"Mi Hija" opens her mission call

All the stars alligned just right, and my daughter (Spanish translation: mi hija) received her mission call early one Friday morning.  This also happened to be the day she and her roommates were heading to Salt Lake City to spend the weekend at her roommate's home to have some fun and go hiking.

She was able to take her mission call with her.  Her roommate's parents had the graciousness to allow J to open her call there.  Not only did they allow her to do that, but they also let her invite her Minnesota friends attending BYU in Provo to come up and join in and then eat dinner.  Idaho relatives then google-chatted with them and us here in Minnesota during the moment she opened her call.  Even though we weren't there in person, it felt like we were, and even though we couldn't host all those kids, the mother there did it just as I would have.  It was all such a blessing and helped my mother heart with this whole process of letting my child go far away for 18 months.  It helped me realize that even though I am not there to manage the details, the Lord is-- and he knows our needs and desires.  He is watching out for her, too, because she is just as much His daughter as she is mine.

It was a very exciting moment to hear her say "You have been called to serve for a period of 18 months in the Lima Peru West mission."  It was an even bigger surprise to hear her say that she would report to the Missionary Training Center in Lima Peru to learn the Spanish language.  Wow!  Holy Smokes!  Yippee-ay-aye!  No-that is too far away!  Yep- all of that at once!  Tears of joy and fear all at once.  It was simply amazing.

She was just thrilled.  She was pretty elated and had an amazing weekend in Salt Lake to celebrate.

They went to Cheesecake Factory to celebrate, the Capitol, hiking, shopping, and to the SLC Temple.

Second Semester of College

My oldest daughter continue to shine accademically as she applied herself to serious study.  I love that she still made time for working out, church activities, spending time with roommates, and having fun.  She had a really fun time going to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for her communications class.  She had to write a marketing brochure about visiting there.  More hiking along with trips to Idaho Falls and Salt Lake made for an enjoyable semester full of new experiences and learning.  And one of the sweetest things was that she and 2 of her other roommates experienced receiving their mission calls.  It was a blessing having eachother to prepare for their missions together.

 

Frist Semester of College

I keep asking myself how should I include my children in my family history when they move away?

The answer is that J is still very much a part of our lives.  While I know she is independant and should have her own scrap books and things, it feels like something would be missing if I didn't include a few things about her happenings while she was away from us.

She got her first semester off to a good start with learning how to live with roommates, balance her life between studying and fun, and taking care of herself without me to shop, cook and clean for her.  While there were lessons that were learned and lots of streching and growing for all of us, she did a superb job as a freshman in college!  She maintained the highest possible GPA while also doing everything from joining the newspaper staff, cliff diving,  hiking, and visiting friends in Utah.  She went to the Idaho State Fair, did rent-a-puppy, hiked The Y, and ran into an apostle (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland).  She cooked and cleaned her way through each semester as well.