Farewell Summer

Jordan came home...for 68 1/2 hours! Then Katie, his girlfriend, took him away again. =( It was 3 days of sister shrieking, brother pummeling, mother hugging, father talking, music playing mayhem and I LOVED IT!!! I was so sad to see him drive away again, but he will be back next week and then he gets to stay for 2 weeks before heading back to school. He has given me a run for my mother money... occasionally he still does, =) but I ADORE THAT BOY! When Mikayla wrote her letter this week and we gathered around the computer to read it, we were finally all together again...in spirit. So sweet.

Speaking of money, =) I took Lily and Sophie in for a routine orthodontic consultation, just to see if they would eventually need braces (so I could "brace" myself =)) I was really hoping for him to just give me the thumbs up that everything was perfect--just once, but no good. They both have inherited my bad jaw alignment in mirror image of one another (one has their lower right jaw off and one has their lower left jaw off. Quirky twin thing, huh! So, another major "investment" I get to gear up for in the near future. Wowsers! This double deal really is going to be double trouble and this is just the beginning. They'll both be in college, possibly missions together. And even receptions could be relatively close. This is going to get financially tricky! Good thing Dave Ramsey's got my back. =) I wish we had become "good friends" much sooner. =) That's alright, we've been trying to listen to prophets and make wise financial decisions all of our marriage, and even though we weren't quite as sure of the process as we are now, someone much more dependable has always had our backs so I know that "it will all work out". 

School started, for my children, on Tuesday and Wednesday and I'm still trying to get accustomed to the idea. I can't believe it's here already, but the weather has suddenly changed,  it seems in order to force me to mentally acclimate. We made the traditional supply and clothes shopping trips, attended open houses, changed our sleeping schedules (though more gradually than usual because of the excitement of having Jordan and Katie here) and started packing nightly lunches, but it all still seems surreal and I'm never really ready. It's been a beauty summer and the weather is still lovely, despite the rain and precursory signs of Autumn. I guess that is a blessing--it will help me make the transition from full to empty house as I can still be outdoors working and listening to children's voices waft over from the elementary school playground. 

These past weeks I have been driving around more than my normal hermitish habits, because of school shopping and preparing the fridge for Jordan's return. =) It is the beginning of harvest time so I have been basking in the farm smells coming from the fields; fresh cut alfalfa, newly ripened corn, and the intoxicating effusion of mint. On a particular trip through the country, I had been breathing it all in deeply, when I turned the corner and suddenly the freshness of mint mixed with the putridness of manure fertilizer. I was surprised by how decidedly worse the smell was combined than just lone fertilizer on it's own. I would have thought that the mint would help to cover up the sewage, but mint has this tantalizing perfume that enticing you to breath deeply, and even after I was aware that the stench was accompanying it, my senses seemed confused and didn't shut off automatically but just kept taking it in, and the full force of the olfactory offense was intense. I am highly scent sensitive. Smells can make or break an encounter. On other trips, where the only thing I could smell was fertilized fields, my nose could  immediately detect the intrusive smell and instantly and instinctively prompt me to hold my breath, or breath shallowly until I was in the aromatic "clear".  I have noticed that Satan uses this similar technique in life. Instead of just unleashing full blown evil on well meaning people, he is ingenious with his mixing.  He gets us breathing deeply, initially, of something that rings true and is satisfying, before letting the filth loose. And when he does, it's more difficult to convince ourselves to hold our breaths because we keep thinking that surely the  sweet will outweigh the noxious. But it never does. In the end it just magnifies the offenses because we are caught off guard, then confused and duped into breathing deeply of things we would have never intentionally inhaled had they been more unambiguous. I'll have to be on high alert for Mint and Manure traps--I think I am more susceptible to that kind

Quotes of the week:

"The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of the people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature." –Ezra Taft Benson

"One of the greatest indicators of righteous character is the capacity to recognize and appropriately respond to other people who are experiencing the very challenge or adversity that is most immediately and forcefully pressing upon us." ---David A. Bednar

With Katie--ready to head to the airport to pick-up Jordan--
We've all missed him these last 3 months!

His airplane is here

Waiting in the airport--SOOO Excited!

WE SEE HIM!

Hugs...

...And Kisses

F.H.E. with Jordan--NEVER a dull moment...

And down she goes--Katie in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

A little different night-time routine

First day of school

Wearing all black--Mourning the end of Summer break

Surprise!!! A different view.

 

  

One of our friends just got married while her brother was on his mission. With a little help from a Mitt Romney cardboard figure and some sweet printshop skills she made sure he was at the reception in spirit. It was cute...so are my girls!