Hidden Strength

A couple of posts ago I talked about what Dallin carries around in his backpack.  Today I was doing some basement cleaning and I came upon Landon's old high school backpack that had never been cleaned out when he graduated.  Books, papers, pencils and highlighters, old candy wrappers, headphones, cable cords, notebooks, gloves and a pair of socks were among the things I found in his crusty, old backpack.  My favorite item that I discovered was a wrinkled and worn For the Strength of Youth booklet from our church.  It's a guide for our youth (and their parents) on living the commandments of God.  It's filled with recommendations on how to live these commandments and ways to avoid taking a trip off the straight and narrow path.  Kudos to my son for carrying this strength-giving information with him!

Practice

Practice makes perfect.  Easton has officially started his basketball season.  He is in the seventh and eighth grade division this year.  Um, eighth graders are really tall!  I mean tall.  Some of these kids are full-grown adults!  It's crazy to watch my little Easton scrambling out there on the court to make things happen.  He is going to have to work extra hard this year and move a little quicker to outplay the big guys.  He can do it!

Projects Rock!

Good ol' Easton worked on another project last night.  This one was creating a 3 dimensional diagram of a plant cell that included all the parts of the cell and labeling the parts.  He had a plan and executed!  I'm happy to say that he did this one all on his own.  I just helped him come up with materials for each part of the cell.  We got creative with wire, string, mesh, an old plastic ball, cardstock and glittery pipe cleaners.  After all of Easton's hard work and sacrificing his finger to a hot glue gun burn we're happy to report that he received 100 points for his hard work!

What's in Your Backpack?

What's in your backpack or purse or bookbag?  What do you carry around that is important to you?  This picture kind of says it all.  Dallin sent this picture a while ago showing what he carries around in his backpack all day long while he walks the streets of Brazil.  A backpack full of Books of Mormon, does it get any better than that?  I think I would do well to carry just one of these precious books in my purse.  You just never know when you might need one!

Another Carroll Missionary

A milestone in the life of Landon was reached on Thursday, November 14, 2013 at 10:30 PM Eastern time.  He opened his mission call and found out the good news!  He will be serving in the North Carolina Raleigh Mission and will be speaking SPANISH!!!!!  Wow!!!  We are so excited for him and the great opportunities that await him.  He will report to the Mexico MTC on March 26, 2014.

He opened his mission call in Idaho (BYU Idaho) among his friends and we were able to Skype with him as well as Grandma and Grandpa and Janelle and Bren.  Ashton and Brandon kind of missed it because we didn't know they hadn't hooked up yet when Landon started opening it.  It was fun to see Landon so happy.  I guess after preparing for this for 19 years, it's just awesome to know where you are going.  He will be 380 miles from our home.  It seems kind of close, but even though I could drive there in 5 hours and literally hand-deliver a package to him it will still feel like he is thousands of miles away because we won't see him for two years.  We are so proud of our "Little Landon" who isn't so little anymore and his decision to serve the Lord for two years.  The people of North Carolina will be blessed to have Elder Landon Carroll in their service.

Check out this video of Landon opening his call:

Hump Day

Guess what day it is?!?  This Elder has been in the mission field for one whole year...It's HUMP DAY!  I loved this picture of Dallin and thought it so fitting for this special day.  He's at the top of the hump and getting ready for the downhill climb.  It's not an easy climb, going down.  He will have to stay pumped up and work even harder than he has been.  He needs to push it hard.  He knows the Portuguese language and the Brazilian culture.  He knows how to teach with the spirit and he has become an amazing leader.  He must use all of the tools and skills that he has gained to continue teaching people about Jesus Christ.  Keep up the great work, Dallin!  We love you and are so proud of the amazing things you are doing.  May God bless your efforts in the coming months!

First and Last

We had our Primary Children's program in church this past Sunday, it's really one of my favorite Sundays of the year.  The meeting just puts a smile on your face and it stays there through the whole presentation.  My favorite quote this year was from a little, sweet four year old. "I love my family.  I love my Mom and Dad.  They make me food."  Classic!!!  Life is so simple for small children.  They are grateful when their basic needs are taken care of and when they know they are loved.  It's that simple.

