On Sunday 9 February we attended our Ellijay Branch.  Our speakers were missionaries Sister Wilcox and Elder Jensen.  They spoke about "hastening the work."  Sister Wilcox shared the challenges she went through as a teen to finally go on a mission.  She shared a quote attributed to St. Francis of Assisi:

"Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words."

Elder Jensen used Elder Nelson's talk from April 2013 General Conference entitled "Catch the Wave."  He shared how prayer became an important part of his life. He quoted from Alma 13:24.  "For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory."  He told us of “A Vision of the South,” a prophecy from President Spencer W. Kimball. He stated, "I believe that one day the South will baptize more people into the church than all other English speaking missions in the world together."  Eileen gave the benediction.

Brother Tony Stanley took me aside and extended the calling to me of family history coordinator.  According to the Church's Handbook of Instructions Vol. 2, the name of the calling should probably be family history consultant.  So we shall see what is planned for me.

After church we drove to the Gilmer County Medical Center and I met Brother Jay Hanks there to give a member of our branch a priesthood blessing (James 5:14) "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord."  I anointed her head with the consecrated olive oil.  Jay and I laid our hands on her head and Jay sealed the anointing and pronounced the blessing.

At home I called the ETC Alarm people and found that I could go to their warehouse tomorrow morning to get a new battery for $10.

We enjoyed watching the women's biathlon, women's speed skating, the men's and women's figure skating, women's snowboarding, and men's ski jumping  in the Olympics.

We had a nice visit from our home teachers, David and Caroline Echard.

I finished reading "Across the Plains" by Robert Louis Stevenson.  The first part of the book was about his crossing the plains.  The remainder were essays which were about as incomprehensible as most poetry.  I have read "Treasure Island," "Kidnapped," "The Black Arrow," "Edinburgh Picturesque Notes," "The Master of Ballantrae," and "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Stevenson. 

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

I watched the Bible video "Jesus Heals a Possessed Man."  You may watch it at the following link:

http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-10-022-jesus-heals-a-possessed-man?category=bible-videos-the-life-of-jesus-christ&&lang=eng

I read the Book of John chapter 13.

We started packing for our drive to Florida tomorrow.

On Monday 10 February I went to the ETC Work Center on Progress Rd. in Ellijay first thing in the morning and got a new battery for our home alarm system.  I went to Walmart for gas and they had gone up eight cents in one day to $3.179!  According to the GasBuddy app on my iPhone, gas was $3.129 at Kroger in Jasper.  So we got gas at Kroger as we headed south to Florida.  

We finished packing and headed south about 10:20 am.  We stopped at the Cracker Barrel in Macon off I-475 for lunch.

It's now a regular stop for us at Sam's Club in Valdosta for gas, even though it's up to $3.099.  We don't want to buy gas in Florida at their higher prices.

We arrived at Russ's in Brooker safe and sound.  Unlike previous trips when Russ brought Sue here, Sue's husband David and their daughter Megan brought Sue.  We all went out for dinner at Conestogas in Alachua.  It was delicious as usual.

David, Eileen, Sue, and Megan

Sue, Megan, and David

An interesting plaque on the wall

 I posted the following on Facebook: 

“Looking heavenward should be our lifelong endeavor. Some foolish persons turn their backs on the wisdom of God and follow the allurement of fickle fashion, the attraction of false popularity, and the thrill of the moment. Their course of conduct resembles the disastrous experience of Esau, who exchanged his birthright for a mess of pottage.

"And what are the results of such action? I testify to you today that turning away from God brings broken covenants, shattered dreams, and crushed hopes. Such a quagmire of quicksand I plead with you to avoid. You are of a noble birthright. Eternal life in the kingdom of our Father is your goal." – Thomas S. Monson.

President Thomas S. Monson. 

Later at Russ's I worked on my blog and Eileen enjoyed more of the Olympics, men's speed skating and women's downhill skiing.

