Nov. 14 letter

1. My friend Becca- a.k.a Trish. She is the sweetest, kindest friend. She is an example to me in many ways she does not even realize.

2. My kids' funny and sweet moments. There a couple in the letter that follows.

3. My bed. Because it sounds so inviting and comfortable right now.


Karina,

How are you sister? Sorry that I didn’t realize I should have been sending my letters to your email instead of through Dear Elder once you got to Guatemala. I should have thought that through. Do you have enough time to read all our emails? I will switch to snail mail if I need to- but I’m worried that the hassle of getting a stamp and something in the mailbox might hinder my success of getting something to you… Garrett and Racheal were here for dinner tonight and we were talking about how AWESOME and happy you sound in all of your letters. I pray you continue to do so well. Oh, and while we were talking about you, Josh wise piping in with, “Kari’s in Guatemala” and Dekker said, “Yeah, she’s taking a REALLY long time on her mission!”

Please be prepared for some shocks and challenges when you hit the field. I’m honestly not too worried for you though. Your enthusiasm and positive vibe will push you through anything. And besides, though the language and work load were a shock for me, I still loved my first area, companion and all of that. I had an MTC teacher who said over and over again that he wanted us to be able to “hit the ground running” when we got to the field. That imagery seemed to help me. I really just “jumped” into it and tried to be prepared for anything.

Nothing too exciting this week to report. Trish took the boys to a Yo Gabba Gabba concert on Tuesday. They don’t really watch that show, but I showed them some You Tube videos before, and they had a blast. There is one song that they do about eating all your food because “there’s a party in your tummy” and all the food wants to go. It’s actually gotten Dekker to eat more at dinnertime. So I’m pumped!

Jake went to Colorado this weekend for his yearly trip to reconnect with his old high school buddies. He gets back tomorrow. Becca stayed with me all weekend to keep me company. We stayed up late last night making these cute hair clips. She, Naomi and I each wore one to church today.

Today at church one of Dekker’s nursery leaders was released and she’ll be in the RS presidency. She loves Dekker since he’s the oldest in nursery and can actually talk and stuff. Well, when I went to pick him up the other nursery leader reminded Dekker to “Say ‘goodbye’ to Sister Shepherd!” He looked up at her and said, “Goodbye Sister Shepherd!” with his sweet big eyes and she got all chocked up saying goodbye back to him. That little kid has sutch a way of working his way in to people’s hearts. It was a sweet little moment.

Funny Josh moment: This weekend Josh was talking to Trish about finding her husband. Before he has told her to just find a boy in blue shirt. Well, I wasn’t there for the whole conversation, but he asked her if she’d found the guy in the blue shirt yet, and I think she was trying to explain that it isn’t that simple, and so he said, “Okay, you find the guys wearing a blue shirt, and driving a car, and then you say, ‘Who wants to marry me? Raise your hand!” It’s pretty classic because Josh loves to do the “Who wants _____? Raise your hand!” or “If you like ______, raise your hand!”

It’s snowing right now. There’s actually some visible snow/slush on the grass.

Naomi turns ONE on SATURDAY!

TTFN