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Who would have known that the blessings of serving a mission could be so tangible?  There are no hidden miracles here.  It's as if God literally opens the windows of heaven and pours out the blessings on his returned missionaries.  All Ethan (specifically) has to do is stand outside and collect them all. Ethan has been in Washington DC for less than a week now, and he has already made over $200 at a job that he found online.  I guess there is some place through American University where people can post babysitting jobs that they need filled.  Ethan looked through and applied to one where the woman said that she needed a man to take her 13-year-old son to his Scout meetings.  Perfect.  Too, the applicant was supposed to supply references which Ethan had from before serving his mission.  Turns out, that family was still around and had only the most wonderful things to say about him. Originally, Ethan was supposed to work only Monday nights for t...

Since I know my beautiful daughter won't brag about herself, allow me to! The orchestra program at our local high school is pathetic.  The band?  Award winning.  The choirs?  Award winning.  The orchestra?  They take fifth out of five orchestras.....thanks for playing! After Johannah made it into the top orchestra this summer at Interlochen, she knew that there was no going back.  No going back to rehearsals that are all talking, and no rehearsing.  Performances that are embarrassing.  So, she checked into our local professional orchestra, the Nittany Valley Symphony. As luck would have it, they were holding open auditions for only four instruments, viola being one of them. Let me reiterate.  This is a professional orchestra, made up of adult performers, many of whom hold advance degrees in music. While the website said the auditions weren't until the middle of September, when Johannah called, she discovered that they were b...

Ugh.  I HATE the first day of school!  Just had to get that out there... I can hardly believe that summer is over.  We have been anticipating this summer for at least a year now :-)  We had so much to look forward to:  Ethan coming home, Kennedy Kousin Kamp (in an RV no less!), Interlochen (with both girls entering new divisions), and family time. That's what I love the most about summer.  The time we are able to spend together.  I like having my "troop" of workers.  We spend mornings weeding when needed.  We take care of the dogs together (whose turn is it to feed them again?)  We shop together.  We have time to do some creative cooking.  We watch movies.  We laugh. Oh my goodness, we laugh.  Granted, we don't laugh quite as much with Mark gone, but we still find those moments. Too, I like summer because we don't take life quite so seriously.  We like to sleep in, and if things don't get done as quickly ...

I was talking to my friend, Sarah, the other day, and I started going on about my Birkenstock addiction.  Okay, maybe "addiction" is too strong a word, but I must admit, Birkenstocks have been a major part of my life for the last twelve years.  I can't even remember what I wore in the summertime before I moved to Germany and started scouting out the latest styles and colors.  Yes, I have clogs for the winter, and even a couple of pairs of boots, but ask my family; there's always a pair of Birkenstocks close by, and some of them even have a story.  Because I can always find them for under 50 Euros in Germany, I refuse to buy them in the United States.  Thankfully, this provides me with an excuse to return to mein Vaterland every couple of years :-) I can't believe that I even still have these!  I found them at the bottom of my shoe trunk.  These were my first pair.  I bought them in 2000.  Trust me, they used to be much brighter....and...

(Watch this video first, and please ignore the advertisement in the beginning...) The House That Built Me John and I have loved this song because of its spiritual significance.  We have used it as an example with our kids of going to the temple.  The specifics lyrics say: You leave home, you move on And you do the best you can I got lost in this whole world And forgot who I am I thought if I could touch this place or feel it This brokenness inside me might start healing Out here it's like I'm someone else I thought that maybe I could find myself If I could walk around, I swear I'll leave Won't take nothing but a memory From the house that built me When we get overwhelmed with the world and all its trappings, going to the temple is a way to remind ourselves of what's really important, and to remember that we are children of our Heavenly Father. Yesterday, as I was leaving Washington DC, and more significantly leaving Ethan, this song came to mind.  And at a...

