November 30, 2014 Elder and Sister Dixon and the Terrible, Horrible, No-good, Very-bad last week of November

When I was younger, I fell in love with the book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very-Bad Day".  For those of you unfamiliar with the book, the young boy wakes up with gum in his hair, his favorite marble goes down the drain and his day gets worse from there.  Each time something else happens, he says "I think I'll move to Australia."

When Elder Dixon and I got married, we had a honeymoon with issues just like Alexander's day.  I used the book and wrote a parody of  "The Dixons and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very-Bad Honeymoon."  Over the last many years, we have had laughs about the challenges we had during that trip.

Okay, this week deserves the Elder and Sister Dixon and the Terrible, Horrible, No-good, Very-bad last week of November.  Not that there were not good times, because there were.  But here's the "ode" to the bad times.

On Monday, we were making a left turn while on a trip to see the Elders.  The light was yellow and was ready to turn red, there was a car coming that decided to try to beat the light.  He put on the gas and Elder Dixon saw him coming so Elder Dixon put on the gas.  We were not able to completely get out of the way and he hit the left back passenger side of the car.  He stopped briefly, then took off.  We forgot that red lights here mean speed up.I prefer driving in Utah. . . .

On Wednesday, we went to the grocery store to get what we needed for Thanksgiving.  We forgot some things, so we went back. Elder Dixon was making the dessert and it went lumpy. So we went back to the store to get ingredients for a different dessert.  I think we remembered things better in Utah. . . .

On Thursday, two of our Elders needed a ride to Alpharetta to be able to go to a dinner appointment.  They called later and needed a ride home at 8:30 p.m. from their dinner appointment.  We drove from Roswell to Alpharetta to Roswell to Atlanta to Alpharetta to Marietta and back to Roswell.  We got home about 11:00 p.m. and had driven 120 miles that day.  We got more sleep in Utah. . .

On Friday, we were serving dinner for Bala and his family.  We needed whipped cream, soooo I made another trip to the store.  They didn't have the aerosol kind, so I had to get the kind that we whip.  I had checked out and was on the way home when Elder Dixon called to say that the can opener just broke.  I returned to the store AGAIN.  The turkey wasn't as good as usual.  Later, I went with Sister Madsen and Sister Barros to meet a potential investigator.  We tried the gate information she had given us, but it would not open.  I decided to follow another car (bad idea in Georgia) and the gate arm hit the back window.  Later, we were trying to finalize information for the programs for a baptism.  Our Elders had lost contact with the investigator in Brazil.  The Branch ordered some food anyway.  Herding cats in Utah is probably easier than this. . .

On Sunday, we were not able to find the investigator.  I found out that we are over the budget for the Christmas party and we don't have the food yet.  We were able to save some of the food from the baptism., but some had already been cooked, so we had a linger longer.  We didn't get notice to the Mission Presidency in time, and one of the Mission Presidency came in support of the baptism.  Contacting people was easier in Utah. . . .

On Friday, our son called to tell us that our house in Utah is falling apart.  There was a leak and it damaged a wall in the downstairs bath that we had just fixed before we came.  Our wonderful neighbor came to help, and they stopped that leak, but then it apparently started leaking further up the pipe.  At their Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, our children fixed a traditional corn dish that we have and apparently the crackers they used were moldy (didn't know that was even possible).

Maybe we don't want to be in Utah after all!

So, just like Alexander, the small things that seem to make a bad week, could happen anywhere, and everyone has a bad week now and then.

Honestly, we are blessed, and are blessed to be here.  We had fun with Elder Cruz and Elder Sousa on Monday.  They wanted to learn how to cook as part of their P-day activity.  I think they were hungry, also, so we made Shepherd's Pie for them.  Elder Sousa is not a fan of green beans. . . .

We had a nice time on Thursday at dinner with Dominique and Michael and many of their family and friends.  We enjoyed the joie de vive that they showed as they cooked the meal.  I have never before seen people carving turkey while dancing and singing show tunes!  Their children made the place-cards for us and they were delightfully creative.  We were grateful for the kindness and warmth that we felt there.


On Friday, we enjoyed fixing a small Thanksgiving dinner for Bala and his family.  They found turkey to be boring, but liked the side dishes.  They were not fond of the pumpkin pie, however! The sparkling grape juice was also a new adventure for them.

So, we can move forward to another week of adventures!  Don't forget to stop and smell the flowers (or take pictures of them, at least!)  These are blooming near the Marietta Elders' apartment (this is the end of November, right?).