Remembering

This time of year always makes me think back a few years. This year is especially reminiscent for me, as the actual dates and days match up again. It was Monday, July 16, 2001 that my mission papers went in. (Wow. Has it really been that long?) A week and a day later, (Tuesday, July 24), at our stake Pioneer Day activity, my stake president asked me if I thought my call would come that week. Since it usually took about 3 weeks for calls to come back to Arizona at that time, I told him that I definitely wasn't expecting it for another week or two. He said something along the lines of, "Well, you never know!" Looking back, I wonder if he knew something that he wasn't telling me.

I got my call 3 days later on Friday, July 27, 2001. We almost didn't even check the mail that day--and you can imagine how surprised I was to see that big white envelope with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for the return address. My parents and sisters had plans and my brothers were both at work. So, with a phone on each ear, (to each brother at work), I opened my call--which told me that I was going to the Lithuania Vilnius mission, Russian speaking. RUSSIAN?? I was totally surprised. I didn't even know where Lithuania was! When I got out my parents' encyclopedia, Lithuania wasn't even in there because at the time the encyclopedia was printed, the USSR was still one big country. I was so surprised that I was being sent to a formerly communist country. As a side note...There really is no feeling like opening your mission call and reading where you get to serve the Lord for the next couple of years. There is a definite power in each mission call. I KNEW that's where Heavenly Father needed me.

That night, I had a date with one of my good friends, Joe. He were going to a Chinese restaurant and then to watch movies at his apartment. On the way out to the car when he picked me up, I asked him where he thought I was going on my mission. His facetious response was that he was going to have to fast and pray about it before he could tell me. When I told him that I already had my call, he was shocked! I think I made him guess and then I couldn't contain my excitement any longer and told him where I was going. I was so excited about it all that I had to call a few friends and tell them about my call--which I did on the way to the restaurant. At the end of dinner, we each took our fortune cookies and read what they said. Mine read, "You will take a pleasant journey to a far away place." How appropriate!! It's been six years and I still have that fortune in my wallet. All through the movies that night, I couldn't stop thinking about the next part of my life. I barely remember what we watched--or what happened. For several months, I had been searching for the right place for me to be--and I finally knew what that place was!

The Watermelon Days of Summer

Kallie has been begging for watermelon for a few weeks now. She discovered the sweet treat a year ago and since then always gets so excited when watermelon is on the menu. So, now that summer is starting to wind down, we finally bought a watermelon. Since Kallie loves it so much, we gave her an entire 1/2 of a HUGE round slice, which she sunk her teeth into immediately. She did a really good job and ate most of the red part. (This is an improvement over last summer, when she also ate the white and green parts as well.) When she finished as much as she could, she turned the rind over and announced, "Rainbow!" Of course, I thought that was totally cute--and I couldn't help but document Kallie's love for watermelon.

*Grumble, Grumble*

So, I knew that Ryan and I would both be making sacrifices in order for him to go to grad school. Among many other things, Ryan's sacrificing a dishwasher, (since he's the main dish do-er in our home), and I'm sacrificing having a washer/dryer in our apartment. It hasn't been TOO big of a deal...before tonight. Admittedly, it IS a pain to drag my 5 loads of laundry, 2 different detergents, baking soda, (boosts the detergent so it cleans better), and dryer sheets over to the building, and then walk back and forth a couple of times to switch the loads to the dryers. But, it's definitely not the worst thing that could happen.

However, tonight, as I was taking the first 2 laundry bags in to the building, I was struggling to get the door open. I was trying to balance the bags so the laundry wouldn't fall out all over the place. I finally swung the door open--right into my second toe--and it hurt like CRAZY! When I first looked at it, I thought it had just sustained a minor injury near the cuticle. After a few seconds, it went numb and I finished getting the laundry started. About halfway through, I realized that my toe was bleeding and starting to hurt...and then I realized the corner of the door had actually ripped the majority of my toenail up. So, I walked home, (since we're pretty close to the laundry building), and washed it and bandaged it. And, Ryan, being the wonderful and amazing husband that he is, has taken care of the rest of the laundry tonight. My toe is still throbbing. :( Maybe laundry won't be so bad after my toe heals.

The Binky Fairy

Tonight, the binky fairy visited Kallie...and I am so sad! I don't know why it makes me sad to think of Kallie giving up her binky--but it does. We've been planning to take it away for a while now, but kept putting it off for various reasons. First, Whitney was coming, then we were living with my parents, then we were moving, then she was moving into a big girl bed, and then we were going on vacation. Now that we've been home for a week and have nothing big coming up, we decided to take advantage of the calm and get rid of the binky.

