He said at the beginning of January last year he received a phone call from Elder Dallin Oaks of the Twelve who arranged a teleconference with Elder Causee and his wife. In this teleconference, Elder Dallin Oaks interviewed Elder Causee and his wife for a very, very long time. At the end of the interview, Elder Oaks said, "We will call you toward the end of January and either extend a calling to you or not!" And that is how it was left. Elder Causee said they spent many a sleepless night during January wondering what on earth the call could be, would it even be extended to them, would it not, would it involve travel, moving, up-rooting the family, etc. One night Elder Causee asked his wife what she would do if a call were extended, and she said, "We made that decision years ago when we received our endowments in the temple. Of course we will say yes." So, he left his VERY lucrative position as owner and president of a food chain of some sort in France and has committed himself and his family to Heavenly Father's service. His talk was unbelievably wonderful, and, being a very accomplished pianist, he interspersed several piano numbers during his talk which only added a more wonderful spirit. I didn't even want to come home that night. Go re-read his conference talk from October just for fun. 
Well, are you ready for a dumb story? I read on the Internet that on January 9 the moon was supposed to be the biggest it would get all year. So, of course I went searching for a place to get just the right picture while Dad stayed at the office and worked! He just grinned and shook his head at me when I left. I never did catch the moon as it was rising, but I did catch a beautiful sunset, complete with a huge jack rabbit off in the farmer's field. It was so big that I first thought it was a deer! The moon was totally red--sorry it didn't show up that way in the picture.
I continued to wait for the moon, and I was joined by a large hawk. First he flew to the ground just a ways from me, then to the top of this tree, and then...
As I was trying to get a little closer to say hi, he flew off and left me to wait for the moon alone.
Well, I never got a picture of the moon as it came up--too much haze, which of course is too bad, 'cause it looks larger at the horizon, but you can now all say that you saw a picture of 2009's biggest moon!
Here's a view from a little earlier in the evening. Still can't get my pictures in the right order!
This little cottage is the Johannisberg Castle. It is located in a beautiful city called Aschhafenburg or something like that, and the "Seniors" traveled there one Saturday and took a tour. It has been rebuilt twice, once after the 30 Year War and again after the 2nd World War. It's an amazing building, filled with models of many Roman buildings and ruins made of cork, of all things, as well as plaster models of the castle itself in its various stages of ruin/build-up/run/build-up, and of course, rooms filled with original pewter, crystal, china, etc., more rooms with the original beds used by the various kings and princes. The walls and tapestries are remarkable, the walls being covered by silks made in Leon, France, with matching curtains and bedspreads.
Okay, bear with me. Besides watching jack rabbits and hawks, I just love watching people, and this is just a small demonstration of how the Germans spend an afternoon. I told you how the farmers make paths in their fields so people can walk in them, right? Well, here's a small sampling of a typical afternoon, although not too many were out that particular day. Temperatures have been pretty chilly. The temperature that day was 1.5 degrees C.
Here's a mom, baby, and dog. Dogs are more plentiful than children. And, of course, the babies are so bundled up that all you can see are the eyes!
Notice the little lady on the back of the trail in this next picture. In the close-up that follows, you can see that she's all dressed up, complete with her purse. In the warmer weather, you would never see the women in pants, even the young ones. They dress to the hilt and then take off into the fields!
Isn't she cute?
I'm almost embarrassed to show you this picture. You'll have me re-called to home and commit me to the Behavioral Health Unit. I'm really not crazy, but I get excited over weird things. I don't know if it's because of the Frankfurt Airport being so close or the Wiesbaden Air Force Base, or whether there's a German Air Force base close or what, but in the mornings on the way to work we have counted up to 15 jet-streams at a time criss-crossing each other in the sky. I don't know how they keep from running into each other, but Hank and I will each take a part of the sky and start counting. Fifteen has been our highest! This particular picture was taken while I waited for the moon that same evening, but if it had been morning, the sky would have been full of "tails."
We'll end this little tour with a picture of our narrow roads. And this road is actually comparatively wide! Parking spaces are marked on both sides of the road in sequences of 4 or 5 on one side, then 4 or 5 on the other. Thus, if you are traveling down and come to a spot where there are parked cars and there is oncoming traffic, you must pull to the side behind the last parked car, wait for the oncoming traffic to pass, then continue. However, if your side of the road at that moment doesn't have cars parked, you have the right of way, and the oncoming traffic has to wait for you. It's a crazy system, but it seems to work.
Here's a mom, baby, and dog. Dogs are more plentiful than children. And, of course, the babies are so bundled up that all you can see are the eyes!
Notice the little lady on the back of the trail in this next picture. In the close-up that follows, you can see that she's all dressed up, complete with her purse. In the warmer weather, you would never see the women in pants, even the young ones. They dress to the hilt and then take off into the fields!
Isn't she cute?
I'm almost embarrassed to show you this picture. You'll have me re-called to home and commit me to the Behavioral Health Unit. I'm really not crazy, but I get excited over weird things. I don't know if it's because of the Frankfurt Airport being so close or the Wiesbaden Air Force Base, or whether there's a German Air Force base close or what, but in the mornings on the way to work we have counted up to 15 jet-streams at a time criss-crossing each other in the sky. I don't know how they keep from running into each other, but Hank and I will each take a part of the sky and start counting. Fifteen has been our highest! This particular picture was taken while I waited for the moon that same evening, but if it had been morning, the sky would have been full of "tails."
We'll end this little tour with a picture of our narrow roads. And this road is actually comparatively wide! Parking spaces are marked on both sides of the road in sequences of 4 or 5 on one side, then 4 or 5 on the other. Thus, if you are traveling down and come to a spot where there are parked cars and there is oncoming traffic, you must pull to the side behind the last parked car, wait for the oncoming traffic to pass, then continue. However, if your side of the road at that moment doesn't have cars parked, you have the right of way, and the oncoming traffic has to wait for you. It's a crazy system, but it seems to work.
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