Happy Birthday, Opa

I made a German chocolate cake for this wonderful man for his birthday.  I'm so glad we get to see so much of him!

Mission Monday

We've been following the aftermath of the hurricane in Vanuatu in the news lately, because Ben's mission companion is from there.  It looks like the whole country is nearly leveled.  Ben told us that his companion's home island "was hit the worst, and he still hasn't been able to get through to find out if his family is ok yet... We're all praying for him. He's super hopeful about it. He's actually beaming and laughing ALL the time. He's a huge stud."

Wow.  How would it be to have such frightening news about your home and family, and still manage to be upbeat and hopeful?  I regularly lose hope over the smallest of things.  I think I need to be more grateful for what I have.  And even when things don't go my way, I'm going to try harder to be upbeat anyway.  What a great lesson.


From South Africa:

Well, this has been an interesting week. That and a crazy one at that too. Transfer week was this week, and I had to move all the way across the mission. It sucked. I don't like moving at all, but that is what we do as missionaries. But, it is all good. I am going to miss Port Alfred, but the next new adventure is about to take place.

So Paarl is awesome! Mom, you were wondering about what it looks like, think Utah! It is awesome! That and grape and olive vineyards everywhere, plus lots of old buildings. So far, so good. It is amazing.

From Madagascar:

So big news this week: It hasn't rained the whole week!!! That is an answer to my prayers, and lot's of other people's too, I'm sure because the water has started to go down. Some of our investigators were finally able to move back into their house that has been flooded for the last three months! Unfortunately, there's still a lot of people living in tents or little temporary shacks on the side of the road, but the sun's been doing it's job, so hopefully that will all get worked out soon.

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

I need to call my brother.  He has plans to take my dad for the weekend, and we are connecting to figure out how to make the transfer.  I like talking to my brother.  He's a good guy.  All my brothers are awesome - I'm so blessed.

But my phone won't call him.  I've called him before with no problem, but when I try to call him now. an automated voice says that calling mobile numbers is barred.  Barred!  What a great word!  I'll have to use that on my children.

I'm sorry, but due to your recent report card, playing computer games is barred.
I'm sorry, but the state of your bedroom floor means that playing with your friends today is barred.
I'm sorry, but potty language at the dinner table is barred.
I'm sorry, but anyone speaking to me right now is barred.

I can call my husband on his cell phone, and I can make other calls, so it's just his phone that is not working for me.  Barred.  I'm on the phone with the customer service department (and have been for nearly an hour now.  Fortunately most of that time has been on hold, so I've been able to mediate several spats with the twins, discuss a tax matter with my husband on the other phone, read the news, clean out my email, and check up on my kids' grades.  Now I'm getting bored.  And my chair is uncomfortable.  Wish I had a speaker phone.

And as annoying as this is, it makes me realize that I take phone calls for granted.  I just always know I can pick up the phone and connect with someone.  What an amazing thing it is!  How my great-great-grandmothers would be amazed!  I should use it more, to connect with people who are important to me, instead of waiting for them to call me.

Like my new best friend in India who is concerned about my computer not working.  So nice of him to call me all the time and offer to fix it for me.  Barred.

Happy Birthday, Opa!

It's birthday week.  Again.  Gotta love this sugar high.

And it's my dad's birthday.  What a wonderful man he is.  I love being able to see him on a regular basis.

We all went out to dinner to celebrate - me and my brothers and our respective spouses.  Spices?  These are good, good people.  Having these people as family - forever! - is one of my biggest blessings.  And that handsome guy on the right side - he started all this.  It's all his fault.

Love you, Dad!

Happy Birthday, David!

We've had a bundle of birthdays in the past while. Since I have not yet died due to cake overdose (but  been close, a few days), I will share them here.

