This Week at Our House # 34

1. What a week! We sent Ruth off to the MTC, and Kate had her 18th birthday. We got a lot of paperwork submitted on the house, and that seems to be going better than it should, though I am not sure we will have as much money as we need yet. The closing costs are very high. John is doing well. Though we both miss Ruth's presence in our home. 
2. It was an emotional week for me, so I got a lot of cleaning done. While dirty things are a source of stress for me, cleaning tends to relieve stress because I always feel so good afterwards.
3. Ruth, of course, left for her mission. Her grandmother sent her to the MTC the morning after she flew to Utah. I heard from Ruth that she is safe and her p-day is on Tuesday. 
4. Kate had her least exciting birthday as she didn't have Ruth there, and we have to save every penny for the closing on the house. But she was happy and fun to be. And I had a spare lamb roast awaiting an occasion such as this. Kate read an Agatha Christie book to Adam and Rachel and they really enjoyed that. Kate is making a list of what books she wants to read to help prepare her for her mission.
5. Johnny's foot is getting better, so he is getting around more and doing more. Sometimes he forgets and just walks. Mostly that seems to be good.
6. I have Adam reading a lot for school. My goal for him right now is to read 50 pages a day. I am hoping to get that up to 100 by the end of the school year. So far, he is doing pretty well hitting 50 pages. 
7. Since I am in primary, I get to hear Rachel sing her little heart out during singing time and I love it. Rachel reads to Susan and Arwen all the time. 
8. Anya took Ruth's bed back, except it came with a difference this time. Ruth let Susan sleep with her all summer, so now Susan is sleeping with Anya. When we move, Susan and Sam and probably Arwen will get a separate room.
9. Joseph wrote a cute letter to Ruth telling her to look in every wardrobe in England.
10. Joshua drew a series of pictures for Kate for her birthday. Three of them were a picture of Kate and Johnny getting married. Kate laughed and laughed, but Johnny was a bit mortified. Then Kate said to Josh, "But Joshua, what if I want to marry you?" he responded thoughtfully building excitement, "that... would... be... Great!" Kate replied, "If I am going to die an old maid, will you marry me?" he jumped up and down saying "Yes! Yes! Yes!" and professed his love to Kate. Arwen then cried because she wants to marry Josh. In a similar fashion, we had the sister missionaries for dinner of Saturday. When they arrived Josh ran a circle around them chanting, "they are pretty!" I was embarrassed, but once I got Josh settled down, I realized that I was glad he was chanting, "they are pretty," and not, "they are fat," or "they are ugly."
11. Thursday night Arwen tearfully asked me when Ruth was coming back. I told her not until she was 6.5 and two Christmases went by. Then I told her that when Ruth did come home she would be grown up and need to meet a boy, get married, and have a baby. Arwen perked up excitedly and said, "Ruth can be a mother?" Yes, after her mission and marriage. Arwen lost her tooth the next day. I gave her a plastic bag to put it in and she said that she was going to save it to show to Ruth. I think she has misplaced it now.
12. We made navajo tacos for dinner Wednesday night. Suzy asked for candy for dinner. I said no, so she screamed, asked again. I said no and again she ran upstairs to cry (probably on your bed). Later she came down and asked for candy again. I said no once more and she ran back upstairs screaming. She came down a second time and asked Dad for cereal. Dad said no, so she ran back upstairs screaming. About the time everyone else was finished eating, she came down and asked for bread. We gave her the naan bread and she went to the table with it and made herself a taco and ate during family scripture study. It was pretty funny.
13. Sam does not like me teaching school. He cries and wants my attention, not just me holding him, but my full attention. He is going to have to get used to homeschool as a reality. Sam has learned to put his own pacifier in. I saw him fall down, cry, look at his pacifier hanging from his shirt, pick it up, put it in his mouth, and then happily go on his way. Another time, I saw him stressed and crying. I pointed to his pacifier. He put it in his mouth and was just fine. It's been pretty cute and funny.

Pictures

Arwen's first lost tooth

I think Kate burnt her finger while lighting her candles

At Grandma's House before reporting to the MTC

At the MTC

Getting a personal escort inside.

Happy 18th Birthday, Kate

And just like that, she is all grown up and preparing for her mission. Kate feels like she is always a year too late. I think she wishes she was Ruth's twin so they could have done everything together. Kate takes excessively good care of all of her siblings. She has a good relationship with all of them. She pays attention to and interacts with each one of them. She loves to cook, is enjoying playing the piano, loves to read, especially classic novels and is very talented with advanced mathematics. Since her father has a PhD in math, she is getting a lot of advanced math courses for free and enjoys that immensely. We all enjoy Kate's sarcasm, ready wit, and sense of humor.

Goodbye Ruth

Monday night, Ruth was set apart as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Yesterday, Ruth flew from Raleigh, NC to SLC, UT. Her grandmother picked her up and took her to the MTC today. By now Ruth will have her room and companion and will be getting acquainted with the MTC in Provo.

Our house felt a little like a funeral when we got home from the airport yesterday. We will miss her. We did get to talk to her last night and this morning. But by the second call this morning's, I was done with saying goodbye. When Ruth has a little girl, she would never say goodbye when we left a friend or grandparents home. Instead she would shout that she hates goodbye and go straight to the car to cry. I think I felt the same way by the end of the phone call today. I don't like saying goodbye, especially when it means I can't talk on the phone every day, like I did with Ruth while she was at college. This was a much bigger goodbye.

Still, we are very happy that Ruth is giving up a year and a half to serve the Lord. I am happy to send my children out to give the gift of the gospel to other people. It was mothers just like me who sent their children out to find and convert my parents. I can send my children out to do the same for other people.

God Speed Ruth. I know you will serve faithfully.

