Life is full of adventures! Last year, Colton was about to turn in his mission papers. I was excited and nervous all at once. I couldn't wait for him to get out and serve since he wanted that so badly, but I was nervous. I didn't know where in the world he was going. I wasn't ready to let my baby leave the house and our communication would be limited to a weekly email. By the end of March, he had turned in his mission papers.
(the day the mission papers were turned in)
The wait began. It was less than three weeks and the call arrived. So exciting!!! Our house filled with tons of people ready to hear the news....Canada Vancouver Mission, English Speaking. (relive it here) Well, the next few months passed quickly. Colton graduated,
(Goodbye, ACP!)
was ordained an Elder, went to the Gilbert Temple to take out his endowments
(Tony, Colton, Grandpa, Uncle Jean-Jacques)
and we shopped for mission clothes.
(this pile doesn't include the suits and extra pants!)
(again, the suits would be picked up later.....
now how are we going to get this all in his suitcase?!?!!)
Just after his graduation, I found out about Pathway through BYU-I. (learn about it here) I decided to sign up and had until September before I started. During the summer I had such strong feelings hit me that I needed to really jump into volunteering full force! Yada, yada, yada.....I now work at Asher's school. (Find the details of that here.) Before I knew it, I was working 16.25 hours a week. I kept telling myself that I was finding more to do to help me not miss Colton. I worked for a few weeks before we took Colton up to the MTC.
(driving up to the MTC)
(Saying goodbye at the curb)
I did surprisingly well. After dropping him off we drove straight home. By the time we were in Southern Utah, I was calm, but so, so sad. We stopped to fill up the car and grab something to eat. I first went to use the restroom, the stalls were all taken. Pretty soon a door opened and there I was......FACE TO FACE WITH A MAN!!!! The man looked all around and realized he was in the ladies room. That's when he looked at me and said "I'm so tired!!!" and then promptly ran out, completely mortified! All of the emotion of my day finally came out...in laughter! I couldn't stop laughing.....major laughing. It was just what I needed to cheer up again. I know that man ran all the way to his car and back on the road, but I wish so bad I could have said Thank You to him. The Lord knows just what we need and I consider that a tender mercy ;-)
Thankfully, I went home and back to my job. It's just what I needed! It hasn't been easy to add school and work to my life that already includes a sophomore, 5th grader, husband in college and the bishopric, my young women's calling and a missionary to write. (writing the missionary is fun!) Let's just say that the first semester didn't include much house cleaning or grocery shopping. I'm getting into a better routine and am proud to say I am just over half-way done with my year of Pathway. I can't wait to continue on and get my degree!
As for today.....it's SPRING BREAK!!! I go back to work and the kids go back to school on March 24th. I plan on enjoying every minute of this much needed break. (I still have my school, but it's much easier to get homework completed with more time on my hands) I also plan on posting regularly since I love using this blog for my family history. And who wouldn't want to share for posterity a proud parent moment from Colton's letter yesterday. He said, "I owe everything to my parents. They are prime gospel teachers. THAT is called magnifying your calling. They could have just been normal and kept me away from the stove and the highway, but instead, they invited me to come unto Christ. Now I can help others do the same."
Elder Stock has invited many to come unto Christ,
but he was able to see these three choose baptism in Duncan.
Judith
Shawnee
Will
1 comment:
Yay for blog updates and tender mercies!
Post a Comment