On Tuesday 11 February we all went to Shand's for Sue's oncology procedure.  Today the radioactive seeds will be placed to combat the cancer cells on one lobe of her liver.  It was nice that it was at 9 am instead of 7 am, although she was still the first patient of the day.

I read the Book of John chapter 14.

I watched the Bible video "The Christ Child is Presented at the Temple."  This is the first time that I have watched one of the videos on my iPhone.  You may watch it at the following link:

http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-10-006-the-christ-child-is-presented-at-the-temple?category=bible-videos-the-life-of-jesus-christ&&lang=eng

While waiting for Sue's procedure to finish, we met a therapy dog named Rackley, a goldendoodles hybrid, a cross of golden retrievers and poodles.  Absolutely adorable!

Even though we were told that implanting the radioactive seeds would not take as long as the preparatory procedures, it took a long time due to some challenges that were encountered.  We didn't see Sue until 5:20!  Dr. Horvath explained that all of the radioactive seeds couldn't be placed, so they will see how much got done.  Then they and Sue will evaluate how to proceed next, either with more radioactive seeds or chemo delivered directly to the cancers.

Back at Russ's, David, Eileen, and I watched more of the Olympics with snowboarding and couples' ice skating.  Megan stayed at the hospital with Sue.

Sue and Megan

On Wednesday 12 February David left early to be with Sue at the hospital.  We got up later and went to the Edible Arrangements store to pick up the arrangement Eileen had ordered for the hospital staff in the Patient Holding area.  We also got a smaller one to bring back to Russ's to help cheer Sue up.

I dropped Eileen off to take the arrangement to the Patient Holding area.  Then I picked her up and we went across the street to the new building where Sue is.

The newer building at Shand's

The front of the older building as seen
from Sue's room 8250 in the new building 

Sue will have blood work in two weeks in Ft. Lauderdale and if all is well with her liver she'll return to Shand's for another procedure.  The implanting of the radioactive seeds was about 25% of what they had hoped to do, but it was in the area of the most cancer in that lobe of her liver.  The next procedure will probably be chemotherapy embolization rather than more radioactive seeds.

I published my blog entry for last week.  Eileen worked this afternoon on her chicken and dumplings for supper which was yummy!

In the evening Eileen, Sue (until she fell asleep), David, and Megan watched some of the movie "Frozen" on Megan's laptop.

My sister Lib called from New York to see where we were and how we are doing.  She's expecting more snow up north.  North Georgia is blanketed with snow and wintry mix. This is the third time that we've come to Florida for one of Sue's oncology procedures and missed the awful weather at home!

Eileen and Megan enjoyed the pairs figure skating at the Olympics.

I finished reading "The Third Kingdom" by Terry Goodkind, the most recent of a long series of sword and sorcery novels.  It was a Christmas present from Eileen and it only took a few days to read as I read it almost non-stop.

"The Sword of Truth is a series of twelve epic fantasy novels written by Terry Goodkind. The books follow the protagonists Richard Cypher, Kahlan Amnell and Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander on their quest to defeat oppressors who seek to control the world and those who wish to unleash evil upon the world of the living. While each novel was written to stand alone, except for the final three that were intended to be a trilogy, they follow a common timeline and are linked by ongoing events that occur throughout the series.

"The series began in 1994 with Wizard's First Rule and Goodkind has since written eleven more novels in addition to a novella titled Debt of Bones. The last novel in the series, The Third Kingdom, was released in 2013. As of 2008, 25 million copies of the series' books have been sold worldwide, and the series has been translated into more than 20 languages." Wikipedia

On Thursday 13 February we were all up early and checked the weather on my iPhone.  We decided to head north hoping the temperatures in the 40s would make the roads safe as we got into North Georgia.  We enjoyed an early lunch at Cracker Barrel in Tifton.  I am trying to eat no bread, pasta, or rice products and my blood sugar has averaged 117.5 the last four mornings.

