The Big Bang !

We decided that today would be the perfect day for us to go see a local site that everyone has talked to us about - Bolt Castle. It is on it's own island in the Thousand Islands area. It was kind of a rainy day, but was supposed to clear up, so we decided to brave it. (It is only open until the end of Sept. - so we knew we'd need to go fairly soon). We drove down to Brockville (about 40 min.) and crossed into the
US there at Ogdensburg.  Just after leaving the customs border crossing the road opens up into a 2 lane
divided highway. We had no sooner gotten onto the road when we began to pass the first cross street.
It has stop signs there & often people will cross half way, wait in the median, then cross the rest of the road. Except for today. An 86 year old man began to cross & never stopped. Had Elder Mahaffey not been very aware, he would have T-Boned us... but he turned just in time so that we collided in the front
end with his front passenger side. He never even saw us, so he never braked or turned.

This picture doesn't really look so bad, but it buckled the hood and front end so badly, we couldn't hardly open our car doors to get out. Many miracle happened after this. First, here we were in an unfamiliar city & didn't really even know what to do. But a post man stopped his truck and said he would call the police for us. We were really concerned about the elderly man, but he seemed to be fine.
When the police came, they cited him for failure to yield, so that we could use the police report when we notified our insurance. We had some letters to mail in the US, so we thought we'd just find the post office, mail them, then start home. Our day was pretty much ruined. After going into the post office, Roger noticed alot of fluid coming out of our car. The radiator had been punctured and was leaking.
We debated about trying to limp home, not knowing if the car would make it. We just didn't know what to do or where to go.  So, we did what ANY missionary would do... WE PRAYED!!! After the prayer, we drove the car around the corner and guess what was there??  A HUGE garage/body-shop ! So, we pulled in to ask if they would assess the damage.  Turns out that they told us the border wouldn't let a leaking car or newly damaged cross the border...so, we'd have to leave it there.  Next miracle was, they also rented cars!  We were starting to get a little rattled by that time... you know, the shock was finally dawning on us & so they kindly let us use their office to call our insurance company, and they arranged with them to do everything needed, including renting a car to get us home. (The insurance company said it was actually a BIG blessing that it occured int the states, because dealing with insurances over the border is a nightmare.- another miracle). So we rented the car and went home.
Several of the next days Roger kept having headaches, neck pain, nausea etc. so we went back to the
states to see a Doctor.  Several x-rays and tests later, this is how we walked out...

Turned out he had a concussion ! He had to wear the brace for a couple of weeks. It really helped. With medication and the brace he gradually got better - Next Miracle...nothing life-threatening occurred.  Th,ere were many more days of talking with insurances. police, body-shop, etc. but they decided not to total the car and fix it instead. $8,000+ later, I think the insurance company wished they would have totaled it, but now it's good as new. Last miracle - at least we know that we'll be going home in a safe vehicle now that the whole front end has been replaced!  We thank the Lord for his many blessings, even when it looks like adversity on the surface!

We arrived home just in time for....

ZONE CONFERENCES!!  Two days of serving 3 of the 5 zones we have here in the mission. (The furthest East zone in Quebec gets fed by the senior couple up there, and the furthest west Zone in Ottawa gets fed by a wonderful woman, Sister Boothe, who volunteers!)  Here is a picture of our zone- the Mount Royal Zone:

Front: E. Bagnall -ZL, Pohue- ZL, Jaquier, Glenn - AP, Tam, Babin, Bell, Rivera- AP, Holbrook, and Kastendieck.
Middle: S. Allen, Mahaffey, Limburg, Zuniga, E. Perdue, Mieville, Baker, Hansen, E/S Conway.
Back: E. Allen, Mahaffey, Bernier, Brown, Prawitt -DL, Smith, Russell, E/S Howard.

Here we are serving the luncheon. This was Elder and Sister Howard's first time of being in charge of the luncheons. They have just arrived to replace the Nobles as the CES couple. She's big into portion control, so she assigned us each to dish up a certain amount, instead of just having the missionaries serve themselves...she'll learn. Left to Right - The Allens, The Bendios, The Conways, the Mahaffeys, and the Howards.

