Mother's Day, flowers, and Scotland

 Alex was gone to Scotland for Mother's Day, but the kids took care of me that day.  They made breakfast and had cards and gifts for me.  Alex left a card and chocolate for me too.  Jared made rolls for the dinner we had with friends.  Owen decided to gift me with being able to cut his hair.  I had been asking to cut it, but he didn't want to.  It had grown too long for my liking.  I didn't plan on cutting that much off, but once I got going, I couldn't get the back right.  So I had to keep going shorter.  

Owen and Jared helped do a Mom's dinner as a priest activity.  This is the 3rd year I've participated and it's my favorite youth activity of the year.  The young men prepare dinner and dessert and they also give speeches about their mom.  I loved Jared and Owen's speeches.  Owen talked about me being a "momma bear" and he also had put together a funny photo of me as a bear with her cubs.  

Savannah and I enjoyed looking at flowers while waiting for Weston one morning. We were surprised with how many different flowers we found.  

Track and Volleyball 2024

 Owen played on the volleyball team at school this spring.  He only played one short season the previous year, with only one tournament at the end of the season.  So he had to essentially learn the sport this season.  I'm also still learning the rules and positions as a spectator since this is a new sport for our family.  Owen had a good season.  He played at least 33 games and was a starter and played most of the time in the games.  They won 7 out of 9 league matches.  They had a pretty exciting finish to the season, beating a local rival in the 3rd match.  They won the 1st match 25-13, lost the 2nd match 17-25, and then won the 3rd 15-13.  Owen really enjoyed playing and looking forward to playing again next year.  

Jared finished off his senior season of track.  He tried some different races at the beginning of the season.  He ran the 3200 relay - 800m for each runner, the 800m in the distance medley relay, 400m, 800m, 1600m, 3200m, and 110 and 300 hurdles.  He settled into the mile and 300 hurdles as his main races.   He spent the season trying to beat his 4:56 mile PR from last year, but he wasn't quite able to do it.  His season best was 4:57, so he came so close.  I prayed really hard with his last race that he'd be able to beat his PR, but it wasn't meant to be.  However, he did get a 47.76 PR on the 300 hurdles at the last meet.  We weren't sure if he would even run at that meet since he was an alternate for the hurdles.  They only took 18 runners for that meet's hurdle race.  We still went to the meet and hoped that someone would drop out.  He was also sick that day, but he wasn't going to miss his chance to run his last race.  At check-in, he went to see if he got a spot.  He was surprised when the lady said there were no alternates for the race, but he quickly realized he was already on the list of runners.  One guy had chosen not to run the race, even though he had a great race time.  Apparently he chose to do the 110 hurdles and pole vault.  I was really grateful Jared got to race.  He got a personal best that last hurdle race, despite being sick and nearly stumbling over one of the hurdles.  Prayers were granted for that race.  I don't think Jared met his goals for the season, but he worked hard and had a good season.  He looked a lot stronger this season and had some great mile times.     

Here is a link to a video with highlights of Jared's season.  

Missionary Update - January through June

Nathan spent 6 more weeks in Lago Agria to start off the year.  He had stayed there in Oriente for 6 months.  He got to visit Coca, Cascales, and Santa Rosa, which was in the middle of the jungle.  Missionaries had never been there before.  He taught English classes there.  He also went on exchanges in Loreto (3.5 hours from Lago Agrio).  The jungle area was very hot, in the high 90's, with high humidity and no rain or wind. He got to see the branch split into the Lago Agrio and Nueva Loja branches.  

In mid-February, Nathan got transferred to Esmeraldas, on the coast (one of the less safe areas of the mission).  He took a 17-hour bus ride from Oriente to the coast.  His companion was Elder Yocum (an American elder).  Nathan said, "My companion Elder Yocum is awesome and he has been teaching me to focus more on the good things that we accomplished and less on the tasks we didn't complete and so now I am focusing on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and I am finding more joy in the work and in life. If we work as hard as we can, and we focus on the good things we will experience joy. President Nelson has taught:  "The joy in lives has little to do with the circumstances of our lives, but the focus of our lives." 