As we drove north the temperature stayed at about 45 degrees and it was cloudy in some places and sunny and beautiful as we got further north.  It was apparent that the Atlanta area was hit much harder than our Ellijay area.  There was snow along the sides of the roads until we got closer to Gilmer County. Then there was virtually none until we headed east from Ellijay toward our home.

It was very nice to get a phone call from Phil Messina, a member of our branch high priests group who lives north of us in Blue Ridge.  He did not know that we were out of town and was calling to see how we were doing in the wintry weather.

“Through the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood, Church leaders guide the Church and direct the preaching of the gospel throughout the world. In the ordinances of the Melchizedek Priesthood, “the power of godliness is manifest” (D&C 84:20). This greater priesthood was given to Adam and has been on the earth whenever the Lord has revealed His gospel. It was taken from the earth during the Great Apostasy, but it was restored in 1829, when the Apostles Peter, James, and John conferred it upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.

“The offices of the Melchizedek Priesthood are Apostle, Seventy, patriarch, high priest, and elder.

“Priesthood quorums around the Church focus their efforts on (1) strengthening individuals spiritually, (2) strengthening fathers and families, (3) performing missionary service, (4) fulfilling genealogical and temple responsibilities, (5) helping families to care for their temporal needs, and (6) watching over the Church always.

“The quorum is the main channel for training Melchizedek Priesthood holders and fathers and strengthening them in their priesthood accountability. Most of the spiritual work of the Church is contained in the responsibility of the priesthood quorum.”  Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

All was fine here at home, although we knew that the power had gone off due to the blinking clocks on the kitchen stove and microwave.  Thank goodness for a whole-house generator.

Our friends Ralph and Holly Hughes, whom we had called Wednesday morning to see how they were making out in their home north of Blue Ridge and got no response from either their home phone and cell phone, called just as we got home about 5:30 pm.  They had a disaster in their home with a pipe breaking above their downstairs half bath.  The wood flooring and carpets all have to be ripped out with lots of other damage done.  They will be living outside their home for at least a month!

Holly and Eileen on a fake picture Ralph composed!

Eileen continued to enjoy the Olympics as she worked on preparations for Primary on Sunday.

I worked on some Motyer genealogy, the Motyer's being related to the Wingood's.  Later I finished reading "Tom Swift and His War Tank, or, Doing His Bit For Uncle Sam" by Victor Appleton.

On Friday 14 February we admired the snow in the backyard out our bedroom window.

Our back yard

  

Our shed

Happy Valentine's Day! 

We got a text from Sue that she'll be returning to Shand's on 25 February to meet with Dr. George and have her chemo embolization on the 26th.  So we'll return to Brooker on the 24th.

Eileen worked a lot on Primary preparations for Sunday and I worked on some more Motyer genealogy.

We had a delicious supper using sausages that Russ had gotten in Florida for us and leftover sauce that had been in our chest freezer for a long time.  The sauce had been made by Eileen using her dad's wonderful recipe that we had enjoyed for many years.

Eileen enjoyed more of the Olympics while I printed four Family Ordinance Request forms (FORs) to take to the temple.

I finished reading "The Corsican Brothers" by Alexandre Dumas.  I have also read "The Count of Monte Cristo," "The Three Musketeers," and "The Black Tulip" by him.

Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870)

On Saturday 15 February we went to the Atlanta Temple and enjoyed doing sealings of couples and children to their parents.  We took the four FORs to the temple and got the many family file cards printed.  Most of those for individuals require all of the ordinances from baptism to sealing.

Atlanta LDS Temple

“The Sealing Ordinance Links Families Eternally

“While on earth, we can make sacred covenants (promises) with God in the holy temple through priesthood authority. Among these covenants is the opportunity for husbands and wives to be sealed (married for eternity) and their children to be sealed to them. This means that if we keep our covenants with the Lord and each other, death cannot permanently separate us. This sealing ordinance is an essential part of our Heavenly Father’s plan for us to live with Him eternally. (See D&C 128:9–10; 132:19.)

