A Breath of Fresh Air

We went for a little drive the other day.  It might have been more than just a little drive.  But we started up in the business of crowded peopleville, and ended up in the refreshing quiet of the mountains.  The air was clean and clear and tasted wonderful

We stopped and walked down a dirt road to see a dream.  We've been having this dream for a while, but I'm not sure if it is the right time for it to come true.

We spent a while poking about and looking at the adventure.  We learned that even though we have two coats and two jackets for the twins, three of the four will be lost at any given time and one of the twins will have to wear his sister's pink jacket.

We learned that velvet princess dresses and cockle burs don't mix very well.

We learned that dreams come with big costs.

And we remembered that we love being in the mountains.  And we remembered that God made an awesomely beautiful planet.

We'll have to think about those dreams for a while.

Chalkboards

I was helping put on a women's conference a few weeks ago, and it wasn't too bad.  I am so much more comfortable working with a group of men than a group of women, but it turned out better than I thought it would.  It's probably because I didn't sign up for the decorating committee, because the frou-frou might make me a little bit crazy.  I designed the invitations and the program, and I think they turned out pretty well.  

Then they wanted some chalkboard signs, so I thought it might be fun to learn how to do that.  It's pretty popular right now, and it wasn't too hard.  

I designed the page in Word using wordart. Not hard.  I printed it out, drew lines on the page with a ruler and pencil.  I just divided the page into four parts across (half, then half again), and eight parts down, since the chalkboards were roughly twice as long as they were tall.  I drew lines on the chalkboard to divide it up the same way, and did the old fourth-grade method of transferring the words one square at a time.

I outlined the words, fixing them as I went, then filled them in.  I smudged inside the letters with my finger to smooth out the chalk.  I erased little accidents and the grid lines with soft rags and q-tips.

It took a little longer for the first one than I thought it would, but I got faster as I went along.  I just had a really tired back and shoulders when I was done.

Angel wanted to help, of course, and she decorated the back of one easel chalkboard while I was doing the front.

I think they turned out pretty well.  Now I want a chalkboard!

Happy Birthday, Eddie!

Here he is, the birthday boy, with his snazzy new haircut.  Like you can tell.  But it looks great, maybe just because I look at his face and the way I love him more than I look at his hair.  He wanted pizza and chocolate cake for dinner, so that's what he got.  Even if I had to dump cocoa powder into a yellow cake mix to make it.  That's ok.  The look on Georgie's face when he stole the cocoa powder spoon to lick it off was worth every moment of cooking!

Eddie, I love you to the moon and back.  You were a ray of sunshine just when your daddy and I needed it.  You still are.  Happy twelfth birthday!  Twelfth.  Don't look at that word too long or it will mess you up.  Twelvth?  Will you tie your tongue in knots if you try to pronounce "L-V-TH" too many times in a row?  Quit it.

Twelve things I love about Eddie:

1. He is so kind.  He sees times when he can jump in and help that many others don't notice.
2. He is so thorough at cleaning the kitchen!  I love his night to clean up (although he doesn't).
3. He brushes my hair.  I'm always been a sucker for that.
4. He is my snuggle buddy, always wanting to sit close and put his head on my shoulder.
5. He has a gentle strength that flows through everything he does.
6. He loves soft clothes and wants me to feel how fluffy his sweatshirt is, and then loves me for buying it for him.
7. He is a great babysitter!  He plays well with his younger siblings, and they love him.
8. He does his schoolwork independently.  Most of the time, he finishes at school.
9. He is the first one to start and finish his chores, and rarely requires any prompting from Mom!
10. He likes watching documentaries so he can learn things.
11. He is easy-going and nice to be around.  He has good friends and develops friendships easily.
12. He's my newest deacon, and is excited to help at church with those new responsibilities.

Love you so much, Eddie!  I hope this year is a wonderful one for you.

Mission Monday

From South Africa:

This week has been really crazy with all the random weather that we have been having. We will wake up in the morning with almost perfect weather, and then by noon it is absolutely horrible. Then on the other hand, if we wake up and it is cloudy, then by about noon it clears up and it is a hot and humid day for the rest of the day. So the weather has been crazy and makes it crazy right in the middle of the work day. But it has been fun.

Then on Sunday (at church), we had a third hour combined and we went in with the youth, and they were talking about seminary and how important it is. People here don't realize just how important it is for the kids to be going. So it was cool to see the parents realize it and to have them fired up about seminary as well. This week has been awesome! I can't wait to see what happens this week!


