October note from Sister Craner

Greeting from the “Windy City”,

Life here is moving along with not much chaos or excitement. We have just returned from a trip to Milwaukie, Oshkosh, Appleton, Two Rivers, Green Bay, and back to Appleton, Oshkosh, Milwaukie (all of which are in the beautiful state of Wisconsin) and then Home to Chicago. We did this all, from Thursday evening to Saturday evening. Guess what! They all look alike. With NO mountains or major rivers, it is very hard to know which direction you are going.. Besides it is plain boring. We then came home to Chicago for almost two weeks before we leave for 2 weeks. We will be going up to Winnipeg, Regina, down to Omaha, Minneapolis then home to Chicago. (That’s only if Kansas City, St Louis and Des Moines don’t call). We were sad when Salt Lake divided the other 5 missions off of our area, but we would never have been in Chicago. I sound like I am complaining, but I am delighted not to be tethered to one mission. After all, we are nomads and love the open road.

I think in my last blog I mentioned I had nothing to do but, be a maid to Your Dad (Elder Craner, Brother Craner, Son, Dr. Craner or Greg). You all know how I like to be identified as a cook, maid, or laundress (I guess you could sum it up as being a SLAVE! Fortunately, the “Mission Mom” heard of my concerns and is finding things for me to do. The Mission President has likewise come to my rescue, so has the mission secretary. Have you ever heard the term UNCLE!!!!! It just shows to go you, sometimes it is better to lie around and eat bonbons and keep your mouth shut. All kidding aside it is nice to have something to do. The mission Mom (Sis Doll) has decided to teach the missionaries how to iron pants, shirts, skirts and blouses. (We have sister missionaries too) So we are traveling around the mission going to district meeting teaching the above. I have also been put in charge of setting up missionary apartments and procuring the necessary furniture and kitchen implements. This includes picking up old unwanted furniture from members all over the greater Chicago area, which is large. I am also still working in the Temple on Wednesday mornings. So, the moral of this story is, be careful of what you wish for, you just might get you wish granted.

Dad is tethered to a phone and is on it several times a day, however none after 11:00 pm. (so far)

We are fairly settled in and are quite comfortable. The apartment though smallish is comfortable and will serve our needs nicely for the next 16 months.

We had a brief visit from Matt. He came in at 6:00pm Tuesday had meetings on Wednesday then flew home Wednesday evening. Although short it was delightful to see him. We look forward to any and all visits. Just let us know early enough to clear the schedule. Believe it or not there are times when we are busy enough to require some juggling in our schedule. (Not too often, just as long as Dad has his phone, we are usually fine)

(This is already 2 weeks old) We will follow-up after we get back from Canada. Pictures next time