“Once we have made temple covenants for ourselves, we can gather our family history and perform temple ordinances for our deceased ancestors. This makes temple covenants available to them (see D&C 138:29–37).

“The priesthood power to seal families was prophesied anciently (see Malachi 4:5–6) and in modern times (see D&C 2). Both prophecies revealed that the prophet Elijah “shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers” (D&C 2:2).

“Elijah’s promised return was fulfilled on April 3, 1836, in the newly dedicated Kirtland Temple in Ohio, USA, when Elijah among others appeared and gave his priesthood keys to the Prophet Joseph Smith (see D&C 110:13–15).” 

On the way home afterwards we stopped at Amy's Hallmark in Canton for six birthday cards.  Then gas at Kroger in Jasper which was $3.079.

Sabrina Bayless called us when she got off work and we visited her at 5:30 as her home teachers.

In the evening we watched "America's Test Kitchen" and "Cook's Country" episodes and more of the Olympics.  And we started packing as we leave for North Carolina tomorrow afternoon.

On Sunday 2 February we attended the High Springs Branch for sacrament meeting.  The young elders are Elders Hales and Smith.  The senior missionary couple are Elder and Sister Faulconer who were here when we last visited.  They go home to Sacramento in April.

Branch Sunday Bulletin

Inside the Chapel

Elder and Sister Faulconer

Sue still isn't feeling well.  She said she might be able to keep down mashed potatoes, so I went to Hitchcock's Market in Alachua.  There are 10 of them in North Central Florida.  Latter-day Saints follow the Ten Commandments, which includes keeping the Sabbath Day holy.  We very rarely shop on Sunday.

"Sunday is not a day for shopping, recreation, or athletic events. Do not seek entertainment or make purchases on this day. Let others know what your standards are so they can support you. When seeking a job, share with your potential employer your desire to attend your Sunday meetings and keep the Sabbath day holy. Whenever possible, choose a job that does not require you to work on Sundays.

"Observing the Sabbath will bring you closer to the Lord and to your family. It will give you an eternal perspective and spiritual strength." For the Strength of Youth pamphlet (2011).

When driving into Alachua from Russ's home in Brooker, one passes an unexpected sight.  It is the Hare Krishna Temple.  I have never actually seen it as it must be well back from the road, but I took a picture of the driveway entrance.

We watched the Super Bowl (22-0 Seattle at halftime).  I finished reading "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke!  I had borrowed it from our daughter Heather.  It was very good and most unusual!

Susanna Clarke

"Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is the 2004 first novel by British writer Susanna Clark, born in 1959 in Nottingham, England. An alternative history set in 19th-century England around the time of the Napoleonic Wars, it is based on the premise that magic once existed in England and has returned with two men: Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange. Centering on the relationship between these two men, the novel investigates the nature of "Englishness" and the boundaries between reason and unreason, Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Dane, and Northern and Southern English cultural tropes/stereotypes. It has been described as a fantasy novel, an alternative history, and a historical novel. It inverts the Industrial Revolution conception of the North/South divide in England: in this book the North is romantic and magical, rather than rational and concrete.

"The narrative draws on various Romantic literary traditions, such as the comedy of manners, the Gothic tale, and the Byronic hero. The novel's language is a pastiche of 19th-century writing styles, such as those of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. Clarke describes the supernatural with mundane details. She supplements the text with almost 200 footnotes, outlining the backstory and an entire fictional corpus of magical scholarship.

"Clarke began writing Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell in 1992: ten years later she submitted the manuscript for publication. It was accepted by Bloomsbury and published in September 2004, with illustrations by Portia Rosenberg. Bloomsbury was so sure of its success that they printed 250,000 hardcover copies. The novel was well received by critics and reached number three on the New York Times best-seller list. It won the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Novel." Wikipedia

I read the Book of John chapter 10.