Nathan got to visit San Lorenzo, 3 hours north of Esmeraldas, close to the Columbian border (which is known to be a scary place). Only a couple of American elders had been to San Lorenzo.  While in Esmeraldas, he got to go to a carnival, visit a pig farm, saw the beach for the first time during the mission, visited a senior home with the youth singing, and took some piano lessons from his companion.  The bad experiences were getting their phone robbed, daily power outages (which took out the water as well, which meant he had to take some bucket showers), and getting dengue fever from mosquitoes.  He spiked a high fever and had to sit inside his apartment for a week under a mosquito net (so that he didn't get bit again during that time). He also served as zone leader in Esmeraldas.  

The beginning of April, he got transferred to another area in Esmeraldas, to Regocijo.  His companion was Elder Barrios, a Columbian elder.  He was still a zone leader and got to plan some activities for the zone.  Here is what he said about a Survivor inspired zone activity with Elder Barrios:  "We work really well together and we have seen some of the greatest miracles on my mission. My companion and I organized an awesome zone p-day. President challenged the zone leaders to change up the activities and think about how we could impact the missionaries. So we made some activities that each district had to work together to complete, with some being blindfolded and having to trust the other missionaries. It was a wonderful experience organizing it and it was really cool activity."  

In one of the leadership conferences in Quito, Nathan finally ran into Elder Horn, another American elder who was also born in Houston.  We were friends with his parents when we lived in Houston back in 2001-2005.  I found out Elder Horn was also serving in Ecuador and told Nathan to watch for him (and take a picture for me).  He finally sent me a selfie of the two of them (both Texas-born redheads). 

In May, Nathan got transferred to Ibarra, north of Quito.  He has been there for the last 6 weeks.  We will hear next week whether he will finish out his mission there or if he got transferred.  He only has 6 weeks left and will return home on July 30th.  His companion is Elder Bybee, an American elder, who is just starting his mission (but already knows the language well because he lived in Mexico for a while). 

In the April General Conference, it was announced that his mission president, President Roman, was called as a General Authority 70.  So he recently got one last blessing from his mission president, who finishes the end of June. They also recently had a visit from Elder Rasband, of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles.  The Quito North mission is splitting in July, creating a Quito West mission.  We will also find out soon if he moved to the West mission or staying with the Quito North for his remaining month. 

 

Some of the people he mentioned in his emails are Jeny, Johana, Jan, Vanessa, Daisa and her dad, Pamela, Edison, Alejandro and mother, who all accepted an invitation to be baptized.  Here is what Nathan said about some of these baptisms:  "Personally, these baptisms have been special to me because it has been kind of hard getting people to get baptized in this area. I read this scripture that really related.   Alma 26: 27-28  Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.  And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God.   This month I realized that I focused too much on the numbers. And so my companion and I focused on doing all that we could and not focusing on the results or the numbers. I changed my perspective and had a change of heart. We did that and God gave us the miracle. I worked in a way that I had never worked before, but our faith was sufficient. It was a special moment for me and as soon as I forgot about the numbers the baptisms came!!  Another scripture as well!!    D&C 123:17  "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."

We enjoy hearing about the miracles happening on his mission and know that Nathan is working hard to help the people in Ecuador come unto Jesus Christ.  It's also amazing to see how he's not only helping other people to make positive changes in their life but also seeing the changes happening in Nathan.  We're excited to see him soon.  The next update will be after he returns home!    

Jared's Mission Call

The end of April, Jared received his mission call to the Asuncion Paraguay mission.  He starts on August 12th at home for a week and then heads to the Missionary Training Center in Peru on August 20th or 21st.  We're so grateful that (1) he got called to South America, where he hoped to serve and (2) his start date is after Nathan gets home from his mission.  Jared put his availability date as the middle of July, hoping that would make way for a potential August start date (assuming that he would start about a month or so after his availability, as often happens with the mission calls).  Jared wanted to see Nathan, but he also wanted to get back from his mission in time to start a fall semester of college.  Jared got accepted and will head to BYU in fall 2026.  Nathan returns on July 30th, so they will get to see each other for a short time.  Anyway, it worked out just perfect.  

