John and Karen in the Canada Montreal Mission

For those of you who tell me you are sad that our service has come to an end, that reading the blog is your favorite Sunday evening/Monday morning activity and that I should continue to provide weekly updates of every day life - this is for you! First, we LOVE being home!  As sweet as serving a mission can be, there is nothing that compares to returning home to familiar surroundings, neighbors, friends and family.  We love having the space to walk around the house.  We love knowing we can zip over to our favorite fast foods and restaurants.  We love sleeping in our own bed. Other than unpacking boxes and getting the house put back together, our days have mostly been filled with medical and dental appointments.  We are both grateful to be healthy and the visits so far have all been routine.  Oh yes, as broken as it is, we love the health system in the U.S. and the ready access we have to doctors and hospitals without waiting months for a simple procedure (so...

3,180 miles later... and we are home!  It was a long trip and we had some wonderful adventures. We left my brother's house in Topeka early Monday morning and drove as far as Fort Collins, CO.  That was 8 1/2 hours and another 8 hours on Tuesday brought us home.  There is nothing quite as exciting as driving I-80 across southern Wyoming!  On a positive note, the road is pretty straight all the way! Welcome to Utah! We stopped at a rest stop just across the WY-UT state line.  These little critters were everywhere!  People were taking pictures and feeding them; thinking they were so adorable.  Not us - we have bait boxes in our yard to keep the little monsters away!  May they all stay at the rest stops and entertain there. Our neighborhood has changed a lot in 18 months, with many, many more new houses built.  It was fun to turn onto our street and see the flag waving and a big welcome home banner in our yard (thank you nephew Bob!). As great as...

Another great travel week!  It has been such fun to spend time with my sister Nola and her husband Dan.  We are in Topeka, Kansas today with my brother Pat and sister-in-law Donna. We have taken hundreds of pictures and gathered too much info so I'll try to summarize our stops and keep it brief. Kirtland, Ohio: The Kirtland Temple was the first temple completed and dedicated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was abandoned when the Saints were driven out of Kirtland and is now owned by the Community of Christ Church. Ohio historical marker outside the temple Community of Christ marker By the time we arrived at our (Church's) visitor center, we were having a downpour that lasted most of the afternoon, so not so many photos. The Whitney store, where Joseph and Emma resided for a time.  The School of the Prophets met in an upstairs room until the temple was completed.  The revelation on the Word of Wisdom was received in that room, as well as o...