End of May 2011 Mission Poster

This is the last month!

Look at that. The poster is full....

And then some. We had to add 5 more stickers for May.

Oh what happy little bugs these are to finish out the poster!

Except that's not the end.....there will be one final sticker tomorrow! The day he comes home!!! :)

End of April 2011 Mission Poster

And we come to the end of yet another month. This is an exciting month as we have only one more left!

The triangle that is left is very small now!

Aren't those the cutest little Easter stickers?

Yep. That's what it says, 26....but there are a few more days than that. We're going to have to add our own 'circles'.

So little left!

End of March 2011 Mission Poster

The end of another month already. The end of countdown month number 3.

Getting quite full.

Smaller double digits....

The triangle is shrinking ever so much smaller :)

End of February 2011 Mission Poster

This was month number 4. It is flying by. :)

Look at it filling right up!

In double digits!

Look at that smaller triangle. Shrinking even more.

End of January 2011 Mission Poster

And we end a new month, and the beginning of a new year. And a countdown of only coming home. This was month 5.

And it fills even fuller

Look how happy those penguins are about those numbers :)

Shrinking of the triangle

End of December 2010 Mission Poster

And it comes to the end of, not only another month, December, but that of another year.

Getting fuller, ever fuller

The days are counting down

Ever smaller triangle

End of February 2010 Poster

It's the end of February. Time for an update on the missionary poster!

Look how much it's filling up......even for the shortest month of the year!

What's better in February than conversation hearts!

Look how many days he's been out. The year mark will be here before we know it!!!

End of December 2009 Poster

Not only is it the end of another month, but as the end of December, it is the end of another year. As we say good-bye to 2009, here is how Elder Gary's poster looks for the year.....

7 months of stickers. Still a ways to go until the half-way mark though.

All the different stickers for all the different months

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

His One Christmas Wish

I got my weekly email from Elder Gary yesterday. He is still in Canyon. He is a little bummed that he is still in his greenie area, but great work is going on there.

In the email he let me know that he received his Christmas box from my parents. Then he proceeded to let me know that he didn't want us to send him anything.....I mean NOTHING!!! He said the only thing he needed was clothes and he has all of them that he needs. He wants us to take the money that we would have spent on his presents and shipping them to him, and use it for someone who really needs it. He has ALWAYS been one to think of others before himself.

At first I thought, I can't just send him nothing! Not one thing! But as I have thought about it, this was his Christmas list. His one Christmas wish. Give to someone who needs it worse than he does. This is what he would do. After all, this is the kid that right before he left for his mission, we had a food drive. I sat 2 sacks of food out for it. But Gary wanted to do something from him. So he went to the grocery store, bought things on sale, so he could buy more with the same money, and bought a full sack of groceries to come home and place it on the doorstep.

So....That is what I am going to do. I am going to take the money that I would have spent on him and give it to someone that I know needs more than he does right now. I know, beyond a doubt, just who that person is supposed to be. Then I will send him a Christmas card telling him who his gift went to this year.

May we all learn from a humble missionary, just what the true meaning of Christmas really is.

Merry Christmas Elder Gary.

End of November 2009 Poster

Can you believe it's the end of November already? Time for another mission poster update.

Closer and closer to the middle of the poster. Of course, as the rows get longer, it's going to seem to take longer!

Such cute Thanksgiving sticker to add to the other holidays.

End of October 2009 Poster

So here it is the end of October already. Time for an update on the Mission Poster. Time seems to be flying by. Where has the time gone?

Look how close to the middle we're getting!!!

See all the different months? Nice Halloween stickers!

End of September 2009 Poster

It is the end of September. Time for a poster update. Fall is definitely in the air. It has actually snowed here today and it is cold.

Making progress

Added one more month!

End of August 2009 Poster

It is the end of August, which means an update of the mission poster. Quite a change from just a couple of months ago!

Look at it filling up! 97 days already!

Still a ways to go though.

You can see each different month!

End of July 2009 Poster

The end of July already? Where is the summer going? Time to update the poster once again! It's looking good!

May, June and July---66 days

So much fuller than 2 months ago.......but still quite a way to go. :)

End Of June 2009 Poster

I can't believe it's the end of June already. Time to update the poster pictures!

Still a lot of stickers to go, but so much fuller than the end of May! Even the writing part is filling up!

And the turtles were joined by bugs.

Surprise Call

The day started out at the pool for Tanner's swimming lessons, then off to buy Wynn's Fathers Day present. We all go in together so the kids can get him something nice. I'm not saying what it is just in case he happens to be reading this today. I never know. Then home to do a few daily things and suddenly it's time to fix lunch. The library has kids movie day Tuesdays at 2:00 in the summer. I figured we probably ought to eat before we go. Today it was Disney's Camp Rock. It was Ok. Better than Lexie and I thought it was going to be.