While the Primary chorus was singing their hearts out to the song, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" my thoughts quickly turned to my daughter, Ashton and her first solo moment singing in Sacrament Meeting.  She was probably no more than 8 years old and she confidently sang that very song.  The words were so touching and she literally had the congregation in tears, myself included.   While the Primary continued singing I lingered on that long ago moment with Ashton and how many "firsts" we have in our lives.  A first time singing a solo in church, a first Christmas, a first time passing the Sacrament, a first time riding a bike with no training wheels, a first date, a first time being a mommy or daddy, a first time having a child go on a mission, a first child graduating from high school, a first child getting married.  There are innumerable "firsts" in our lives.  We value those firsts and we often celebrate them as momentous events along the timeline of our lives. I for one am grateful for all of the firsts that I have experienced on my own and in my children's lives.

Those of you who have read my blog for a while know that my mind does a lot reflecting.  The whole "firsts" idea really got my brain going.  I was melancholy as I went down Memory Lane with my thoughts.  And then it took an unexpected U-Turn.  With all of the firsts that we experience, we also experience "lasts" and that's when my brain started to get overwhelmed and spiral out of control.  I'm kind of in that weird phase of life where I can look backward to all the "firsts" that we have experienced as a family, but I am also experiencing a lot of "lasts."  It kind of hurts my heart to be in this phase of life.  But you know what?  As I looked forward I caught delightful glimpses of more "firsts" in my future.....a first grandchild, my first returned missionary, a first daughter-in-law ( I already have my first son-in-law!), a first college graduate, a first empty nest with all the time in the world to spend with my husband, and the list goes on.

Life is this amazing blend of firsts and lasts.  Just when you are overwhelmed with all of the "lasts" and the emotions that come with that, there's always a "first" waiting around the corner to bring joy again. It's a wonderful cycle of life that keeps repeating through each generation.  I love the firsts I have already experienced and can't wait to embrace many more as I continue through this journey of life.

Veteran's Day

"One year ago today my oldest daughter married her best friend and love of her life...and then he was deployed and spent their first year in Afghanistan. He is now on his way home. Happy First Anniversary Drewann and Jared.  May you get to spend the next year together! Love you both!"

My college roommate posted this on her Facebook page last night. What an awesome picture that captured so many emotions for me. I have never met this young man or my roommate's daughter but I do have the utmost respect for him and for soldiers all over the world that put themselves in harms way to protect our freedoms and American way of life. They sacrifice time with their families and live in undesirable and uncomfortable circumstances all for the cause of protecting our way of life and keeping us safe.

On this Veteran's Day let us all remember the sacrifice of all soldiers throughout our history. I'm grateful to each and every one of them and for their families who also sacrifice. In my own family histories there are numerous relatives that have served their country, including my own Dad who was in the National Guard. He actually was away on a two week training in Panama when I was born and received a telegram when I was two days old announcing the birth of me, a baby girl!

American soldiers are heros. I was in the airport a while back and a group of soldiers was walking through. A man stopped one of the soldiers and introduced him to his son who was probably around 6 or 7. I heard him say to his son, "This is a real soldier. He protects our country." He kept emphasizing that he was a real soldier. They chatted for a while and then the soldier went and joined his comrades. I loved that this Father was teaching his son to respect and honor our service men. Thank you to the brave men and women who serve our country. They deserve our gratitude and respect.

25 miles

We've been working on Easton's cycling merit badge for a while now.  Having completed 2 ten mile rides and two 15 mile rides we were ready to tackle to next ride, the 25 miler.  We recruited my biking friend, Anne Bradham to go with us to kind of help with the boredom factor.  We tried to get some of Easton's friends to join us, but they all want to do the hiking merit badge.  Whatever!  We've come this far, we are going to finish.  We rode on the Suwanee Greenway starting at the Big Creek area.  At around 10:00am Saturday we were on our way.  Since it was 46 degrees we dressed in layers, knowing that it would be in the 60's when we finished our ride. We were plenty warm except Easton did have to borrow Sister Bradham's earmuffs when his ears went numb from the early morning cold.  

We took a little dirt trail of the main path for some excitement and we really just wanted to see where it would go.  It was a fun adventure until Easton plowed through some mud and his back tire slipped and he pretty much dumped his bike.  I thought he was going down, but he managed to hold his balance and just get a little mud on the back of his sweats.  After about a mile of some serious muddy, slippery dirt biking we headed back to the main boardwalk.  It continued to warm up and we started shedding our jackets.  We took a lunch break halfway through the ride and then finished strong.  Glad it's over and we're sooooo looking forward to the next 25 and 50 mile rides.

