Saturday and the Last Day of Conference

It will be good to get home. This is the first time in 50 years of Conferences that I've gotten sick. I have struggled through the last three days.  I woke up at 2:00 this morning with a coughing spell. I probably woke everyone up but I couldn't get it stopped. I drank a cup of water and finally hung my head a bit over the bed and that finally stopped it. I am packed and, except for my meds, ready to put my bags in the car.  I will pack those after breakfast.

Bob A. tells me Missy, my cat, is really unhappy. She is so spoiled. He too will be glad I am back.  I imagine she has tried his patience.

More later....

It took us from !0:30 until 2:30 to get home today. We stopped at Olathe to have a light lunch. I had broccoli cheese soup and an apple and water. Leslie had something a little heavier.  We got home and Bob A. was there. He had been waiting for us. Leslie was afraid he might catch whatever it is I still have. My voice is still nearly gone but it is better then it was earlier when I had none at all.

When I got home I finally found the bulletin I had made up before we left. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to change the date and it still had May 22nd on the top and my name as presider. That's why I initially couldn't locate it. I changed the date with a ball point pen and put Bob's name as presider on it and printed it off again. I still forgot to change the date before I printed it off though.

I watered the flowers and dead headed them and also watered the poor tomato plant. It was partly wilted again. I took Missy out for awhile but she does not like the 97 degree heat at all. She ate some grass and then was willing to come back in. Maybe I can take her out after it cools down a bit later this evening.

More later...

I just got to feeling worse and worse and finally took my temp. It was 100 degrees.  I just took my bath and went to bed at 8:30.

Friday...The Last Full Day

I still have not decided whether to attend the sessions today. Until I've been up awhile I won't know how well I feel. I slept all evening and through the night as well and I feel much better today.

We will not have our quorum work today. Instead we will have morning and afternoon legislation sessions and try to get most of the work finished today since the Conference legislation sessions will break up at 10:30 tomorrow. After that, there is a worship service before we leave for home.

More later....

My son posted another photo of the house today. This is the living room/family room.

 
I really like that floor!

Well I made it through the day! Many items moved right along. We have two hours tomorrow before we leave for home. The worship service is right after the 10:30 end of the  legislation. I feel better but certainly not 100%.

Leslie and I just stopped for a small milk shake for supper. We had a filling lunch.

She has gone to the International Hymn Celebration. I have very little voice so there was no point in my going.

Perhaps more later...

Joanne made me a cup of Camomile Tea  and then I took my bath. I still have a very rough voice but it is a little better today. I still am very tired. I am looking forward to getting home after the business meeting in the morning and the Worship Service afterward.  I am mostly packed and ready to go. I just have to pack my cosmetics after I finish getting ready in the morning.

Good night, friends!

Thursday and Progress

Today we are to make some progress on the agenda. I certainly hope so. Most of yesterday afternoon was spent listening to comments of dozens of egomaniac delegates who really like to hear the sound of their own voice. Some repeated almost verbatim when previous other speakers had said. Personally,I think the people in charge should limit discussion to thirty minutes before a vote. Sometimes these folks want to go on for an hour just haggling over whether a resolution should pass or fail. I think after we have heard five speakers of each side of the question, we should be ready to vote.

After the afternoon session, Leslie and I attended the reception Mark Scherer held to "celebrate" his retirement. Mark, who has worked for years on a three volume  history of our church was one of those that were "downsized".   They have closed the museum, the archives, and the book store after "downsizing" those who ran those areas. One of my old time friends, who had been there for 28 years was also "downsized".  It was a great evening though. He honored several old and valued friends with a gift of his third volume, which I bought right after I got here.

More later....

About mid morning, I began to lose my voice. By late afternoon I had a cough.The woman who sat behind me at the Elders Quorum on Tuesday morning, coughed constantly and did not cover her mouth. I imagine I caught whatever it was she had. Leslie brought me back to our hosts after the last legislature session and I took a bath and went to bed immediately. I slept all evening and all night and feel somewhat better this morning. But until I've been up awhile, I don't know whether I should try to make the sessions on Friday.

Wednesday at Conference

Perhaps we will get further into legislation today. Yesterday we spent the entire day on the budget. There were lots of questions because of the financial bind the church is in right now.  Some of us just didn't know how that could have developed so quickly. The presiding Bishopric was able to explain the dilemma very well though and so many of us were satisfied before we voted.

Now we can get on with the rest of the legislation.

I heard from my brother-in-law today. Missy is being difficult.  We'll see how good she will be after he gives her that freedom. She wants to go outside and he has not yet let her out. She's sneaky and will probably try to sneak away from the fourplex. He is going to try to let her out today and sit out with her awhile. 

Tonight Leslie and I will attend an anniversary reception for our church historian and his wife. They are holding it at a facility where they were originally married and had their reception at that time. I need to take the address with us today so Leslie can put it in her GPS in her phone.

I am making a concerted effort  to come back to my room and let Leslie have some time with our host couple without me being there and dominating the conversation. :) This also gives me time to check my e-mail and read my material.  I can receive e-mail but find I cannot send it...for some strange reason.

More later tonight...I do need to read today's material.

Tuesday and Another Day of Conference

This is another busy day of Conference. I got up at 5:00 this morning to dress and get ready for the day and also read the "Financial" booklet in my Conference packet.

