Summer came and hit us with a bang! It's been hovering at the 100 degree F mark now for a couple of days and is supposed to be cooler tonight and tomorrow. By the weekend we go back into the oven again. Glenys is loving it, Bob is tolerating it - we are glad we have an air-con car and an air-con office that's for sure. The only really not-so-good part of summer is that the Huntsman spiders come out and play! We know spiders can get big, but bread-and-butter plate size and bigger are a bit much. Especially when they can squeeze through the smallest hole into the house. This fellow is just outside our sliding glass door. Until he moves the birds will have to wait for their seed, there is no way Glenys will walk under this monster!! Bob has just gone to the store for some spray to discourage entry to the house!
Other than that, things are all good. We are busy capturing images and happy to be back at the PROV. Some of our volunteers are still on holidays, so it's a bit quieter than usual, and it gives us more opportunity to put our skates on and move between jobs - great fun!
Had a truly Australian moment last week on the train. Getting along at a good pace when we looked out the window and there bounding along with us were about 6 kangaroos, no effort, just enjoying the run. It was terrific, even all the dyed in the wool Aussies were impressed! Just wish I could have grabbed my camera (always with me)fast enough, but all of a sudden they veered away and bounded over the fence between us and the paddocks and off they went. It was a magic moment.
We are off to Seymour on Sunday to speak at church and looking forward to the trip to the country. Perhaps we will see some more Aussie icons.
We were thrilled with the news that our niece, Maree, has received her mission call and will be serving in the Sydney North Mission. She leaves on February 12th for the MTC in New Zealand. Talk about fast! Oh well, no time to fuss over what clothes to buy and take, just grab and run. It's really been a wonderful time for their family and we have enjoyed being part of it all.
Thought we would share a couple of experiences we've had at the PROV that shows that the Lord is mindful of those living and those gone before. For my family, apologies, I know you have seen this but good things can always be shared more than once, right?
We see the Lord's hand in the work and now and then some really wonderful things happen. For instance, a few weeks ago when I had finished checking images on the computer, I turned and sitting on the table was a probate. It had not been there when I first sat down and so I asked who put it there. No-one had. I looked at it and noticed that it's numbers didn't tally with anything we were working on. I had Bob check it to make sure I wasn't mistaken. We got on the other computer and began checking the folders to find out where it belonged - it was amazing! It was a probate from a box that had been done months earlier and somehow had been missed. It was very obvious to us that this person wanted to make sure he was included in the image capturing and we know he put that probate on the table for us to find. We imaged the papers and sent them off to SLC with a note to include them in the right folder.
Just as amazing was one other experience we had when we opened a box of probates and lying on the top was one that did not belong to that box. A PROV staff member was in the room at the time, said "Oh, it's just been misfiled", but when we checked it more carefully, we discovered it belonged in a box we had not yet come to, so we ordered that box up and when it arrived we put that probate in its rightful place to be captured. It had not been misfiled at all, it had been placed there, by someone knowing we would make sure it would be put where it belonged and captured.
The other thing that happened was just the day before yesterday - and it was an exciting moment for me: when I started to capture a probate I thought "Gee that name is familiar, oh well" and kept imaging then noticed his wife's name. It was one of my direct lines!! Had no idea where that daughter had gone and she and husband were orchardists in Tyabb - really fun to copy that one and get it on my thumb drive so I can download it to my records.
We know these may seem insignificant to others, but to us it's testimony again and again of how important this work is we are doing and we are grateful for the small part we are playing in such a tremendous undertaking. It really is great and we are really enjoying it. The Lord loves all of His children and really does take good care of us all.
Our other responsibilities are going well and we are thankful for the blessings provided to us.
