Sunday, August 19th:
Abe was sick this morning so I stayed home with him from church. He slept for awhile and I read conference talks. When he started feeling better we watched Pres. Monson's birthday celebration on the church's website. It was a narrated musical extravaganza, including some of his favorite Broadway performances. Some of the music of the concert wasn't what I would normally choose for Sunday (the performance was held on Saturday) but it was all beautiful and uplifting and inspiring and with all of the spiritual thoughts and tributes scattered throughout it didn't seem like "just entertainment". One of the numbers was "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables. The song is so moving it always makes me emotional. The traveling Broadway company comes to Boise on my birthday this year and Fred, Mikayla, Eden and I are going for my "date". We are all so excited!
Watching President Monson's celebration and seeing the conference center got me anticipating our family's Salt Lake trip to conference. We sacrificed our summer vacation so we could vacation as an entire family the week Jordan gets home. I requested conference tickets from our stake in April but was already the 40th family on the list and I guess they generally don't get more than 30 random tickets for various sessions. Getting in to a live session now seems an impossibility, but we made hotel accommodation that are non-refundable so we're still planning on going and soaking up the spiritual aura that I know will be permeating temple square...and praying for good weather since we'll be outside!=) Jordan gets home that Tuesday and we will leave on Friday so it will be an incredibly special time for our family, no matter where we spend it.=)
We had our last summer hurrah yesterday and went to the Discovery Center for the kids. Mikayla was at a ward campout so she wasn't with us but everyone else seemed to enjoy themselves. The Discovery Center isn't a place where I am most apt to invest emotionally in the experiments, but I love spending quality time with my family so I enjoyed being with them and watching their excitement as well. School starts on Tuesday and Wednesday so our change in gears will start tomorrow night. I'm grateful that Mikayla will still be around on her days off. I rarely prefer solitude to camaraderie--I sometimes enjoy quiet camaraderie, but camaraderie still the same.
One of my trek sons leaves on his mission to Arizona next week and one of Jordan's best friends just returned from his mission to Russia this week. I love being surrounded by these missionary youth!
I've been thinking about some of Jordan's previous letter comments this week, especially about the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, making what could have been a 7 days journey. I don't know that I have ever put those facts together before--they are amazing. I wonder sometimes how long I am "wandering" on my own journeys that could be so much shorter if I would just have the courage to be more obedient. Good food for thought! I need to be more diligent!
Mikayla's friend Nathan is coming to visit this week. I will be very curious to see if he can survive our family and make it out in one piece. Good luck, huh!=)
The peaches and grapes are coming on. Fred counted 6 small watermelons in the garden today and the tomatoes, cucumbers and winter squash are all but consuming their boxes and trenches and completely taking over the walking paths, so Fall must be coming even though the temperatures are still occasionally reaching 100 degrees. I won't complain about any of it.=)
Every day I wake up and think about my missionary serving and teaching and struggling and stretching and blessing lives (Chilean, his and ours) and am so grateful for sacrifices and the power of selflessness, but these arms are getting itchy for my boy!=)
Quotes of the week:
"The day obedience becomes a quest and not an irritation is the day you gain power." --Spencer W. Kimball
"It's not possible that the problems of this world be resolved by the pesimists and sceptics whose horizons are guided by the obvious realities. We need men and women who think of things that have never been thought of and who dream of things that have never been dreamed of, and who ask, "Why not?"--Spencer W. Kimball
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