Leslie is ready to leave so I will work on this later this evening.

More later....

Leslie has gone to the evening service. I am too tired to go out again.  I will stay here at the host's home and work on this blog and read facebook.

This was another huge day. They worked on the budget most of the day. This year the church has run into major financial problems, mostly dealing with a housing project they intended to start to be a source of funding. They have laid off dozens of employees. The church's  congregations asked what it would take to save the jobs of several dozen more and an emergency financial drive from the congregations raised enough to save those jobs.  We will institute a new tithing plan now of 10% of the household income instead of 10% of  the increase, which has been our tradition,  I am attempting to do that now and find that if I am careful, I can do it. At least I have managed it the past couple of months.  We have a new female head bishop and she seems very "on top" of the situation.  Hopefully things will work out if more people pay their tithes and if they get that housing project delayed.

This photo is the bar area in my son and his wife's new home. They will move in on Saturday this week.



This is the tub installed now in the home.



The finished kitchen.

 

French Polynesia group breaking out in song during a break in Conference.



More later....

Tomorrow will be another big day I am sure. Right now, I will get back to this later....

I just ran out of steam and had to go take my bath and go to bed. Tomorrow is another day. 

Monday at Conference and Another Full Day

I got up at 5:00 this morning and got myself ready for the day before sitting back in my room and reading the legislation for today over again. After 6:00, when I knew Joanne was up, I went into the kitchen to eat a light breakfast.

I wanted to start this blog while we had a little time. Joanne just left for the Stone Church.  Joanne is a bundle of energy. I learned yesterday that Joanne is taking chemotherapy after have a surgery last fall. She has already had her radiation treatments. Where she finds all the energy she has is beyond me. Most people in her situation would beg off that huge job of feeding Conference attendees. But not Joanne.  I talked to some of her kitchen crew yesterday and they think she is Wonder Woman.  After doing the pots and pans yesterday, she brought home two loads of towels and dish cloths. That's what I helped her fold yesterday. She just came in again. She just got started on her way and remembered the food she prepared for the dinner there today. So she came back for it.

I will need to finish this this evening.  It is time to go to our caucus meeting.

It was another exhausting day. The caucus was exhausting because dozens of people spoke into the mike and repeated just exactly what everyone else had said. I think they ought to limit speakers so the agenda could move right along.

Then we went to our morning legislation session. It was another trying day. The delegates were just dragging their feet on getting anything done...trying to be completely fair and let everyone who wanted to speak...speak.

We ate off a truck at noon and had a bar b q sandwich and some fries....very unhealthy, :)  

After the afternoon session......just as frustrating.  Then we went to the shopping center and bought a gift for our hostess.  I wrapped it as soon as I got back to their place.

Now I'm working on this blog but I won't get much done with it. Just too tired.  Maybe more tomorrow.

Sunday At World Conference.

It was another exhausting day but a good one. This morning was the Communion Service. It was beautiful. We had lunch at the Stone Church basement.  They  serve a  nice lunch and you see a lot of folks you know there.  I saw Jerry Nieft (misspelled) that Scott used to work with when he was a youth minister 30 years ago. He said to be sure to tell Scott "hi".

This afternoon we walked around the Celebration Village out on the World Plaza. We walked around a  bit and then we went into the temporary conference book store and I bought Mark Scherer's latest history of the church. It's called "Journey of a People". It is volume three. I will take it with me Wednesday evening when we attend his reception and ask him to autograph it. 

Then we went to our Elder's Caucus.  After we discussed pending legislation there we went to the Auditorium and had the legislation session.  It ended at 5:00 and we went by Sonic and had a mini Sonic blast for dinner.  Nothing else sounded good after all that sitting.

We did not attend the ordination service this evening.  My feet swelled after all that sitting today.

So we are just doing the "homework" that Steve assigned for this evening..prioritizing the agenda for the session tomorrow.

Leslie and I walked around the block after I helped Joanne fold towels and that walk helped the circulation in my feet this evening. When we got home we just visited  until 9:00 when we bathed and went to bed...exhausted.

Saturday At Conference

Saturday was an enormous day at Conference. My daughter walked into her meeting just in time to answer her name at roll call. I went into the registration line and picked up our packets while her meeting was being conducted. I met a neat woman from Wisconsin name Barbara in line and we visited until our turn to pick up the resources occurred. Then I saw her from time to time all during the first day at Conference.  In fact she sat with us during the Elder's Quorum.

We walked downtown to the Courthouse Exchange for lunch (about a mile) and ordered the Fish and Chips we usually have there. It was a huge order. We could have split it. As it was, we ate the fish and part of the chips (french fries) and left the rest.

The afternoon business meeting was mostly housekeeping business. We left after it was over and took our luggage out to our host's home. We visited for awhile before leaving for the Peace Colloquy. A woman from Nigeria was honored for her work in trying to get equality for women in that country.

When we got back to the host's home, we got ready for bed and sacked out. We were both exhausted.  Leslie must have been more than exhausted. She had been to her Relay for Life until midnight and then had to clean up and get home by 2:00. Then after three hours sleep, she came to pick me up shortly before 7:00.

Today is the Communion Service at the Auditorium. It begins at 10:00 so we are both online with her "hot spot" on her phone. It's really handy.

More later....