A Grand Reunion

I love life when 13+ years go by without you seeing the person you spent most of your High School Life with and nothing has changed a bit. There might be a little more of us to love, but we are still us. My friend Lisa Alvis Armstrong was in town visiting family and I was lucky enough to get to see her and her wonderful husband Nate.

Wow it was great to be with her and visit about where life has brought us both. Lots of experiences and journeys that neither one of us could have begun to imagine.

Life is funny that way, isn't it. We all just believed we would get married, have kids, raise them, everything would be perfect and happy...........

Through it all, friends and memories, oh yeah and good food made for a wonderfully Grand Reunion.

Thanks Lisa, hope to see you and Nate again soon.

Oh and by the way, life is perfect and happy, even when it's tough.....

Thanks for the memories.

I finally finished it and got pictures

This year I have decided to make each of my children a quilt with all of the scraps that I have in my stash. I could probably make a million scrap quilts really with this hoarded stash of fabric that I own. So I began the process and finished Christophers (whose birthday is 1/5). I finished by the end of January, but it took forever to get it bound and ready for him to take home.

 Here he is with his crazy colorful quilt. I love it, it is happy and he is a crazy happy kid and so I think that it fits. I also bought a new machine that embroideries and this skull pirate guy is perfect for my Christopher. So it is the tag on the back of the quilt where I signed it Love Mom 2011.

 This is a picture of the front of the quilt. I made just a simple brick quilt. I read if you just cut the pieces and throw them into a bag and toss the fabric then you simply pick out a piece and sew. It is crazy for those of us who care, but I really ended up liking the randomness of it and it would not be done if I had to decide for myself. So it doesn't matter whether there are two pieces right together that are the same, it happened a lot and that is okay. I think it turned out great.

 This is the back of the quilt. I love piecing my backs with all of the leftover fabric, I think it looks great. So I am happy with how it turned out and even though all of their quilts will be late for sure at the end of the year they will all own a quilt that I made from scratch and quilted myself (not well) by machine quilted them, who knows I may have mastered that talent a little better by the end of the year as well.

Happy birthday Late as is was my son. I love you.

Man those babies grow up way too fast.

From everything to nothing.....life is great on the mission

Jordan will have had is first week of nothing in a long time. He spent quite a few months in  Bavaro, the tourist part of the Dominican Republic. Electricity and Hot Water 24/7. It was a really tough area. Not many who were willing to listen to the wonderful message they have to bring them. Here is a short version of his

months there.

 His first companion there was Elder McBride. He is actually from Gilbert, AZ and although they did not know each other before they had many mutual friends. Their companionship worked really hard in this area. Even though they were frustrated as to the lack of willing people to listen to the gospel, they gave it their all and worked really really hard.

 Together they saw and experienced many difficult things. One of their investigators was murdered in a random shooting, and while Elder McBride was in this area, there were no baptizms at all. They worked really hard to help the people in this small branch to learn how to be leaders and they really strengthened this area, but their teachings and their support.

 They had Thanksgiving dinner at one of the members homes and she was so sweet and actually spent a lot of money to buy a turkey for them so that they would feel a little piece of home. I really love that lady for her efforts that day.

 They lived on the top floor of the church building and Jordan is 6'4"ish and his head hits the ceiling.

 Although packages took a lot longer to get to Bavaro because they are so far away from the capital, when he got them, he was thrilled for all of the goodies inside.

 As you can see there were lots of happy moments!!! He is such a great kid.

 This is the church building there in Bavaro. Their apartment is the upper floor where the laundry is hanging out to dry. Good luck with that drying thing. They are always wet there.

 Elder McBride was a wonderful companion, and they made great efforts together.

 Here is one of Jordan's favorite Haitian Brothers. I don't know any of their names, but he loves these Haitian's they alway made him smile.

 The man in the computer is Brother Holland, or better known as Papa Smurf to us.

He was Jordan's YM's leader for many years, and is not on the missionary training video.

Isn't that crazy.

 To go to zone conference, or really anywhere there, they must ride the bus. One day on the bus was a man with this monkey and of course Jordan being Jordan had to hang with the monkey.

 He spent his first Christmas away in Bavaro. He loves Christmas and he had a great one for sure.

 He also had his birthday there. Thankfully the package with the cake mix got there in time.....

 20!!!! When did that happen.

 Not long after Elder McBride was transferred, Jordan and his new companion had their first baptizm. They were so happy. The baptismal font is on the roof of the church building.

 A few weeks later, another baptizm. So exciting to see the work progress finally.

 And just recently, his third baptizm there. And the man who baptized her was the 2nd baptizm. How exciting is that. How far the Lord has brought the people of Bavaro.

 This is Jordan's 2nd companion there. Elder Linares. They knew each other from the CCM or MTC in the Dominican. They have had a wonderful season together. But this week, Jordan was transferred.

He is in a jungle, with no electricity, and no running water, much less hot water. I am just praying they will be able to find a place to use the internet so that I can know if he is alive and well. He is my showing boy, and he has learned a lot on his mission about what is important and what is not. The Lord has provided a way for him to somehow be clean and feel the spirit, even without that wonderful hot shower. He is so excited for the change. Bavaro was a really difficult area, even though the immenities were wonderful, the progress was really slow. He loved it there, experienced many things there, had wonderful companionships, and grew in the gosel for sure. No he will put his heart and soul into the jungle, and I know he will make the very best of it there. 

On his last Sunday there a whole family came to the island for vacation. So they went to the branch and Jordan was able to translate back into english for them. He said it was wonderful to speak english again, but that it was a lot of work, remembering all the right translations. The gift of tongues is amazing.

The Lord is amazing, and so is the work. We are anxious to hear all about his first week in his new area, and know that whatever the Lord gives him, he will handle it with everything he has been asked.

We love you sweet boy, way to go!