From Madagascar:

Then we got on the wrong bus and ended up stuck in traffic far from home for two hours. That was poopy. Upside to that is we got to talk to a very interesting man who was telling us why Malagasies don't like people from India. Then he was talking about how Malagasies don't discriminate. Literally he said, "Ny Malagasy tsy tia karana." (Malagasies don't like Indians) then two sentences later it was, "Tsy manavaka ny Malagasy." (Malagasies don't discriminate). Anyway, he was a delight. Then it was just work as usual until on Friday we were eatin lunch at a cheap, but very nice place that sells grilled chicken, when the guy at the table next to us bought us a drink. We got Sprite, of course, don't get too excited. Then we started talking to him and the owner, they're good friends, and we found out that if we bring sister missionaries next time, they'll give us a free cake. Unfortunately, none of the sister live close...

Dane It!

A conversation this morning:

Georgie:  Mommy, can I play with the sticks and the little silver balls? (a set of Magnetix that is not always out because of all the small pieces that keep getting lost)

Me:  Yes, dear.  Just make your bed first.

Georgie:  (running into the other room where Freddie was laying on his stomach on the floor, reading a book) Freddie!  Mom says we can always play with the sticks and silver balls if we make our bed!

Me:  You need to make your bed every morning, before you play with anything.

Georgie:  What?  (hanging his head and stomping out of the room)  Oh, dane it!

I'm not sure what the Danes ever did to him to make him profane them that way.  But a few minutes later, he came up and triumphantly proclaimed that he had made his bed and that it was easy.  Good for you, buddy.  Good for you.

Happy Birthday, Eddie!

This cute boy has a birthday coming up.  I can't believe he will be 12!  Wowza.

Here is his birthday list:

Bunny or a parakeet
iPod or a phone
Motorized go-cart
Computer
X Box


That's all for the top of his list.  The rest of his list includes things like candy, Legos (and not Legos because you can't buy but a tiny set with a bunch of money anymore.  Oh, for the good old days when we liked Legos but everyone else didn't!), a play date at the local trampoline play place, electronics, rubber band guns, outside toys, and a million dollars.  No problemo.  Just let me clean out the sofa cushions and we'll be all set.

Love this boy.  I'd better go give him a haircut so he will let me take his picture.

Mission Monday

I asked the boys how their clothes were holding out, since I don't want them to be nekkid.  Or wear holy socks.

I guess South Africa is hard on socks, or maybe he's walking a lot!  They were J.C. Penney socks and I guess they aren't made to hold up to missionary work.  "I'm doing fine except for socks. BTW, the clothes here are a ton cheaper, and I can see them before I get them, so just do the same thing (put money in his account) and drop it in and let me know, and I'll go get them. I'm fine with shirts ( I have 8, and I have two full suits, so I think I'm good there. One of them is in the mission home right now, and they are taking care of it for me. And I also need more shoes. I'm going to go and get some soon, maybe today, so that will be good."

It's too warm in Madagascar for a suit, and he just had one tailor made anyway, so he's fine there. "I never wear a suit... so yes, I'm good on suits. Plus when I want a new one I will get another one tailor made (probably right before I go home). My white shirts are mostly white, but it is a little bit of a faded white. My pants are fine. My socks are fine. There is just a couple missing is all. Ooh, about the socks, for (the other boys) or posterity or whatever, don't get the ones from missionary mall. The absorb so much water! It's like walking around with wet rags around your feet that never dry out! I might send a video after a rainstorm next week, last night I wringed them out like 10 times and a ton of water was still coming. But they're not holey. My shoes are fine. Still water proof, but when it rains my pants just soak up all of the water and send them down my legs into my shoes anyway... Those are missionary mall too. They might be better for like a cold climate place, but not great for here. Thanks!"  So no Missionary Mall shoes or socks for warm, wet climates.


From South Africa:

I love being a missionary, and I love getting the chance to interact with the people here. I love getting the opportunity to work with them and to interact with them! I love it. Nuff said.

But this week has been really busy, we have visited so many people and gotten so many lessons taught. On top of that, we had the traveling assistants here with us for a day. That was really interesting. All they do is exchanges with everybody in the mission. That would be fun, but it would stink. No area, no boarding. Just exchanges all day for the whole transfer. It was fun to have them here.


From Madagascar:

Then on Sunday I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting and the bishopric told me I sounded just like a Malagasy, so that put me up on cloud 9 because Malagasy is one of my favorite parts of being a missionary here! Then we met a man as we were walking away from the church who told us he was searching for the truth and he was really confused because all of the churches said theirs was the true church. "How can I know where the true church is??!" So we talked to him a little bit, showed him the church, and asked his name. "Joseph Smith." Ok, ok, I see what's going on. You have a good day sir. Haha not very missionaries get to meet him!