Starting the Countdown...

I can't help myself--I've started counting down. As of today, Jordan has 21 more beautiful days in Chile! Last Tuesday we received his flight plans from his favorite missionary companion, who is now the executive secretary in the mission office. That was a FUN e-mail to to get! Mikayla asked me how excited I was and I told her that I haven't been this excited about anything since my babies were born. Just thinking about it literally raises my heart rate. I CAN HARDLY WAIT!!! My Georgie will be flying in to the Boise airport on October 2nd at 12:25 PM. All who are interested are certainly invited!

Sunday night there was a YSA broadcast fireside by Elder Holland. Fred, Mikayla and I watched it on the computer, and of course it was AMAZING! He spoke about standing for what we believe and at the same time making sure we are constantly making righteous judgments, not self righteous judgement. It was also about missionary work--isn't everything?!=)When it was over I marched right down the street and knocked on the door of a new YSA that I tried to see once and then have been procrastinating going back to. She was home and Fred, Mikayla and the twins were with me, so we had a nice, short visit.  It gave me courage to go back again--soon. Elder Holland has the gift and the power of the Spirit to compel me to action. I want to be like him when I grow up.=)

Eden got asked to Homecoming. The young man actually called Fred a few days before he asked her, to get his permission. We were both very impressed. On Friday he called to see if there was some time that Eden would be out of the house and requested permission to decorate her room. Getting her out of the house wasn't a problem (Eden always has somewhere to go=) but getting her room clean in anticipation was a whole other challenge. It all worked out though. I just used the wicked stepmother approach and told her she could go to the boys soccer game "IF" she finished her chores. Of course the wicked stepmother characterization stopped there and we made sure if was possible and that she had help. That night the young man showed up with a friend (Elder Grow's grandson) and spent 45 minutes blowing up balloons and spreading M&M's in every nook and cranny. It was fun to listen to Eden's response when she came home that night and walked up to her room. It was silence and then a dawning and then excitement. I'm a happy mom because the young man gave Eden plenty of time to find a dress and Eden is happy because he's a gentleman and has been a fun date before. He seems like a good kid.

Abe's charter school had a 7th Grade family outing at Christensen's Pond (which is a huge man made water slide pond engineered and maintained by a farmer for his family, but which he generously and often opens to the public. He doesn't charge a fee, but the groups that we have gone with have often asked for donations out of appreciation for his generosity. It would be a fun extended family outing some summer. The event did end on a melancholy note, however, for while we were watching the kids play in the water, we were also watching the farm crew harvest potatoes in the distant fields and soaking in that country goodness, when far out, Fred saw one of the fully loaded potato trucks back ends twist, while he was driving over the hilly terrain and then tip over completely. Somehow the cab stayed upright and so the driver was able to escape safely, but I am sure the truck and much of the loaded harvest were ruined. Here we were enjoying the generosity of the kindly farmer and his financial challenges had just been significantly altered. Life is just so full of so many hard things and so many beautiful things all going on simultaneously. I don't even know this man, but we sure felt both gratitude and sorrow for him that evening and still pray that things will work out to his benefit.

This week Young Artist choirs start and Abrahm is finally interested enough again to audition for Concert Choir, which is the touring group that Eden is a member of. He made it so "Terrific Tuesdays" will be starting again with 4 kids! We are trying hard to make them feel more like that than the "Terrible Tuesdays" that the older kids originally named them years ago when they were so much running. Eden will be auditioning for the highest choir, in front of that body, in the coming weeks, which will add another rehearsal day every week, if she makes it, but it is pure love with her so we'll make it happen somehow.

Stake conference is also coming up this weekend and I am sure we are in store for some amazing feasting--it always seems to be so readily available--so definitely a weekend to look forward to and then before we know if General Conference will be here. I have tried every avenue imaginable (other area priesthood leaders, friends with parents in the Tabernacle choir, even Jordan's old mission president) and have accumulated 2 priesthood tickets and 6 general session tickets. Not the utopia that I envisioned for our family vacation this year, but I am sure we can make it a positive experience nonetheless. I am especially disappointed that the boys won't be able to attend this priesthood session together (Jordan's first time back and Abrahm's first time ever), but I had no idea how difficult it was to get tickets so we are grateful for what we do have. I am sure that just being on temple square, for those of us who can't be inside the conference center, will be a spiritual experience. We'll just to have individual experiences instead of family ones.

Quote of the Week:
“If, then, I were asked for the most important advice I could give, that which I considered to be the most useful to the men of our century, I should simply say: in the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.” ― Leo Tolstoy

7TH GRADE OUTING AT CHRISTENSEN'S POND:

PAINTING (for hours) THEIR "READING BOX":

LABOR DAY AT POWELL'S SWEET SHOPPE...:

...AND AT THE PADDLE BOATS AT JULIA DAVIS PARK:

...AND AT THE STATE CAPITOL:

 ...AND AT THE OREGON TRAIL OVERLOOK:

EDEN'S "INVITATION" TO HOMECOMING: