Sara

Last night I reunited with one of my best friends Sara. Her last name is Bareilles. Maybe you've heard of her?

 

Crystal and I went to Bru Burger before with a couple of friends of hers. I had a veggie burger and in true fashion, I left the last bite of my sandwich. Why do I do this? I can't finish sandwiches. Ever. It was delicious, though. If you ever go there, you should try it. You have to pay extra for fries (what?!) so I didn't get any, but the burger was plenty filling on its own.

The show was at the Egyptian Room at Old National Centre downtown. It was a standing-only event which I'm not a fan of. I mean, come on. I'm almost 30 years-old. I paid 38 dollars for this ticket. I think I deserve to sit down without 16 year-olds jumping on my feet every few seconds. But whatever. Sara's worth it.

The venue's gorgeous. I love the ornamentation and details inside the rooms. I'd been there once before, I think, but lots and lots of years ago.

I have a love-hate relationship with these concerts. Sara is incredible. But seriously. She's so, so, so good. It's fun to go to a concert and know with confidence that I will love every single song that's played because I love every single song she's ever put out. At the same time, I always get serious talent envy. Singing has always been my dream, but unfortunately my instrumental talents haven't quite kept up with my vocal talents and I've never been able to write music very well. So singing is not my path. And that's ok. I've accepted it and I know there are a lot of really great blessings I've received that I couldn't have if I'd had a career in music. But every once in a while, when I see someone else living my dream and doing it so well, I get just a little bit of talent envy. But that probably took up 10% of the night. The other 90% was just pure enjoyment.

And as a side note, the lighting for both her and the opening act was incredible. So props to whoever was in charge of that.

Fall Break

Last week I was trying to get a picture of Campbell crossing her eyes. Every time I'd go to take the picture, though, she'd half-shut them.

 

 Don't worry, though. After a few tries we got these beauties. Makes me laugh every time.

Yesterday was my super-long, super-awesome fall break, which means Thursday night was like m Friday night. So I spent the whole night on the couch in front of the TV, because I'm that kind of productive. When Tessa and the kids got home from soccer, Cooper came straight over and climbed on the couch to snuggle. Isn't he the sweetest? Then I told anyone else that came to snuggle that they could get their picture taken. That got the other two interested.

3.33 x 18 Months

This past August marked the five-year anniversary of my return from my mission to Argentina. Five years is a long time. I could have served approximately 3.33 missions in that time. Considering how impactful the eighteen months of my mission were, think about what 3.33 of those could have done for me.

I tend to think I've done very little with my life since I've been home. After all, I have no offspring to show for myself so really, what mark am I making on the world? This post will be a list of everything I've accomplished in the last 3.33 x 18 months of my life in an attempt to convince myself I haven't wasted away my life by not having children. Here goes.

1. Graduated from college.
2. Got accepted into Teach For America.
3. Completed 1.25 years of teaching middle school in what can only be described as hell.
4. Managed to convince at least 6 different students that I'm their favorite teacher.
5. Traveled to Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Canada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Minnesota, Idaho, California, Nevada, Illinois, and Utah. (Yes, I listed all the states separately. It makes it look like more.)
6. Completed 63% of a Master's degree.
7. Worked my way up in favorite status to the point that my twin niece and nephew (who are 4) are excited to see me when I come home every day.
8. Taught at the Missionary Training Center (a dream since I was a missionary there).
9. Taught university-level English as a Second Language classes.
10. Published an article in a travel magazine.
11. Been present at six different weddings, including four sealings.
12. Climbed a volcano and saw flowing lava.
13. Attended several live sessions of General Conference.
14. Purchased and paid off my first car.
15. Watched and helped my brother come back from 15 years of drug addiction to be a strong, clean, worthy man.

I realize this list is pretty good. I haven't been sitting around for five years doing nothing. My greatest desire, though, is to be married and have my own family so I can teach my children the blessings of the gospel and share with them the love I feel from my Heavenly Father. I want to show them how to be worthy of the Spirit and how to respond to the promptings they receive. I want to show them the joy that I have in living the gospel.

President Harold B. Lee (a former prophet in our church who has since died) said once, "The most important work you and I will ever do will be within the walls of our own homes." I eagerly anticipate the day when I can work within the walls of my own home, strengthening my own family and teaching my own children. Until then, my greatest accomplishments will be those I experience within the walls of my family's homes. Seeing Thomas get his mission call, hearing about Micah's spiritual experience at EFY, listening to Jonah and Emerson tell about times when they chose to stand up for good at school instead of following the crowd, seeing the excitement in Cooper and Campbell's face as they learn about and understand their relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, listening to Nalon so proudly explain things that he learns in Primary or recite all the past presidents of the church, receiving heartfelt and unsolicited hugs from Holden, watching Jacob bear his testimony about the reality and power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ in his life, attending the temple with my parents, receiving father's blessings from my dad, and discussing gospel principles with Tessa, Isaac, and Dominika. These are the things that bring me the most joy.

You are Hereby Called

Thomas got his mission call!

I was at my parents' house on Wednesday night for Micah's choir concert and as we were walking out afterwards, my mom got a text message from Thomas that said simply, "It's here!" We quickly called him and worked out a time for him to open it. He was saying we could wait until Sunday since it was already late and he was leaving the next day to travel up to Logan for his football game. I quickly told him that there's no way he could sit on that envelope for four days and my mom told him it would be like having a baby then putting it back in your stomach. There was no other option: it had to be that night.