David just turned 14. Fourteen!  He usually requests corned beef because it is so plentiful this time of year, but this time he switched it up. His request for birthday dinner was alfredo pasta... with Spam. Spam, spam, spam, spam, spammity spam!  He got his wish, and I didn't even have to go grocery shopping, thanks to one lonely tin of the gelatinous goop I found hiding in the pantry. The enormous bowl of pasta turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.  They ate it up... literally. The secret ingredient is a dash of nutmeg, if you must know. It's not quite alfredo sauce without it.

I made a party cake with an old cake mix I found in my mom's food storage. It looked like a fun one - white cake with colorful sprinkles. Just for fun, I baked it in a big metal bowl instead of a flat pan. But when I tried to tip the cooked cake out of the bowl, the whole thing crumbled into bits. I think I need to toss the rest of those old cake mixes!

I didn't have a car to run to the store to get a new cake (Chris took it to work, and the Mr. was working late), nor did I have time to bake a new one. So we punted. I made a quick batch of frosting and we poured it over the mashed up cake bits. I melted some white chocolate and we made cake pops!  Sort of.  We stuck the candles in the big bowl of sticky stuff because he isn't yet too old for blowing out candles. Then each child got to reach in, squish together a few balls of cake-and-frosting and dip it into the melted chocolate. And after the first one fell to pieces during the dipping, we drizzled them instead. Rather unconventional,  but the kids thought I had come up with a fun new dessert!  Er, yes. Yes, indeed. That's just what I meant to do.

Things I love about my #4 boy:

1. He is thoughful. The other day I was pretty frazzled and he sweetly came over, gave me a big hug, and told me it would be ok.

2. This boy tells the truth.

3. I love the big grin that splits his face in two. Reminds me of his happy daddy.

4. He has an intense drive to do things. Something!  Anything!  He's a do-er.

5. He is a fast runner. Always has been. I'm looking forward to see how he does on the track team this year.

6. He is not afraid of people, and will just walk up to strangers and talk to them.

7. He is a great salesman. I don't know how many times he sold things - strollers, baked goods, garden produce - on the street in front of the house.

8. He has a good business sense to know what people want and help them get it.

9. He is honest about his faults - and his strengths - and doesn't try to hide them.

10. He is self motivated.

11.  He watches his time and knows exactly how long he needs to get ready to go (and doesn't get up one moment earlier!).

12. He is actively working on making himself better. When he know he has a weakness, he comes and tells me about it, and works on it diligently.

13. He loves being with people.

14. He is developing a great singing voice. I am amazed to hear this little boy of mine (who isn't so little any more!) hit some pretty impressive bass notes.

Happy birthday, my wonderful red head!  I'm so glad you joined our family!

Mission Monday

It's transfer week!  I had a feeling that we would be seeing the last of Port Alfred in South Africa, and I was right!  As I was posting their letters on the blogs, I was amazed to see that they have been out for 30 weeks and 50 weeks!  Wow.

From South Africa:

For the other news, I hate transfers. Having to know that you are not going to see people again sucks. I got the news on Saturday that I am being moved to Paarl. It is about 45 min east of Cape Town, so that is where I get to go.

And I have to say thank you for all the birthday wishes. Elder Weber and I had an awesome birthday week. Mine was on Tuesday, his was on Friday. So much fun! I'm going to miss Port Alfred, but a new adventure awaits me.


From Madagascar:

No big email this week. There's not enough time.

First things first: Happy birthday Opa! Have the most fantastic day! I'm always thinking of you over here!

Malagasy Morsel is tara. It means late and it's what I am right now, so I'll write you all next week!

Pi Day

Yup, we're a bunch of nerds around here. We have to celebrate Pi Day 3.14.15 because we only get to do it once in a hundred years. So at 9:20 - ish in the morning (3.141592...whatever), we ate breakfast pie. How lucky we are to have a guy who will get up early and make good stuff like this!  Thanks, Trent.

Of course, we did round out the day with apple pie (my dad's favorite) and banana cream pie (Trent's favorite) and coconut cream pie (my best!)

Happy pie eating!