Missionary letters #2

Hermana Jackson,

I love you Kari. Please send me a note back. I like you. Are you having fun? Please tell me if you’re having fun or not. I miss you. I hope you have fun. Please say prayers to Jesus.

Love, Josh

I love you. I gonna have a Halloween party and wear my costume party there. I singed “follow the prophet” at church today.

Love, Dekker

Hey Karina,

I loved reading your last email. It’s so great to hear you so happy and loving the work. It was so fun to hear about the school bus that picked you up from the airport, and about driving through the city and the things you saw. It brought back so many great memories- even the little bit about the Spanish keyboards! Jake liked the yogurt drink story. And said not to worry about the bird watching thing making you sound like a nerd because, “we knew that already”! See he’s not any kinder when you’re a missionary.

Not too much to report here. Naomi and I have been sick. Her nose is running pretty much nonstop- which is pretty gross. I get slimed all the time, especially when I go to wipe it and she buries her head into my shoulder trying to get away from the tissue.

My dad came to town this weekend for a quick trip to see my grandpa. I was all excited to have him take a family picture fur us- but it was raining all weekend. So then we tried to take some inside, and of course as soon as one kid was ready to cooperate another one would start crying or whining or wiggling- so I we’ll see if he can get anything usable out of it.

Love you.

Jaime

Missionary letters #1

1. Fall weather! Tonight I watched a storm roll in from the kitchen window while I cleaned up after dinner. I love the cooler sweater weather days. I love lightning and thunder and rain. I think its because it makes me appreciate a warm home, sweaters, blankets and all those comforting/snuggly things.

2. Costumes. As you'll read in my letter below- I bought the kids their costumes this year. They're so cute! They love them- okay, so maybe Naomi doesn't really care too much- but the boys are ecstatic. At first I was a little sad that they were so insistant on buying a character costume, rather than letting me help come up with and make one for them. But, I figure when they get older the later will be more fun (and we can use stage make up, wigs, and spray paint like my mom used to let us do), and like Jake pointed out we REALLY got our money's worth out of their Spiderman costumes from last year (they're still squeezing into those.

3. My sister Karina entered the MTC last week! Today I wrote her my first letter. I decided I'd copy my friend Bri's idea and go ahead and post them on this blog since they kinda give a summary of what we're up to:

Hola mi hermanita!

Sorry I didn't write until now. If it makes you feel any better, I don't know that I wrote Garrett at all while he was in the MTC. This is actually my first time using Dear Elder- pretty cool.

I got to read your email today and I was so excited to hear that things are off to a good start. Loving your companion, roommates and district make everything so much better. I loved mine too!

We are all praying for you here. If you ever feel discouraged, homesick, or just plain tired, just think of all the prayers that are going up in your behalf from friends and family, and then remember all the prayers going up in your behalf in all the temples around the world. You've got a lot of prayer power behind you. Don't be afraid to call upon it!

I bought the kids their Halloween costumes. Naomi is a bee, Josh is Optimus Prime, and Dekker actually decided to be Wolverine! Josh and Dekker wore their costumes all conference weekend and then some. Dekker really gets into playing his character when in costume. It's pretty cute.

Naomi actually took her first steps tonight. I'm telling you before Mom- so you can feel privileged. Not like she was really walking - but would go from a stand and lunge/move her feet a step or two before falling. Before she's just practiced standing/balancing on her own- never steps.

I went to my first parent/teacher conference tonight. Man I feel old. Mrs. Smith said Josh is a stud. No really, she said he's doing really well. She did mention he's so animated and enthusiastic that she has to some times remind him to quiet down and listen to instructions. Funny how everyone always tells me how "animated" he is. Reminds me of how I used to always get mad that when I was little everyone would tell me I was so "dramatic" it made me mad because I didn't know what that meant.

Monday we went to Fat Cats bowling for FHE, and so after stopped by Garrett and Racheal's to see their place. The kids were sad that they didn't have any toys! They did find your Peanuts Holiday Collection among their movies though- and found some African whistles to blow.... Can't take those kids anywhere without them getting into stuff!

Pues, te amo mucho hermanita. Se que tu vas a ser una misionera maravillosa!!!

Jaime

9/12/2010

1. Regional/Stake Conference. Just got back from this. Got to hear from Elder Holland, Sister Beck, and President Packer. Very inspiring despite three little wiggly distractions.

2. Three little wiggly distractions. I love them. Even though they're wiggly. They remind me every day that this life is about so much more than me and my wants.

3. Remembering. Yesterday was a day of remembering 9/11. I don't think I feel it as deeply as many. Mostly because when it happened I was living far away in Guatemala City away from my fellow countrymen. It felt very surreal, watching it on the news, and hearing all of the condolences from the Guatemaltecos around me. It is amazing though all that that tragedy can remind us of, and how it can awaken us to the reality that the US can still be vulnerable, and how lucky we are to have the freedoms and protections that come at the cost of others' lives. Sometimes those others go knowingly into battle on our behalf, and other times they are stollen from us. Either way they are precious. Either way I am grateful to them.

4. School. Jake's eMBa program- which we only have one more semester to save and pay for!!! Josh's Kindergarten, which could probably be better, but he loves it because it means he's big and gives him daily interaction and learning opportunities. Dekker's preschool with Miss Tammy who is pretty much AMAZING. That Naomi is still too little for it, I'll be sad when I don't have one too little anymore. And for MY schooling- I'm done for now, and even if I never go back I got to go to BYU-Hawaii for goodness sakes- where I had so many experiences I'd never have been able to have anywhere else (I should dedicate a post to just that one day), and to finishing in Provo- where there are incredible professors and a beautiful campus that I was able to participate in at a fraction of the cost of their true value thanks to the tithing and donations of others.

