find joy in the journey

called to serve

 

{meeting him in the hospital, March 1990; pat-a-cake in the mirrorr, our little ritual;easter 1994} 

Me and my baby brother Mason.  I changed his diapers, gave him baths, fed him baby food from a jar.  He was just 6 years old when I left for college.  Almost 9 when I got married.  And now he's a missionary.

Called to serve in the Montana Billings mission . . . we were so happy to be there for his farewell, show our support, and swim with Uncle Mason one more time.

This boy, man, has faced a lot of challenges in his life.  But he has faced them well and has always remained a kind, good-hearted, faithful, happy person.  I was especially impressed by the talk he gave in sacrament meeting.  He delivered a wonderful talk, full of his testimony of the gospel.  He told of opening his mission call around his co-workers at the dollar theater in Provo (actually he listened to my parents open and read it over the speaker phone).  How exciting.  I love that he said he was so relieved he didn't have to learn a new language. {big smiles}.  Later a friend asked him, "Aren't you disappointed that you don't get to go to another country?"  His response, "You get the same mission experience, no matter where you serve."  What perspective.

I've already written him, thanks to Dear Elder - what a cool idea.  And tomorrow we're hoping to make snicker-doodles to send in the mail.  For FHE the kids wrote letters to Uncle Mason.  We suggested to Conner that he could do more than just draw a picture like the little kids.  Ask Mason a question about the food, what he's learning, etc.  When he finished he showed it to me to see if it was okay.  Here's what it said:  (for anyone who's unfamiliar with LDS missionary service, missionaries first go to the MTC or Missionary Training Center for a few weeks of, you guessed it, training.)

I hope you have a good mission Uncle Mason.  Are you in the sea, or is it just called the empty sea?

When I first read it I thought, Conner has just written the coolest joke of all time!  Empty sea . . . MTC.  But then I realized that through all these weeks of telling the kids about Mason going into the MTC (and never really explaining what or where that was), Conner totally thought that we were saying "the empty sea"!  Hilarious!  Upon further questioning, he thought Mason was going to some place under the water.  I can only imagine what crazy picturesthis boy had conjured up in his head.  I promised to show him pictures later from Grammer's blog of what the MTC really looks like.  Hopefully he'll rest a bit easier knowing that someday he won't have to go to the empty sea.  Or maybe, he's disappointed!

pay it forward

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me!  My choice.  For you.  This offer does have restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It will be done this year.  You may have to be patient.
4. You will have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story.  It may be poetry or maybe even some creation I haven't invented yet.  I may draw or paint something. (you better pray that I don't).  I may bake you something and mail it to you.  I may even sew something for you.  Who knows?  Not you, that's for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who comment on your blog.

Isn't this such a cool idea?!  I was number one on Lisa's blog this morning.

Today I was also the recipient of some cozy foot goodness . . . .

A couple weeks ago we had a service auction for enrichment and I won a pair of hand-knit color-of-my-choice slippers from Michelle.  Thank you!  I owe somebody a baby book and I need to get crackin' on that one.  I love gift-giving and receiving is pretty fun too. :)

coming soon

I want to post about our trip to California . . . . about Mason's mission farewell, about playing in the treehouse, at the river, and riding quads.  About the family togetherness and the fact that this was our first time ALL together in almost 5 years, I think (Sam & Heidi's wedding in June '04?).  About the family pictures and the whining brothers.  Oh, it's so painful.  I suggested we get a siblings picture and Heidi shared a sneak peek.

I want to post about our trip to California . . . it will come in time.  For now here's a quote from our trip that I don't want to forget.

We were sitting in a McDonald's in Redding (our usual lunch stop on the way down to CA) and Conner says:  "Well, there's one part of my body that I haven't washed since before my 8th birthday." 

a pause.  And Scott and I are holding our breath, cringing at what could possibly come out of his mouth next.

"My neck." 

Phew!!

Also coming soon:

 

Hope I'm ready for this!

death to tweety

In her Easter basket, Anna received one of those fluffy little electronic chicks that "cheeps" when you place it in the palm of your hand.  She carried it around with her everywhere she went and named it Tweety. 

"Ahhh, my Tweety."  She'd speak to it and cuddle it like it was a baby of her own.

This morning I found her in the bathroom attempting to give Tweety a bath in the sink.  Actually, I was in an adjacent room when I heard Tweety's "tweets" going on endlessly "tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet" . . . .  then the tweets started to sound a little bit deeper, and longer, and deeper still.  By the time I got there Tweety was sitting in a puddle of water on the bathroom counter.  We dried her off and her tweets returned to the normal, high-pitched tweets we had grown used to the last few days.

But, they didn't stop.

It kept going and going, completely on it's own.  There was no palm-holding required to make this Tweety go.  I turned Tweety over -- no "off" switch.  Darn it.

I got after Anna for messing around in the bathroom sink and went back to the busy task of getting everyone ready for school.

We made Tweety stay at home while we took the kids to school.  And to have the tires rotated and grocery shopping.  When we returned 2 1/2 hours later, Tweety was still tweeting.  I thought, I can handle this.  Surely the batteries will die.  Eventually.  Anna was really attached to the thing so I didn't want to do anything drastic like, say, take it out back and smash it with a hammer. 

