Bittersweet - Baptisms and Goodbyes

 Sunday March 6, 2022

As I sat at the dining room table with my foot in a "cast boot" due to a broken metatarsal in my left foot, looking around at the organized chaos of our packing to move, and thinking about all the dear friends I will miss, I wrote this little poem. If any of my friends read this, I am missing you!

Today was our last Sunday in the Lucedale Branch of our church. Darryl was released as Branch President, which is sad, but "Happy Day", our little friend, "RAnnie", was baptized today! She is in the middle with her sweet little sister "ELala" beside me! Oh how I love these sweet girls!

Because RAnnie was 9 yrs. old, the missionaries, Elder Allen and Elder Gay, were able to help out with her baptism.

Sister Martha Sego with the girls and their parents. 

RAnnie with her mom and dad, Rita and Kenneth.

And with her Pawpaw!

Our Stake President, David Perkes, was there too!

We had a wonderful baptism with refreshments afterwards. 

This morning when I went into the Primary room to set it up for our class, I found this sweet message from E.Lala on the chalkboard. It says, "I Love and Miss you".

Oh sweet Miss E. and all my primary children - I love you with all my heart and will miss you more than you know. I want you to know I will keep you in my prayers and pray for God to bless you and keep you safe.

With Love,

Sister Cunningham

Laissez le Bon Temps Rouler !

Let the Good Times Roll! 

In February of 2020, Darryl and I were able to go to a couple of early Mardi Gras Parades, but the biggest and main parades were cancelled due to Covid-19 and all parades were cancelled in 2021. Needless to say, it is wonderful to have the parades back and we did our best to enjoy them.

MARDI GRAS 2022!

Gautier night parade!

February 19, 2022

Parades down here are taken to a whole new level. People line up hours before the parade and host big tailgate parties with cookers and smokers ad grills at their Pick-up trucks and motorhomes. 

See what I mean? These folks had been partying since 4:00 p.m. It's now 6:30.

The parade was pretty big this year. A lot bigger than the 2020 parade and there were easily 2x the people attending!

The Mardi Gras Parades go on for weeks before Fat Tuesday.

Pascagoula had a fabulous parade too!

Darryl and I put our bicycles in the back to his truck, drove it to a parking area downtown and then rode our bikes to the parade route to find a great place to take part in the fun!

Pascagoula Parade, Saturday February 26, 2022

This little sweetie is ready to party and get some beads!

The vendors walk up and down the parade route. It wouldn't be a parade without the Mardi Gras Kettle Corn!

There were so many huge tailgate parties going on just in this one area of the parade it would have taken too many photos to show them all. One group had 4 grills going!

And everyone dressed in their festive best!

The different Krewes were sure ready to have a good time!

Darryl and I did quite well getting beads and prizes, and we actually gave about 1/2 of my beads away to children who were near us!

Our parade transportation. Hard to host a tailgate party, but easy to get out of the crowd and on the road.

We came home with a few prizes!

And now.... back to real life. We are packing up to go to our next job in Tampa, FL. 

I love the work we do and the opportunities we have to travel, see new places and meet new people. But, there is a downside and this is it. You do move a lot. 

This time we have collected way, to many things, so it's taking a little extra effort. I am sure it is all worth it, but it does get a little hectic some days. 

See you soon!

Something to See, Something to Ponder and Something to Uplift ~

Almost Every Wednesday for the last 2 years I have gone to an Artists "Workshop" or open painting class hosted by Marguerite Pavarnik. I feel I have improved so much just by these weekly 2 hour sessions of working with the watercolors and trying to make them do what I want.  Here are the latest..

January 26th -

This sailboat is not finished, I need to add the ropes and lines, but it's put away until I get to Florida.

February 9th -

Trying something new with wet-on-wet color blending and salt.

February 16th -

I painted these 4 little flowers for my downstairs neighbor, Becky. She has the loveliest patio full of plants and flowers.

February 23rd -

Trying a different style of tulip..

March 2nd-

Purple tulips before the detail..

Finished!

Now for an idea of the political state of the country and the world. It doesn't seem to be getting much better, but I will not give up hope!

Something to make you smile! - This is so me!

And finally, words of wisdom to lift your heart!

On February 24th, Russia invaded the country of Ukraine. It is a war I do not want our nation to get involved in, especially by putting U.S. Troops on the ground in the Ukraine. There is so much evil in the world and it just seems to be bubbling over. I pray for God to bless all those who are caught up in this political struggle for power and resources. It seems so close to home with the instant news. I pray for a peaceful solution!

 

Some Friends are Family!

Saturday February 12, 2022

Our dear friends, Janet and Jordan Evans, who live in Alabama, invited us to go to Dauphin Island with them. We met them at the Alabama Aquarium and Sea Lab....

From left to right - June is in the front, then Janet, Jarom, Jade and Jordan. Their son Jed is on a mission in Wales, U.K.

Where we saw one of the most amazing creatures in the ocean, the seahorse.

This small tank has several seahorses in it and one of the males had just released over 150 baby seahorses in a nursery tank.

They are so small and at first glance might be mistaken for a worm, but when you look closer you see they perfect, tiny seahorses!

From there we went to the west side of the island to one of the beautiful public beaches and strolled along the sand, looked for shells, and Darryl and I may or may not have put a blanket on the warm sand and napped. (Okay.. we definitely napped while everyone else was walking the beach.

Say hello Jade and June!

We then boarded the ferry and took it over to Ft. Morgan, Alabama, just south of Mobile.

Jade was having fun on the 30 minute ride.

As was Darryl..

Jordan with June, Jade, Janet, Jarom and Darryl in the back.

Goodbye Dauphin Island.

The causeway bridge.

We just love this family!

See, I was there too!

📷📷📷

I can't believe I got such a cool bird photo!

When we reached the mainland we drove to Foley, Alabama to Lambert's Cafe', "The Home of the Throwed Roll" for lunch, where Jarom proceeded to eat enough food for 3 of us. I thought they were going to make money on Darryl and I, but I think Jarom made them break even! 

Thanks for the wonderful day my friends!