SO THIS IS SPRING? - May 2, 2009

Our first semester is behind us. Classes ended Friday and students are now finishing finals. Summer classes will begin May 18 and we will each be teaching a class Tuesday and Wednesday evening. The end of the semester means lots of changes in the institute, the Stoddard Living Center, and the Lansing University Ward. Some students are leaving, some will be back for fall semester. As the apartment improvements are completed we will have more residents in the fall than we now have.

We will have to move to another apartment sometime this summer for 3-4 weeks while our bathroom is remodeled. The apartment on the other end of the hall will be vacated sometime in June. If it is available before we have to move, we will take that apartment and stay there until the end of our mission assignment. It has the same floor plan as the apartment we are now in, but the living room faces east looking into the woods--ours faces west and from the living room we see the MSU campus and hear all the traffic on a very busy street.

Spring is slow in settling in. Finally, we are seeing some leaves on the earlier bushes and trees--the woods are a lacey, spring green. Some flowering trees on campus and around town are in full bloom. It is very pretty! Temperatures shot up temporarily last week, but it has rained a lot the past few days and has been cool.

Our break between semesters will be full of great things. We have stake conference this weekend. Today's meetings included a priesthood session, an adult session, and a potluck meal at 6:00 p.m. Tomorrow we will enjoy a two-hour session at 10:00 a.m.

Monday or Tuesday we plan to drive about 95 miles to the west to the city of Holland on the coast of Lake Michigan. There they have a week-long tulip festival celebration. We are told it is something we should not miss.

On May 15 we will have a half-mission conference/play day in northern Michigan. It will be a day-long involvement with meetings, activities, and lunch. The missionaries will go together in vans. We will probably drive up alone in our car. The only other missionary couple in this area and as the "office staff" they will be involved in much preparation and with a vehicle loaded with supplies. We are looking forward to seeing that part of the state.

At the end of the month we are going to have company. Ryan and Betty Jo Shrack from our Muncie, Indiana, mission experience are coming to spend the weekend with us on May 22, 23, and 24. They visited us in Provo last summer. We hope we will have other friends visit us while we are in this beautiful state.

We have our garden well underway in planters on our deck. I used the money April, Leland, Tiffany, and Sarah sent for my birthday to purchase a lovely hanging basket of ivy geraniums. We have planted two long boxes with spinach, swiss chard and lettuce. We found a large round container in the storage garage and have planted a tomato. We need one more round container to plant a cucumber. With tomato cages to contain the tomato and cucumber, we should be able to grow enough for our table use. And we won't be competing with the rabbits, raccoons, and deer for the vegetables.

Hopefully we can add some pictures to show you what we are experiencing here.

Thanks for checking in on us. Ranelle