ckthompson family blog

Here you see the old oak tree
from whence all the acorns are falling.
You see another little squirrel dining
on one of the nuts. This tree is right on
the little driveway as we go in and out
from our apartment.

Spencer, in his e-mail on Sunday, asked
what kinds of animals we have here in
North Carolina. Well, I know you have all
seen squirrels before, but they are all over
here near our apartment. They sit on this
fence and eat their little acorns, which the
little fellow in the picture is doing. He has his
little paws up to his mouth helping him to eat
his acorn.

Here is Brother James Burch. I sent
a little history of him and his family a few
weeks ago. He is a great person. He is in
the Elder's Quorum Presidency and the
missionary committee representative. He
has gone visiting with us on several occasions.
He is a total native of Macon County. His accent
is the very basic native accent here. Sometimes the
pronunciation is so different that you have to think
to understand what is being said. He is a great "man of
the land", loves the forest and the beauties of nature.
Worked for the Forest Service as his employment.
Converted to the Church years ago when he was in
the service. He was a Baptist.

Here is Brandon, Jennifer,
McKenna and Sydney Wilkinson.
Brandon is Branch Mission Leader
and Jennifer is RS President. They
are from Spanish Fork area. They had
twins, born prematurely, who died.
Brandon is the best mission leader--very
fearless in missionary work. He works
for America's Home Place, a homebuilding
company and is quite stressed in his job
right now due to the economy. They have
been very very gracious and friendly to us
and had us over to their home numerous times.

This is is Dottie Cox. She is in her 80's and is also
a convert to the church. She and her husband joined
in the early 80's. He died about four years ago. She
is originally from Franklin but has lived in California
and other places and they returned here to retire, I think.
She has four daughter in the Atlanta, Georgia area, none of
whom have joined the Church. She says some of them would
be members, but their husbands are opposed, etc. She lives in
a lovely home on one of the few "regular type" streets in
Franklin. She has quite a bit of property here in the area.

This is Renie Mathis. I have spoken of her
a lot. She also has been a great friend to us and
goes with us to do visits, etc. whenever we want.
She is originally from Howell in Box Elder County
(Howell is on the way to Snowville, Juniper, etc.)
She is a second cousin to Sue Sorenson's father.
She has had a hard life. Her first marriage didn't last.
She married again to a man from this area--not a member.
She was active as a young woman, but then inactive until
about 1992 or so. Her second husband died and her two
daughters are completely "off track" and estranged to
her. She talks just like all the folks here. Hard to believe
she isn't a native. She likes to serve bear, squirrel, racoon, etc.
to the missionaries. So far we have "lucked out," but our
time is probably coming (sigh and ugh).

This is a better picture of Sister
Widenhouse.

Here are Brother and Sister Carroll and Mary Ann
Widenhouse of the Branch. Brother Widenhouse
is the Executive Secretary to the Branch President
and Sister Widenhouse is in the YW Presidency.
Their son Daniel was the fellow who went with us so
much as a Branch missionary. He has moved to Raleigh
hoping to be called on a mission. Brother Widenhouse's
career was in the Air Force and they joined the church when
they lived in Ogden and were stationed at Hill Air Force Base.
She is originally from New Jersey and he is originally from
North Carolina. Brother Widenhouse has been particularly
helpful and friendly as we have served here in Franklin.

Safely watching sesame street.

Enjoying some sauce

Finally the weather is as it should be according to this Blog's temperature report. We are at 75 degrees with a deep blue sky and leaves of a many many colors on the trees. Very beautiful here. My picture of usuns was supposed to show the beautiful leaves, sky, grass, etc., but it is hard to photograph the true beauty of things here right now.

Sorry. I was smiling and trying
to look cute, but I am just not cute.
Dad is cute, though.

I know there are cows other
places besides NC, but they are
so cute and I can't not take a
picture of them. There were
about five little white calves bounding
around in this field.

We have these lovely patches of
flowers all along the "fourlane" as
they are called here (kind of like a
freeway). Mostly it is these pink/
purple flowers and or fields of yellow
lilies, like the orange ones at our home
in Logan. (That's how folks tell
directions: "you take off from the
fourlane", or "go five miles on the
twolane", etc.

Here are the Elders currently
in our District: Elder Sorenson,
a brand new missionary from
Millville; Elder Bryant, out for
about six months, from Farmington.
District Leader Larsen from Boise, and
Elder Ward, also about six months service
from Rigby, Idaho.

I have been wanting to do some work in our house for a while now. When the boys left on their backpacking trip it seemed like the time to start. It took longer than I anticipated and I just finished up last night. Here are the before and afters....

This is what Anna will be wearing tomorrow in General Conference. She will be sitting in the far right section (if you are looking at the choir) on the third row up, second seat in from the middle isle. Keep your eyes peeled.