What a joyful day!  Allexis Done and Adam Herring were married in the Palmyra temple!  However, our family's joy went way beyond that. John, Ethan and I drove up to Palmyra the night before.  We wanted to catch an endowment session before the actual sealing took place, and we didn't want to need to wake up at 4 a.m. to get there on time. New York State is beautiful.  It feels like at any border crossing out of Pennsylvania, the view improves.  Hmmm, that could just be me and my dislike of Pennsylvania affecting the vision, but who knows? The Palmyra temple is such a beautiful temple.  Okay, there isn't a temple that isn't beautiful, but there's something special about having a temple there, in the vicinity of so much church history.  Too, there's no noise around it.  No traffic, no city noise.  Just the temple.  It was lovely. We arrived in time for the endowment session, and as it turned out, Jacque Done was taking out her endo...

Ethan and I spent our Wednesday in Washington DC.  He was excited to return and see "his" city, and I was happy to be asked along. Our first destination?  The Washington DC temple.  This is the temple where Ethan first took out his endowments.  I dropped off some new names to be printed up, and we were off! It was one of those endowment sessions where pretty much anything that can happen, does happen.  Ethan was having all kinds of clothing issues, wearing John's clothes which are slightly larger in size than what Ethan wears.  Things were slipping off left and right, including his pants!  Too, one of the workers in our session didn't have all of his fingers.  In fact, his hand looked like its constantly giving the "I love you" sign language sign, because his middle fingers are only one knuckle long.  This caused me to see things in a comical, tender light, and when I feel that way, my chipmunk voice comes out (ooh, it's toh cyute....) ...

While I generally post about the physical trials I face, I rarely have an opportunity to post about physical accomplishments.  I rejoice in the fact that today I can post some good news! In March, I had my sinus surgery (second one in my lifetime).  It took my ENT quite a while to approve the surgery considering I had already had one.  However, after many tests, he realized that my problems were for real, that the surgery would be beneficial to me, and he agreed to do it. I haven't had any taste or smell for over six years.  I have chronic sinusitis with a sinus infection every month.  I feel sick all of the time. Since my surgery, I feel like a new woman. In fact, the hardest part of the year for me physically is in the summer when I am in tree-laden (read mold-laden) northern Michigan. Not this year.  Not one sinus infection. And as of today, I still have my taste and smell.  That's four months now of tasting and smelling. I went to ano...

Several years ago, I read a column in Time Magazine, written by one of the female journalists.  She spoke of how hard it was on her, when her son divorced his wife.  Naturally, it was difficult for the son, and the daughter-in-law, but she felt as if she too had sadness over the situation.  Sadness in addition to what she felt for her son.  Sadness for herself.  I remembering thinking at the time how thankful I was to hope that my children would not face divorce.  I didn't want them to go through a divorce, and I didn't want to share the same feelings as the journalist. Little did I think at the time about the girlfriends of my boys, and how a break-up between them could also affect me. Last week, Ethan and Anna broke up.  It was devastating for both of them.  Neither of them exactly understood what had happened, considering they were both planning on marrying each other someday, but it happened nonetheless.  I could tell that it was mor...

With only three days left of camp, I become introspective about my time here.  Here are some things I want to remember: Things I Will Miss About Interlochen (and Northern Michigan in general): Meijer.  Man, I love Meijer.  Stuff is cheaper there, and they have everything I need, and plenty of things that I never knew I needed.  The night we arrived, we headed to Meijer before anywhere else to get the things we needed for camp.   Pop.  Yes, we have pop in Pennsylvania, but it's not called "pop".  John misses specific kinds of pop, like Vernor's and Faygo, but I miss just being able to go to a restaurant and order a "pop". The lakes.  I love the lakes here.  They are beautiful, and wonderful to jump in after a long, hot day. Of course, the music.  I will miss the music most of all.  Too, I will miss the joy I see in my kids' faces when they live, breath and sleep music.  They never complain about the long rehearsals, or ...