Jay and Judy's Mission Blog: Getting Settled In

This is Historic Route 66 on the way to Chandler. This scene is typical of rural roads in central Oklahoma.

We finally got settled. We could not find anything better so we compromised with this place. Our one concern is that the electric bill during the hot summer is $1,100 per month.

Actually this is the home of Elder Dee and Sister Lori Bithel. They work in the mission office and live north of Oklahoma City. They quickly became our friends and helped a lot to get us moved in. We stayed with them for two nights before our move-in. There home is beautiful. They are both recently retired also. They are avid BYU fans. They go to all the games. Behind and to the left you may be able to see a bronze couger that adorns their yard.

On Tuesday, since we were waiting to move, we went to the Oklahoma State Fair. It was great. It was military day so we received free admission. This is a big agriculture state. So the fair has lots of animal judging and competitive events involving stock. We watched a huge Clydesdale get shod and cattle dogs herding cattle through a series of gates and pens. I have never seen so many goats in my life. We did not stay too long at those events. We also visited a very unique farm animal petting and birthing exhibit. We saw chicks hatching from eggs and the photo above shows butterfly cacoons hatching. You can see a few which have emerged as adult butterflies.

This is our new home. It's Sunday afternoon snooze time. We moved in on Wednesday and it took most of the end of the week to unpack and stock with other necessities that we did not bring. The mission office delivered this missionary used, most colorful couch, a new mattress and box springs, We are very comfortable now and ready to go to work. Our neighbors, the Readings (Paul is the Elders Quorum Pres. and Kim the R.S. President) did have a scorpion in their apartment last week. The cridders are looking for a home for the cool winter.

This morning we went to church in our ward, the Cushing Ward, 26 miles north of us. We met some great folks, an interesting mixture of ranchers, blue collar works, and Oklahoma State University professors.

Our intimate dining room is perfect for us.

The kitchen is clean and appliances are just fine. They do not have natural gas here. Everything is electric - air conditioning/heat, appliances, clothes dryer, hot water, etc.

We recieved this vintage dining room table but it would not fit in our kitchen so we moved it into the living room. It will be useful.
We are going tomorrow to a furniture store to get some used chairs, as instructed by the mission office. They have told us that they will move us from place to place. They have a very nice trailer, pickup, and van.

It took two days to get this new bed. For the first two nights be purchased an inflatable bed. I now understand why our inflatable at home is not the favorite place to sleep. They were two miserable nights for us. This new bed is perfect.

Grandma's closet

Grandpa's closet

Ours is the only handicap accessible unit in the apartments. There is no counter space and no towel racks. We quickly fixed that with a couple of plastic hangers and a plastic shelf. Furnishing this place has been a real exercise in frugality, and spending the least for our needs. We have worked very well together in doing this.

Our little computer office. We work on both sides of the desk. This was a missionary hand-me-down. It took me an hour to remove the layers of super glue and sticky lables. Super glue to these elders must have been what duct tape was to Jeffrey and his elders on his mission.