Heading into Harvest

We thought Jordan might get to come home this weekend, but we never heard back from him (his phone ran out of minutes and he is e-mail reply challenged ;) so by Saturday we had given up hope.  And then, right as we were heading out to do some Harvest shopping, he called from Zoey's house asking us to come get him.  It has been the most fun, contented 27 hours; life feels so whole when he is home.  The twins were permanent appendages to him most of the time.  Saturday night we played "Tigers in the Dark" (at Jordan's request) for an hour and a half and then we finally gave in to the friend phone calls at 10:00 PM and he left for a big "back in town" bash for two hours.  Sunday was the "farewell" for one of Jordan's spokane roomates (Austin) and most of the youth that have gone off to college came home to support him.  The church was filled.  It was so fun to see them all; we squeeeezed at many of them as we could on our row.  I miss having them in our home.  Of course goodbye's are inevitable and difficult and as I sat crying on a stool in the middle of our kitchen with Abe's arms around me, I couldn't help but feel grateful for having children who leave such enormous holes in the wake of their absense and fill them, overflowing, when they return.  Truthfully, the rest of Sunday evening felt melancholy.  We don't have high hopes that Jordan will be able to come home for Harvest because most students don't come home for that holiday, but we are looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

We are gearing up for a week of Harvest festvities.  Including Family Home Evening (which is always a celebration) there is a party every day except Sunday. Lily and Sophie can hardly contain their anticipation.  Our children have a four day weekend, so I am excited as well!  Fred gets no time "off",  but he is a festive, sturdy Maypole and we will party all around him.  :)

Our computer has become almost disfunctional and our software won't seem to find the probable viruses, so  the IT guy at Stevens-Henager suggested that we do a clean sweep and reload the operating system.  We've had to do that twice before with other computers and though Fred thought he had everything saved to disks, I have lost valuable files each time around.  Fred spent the weekend on that time consuming project, while I have held my breath.  He has the computer back up and running and it seems to be working properly.  I am grateful that between he and Mikayla they have the intelligence to "fix" these technilogical problems so we don't have to pay someone to do it, but I am aprehensive about looking for my documents.  Luckily the blog is stored on the Internet, so that can't be touched by our personal computer failure.  Monday is not a good computer day because there are so many other things to be accomplished, but maybe I will be brave enough tomorrow to go "hacking" through the bush.

Mom says she's trunky.  Next March feels like a lifetime away to me, as Jordan will be turning 19 then.  His Bishop has started the verbal ball rolling and wants Jordan's papers ready to go by December.  We are all still uncertain what next semester has in store.  Jordan would love to keep learning, we would love to have him keep learning, but he also needs money for his mission, and whether he could get a good job here is a big question mark.  In truth, I selfishly don't feel ready for March.  I LOVE having Mom and Dad on a mission and learning and being blessed from their experiences and their growth.  I KNOW we will have similiar experiences as Jordan leaves and such grand extended family reunions as Mom and Dad return and bring back with them the familial nucleus, but pondering the tradeoff induces heart tremors.

Eden turns 14 in a month and a day.  I don't know how this is all happening so quickly, but I am grateful for stake callings and dance chaperone assignments :)