2017 Wall Portraits and Group Pictures

This Week at Our House # 33

This was an eventful week!!!!

First, I need to apologize to Ruth and Kate for writing what I did last week. They are both very good girls and trying to follow the Lord in all they do.

On Tuesday, John, Ruth, Kate, Sam, and I went to the Temple. Kate babysat Sam outside the Temple, and the rest of us went in for an endowment session. That was nice. I am glad Ruth set that up. On the way home, we had a first. After 20 years of marriage, we had our first car accident. John was driving on the highway. I am sure he was driving around 70 mph. Suddenly a car in front of us swerved. Then another one swerved. I looked over to see what was happening and the second car that swerved was perpendicular to our van on the highway. That was a surreal picture! John swerved and tried to get past before the car hit us, but he didn't quite make it. The drivers side of that car hit the drivers side of our car. John pulled over, along with two other cars. After the initial shock, I got out of the car to see the damage. I found our hub cap on the side of the road and grabbed that up and went around to the front. The hub cap on the drivers side tire was off and the bumper was a bit detatched. I pushed the bumper back in place (it just snapped right back in) and noticed some mild scratches, but no dents. The person in front of us came up to our car and asked if we were ok. I walked with them to the car behind us, and the car that hit us. When I started to walk that way, another car swerved off the road and almost hit me and the other person, but continued on. We looked over and another larger car hit a tire and burst it. It turns out there was a large tire on the highway that people were swerving to miss. The man who had checked to see if we were okay, went into the road to retrieve the tire. We went and talked to the driver of the car that hit us. It was a young 23 year old girl on her way home from work. She was very shaken up. Her front drivers side light and bumper were smashed (from hitting our car). We all decided to not file a report, but then the police came up. The police officer went to each of us and got everyone's stories. He seemed astonished that we all wanted to leave with good will and not file a report or have anyone receive a ticket.Then he was interested in what religious thing we were doing and why we were all dressed up. We have yet to put our hub cap back on, but we will get to that. We all agreed that given a car accident occurred at those speeds, the Lord really protected all involved. And while I hate teaching kids to drive a 15 passenger van, it sure protects you like a tank when it comes to accidents.

On Wednesday, I took all of the kids to the river park north to take their portraits for our wall. (I wanted new ones before Ruth left.) Then I took them all to river park south to the new, fancy playground. The kids love that place. But it was sure hot and humid, even though we went in the evening. I have pictures of some of the kids with wet hair and it was because they were so sweaty.

On Thursday, I went to the beach with Ruth, Kate, Adam, Rachel, Anya, Arwen, Suzy, and Sam for Ruth's last trip to the beach. Johnny's foot is not all the way healed so the beach would just have been bad for him. John stayed home with Johnny and Joseph and Joshua stayed home to play computer games without sibling competition. The beach was beautiful! The waves were gentle, the water warm, and the sky somewhat cloudy. We enjoyed swimming and digging for baby clams for 4 hours. Ruth was in the water pretty much the whole time, enjoying her last swim for a year and a half.

Friday morning I could not sleep, so I got up early. I checked my email and was surprised to find that the bank had accepted an offer we put on a foreclosed home the week before. The house is the same one we put an offer on at the end of June. The cash offer fell through, the house went back on the market and so we renewed our offer. However, our realtor is on vacation, so the papers have not been signed yet. We are hoping to get everything started and an inspection done by the end of this next week. Until then, we can't say that anything is official. But we will pray that all goes well. The house is very small, but on 3 acres in a quiet country town and only costing us $50,000. Our house payment would only be about $400 a month.

Friday night, my parents came to see Ruth one last time. They had a late dinner with us and then went to their hotel. Saturday they hung out at the house with us, and then we went to the Temple again. This time, I had a bottle ready, so Kate and Sam stayed home. John, Ruth, and I did sealings with my parents. We did a lot of family names. It was a lovely trip. This time, as usual, we got home without incident.

Ruth was not asked to give a mission farewell talk at Church. I'm sorry she was overlooked. But she is fine. We got home from church and had the delicious cheesecakes that Kate had made with her first successful puff pastry as a family farewell to Ruth.  Later, we sang happy birthday to Kate and had ice cream cones. Kate's birthday will be on Friday, but Ruth wanted a mini celebration with Kate before she leaves.

Ruth will get on her plane at 4:50 on Tuesday. We have 2 more days with her and then we will not have her with us for a year and a half. It makes me sad to think about it, but I am so glad that she has chosen to serve the Lord in this manner.

As far as the little ones go, I don't think they have any idea about what Ruth is actually going to do. Suzy sleeps with Ruth most nights and Arwen plays unicorns with Ruth all the time. I am sure they are going to miss her once they realize she is gone and not coming back.

Suzy was really cute at the beach because at first she would not go into the water, but when I finally convinced her to let me take her out she loved it and laughed with joy whenever a wave came by. Anya went swimming above her head and really enjoyed the water more this time than ever before. Arwen loved the waves, but was not careful and kept getting knocked down. Josh and Joseph spent too much time on computer games, and when we got home tired, they were wound up, running and wrestling and full of energy. Rachel and Adam stayed in the water the whole time we were at the beach. They have both become very strong swimmers and they have a lot of energy. Johnny read books while we were at the beach. I bought him two new books and he finished them in less than 3 days.

Oh and we took Joseph out to dinner. We do this for all the kids once they get baptized. We went to Texas Roadhouse and Joseph ordered a 16 ounce stake. We thought he might eat half. But he slowly ate the entire thing. He also ate 2 rolls, a few fries, and one bite of a cheeseburger. When we were walking to the car, I asked Joseph how his stomach felt, and he said not that well. But about an hour after we got home, he ate a cupcake.

Pictures