5. The temple. It's been good to be able to get back. Naomi is not completely weened, but I can be away from her for long enough stints of time that I'm able to get there once again. And I love that whenever we talk of the temple Dekker's eyes get really big with excitement and he exclaims, "You get to go? And feel the Holy Spirit?!"

6. For late night movies, BBQs, Football games, Bombay House, Family reunions, kids' games, trips to the park, good talks, and small projects - which are what I spend my time doing with my husband when he is around- which isn't too often, but we make do.

Livin' in the USA

1. I am so thankful to live in this wonderful continent, country, and land. I KNOW it is a blessed place set aside for miraculous things. I KNOW that our Founding Fathers were inspired to set up this government with the freedoms that would allow this nation to rise to great heights. I'm so thankful to be born here. I'm thankful to live here. I'm thankful for all of those that have, are willing to, and will die to protect it.

2. Fireworks. Boom! POP! Sizzle... Blue, gold, red, green and all the rest. I love 'em.

3. Boating. Isn't it sad that our first time out on the boat this year was 4th of July weekend. With Jake's busy schedule, and a colder than usual spring and summer it's been hard. We were able to go both Saturday and Monday though- and it felt FABULOUS. Saturday it was just us, my sister Kari, and Trish. We had a great time though and both the boys got out on the tube. Monday we took my cousin and his family who are staying with us this week while visiting from Oregon. They have 5 boys 12 and under and non of them had been on a tube or wakeboard before. THEY LOVED IT. Especially their 10 year old Ammon who held on through more than we've put ANYONE through before. He also really wanted to try the wakeboard- so Jake put him between his legs on the board and they got up so he could at least get a taste for it. It was a blast.

4. New favorite song. I love Sara Bareilles' new song "King of Anything". It makes me happy.

5. Bybee fam. We had a reunion with a lot of the "Grandpa Bybee on down" crew Monday night. Love 'em. There was maybe half us there and it was still QUITE the bunch. I sat watching Grandpa watching all his posterity visiting, playing, and running around him. He was laughing at a toe-headed toddler playing in the water spicket. How incredible it must be- to know that they all came from his choice to take my grandma to the temple and be married all those years ago. And to see the quality of people his faith, example and hard work has contributed to... WOW.

6. Having the hubby home for a weekend. It was SO NICE to have Jake here for THREE WHOLE days as well as a Friday night. I don't ever really even get TWO. Especially since he was recently released as YM president and so didn't have all his Sunday morning meetings. And watching him laugh as he drives the boat dumping people from the tube- yeah its pretty dang hot! Oh how I love my man. Right now he's on his laptop trying to get back in to "homework mode" like a good little boy. Not many people can know how to work, play and love like he does.

My new favorite salad

Avocado & Strawberry Salad

2-3 cups favorite greens (I used half spinach, half romain)
10 strawberries sliced
1 avocado sliced
1/2 cup nuts (I used cashews, but I'm sure would be great with pecans, almonds, walnuts, etc)

DRESSING!!!
2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice

I made this last night and it was a huge hit. Definitely something to be thankful for.

The latest

1. My sister has been called to Guatemala, Guatemala City, South! Kari got her call and we are all so excited for her. My brother Garrett totally called it too. I'm excited because I lived there for a semester and loved it, and it will be fun to have another Spanish speaker in the family. She will be such and awesome missionary.

2. Swimming lessons. I found these incredible private swim lessons through word of mouth. There 10 minutes a day, four days a week for three weeks. This is our last week and I am SO IMPRESSED at how well my boys are doing! It makes me feel so much safer to see them fearlessly jumping into the water and coming up and getting on their bakes to float all by themselves. The whole idea behind the lessons is water safety, so they work on teaching them to do shorts burst of swimming alternated with rests and breathing while floating on their backs. They teach them all this by really watching their head position and through fun activities and positive reinforcement. And because they're only 10 minutes (but its all one-on-one and they are working the entire time) the kids leave the pool at the peak of the excitement/energy level. It's really pretty incredible.

3. T-ball. This is Josh's first summer doing Tball and it is so much fun.

Josh makes me laugh.

The kid is growing up way too fast these days. Two fun stories to document.

1. Frist Crush.

Josh has been on a bit of a Peter Pan kick lately. It started with Kari bringing over the latest live actor version for him to watch. I think he likes it because he feels like he's watching a "grown up" movie. Anyway, when we were at my mom's house he found a copy of HOOK and had to see it. After he watched it he kept saying, I just LOVE Tinkerbell (Julia Roberts if you don't remember). He was laughing and giggling about her and tellling me about when she gets big and breaks her house. Then later he was carrying around the movie cover and I heard him say, "I just can't stop looking at her?!!" It was then that I started to see what was happening. I asked, "You really like that Tinkerbell, don't you?" and he said, "Yes! I love her Smile, her dress, her wings- I just love EVERYTHING about her". Wow. His first crush.

Ha ha. At least he's got good taste.

2. We've had a couple different talks and FHE lessons about tithing in recent months. Nothing huge, but apparently at some point something stuck with Josh, because a few weeks back we were sitting in sacrament meeting and Josh was looking up at the ceiling, and then he said to me, "Mom, I see the money up there!" Confused I asked, "What?" and he said, "Remember how you told me?! You told me that the money we give to the Bishop is used to build the churches. Well I see some sparkling up there and I think its some of the money." HA HA!!! I then had explain that the money is used to BUY wood, lights, windows and all the things that go into making a church- not just used as materials in the building of them. "Oh."