Saying Goodbye

Four months ago, we welcomed home our oldest son from his mission to Washington DC. Now it's time to say good bye again as he heads back to live in the area where he served. I did not think it would be so hard to say good bye again, but it is. I am excited, though, to hear about his adventures. He will be getting a job and going to school. Maybe he'll work for the CIA or get a job on Capitol Hill. He loves art and politics. Maybe he'll become a political cartoonist.

He'll be going to the Singles Ward up there. Maybe he'll meet his future wife.

So many possibilities. How can I not be happy for him? I am, but a part of a mom's heart has to heal all over again.

There's a Girl Under There Somewhere

Laura's friend, Josh, got her a big stuffed dog for her birthday. How cute is this? If you look closely, you can see a head and some toes peeking out from underneath the dog.

Container Gardening Revisited

It's been about two months since I planted my Earth Box Cherry Tomatoes. They are way taller now and need tomato cages to support their growth. My daughter just harvested the first tomato a couple of days ago. It really has been a breeze using the Earth Boxes. Next year I want to get started earlier and be able to harvest more. This year all I planted was tomatoes, beans and a watermelon plant. While the beans are doing great and the watermelon plant looks green and healthy, I don't know if I'll get any harvest from them. I planted pretty late in the season. The picture below was taken two months ago. Look how they've grown.

Laura's Ninth Birthday

As if this week wasn't busy enough, Friday night was Laura's ninth birthday party. This party had change written all over it. Earlier this year we were talking about what kind of party to have. Since Laura's birthday is in August, she thought it would be fun to have a "Winter Party". I thought that was a neat idea. I set about gathering ideas for games and refreshments and ordering "winter" party supplies from Oriental Traders. About a month ago, Laura decided that since she and her friends are so into "Pokemon" that it would be more fun to have a Pokemon party. WHAT! No Way! What about the snowmen and winter games and snow cones?

We compromised and decided to have a Winter/Pokemon party. It was strange, but the kids didn't care. They had fun.

The next change came a few days before the party. I started doing a "Fourth Friday Game Night" at church a few years ago. It has gone through changes itself. We used to have a big group. We would play games and let the smaller children play their own fun games. People moved and youth grew up and moved away as often happens. Our group went a little inactive. It was resurrected several times, but usually would not meet in the summer since people were gone on vacations.

This month there was talk of having "Game Night" again since it was the 4th Friday. I figured, "oh, well...I've already made a change. What's one more?" So we had Laura's party at church in the Primary room. The younger children played in the cultural hall during this time, but later we all shared refreshments.




We did not play all of the games I had planned, but the kids had fun. We did decorate snowmen picture frames for the above picture. Leiden made some amazing Pokemon drawings on the computer and led the kids on a hide and seek to find them. We decorated our own cupcakes and opened presents. The kids played Pokemon Sorry. Two and a half hours later it was time to go home. I think our Winter Pokemon party was a success. And so was Game Night.






The older boys were not there on Friday night for Laura's party. They had already planned to take a little road trip to visit with friends. Since Logan will be leaving next week, they had to take the opportunity to visit while they could. But they were back on Saturday to sing Happy Birthday to their sister.

Dinner at Chili's

Lane had an interview with the Stake President tonight to get a temple recommend. We decided to go out to dinner as a family one last time before Logan leaves. Chili's is one of our favorite places, so that's where we went.




We love the chips and queso. We got assorted burgers, chicken fried steak, steamed broccoli and mashed potatoes and Laura got her standard, Mac & Cheese. Good times!

The Temple...

It was with reverent anticipation that we prepared to go to the temple with our second oldest son. He is not leaving for his mission for a month or so, but since his brother will be leaving soon, we wanted to go early and share in this special occation. This is the OKC Temple at night. Isn't it beautiful?

Two Down and Three to Go or The nest is getting emptier...

It's hard to believe that my oldest son, Logan, will be moving to Virginia to live in just 4 days. He served his mission in the Washington DC South mission which encompasses the northern part of Virginia. He met some wonderful people there and has the desire to go back to live for a while. I could not think of a better place for him to be (except here in Oklahoma-haha). He will be surrounded by friends who can help if the need arises. Although, I will be sad to see him go, I am excited to see what this next phase of his life will bring.

He has always loved art and politics. Being close to Washington DC will be a great place for him to exercise his love of both.

So...Logan leaves in 4 days and his brother Lane will be leaving in a little over a month. Yikes! I don't know if a mother is ever ready to let her children go. At least this mother isn't, but I know it has to be. I'm excited for my children. I know they will be outstanding adults. They have been outstanding youth.

Dear Elder Pierce...

The paperwork had been submitted. Now all we had to do was wait. And wait. And wait. Even in this day of internet-sent mission papers, we still had to wait for that large white envelope to arrive in the mail.

We made several trips to the post office to get the mail early to see if today was the day. Nope! But Monday, August 11, 2008 was the red-letter day at our house. It worked out great anyway, that it was a week later than we had hoped. Larry had work to do in Kansas the week before, so we were looking at the prospect of reading the letter to him over the phone. So...everything worked out for the best.

We gathered in the living room anxiously waiting for Lane to open his letter and read the first few lines that would tell him his fate for the next two years.

"Dear Elder Pierce,

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission. "

Whoo-hoo! Pretty exciting. Lane reports to the MTC October 1st, so there is not a lot of time to prepare. Luckily, we are mostly prepared anyway. This is our second son to send out on a mission. Lane's older brother Logan just returned in April from serving two years in the Washington DC South Mission.

People who are not members of our church have asked how I could send my son away for two years with no contact but emails and two phone calls a year (Mother's Day and Christmas). There truly is no where I would rather have him be at this time in his life that serving a mission and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with those who have a desire to hear.

We looked forward to hearing about Logan's adventures while on his mission. (Elder Pierce-On a Mission blog) We can't wait to hear what this Elder Pierce will have to say and who he will meet.

And you can be sure that I'll share his adventures with you.