This blog will be a bit more wide-ranging and include
miscellaneous family members & special friends & places,
not all in Africa.
When I saw this posted on Face Book, I just had to copy it.
No... this structure is not found anywhere in Africa.
It is a huge 400+ yr old Spanish fort in St. Augustine, Florida.
Before my parents built a new home on the beach,
we lived near this fort and it was my own personal playground.
I thought every kid had one of these "play-houses" in their hometown.
My beautiful youngest daughter Jeanette, with two of my grandchildren.
Kaleb has become a proud Cub Scout, complete w/ face painting.
and Alyssa is my hero... born @ 24 weeks weighing 1lb 3oz.
She is now a happy, healthy & fiesty little girl!
(She inherited her mother's stubbornness...
and I have NO idea where her mother got it) :P
Pretty sure there are at least a couple of my five daughters who can relate to this!
Grandson, Kyle, (left) had his birthday on Aug. 24..
He is serving a 2 yr. mission in southern Argentina.
This was taken with his companion on Preparation Day
during an outing to Puerto Madryn.
Sometimes the spouses don't get the recognition and credit they should.
This is Juli's husband, Art (left). He has a wonderful, ironic sense of humor
but, obviously, he's capable of being very serious
assisting in this "beating heart surgery".
The picture is part of a slide show & video produced by his hospital.
Daughter, Juli, is celebrating her birthday today (Sept. 18)
This is my favorite picture of Juli and me...
other than the ones taken on the day she was born
Juli's daughter, Amber, and her husband, Kurt, with just-turned
2 year old, Paxton. He loves tractors, so they took him
to ride on a big yellow & green John-Deere for his birthday.
Paxton's big brother, Kaden (middle) and nephew "D" (right)
also had birthdays & started kindergarten recently.
They are all growing so fast!
Some of the family members who have already
had b-days earlier this year did not get shown on the blog,
but I'll catch them on next year's go around.
Meanwhile, Jennifer & Nate's four have birthdays thru the rest of the year,
starting with McKay (2nd from left) today (Sept. 20)
♫Happy Birthday, McKay♫
This is the Bishop of our newly created ward, Bishop Aimé Ngoy.
We are so proud of him and all of our office staff. With this call, we now have a Mission President (President Jameson),
a Stake President (Thierry Mutombo), a Bishop (Aimé Ngoy),
a High Priest Group Ldr (Pascal Lomboto), a Stake Exec. Secretary (Fils)
all serving in different stakes, but all working together in the office.
President Jameson's calling is full-time. The other's require many hours
on top of their jobs, family and other worthy endeavors,
such as getting a Bachelor Degree ( as Thierry did & Pascal soon will).
Aime is also president of an English Club in Kinshasa...
They each are wonderful representatives of the Church in Africa.
Each day we have all kinds of birds visit us, like this dove,
because George puts crumbs out...
But he chases off the loud & haughty-acting magpies.
This large orange-headed lizard is also our pet.
He doesn't realize it, of course.
He comes every day to sun himself outside our sliding doors.
Since we have reflective glass, the animals can't see us
so we have a lot of fun observing them up close.
Our Gospel Doctrine teacher, Bob Koyondo.
It's a great calling and one I enjoyed in many different locations
for a total of about 18 yrs. But, I wish I'd ever been
as good a teacher as he is.
This has GOT to win the "Pajama of the Week" award. Somehow it reminds me of a can of Budweiser. |
An exquisitely beautiful Congolese woman wearing the African style dress with coordinating pants that is sometimes seen. It almost seems to be a Chinese influenced style, but I don't know for sure. |
When you are behind one of these "no-tailgate" trucks, full of big rocks precariously piled up, you can't help but think about a bump in the road causing one of them bouncing into your windshield. |
Monkeys are notoriously mean-tempered, but this one really LOOKS it! |
Sometimes you see a husband & wife wearing clothes made with the same fabric. |
We are constantly amazed at the size and weight of things we see being hauled along the streets by pousse-pousse & never tire of capturing the latest example. |
While we were waiting to get into the outside gate of our apartment, this lady in bright pink stepped out of a taxi. |
This is how most workers are transported... Standing or sitting crammed together, with zero protection from weather or accidents. |
I have been shopping in this grocery store since we arrived, but JUST noticed these items on the shelf. Can you guess what they are? |
2nd Trip to the Bonobos... where we saw LOTS of them this time!
I decided to delete all the pics from the Bonobo Primate Preserve
and put them in next week. But, this one won't "remove".
So, if it actually plays, it will be an appetizer for next week...
Elder & Sister Stagg (Dick & Suzanne) have completed their mission.
They were our upstairs neighbors & left within a few days of the Binghams (below).
They took us to the "Symphonie des Arts". It was our last outing with them.
They actually had family members meet them in Paris for 15 days on their way home.
While there, Elder Stagg was cruel enough to send a picture of a chocolate eclair
to President Jameson, (who also served a mission to France & loves chocolate).
A final farewell photo of our good friends, Elder & Sister Bingham,
who have completed their mission and returned home to Eureka, CA.,
where they are now known simply as Bob & Judy.
Judy is even sweeter than she looks & Bob is much friendlier than he looks
(sometimes I just can't help it!) :)
They received the beautiful Congolese dress and shirt
as a surprise going-away gift by some of the sisters
they helped train in their Humanitarian Sewing project
. Today, I received an email from her w/ a picture in her current choice..
a turtleneck & hoodie for the rainy & cool northern California climate.
She says she misses the sun... but, we sure miss them!
a turtleneck & hoodie for the rainy & cool northern California climate.
She says she misses the sun... but, we sure miss them!
First thing I love is the picture of the Fort. I almost didn't recognize it. I guess it was the angel. You also posted some great pictures of my family. I like the one of me and you but you can tell I am exhausted, hot and sweaty. I guess considering all I had done that day it's a good picture. We had a great time at Paxton's party and I love the piture of my three grandsons. That was taken last year at Paxton's 1st birthday. Art did a good job in the open beating-heart surgery. The surgeon mentioned him several times durin the telecast. They have a link at Providence Hospital of SC.
ReplyDeleteThe peacocks made me laugh becasue I remember you calling out to them. Have you learned howto call the monkeys?
I enjoyed your stories of all your friends. They all have incredible stories to tell.
Well I better let you go. We have to go get D. Just one suggestion before I go. I suggest you don't buy yourself a hookah. That might not go over well.