I worked some more on the Stubbs's genealogy in Family Tree on familysearch.org.

Well, an unbelievable Super Bowl! 43-8, Seattle Seahawks over Denver Broncos!! I doubt anyone expected such a blowout!

On Monday 3 February Sue still wasn't feeling well, so we went back to Shand's for them to take a look at her.  They did an ultrasound and said that it looked fine.  She got her appointment for Tuesday the 11th to have the "real" procedure done with the radioactive seeds.

We all had leftovers for lunch. Then about noon Russ and Sue headed south and we headed north.  We filled up the gas tank at Sam's Club in Valdosta, still at $3.069.  All got home safe and sound!  We made it by about 7:30 pm.

I went through all our mail that had been on hold at the post office and was delivered that day.  I opened two boxes from Replacements Ltd. containing dishes for Eileen.  Eileen needed a replacement of one of her Villeroy & Boch bowls, Acapulco design.  I could not order just that, so I had to order the bowl and saucer that it came with.

The restored photograph along with a CD containing it also came in the mail.  It looked marvelous!  It is a photo of one of Eileen's paternal great-grandmothers, i.e., her father's maternal grandmother Sophie Sorensen.  Here is the proof that was sent to us and the original that I had scanned.

Before restoration

Later I read the Book of John chapter 11.

On Tuesday 4 February we got up late in the morning and were relaxed all day around the house.  I ordered more of our tart cherry juice concentrate from Coloma Frozen Foods in Coloma, Michigan.  We take our vitamins, supplements, and prescriptions with it each morning.

I called Cherokee Toyota in Canton, about an hour south of us, for our car's 60,000 mile service.  The maintenance required light came on at 62598 though the sticker in the upper left corner of the windshield had 63598 on it. Probably a typo as the reminder in the mail had 62598 on it.  And with our trip to Florida we passed the 63598 mark.

I called our doctor to renew a prescription and called Clay Collins about coming by to remove a fallen tree with lots of branches that looks pretty ugly in the woods to the right of our house.

I posted the following on Facebook: The Lord Jesus Christ taught, “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it” (Luke 9:24).

“I believe the Savior is telling us that unless we lose ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives. Those who live only for themselves eventually shrivel up and figuratively lose their lives, while those who lose themselves in service to others grow and flourish—and in effect save their lives.” Thomas S. Monson

We enjoyed watching episodes of "America's Test Kitchen" and "Cook's Country" that we had recorded while away.

Eileen made a delicious supper tonight, sesame ginger chicken, a recipe from Kelsey Nixon of the Food Network.  It was wonderful, a lot like General Tso's Chicken at Chinese restaurants.

Sesame ginger chicken

We also had a request from Colleen and her boys to record Puppy Bowl X on the Animal Planet channel.  We thought we'd be home by 2 February but we were not, so it was a good thing I had set it in advance to be recorded.

So this afternoon I copied Puppy Bowl X onto two DVDs with a Sony device that Sue gave us several years ago.  It was 120 minutes in length.

On Wednesday 5 February we picked up the sister missionaries at Ingles and volunteered at the Community Food Pantry.  We had 167 families that came for assistance.  

Sisters Wilcox and Childs

In the evening we went to church for Eileen to attend the Primary presidency meeting.  

Back at home I worked on the Wingood genealogy.  Like the Stubbs previously they are related to the Frith family.

On Thursday 6 February we drove south to Cherokee Canton Toyota for the car's oil change and 65,000 mile service.  Afterwards we visited Amy's Hallmark for Valentine's Day cards and others.

We stopped at Appalachian Computer Services in Ellijay to drop off Eileen's old laptop to get it checked out and cleaned up.

Appalachian Computer Services

Then Eileen had a craving for barbeque wings, so we stopped at Shane's Rib Shack in Ellijay and shared 20 of them with Buff-Q sauce.  Spicy and delicious!