We had a ward ice cream social tonight by the playground behind our building. So, Kallie left her binky under her pillow and then Ryan took her outside to play while I stayed home and put Whitney to bed. After they were out back, I brought in the Curious George Bedtime doll that we bought today and swapped it for the binky. I actually threw the binky away so I wouldn't cave and go get it for her.

About an hour or so later, Ryan came back in with Kallie, (who was VERY upset that she couldn't keep playing), and I got stuck outside talking with someone. Ryan said when she first saw Curious George, she backed as far away from him as possible. But, when I came in, I helped her get acquainted with her new friend and she was snuggling him before too long. As we did the bedtime routine, she asked for her binky at the usual time--and I had to tell her that the binky fairy took it away. I was so sad to tell her that because I know how much she loves her little binky! She fussed/begged for a couple of minutes, but I just rocked her and sang to her and she calmed down. When I put her in her bed, she asked for it again and I had to remind her that the binky fairy took it. Then, I gave her George to cuddle with, sang one more song, and left the room.

Usually, she'll get up and come investigate what Ryan and I are doing--because that's surely more interesting than trying to go to sleep. But, tonight she didn't. I'm sure it's just because she got to bed a little later than usual and was super tired anyway. But, I was impressed that she didn't cry too much or too hysterically for her binky. Hopefully, this transitional experience will be like all of her other experiences--a little bit of fuss and then moving on like a pro.

The Love is Gone

After 2 1/2 years of enjoyable times, the Love is finally gone! We sold our LoveSac tonight...and I'm sad. After all, it was the ONLY place I could comfortably sleep during the third trimester of my pregnancy with Kallie. By the time I was pregnant with Whitney, we had run out of room for it in our little condo. It sat in our storage unit, (very well covered), for about a year before we moved in here. Once we got here, we once again determined there was still no place for it to go. We thought about keeping it until Ryan was out of grad school, but that's going to be 2 (or more) years and we didn't want to store it for that long. So, tonight, a very happy engaged guy bought our lovely LoveSac. While I'm sad to see it go, at least I know it's going to a good home where it will be well loved.

I'm sorry...WHAT are you prescribing for me?

For the past few weeks, I have been feeling completely NOT like myself. I thought it was something hormonal resulting from weaning Whitney a month ago. After reviewing my options, I decided that going to a naturopath was the best way to go to get it all figured out. So, I went yesterday.

Apparently, I have adrenal gland stress. (The adrenal glands are what regulate estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.) According to the Dr., that can happen when having babies, especially when you have them close together, throws your body off. So, I'm now on a "get the adrenals back in shape" plan. The very first and most important thing is for me to get more sleep--the Dr. actually wrote a prescription for me for SLEEP. Go to bed earlier and, the Dr. emphasized, sleeping in late is imperative--past 8 a.m. if at all possible. I'm also taking some mood improving vitamins and a couple of other supplements that will help balance my body again. I'm also supposed to drink water mixed with sea salt a couple of times a day. I know that sounds strange, but really, it sounds so good to me! (Probably because my body needs it!)

Another important point in achieving adrenal balance is getting rid of stress...and that's a big one for me. I go through times in my life where, for some reason, I feel the need to be perfect. I have to adjust my perspective and learn what I have to let slide and what things are really important. Along with this, I'm supposed to keep my blood sugars up...the typical "don't go too long without eating" thing. Although I've known that's better for your body for a long time, I've never really been a grazer--so that's going to be a change for me.

Anyway--it seems a little strange--but even after sleeping in until 7 a.m. today, I can tell it really helped. Hopefully, this improving trend will continue!

Kallie Funnies

Today, Kallie did a couple of funny things that I wanted to get written down--so I figured there's no time like NOW and here they are:

--We were playing her matching game once again. (And, the Beeber got another "No, no!" This time, there was an added finger shake to emphasize the no's.) As I pulled the cards out of the box, Kallie said, "Mommy, wiggle cards?" I was stumped for a second and then realized she meant shuffle the cards! For some reason, she is completely entertained by the wiggling of the cards. I guess if you're 2 and have a limited vocabulary, wiggle is as good a word as shuffle for mixing those cards up!

