will start planning the next event.  But with worry and stress gone, the retreat suddenly doesn't seem so big after all.

This week I tried to get into a more relaxing routine with my writing.  I had a project to do each day and managed to pretty well get it done. Video script, Tech website, business articles and reaching out for new jobs.  I had a 3 day course on LinkedIn and got some good tips. And I made my hotel arrangements for the AWAI Bootcamp in Delray Beach and found a roommate to share expenses.  It was a sad day that brother Steve fell from grace and no longer has Marriott Elite status.  No concierge lounge and free breakfast for me this year. Sigh.

Tuesday we heard that Nathan would be returning from his mission on Friday.  He is receiving a medical release. He had been struggling with anxiety and depression. After he receives treatment, he may choose to continue his mission stateside, or move on to new challenges.  We are pleased with the hard work he has put into serving the Lord and wish him well as he moves forward in life.

Kera found a trampoline for us and this week Tom put it up.  It's a pretty big size... at least it looks that way to me.  On Thursday we had the missionaries and a new convert and her daughter over for dinner. Peyton enjoyed trying out the tire swing, zipline, and trampoline as her mom and I chatted.

Adam and Savannah put in an offer on a house and it was accepted.  Now they are going through the inspection process. It's always a challenged to look at the inspection report and try to determine what is significant and important to fix and what is just "normal wear and tear" and is to be expected.  We wish them well in making good decisions.

Saturday Tom and I went to a Family History event in West Plains.  It was a good meeting with lots of information about how to do research. Tom learned how to index. I learned more about censuses and the un-indexed 70% of the church records online and how to search them to find my ancestors.

Saturday night an amazing storm rolled in.  In the late afternoon we got nearly an inch of rain in an hour or so.  We had wild winds, pouring rain and hail.  You can see some on the deck that Tom recently re-stained.

The pictures don't do justice to the downpour. You'd need sound to go with it. 

 

And here, the sun is coming out, and it's still raining!  

So we looked to the other side and saw a double rainbow.  You can barely see one in this picture.
 

Then, after dark we heard more rumblings.  Suddenly all the lights went out for a second... then came back on and we heard a clap of thunder and got more rain.

Today was the last of the Ward Conferences for the year.  This one was at Mountain Home... so I had NO traveling to do.  That was nice! It did feel a little awkward to be presenting the lesson as Stake Relief Society President Fox... as opposed to just Sister Fox. But I think it went okay.