Here's the muddy spot that Easton encountered that almost took him down!

Our biking buddy, Sister Anne Bradham

Waiting

Landon pushed the button yesterday!!!  His mission papers have officially been submitted and now we wait...and wait....and wait!

3D

Another project finished!!!  Easton and I finished a 3D elevation map of Singapore last night around midnight.  These simple, little projects always seem to take longer than we think and we always have to change our plan halfway through because it doesn't workout the way we thought it would.  It was too challenging to cut the whole country of Singapore out of foam board so we had to rethink it and just cut it out of posterboard and then raise it up with little pieces of foam board placed under the cutouts.  We raised it three different levels using this method, demonstrating the three different elevations found in Singapore.  The text I received from Easton this morning during his first period class made it all worth it...."Got a 100 on the map.  Bringing it home today."  We did it again!  I kind of wish I could do seventh grade over, I really would rock it now!

Saturday Morning

Throughout my unprofessional piano playing career I have had the opportunity to play for numerous baptism services.  Actually I've played at too many to even count.  I got a late night text last night asking if I could play for a baptism this morning at 10:00.  Sure!  I always am happy to share my talents and serve, especially when it involves someone being baptized.  It seemed a little early for my Saturday morning, but I rushed around and made it to the baptism just in time to share some prelude music.  I love sitting at the piano in the back watching people file in for the service.  I'm always amazed at how many people support these new members who are doing really BIG things with their lives.  I was especially touched this morning.  I thought of Dallin, my son serving a mission in Brazil and how he must feel when someone he has taught about Jesus Christ and his church willingly accepts the message and the challenge to be baptized.  I watched the Elders serving in our ward sitting with the newest member in our ward after her baptism and wondered what they were feeling.  I'm sure they were feeling extreme joy that they were blessed for their efforts and in turn this new sister in the gospel is also being blessed.  This gospel changes people's lives....for the better.  I'm grateful for missionaries who teach and find people, who share the good news of this gospel and help bring people into the waters of baptism.  And I'm grateful to have been able to be a little part of it this morning.

To Vent?

To vent or not to vent?  I received an exasperated phone call from my daughter, Ashton this morning.  I said the obligatory "Hello" and "How are you doing?".  Ashton came back with, "I gotta vent."  My thoughts immediately turned to what the venting could be about.....her new puppy, some parent of a student, a teacher problem, Brandon,the new husband of six months (Sorry Brandon!), finances, the apartment, and the list went on.  She proceeded to tell me about her crazy morning in which she got a flat tire on the way to work.  She had pulled over in a quandary with the deflated tire and proceeded to call and text her sweet husband.  She got no reply and was getting a little frustrated.  Not knowing whether Brandon had purchased the towing/fix the tires plan with through their insurance company she proceeded to call the company to find out.  Yes!  They had the towing package and someone was dispatched to arrive on the scene to assist Ashton in changing the tire.  Meanwhile Ashton is late for work and very frustrated knowing that her sweet little second graders would start school without her.  Calls were made to the school and help found to assist in Ashton's class until she could get there.  When the roadside assistance guy arrived it was discovered that the lug nuts on the wheels required a special key to remove them and Ashton, being unaware of the need for a key realized she did not have one.  They had just purchased the car a month ago and no such key was supplied with the vehicle. Grrrrr!  After a few thousand more texts and calls Brandon finally called Ashton back to see what the emergency was.  He quickly came to her aide, switched cars with her and she headed off to her school.

My children's venting just makes me smile.  These are the little things that just make me happy to be a mom.  I'm sorry Ashton had a rough morning but, she got through it and she will no doubt face more frustrations in the future.  I'm grateful that I get the "I need to vent" phone call not just from Ashton, but from all my children.  Wherever they are I am here to listen to their challenges, concerns, frustrations and successes.  I hear it in letters from my son in Brazil, and in phone calls from Rexburg.  I even get the occasional vent right here in my home from my eleven year old son.  To vent or not to vent?  To vent!!!

Score!

Ten pounds, that's how much Easton's trick or treating pillowcase weighs.  It's full of all sorts of candy although it appears that Easton has an abundance of M&M's.  Easton had a blast scavenging for candy with his buddy, Colin in another neighborhood.  I'm so glad he was able to go with another friends so he could have some serious fun!

 Let's hope it takes months for the ten pounds to disappear.