On June 26 this Babushka (grandma) turned 81 years old and we were invited to the party. We brought the flowers (only $3) for a gift - isn't she sweet!?!?! A missionary from our ward is serving in Kiev, Ukraine. His mom and Aunt live together with his grandma and they take care of her - I think she has diabetes. (Many extended families live together here in small flats.) They fixed us a yummy dinner and we enjoyed visiting with them.

On our way up the stairway we saw a birds nest with 3 little birds peeking over the edge. We got out our camera and took their picture. They started singing for us!!! Aren't they cute?!?!?

In the beginning of June we visited Mstkheta. It is the old capital of Georgia - about a half hour drive away. It is a quaint little town - very quiet and green and peaceful. Gia, a government official, was showing us a school and clinic that needed help and then he took us to the Svetitskhoveli Church. They are fixing up the surrounding area for a tourist stop. It is an operating church and the monks live in small quarters built into the wall.

There are many engravings on the outside of the church. The plants are grape vines - used often in Georgia. The 2 doves symbolize peace between Georgia and Turkey.

The feathers on the peacock are to represent the 12 disiples (although I count 13 feathers!) The hand holding the square represents the builder. Some say that the arm is cut off so that he can not build another building that would be grander than this one.

There is a wonderful group of women here in Tbilisi that we work with in our humanitarian work. They are called The Women of Georgia for Peace and Life. They are energetic and lively and love to help the poor and needy. When they learned that we had not seen any of the sights of Georgia, they picked us up in thier van and we headed out. Our first stop was the newest church in Tbilisi - it is HUGE and beautiful!

Elder Reese with Mia and Rusico.

The grounds are well kept, I loved this olive tree - very symbolic.

This is a statue of one of their beloved Kings. It is in the courtyard of one of the oldest churches. It is also the spot where they dedicated the land of Georgia for the preaching of the gospel in 1999 by Elder Jeffery R. Holland. The first branch was organized 3 years later.

This is the church by the above statue.

Next we walked up to the botanical gardens. It was lovely - lots of paths to walk along. There were lots of flowers and plants. It was very peaceful. We wondered through the area for quite awhile!

A Pond with water lillies.

Of course - my favorite - a beautiful red rose!

E. Reese and I started singing 'little purple pansys touched with yellow gold' when we saw these!

It was a lovely afternoon. We really enjoy the Women of Georgia - and Mzia our interpreter. We love being in Tbilisi. We finished our adventure at a resturant with lots of our Georgian favorites - and we got to take home the doggie bag!

Just a fun picture of me with 3 of the ladies from church - Zina, Dinara and Marina. I can't speak their language - we just smile and hug - it works!

When Georgians eat out - they usually order family style. Lots of dishes are ordered and everyone eats everything untill they are stuffed full. One of our favorite dishes is Khinkali. It is like a big dumpling with meat or cheese or potatoes inside. It is boiled and brought out steaming hot! You pick it up with your fingers (or fork) and carefully bite a hole in the edge. Next you suck out the juice and then eat the khinkali. The goal is to have no juice drip on your plate. E Reese is very good at this.

We love to shop at the Bazaar. We find we usually go here 2 or 3 times a week. We take a big bag that E. Reese gets to carry and we fill it up - mostly with fruits and veggies. We have our favorite spots - our cookie lady (we can't go there anymore - till E. Reese can button his pants!) - then we have our honey and spice guy - the cheese lady etc. Here is a shot of the veggie section.

I love talking to the ladies who work here. I just bought some pomedoris (tomatos) from this old lady. They usually laugh at me when I try to talk in Georgian - but they are happy to see me trying and are very encouraging.

Fun picture showing the prices in Georgian!

Finally, when we get home, I wash all the fruits and veggies in a cleaning solution, dry them and they are ready to eat!

There are always flowers being sold on every corner. They usually come from Turkey - but when the flowers that grow wild start blooming, you can get a big bunch for a lari. (60 cents) So for 3 -4 weeks I had a lovely bouquet of lilacs on my table!