Shane's Rib Shack

We both checked out our blood glucose level in the evening.  Normally we only do it in the morning.  My meter would not work! I got an error indicator E 3.

On Friday 7 February we went to our appointment with Dr. Raisig in Ellijay for our blood work which is done quarterly.  Blood pressures were 118/70 (Eileen) and 116/80 (Ben).  Dr. Raisig told me to google the Breeze 2 blood glucose meter error codes and I found that E 3 meant that my meter was not reading the test disc properly.

Dr. Raisig's office

Earlier I had trouble accessing the articles in my daily New York Times email.  When I called I learned that even though the email was coming to my correct address, the email address listed with my account was my old one with Comcast from Maryland six years ago!  Hopefully I won't have any more problems.  It costs $15 a month.

Afterwards we had some time before our Kids Ferst PR meeting at noon, so we visited North Georgia Diamond in Ellijay and got Eileen a little something for Valentine's Day.

North Georgia Diamond

Then we had our meeting and lunch at the Country Corner Kitchen on the corner of Old Hwy 5 South and GA 382.  

We visited the Jolly Roger Seafood Market and got some shrimp and scallops.

After some more shopping we arrived home and I called Bayer about the Breeze 2 meter.  The lady on the phone had me clean the inside of the meter, especially the silver contacts and the meter worked fine!

We went by Peggy Espersen's but she was not home.  Then we visited the Taste of Amish store and we visited Darlene Burgess, both in Blue Ridge.

Taste of Amish 

In the evening we watched the opening of the Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

I read the Book of John chapter 12.

We had enjoyed attending RootsTech 2011 in Salt Lake City during our mission.  Eileen also enjoys watching Ree Drummond, 'The Pioneer Woman,' on the Food Network.  So we were surprised to read the following about this year's RootsTech and Ree:

"This morning's keynote speech at the RootsTech 2014 conference was delivered by Ree Drummond, known to many as 'The Pioneer Woman.'  She encouraged the several thousand attendees in the audience to use blogging as a way to record daily activities and events — even those who may feel they have nothing worth sharing.

"Drummond began blogging in May of 2006, using her blog as a way to physically document the life of her family. When Drummond got engaged to her now-husband, his mother gave Drummond a book filled with their family history. 'Something just clicked in my mind, and I voraciously read this book,' Drummond said. 'I was fascinated by the characters.'  Drawing inspiration from the lives of her husband’s ancestors, Drummond eventually decided to try recording her own family’s history."

Ree Drummond

"Ann Marie 'Ree' Drummond is an award-winning American blogger, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author, food writer, photographer, and television personality who lives on a working ranch outside of Pawhuska, Oklahoma."  Wikipedia

On Saturday 8 February I finished reading "Cleek of Scotland Yard Detective Stories" by Thomas W. Hanshew (1857 – 1914).  They were excellent!  Hamilton Cleek was on a par with Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot!

We watched figure skating at the Olympics.  Figure skating is a favorite of Eileen's.  We're going to home teach Peggy this evening and she invited us to supper as she had already invited the sister missionaries.  So Eileen decided to make a loaf of bread to bring, with her new bread maker!

Next we enjoyed skiing, speed skating, and the biathlon.  I worked on my laptop to present Eileen with a list of cruises, two of which we plan on going on later this year.

I was feeling poorly at home and took a nap for over an hour.  Two flu symptoms, fatigue and achiness, but no other ones.  

We enjoyed supper at Peggy's with Sisters Childs and Wilcox and Peggy's grandson Jared.  After sitting in an easy chair at Peggy's for an hour and a half and just eating two slices of turkey roast, I felt much better!

I presented the First Presidency message from the Prophet, President Monson, and we enjoyed chatting for a while.  On the way home we stopped at Ingles for some items to make at Russ's for Sue when we return to Brooker on Monday.

At home we enjoyed snowboarding at the Olympics.