I spent the next half hour at my parents' house setting their computers up to be able to do a Google+ "hangout" so we could all be on a video call together when he opened it. On my drive back up to Indianapolis I talked Isaac and Jacob through setting theirs up. Then when I got home I pulled my computer out and the sound card wouldn't work. Everyone else was set up and ready to go and my stupid computer wouldn't produce any sound. So I restarted it, which takes about a year with my ridiculous computer.

In the meantime, someone who was with Thomas called Tessa so we were facetiming with them, and someone had to call Isaac and facetime with him since his computer was also not working all of a sudden. It was an exhausting hour and a half trying to get things set up so we could be involved in this huge event that lasted all of one minute. In the nick of time my computer booted up and was working fine so Tessa and I were able to watch on my computer (with sound and everything!).

Hawai'i Honolulu! My official prediction was Fiji. Not too far off! He seems so excited about it. I think he wasn't too pumped about learning a language, so English is awesome for him. And Hawai'i is exotic enough that it's cool but it's technically still stateside so he'll have all the conveniences he's used to. Plus it's HAWAI'I. He-LLO! I'm pretty excited to go pick him up from his mission at the end. It's irrelevant whether or not he wants me to.

I'm so proud of his decision to serve, and more than anything I'm so proud of that line in the third paragraph: "You have been recommended as one worthy to represent the Lord as a minister of the restored gospel." It's not easy to keep yourself worthy and clean in this world, especially as a teenaged boy, so I'm impressed by and proud of his commitment to prepare himself to be worthy for this calling. When I was a missionary, I remember referring back to that line in my call (the letters are the same for all missionaries with the exception of the place and date) often and reminding myself that I really was prepared and worthy to do that work.

Watching him open his call brought back the memory of when I opened mine on November 17, 2006. I was working as a server at Max & Erma's restaurant and had gone to work that day, hoping my call would come. It was a Friday and I knew that mission calls usually came on Fridays in Indiana because they had to have a few days in the mail. I texted my mom that afternoon to see if the letter had come in the mail and she said no. I was really disappointed, since this meant I would likely have to wait until the following Friday.

I got home and changed my clothes and started reading the newspaper in the kitchen. I had it spread out on the counter and I was leaning over the counter reading it when my dad came in and stuck the envelope on the counter in front of my face. I felt a shock run through my body, because I'd already accepted that it wouldn't be there. But there it was. My dad had gone out to the mailbox earlier that day and taken it out. I looked up and saw him and my mom and my sister (I think). My mom had the camera out and was already videotaping me. I opened it up right there. Back then I didn't even know people organized huge get-togethers to open mission calls. There's no way I would've been able to wait long enough for other people to get there and there wasn't any such thing as Skype. So I opened it up with just me, my parents, and my little brother and sister (they were there, right?). I began reading and I'm pretty sure I was crying before I even got through the first sentence. My letter was exactly like Thomas' except mine said,

"You are assigned to labor in the Argentina Buenos Aires West Mission. It is anticipated you will serve for a period of 18 months. You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, January 31, 2007. You will prepare to teach the gospel in the Spanish language."

I remember that I was crying and I remember that I butchered the pronunciation of Buenos Aires and I remember that my mom gasped when I read Argentina. That moment was one of the most life-changing moments I've ever experienced. My mission was the hardest thing I have ever done. Serving in Argentina presented challenges I could never have anticipated. I was cold, hot, wet, tired, overwhelmed, sad, lonely, homesick, discouraged, doubtful, and bored (not all at the same time, obviously). I wanted to come home a good chunk of the time. But coming home was never an option. Instead, I stayed and I learned patience, humility, charity, and faith. I experienced joy, love, achievement, and gratitude. I met people who gave my life meaning and purpose. I felt the extreme satisfaction of knowing that even though I was miserable a lot of the time, what I was doing was the most important thing I could ever do. I felt a deep sense of belonging as I wore the Savior's name on my nametag every day and introduced myself as a representative of Jesus Christ. I felt pride in belonging to an army of missionaries who had dedicated every hour of 18-24 months to serving the Lord. Most importantly, I felt the extreme love and care that my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ had for me and those I was serving. I saw the Atonement change the lives of those I taught and I experienced that change in myself. I came to know Christ through my mission and that is an experience I wouldn't trade for anything.

I'm so excited that Thomas gets to have this experience and I can't wait to hear about what he learns.

Rainy Days

This is what we do when we're stuck inside.

 

1. Make funny faces and take pictures. These guys are masters at this game and they love it. 

 And they have no personal bubble nor are they aware that other people have bubbles.

2. Watch TV with cute little feet hanging over the edge.

3. Take more pictures. Any time my phone is out, Campbell's asking me to take her picture and posing accordingly.

 4. Eating. Have you tried these? Oh my heaven. They're amazing. I may have eaten half a package at work on Friday. And since they're double the size of regular Oreos, that comes out to about 20 Oreos.

5. Sing and dance. Micah's choir concert was this week. She's in the Debuteens and Music Men this year - the highest show choir at the high school. It's fun to watch her and relive my days as a Deb. I ruled that stage. She rocks it now.

6. Attempt to ride bikes. Yesterday we went out for a walk/bike ride and made it to the end of the street before we had to turn around because it started raining. Campbell was such a fast peddler on that little trike.

7. Play Memory. The twins LOVE this game and they play it several times a day. I usually tap out after two rounds. Cooper doesn't quite understand that you can't change the rules because you're losing. Campbell's just a master. She wins almost every time.