While I was fixing lunch the phone rang. No big deal, it tends to do that. Morgan brought me the phone saying, 'It's Elder Tripp?' I knew that name. He called me yesterday. I hadn't had any "something's wrong" feelings, so I wasn't concerned. I just told Morgan, 'Ya, he's in Texas.' and took the phone.

He told me that Elder Gary had asked him to call me. He informed me that Elder Gary needed a bike and since we didn't receive the information packet from the mission home he hadn't come prepared to buy one. I knew that. He told me they run from $350 to $500. If we couldn't do that right now he could borrow one for a while. I told him it was Ok. I had transferred money into Elder Gary's account already yesterday for this very purpose and how much I had transferred. I had put enough without even knowing how much it would cost. He could just go buy what he needed. I am so glad Elder Gary prepared in so many ways for his mission. We had no idea he would need a bike, or how much it would cost, yet he has money set aside so that these things won't be a problem. I checked his account later, he has a nice bike and he could buy it with no worrying if the nice one was going to be a strain on us.

While I had Elder Tripp on the phone, I couldn't help but ask him if he could tell me where Elder Gary was being sent. He said 'Sure. Not a problem. He's going to a little town called Canyon, Texas. I served there for 4 months and I loved it. He should be there in about 3 hours.' Canyon. Hmmmm. I had never heard of that one before.

I got on the trusty internet and looked it up. I found it, and there in front of me just over 19 miles away staring me in the face was Happy, Texas. I couldn't help laughing. There is a movie called Happy, Texas that one of their friends in Evanston introduced them too! It is one of those movies that is kinda dumb but yet so funny. We have laughed at that movie together. I haven't watched it for a long time. It looks like he had to drive right through it to get where he was going. We'll see if he mentions it in his letter.

I'm so glad that Elder Gary is so well prepared in so many ways. He's going to be an awesome missionary and I think they can already tell that there. I know he'll stay close to the Spirit and he'll do what ever it is he in particular was sent there to do. And I'm sure he'll have fun too, especially being that close to Happy! ;)

A Call From Elder Gary!!!

I didn't take my walk this morning. I knew Elder Gary was leaving the MTC at 5:30am. His flight was leaving at 8:30am. And he was calling me somewhere in between. I figured it would take them an hour to get to the airport, 1/2 hour to check in (at least), get through security, and then to their gate. So I figured he would call somewhere between 7 and 7:30. Boy am I good.

I got showered and had Drew monitoring both the house phone and the cell phones. Nothing. Then the home phone rang. I knew it was Gary since the Caller ID said 'pay phone'. I mean, who else would use a pay phone? I answered he said Mom? I said Yup. He asked if everybody was here and I said all but Dad. He didn't want to have to call his dad at work, he said I only have 3 minutes. And we got cut off!!! I waited a few minutes to see if he would call me back. Nothing, so I tried calling the pay phone number. It was busy. I kept trying on my cell phone figuring he would call the home phone again. Yep. Lexie answered but didn't know about collect calls. I took the phone, but the instructions were already over so I didn't know what to do, so it hung up on me. I tried calling the pay phone again. He called back and we got disconnected again. He called one more time, I accepted the charges and he asked me to PLEASE call the pay phone back.

We got to talk to him for about 10-15 minutes before their flight was called! They were all having trouble getting the pay phones to work. (I'm not surprised. These kids grew up in the cell phone era. I'm pretty sure none of them ever used a pay phone before.) We found out that the families not being able to go in to the MTC with their missionaries anymore is not just because of the Swine Flu. It is a permanent thing. The day Elder Gary went to the MTC was the last day families got to go in. Now they have the mission districts go outside, meet the new missionary and his family, help them unload the luggage, say good-bye, and (in Elder Gary's words) jerk the missionary away. They are only allowed one car. We think this would be the easier way to do it. That hour in 'The Room' is torture as far as we are all concerned! My sister-in-law and I were talking at his farewell that there had to be a better way than 'The Room'. I think they found it! Maybe. (He called Wynn from his lay-over in Dallas.)

After the call to/from Gary, it was time for Tanner's first day of swimming lessons for the summer. They start at 8:00, we could make it but was cutting it close and Morgan had an orthodontist appt at 8:15. The plan was that Lexie and Grandpa were going to watch Tanner while I took Morgan. Then we realized Tanner had sat his backpack down and walked out without it. So I turned around to get it, thus making us late. I figure the phone call was worth being late.

Morgan got her braces off today!!! Her gums are swollen from not getting them good enough with the toothbrush around her braces. We'll watch for a couple of weeks and they should clear right up.