--Several months ago, I made Kallie some letters for the fridge out of magnifoam. They're way bigger than the plastic ones you can buy--which I love. Kallie's latest pastime is pulling each letter off the fridge and throwing it on the floor. I'm not quite sure why she does this, but maybe it's because she likes cleaning them up? Today, she threw them on the floor, as she usually does...but instead of picking them up and putting them back on the fridge, she decided that it would be way more fun to use her little broom and dustpan to sweep them up. I found her just as she was dumping the letters from her dustpan into the trash. I quickly rescued the letters from the germy depths, amid explanations of "Cleaning, mommy!" I had to do some explaning of my own that the letters are not trash and don't belong in the dirty trash can. Hopefully next time, they'll go back on the fridge where they belong!

--One other thing that I almost forgot! Recently, Kallie has started asking if she can burp Whitney. As soon as Whitney finishes her bottle, Kallie is at my knee, patting Whitney on the back. It doesn't matter what Kallie's doing...playing the piano, feeding her Little People dolls, or reading books, she'll drop anything to burp her sister. Then, when the burp finally happens, Kallie's eyes get really big and she smiles a HUGE smile like, "I am SUCH a good helper!" I love that Kallie loves to help...Now if I could just teach her to do laundry...

My Talk and A New Calling!

Well, I gave my talk today in church. Ryan was wonderful and sat with the girls by himself so that I could sit on the stand and focus on my talk until it was time for me to speak. I think it went really well. I got a few compliments from ward members, but my favorite was from my bishop. You have to have a little background on my bishop to really understand why it was important to me. My bishop is an extremely well educated person. He is the General Counsel for a local business AND has a degree in Theology along with all of the other credentials. So, on the way to Sunday School after dropping Kallie off at nursery, Ryan suddenly disappeared. (Apparently, he went into the chapel for a second.) When he finally reappeared, he told me that the Bishop had told him that I am quite the talent. He thought my talk was very well prepared and very well presented--and that made me feel great because I had worked so hard on it.

Also--I got a calling today! I am going to be a Relief Society teacher. I could not have picked a calling that I would love more than that! I love teaching and I am so thrilled about it! Both the bishop and the Relief Society President told me today that they are very careful about who they choose as teachers because they need to know that the person will represent the ward well. That also made me feel so good about myself. Apparently, during the 2 weeks, (not including today), that we've been to church in this ward, they got the feeling that I would do well in this calling. I thought for sure the calling was going to be something that would be a huge challenge for me--but I am so grateful that it's going to be more uplifting than stressful at this point in my life. I'll either be teaching the 2nd or 3rd Sunday--and I can't wait to get started!

A Voice from the Past

The other day, as I was writing my talk, I decided to read my journals from high school and college to see if I had any special experiences in there I could use. Well, I didn't. BUT--it was SO fun to read about the things I thought about then. I had so many concerns and frustrations, and here I am, 10 years later, (give or take a few years), and I know how most everything I worried about has worked out. It was amazing to read about the inspirations I had, and realize that every one of them happened. It was so fun to read about the silly things and even the things that I worried so much about--that now aren't even flecks on the fabric of my life. I know that if I could have seen where I am now, I wouldn't have grown in the ways that I have. Life has turned out so different than what I would have imagined for myself back then. But, I can't imagine it being any different than it is now because it has gone better than what I had planned for myself.

I always worry about how things are going to be in the future...but reading back, I realize that there was never any need to worry because it all worked out so beautifully. I guess that's one reason we have the scriptures. They show us that God loves His people and that He will always work things for their good. What a wonderful thing!

I Love Linux!!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am speaking in church Sunday. I spent about 6 hours actually writing my talk this week--and just finished it last night. This morning, I went to turn on my computer and it kept booting over and over again. Thank goodness I'm married to the Geek Squad. After working on programming issues all day today and even staying late at work because of them, my sweet husband came home and started working on my computer. Turns out that the hard drive is dead. I don't know what happened between last night and this morning, but apparently it involved a hard drive homicide!

Anyway--thanks to some Linux program, Ryan was able to recover my talk. He's currently trying to save my "Tumblebugs" game--but that is seriously secondary to the talk. I don't think I've worked on a talk this much in my entire life and the possibility of losing it was making me feel sick to my stomach. But, I am now quite relieved and grateful that I can get the normal Saturday things done tomorrow, instead of rewriting my talk. And, just for the record--I LOVE LINUX!!