28 Jul 2008

28 Jul 2008

Hey Elder Sean! we are just winding down from a night of games...10,000, animal game and telephone. The way to make it really fun is to give Nikki and Leah some sugar right before we play and then then real silliness begins as we laugh at the simplest of Nikki-isms. We were laughing so hard tonight at the little girls and then once we were in the slap stick mood anything we said or did seemed too funny. Alex is down in the basement with Dallas, Kirk is on the phone with Rachael, the little girls are in bed and Kristina and Mom are talking in our bedroom so finally we are back under control tonight! We played all night out on the back patio, even braved the hungry mosquitoes to continue the fun. It was a good night.
This week was almost back to normal. We took the youth of the ward to the Twin Falls Temple open house on Wednesday. About 8 cars full of kids and adults went to the open house. The new temples are so beautiful, it makes you want to upgrade the Boise Temple pretty badly, but it is not the prettiness of the room that counts it is the ordinance that counts(well, that is what I tell myself). We went to the Shoshone Falls afterward for a snack dinner and looked at the falls. There is so much water this year there is still a good amount of water going over the falls. It was so much better than the last time we went and the falls looked like a dry rock cliff. In the temple the world room has a mural of the falls as it would appear before modern man appeared on the scene, very beautiful! We are home for the next 2 weeks before we leave for our family vacation to Oregon. We are going to Portland for a weekend and then spending the next week on the coast in a rental home bef
ore coming back thru Sisters and Bend like we did the one year with you.
We still have not received any letters from you, except for the test letter you sent off quickly to us, Mom is trying to be strong but if you can beg for mercy from Pres Olsen, I know your Mom would appreciate any quick note from you to tell us what is going on in your mission. She would never ask so I'll do it and you can blame me when you ask President Olsen to lift the ban...obedience is important but pleading for mercy is not such a bad thing.
Well Sean, I'll turn the letter writing over to your Mom for the remainder of this note. I love you and appreciate your service. Jonathan Loosle spoke to us last week and reported his mission to Lima Peru, he looked lost in the Park Lane Ward this week, enjoy the field while you can! We will not try to do any travel plans to pick you up until around Christmas so relax about things and we will see how much everything cost before we get a chance to make too many commitments. The way things are going this year, by next spring we maybe only able to send Barkley down to escort you home. It is not that bad in our home but alot of Eagle Stake members are suffering, so enjoy being a carefree servant of the Lord as long as you can. I love and miss you, Sean; Dad
Hi Elder Sean, mom here. I'm feeling pretty full and sluggish. For my birthday, Jill asked me what my favorite treat was. I said, no way am I going to tell you cuz you'll just get it for me. She promised me she wouldn't get it for my birthday and we started talking about ice cream. I said my all time favorite was pralines and cream from Baskin Robbins. Well, of course, the next day (not my birthday) a huge, and I mean huge, container of BR pralines and cream showed up in our freezer. We have been having it every night including all of Alex's friends and there's still plenty of it left. I think I may not have it again for another 20 years, plus the fact that dad and I have probably put back on any of the weight we managed to lose in the last few weeks.
So how are you doing? I'm dying to hear from you. We don't know anything that has happened in the last 3 weeks and miss knowing the details and names of people you are working with so we can pray for them. I hope you're getting our letters at least. That's more important.
Nikki still prays for Fernando every night. I hope you are finding some great investigators. Are you still in the office? How's the new guy that took over your old job? Is he handling it all? What are your duties now?
I spent my Sunday jumping from piano bench to piano bench. I had to fill in last minute for Primary for a bit, then they needed me to play for the closing song in Relief Society so I jumped over there. Jon Loosle did sharing time in Primary and when he asked the kids if they had any questions, they all started raising their hands and showing him how they could count in Spanish. One little girl kept telling him how she learned her Spanish from Dora the Explorer. I'm not sure if those were the responses he was hoping for, but it was entertaining.
We spent the afternoon and early evening jamming with our instruments. I got a mandolin for my birthday, so I gave a little recital of what I've learned so far. Alex brought up his new guitar, Kirk brought up your electric guitar and Kristina brought out my banjo. After a bit of practicing we managed to get Alex to accompany me, Kristina, Kirk, Leah and Nikki to Lemon Tree. Then we started on Edleweiss. Lots of fun. We entertained ourselves but it probably wouldnt be very entertaining to anyone else. Randy Pinder is going to start having blue grass nights at his house and invited me to come. I'm going for sure. Sounds like fun.
Our temple trip to Twin Falls was wonderful. Because dad worked the night before, I drove and also took Nikki and Leah with us. It was beautiful and Nikki and Leah loved it. It gave me a good chance to talk about things. Afterwards, Nikki came up to me and said she really liked the room with the big beautiful glass light. It was the celestial room. She said she felt good in there because she was thinking about me. Then she gave me a big hug. Leah came up to me at a separate time and said she got tears in her eyes in there and wanted to know if I did too. I told her I did and then explained how sometimes when the spirit is teaching us something and letting us know something is right and true, that sometimes we get tears in our eyes because of the feeling. We were in the right place at the right time--
Alex is busy with Dallas trying to think of a date for date night this Wednesday night at Trevin's for their priest quorum activity. Kirk is still talking with Rachel on the phone. I've never heard him talk so much. It's probably a good sign.
Well, I hope to hear from you soon. You're a wonderful son and I know you're working hard each day. It doesn't take a letter for me to know that. Keep up the good work and remember whose side you are on. You're part of a great force in the world.
I love you very much.
momxoxoxoxoxooxoxxo