Then at noon it was time for the weekly summer movie. One of the theaters in town shows a different movie each week of the summer, Mon-Thurs, noon and 2:00. It costs me $20 for 4 of us to go to 1 movie every week for the summer. Pretty good deal I think. Drew took them last week since I was on vacation. So we watched Hotel for Dogs. Pretty cute movie. Grandma and Grandpa even enjoyed it.

I got a call from Elder Tripp this afternoon that Elder Gary had made it to Lubbock safe and sound. I don't know if they call all the parents, or if they called me because of the mix-up with the mission packet we didn't receive. We had a message on the answering machine from last Friday from President Robison apologizing profusely and wanting to 'reassure that they would take good care of Elder Jenkins'. (I have no doubt that it was lost in the US mail system. This isn't the only thing in the last few months that never made it to our house.)

So Elder Gary is in Lubbock, Texas for today. We'll have to wait for a letter or email to find out what city or town he was sent to. I forgot to ask because I was surprised they called me. I'll keep you posted. I can't wait to find out!

Tuesday Is P-Day

Wynn and I both got an email today! I guess Tuesday is Gary's P-Day in the MTC. I was so excited to hear from him even though it was just one line to let me know he was OK (there is 3 missionaries with swine flu in there). I figured they would have called us if it was him. And to let me know what his email is and that he just sent a package home and there is a longer letter to me in that.

Wynn got a longer email, but I have a letter coming in the package. He has seen a few friends but is so busy. He said he just doesn't know how anyone gets to do the fun things there are to do in the MTC. He has tried and there is just no time. The first couple of days there seems there is time, but there's not. He is working all day long and goes to bed every night exhausted with things he didn't get to. He loves the work! I'm so glad that he has such a great work ethic that this isn't going faze him.

With the flu outbreak, only the new missionaries are aloud to enter the MTC. The families have to say good-bye outside. I don't know if this would be better or worse. I have mixed emotions about the whole thing and just don't know how it could be done so it isn't so heart wrenching. I don't think there is a way. The missionaries that are supposed to be leaving now are being detained for about a week. At this point, Gary is still scheduled to leave June 15th.

Busy morning

I didn't have to go to work today. I was supposed to be done on Friday, but I wasn't there Mon-Wed last week, and Colleen wasn't there Wed or Friday and couldn't go today. So now we will have to go in tomorrow to finish up (hopefully so we don't have to go Wed) for AmeriCorps. But not having to go to work didn't seem to give me the lazy day I thought I was going to get. Ya, right.

We got a letter from Gary Saturday, YEAH!!! He is no longer nervous and ate a big meal Wednesday night, just like I said he would. He had started getting nervous about last Friday....big weekend, the unknown, big responsibility, etc. He had just nibbled some here and there since. I said once he got there, met his companion, saw his room, etc he would be fine, and he was. He is the senior companion and has a lot to read and do because of this assignment. He is up to it and will do great. Then he asked me to send a copy of his immunization records. It seems at the doctors office they missed writing down an MMR on his mission record and he will have to get another one if I don't send a copy. No big deal, I'll mail it Monday morning. So.....

I got up and not having to go to the school for work forgot Tanner still did! I got him up in plenty of time and he ate and got dressed. Good thing the girls get themselves up or they probably would have been late since they leave lots earlier. Today is his Drive-in movie at school, so we made a cardboard 'car' this weekend...

We think it turned out pretty cute!

I drove him to school and went to take Gary's letter to the Post Office. I passed a power truck, police cars and fire truck on the way, not thinking anything of it. When I got there it was closed due to power outage. Of course. So I drove to Hyde Park and mailed it. Then went to the bookstore to buy book #2 of a series I've been waiting for since the first one came out in 2004!!! First one hardback, this one paperback, oh well. At least I have it now and can read it next week while I'm at Laguna Beach in California!!! On the way to the bookstore there was a cop directing traffic at the light on Main St down from the PO. I guess that outage is on the whole street.

Wrote Gary a letter on Dearelder.com (so he will get it today) telling him his copy of his shot record was on the way. Now blogging. Still have my 5 mile walk to go on, shower, help Andy and Leza move, pick Tanner up from school (because the car doesn't fit on the bus so well), get homework and chores done, make sure Morgan works on her fund raiser for color guard, take the kids swimming at the rec center tonight so I'll remember that the money is due today for Tanner's first 2 swimming lessons sessions. Sorry Tawnya, I really am going to get to that jacket, eventually!

Now I'm off for that walk...maybe...unless I get on Facebook first.

End Of May 2009 Poster

Here is Gary's Mission poster at the end of May. There is still a lot more stickers to put on, but at least it's not completely empty any more!


That little turtle isn't so lonely anymore!