Getting things ready for the call was pretty challenging though.  It seemed like we were running into obstacles, while the Lord was also getting us through them.  Jared had to get all his wisdom teeth out.  He had dentist and doctor's appointments, along with bloodwork and TB test.  We thought we were okay on the medical stuff, but more information was needed after we turned in the papers to the Stake President.  Some of the items on the physical form had been left blank, they didn't actually do the physical check-up part of the visit (which was required), they were missing the bloodwork, and Jared had been seen by a PA which wasn't one of the listed doctor titles.  So we set out the next morning to the doctor's office to see if we could get what was needed.  Luckily, another doctor was able to review and sign off on the original visit.  We hadn't been able to access the bloodwork results in his online health chart because he was a minor.  We were able to get a copy of the results.  He had to do the physical and get all the other missing items filled out on the form.  Thankfully, we walked out with everything we needed. 

After we left the doctor's office, Jared had the feeling we should head over to the dentist and try to get the x-ray that hadn't been done yet.  The dental form asks for a specific x-ray that has been done within the last 6 months.  He had done that x-ray about 9 months prior and it wouldn't be covered by insurance until July.  We were originally going to submit the paperwork and see if they came back or not with the need for that x-ray.  However, Jared felt we should just get it done if possible and not have to worry about the paperwork getting delayed.  We arrived at the dentist and explained the situation to the lady at the front desk.  She told us what we suspected; insurance wouldn't cover the x-ray until July.  We said we were okay paying out of pocket.  She went back and spoke with the dentist.  Surprisingly, she returned with the news that the dentist would do the x-ray for free (and we could do it right then)! What a tender mercy from the Lord!  Jared was able to tie up all the loose ends and get his paperwork submitted the next day.  I think that may have allowed him to get a start date in August.  Further delay could have pushed the date back to September.  I know the Lord was aware of the desires of our hearts in this mission call.  

We had several people come join us for the mission call opening. Jared hadn't seen the call yet, so it was very exciting watching him open the call.  We're grateful for so much support.  And two people even guessed correctly on the call - his friend Justin and mission prep teacher Brother Hixon.  

We now have a lot of things to do to get ready to go - lots of things to buy, a couple immunizations, FBI background check, apostilled birth certificate, etc.  And now Jared needs to start learning Spanish too! 
 

Prom 2024

Jared went to church prom again this year with Grace.  Grace's brother Jack went with Becca, and the four of them went together, so it was a fun group.  We took lots of pictures before the dance.  Here are a few of my favorites. (Jared actually was still sick - only about 60% that night.)

Jared also decided at the last minute to go to the school prom.  It was too late to invite a guest from another school, so Grace didn't go with him.  He had fun hanging out with the guys for that one. The first picture is with Jaden, a friend from school and church. 

April Misc

We started out April with General Conference weekend.  We always enjoy listening to talks from home and enjoying crumb cake. Alex particularly enjoyed having a break from Bishop responsibilities for the weekend.  

All the kids got sick in April.  Some were out of school longer than others. Luckily Alex and I didn't get sick.  Savannah was sick a few days, but she was okay to go on an outing with Alex and I to see flowers.  We actually didn't find that many where we had planned, but we went to another spot on the way home.  

My flower bed spontaneously grew poppies this year, so it's been nice to see something pretty growing in the yard. 

Alex performed his first wedding since being called as Bishop.  

Savannah had fun with friends one day after school.  She has been missing the fun clubs we did last year when I wasn't working. 

I ordered a couple new photos of Jesus, so I did some re-arranging in the living room.  I also ordered and put together a new cabinet with glass doors (I called it "Mom's Lego set").  I took out the nasty shower doors in the bathroom and put up a shower curtain.  Jared helped out with the projects, like getting the heavy doors out.  We also just spent a lot of money to have two pine trees taken out of our back yard (we didn't want them to fall on our house).  I guess that's our home improvement for the year... not too exciting to have trees removed but necessary.