ONE YEAR !!

These are the flowers my sweet companion, Elder Mahaffey gave me to mark our one-year anniversary in the mission field. We entered the MTC on Aug. 8, 2011 and today marks our one year date!

Down below, you can see our adopted pet.... Ellie the Elephant. We rescued her from the Missionary
Storage unit, shined her up and she's been with us ever since.... she'll go home with us too!
It's been a wonderful year of service. Certainly many different experiences! We're all set for the next 6 months!  Joyeux Anniversaire !!!

Ashlyn Elizabeth Monroe's blessing day

Before church, we went outside to try and take some pictures of the whole family while we looked nice!  (I know you all know how hard that is)  Of course, it was probably a gazillion degrees with a million per cent humidity! So, we didn't tarry long.  All the men/boys were sporting pink ties in honor of Ashlyn. (of course, Tanner didn't think a pink tie would be cool, so we got him to accept a pink and blue striped one.)

Jim and Shirley Monroe (Chad's parents) were also able to be there for the blessing!

Of course, we needed a picture with JUST the grand-kids! Can you tell that everyone is getting a little
tired of taking pictures?

Once we got to the church, Brooke wanted to take a few more shots... and, of course, we said YES!!!

Then each grandparent had to have another picture... Can you tell this little miracle baby is loved?
She has come along way from being 2 months early and only weighing 3 lbs. 15oz. Now healthy and strong!  What a miracle!

Then a picture of all the men who helped bless her:

Then right after church, we had to try for a few more back at home in front of the house.

Brooke has become quite the photographer.. here is a collage of some she took of Ashlyn:

She looked so darling in her dress and bracelet we gave her.

It was a magical day! We felt so privileged to have been able to come. We love our new little grand-daughter, Ashlyn Elizabeth Monroe.

All too soon it was all over and it was time to go back to our mission.  The next morning Tanner got up early to make us breakfast before we departed.  Thank you to ALL the Monroes for making our trip really wonderful!

A Day to Re-Connect

We spent the rest of the day re-connecting with our grand-children.  Of course, Papa HAD to teach Ashlyn to say "OHHHHHH...."

And we HAD to go for some yummy ice cream...

Trevor & Kaden

  Papa & Devon

And, of course, we had to get in some hugging and kissing:

                

...and just genuinely adore being there!!

Monroe Olympics

What do you know? We arrived at th,e Monroe's home just in time to participate in the Monroe Olympics - organized by Tanner.  Of course, it was probably the hottest and most humid day of the year! (and, since we were going to be playing outside, I didn't think I'd need to put on any make-up or do my hair...note to self.... there's ALWAYS a camera around!) My disclaimer up front is that we didn't get pictures of everything & got so involved in the competition, that we just forgot sometimes!
Tanner called us all to the starting lines for the first event... the obstacle course (which is, of course, one of the events I didn't get pictures of ):

Team Papa / Devon claimed the gold medal. But Team Tanner/ Nana came in second... of course,
the silver medal wouldn't fit over my head! Third place and the bronze medal was Team Kaden/Trevor.

The next competition was a bocce ball competition :

The last event... thank heaven.... was a water balloon toss. A welcome refreshment at the end of a very sweaty competition.  (thanks to my techno-wise kids Brooke and Lindsay, I have discovered a very cool app that puts your pictures into a collage, so you may see this type of picture waaaaay more!)

It was a fun day- and way more fun than those 'other' olympics that took place this summer in London!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Our grand-daughter Arie Krey shares a birthday with her Papa on this day- Aug. 3.  Here she is in California with the fantastic M&M cake that her mom & Aunt Lindsay made for her!

And, on the same day, half-way across the country, is her Papa- Roger - at Brooke's house in Indiana.

Our wonderful mission president gave us permission to take a quick trip to be there for Ashlyn's blessing.

But he had a really wonderful cake too!

(In case you can't read the candles... it is number 64 !  And still going strong!!!- Love you !)