Just before lunch it began grinding on my nerves.  You could hear it just about everywhere in the house. Payton came home, I started to get lunch ready, and I told Anna to take Tweety upstairs to her room.  A few seconds later I walked into the living room and Anna is just standing there by the window.  Looking . . . suspicious.

Me:  Did you take Tweety upstairs?

Anna:  Mmm-hmm.

But I can hear muffled tweeting coming from her direction.  I figure she's stuffed it in or under the leather chair.

Me:  Anna, where is Tweety?

Anna:  I don't know.

Grrr.  I know she knows exactly where it is.  For pete's sake, we can both hear it!  I step closer and realize that Tweety is not stuffed in the leather chair.  I know exactly where it is and I'm not happy about it.

The questioning continues unsuccessfully.  Anna has decided that she's going to test some new waters today -- lying.  Nice.  Even though I know where it is I'm not going to back down until she tells me.  There were many tears shed and finally a finger pointed in the direction of her dear, sweet Tweety.

The heater vent.

I pulled up the cover and Tweety cannot be seen.  But she is definitely heard.  Ohhh, great.

Now we have an annoying little bird stuck in our heater ducts, tweeting away, and who knows when or if the batteries will ever die.  I almost started laughing, but I was still so mad at her for blatantly lying that I was able to keep my mean-mom face.  She's in her room now and will be there for a long time.  We'll see how long Scott's arms are when we gets home.  In the meantime, I'm shaking my head and wishing death to Tweety.

the silver lining:  being forced to remove the heater vent and inspect the ducts allowed me to discover that our heating duct is hanging precariously by a single screw (the other 3 have popped out).  The gap is letting a ton of cold air blow into the house from the crawlspace.  Got it on the fix-it list now.  I'm reeeeally hoping that the heavy weight of other discarded objects is not the reason for this.

easter sunday

I feel like I need to say, "I survived!"  At least the first half of it.  Whew.  We're just back from church, and can I just say that Primary is something else after the kids have spent a full morning loading up on chocolate, jelly beans, and peeps.  And I wasn't even doing sharing time, or conducting . . . I was just the helper/hall monitor.  Here's hoping that sugar levels return to normal next week.

Here's our little peeps.

 

I need to photoshop our neighbor's car tire out of the picture, but later.  Or maybe we'll just try for good pictures next week when I have my parent's property as a beautiful backdrop.

This is Anna's sassy, defiant, "I'm not going to smile" face.  Yep, she really said that.

 

Here she is in all of her frilly Easter splendor.  When she walked into the chapel there were "oohs" and "ahhs". 

She's wearing the dress that she picked out while shopping with Papa Dan.  I searched for a hat & gloves with no luck, until last night when I Scott and I made a quick stop at Fred Meyer on our way home from the temple.  I was so excited.  (Oh, and the Pad Thai for dinner at Thai Orchid was {singing} wonderful!) 

Now I need to go cook our Easter dinner:  ham, scallopped potatoes, green beans, deviled eggs, and crescent rolls.  And we're planning to sit down as a family after dinner and watch The Testaments.

I'll leave you with the scripture that Anna gave in Primary today:

John 14:6 -- "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

And my testimony that Jesus Christ is our Savior.  That he came to this earth, he lived and taught and lifted and loved, that he atoned for the sins of the world (for my sins), he was crucified, and on the third day he rose from the tomb.  I have a testimony that because of him and only through him, we too can return to our Father in Heaven someday.  This testimony fills me with hope and peace.

love these kids

  

they have been good kids today . . . . watched 2 sessions of general conference and helped us out in the yard with minimal complaint.  How could you complain, it was gorgeous outside!  We had them picking up excess cement droppings around the new mow strips, filling in dirt where the forms were removed, and hauling wooden stakes to a big pile.  Loved hearing Anna say, "watch out for the big girl" as she walked past.  After a very dirty and sweaty afternoon, bath-time was very refreshing

 

Conner decided to have some fun with his hair.

 

And then there's the usual activities: cleaning bedrooms, begging mom for a treat (gave in with fudgsicles), perusing the Lego catalog, and picking your nose. 

 

Yep, we love them.  

Even when we find things like this lying on the kitchen floor.

   

something worthwhile

set your DVR . . . . for a new episode of Living Essentials on BYU-TV. 

Monday, April 6th at 6pm Pacific Time

• DirectTV - channel 374

• DISH - channel 9403

• Comcast (in my area) - channel 234

This episode is very special to my family as it tells the story of our good friend - my dad's best friend - Ben, who went missing 3 years ago.  Several months ago my cousin came to central California, to Gustine, and interviewed my dad, my uncle, and Ben's brother for this piece.  When my parents visited us recently they brought a copy of the 16 minute piece about Ben.  It was beautiful.  So well done.  And yet, so strange to see loved ones and the town & area I grew up in featured in this way.

The episode's description from BYU-TV:

Missing Persons - On this episode of Living Essentials we talk about missing persons. According to the National Crime Information Center there were over eight hundred thousand people reported as missing in the year 2007. We talk about what to do in the event that a child or an adult goes missing. We’ll also learn about what to expect from law enforcement and how to best cooperate with them in order to more rapidly find your loved one.

So please, watch if you have the time.  I know that my family learned a lot, having gone through this experience . . . Hopefully others can learn from watching this, and catch a glimpse of why Ben was so special to so many people.