Spring Has Sprung - Isn't it February???

Lemons!???!!!!

These ARE healthy and not deformed.

Brother King says they are for and cooking and not for lemonade.

Elder Draper tried the lemonade..... Brother King WAS right.  

Not for lemonade!!!

Elder Draper squeezed this orange juice from these oranges.

We blend three or four different varieties of oranges and it IS heavenly!!!

We can easily drink this in a day!

How is this for bright?

The brightness of this house doesn't show very well. 

It was raining.

These are vines that grow around the bushes.  

No growth on the vines yet.

This vine has grown up a tree.

SPRING!!  Isn't that beautiful?

Our Camellia trees.  

We love the carpet of petals!

Still lots of flowers coming.

                                                

New growth on the bushes outside our house.

Camellia blossoms

Can't get enough of these!!

Spring across the street at Brother King's house.

Note his geraniums in the hanging planters.

The poinsettia is real too.

This is a white Camellia blossom & a little bee having the time of his life.

A brand new rose at Brother King's house.

This is a Flaming Vine.

It climbs up the oak trees.

This is about 25 - 30 feet off the ground.

They are spectacular.

I'll try to get one that is better than this.

I can't remember the name of this tree.

The yellow blossoms appear before any leaves come out.

This looks more like June than February to us.

I wonder if you'll get to drink any of this juice.

We see tons of these trucks.

This is Bishop Waters place.... estate.

It has a 17,000 sq. ft. house on 8 acres on a lakeside.

He's the bishop of the Winter Haven Ward.

Our Zone Leaders are in this ward.  

We're trying to get them to have a Zone meeting here so we can have a tour.

The Bishop and his wife live here.  They are home builders.

It is for sale.  Any takers??

He was asking $8 million before the crash.

You can probably get it for half price.

There is no zoning in Florida.

This house is across the street from Bishop Waters' home.

It looks MUCH better in this picture than with your eye.

Here's our little home in paradise!!!!

My goodness!!

What are they doing?

Is it a camp-out??

Yikes!

Brother King says, "It's not a big deal!"

Male Cardinal

Female Cardinal, his mate.

Mourning Dove

                                  

Puzzle time:  What is it?  

At least six people must guess before I'll tell you!

Ooooh Yum  Bar-B-Q!!!!!!

The King's were excited to take us here to eat.

They come here for birthdays and anniversaries!

We, on the other hand, weren't too sure about it.

'Do we have to go in?'

No Credit or Debit and certainly No Refunds!!!

This is inside and it looks 100 times better than in person.

The floors are covered in sand.  They used to be dirt floors.

Now it's beat-up concrete.

The tables get varnished every season.

They work from Thursday to Saturday 11 am to 9 pm.

There is a real oak wood fire under here.

It might not look like anything but we'll take you here when you come.

It was delicious!!!!

Lacy at the park with her grandson.  

She's enjoying the day in the fresh air.

Lacy and Cory

The sky continues to be beautiful.

The clouds are so interesting because they are so different in different parts of the sky.

Another flaming sunset.

That takes one big paint brush to get that sweep across the sky.

Can you believe the colours?

Leave your answers to our questions in the comment box.

Also leave any questions there.

Correction

This is a praying mantis.

This is not!  It is a katydid.

Children Are Precious!!

We went for dinner yesterday at an part member family's home.  The woman in the home is the daughter of the woman I told you about who stepped on a staple and almost lost her leg from the infection.  The daughter is Melissa and the mother is Jackie.  Jackie's foot is recovering very well.  They still have a machine on it to keep draining out the infection but they are planning on taking it off of her next week which will be about 6 months ahead of schedule.  Isn't that a miracle?  The doctors are so surprised.  They are writing this incident up in some medical journal and she told them that they could only write it up if they would include the real reason for the quick healing.  And that is the fasting and many prayers of so many people.  They have agreed.  She'll still be awhile in the wheelchair but they thought she'd be in it for over a year at first.  This is a great family.

Melissa had three of her children there at dinner.  A teenaged girl, a young girl about 6 years old and a little boy about 4 years old.  As I visited with Jackie during dinner she was telling me that Melissa told the children that they weren't going to have presents for Christmas this year because they needed to help Grandma pay so she could be in the hospital and get better.  Everyone was fine and agreed with that.  One day when they went to the hospital to visit Grandma Connor, the 4 year old boy, gave her a Christmas card.  No one even knew he had made this card for her.  Enclosed inside the card was $.37.  He said to her, "Grandma, I can help too."  We both had tears welling up in our eyes as she finished this story.  Is that not the heart of a child?  He was so full of love and wanting to be a part of something good.  If only we could be so child-like in our thoughts and our actions.  I love little children!!  They are pure in heart and have clean hands!  May Heavenly Father bless them all.

A Temple Trip Among Other Things

This is a pomelo I had for breakfast.

SOOOOO good!

Can you see how big those seeds are?

This is the plate it sat on.

Can you see the plate underneath?

Look hard!!!

This is a very green house.

The dark part is a real deep green and the rest is Aquamarine.

Camellia flowers from our front yard.

This is a different variety of Camellia flower.

I like the variegated colors.

A bowl full of flowers.

You can see how large the blossoms are.

This is a beautiful house and yard.

Let's all take note that Dad wanted pictures of this house so we actually stopped on the road so we could get out and take good pictures.

This is not a hedge!

It is vines growing on the wall.

The yard is very large and beautifully kept.

Not too many homes like this in our area.

Lots of moss on the trees.  We are getting used to the moss now.

This is the house.  Isn't that beautiful?

The sculpting of the little trees by the drive is cute.

The vines on the house are beautifully taken care of.

This is just to the side of the house.  

The vegetation is pretty with lots of colors.

This is looking down to the lake as you look past the house.

This is the back yard.  Notice the beautifully trimmed bushes.

This is just beside the gate to get into the yard.

The light is always lit.  It helps to see at night.

This is all covered in vines.

A look from further on down the wall.

Here there are no vines on the wall.

This house is across the street from one of the churches.

There are lots of old style houses like this here.

A close up shot of the same house.

This is a wood stork.

Can you see the bird sitting on top of the rock?

Did I fool you?

That is not a rock.  Remember there are no rocks here.

The little bird on top is the head and the 'rock' is the body.

Can you find the head in this picture?

It looks tucked in but it's really there.

Look hard.  It is camouflaged.

Another beautiful sky with some 'sun dogs'.

The sun dog is to the right just above the trees.

Do you see it on that bright cloud?

Another picture of that beautiful sun.

This lovely Praying Mantis is on the column just outside the temple.

The actual size of it was about 4 inches.

The Orlando Temple

Looking up to see the Angel Moroni

There are beautiful fountains here at this temple..... and lots of them.

Taken from the back of the temple.

The middle window is a window in the Celestial room.

You can see the chandelier sparkling through the window.

It doesn't show up very well in a picture.

This is a close up of the window.

It is so beautiful in person.

Sister Draper standing outside the temple wall.

We backed up so you could see the temple in full.

It is a very beautiful temple.

It is such a peaceful evening!

Another shot a little further back.  

You can see the fountains on both sides of this picture.

We had a wonderful evening here with the youth of the ward.

We baptized more than a whole ward in heaven tonight.