A Year in His Life....

This blog post was supposed to be published on October 21st which was Jordan's year mark for being on his mission. But due to circumstances beyond my control I couldn't publish it then. I had to make an emergency trip back to NY where my mother was hospitalized after having several mini-strokes. I returned home to Kentucky after 5 days with my mother much improved and out of the hospital. :) So in honor of Jordan's one year out on his mission here is the post...

A year ago today we saw Jordan off to the airport, headed for Provo, Utah, to the MTC to begin his life as a missionary.

I remember that day well. We had over slept because Tim's phone alarm was on silent from being in a meeting to set Jordan apart the night before. Because we were so late Jordan never even got to eat breakfast before we sent him out the door for the next two years. Talk about guilt.

Jordan was in the MTC for 7 weeks when his visa came so he left for Brazil a week before Christmas. It was so good to talk with him when he was at the airport in New York and then again a week later when we talked to him on Christmas Day in Brazil. And of course there was Mother's Day. :)

There is not a day that goes by that I don't think of Jordan. Each day I am reminded of the need to pray for him as he serves the people of Brazil. He is becoming so aware of the need to depend upon his Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ for his ability to share the gospel message.

He has seen many baptisms, which is a wonderful thing, but he also knows that baptism are just the beginning for those he teaches, just as I think he is learning that his mission is just the beginning for him.

So he begins his final year in Brazil with a determination to do even more than he has done in his first year. He is happy serving and growing. And we are happy that is he is happy serving and growing.

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. ~Proverbs 3: 13~

It Makes Me Smile...

I do love the fall. The cooling temperatures are such a welcome relief from the scorching summer heat. I love the changing scenery with the leaves making their move from green to varied hues of yellow, red, and brown.

A sure sign of fall for the girls is when the date of the family camp out is announced at church. They can hardly contain themselves as they wait for the day to come.

The thought of the family camp makes me smile. Maybe it's simply due to the fact that year after year we drag out our BIG tent (nick named the Taj Mahal because of its size) and go for a single night of camping. (This year as Tim and Jacob put the tent up Tim was heard to say, "I think I need a hack saw!" HAHAHAHA! One of these days we seriously need to downsize now that our family is decreasing.)

Maybe it makes me smile because we don't even rough it by cooking. We bring KFC or pizzas we picked up on the way. :) We do make smores so that has to count for something.

Maybe I smile because each year we barely sleep all night long just waiting for the sun to greet us and warm us. Then we spend the remainder of the day at home scouting for an opportunity to catch a NAP!

Maybe it makes me smile to think that we force ourselves to lay on the hard ground in our not warm enough sleeping bags (in serious need of replacing) wondering if we will be able to stand up in the morning due to every muscle in our bodies being strained and aching.

Maybe I smile as each year it is a reminder that we are not as young as we use to be.

Or maybe I smile because of the howling coyotes that were in the field just behind our tent that had those of us awake on edge! After they were long gone and the sun was rising up, Abigail whispered, "Mom! Mom!" Coming out of my cold induced mind fog I groaned, "What?" She said, "There's something walking behind our tent and I think it's a coyote!!" ...and I smiled.

Truth be told the camp out isn't that bad. Tim and I look forward to it simply because the kids do. They love sleeping in the tent, making smores over the fire and the best part is the next day....

We pack up all our things and when everyone else is gone Tim lets the kids drive the van in the big field where we camped. THAT is the real draw of the camp out.

And yes, it makes me smile. :)

Police Reports and Warrants...

A little more family humor....

Most of us in the family are pretty up standing...really we are. That's why we were surprised to find this in our parent's filing cabinet some months ago....

Police Reports and Warrants?

Really?

Okay so maybe not so upstanding!

*We think the police reports folder was for any accident that my father had over the years while driving his semi truck and the warrants? Well, we'd like to think that my mother meant WARRANTIES.... Yay, we'll go with that!

Whatch Ya Gonna Do When They Come for You?

There is a story in our family that I find hysterical. My father (pictured here) does not.

In an attempt to preserve it for posterity I wanted to write it down. No one can tell the story like my father but I will try.

My brother, Mark, was someone that always seemed to find trouble. If he didn't find it, it found him.

One of the times trouble was brewing Mark landed in jail with no Get Out of Jail Free card. I don't even recall what he was in jail for that time but my father would go to visit him in the Big House periodically.

Sometimes he would take things to Mark. He would have to go through security where my father would hand over a bag, the guards would check it then okay the contents as being things that Mark could have.

On one particular visit on October 26, 1982, my father signed in to see Mark and handed over a grocery bag of items to be o.k.'d to be given said prisoner.

Shortly after giving the bag to the guard, a man came out and asked if my father would come with him. He followed the man into a room where the thought that he was going to see Mark but instead they began questioning him about what items he was bringing into the jail.

As they grilled him on what he was bringing to Mark, they pulled something out of the bag he had brought with him in the bag. Holding up an item they asked, "What about this?"

The man was holding a HACK SAW! (BWHAHAHAHAHA!)

My father was stunned! He said he could feel the blood drain from his face. Instantly he started sweating while trying to tell them that he had no idea how a HACK SAW got into the bag he was bringing into the jail! As he stammered his plea of ignorance it went from bad to worse when more people were brought into the room. The seriousness of the situation was growing! In the end they arrested my father for "promoting prison contraband"....thus the above mugshots! :D

For months my father remained in a fog of confusion about how the hack saw ended up in that bag he brought to the jail that day. He had to hire a lawyer and over the course of months he was in and out of court. The whole time the mystery of the hack saw loomed.

About six month later my father saw his friend, Smitty. He had known Smitty for years and in the course of the conversation Smitty asked,

"Hey Bill, did you ever get the saw I returned to you?"

Smitty continued, "I saw your car parked in front of your house and it was unlocked so I put it in a bag that was in the back seat. Did you find it?"

Did he ever find it! But not in time to avoid being ARRESTED! :)

Potential....

Yesterday Tim had to go to visit the Fabulous Dr. O. It's always worth the co-pay just to see his smiling face. Maybe he treats all of his patients like he's so happy to see them but I'd rather think that he just likes us best. :) He always asks how the kids are and even remembered that Jordan was in Brazil and that it was for 2 years. In my book, that alone makes him fabulous. :)

The Fabulous Dr. O did his best trick...putting a small camera up Tim's nose and down his throat. Tim hates it but apparently the Fabulous Dr. O likes it. I am with Dr. O on this one -- I like it too.

Of course, I wouldn't like it if it was my nose he was putting a camera up but I like it when he does it to Tim because it gives a glimpse into Tim's throat where cancer once was lurking. The camera trick is the only way to take a peek in there and see what's going on. As much as Tim hates the procedure, I like seeing what's going on down there. I remember what it looked like the first time Dr. O did his camera trick. Thankfully it doesn't even remotely look like it once did.

The Fabulous Dr. O went back and pulled up Tim's PET scan results from June. As he skimmed the report he read, "Unremarkable. Unremarkable. Unremarkable." Then he said, "I like unremarkable!" :D Oh yes, we do to!

After the Fabulous Dr. O had finished his camera trick and affirmed his love for "unremarkable" test results, he told Tim that he looked better than ever, sounded better than ever and that his humor was better than ever. :)

To that Tim said, "Wait what does that mean?" I replied that that must mean that he wasn't as funny as he thought he was before. Dr. O piped in, "Well, I just knew you had potential!" Tim replied that that is why I married him and I quickly agreed with that.

Gotta love potential:)

"Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."

~Mark 9:23~