Alex is home!

Alex arrived home from his mission in Hawaii! I borrowed pictures from Amy so I could post them!

Random thoughts....

Last year, Anna auditioned for a part in the Wizard of Oz. It was a group audition. Her dance group auditioned to perform as munchkins. They had to learn a dance and sing in the middle of the mall. A touring group was performing the show and they'd get to perform with the theater group. A great opportunity, but of course it was during the holiday season - great! The girls were excited, but they didn't get chosed. Interestingly enough, the group who did get picked was Trace Adkins' daughter's group! They used his name a lot in their publicity of the show - shocking!

Anna had a really great attitude about not being picked. While disappointed, she said she wasn't here to be a star. She thought about her eternal goals and that she had a mission to accomplish here on the earth that didn't neccesarily include performing in a Broadway musical. I'm not sure many 11 year olds would have had that perspective. I know there were many girls there that day who didn't feel the same way. There were many parents there that day who didn't feel that way. What a great lesson she taught us all.


What causes this?? We took Lila to the pediatric allergist this week. She was tested for all kinds of allergies. Not surpirsing, she's highly allergic to cats, dust mites, and grass. Very surprising, she showed no allergic reactions to any foods. So what changes this gorgeous girl into a bad imitation of the elephant man? The doctor ran a gazillion blood tests trying to find out. Apparently we may never know. In the meantime, she is still forbidden to eat any and all strawberries, peanut products, and bananas. It's really bad when we have cravings for peanut butter cookies and no one else is willing to bake them! We certainly can't make her make cookies she can't eat, that would just be cruel.

Surprise call at Target

The MTC gave us 10/07 as Clint's estimated leave date. And Clint being Clint, he forgot to tell us last p-day that he was actually leaving yesterday. Of course we were all gone from the house all morning and most of the afternoon. Poor Clint was at the airport plugging coins into the pay phone trying to reach any and all of us with no luck at all.

All of a sudden, I hear my phone ring in Target. I looked down and it was an 801 area code. Concerned, I answered to hear Clint at the other end. I was shocked. I wasn't even expecting him to be calling so soon. He had been trying to reach us for a while. Apparently Brooke's car battery had died at school and Blake had left work to jump start her car. He hadn't been able to reach either one of them. I had Anna, Lila and Parker with me in Target, but they were eating a snack at the snack bar. I quickly ran and grabbed them. I sent Lila to hunt for Grammy down at JCPenney while I paid for the things in my cart. I told Clint to call us back on the home phone number collect in 15 minutes. By the time I got to JCPenney, Lila still hadn't found Grammy. Luckily she was just leaving the dressing rooms and we found her quickly. She thought something was wrong and that I had to get to the airport to go to Clint. Signing just isn't what it should be when you're on the phone and rushing around!!

Blake saw the pay phone number on his work phone and called the number. He located one of the other elders in Clint's district. He found Clint and put him on the phone. Then Blake was able to conference us all into the call! Thank heaven for technology and someone that knows how to use it.

When he called Brooke, Blake told her that he had a surprise for her. You should have heard her scream when she heard Clint's voice! She was so shocked and surprised! It was so fun to talk to him.

He is so excited to get to Colorado Springs, but a little apprehensive too. He's a little nervous about getting outside the bubble of the MTC. I'm sure he'll be fine once he's out in the real world but he's not sure what to expect. He loved getting all the packages from everyone while he was in there. He said that he received as many packages as the other elders got letters. He felt very loved.

He sounded so good. He's grown a lot in the MTC and I'm sure he'll grow a lot more in the weeks to come. What a great day it was for us to be able to talk to him and hear that he is doing well. We look forward to hearing how this first week goes for him and who his first companion is. Looking for that first email...

Our trip to the MTC

We didn't make too many stops, but we couldn't resist stopping in Independence at the visitor's center. As it turns out, this mission is next door to Clint's mission. His part of Kansas runs right next to their part of Kansas. One of the sisters serving at the visitor's center had just returned from serving near the border of their mission. She said - yep no one really lives out there! The people that do are very nice and will invite you to sit on their porch and chat with you!

Then of course we had to take of picture of the Community of Christ's temple. Parked across the street was this interesting van!






This is a picture of the Garden of the God's. Pike's Peak is in the background. There is a beautiful park in the foreground with wonderful hiking and biking trails. It's right in Colorado Springs.





On the face of one mountain in the Garden of the Gods, a couple of rock climbers must have left their water bottles !





This rock formation was called "kissing camels." It's a little hard to tell from this angle, but you can kind of see the two heads kissing each other.

We stopped to see the Denver Temple too. It's beautiful. We didn't have time to go through it, but we did take a few pictures.

Here we are finally at the MTC! Clint was so excited - as you can see. It was a quick goodbye which was easier than a long goodbye. I miss him coming into my room every night and talking to us. I miss him making me laugh. But I LOVE hearing how much he loves studying the gospel. He's really enjoying what he's doing. I know he'll grow so much. Love you Clint!