Andrew's birthday

It's another hot and smoke filled day but Facebook just told me that it's Andrew's birthday.  I sent him a post on Marco Polo of happy birthday greeting which is kind of cool because it's only the afternoon of the 20th for him.  His birthday, there in Reno, Nevada was such an amazing day.  Evelyn was the director of a singing group called "The Young Americans" and she had scheduled a performance at a mall just south of Reno, for that evening.  She led the group, which did a tremendous job and then we took the older brothers home, to a baby sitter, and drove to the hospital.  Dr. Terry Drake was her doctor and one of the attending nurses was a member of our Stake.  For me, everything was a breeze.  I can't imagine what it would be like to give birth but Evelyn was amazing.  As soon as she was holding Andrew in her arms, she looked at me and said, "there's one more".  That was one of the most revelatory experiences of my life.  It was a revelation that would never be allowed to a husband and it came directly from the heavens.  Evelyn has always had a much closer relationship with the spirit in regards to being inspired and that night was one of the best.  Happy Birthday Andrew.

Yesterday was totally dedicated to helping a young missionary.  Elder Yancey was set apart on Wednesday evening by his Stake President in New Zealand.  The next day he was put on a plane bound for Australia.  He went through customs in Sydney and then boarded another plane for Canberra.  The church arranged for a cab to take him to a hotel in downtown Canberra that night.  We called him yesterday morning at the hotel and arranged to meet him.  He was there in the lobby by 8AM and he is awesome.  We visited for awhile and then loaded his two big suitcases in our car and drove over to the Ecuador Embassy.  It's located in a really nice neighborhood of homes and several had flags from various countries flying in the front yards.  This home was quite nice and the path led us through a gate into the back, basement of the home, where the Embassy offices are located.  Elder Yancey had a fairly long conversation with the representative and then his documents were signed and stamped. Then, since we had about four hours to burn before his flight to Sydney we went to visit the War Memorial that the Australian government has built here in Canberra.  A guide by the name of Peter, gave the three of us a personal 1.5 hour tour.  Afterward we took Elder Yancey to lunch, at a subway by the Woolies and Costco.  Since he'd never seen the inside of a Costco we took him on a tour of our favorite store and then delivered him to the airport.  He's going to be here in Australia through January and then will be flown to the MTC in Utah.  Not often that a missionary has six weeks of actual missionary experience before entering the MTC.  He will do wonderfully.

At the moment, on this Saturday morning, we are stuck here at he flat waiting for a phone call and delivery of a new washing machine.  Yesterday, when we tried to do a load of laundry the machine was totally dead so I called Elder Stoker and he's ordered a new one.  They're supposed to call us this morning with a delivery time.  Can't even sneak over to the gym for a workout.

I was able to call my mom this morning and it was such a joy to hear her talk about Adam and Tiffany taking her flowers, yesterday, and then out for dinner.  It means so much to me that people are willing to rally around my mother when we're not able to be there.  We have talked, so many times, about the difficulty of serving a mission while my mother is still alive.  I do hope she'll be strong and healthy while we're gone so we can return and report to her of this moment of service.  I think one of the challenges to serving a senior mission is that the time is never "right".  There will always be needs that are left unaddressed when you leave home.  I pray, every day that we have made the right decision and every day I seem to have multiple impressions that the timing was correct.  Not only for my mom but also needs of children and grandchildren.  Every day we pray for them and find our hearts being drawn out to the Lord to take care of them in different challenges and life itself.  We never forget Nathan, by name, as he's serving his mission in California.

I've noticed that this blog isn't being read by anyone and that's not a problem because I'm doing it mainly to serve as a journal of our experiences.  It's also a place where I can record some of my feelings and the places where my heart goes.

Pray for rain