Fun in the Appalachians

Today we had such a fun day! This morning we went to the Kangaroo Conservation Center in Dawsonville, Georgia. It is about an hour north of Atlanta. They have over 300 kangaroos there, along with birds, lizards, and other wildlife native to Australia. This is the largest concentration of kangaroos in one place outside of Australia. I haven't see a kangaroo since I served my mission in Australia so I really wanted to go. It didn't disappoint me. It was awesome.

After the kangaroo center, we entered "tourist attractions" on the GPS and we found the Cabbage Patch BabyLand General Hospital in Cleveland, Georgia. It was about 35 minutes further north. So we thought it would be fun to go there. This is where the Cabbage Patch babies are "born". It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen in my life (except for my own babies and grand-babies). We even saw a delivery there and they put the baby in the nursery. The people there watching got to name the baby. Someone yelled out Chloe and I yelled out Andie. So the new baby's name is Chloe Andie. It was really a cute place to see.

We were in the North Georgia Mountains which are in the Appalachians. It was a beautiful drive. It was too bad that it was raining hard again. We stopped in Dahlonega, Georgia which is a tourist town much like Jackson, Wyoming . We looked in some of the shops and had dinner there. Allan has been a little stir crazy because he gets so bored and feels cooped up in the apartment, so it was great to have a fun day.

Cabbage Patch BabyLand General Hospital in Cleveland, Georgia

Chloe Andie being born

The cabbage patch

Cabbage Patch nursery

Kangaroo Conservation Center in Dawsonville, Georgia

White Kangaroo

This pigeon kept putting its beak between my fingers and it tried to take my ring.

Kookaburra

Hindu Temple in Atlanta

A couple from our ward here, Claudia and Spencer Johnson, took us to lunch at a Bangladeshi restaurant and then to see the Hindu Temple in Atlanta. The food was good and the temple was spectacular. The hand carved detail on the outside and the inside was amazing. We couldn't take pictures of the outside from a certain point and we couldn't take any at all inside.

BLESSINGS IN OUR TRIBULATIONS

We have had several days of rain here and the backyard has been flooded several times. There has been flooding in the Atlanta area because of all the rain. I have been busy working from here and Allan does what he can to keep himself busy. He used to go for walks often, but the pouring rain has put a damper on that. We have been here nearly three week and we have five more to go. The treatments are going well, they make Allan tired and drain him of his energy, but other than that he is feeling okay.

The people here have been very nice and friendly, except for the man that jumped in the backseat of our car in a parking lot. He said he needed a ride and I was praying the whole time that he was in the car that we would be protected. He smelled of alcohol and BO. I don't know what he had planned to do, but he probably changed his mind when he found out that Allan was a police officer. We were incredibly blessed that we weren't hurt. We found out from a church member here that carjackings are very common. This church member had to shoot someone once that tried to carjack him.

The ward that we are going to is very friendly, a nice mix of old and young, black and white. They are very strong in the gospel and very humble. They have to be strong to deal with the persecution that they get here. But they say that having the restored gospel is worth it. They know that it is true!

We feel very blessed to be here, receiving the cancer treatments at the best place we could get them. We are blessed to have such wonderful children, friends, family, neighbors and ward family who all worked together to help get us here. Thanks to all of you for your love and continued support. Even though this is a scary and difficult thing to deal with (cancer), we feel that the windows of heaven have been opened and the blessings have been poured upon our heads. Our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ are with us every step of the way! Love to all of you!

Waterfall is rainwater from yard above ours.

Wednesday, we toured the World of Coca Cola in downtown Atlanta. Yesterday, we went to The Road to Tara (a Gone With the Wind Museum) in Jonesboro, Georgia. We also went to see the Stately Plantation and a Confederate soldier cemetery. Here are the pics.