This & That

Tender Mercies

I am grateful for many things when it comes to my daughter and her mission. Mostly I'm grateful for the technology that allows me to email her every week, and lets her send me pictures.

But I'm also grateful for the kindess of strangers. Before I'd even gotten an email from her from Missouri (or Missoura, as the natives say it, she tells me), I got an email from a random church member who met her in the visitor's center  where she is stationed.

He took a picture and got my email address from her and said, "Just met your daughter in the Liberty Jail visitor's center. Thought you might like a picture."

Then I got a text on my phone from a member of the ward (congregation) where she is serving. She said, "I was just in missionary correlation meeting with your daughter and her companion. They are working hard. I will send updates." And she included this picture. People are so kind. Tender mercies to missionary moms.

This was one of the photos I got in her first email from Liberty, MO. That's the Kansas City LDS temple and her MTC companion with her. She's doing great and learning lots.

 

Missionary Pictures

My daughter sent a few pictures with her last weekly email. She totally gets that I need to see her face and she has been really good to make that happen during her time at the Missionary Training Center where she's been for the past 3 weeks. She made her way to Missouri on Wednesday. Missionaries get to call their families from the airport so she and I chatted for a while. It was good and hard at the same time, if that makes sense.

Anyway, views from the training center. She called this an "awkward mission selfie."

She says this has been her view for the past 3 weeks.

And this one is a very traditional MTC photo. Almost every missionary gets their picture taken in front of this large world map, pointing to where in the world they're going. I'm not sure what the deal was with the lighting, but it was so yellow when I got it that this was an amazing radlab improvement.

The Last Suppers

I tried really hard to fill my daughter's last week at home with some of her favorite chick food. This was a huge burden on the men at home, especially since they had to eat chicken multiple times...horrors!

We started off with BLT Sandwich Salad and corn muffins.

And worked our way to Thai Peanut Chicken Wraps.

Then Thai Chicken Curry.

Throwing the guys a bone, she went for grilled steak...really cow steak at that.

And then had friends join her in making mini pizzas. What I didn't get pictures of were the chicken and spinach quiche and That Really Good Deli Sandwich.

Leaving

It was a tough/good day yesterday. I'm going to need a day or two to get my emotions tucked away. In the meantime...

Today Is The Day

"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for aremission of their sins."--2 Nephi 25:26

 The day has finally arrived.

 By the time most of you read this, we will be on the road to Utah to drop my daughter off at the missionary training center.

She will be gone for 18 months and the two of us will go from multiple daily texts, emails and pictures, to one weekly email and a phone call on Mother's Day and Christmas. That's what will be the most difficult...for me at least. I've done this five times already, but this one is just a little different.

She is fun, bright and prepared. She is doing this because she has strong convictions and beliefs, and I am so proud of her. We went outside last week and took a few pictures of her so we could have one for the plaque that sits at the church while she's gone. It was fun for both of us and when I look at her I can hardly believe we've gotten to this point.

On a lighter note, let me back up at show you what she was actually wearing for the photo shoot. :) This is totally my girl....part glam and part totally not. She is ready to go! The scripture she's chosen to go with the picture on her plaque:

"Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come." Doctrine & Covenants 68:6

 

Just Because I Love Her...

My daughter was just a bit freaked out by the entire section about "insect prevention" in her mission information material. She has a real aversion to ticks and the like and was mildly hysterical last fall when we found one attatched to her at the cabin.

 

Luckily for her, I found this handy-dandy tool on a recent trip to Sportman's Warehouse. We'll just pack this little goodie for her to take and she'll be all set! 

Cookies, Anyone?

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Are you all in pinch-proof green?

We have a family announcement today. The Girl has decided that, like her brothers before her, she will be going on a church mission. She has spent the past month or so getting her application in order and we received a message last night saying that is has been received by church headquarters. That means that sometime in the next couple of weeks or so, she should get her letter telling us where she will spend her 18 month church mission.

As is our family tradition, it's time to start the guessing pool. Where in the world will she spend those 18 months? You are entitled to one guess each and the one who guesses the closest will get some homemade cookies mailed to them...your choice of flavor. So let the guessing begin. Anyone can guess. Leave your guess in the comment section of this post or on the Facebook link to this post. We'll cut off the guessing when the envelope arrives at her apartment. I'm totally hoping for Canada. 

We Are Huggers

So yes, he is home. 

His brother tracked the flight on his phone.

Last one off the plane. This has become a fairly annoying (for me) family tradition.

And yes, we are huggers, so there was this. Mom always gets the first hug.

And this.

And some of this.

And he's home.

Today's the Day!

First off, to answer the questions about the bed in The Girl's dorm, she has the option to elevate it so she can have extra storage underneath, which she chose to do. Her comment that evening was, "I'm going to die when I roll out of it!"

Now, as hard as it was to leave my girl at college the other day, the pendulum has swung in entirely the other direction today. PB will step off an airplane at our small local airport at 9:00 tonight. After 2 years of a church mission, I just really need to get my hands on the kid. His one request is that we get to the cabin as quickly as we can after he gets off the plane. We're planning on accommodating him in that regard, which means that pictures of him may not appear here until next week.

I have my own privacy line about specific information I give out about my family. In my own mind there's a delicate balance between sharing generalities about what my kids are up to, and throwing open the door and putting an itemized list on the internet. I try to be careful, but not obsessive. That said, from the photo above, you may realize that SD Boy is going to grad school in a health sciences field. He feels a little more comfortable with people knowing he's going to med school. I got this picture from him and his wife last weekend. It was his white coat ceremony.  It's times like this that I'm so grateful for technology and the ease with which I can stay in touch with my kids. 

Then about an hour later he sent me this picture with the caption, "Neener, neener, neener...." Yeah, there are sometimes I could reach through the technology and smack my kids. But in all honesty, I'm really glad they were able to get together for lunch once more before PB gets home today since it will be a long stretch before we get to see them again.

It's a happy day!

Movin' On Out

All good things must come to an end, or so the saying goes. SD Boy, his wife and my prospective grandbaby have been staying with us since college graduation in April. However, grad school starts next week for SD Boy...in Iowa, and that necessitates moving from here, to there. 

So they loaded up DH's truck and pulled out of here for Utah, where all their worldly goods have been stored for these last few months. DH and The Girl will drive down Thursday night, pack everything into a moving van and they will all caravan out to the great, flat mid-west. 

Now if you follow my blog, you will know that PB is on his church mission in Iowa. And in fact, he is stationed right now in the city where SD Boy will be living. AND the LDS congregation he's connected with meets in the same building as the congregation SD Boy and his wife (and my prospective grandbaby) will be in. (Remembering that LDS congregation are divided up geographically.) 

Physical meetings between missionaries and families aren't usually allowed, but since SD Boy is actually moving into a place in that city to live, and probably can't avoid seeing PB in the halls at church, and since it is so close to the end of PB's mission time, the mission president has given permission for them all to have dinner together on Saturday night. 

You might ask why I'm not going. Can't do it. Can't see the boy and leave the boy again. Don't want to weep all over him and distract him from that last month's efforts, and on top of it all leave another boy, his wife and my prospective grandbaby. Too hard. Just way too hard. I'm just concentrating on the fact that PB will be home a month from yesterday. One more month. That I can do.