Two Missionary Sons

Well, we have come to the end of our year with two missionary sons out at once!

Joshua, serving in El Salvador San Salvador East Mission for four more days.

Joseph, serving in Argentina Mendoza Mission for one more year.

What a WONDERFUL blessing it has been this year to have two faithful sons serving missions at the same time!  It is hard to describe in words what it feels like, but it will suffice to say that it has filled me with joy.  I believe everyone in the family could say that.  It will be a hard habit to change for everyone in our family in our prayers when we say, "Please bless Joshua and Joseph on their missions..."

I have written this blog faithfully almost every week this past year so that they would know what was going on with our family, and also Jesse at BYU, and it has been very fun to have this "family history" recorded.   

A big shout-out to my brother Chris, who told me this week that he reads this blog on a regular basis, and has for years.  My Mom does too, and so does my sister-in-law Kendra.  Thanks guys!

I have loved getting Joshua and Joseph's letters every week.  Some Mondays I would spend all day on the computer, between getting the blog ready, waiting for that email subject that read, "I'm on!", reading their letters and e-mail chatting back and forth with them.

But two will now go to one!  Thankfully we will still have Joseph out serving and enjoying his letters and the blessings that come from his service.  And speaking of that service, JOSEPH passed his one year mark on the mission this week!  He went in to the MTC on Feb 13th!

A month ago, Joseph had the privilege of baptizing Adela, whom the Sister missionaries had taught.  This is what he said about her, "I had the privilege of Interviewing her and baptizing her. She´s been through so much, she basically spent the whole interview and baptism crying for relief and joy. To see her face and her reaction after she came up out of the water, I have a testimony that the Atonement is REAL. And I mean it. It is so real."  Isn't that beautiful?  I was so touched by that - her relief and joy!  (This is a good example of why I love to have missionary sons and read their letters!)

And Joshua gets home in 4 DAYS!!!  This is one of my favorite missionary pictures of this Elder in El Salvador!  He has been a great missionary!  I know he has worked diligently and loved the people, loved his companions, and loved the Lord.  Pero ya se acabó el tiempo.  Adios El Salvador!  He will return with honor!

By the way, when you read this Josh, and start to shed a tear or two, Peter prayed for you today that you would not miss El Salvador too much.  I was touched by his thoughtful prayer!

I was sitting in Church today look at the stand and thought, in one week from now, I will be sitting in this same spot, on this same bench, looking at my son sitting on the stand.  AAAAHHHH!!  I'm so excited to see him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peter had his last two basketball games this week.  In the first game, he drove to the basket, got fouled and then stepped up to the line and made both of his free throws.  Good job, Peter!

He starts soccer practice this Thursday!  (That's his REAL sport!)

On Monday night, Mary, Peter and I went to the Young Single Adults FHE and were the DJ's for their Valentine's Dance.  Mary and Peter rocked the house! 

They did a Viennese Waltz, the Cha-Cha, and swing dancing.  (Oh, and I might have danced a little too).

Mary and Caleb did their old swing dance and wowed the crowd!  She said that they could both do the lifts a lot better than before.  She does one where he lifts her straight up into a hand stand - it looks awesome!  I'm sorry I don't have a picture of that!
I also got a chance to talk with this lovely young lady!  Joseph, Emma says and that she misses you SO much!

 

 We had the 5th of 8 Foot Zone classes this week on the current session.  We had so much - laughing and working together and helping each other.  It was a really memorable class for me.  I'm grateful for Sheri, Tanya, Karen, LeAnn and Dania (although we missed Dania this week because she was sick).

Speaking of Ballroom Dance, Peter and Libby started the class with Mary this week!  She is on a different team of older kids, and Peter and Libby joined the younger team!  I'm so excited for them to do this.  We thought they would have to wait until next year, but it turned out that the directors let them come on in the middle of the year.  That was smart, because Peter and Libby have learned a lot of skills from Mary already!

On Thursday night, we had over 30 people here for a class on Grounding.

 We watched a movie on the big screen, with popcorn and everything, and then made grounding pads to take home.  We had a ton of fun!

Valentine's Day was pretty mellow.  We're not a big Valentine's day family, but I did write a letter to Bruce, Mary, Peter and Libby and gave them a present.  That was fun to do!  I asked Jesse what I could do for her for Valentine's, and she refused any gift, that is until I mentioned a book on Amazon.  Then it was a done deal!  Sorry Joshua and Joseph that I forgot to wish you a Happy Valentine's day in your letter last week!  Jesse tried to wear all black on Valentine's Day (in protest - against who knows what), but she couldn't do it.  She had it on, and then she said that the energy of it was so bad that she couldn't follow through with it.  Well good, she does have some sense in her!

Libby danced beautifully in a lyrical dance competition on Saturday morning.  They had white flowing costumes and literally looked like angels on the stage.  This was in contrast to a string of disturbing choreography, costumes and music right before them.  It was interesting how the whole feeling in the room changed the minute their music started.  They danced to "I Can Only Imagine" by MercyMe.

Peter had his Honor Choir Concert this week too.

Mixed Choir

The choir kids from our middle school

 When we asked him at dinner what it was like to sing with that choir, he exclaimed, "It was incredible!  There was nobody that stunk."  :)

Mary had a Tip-off dance Saturday night and she looked beautiful!

She went with Nicholas, and three other couples.  They came to our house for dinner, and we served up orange chicken and fried rice.  Fun group of kids!  When everyone was gathering, Mary was playing the piano and singing with Josh, Jake and Nicholas.  I'm so glad I got a good audio recording of it!

After dinner, the four couples went upstairs and Mary taught them how to waltz.  I will always remember her twirling around in her yellow dress doing the samba!

Today, we had to say good-bye to two of our favorite Elders!  That's always hard! 

We sure love this Elder and hope we can keep in touch in the future!  He is a bright Spanish speaking Elder from Tijuana, Mexico.

And this Elder has been great too!  I talked this Elder into not drinking soda anymore, and he did it!  He said that he started sleeping well for the first time in a long time.  Yeah!

Well, I need to go and fix dinner for our family.  Have a good week everyone.  I know I WILL!!!  :)))