I love April

I have thought this more than once this past week.  And, the redbud time in April is the best!  The fruit trees are starting to pop open and many of the non-fruiting trees are just beginning to get tiny green leaves.  Lilacs are starting to bloom.  Daffodils are just about finished and tulips are taking their turn. 

We had quite a few rainy days earlier in the week – which I don’t mind – and then yesterday was the perfect day of temperature and sunshine!  I had a make-up cello lesson in the afternoon and while I was teaching, the mom went to Gerbes to pick up supplies for a cookout and she said it was like a battleground at the hamburger bun section.  I guess everyone else had cookout in mind, too. 

Not us.  Our ward had a youth fundraiser event last night including a spaghetti dinner, silent auction, and variety show.  Proceeds went to scout and girls camp this summer.  Steve and I were quite involved.  We donated items for the silent auction:  Steve’s was four dozen home baked cookies.  Mine were three of my nicer houseplants.  And, we performed in the variety show.  I twisted Steve and Steven’s arms and we played a trio (baritone, trombone, and I resurrected the saxophone) of Americana-type tunes.  And, the dinner was almost completely gluten-free:  they had gluten-free pasta, the salad was crouton-free, and the dessert was root beer floats. 

We did savor the beautiful day yesterday by taking a bike ride on the Grindstone Creek trail. 

It was just beautiful.  Numerous hawks soared above on the thermals and we spotted a herd of deer.

On my pre-mission/pre-moving checklist this week I purged clothes and sorted them into different piles:  donate to charity, pack and store, wear until we leave, wear until we leave AND during our mission, wear on our mission.  It is kind of confusing. 

We have had frustrations with our internet connection all week.  It has gone down FIVE times in seven days.  And these are not quickie phone calls to set things right.  First of all, just finding the internet help phone number was a pain because phone books are a thing of the past.  (Hooray for smart phones)  Then you have to go through a series of automated responses before even getting to a live person. And, CenturyLink has help centers in the Philippines so the first two times the live person was half a world away from me.  The third time we had problems was sort of a break through because, after being on the line for over an hour with the help desk, Steve (it was his turn) finally said “we have other obligations and we have to go” and they gave him a number to call when we returned.  Well, that turned out to be a DIRECT number to a REAL person who sounded like they were in the United States so the next two times, fixing the problem was much faster if not still very annoying.  A REAL repair person is coming Monday to look at the situation but I am seriously considering switching internet providers for the last two months we are here….